Improvements in and relating to Picking-motions of Looms for Weaving.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 11th Sept., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 11th Sept.. 1895-Accepted, 11th Apr., 1896
Improvements in and relating to Picking-motions of Looms for
Weaving.
I, ANTONIO MONTI, of. Como in the Kingdom of Italy, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to apparatus for operating the shuttle in weaving-looms
by means of the lever (moved by the driving shaft) which forms the shed, and by
means of spiral springs which are hung on lifters or rods that can be brought into
connection with the said lever in order to be moved thereby. These improvements
enable the shuttle to be easily stopped and restarted at pleasure by means of a
peculiar disengaging apparatus; and the tension of the springs moving the shuttle
and consequently the velocity and energy of the latter can be easily regulated by
means of a self-acting holding and releasing apparatus. The bringing into gear of
the parts to which these springs are fastened is effected automatically by means of
projections arranged on the prismatic drum or roller which effects the bringing
into gear of the lifter hooks, which carry the harness, with the actuating lever.
In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a front elevation of a loom with my
improvements applied thereto, Figure 2 a side elevation of same, Figure 3, 4
and 5 sectional details, to a larger scale, of the upper part thereof, and
Figure 6 is a detail view, also to a larger scale, of a part to be hereinafter
described.
On the driving shaft 1, Figures 1 and 2, is fixed the driving strap-pulley 2,
and beside the latter is placed the loose pulley 3; this shaft also carries a pulley
or hand-wheel 4 for working the loom by hand when necessary, and a slotted disc 5.
In one of the slots of this disc is secured adjustably a crank pin, which passes
through a hole in the lower end of the connecting rod 6. The stroke of this
connecting rod can be varied by altering the position of the crank pin in the slot
of the disc 5. The rod 6, transmits its up and down motion to the lever 8 pivotted at
the fixed point 7, and this lever 8 communicates motion to the lever 10 pivotted
at 9. This lever 10 serves for moving the shuttle and harness, and for operating
the regulating apparatus for the motion of the shuttle. The apparatus for con-
necting the lifters carrying the harness with the lever 10 is arranged as follows:-
On the prismatic drums or rollers 11 and 12 (Figures 3 and 5) is an endless chain
the width of which is dependent upon the number of heddles in the loom. The
members of this chain are furnished at certain points of their breadth with projecting
pins 13, the number and arrangement of which is defined by the kind of fabric

page_text: to be produced. The turning of these prismatic drums or rollers at each stroke of
the lever 10 is effected by means of the hook 14 connected to this lever, which
hook gears with the disc 15 (provided with four teeth) of the druin 11 and causes
the latter to turn a quarter of a revolution at each upward movement of the
lever 10. The disc 16, which is subjected to the pressure of a spring, presses against
a disc 17 likewise provided with four projections, and holds fast the drum 11 after
each quarter revolution. The heddles are hung to V shaped wire lifters 18 which
rest on the protection board 20 -pivotted at 19. These lifters pass through a slot
in the board 21, which serves as a guide to them, and one of the legs of each is
bent round at the top into a hook 22 whilst the other leg of each is straight. The
lever 10 carries a plate 23 the upper edge of which stands a little away from the
lever and with which the hooks 22 gear and are thereby connected with
the said lever 10. This occurs whenever a pin 13 presses the part of the lifter
which is furnished with the book 22 against the lever 10. The shuttle drivers or
pickers are fixed to the outer ends of the cords 24, and the inner ends of these
cords are fixed to the lower end of a T-shaped lever 27 pivotted on a fixed pin 26.
