CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
Year: 1854

page_text: Scaled the 8th August 1854, and dated the 13th February 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Campbell and
James Barlow. at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 13th February 1854.
We, DANIEL CAMPBELL and JAMES BARLOW, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS" to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to that part of a loom called the weft stop motion,
that is, to stop the loom by a self-acting power when the weft thread breaks,
which I propose to accomplish by means of a tumbler in the shuttle borne up
by the weft and acted upon by a finger or fingers at the back of the slay or
lathe, which meet the said tumbler as it enters the shuttle box; when the weft
thread breaks the aforesaid tumbler falls. thereby allowing the said finger or
fingers to pass over the shuttle. These fingers are connected with a rod under
the slay or lathe, from which an arm projects and comes in contact with the
knocking off rod or stop lever which disconnects the motive power. This rod
or lever is worked by the arm acting upon a bearing fixed upon the end of
[Price 8d.]

page_text: the loom, the operation being effected by the backward and forward motion
of the slay or lathe. The principle of this our Invention will be clearly
understood by reference to the accompanying outline Drawing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said Daniel Campbell and James Barlow in the Great Seal Patent.
Office on the 11th August 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, DANIEL
CAMPBELL and JAMES BARLOW, of Accrington, in the County of Lancaster,
Machinists, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her mosi Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letiers
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of February. One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four. in the seventeenth year of Her reign. did. for
Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us. the said Daniel
Campbell and James Barlow, Her especial license that we, the said Daniel
Campbell and James Barlow, our executors. administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said Daniel Campbell and James Barlow. our execu-
tors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make. use. exercise, and vend.
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
Looms," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Daniel Campbell
and James Barlow, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent.
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE. that we, the said Daniel Campbell and James Barlow,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention. and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):-
Our Invention relates to machinery for weaving by power. Its purpose is
the disengagement of the loom from the driving power upon the interruption
of the supply of weft from the shuttle, and it consists in a method of effecting
such disengagement, and in the arrangement, combination, and application to

page_text: the loom and shuttle of certain new mechanical parts which act in concert
and automatically to that end. In looms wherein the cloth is taken up by
mechanism, whose action is consentaneous with and solely dependent upon
that of the loom (operating independently of the accumulation of weft before
the reed), recourse must be had to some method of obviating the incon-
venience which would be otherwise constantly recurring from portions of the
warp being caused to advance without the due insertion of the weft. We
accomplish this by causing the weft in its transit from the spindle to the eye
of the shuttle to elevate a small tumbler, which when so elevated becomes a
stop to prevent the forward inclination of the vertical arm of a small bent
lever, whose other or horizontal arm protrudes from beneath the sley beam,
and if depressed when the latter reaches its most advanced position, comes in
contact with and brings into action the parts which effect the shifting of the
strap guide. Such depression of the horizontal arm of the lever takes place then
and then only when the vertical arm is not encountered by the stop in the
shuttle box, or in other words, when the weft being exhausted or broken is no
longer present to raise the tumbler. In applying this mechanism with a view
to its use at both sides of the loom, the bent lever is to be mounted on one
end of a small rod, extending to the shuttle box on the opposite side, and pro-
vided with a second vertical arm or finger communicating with the shuttle box
on that side. The tumbler will then operate to prevent the depression of the
horizontal arm of the lever at every throw of the shuttle so long as the weft
continues to be regularly drawn from the latter. In cases where it may be
preferred that the apparatus should act only upon the return of the shuttle
into one of the two boxes, it will be necessary to suspend the action of the
bent lever during the beat up following each alternate pick. This may be
done by one of the methods herein-after pointed out, which with slight modifi-
cations will be found applicable in most cases, but as this part of the arrange-
ment will partly depend on the particular construction of the loom to which
the apparatus is to be applied, it must necessarily be subject to such variations
as the circumstances of each case may suggest.
We shall explain our mode of carrying into effect this our Invention by
describing an apparatus or arrangement of parts for that purpose, illustrating
such description by means of the Drawings appended to these Presents, and
indicating the parts referred to from time to time by the letters and numerical
characters marked thereon.
Of these Drawings Figure 1 represents in perspective and about the full
size one half of a shuttle furnished with the tumbler previously mentioned.

