AN IMPROVED REGULATOR FOR LOOMS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Stevens, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
REGULATOR FOR LOOMS."-A communication from abroad by Jean Jacques
Moeckel, of 42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of France.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Stevens at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
March 1861.
I, CHARLES STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED REGULATOR FOR LOOMS," & that it has been communicated to me from
abroad by Jean Jacques Moeckel, of 42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire
of France, to be as follows:-
My mechanism serves to regulate mechanically the winding-up of the self-
acting looms for the spinning of cotton, wool, or any other material for which
the looms can be employed.
The movement effected by the self-acting loom being known, I give a
description of the working of my regulating mechanism.
In my system the different positions taken by the nut on the screw of the
toothed sector are determined by the regulator, which receives the impulse

page_text: from the tension of the thread. The winding-up of the first needleful begun,
the nut approaches the centre of the toothed sector. If the chain which gives
motion to the spindles runs too slowly the winding-up thread is too tight, and
a front faller is drawn by the tension of the threads from top to bottom. A
sector placed on this front faller regulates itself, so that when the faller arrives
at the point where I want to make the regulator act the slope of the sector is
perpendicular to a coupling rod; a spiral spring lifts this coupling rod; then
a hook fixed to the coupling rod engages a cog wheel, stops it, and as it
forms part of a grooved pulley, around which runs an endless cord, this last-
mentioned is drawn in the same direction as the carriage. In the centre of
the toothed sector is fixed a pivot, on which turns freely a bevel wheel engaged
in another one fixed on a screw. On the bevel wheel that turns freely on
the pivot a pulley is fixed, over which passes the endless cord; the pulley
'thus receives its movement and transmits it by the means of this pair of bevel
wheels to the screw; this in its movement makes the nut rise, and separates
it from the centre of the toothed sector; the movement of the chain augments,
and the swiftness of the spindles diminishes. The movement is thus repeated
at each winding up, when the thread is tight enough, until the foot of the
spindle has reached its greatest diameter; the swiftness of the spindles is then
regular. To strain the thread less, one can regulate under the resting point
of the front faller. A ruling in an inverse direction can be produced by the
same regulator. Often in the self-acting looms the mechanism to lower the
faller is not in accordance with the curve of the thread on the spindles; the
thread is too loose. When the curve develops too much thread the front
faller makes a larger movement from bottom to top; then the winding-up
mechanism is no longer in accordance with the length of the thread. To
correct this irregularity the sector fixed on the front faller is drawn in the
movement of this last-mentioned. A slanting butteris is bolted to the sector,
and disposed so as the slope of the butteris being perpendicular to the coupling
rod the butteris strikes against another fixed to the coupling rod, and obliges
this last to descend. A hook fixed against the connecting rod engages
in a cog wheel, and keeps it steady, and as it forms part of a grooved
pulley, around which runs an endless cord, it is drawn in the direction of the
movement of the carriage. Farther on the endless cord passes over a pulley;
this being fixed on a bevel wheel turning freely on a pivot, it communicates
its movement to a screw, on which another bevel wheel is fixed. At this
instant the screw turns in an inverse direction, makes the nut descend;
approaches it to the centre of the toothed sector. The development of the
chain diminishes, and as it is the chain that transmits the movement to the

page_text: spindles, the movement of these increases to absorb the quantity of thread.
Each time that this irregularity takes place the movement is produced by the.
regulator. The pulley is hindered from turning when there is no need of it.
The coupling rod is maintained forked, and its other extremity slides between
the front faller.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Stevens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th September 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
STEVENS, of 31, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Stevens, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Stevens,.
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such other as I, the said Charles
Stevens, 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 Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED REGULATOR
FOR LOOMS," a communication to me from abroad by Jean Jacques Moeckel, of
42, Rue Laffitte, Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Charles Stevens, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their 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 I, the said Charles Stevens, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
In the self-acting looms the winding up of the thread on the spindles is
effected mechanically. During the forming of the foot of the bobbin at each

