Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, Fal. Inst. P.A. of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, Lord Street, Liverpool in the County of Lancaster, and
323 High Holborn in the county of Middlesex, Civil Engineer do hereby declare
the nature of this invention (which invention has been communicated from abroad
by James Crawford M°Creery of the city, county, and state of New York, United
States of America, Merchant) and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
In weaving there is a practical limit to the speed which can be successfully
given to the shuttle in its flight through the shed. If this limit is exceeded the
shuttle will not only have a tendency to fly out or to wabble in its course, but it
will also have a tendency to tear such threads of the warp as may chance to be not
properly raised up in the shed, instead of merely pushing such threads up in place
out of its way, and moreover, the too sudden and rapid demand upon the tension
devices of the shuttle, for the delivery of the filling-in thread and the rebound of
the shuttle at its too sudden stoppage after running its course, tend to crinkle the
filling-in thread before that thread can be battened up, and otherwise to interfere
with its evenness and regularity, and with the even tension of the edging of the
goods. The rebound of the shuttle at the end of the course also results in a decided
blow at the beginning of the next reverse movement, tending to make the move-
ment more irregular and flighty. It is therefore desirable that the shuttle should
be thrown with as slow and steady a flight as possible, and that the speed should
be made up in the other movements of the loom which occur between the end of
one flight of the shuttle, and the beginning of the next. The slow and steadied
motion given to the shuttle in hand weaving is the best adapted to produce even
and regular goods, and this is especially important in the line of silk goods.
Heretofore the shuttle has been thrown by the positive motion of cans, and also
by the release of springs previously strained, and for this latter purpose, various
forms of springs have been used, to wit, extensible coiled springs, flat coiled springs,
a series of such springs ou a common shaft, etcetera, etcetera.
It has been found with all these different devices for throwing the shuttle,
that there is a practical limit of speed of the loom as a whole, the exceeding
of which is attended with the various irregularities and uncertainties in the
flight of the shuttle referred to above, resulting in imperfectly woven goods. Cam

page_text: tbrown shuttles tend particularly to be too rapid in their flight when the loom is
driven fast, and the spring thrown shuttles heretofore used tend particularly to be
too unsteady in their flight when the loom is driven fast. The result in both cases
is a necessarily slow moving loom, where goods of any degree of fineness and
delicacy are being woven, and where the weaving must be careful and exact.
Particularly is this true of the weaving of such delicate material as silk.
It is the object of the present invention to so improve the mechanism whereby
the shuttle is thrown that the flight of the latter through the shed will resemble in
character the flight of the shuttle imparted in hand weaving, both in the slow
creeping character of that motion, and also in its firm and steadied and sustained
character. It is also the object of the invention to combine this shuttle driving
mechanism with mechanism so driving the lay and connected parts that the
movements of the latter shall be slowed to permit of this slow flight of the shuttle
and be speeded between the flights of the shuttle as hereinafter described, whereby
the speed of the loom as a whole may be increased, and this without reference to
the character or delicacy of the goods that are being woven. The invention, as
hereinafter described, and claimed, involving the combination in the shuttle-driving
mechanism of a loom, of a peculiar form of spring having peculiar qualities of
motion specially adapting it for this work, obviates the difficulties heretofore
encountered, throws the shuttle with a continuing and steadying and thoroughly
effective throw, resembling in character the throw given to the shuttle in hand
weaving, and thereby enables the work to be done in a closer shed, with all the
advantages resulting therefrom, and permits of the pushing of the loom to a degree
of rapidity and productiveness impracticable heretofore, without deterioration in
the quality of the work. The invention consists in the mechanism hereinafter
described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings:
Figure 1 is a front elevation of a loom embodying this invention, certain parts of
the loom being broken away.
Figure 2 is a sectional side elevation on line 2, 2, of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view in section of the parts operating the picker
stick.
A represents the frame of the loom. B is the main driving shaft operating the
lay C through and by means of the crank a and link b, and operating the shaft D
through gear wheels c d as shown. The reed frame has the usual spring connection
with the lay.
The shaft D carries two cams E E. Resting against each of these cams in an
arm L with the usual roller as shown in the drawings. These arms L on each side
of the loom operate through the rotation of the cams E E to alternately strain and
release the springs by which through connecting mechanism, the picker sticks are
operated, and the shuttle thrown back and forth.