page_text: Figure 2 is an elevation of so much of the driving or pulley side of a loom
as is necessary for our present purpose, the shuttle box being shewn as if
intersected by a plane passing vertically through it at or near the part where
the bent lever is applied. Figure 3 is a detached Drawing of a bracket
applied to a part of the said frame, as subsequently to be mentioned. Figures 4
and 5 represent respectively front and plan views of the shuttle box, the shuttle
guard in the former being removed for the purpose of better exhibiting the
arrangements in the backboard. The four last-mentioned Figures are drawn
to a scale of about one fourth of their natural size.
In Figure 1, which represents the half of a shuttle, a is a small metal
shell or casing lining the cavity of the shuttle between the spindle and the
shuttle eye, and secured in its place by a wire or pin a' passing through it.
By extracting the pin a' the shell or casing can be easily removed and
replaced when requisite. A narrow cavity b is left between the further side
of the casing a and the adjacent side of the shuttle. A tumbler c, having an
eye at the end c', whereby it is suspended on a small pin projecting from the
shell or casing into the cavity b, lies within the latter. The end of this
tumbler nearest to the shuttle eye is bent so as to form a transverse arm
extending partly across the shuttle. d is the eye of the shuttle, through which
the weft thread e passes, extending from the cop on the spindle e¹. The weft
passes under the transverse arm c2 of the tumbler c, and in its passage rests
on a bearing formed for it by the upper edge of the part 2 of the casing a.
Supported by this and the eye of the shuttle it is enabled to elevate the
tumbler by means of the arm intervening between the rest and the
eye d, so that the upper and convex part of the tumbler is caused to rise and
project above the upper surface of the shuttle in the manner shewn in the
Drawing. It will be readily seen that the tension of the weft between the
rest and the shuttle eye, caused by the drag which it endures in weaving.
will keep the tumbler elevated so long as the thread of weft remains present
and unbroken, but that on its breaking or failure the tumbler will be permitted
to sink down within the cavity b, so that no part of it will be presented above
the shuttle.
The mode in which we avail ourselves of this action of the weft upon the
apparatus in the shuttle for the purpose of stopping the loom on the failure of
the weft is as follows: In Figure 2, is the sley beam, and f the backboard
(both in section) at the part opposite to which the tumbler is situate when the
shuttle has come to rest in the box after the completion of its traverse through
the shed. There is a narrow aperture in the backboard, seen also in front

page_text: view at f, Figure 4, and through which a blade or flat plate of metal g projects.
This blade g is screwed on the upper extremity of the arm g', which vibrates
on a centre pin ; under the slcy is a horizontal arm or tongue on the
same centre pin, the two arms combined forming a bent lever whose fulcrum
is the centre pin g². i is a spring which tends to depress the arm g³. is the
end of a rod in common use, extending across the loom for the purpose of
raising the detaining catch of the taking up motion, in order to suspend the
action of the latter. is an upright lever, also in common use, fixed upon
the end of the rod h; and 2, 1, are wings projecting laterally from the lever
h, the former being intended to receive and the latter to transmit the impulse
communicated by the horizontal arm g3, whereby the lever is moved radially,
so as at once to lift the detaining catch of the taking up motion, and force the
spring handle out of its detent. k is a supplementary piece bolted to the
spring handle for the purpose of facilitating the adjustment thereto of the lever
h', but forms no part of our Invention.
z is the shuttle, represented as occupying the shuttle box, with its tumbler c
elevated opposite to the blade or plate g. In this position, the spring i tending
to depress the lever arm, the blade g would be protruded through the
aperture f, into the shuttle box, but encountering the tumbler c, its further
progress is arrested, and the forward movement of the vertical arm g' being
thus checked, the horizontal arm g will be maintained in a position high
enough to carry it clear of the wing 2, when the sley beats up so as to
prevent its communicating motion to the lever h'. But if the weft is absent
or broken, the tumbler will not be presented above the shuttle, and the blade
g will consequently be allowed to pass into the shuttle box far enough to allow
the arm g of the bent lever to be depressed by the spring i sufficiently to
meet the notch in the wing h², and force back the lever , raising thereby the
detaining catch of the taking up motion, and forcing the spring handle k out
of its detent, as before mentioned.
Considering the apparatus at present as applied at the driving side of the
loom only, it is necessary to explain how the action of the arm or tongue " is
suspended at each alternate beat up of the sley when the shuttle is necessarily
present in the opposite box.
On the stud m in the loom side is pivoted the lever m¹. Its longer arm
extends downwards over the tappet shaft, upon which is fixed the cam or
tappet n, the action of which alternately raises and depresses the tail of the
lever m, the alternate changes corresponding with the revolutions of the crank
shaft. The upper or shorter arm of this lever m¹ is formed so as to present

