CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING VARIOUS KINDS OF CLOTH
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
SCHOFIELD, of Littleborough, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinner and
Fustian Manufacturer, and EDMUND LEACH, of Littleborough aforesaid;
Manager of Cotton Spinners and Weavers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Seventeenth day of August, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Joseph'
Schofield and Edmund Leach, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said Joseph Schofield and Edmund Leach, our
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph Schofield
and Edmund Leach, our exors, admors, or 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, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our'
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING VARIOUS KINDS OF
CLOTH;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said
Joseph Schofield and Edmund Leach, or one of us, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Joseph Schofield and Edmund Leach, do hereby declare that the nature of
our said Invention consists,―
First, in an improved mechanical contrivance for "letting off" the warp
from the warp beam.
Second, in the application of a similar improved mechanical contrivance to
the taking up of the cloth on the cloth beam.
Third, in an improved mechanical contrivance for stopping the action of
the loom as soon as or soon after the weft ceases to be furnished from the
shuttle.
Fourth, in an improved mechanical contrivance for slackening and tightening
the warp at given times, and thereby lessening or relieving the tension or
strain of the warp during the time the reed recedes from the cloth, and
tightening the warp during the approach of the reed to the cloth.
And, in further compliance with the said proviso, we, the said Joseph
Schofield and Edmund Leach, do hereby describe the manner in which the
said Invention is to be performed by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The Drawings hereto annexed exhibit a power loom to which our improve-
ments are attached, and which improvements are colored red, blue, green,.
and yellow respectively in all the Figures. The parts colored red refer to the
letting-off motion; the parts coloured blue, to the taking-up motion; the parts
colored green, to the stopping action; and the parts colored yellow, to the
motion for slackening and tightening the warp.
It will be unnecessary for us to describe the working of a loom, as that is
well known generally to persons engaged therein, but we will confine ourselves
to those parts which we claim as our, Patent right; and we would observe that
all our improvements are applicable to looms, worked either by hand or power,
excepting the improvements for stopping the loom when cloth has ceased.to
be made, which is applicable to power looms only.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a loom used for weaving fustian cloth,
which we call a right-handed loom, because it is driven on the right hand;
Figure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3, an end view, in which that part of
our Invention which relates to letting off the warp from the warp beam and
a part of the stopping apparatus is clearly shewn; and Figure 4 is a view. of
the opposite end, exhibiting the improvements in the taking up of the cloth

page_text: on the cloth beam, and the remaining part of the stopping apparatus, similar
letters being used to denote similar parts in each Figure.
A represents the reed; B, the cloth; C, the warp; D, the warp beam;
E, the worm wheel on the end of the warp beam; F, the worm; G, the
shaft on which the worm is fixed; H, a cranked lever, working on a stud 9;
I, I, are latches upon the lever H; J, the ratchet or toothed wheel on the
shaft G, seen more clearly in the detached Fig. 7; K, a break upon the
shaft G, which prevents it revolving further than it is acted upon by
the latches I, I, when raised by the lever H; L, L, L, L, L, L, are weights
on the end of the cranked lever H, for the purpose of giving tension or strain
to the warp, and regulating the letting off the warp from the warp beam to
weave stronger or lighter cloth. When the cloth is to be made stronger we
add weights, and when lighter we take off weights; the cranked lever H is
prevented sinking too low by its coming in contact with the upper surface of
the bottom cross stay M of the loom; e is a worm wheel on the end of the
cloth beam d; f, the worm in gear therewith; g, the shaft on which the
worm is fixed; h, a cranked lever; i, the catch; j, the ratchet or toothed
wheel; 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, are weights, on the end of the cranked lever h, capable
of being adjusted as on the lever H, for letting off the warp, or, in place
of weights on each of the levers H, h, springs might be substituted ;
m, a stop bracket, fixed to the framing of the loom to prevent the
lever h being raised too high by the tension of the cloth B acting thereon ;
N is an arm attached at right angles to the end of the cranked lever
H, which has an adjusting screw O at one end; P is a toothed latch or
lever, on the underside of which latch are several teeth resting in the teeth of
a ratchet wheel fixed on the back of a ratchet wheel Q, having its teeth in an
opposite direction, which wheel Q is worked by a catch R, from a small arm
S attached to the lay shaft T; affixed to the frame of the loom is a slot
bracket U. V is a rod which passes through and works in the slot bracket U,
upon which rod is a projection W nearly at the bottom, which rests upon the
surface of the slot bracket U; when the loom is at work one end of the
toothed, latch P is connected by a joint to the rod V; the top of the rod is
attached to a small arm X on a shaft Y, which extends from one end of the
breast beam to the other, and has a similar arm X at the opposite end
connected to a short rod Z, which rod is connected by a screw 3 to the
knocking-off trigger 4, and has a projection 1, and has also attached to it a bent
or inclined arm 5. We have shewn in the Drawings hereto annexed, that
the stopping apparatus is attached to the cranked lever H of the letting-off
motion, but it may also be attached for the same purpose to the corresponding