F is a tube or pipe of suitable length, say eighteen to twenty four inches, with
a circular bore, but made solid for three or four inches at one end, the circular bore
terminating at that end in a square recess of about one half an inch in depth, and
of suitable size to receive snugly the square end of the spring, hereafter described,
and to furnish a seat for the same, and prevent its turning in its seat when
twisted. This tube F is mounted at its solid end in bearings in an arm of the
loom frame, in which it turns freely, being secured against longitudinal movement
through its bearings by collars f f in any usual way. The other end of the tube F
fits snugly as a sleeve over a short shaft or plug G around which it turns freely.
This plug G is mounted in bearings in an arm of the loom frame as shown, being
secured against longitudinal movement through its bearings in any usual way, as
by collar g, and set screw H. The end of this plug G which projects into the
tube F has a square recess similar to the square recess in the opposite end of the
tube F, of suitable depth and size to receive snugly the other end of the torsional
spring hereafter described, and to furnish a seat for the same, and prevent its
turning in its seat when twisted. The other end of the plug & projecting beyond

page_text: the arm of the frame in which it is carried, and on the other side of the same is
squared so that it may be conveniently turned as by a wrench. The arm of the
frame carrying this plug G has a set screw H adapted to be screwed down hard
against the plug G, and thereby to hold it securely in any position to which it may
have been turned. Any ordinary means of holding this plug in place when once
adjusted, and preventing its revolving in its bearings during the operation of the
loom, may be employed. The set screw shown is preferred.
K is the spring whose release from strain throws the shuttle. It is a torsional
spring composed preferably of a number of plates or bands of spring steel
(preferably eight) placed one upon the other, and lubricated so that there is little
or no friction between adjacent plates when they move on each other. The precise
measurements of the plates found most efficient in practice, when eight of them are
used together, are as follows:-fourteen inches in length, thirteen thirty seconds of
an inch in width, and one thirty-second of an inch in thickness. These measure-
ments may of course be varied. The plates are loosely held together by two or
three encircling bands or loops, h h, of iron, or other metal, without interfering
with their freedom of motion on each other. The spring is carried within the
circular bore of the tube or pipe F, one end being seated in the square recess in
the end of the plug G, and the other end being seated in the square recess in the
opposite and solid end of the tube F. The plug G being held fast in its bearings,
and prevented from turning, it follows that the tube F can be turned in its
bearings only against the resistance of the spring K; owing to the peculiar con-
struction of the preferred form of the torsional spring K with layers or plates of
steel, the tube F can be turned through a large angle. The tube F carries securely
locked on it the arm L which rests against, and is operated by the cam E. The
tube F also carries securely locked on it the picker stick M, which, through the
usual flexible connection, operates the picker N and throws the shuttle.
The operation of the improved device is as follows. The set screw H being
loosened, the plug G is turned with a wrench, or other suitable means, until the
desired initial or normal torsional tension of the spring. K is obtained, when the
screw His tightened and the plug G thereby locked. The loom being started,
the cam E forces back the arm L, thereby turning the tube F, throwing the picker
stick outward and straining the spring K. When the crest of the cam is passed,
the arm L is released, and, under the action of the spring K, the arm L, the tube F
and the picker stick M are drawn back, and the shuttle is thrown through the
shed. The mechanism is of course duplicated on each side of the loom.
The lay C is driven by the shaft B through or by means of the crank a and
link b. This crank and link operate upon the pivoted or hinged lay frame to
thrust it very rapidly forward and very rapidly backward during portions of the
revolution of the crank, and during the intervening portions of the revolution of
the crank, those parts operate to hold the lay frame with but little motion, that is
to say, when the link b and crank arm a are in those two positions of revolution
of the crank in which they coincide as to the direction of their length and through
a considerable angular distance on each side of those positions, the end of the
link b, which is pivoted to the lay frame, has little motion given to it, the motion
of the end of the crank arm a in those positions being largely consumed in
vibrating the link b on its hinge connection with the lay, and the length of the
link b with reference to the length of the crank arm a (only about double the
length) causes this consumption of the motion of the crank a to be large, and
the lay to be held comparatively motionless during quite an interval of time at the
backward end of its stroke. When the link b and crank a are in those positions of
revolution of the crank in which they stand at right angles to each other and
through a considerable angular distance on each side of those positions, the end of
the link 6 which is pivoted to the lay frame partakes of substantially the full
motion of the end of the crank arm a; wherefore the lay is driven rapidly backward
and rapidly forward during these intervals. Again the end of the link 6 which is
pivoted to the lay is further from the pivot of the lay.frame_at_the base of the

page_text: frame of the loom than is the shaft B, wherefore it results that the dead points in
the motion of the lay end of the link b are coincident in time, not with points
180 degrees apart in the revolution of the crank a but with points more than
180 degrees apart on the one stroke and less than 180 degrees apart on the return
stroke, and, as shown by the positions of the cams E, the back stroke of the lay,
just before the flight of the shuttle, is the more rapid, and the forward stroke in
beating up just after the flight of the shuttle is the slower of the two, all as is
clearly shown on inspection of the parts in Figure 2. The lay C is thus so driven
by means of the shaft B, crank a and link b, that its motions, which are timed
with respect to the motions of the shuttle, are very rapid in the to and fro thrust,
but are slowed both during the flight of the shuttle, so as to give time for its
slower movements, and also during the operation of the battening up, and are
slower on the forward thrust than on the backward thrust, so that the rapid
running of the loom may not injure the most delicate fabric. The reed frame is
also preferably mounted on the lay, with a soft, firm spring, holding it to its
battening up work, and the movements of the heddles in forming the shed are
also, of course, to be properly timed to the new movements of the lay and shuttle.
