IMPROVEMENTS IN FRAMES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF STAY LACES, BRAID, AND OTHER PLAITED GOODS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur William Lovell Reddie of the Office for Patents
66 Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent for an invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FRAMES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF STAY LACES, BRAID,
AND OTHER PLAITED GOODS communicated to him from abroad by La
Société Industrielle des Tresses et Lacets de St. Chamond of Paris in the
Republic of France
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur William Lovell
Reddie at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th May 1882.
ARTHUR WILLIAM LOVELL REDDIE of the Office for Patents 66 Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent "IMPROVEMENTS IN FRAMES FOR
THE MANUFACTURE OF STAY LACES, BRAID, AND OTHER PLAITED GOODS."-[Coin-
municated to him from abroad by La Société Industrielle des Tresses et Lacets de
St. Chamond of Paris in the Republic of France.]
These improvements relate mainly to novel means for holding the puppets in
the rotating spindle or carrier heads of braiding frames or machines and for
effecting the transfer of the puppets from one spindle head to another without
the necessity for employing slotted plates or curved guide ways and rocking pieces
or winglets for the purpose of causing the puppets to circulate in their respective
paths, the object in view being to effect this transfer and circulation of the puppets
without the friction of rubbing and without noise and shock, thus greatly reducing
the risk of breaking the threads and enabling the machine to be worked at an
increased speed.
The invention also relates to a novel arrangement of grooved cam for the outer-
most spindles by which the threads are led round and circulated in the opposite
direction, an arrangement which renders unnecessary the movable rocking pieces or
switches hitherto employed for this purpose, and which require considerable effort.
to move:
In carrying out this invention the puppets are seized and pressed into or against
the notches or grooves of the rotating spindle heads by grippers or nipping bars

page_text: mounted on or carried by vertical rods, the lower ends of which are cranked and
travel in the paths of horizontal cams, fixed around the shafts of the spindles.
Each cam is so grooved as to effect the release of the puppet from one spindle head
and its seizure and transfer to another spindle head, just at the moment when the
semi circular grooves or notches in the said spindle heads are exactly opposite each
other, and the transfer of the puppet is thus effected without shock and almost
without sound
By this arrangement each of the puppets is laid hold of by the grippers, as it
were by the hand, and is held firmly in the notches in the head, and transported
from one point to the other of the frame without any rubbing or friction of the
puppet tubes, since they do not slide in any guide ways or rub against curved
surfaces. For flat braids or laces, the number of notches in the two end or outer-
most spindle heads will vary from those of the other spindle heads, say as 5. to 4,
and the fixed cam at the base of the shafts of these outermost spindles will have a
double path for the cranked ends of the gripper rods to move in, and it will also
have a pair of winglets or two-armed rocking pieces, by which the ends of the
cranked rods will be caused to alternately take the inner and outer paths of
the said cam. Thus each of the outermost or return spindle heads will, by means
of its grippers and the double grooved cam just described, at one period of its
rotation seize hold of and carry round with it a puppet from the adjacent spindle
head, and when it again reaches the point of contact with the adjacent spindle-head,
will release the said puppet and transfer it to a gripper of the other spindle head
'to be circulated through the machine in the opposite direction
As a modification in the construction of the double grooved cam it is also
proposed to employ a fixed switch button, for directing the ends of the gripper
rod cranks alternately into the inner and outer cam paths, so that there will be no
rocking pieces required to effect this change of direction.
This switch consists of a button fixed at the point where the two main paths
cross, and having in its upper surface two small transverse cuts, each connecting
one end of the inner and outer paths respectively. A shoe, having a curved rib
on its underside, is drilled on its upper side to receive the crank pin of the gripper
rod, and the shoe is made to freely slide in the main cam paths as the spindle and
the gripper rods rotate. When, however, the rib on the underside of the shoe
arrives at the fixed switch button, it will enter one of the transverse cuts therein,
and and cause the shoe to slide from the inner to the outer path, or vice versa :
thus shifting the position of the crank pin, partially rotating the gripper rod, and
thereby opening or closing the grippers, or their equivalent, and releasing, or
gripping, the puppet.
Means for lubricating the cam paths may be provided if necessary, and bowles
or buttons on the cranked end of the gripper rods may be provided to ensure
smooth and noiseless action.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Arthur William Lovell Reddie in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd November 1882.
ARTHUR WILLIAM LOVELL REDDIE of the Office for Patents 66 Chancery Lane
in the County of Middlesex Patent Agent "IMPROVEMENTS IN FRAMES FOR
THE MANUFACTURE OF STAY LACES BRAID AND OTHER PLAITED GOODS
35
Being a
Communication to me from abroad by La Société Industrielle des Tresses et Lacets
de St. Chamond of Paris in the Republic of France
2
These Improvements relate mainly to a novel mode of holding the " puppets"
in or against the rotating spindle or carrier heads of braiding frames or machines,
and effecting the transfer of the "puppets" from one spindle head to another
without the necessity for employing slotted plates or curved guide ways and
rocking pieces or winglets for the purpose of causing the puppets to circulate in
their respective paths, the object in view being to effect this transfer and circulation
of the puppets without the friction of rubbing and without noise and shock, thus
greatly reducing the risk of breaking the threads, and enabling the machines to be
worked at increased speed.