page_text: stretch the spindles move at a differential speed, which diminishes by degrees
as the wound-up thread increases on the spindles until the foot of the bobbin
has attained its complete form; the speed of the spindles then continues
nearly equal until the bobbins are finished. To put the spindles in movement
during the winding up, the loom is furnished with a toothed sector, which
during the spinning describes an are backwards, and during the winding up
describes one forwards. The said sector has a screw, furnished with a nut, to
which a chain is attached, which communicates a rotary movement to the
spindles. In proportion as the nut retires from the centre of the sector the
are described by the nut becomes greater, and consequently the speed of
the spindles diminishes as the foot of the bobbin increases. In order to
obtain a properly shaped bobbin, the carriage of the loom is furnished with a
faller wire, on which backing threads (abat fils) are fixed, at whose end a wire
passes & serves to guide the thread in the form of a bobbin on the spindle.
Another apparatus which may be denominated counterfaller wire keeps the
thread stretched during the winding; this counterfaller is also furnished with
backing threads (abat fils), at whose end a wire passes, going beneath the
threads. During the spinning the counterfaller is at its resting point, but
during the winding it is free, and exercises its pressure from bottom to top on
the threads by means of overcharge weights, with which it is furnished, and
which are proportioned to the strength of the threads.
By reference to the accompanying Drawings which represent Fig. 1, a side
view, and Fig. 2, a front view, the arrangement of the several parts will be
easily understood.
When the winding up of the first stretch begins the screw approaches the
centre of the toothed sector; if at this moment the chain which put in move-
ment the spindles works too slowly, then the thread to be wound up
is too
much stretched, and the counterfaller wire A, which serves to stretch the
threads, is drawn down by the tension of the threads. On the counter-
faller A a sector B is fixed, and so regulated that when the counterfaller is
lowered to the point where it is desired the regulator should act, the slope a
of the sector B is perpendicular with the connecting rod C; the piece e fixed
to the rod C is free, and the spiral spring D raises the rod C; the hook E
fixed to the rod C then gears in the ratchet wheel F and holds it. Another
wheel working with the ratchet wheel F gears with the chain G, which is
drawn in the same direction as the return movement of the carriage, and
communicates and upward movement to the screw I by means of the wheel H
on which the chain or cord G passes of the bevel wheels T & V, the first of
which works on the pivot 6 fixed to the centre of the winding-up sector, the

page_text: second on the screw I. The clasp S fixed on the faller wire is bound with
the hook K, which is movable on the faller wire; this clasp is furnished with
an adjusting screw J, by which the necessary play between the ears ƒ & g is
given to the hook K. The clasp S is so regulated that when the faller wire is
lowered to the foot of the bobbin it draws with it the hook K, so that the
circular part of the latter arrives at the end of its course towards the slope
without going from the level part of the piece d, and leaving in this position
the space between the ear h of the hook K and the ear g of the clasp S free.
This mechanism thus arrainged allows the regulator from the first stretch to
regulate the entire length of the stretch if the tension of the thread requires
it, and stops it the moment the foot of the bobbin is closed. By means of the
screw I the nut screw is raised and so removed from the centre of the toothed
sector, and as the working of the chain, the connecting point of which is the
nut screw, increases, so the speed of the spindles diminishes; this is repeated
at each winding up, when the thread is too much stretched until the foot of
the bobbin has attained its largest diameter, the speed of the spindles becomes
so to say regular. In order that the thread may not be too much worn the
regulation can be made beneath the resting point of the counterfaller wire.
A hook K on the faller wire U, and the piece d on the rod C, prevents the
latter from moving down as soon as the bobbin has acquired its full diameter.
The book K must be so regulated that when the foot of the bobbin is finished
the circular part of the hook K must not leave or very slightly the piece d.
As it often happens in self-acting looms that the apparatus for lowering the
faller wire is not in accordance with the winding of the thread on the spindles,
when the thread is too slack the counterfaller wire makes a greater upward
movement, and the winding-up apparatus no longer works in accordance with
the length of the thread to be wound. To prevent this the sector B fixed on
the counterfaller wire is drawn in the movement of the latter. The piece L
having a slope is bolted to the sector B, and arranged so as to be regulated at
will. When the slope c of the piece L is perpendicular with the rod C, the
piece L presses against the piece e, fixed to the rod C, and causes it to descend
the hook M, fixed to the rod C, gears with the ratchet wheel N, and holds it.
The ratchet wheel N has attached to it a grooved pulley, round which the
endless cord or chain G passes, which is thus drawn in direction of the move-
ment of the carriage; the endless chain G passing on the pulley H, fixed to a
bevel wheel T, turning freely on the pivot b, communicates movement to the
screw I, on which another bevel wheel V is fixed; the screw I then turns in
a contrary direction, causes the nut screw to descend, and approches it to the
centre of the toothed sector. The developement of the chain is decreased,

page_text: and as it is the chain which transmits the movement to the spindles they
increase in speed, and so take up the extra quantity of thread; each time this
irregularity happens the regulator produces the above described movement.
In order to prevent the pulley H from turning when not necesary, the pivot b
is square in front, and to it is adapted a friction plate P, on whose socket is a
spiral spring O, resting one side against the cap Q, and on the other side
against the friction plate P, which is covered with leather on the side of the
face of the groove pulley H. The support R is bolted against the frame of
the carriage, and bears the pivots Y & Z, and these bear the two ratchet
wheels F & N, maintains at the same time the rod C, which at its other
extremity slides between the counterfaller wire. At the end of the pivots
Y&Z, the chain guides W & X are fixed, which serve as stops, and also to
maintain the chain G in its gearing with the wheels F. & N.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is, the improved regulator for looms herein-before described,
and represented by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Stevens, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES STEVENS. (L.S.)