The method of mounting the reed frame S on the lay, which is preferred, is by
means of a single torsional spring P (similar in construction and mode of mounting
to the spring K) enclosed by a tube P¹, which is mounted on the arms of the lay
frame, and carries the reed frame by means of two supporting arms R, R. The
inventor does not claim such mode or means of mounting the reed frame on the lay
as part of his invention..
The torsional spring described has not only a very small amount of motion
between its moving and its fixed parts in its regular operation as a spring but in
addition, after being strained, it operates in moving the picker staff to throw the
shuttle, without a too sudden loss of its elastic force, that is to say, it does not too
'soon return to its normal, unstrained condition. The character of the throw given
to the shuttle by the mechanism described resembles the throw given to the
shuttle in hand weaving. It is, not by a blow at the beginning of the stroke,
causing the shuttle to leap away from the picker before the shuttle box is one-
third way traversed, as is the case in rapid work with many spring shuttle-driving
mechanisms heretofore used, but by a continuously accelerated motion, the picker
travelling in contact with the shuttle through fully two thirds of the length of the
shuttle box. Thus a steadier motion is given to the shuttle from which it results,
first that the loom may be driven faster and be thereby made more productive, and
secondly, that the shuttle may be thrown through a closer shed.
The spring K may be readily adjusted to any desired tension, and when it has
become permanently twisted in one direction by use, it is only necessary to take it
out of the tube F, and reverse it, as it works as well one way as the other. It
may thus be used indefinitely long, and the tension of the spring kept always the
same.
Mechanisms of many forms being old for straining and releasing the spring by
which the picker stick of a loom is operated, the inventor does not confine himself
to any particular form of such straining and releasing mechanism, or to any
particular manner of connecting it with the spring K or with the picker stick, so
long as the spring K is alternately strained and released, substantially as shown,
and by means substantially the equivalent for that purpose of those shown, and
the picker stick is thereby operated substantially in the manner and with the result
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my Foreign Correspondent, I declare that what I claim is
1st. The combination, with the picker-stick of a loom of a torsional spring
connected to said picker-stick, and straining and releasing mechanism, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.

page_text: 2nd. The combination with the picker-stick of a loom, of a torsional spring
connected to said picker stick and of straining and releasing mechanism, and of a
ixed plug, having means of adjustment as described, said spring being connected
to the straining and releasing mechanism, and mounted in said plug, substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.
3rd. The combination with the picker stick of a loom, of the plate torsional
spring K, having protecting tube F, and connected to said picker stick, and
straining and releasing mechanism, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
4th. The combination with the picker stick of a loom, of the plate torsional
spring K having protecting tube F, and straining and releasing mechanism, and a
fixed plug having means of adjustment as described, said spring being connected to
the picker stick and to the straining and releasing mechanism and mounted in said
plug, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
5th. The combination with the picker-stick M, tube F, arm L, cam E, and
shaft D, of a torsional spring K and plug G, substantially as and for the purposes
set forth.
6th. The combination, with the picker-stick M tube F, arm L, cam E, and
shaft D, of a torsional spring K, plug G, and means as described of adjustably
fixing said plug, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
7th. The combination, with the picker-stick of a loom of a torsional spring
connected to said picker stick, and straining and releasing mechanism, and the
pivoted lay having links b, and the shaft B situated nearer the pivot of the lay
than is the lay end of the links b, and having cranks a, all connected substantially
as and for the purposes set forth.