page_text: cranked lever h of the taking-up motion; this latter application is effected by
attaching an adjusting screw o to an arm affixed to the cranked lever h, as in
the letting-off apparatus the vibration of the lever h would be downwards
instead of upwards, as shewn in our Drawing, and an alteration of the toothed.
lever P would have to be made by placing it under the ratchet wheel at the
back of the ratchet wheel Q, with their teeth the reverse way to those already
described and shewn, and they would revolve in an opposite direction; u is the
lay in which the reed A is fixed to lay swords; o, o, are connected levers, 9, 9,
by rods p, p,which levers vibrate upon the back rail or bearer rats, s; at
the top of the levers 9, 9, are placed the centres of the back roller t, over
which the warp passes to be woven. By the motion of the lay u the roller t
is made to move backwards and forwards in opposite directions to the reed A,
causing the warp to be tight when the reed strikes the cloth, and slack when
the reed is from the cloth.
Having now described the several parts of our improvements, we will
proceed to describe their action. When the reed strikes against the cloth in
beating up the weft, such a jerk or pull is given to the warp as raises the
weighted end of the cranked lever H through the medium of the warp beam
D, worm wheel E, worm F, and shaft G, which shaft G has a bearing at one
end in and against the upright part of the cranked lever H, and the other end
works in a stationary groove; it is evident as that part of the cranked lever H
upon which the latches I, I, are affixed is raised by the horizontal movement of
the shaft G, the ratchet wheel J will be turned by them as much as the
latches I, I, are raised at each blow of the reed in striking up the weft, and
the worm E on the same shaft G will be turned by this action, and thereby let
off the warp from the warp beam D.
At the time the blow of the reed
against the cloth takes place, the cloth is slackened between the reed and the
cloth beam, and the weights 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, on the cranked lever h are thereby
allowed to descend through the medium of the cloth beam d, worm wheel e,
worm f. and shaft 9, which shaft has a bearing in and against the upright part
of the cranked lever h, and the other end works in a stationary groove; it is
evident that as that part of the cranked lever h upon which the catch i is
fixed is lowered, the ratchet wheel ; will be turned by it as much as the catch
i is lowered at each blow of the reed in striking up the weft, and the worm f
on the same shaft will be turned by this action, and thereby take up the cloth
upon the cloth beam. When the shuttle ceases to deliver weft, the reed meets
with less resistance, and thereby gives a less jerk to the cranked lever H, and
the arm N fixed to the cranked lever H will not raise the adjusting screw o so
as to raise the toothed latch P out of the teeth of the ratchet wheel at the back

page_text: of the ratchet wheel Q, which wheel Q continuing to revolve, a tooth or more
at each stroke of the lay will force the projection W into the slot of the slot
bracket U, and through the medium of the rod V, arms X, X, and shaft Y,
will allow the projection 1 on the rod Z to be placed in contact with the stop
rod finger 2, and the trigger 4 will release the knocking-off lever 6, and
and thereby stop the loom by throwing the strap guide fork 7 over the loose
pulley 8, and the guide fork 7 moving under and against the inclined surface
of the bent arm 5 will lift the projection W out of the slot in the slot bracket
U, and thus set the knocking-off apparatus ready for action again. It will be
seen that the rods p, p, connected to the lay swords o, o, at one end, and to the
levers q, q, (which vibrate upon the back bearer r at 5, 8,) at the other end, will,
when the lay is moved towards the cloth, force the back roller farther from
the cloth, and thereby tighten the warp, and that when the lay is moved from
the cloth, it will move the back roller towards the cloth, and thereby slacken
the warp. Now whereas it is evident that a band, bar, rod, or roller placed
across the warp or cloth in any part of their length between the warp beam and
the cloth beam, and caused to press upwards, downwards, or sideways, by any
mechanical contrivance, connected directly or indirectly with the action of the
lay or other movement, would have a similar effect as shown by the Diagram,
Figures 5 and 6.
But we claim as our Invention, first, the letting off of the warp from the
warp beam.
Secondly, the taking up of the cloth on the cloth beam.
Thirdly, the stopping of the loom on the non-delivery of weft from the
shuttle, in the manner and by the means herein-before described.
And fourthly and lastly, we claim as our Invention the tightening and
slackening of the warp in any part of its length between the warp beam and
the cloth beam, by means of a band, bar, rod, roller, or other similar
contrivance extending across the warp or cloth, and pressed against the warp
or cloth alternately in a greater and less degree, in consequence of the
connection of the said contrivance with the lay or other movement in the
loom.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Schofield, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and forty.
JOSEPH (L.S.) SCHOFIELD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighth day of February, in the
year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid Joseph Schofield came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
.
Inrolled the Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
'thousand eight hundred and forty.