IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gadd, of the Town and the County of
the Town of Nottingham, Consulting Engineer, and John Moore, of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 25th March 1869, and dated the 30th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gadd and
John Moore at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 30th September 1868.
We, WILLIAM GADD, of the Town and the County of the Town of
Nottingham, Consulting Engineer, and JOHN MOORE, of Manchester, 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:-
Our Invention relates to the apparatus employed in connection with
the "warp beam" of a loom to produce a certain amount of tension in

page_text: the warp after it has left the said warp beam, and consists in an improved
method of regulating the amount of such tension. The warp beam as
most usually constructed is fitted at each end with a pulley or an equi-
valent thereto around which is coiled two or more "turns" of a rope,
band, or chain, one end of the said band being connected to a spring,
and the other end to a weighted lever or to a second spring, the strain
on the said band requiring to be decreased at intervals during the
weaving, as is well understood, our Invention relating more particularly
to those arrangements in which spiral springs are employed to strain the
said bands, but is also applicable to some extent to other arrangements
in which weighted levers or springs otherwise than spiral springs are
employed. When two spiral springs are employed each of the said
springs is connected by one end to the rope, band, or chain above
referred to, and by the other end to one end of a chain, band, or strap,
the opposite end of the said chain, band, or strap being fastened to the
circumference of a drum or pulley or to an equivalent thereto, the said
pulley being mounted upon a stud or shaft, so that in the case of the
employment of straps each of the said straps is wound upon the pulley
when the said pulley is turned in one direction, thereby extending the
said spiral springs simultaneously, a pawl bearing against one of the
tecth in a ratchet wheel upon which the said pulley is formed or to
which it is connected preventing the return motion of the pulley which
would arise from the action of the springs, or a plain wheel acted
upon by a cam-shaped stopper may be used in lieu of the said ratchet
wheel. It will readily be understood that the reductions of the tension
of the warp can be effected by lifting the above-mentioned pawl out
of gear with the ratchet wheel or by otherwise unlocking the pulley
so as to admit of the said pulley being rotated in the direction which
will cause the straps to be unwound from the said pulley. The straps
extending from the aforesaid pulley in opposite or nearly opposite
directions may be passed partly around carrier pullies in order to enable
them to act in a vertical direction on the springs, or the before-mentioned
ropes or chains may be passed around the said carrier pullies and the
springs act horizontally on the said ropes or chains, or other suitable
arrangements may be employed to convert the horizontal action of the
straps or springs into a vertical action.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Gadd and John Moore in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 30th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
GADD, of the Town and the County of the Town of Nottingham, Con-
sulting Engineer, and JOHN MOORE, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, 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 us, the said William Gadd and John Moore, Her
special license that we, the said William Gadd and John Moore, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
William Gadd and John Moore, our 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 Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon
the condition, amongst others, that we, the said William Gadd and
John Moore, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals,.
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 we, the said William Gadd and John Moore,
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 and accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to the apparatus employed in connection with
the "warp beam" of a loom to produce a certain amount of tension in

page_text: the warp after it has left the said warp beam, and consists in an improved
method of regulating the amount of such tension. The warp beam as
most usually constructed is fitted at each end with a pulley or an equi-
valent thereto around which is coiled two or more "turns" of a rope,
band, or chain, one end of the said band being connected to a spring,
and the other end to a weighted lever or to a second spring, the strain
on the said band requiring to be decreased at intervals during the
weaving, as is well understood, our Invention relating more particularly
to those arrangements in which spiral springs are employed to strain the
said bands, but is also applicable to some extent to other arrangements
in which weighted levers or springs otherwise than spiral springs are
employed. When two spiral springs are employed each of the said
springs is connected by one end to the rope, band, or chain above
referred to, and by the other end to one end of a chain, band, or strap,
the opposite end of the said chain, band, or strap being fastened to the
circumference of a drum or pulley or to an equivalent thereto, the said
pulley being mounted upon a stud or shaft, so that in the case of the
employment of straps each of the said straps is wound upon the pulley
when the said pulley is turned in one direction, thereby extending the
said spiral springs simultaneously, a pawl bearing against one of the
teeth in a ratchet wheel upon which the said pulley is formed or to
which it is connected preventing the return motion of the pulley which
would arise from the action of the springs, or a plain wheel acted upon
by a cam shaped stopper may be used in lieu of the said ratchet wheel,
It will readily be understood that the reductions of the tension of the
warp can be effected by lifting the above-mentioned pawl out of gear
with the ratchet wheel or by otherwise unlocking the pulley so as to
admit of the said pulley being rotated in the direction which will cause
the straps to be unwound from the said pulley. The straps extending
from the aforesaid pulley in opposite or nearly opposite directions may
be passed partly around carrier pulleys in order to enable them to act
in a vertical direction on the springs, or the before-mentioned ropes or
chains may be passed around the said carrier pulleys and the springs act
horizontally on the said ropes or chains, or other suitable arrangements
may be employed to convert the horizontal action of the straps or springs
into a vertical action.