To the ends of the cross arms of lever 27 are fixed the lower ends of the springs 28
the upper ends of which are hung to the cords 29, Figures 1 and 2. These cords 29
are fixed to wire lifters 18, the legs of which are bent into a hook 22" and pass
through the opening 30 of the head 31. This head 31 can be moved by the
lever 32, pivotted at 33, to such a distance that the hooks 22ª can no longer gear
with the beard 23, and thereby the shuttle is put out of action. To allow of the
alternate tension of the springs the drum 11 carries, opposite the lifters 18ª to
which the springs 28 are fixed, pins 34 placed 90° apart which on the turning of
the drum 1 place alternately one of the two hooks 22ª in connection with the
lever 10. The lever 27 is stopped in its extreme position either way by a two-
armed-lever 35 which is capable of turning in a horizontal plane, and is rounded at
its front end as shewn in Figure 6. This lever. 27 is pressed by the extended
spring 28 against the front arm of the lever 35, the other aim of the latter lever
lies against a lever 37 pivotted on a pin 36, and constantly urged forward in the
direction of the feathered arrow in Figures 1 and 6 by a spring 37. This lever 37
is pin-jointed at its lower end to the rod 38. This rod is likewise pin-jointed to the
bent two-armed lever 40 pivotted at 39, and the other arm of lever 40 is connected
by the rods 41 and 42 with the lever 10. By the upward movement of the lever 10
the lever 40 is turned, and draws the rod 38 in the direction of the plain arrow in
Figures and 6, thereby drawing away the lever 37 from the rear arm of lever 35
which is pressed against it by the lever 27 acted upon by the spring 28 which happens
to be tension. The lever 35 is thereby freed so that it can turn on its axis and
allow the T-shaped double lever 27, to the lower end of which the shuttle drivers
or pickers are connected by the cords 24, to follow the impulse of the stretched
spring 28, and to turn on its pivot 26 so as to throw the shuttle. The lever 37 is
then moved forward by its spring 37ª but the lever 35 having been turned on its
pot in the mean time by the lever 27. The lever 37 now comes on the opposite
sue of the rear arm of lever 35, and the lever 27 being then brought by the other
spring 28, which will then have been put in tension, against the opposite side of the
front arm of lever 35, presses the rear arm of the said lever against the opposite
side of lever 37, thus holding the picking lever 27 till lever 37 is again withdrawn
by the lever 40, and so on, the rear arm of lever 35 coming to bear alternately on
opposite sides of lever 37, and the lever 27 coming to bear alternately on opposite
sides of the front arm of lever 35 so as to be held thereby until the rear arm is
released by the withdrawal of the lever 37.
When the lever 35 is released by the lever 37 the movement imparted to it by
the lower end of the T-shaped lever 27 is limited in either direction by stop pins 35*
fixed to the framing of the machine. These pins stop the rear end of the lever 35
in the positions required for the lever 37 to pass to the proper side of the said
lever 35 after each stroke of the picker is made.
It will be understood that when the lever 37 is withdrawn from the rear arm of

page_text: the levers 35, the spring 28, acting on the lever 27, forces the latter suddenly to
the right or left as the case may be, and, as it is somewhat elastic, it yields
sufficiently under the momentum thereby imparted to it, to allow it to slip past the
rounded end of the lever 35, and when the other spring 28 is put in tension, it
brings the said lever 27 back against the other side of the rounded end of the
lever 35 which is prevented by the pins 35ª from ever passing out of the path of
the lever 27. For the purpose of regulating the tension of the springs 28 the
connection of the rod 41 with the corresponding lever arm of lever 40 is made so
adjustable that the rods 41 and 42 can be allowed to travel a greater or lesser
distance before acting on the lever 40.
The lathe or batten 43 rests on two arms 45 pivotted of pins 44, and receives
motion in the usual way from the driving shaft 1. The motions of the taking-up
or winding on roller 46 and of the warp roller 47 are also effected from the shaft 1
by means of differential gearing preferably so adapted that the circumferential
speed of the taking-up or winding-on roller remains always the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
First. In a loom for weaving, the apparatus for moving the shuttle which
consists of springs 28, each connected at one end to a lifter 18 and at the other
end to the cross arm of a T-shaped lever 27, the downwardly directed arm of
which is connected to the shuttle drivers or pickers, the lifters 18 being put in
gear alternately with the lever actuating the heddles, by means of projections on
the drum which puts the heddles into gear, substantially as described.
Second. In a loom for weaving, apparatus for stopping the motion of the shuttle,
consisting of a movable plate 31 engaging with the hooked legs of the lifters 18*
and connected with a disengaging lever 32 whereby the said hooked legs can be
moved out of reach of the actuating lever 10, substantially as described.
Third. In a loom for weaving, a holding and releasing apparatus for the shuttle
operating devices which consists of a two-armed lever 35 arranged to turn in a
horizontal plane, one arm of such lever being adapted to retain or hold the picking
lever 27 locked in its extreme position either way, a spring-urged lever 37 for
holding and releasing the said lever 35, and lever 40, and rods 38, 41 and 42 for
operating the lever 37 from the lever 10, combined and operating substantially as
described.
Dated this 11th day of September-1895.