CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
KENWORTHY, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twelfth day of December, in the eighth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Kenworthy, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Kenworthy, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said William Kenworthy, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,.
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England
and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said William Kenworthy, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same (reference being
thereunto had) will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Kenworthy, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof, that is to say:-.
My improvements in looms for weaving apply solely to those now commonly
wrought by power, and particularly to that part of the power loom known by
the name of the "stop rod," which is for stopping the loom, or throwing it out
of gear with the driving power, whenever the shuttle does not complete its
course from one shuttle box to the other. In ordinary power looms this is
effected by the shuttle acting against a "swell" in the shuttle box, which
communicates the required motion to the "stop rod" by means of a lever
bearing against the "swell," and kept in contact with it by a spring. The
great objection to this arrangement is that the shuttle has to overcome the
resistance of the spring, and also to raise the weight of the "stop rod lever"
at every "pick" or throw of the loom, which requires to have a heavy
shuttle, a powerful pick, and a slow motion to work successfully. My present
Invention consists in working the "stop rod" motion entirely separate from
the shuttle by the motion of the slay or lathe alone, thereby relieving the
shuttle from the burden of lifting the "stop rod" lever at every pick, by the
use of which improvement I am enabled to drive power looms at twenty or
twenty-five per cent. faster than has been hitherto done, and with much
greater safety to the working parts. But in order more clearly to illustrate
my Invention I have attached to these Presents a Sheet of Drawings repre-
senting two methods by which the required object, namely, working the "stop
rod motion" independent of the shuttle, may be effected..
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a plan or horizontal view of the shuttle box and part of
the slay of a power loom for weaving, shewing one arrangement of my
Invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a side view of a
different arrangement of mechanism intended to effect the same object. These
Figs. are drawn half the real size, and marked with similar letters of reference
upon corresponding parts, being distinguished by color, and the remainder
drawn in outline only, in order to shew the application of my improvements.
a, a, is the end or main framing of the loom, and b, b, part of the breast beam;
c, c, part of the slay or batten, and d, d, the shuttle box. e, e, is the swell

page_text: which is acted upon by the spring f, f, and which is merely for the purpose of
keeping the shuttle in its place in the box, and preventing its rebounding by
bearing against its side. The "stop rod" or shaft g, g, is connected to and
works the "spring lever" (for shifting the driving strap), which is on the
other side of the loom, and not shewn in the Drawings. On this shaft the
stop piece h is keyed fast, which is furnished with a projecting tail piece i
bearing upon a roller or bowl k, which revolves loosely upon a pin or stud l.
m, m, is a lever or finger which at every throw or pick of the loom feels (as
it were), whether the shuttle has arrived in the box or not; the shaft g is
furnished with two of these fingers m, m, one acting upon each shuttle box.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-As soon as the batten or slay
c, c, in beating up, arrives directly over its centre, the shuttle n is driven out of
the shuttle box d across the loom; at the same time, or nearly so, the inclined
portion of the tail of the stop piece will have arrived over the bowl or
roller k, which will allow the spring o, o, to exert its power to bring down the
stop piece h, at the same time causing the fingers m, m, at each end of the
stop rod g to feel whether the shuttle is in either box, and if such be the case,
the swell, bearing against the finger m, will not allow the spring o to bring
down the stop piece h; but should the shuttle be absent from both boxes the
stop piece h will be brought down, and by striking against the "frog" to
prevent the slay from beating up any further and injuring the cloth, at the
same time that the stop rod g, g, throws off the driving strap and stops the
loom. In Fig. 3 the action of the swell c, e, the finger m, and the stop piece h,
is precisely the same as in Figures 1 and 2, the spring o being placed behind
the stop rod g, and consequently always having a tendency to raise the stop
piece h, which is prevented from rising higher than is necessary to clear the
frog p by the stop 7 fixed to the shuttle box. It will be seen that the stop
rod 9 is in this instance furnished with a lever r, which, as soon as the shuttle
has been driven across the loom, comes in contact with the lever 8, vibrating
upon its centre at t; this lever is connected to a spring u, which causes the
fingers m to try whether the shuttle is in the box or not. If the shuttle is in
either box the spring u will give way, but if the shuttle is absent from both
boxes, the spring ut, being stronger than the spring o, will bring down the stop
piece h and throw the driving strap upon the loose pulley. v is a stop pin for
the purpose of preventing the spring u from drawing the lever s further than
the perpendicular line above its centre.
Another modification of this Invention may be made by reversing the ar-
rangement shewn in Figs. 1 and 2, that is, by placing the bowl or roller k upon
the lever h, and the inclined plane upon the frog or framing of the loom; but

page_text: 'I should prefer either of the former arrangements, as the additional weight of
the roller upon the stop rod would cause a great strain upon it, and require
additional power.
Having now described the nature of my said improvements, and the manner
of performing the same, I desire it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention the novel and peculiar construction and arrangement of mechanism
or apparatus (or any modification of the same), and the particular application
thereof to power looms for the purpose above described, and in the manner
represented in the Drawing attached, that is, working or performing the
"stop rod" motion entirely separate or distinct from the action of the shuttle,
and effecting the same by the vibration of the slay or batten.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Kenworthy, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-five.