page_text: supplied a Sheet of Drawings to accompany this Specification, the said
Drawings having letters of reference marked thereupon.
Referring here to the said Drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation of the back
portion of a loom having the said apparatus attached thereto; Fig. 2 is
an end elevation of the same; and Fig. 3 a plan thereof. Those portions
of the loom to which it is not necessary herein to refer are not represented
in the said Drawings and are of any ordinary construction.
In the said Figures a, a, are the side frames of the loom, and 6 is the
warp beam upon which the warp, represented by straight lines, is wound.
The said warp beam is fitted at each end with an ordinary drum or
pulley c, c, upon which the ropes d, d, are coiled, one end of each rope
being attached to a spiral or other suitable spring e, the other end thereof,
after being passed partly around the carrier pulley which revolves on
a stud affixed to the rail g, being hooked on, attached to, or otherwise
connected with the end of the spiral spring h. The ratchet wheel i is
mounted on a stud attached to the rail g, and is in this example fitted
with handles in order that it may be conveniently rotated, and is also
formed with a long boss j to which the ends of the straps k, k,
are attached, the opposite ends thereof being connected with the
aforesaid spiral springs h, h. It will readily be understood from an in-
spection of the Drawings that when the said ratchet wheel is rotated
in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, the said straps will be wound
upon the boss or pulley i, and the two springs h, h, will be simultaneously
extended to an equal extent, and thereby the ropes d, d, will be tightened
upon the pulleys c, c, and the tension on the warps will be increased, a
contrary effect being produced by rotating the ratchet wheel in a reverse
direction.
The method of operating with the apparatus may be described as
follows, namely, when a full warp beam has been placed in position in
the loom, and the ropes, springs, and straps connected together the
ratchet wheel is rotated in the direction of the arrow until a suitable
amount of tension is imparted to the warp, and the strain upon the
ropes d, d, is maintained so long as is desirable by the pawl 7 preventing
the backward rotation of the ratchet wheel. At such times during the
process of weaving as it may be thought desirable to reduce the strain

page_text: upon the ropes d, d, in order to maintain a comparitively uniform tension
in the warp, the pawl 1 is raised out of gear with the ratchet wheel, and
the said wheel is allowed to rotate to some extent in a reverse direction
to that indicated by the arrow, and the pawl is placed in gear with the
said wheel, and the strain upon the ropes as so reduced is maintained
until it is thought advisable to effect a further reduction in the said
strain. If preferred the straps k, k, may be passed partly around the
carrier pulleys ff, the springs h, h, in such a case occupying a vertical
position similar as in the case of the springs e, e. If found to be desirable
the strain upon the ropes d, d, may be proportionately increased by sub-
stituting differential pulleys for the pulleys ff, that is to say, the said
pulleys are made double, one portion of each pulley being larger in
diameter than the other portion. In such a case the strap, cord, or other
equivalent which is attached to the spring his attached to the larger
diameter of the said pulley, and the rope d to the smaller diameter
thereof, the power of the spring / being by means of this arrangement
increased to any convenient and suitable extent. In some arrangements
the regulation of the tension during the process of weaving is effected by
causing the relaxing of the strain upon the ropes d, d, to take effect from
the opposite ends thereof to those connected to the springs h, h, in which
case the springs e, e, are connected to cords, straps, or other equivalents
which are passed partly around carrier pulleys, as in the case of the
ropes d, d, and are attached to the circumference of a pulley in manner
similar as in the case of the straps k, k, and the boss or pulley j, the
rotation of the said pulley effecting the regulation of the tension in
a similar manner, as in the case of the arrangement illustrated in the
Drawings.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, together with
the means adopted by us in the carrying of the same into practical effect,
we would have it to be distinctly understood that we claim as being of
our own Invention,-
First. The employment of the arrangement of apparatus for regulating
the tension of the warp prior to and during the process of weaving,
substantially as herein described and as illustrated in the attached
Drawings.
Secondly. The regulation of the said tension by the simultaneous
winding or unwinding of two cords, straps, bands, or other equivalents

page_text: on or off the circumference of a pulley, substantially as in the case of
the straps k, k, and the boss or pulley j.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Gadd and John Moore,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth day of
March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-nine.
Signed and sealed by the said
William Gadd and John
Moore in the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Petitioners,
3, Smithy Door,
Manchester.
WILLIAM GADD. (L.S.)
(L.S.)
JOHN MOORE.