A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MILES
BERRY, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Civil Engineer and Mechanical Draftsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by Ilis Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fifth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, and in the sixth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Miles Berry, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Miles Berry, my executors, administraters, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Miles Berry, my executors, administra-
tors, 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 mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies
and Plantations abroad, an Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVEMENT OR CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING," being a communication made to
me by a certain foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Miles Berry, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Miles Berry, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say)—
These improvements in power looms for weaving consist in the adaptation
of certain parts and appendages to a power loom for the purpose of enabling
such looms to weave bristles, horsehair, whalebone, reeds, straw, cane, or other
materials of limited lengths, as weft or shoot, with warps of silk, cotton, flax,
wool, or other fibrous strands or threads, into webs for various useful purposes.
In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1 is a front clevation of loom
capable of being worked by rotary power, to which the improved parts are
attached; Figure 2 is a horizontal view of the same, as seen from above;
Figure 3 is an end elevation; Figure 4, a transverse section taken through
about the middle of the machine parallel to Figure 3; and Figure 5 repre-
sents the back part of the lathe. A is the driving shaft carrying the toothed
wheels, by which the working parts of mechanism are actuated; Bis the warp
beam; C, is the work beam; D, the headles; E, the slay; F the pecker lever,
worked by excentrics on the lower shaft G; upon the same shaft are also the
excentrics for working the treadle levers or treadles H. These and the other
ordinary parts of a power loom shewn in the Drawing are well understood,
and therefore require no farther explanation. The new parts or appen-
dages to the loom are the boxes or receptacles for containing the lengths
of bristles or hairs or other materials to be brought into the web as
weft, or occasional weft or shoot, the forceps or nippers for drawing such
lengths of bristles, &c. from the boxes, and placing them between the
sheds of the warp, the armis or levers and tappets for moving these for-
ceps, and the mechanism for suspending the throw of the shuttle at certain
intervals.
In order to illustrate these improvements, I will proceed to explain their
application to the weaving of a fabrick suited to the making of cravat stiffeners
or stocks for the neck, having thread warps with occasional bristles introduced
into the fabric with the weft; for this and similar purposes where the fabric
to be produced is required to be only of narrow width, the warps, reed,
headles, and other corresponding parts are of narrow extent, as shewn in the
Drawing. The boxes containing the bristles are shewn at a, a, attached to

page_text: the back of the slay; they are about six inches long, three-eighths of an inch
wide, and four inches deep. The bristles are placed straight in the boxes in the
direction of the shuttle race, their ends protruding a short distance out at the
open ends of the boxes next the selvages of the warp, (as shewn at Figure 5,)
and they are pressed and kept close together by weights placed upon them in
each box, so that the forceps may readily take hold of the ends of the bristles
and draw them out from the boxes and deposit them in the web as the weaving
operation goes on. The forceps or nippers b, b, (one pair of which are shewn
upon an enlarged scale at Figure 6,) are also placed at the back of the slay, and
each slides laterally in a groove of a brass plate connected thereto, as will be
perceived by reference to the back view of the slay, Figure 5. The forceps
sliding in their gooves are projected across behind the reed into the bristle
boxes at the opposite sides by the operation of levers or arms c, c, which are
jointed to other levers d, d, seen in the Figures 2 and 3. These levers d, each
turn a fulcrum pin in a bracket arm at e. On the end of each lever d there is
a small roller or stud, which as the slay vibrates is carried up and down in the
straight groovef of the race board, and thereby keeps the lever d from moving
the forceps, which is the case when the weft thread is projected through the
sheds of the warp by the shuttle only; but when the bristles are to be drawn into
the sheds of the warp the moveable piece g, turning upon a pin h set in the race
board, is slidden on one side, as shewn by dots in Fig. 2, closing the straight
grove fand opening the curved groove i. The stud at the end of the lever d
now, by the backward movement of the lathe, passes along the curved groove i,
and in so doing causes the lever d to project the forceps through the sheds of
the warp behind the reed. The shifting of the piece g on the race board is
affected by a projecting stud ke affixed at the end of a lever 1, seen in Figures
1 and 3. This stud k is by a spring kept against the face of a lateral cam
wheel m, which has elevations and indentations corresponding to the required
movements of the forceps b, b; one of the cam wheels m is fixed at each side of
the machine upon a shaft ; for the purpose of producing the action of the
forceps from both ends of the lathe. If the two wheels m are so fixed upon
their shaft that the elevations upon the face of both wheels correspond, then,
both the forceps will be made to advance and pass each other between the
sheds of the warp, fetching one or more bristles at the same time; but if the
elevations of the two wheels are set at intervening points equally distant from
each other, then the forceps will advance alternately on each side every other
beat of the lathe. These variations as to the number of bristles to be intro-
duced into the web compared to the ordinary thread, shoot, weft, or filling, is
entirely under the control of the workman, and will depend upon the kind