page_text: a convex or inclined surface inmediately under a swell formed on the arm g
The contour of this inclined surface is such that when the short arm of the
lever is in its lower position or that shewn in the Drawing, it raises the arm g
sufficiently to withdraw the blade g from the shuttle box and out of the way
of the shuttle, except when the sley is near to its beat up. when the downward
inclination of the sloping surface suffers the arm g³ to descend low enough to
meet the wing *. But when the tail of the lever m is depressed, and its
shorter arm elevated, as shewn by the dotted lines, the latter will carry the
arm g clear of the wing during the whole revolution of the crank. The
cam n is so adjusted on the tappet shaft that the latter case will always occur
when the shuttle is in the box opposite to that to which the apparatus is
attached.
Another mode of withdrawing the bent lever from action at each alternate
beat up of the sley when the apparatus is applied at one side of the loom only.
is derived from the action of the shuttle entering and leaving the box. In
Figures 4 and 5, g is the blade carried by the upright arm g' of the bent
lever, and protruding through the aperture in the backboard /', as before.
A lever composed of two arms o', o, is pivoted on a pin o behind the back-
board, the arm of being pressed towards the backboard by the spring p. The
arm reaches in front of the upright arm g', which it tends to press back-
wards with a force sufficient to overcome the opposing pressure of the spring i
upon the arm g of the bent lever. The arm o terminate in a palm o³,
which projects into the shuttle box through an opening in the backboard, and
presents an inclined or convex surface for the shuttle to act upon. The
palm is lifted or pressed back along with the arm by the shuttle on its
entering the box in the same manner as a swell. This backward movement
of the arm o² is necessarily accompanied by a movement of the other arm o
in the reverse direction. The arm o' therefore ceases to act upon the arm g'
of the bent lever, and permits the blade g to advance until stopped by the
tumbler c. When the shuttle leaves the box the spring p again comes into
play, and pressing the lever arm o² outwards pushes back the arm g' of the
bent lever so as to carry the arm g clear of the wing . It is obvious that
the common swell may be made available for the same purpose as the
lever o, o an intermediate lever being used to reverse the direction of its
motion.
The bent lever may be caused to act intermittingly by a third method as
follows: On the framing of the loom and immediately under the arm g3 a
bracket (Figure 3) is affixed, carrying a horizontal guiding bars, whose

page_text: upper surface presents an inclined or sloping plane of a character similar
to that of the shorter arm of the lever m¹ in Figure 2, before described.
This guiding bar must be so fixed as to operate in the same manner as the
aforesaid shorter arm of the lever m³ would do if stationary in its lower
position, namely, to restrain the blade g from entering the shuttle box. except
when the sley is near to the heat up. and this during every revolution of the
crank and not during alternate revolutions only, as in the former case. In
order to prevent the fall of the arm or tongue . when the shuttle is in the
box to which no apparatus is attached, a small rod must be substituted for the
ping, extending under the sley to the opposite shuttle box. and carrying at
its extremity an upright finger or feeler, which passing through a hole in the
backboard may rest against the side of the shuttle when the latter is in the box,
and thereby sustain the rod in such a position as will carry the arm or tongue
g over the wing 2. Where swells are used, the upright finger on the rod g
may be caused to rest against one of them. The action of the rod and finger
in either case is so precisely similar to that of the common stop rod, that it
will be at once understood without further explanation. We shall in con-
clusion advert very briefly to the mode of using the apparatus in cases where
it is desired to apply it at both sides of the loom. In this case, as in the last.
a rod must be substituted for the pin (Figure 2). furnished at both ends
with upright arms similar to g', and blades similar to g². The horizontal finger
or tongue will he required at the driving side only. and it must have a
bracket with a guiding bar similar to that represented at r. s. Figure 3. and
before described. It is scarcely necessary to point out the action of this com-
bination of paris, as it will be self-evident from the previous explanation, that
the tumbler will now be enabled to act as a stop to prevent the depression of
the arm or tongue 3 at both sides of the loom equally, but that on the shuttle
entering either box with the tumbler unraised, the arm or tongue g³ will
immediately have liberty to descend and perform its proper office of striking
the arm h, and throwing the spring handle out of gear.
Having now explained the nature of our Invention, and described the
manner of carrying the same into effect, we close this statement by declaring
that what we claini as new and of our Invention is.-.
Firstly, the method herein-before described of effecting the disengagement
of the loom from the driving power when the supply of weft from the shuttle
is interrupted by means of the action or of the cessation of the action of the
said weft upon a tumbler in the shuttle operating in concert with mechanism
attached to the loom or to some of the parts thereof.

page_text: Secondly, the arrangement, construction, and combination for the above
purpose of mechanical parts, as herein described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Daniel Campbell and James Barlow,
have hereunto set out hands and seals, this Tenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the herein-
named Daniel Campbell and James Barlow
in the presence of
J. TAYLER,
JAMES BARLOW. (L.S.)
Patent Agent,
Manchester.