The invention also relates to certain novel arrangements of grooved cams for the
outermost or "return" spindles, viz: those by which the threads are led round and
circulated in the opposite direction so as to form flat braids or laces.
"
In carrying out this invention the " puppets are seized and pressed into or
against the notches or grooves of the rotating spindle beads by claws or grippers
formed in one with or carried by vertical rods the lower ends of which rods are
cranked, and travel in the path or paths of a horizontal cam fixed at the base of
each of the spindles.
Each cam is so grooved as to effect the release of the "puppet" from one spindle
head and its seizure and transfer to another spindle head just at the moment when
the semicircular or other grooves or notches in the said spindle heads are exactly
opposite each other, and the transfer of the "puppet" is thus effected without
shock and almost without sound.
By this arrangement each of the puppets is laid hold of by the grippers as it
were by the hand, and is held firmly in the notches in the head and transported
from one point to the other of the frame without any rubbing or friction of the
puppet tubes or stems, since they do not slide in any guide ways or rub against
curved or other surfaces. For flat braids or laces the number of notches in the
two end or outermost spindle heads will vary from those of the other spindle
heads, say as 5 to 4, and the fixed cam at the base of the shafts of these outermost
spindles will have a double path for the cranked ends of the gripper rods to move
in, and it will also have a pair of winglets or two armed rocking pieces by which
the ends of the cranked rods will be caused to alternately take the inner and outer
paths of the said cam.-Thus each of the outermost or return spindle heads will by
means of its grippers and the double grooved cam just described, at one period of
its rotation seize hold of and carry round with it a puppet from the adjacent
spindle head, and when it again reaches the point of contact with the adjacent
spindle head will release the said puppet and transfer it to a gripper of the other
spindle head to be circulated through the machine in the opposite direction.-As a
modification in the construction of the double grooved cam it is also proposed to
employ a fixed switch for directing the ends of the gripper rod cranks alternately
into the inner and outer cam paths, so that there will be no rocking pieces required
to effect this change of direction

page_text: The nature of the Invention will be understood on reference to the accompanying
drawing in which fig: 1 represents a plan view of a stay-lace or braiding frame,
constructed according to this Invention and fig: 2 is an elevation partly in section
(taken on the line 1. 2 of fig: 1 of a spindle and fixed excentric or singly grooved
cam at its base-Fig: 3 shows in full size a vertical section of one of the excentrics
or doubly grooved cams for the outermost or "return" spindles.-Fig: 4 is a
corresponding plan. Figures 5 and 6 represent in vertical section and plan view
a modification of the doubly grooved cam, Figures 7 and 8 are detail views and
Figures 2bis, 3bis, 3ter, 4bis and 4ter are detail views of certain parts, on an enlarged
scale, which will be referred to hereafter. All the movable parts of the frame are
arranged on a plate of cast iron and its several spindles, which are each turned
from a single piece of wood, are movable around fixed shafts or axes. Each
spindle carries at its lower part toothed wheels by which rotary motion is
transmitted from one spindle to the other.
Behind or nearer to the centre than the vertical grooves or notches O, formed as
usual in the spindle heads (Figures 2 and 2bis) are arranged the shafts or axes A
from which shafts project the claws or gripping arms G (Figures 23bts and 3ter)
situate between the upper and lower spindle heads m m', which gripping arms or
claws G serve to seize the tubes or steins of the puppets (Figures 2 and 4bis) which
may be in the grooves or notches, O, and hold them firmly therein so as to carry
the puppets round with them in their circular course as if they were grasped by
the hand.
The axes A terminate in cranks, M, the ends of which travel in excentric or
cam paths E adapted to the base of the spindle shafts, and so arranged as to cause
the claws G to open or shut and to seize or release the puppets according to the
requirements of the work in hand (Figures 4 and 4ter)
Suppose that the stem of a puppet F is within the grooves of the heads of the
spindles 1-2 of Fig: 1, and at their point of contact c whither this puppet would
have been conducted from the point b, that the claws of the spindle No 2 are about
to open and those of the spindle No 1 about to close, the puppet F will be
transported to d by the continued rotation, and so on at each point of contact
of the spindle heads during the entire circulation of the puppets through the
frame.
It will thus be seen that by this arrangement each puppet is seized as by the
hand, by the claws which hold it firmly within the grooves or notches of the
spindle heads, and is carried from one point to another of the frame without
rubbing since it does not slide in any path, and without shock since the seizing
and releasing by the claws take place at the point of contact of the spindle heads
at the moment when the puppet is well supported between two pairs of the grooves
or notches, (see Fig. 2bis).
The excentrics or cams (Numbers 3 and 4 Fig: 1 and Figures 3, 4 and 4ter) of
the outermost or "return" spindles which have an unequal number of grooves in
their heads (by reason of their having only a single point of contact) will be so
arranged that each claw will seize the stem of a puppet at one rotation, and release
the said puppet at the next rotation.