page_text: go
of work to be produced; and for the purpose of facilitating these varieties,
other cam wheels, as m*, having different elevations, may be employed by
slightly shifting the position of the stud k. In order that a different portion
of the packet of bristles may be presented to the sliding forceps b, b, every
time that they are projected through the sheds of the warp, the boxes a, a,
are moved up and down by means of rods n, n, attached to the under parts of
the boxes, the lower ends of which rods respectively carry an antifriction
roller, bearing upon the peripheries of excentric cams or heart wheels o, o, fixed
upon a small shaft mounted at the back of the legs or swords of the lathe, as
shown at Figure 5. These heart wheels or cams o, o, are made to revolve
through the agency of a ratchet wheel p, fixed on the same shaft, which ratchet
wheel is acted upon by a click 7, attached to a cross rail on the frame of the
loom, as shown in Figure 4, the vibrating movements of the lathe causing the
click at every stroke of the lathe to drive the ratchet wheel p one tooth
forward, and thus by the gradual rotary movements of the cams to raise and
depress the rods n, n, and hence to give a slow up-and-down movement to the
boxes a, a, for the purposes above stated. The nibs of the forceps close by a
spring (see Figure 6), forming the tail of one of the chops, and they are
opened by a tumbling piece s, turning on a pin under the tail of the lower
chop, as shewn in the detached Figure 6, the nibs being guarded by a plate
behind; when the forceps are projected across the shuttle race the nibs are
open, the tumbling pieces having been placed erect, as in Figure 6, by striking,
as the forceps receded, against a stud or small finger t, fixed at the back of the
stay, as shewn in Figure 5; but when the open nibs of the forceps have
entered the bristle box, another finger v, also fixed at the back of the stay,
forces the tumbling pin from under the tail of the forceps, as shewn by dots in
Figure 6, and thereby allows the nibs to close and hold fast the bristle. The
receding of the forceps now causes the bristle held in the chops to be drawn
between the open sheds of the warp, and when the forceps have nearly reached
the end of their sliding movement, the tail or extremity of the lower chop
strikes against a stud, which opens the chops and allows the bristle to drop out
and occupy the place of weft. The stay now advancing beats up the weft, and
the bristle becomes interwoven or incorporated into the fabric of the web. In
order to suspend to delivery of the bristles when a sufficient length has been
woven to form one stiffener or stock, a pair of cam wheels w, see Figures 1, 2,
and 3, are mounted at the ends of the shaft of the work beam C. The
peripheries of those cams w revolve against the upper ends of levers a, a,
mounted on studs fixed in the side frames of the loom. To that one of the
levers, shewn in Figure 3, an arm y is affixed, the reverse end of which arm

page_text: is connected to a bell crank-lever =, mounted at the side of the frame, as shewn.
in Figure 1. The upper end of this bell-crank lever is attached to a spring
arm a, see Figure 3, which acts upon a clutch rod 6 sliding in the hollow axle
of the tappet wheel m. This clutch rod is connected to a clutch cam c,
Figure 2, on the same shaft, one portion of which clutch cam is fixed to the
shaft, the other portions slides upon it and thereby forms either a straight or a
zig-zag groove for the guidance of a clutch lever d. This clutch lever turns
upon a fulcrum pin in a bracket or arme extending from the frame, the one
end of the lever d having a stud, which works in the groove of the cam c, the
other end having a fork, acting upon a slider or clutch f, f, upon a tappit
shaft G, when the end of the lever x falls into the notch of the cam w, the
clutch cam c is drawn into the situation, which forms a straight groove for
the stud of the lever d to act in; the loom then produces plain work; but
when the cylindrical part of the cam w acts against the lever x, then
the lever x is forced back and the clutch cam slidden so as to form
a zig-zag groove for the stud of the lever d to work in; the reverse end
of this lever is thereby made to slide the clutch f on the tappet shaft G and
to move the tappits g out of action, which before worked the packer levers,
hence the action of the shuttle is suspended, and the forceps alone draw
the bristles for weft. If, however, the work is to consist of ordinary thread
weft from the shuttle as well as bristles drawn in by the forceps, then this
clutch apparatus is altogether dispensed with. The notch in the cam w
allowing the end of the lever x to come forward, a horizontal rod h, see
Figuro 3, is drawn with it, which brings forward a catch i that locks the
lever and prevents the bolt k being acted upon by the face cam wheel m.
This part of the apparatus is brought into operation for the production of the
plain parts of the fibric.
It will be perceived that these parts of the loom for varying the kind of work
may be changed in different ways, and effected by different sorts of mechanism,
I therefore do not intend to confine myself to their exact position, forms, or
dimensions, as those matters must depend upon the kind or quality of work to
be produced; but I claim as my Invention, secured to me by the above in part
recited Letters Patent, the application to power looms of the parts and appen-
dages for holding the bristles, horsehair, whalebone, reeds, straw, cane, or other
materials, and conveying them between the warp threads, or into the web or
fabric as weft, and the necessary parts for stopping or changing the operation of
the same; and also the shuttle for the purpose of weaving different proportions
of such materials into the web or fabric, and stopping the introduction of the
said materials when sufficient length has been made, and then weaving plain web

page_text: or fabric; a power loom, when these parts are properly applied and combined
therewith, being capable of weaving such fabric without the necessity of the
hands of the attendant or workman being used for introducing the different
materials above named into the web or fabric.
In witness whereof, I, the said Miles Berry, have hereunto set my 5
hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.