IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hadfield, of Ardwick, in the County
of Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Bealed the 1st December 1868, and dated the 9th July 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hadfield at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th July 1868.
I, WILLIAM HADFIELD, of Ardwick, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates, first, to that part of the loom known as the
"letting-off" or beam motion; and, secondly, to that part of the loom
called the "taking-up" motion, and the Invention is designed for the
purpose of producing through their combined action and the great
precision with which the motion can be regulated a more perfect,
uniform, and even fabric than has hitherto been manufactured; and as the
principle of the Invention is similar in both cases, that is, in " "letting-
off" and "taking-up," I will proceed to describe the improvements.

page_text: The warp beam is supported-in bearings-secured to the loom frame, in
which it is allowed freely to turn without transmitting any undue tension
to the yarn when being delivered. The yarn in this slack state is
received by and passes between two or more rollers which are geared
together, and between the surfaces of which the warps in their passage
are nipped by reason of the peculiar position of the rollers, the top one
being supported in sliding bearings a little behind the vertical center of
the lower roller in such a manner that the periphery of the top roller
rests and bears against the periphery of the bottom roller, thereby
retaining the warp threads between their surfaces and delivering them
according to the speed or motion of the rollers when revolving; and in
order to insure a precision of tension throughout the full length of
warp the top roller is slightly increased in diameter, which when in
action making one revolution equally with the bottom roller necessarily
causes the surface of the top roller to move at a speed slightly accelerated
to that of the bottom roller, thereby effecting a drag or draft upon the
threads or warps that maintains a uniformity of tension throughout its
length. The "taking-up" of the cloth when leaving the breast beam
is effected in a similar manner to the "letting-off," that is, the cloth
is retained or nipped between the periphery or surface of two or more
rollers geared together, their arrangement and position being similar to
the rollers already described, the cloth being received or delivered from
the lower roller on to the cloth roller where it accumulates in the
ordinary manner by connecting the "letting-off" and taking-up motion
together by an arrangement of gearing and change wheels. The two
motions can be regulated so as to work in unison with each other,
enabling the operator thereby to regulate and adjust their' relative speed
whereby a uniformity of pick and tension is, effected that enables any
class of fabric from coarse to fine to be produced with regularity and
precision.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Hadfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 30th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HADFIELD, of Ardwick, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, send 3
greeting

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Hadfield, Her special license
that I, the said William Hadfield, my executors, administrators, and.
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Hadfield, my executors,
administrators, and 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
Eslands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Hadfield, my executors or administrators, by: an instrument in writing
under my hand, and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain 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 I, the said William Hadfield, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say:
"
The Invention relates to the two parts of the loom known as the-
letting-off" or beam motion, and the " taking-up" or cloth roller
motion, and the Invention is designed for the purpose of producing
through their combined action and the great precision with which the
motion can be regulated a more perfect, uniform, and even fabric than
has hitherto been manufactured, and as the principle of the Invention
is similar in both cases, that is "letting-off" and " taking-up," I
will proceed to describe the improvements in.
The warp or thread on leaving the beam passes around and between
two rollers, which are geared together, and between the surfaces of.
which the warp in its passage is nipped by reason of the top roller being
mounted in slide bearings that cause its periphery at their nipping
surface or points of contact to be somewhat below the top surface of the

page_text: under roller, the top roller relative to the bottom being very slightly
increased in diameter. The warp as it leaves the nipping surfaces of the
rollers is delivered and transmitted to the taken up at a more uniform
and even tension than hitherto, the said tension being kept up whilst
shedding by allowing it to pass after leaving the top roller over an
ordinary vibrator. The taking-up of the cloth when leaving the breast
beam is effected in a similar manner to the letting-off, that is, the cloth
is retained or nipped between the periphery or surface of two rollers
geared together, their arrangement and position being similar to the
rollers already described, the under roller in place of the top being still
further increased in diameter; or as an equivalent one of the wheels
gearing the rollers may be varied or a little larger in diameter: The cloth
is received and delivered from the lower roller on to the cloth roller,
where it accumulates in the ordinary manner. Rough material, such as
emery or perforated zinc, now in general use for the taking-up (and
which are detrimental to the appearance of the cloth and destructive
to the outer garments of the weaver) are by the employment of these
improvements entirely dispensed with. The connection of the letting-
off with the taking-up roller is accomplished in the ordinary manner
through the medium of the ratchet wheel, which is provided with
a long boss, on which the spur wheel or pinion for altering the
pick" is fixed; there is also fixed on the same boss a bevel wheel,
which communicates motion through a pinion and shaft to a worm,
which gears in a worm wheel on the under yarn or letting-off roller.
By changing one of these bevil wheels, or the one at the end of the yarn
roller, the tension of the warp may be regulated and kept up to the
greatest equality and regularity. The wheels can easily be taken out
of gear, so that in case of unweaving the cloth can be let slack in the
ordinary way. A provision is made for keeping the warp when let back
uniform and even in tension; this is accomplished by causing the warp
threads immediately they leave the beam to pass under a rod or bar of
metal, which is supported by radial arms projecting from centres on
the loom frame corresponding with the centres of the warp beam. Those
radial arms are provided with slots having a radius outside the flanges
of the beam, which will allow the rod or bar to bear upon the yarn and
the beam flanges; thus when the warp is let back the rod gradually
lowers and bears upon the yarn, preventing thereby any " slack," and
when the weaving again proceeds the rod is caused to rise and assume its
old position; the said tension rod bearing upon the yarn prevents the
"