To effect this motion a cam is employed having two paths E E¹ concentric for a
greater part of the cam, in which paths the ends of the cranked axis A of the
claws G are caused to circulate alternately.
The circular rib or wall separating these two paths is cut away at z.
Corresponding to these paths are the winglets or swallow-tailed pieces P P¹
movable on the pivot pins p p each longitudinal half of which winglets serves
alternately to connect the inner with the outer path, and vice versa.
The form of the two swallow-tailed pieces causes them, as they rock on their
centres, to alternately open and close each of the paths E E-Thus if we suppose
the end of the cranked axis M to be moving in the direction of the arrow
Figures and 4ter it will enter the path E after having moved past one end of the
winglet P¹ and having passed beyond the pin p' it will encounter the other end of

page_text: the winglet P¹ and as it moves onward will cause that winglet to rock thus
opening the path E¹ ready for the next round.
In like manner it will encounter the winglet P which it will rock in its turn
thus opening the path E on the other side of the pin p-It will then engage with
the open winglet P1 and enter the path E' rocking the winglet P¹ as it passes and
setting it ready for the next round,-On leaving the path E¹ it will rock the
winglet P and set free the crossing into the outer path E and so on. There is
thus produced at the point M and alternately, a shifting of the excentric part or
crank end, which causes the axis A at one revolution of the spindle to open its
claws G, and at the next revolution to shut them.
In order to prevent the winglets P. P¹. from accidentally shifting their position
after their proper rocking motion takes place they are made of such sufficient
length as to engage with one cranked end of an axis before the crank end of the
preceding axis has passed by.
33
In Figures 5 and 6 is shewn a modification in the construction of the doubly
grooved excentrics or cams for operating the claws on the outer or "return
spindles of braiding machines of this improved system.
This modified arrangement does away with the shifting winglets above described,
and greatly decreases the force and friction exerted in transferring the cranked ends
from one groove to another, as there are no rocking pieces to be shifted.
Fig 5 shews this cam in sectional elevation and Fig: 6 is a corresponding plan
view. Fig: 7 is an elevation of one of the shoes in which the ends of the cranked
axes of the claws, are stepped, and Fig: 8 is a corresponding plan view.
:
a. a. are the two concentric paths (Fig 6) in which the shoes of the cranked
axes of the claws alternately circulate.
The wall or rib which separates these two paths is as before cut away at z.
leaving a space where the two paths blend.
In this space is fixed the stud x. projecting about 3™/m above the bottom of the
paths a. a¹.
In this stud are cut two narrow curved paths, r. r. crossing each other, and
each corresponding at one extremity with the path a. and at the other with the
path a¹.
The shoe 8. (Figures 7 and 8) is a small curved pieces of the breadth of the
paths a. a. and drilled on its upper side and midway of its length with a hole
in which engages the end of the cranked axis of the claws, which axis carries it
along.
Its lower part is formed with a keel or rib of the same depth and breadth as the
narrow grooves r. r. of the stud x in which the rib engages.
Now supposing the shoe s. to be drawn along by the crauk of the axis of the
claws, and circulating in the direction of the arrow in the path a¹. (Fig 6), when
it reaches the stud x, its rib will engage with the groove r. which will lead it to
the path a. which it will follow until it again arrives at the stud x. when it will
enter the groove r¹, by which it will be shifted to the path a'.--and so on.
There is thus produced as in the preceding arrangement, at the point a shifting
of the excentric part or cranked end of the axis by the crossing of the paths a
and a effected by the grooves 7. r. in the stud x. which causes the same claws to
open at one revolution of the spindle, and to shut tight at the following revolution,
without employing moveable pieces.
Means for lubricating the cam paths may be provided if necessary and bowles
or buttons on the cranked ends of the gripper rods may be provided to ensure
smooth and noiseless action.
Having now set forth the nature of the said Invention of "Improvements in
frames for the manufacture of stay laces braid and other plaited goods, as commu-
nicated to me by my Foreign correspondents, and having explained the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I claim.
First: The mode of effecting the circulation of the "puppets" in Braiding
frames or machines without shock or rubbing as above described, the said mode

page_text: consisting essentially in the transfer of the "puppets " from one "spindle" to
another by means of claws or gripping arms which are caused to alternately grasp
or release the stems of the puppets at the proper moment substantially as set forth.
Secondly-In combination with the rotating spindles of braiding frames or
machines, the arrangement of claws or gripping arms, cranked axes, and grooved
cams described with reference to the drawings for the purpose set forth.
Thirdly. The special construction of two-path cam described with reference to
Figures 3, 4, and 4ter of the drawing, for actuating the axes of the gripping arms
or claws carried by the outermost or "return" spindles in flat braid frames or
machines as and for the purpose set forth.
Fourthly The special construction and arrangement of two-path cam and its
accessories described with reference to Figures 5. 6. 7 and 8 of the drawing,
whereby the cranked axes of the gripping arms or claws of the outermost or
"return" spindles in machines for flat braids or laces, are alternately shifted
without the use of loose winglets or moveable switches, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof I the said Arthur William Lovell Reddie have hereunto
set my hand and seal the twentieth day of November in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.