page_text: possibility of slack yarn. The flanges of the warp beam rest upon
platforms which form a portion of the brackets supporting the warp
beam. By this novel contrivance the reduction of weight to the
<< warp beam as the warps are delivered therefrom necessarily reduces
the amount of friction excited between the periphery of the flange and
the platforms, thereby compensating or reducing the weight as the
length of warp is reduced.
In order that my Invention may be better understood and explained
in detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a
scale of about three inches to the foot.
Fig. 1 represents a transverse section of a loom framing, having
applied thereto the improved "letting-off" and taking-up rollers; in this
view is also shown the direction of the warp threads and cloth from the
warp beam"
on to the cloth roller, also the tension bar for preventing
slack yarn. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the loom, showing more
particularly the peculiar arrangement of driving and connection of the
two motions, that is, the "letting-off" with the "taking-up." Fig. 3
represents a detached plan view of the same; and Fig. 4 represents a
back elevation of the warp beam and its bearings, together with the
radial arms and tension bar.
In Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, a, a, is the ordinary framing of a loom
adapted to these improvements; b is the warp beam, and e the cloth
roller. The warp on leaving the beam 6 passes first around the falling
tension bar i, and then around and between the rollers c and d, which
are geared together by the wheels d¹ and c¹; between the surfaces of
these rollers the warp in its passage is nipped by reason of the top
roller & being mounted in the slide bearings f, in such a position that
the periphery or nipping surfaces of the top roller will be a little below
the top surface of the under roller c; the top roller d relative to the
bottom being very slightly increased in diameter gives a constant lead
or drag upon the yarn that prevents the possibility of irregularity in
the tension, the uniformity of tension when "shedding" being maintained
by the ordinary vibrator g. The yarn after leaving the vibrator g and as
it becomes manufactured into cloth, passes over the breast beam h, after
which it is received by the two taking-up rollers k and Z, which are
geared together and situated in a position similar to the rollers of the
warp beam already described, the cloth being regularly and constantly
delivered from these rollers on to the cloth roller e. The gearing and

page_text: connection of the taking-up with the "letting-off" will be more readily
understood on reference to the Figures 2 and 3. m³ is the "monkey
tail" or lever in connection with the lathe a¹ that gives. motion through
the medium of the pawl and catch n to the ratchet wheel o. This
ratchet wheel o is provided with a long boss, on which the change wheel
or pinion p governing the pick is secured; on this boss the bevil
wheel g is also seeured, which transmits motion through the pinion r
and worms to the worm wheel t, secured on the end of the under warp
roller c, thereby giving such rollers through the medium of their gearing
wheels d and c¹ the necessary motion for "letting-off," the "taking-up"
motion being transmitted to the under roller of the "taking-up" by
the ordinary train of gearing now employed. In the event of unweaving
the carrier wheel p is taken out of gear and the catches and pawl (giving
motion for taking-up) are raised in the ordinary manner, at which time
the slack yarn is taken up by reversing the worm shaft, simultaneous
with which the tention bar i is caused to lower and bear upon the yarn so
as to keep up the necessary tension, which so soon as the weaving again
commences the said rod is gradually raised so as to assume its former
position, maintaining thereby the yarn at a requisite and given tention.
The bar thus constantly bearing upon the yarn, or if desired upon the
beam flanges and the yarn, enables a sufficient amount of pressure to be
exerted upon the yarn that prevent it getting." slack." The flanges of
the warp beam have a necessary retarding force given to them by reason
of their resting upon and being supported by the platforms u, the bearing
surfaces of which are covered with a material that will excite a slight
amount of friction, thereby preventing a too free delivery of the yarn
from the warp beam whilst weaving.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, together with
the method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be
distinctly understood, in conclusion, that I claim,―
First. As of my improvements the novel construction and gearing
together of the "letting-off" and " taking-up" roller as herein-before
described.
Secondly. I claim the novel and peculiar adaptation of platforms
for independently supporting the warp beams of looms, together with
the radial arms and tension bar employed for maintaining a required
tention upon the warp threads during weaving.

page_text: Lastly. I claim the general construction, arrangement, and adaptation
of the several parts constituting my improvements, together with any
slight modification thereof, so long as the spirit of my Invention as
herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings
attached is substantially retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hadfield, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM HADFIELD. (L.S.)