IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOM WEAVING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Patrick Robertson, of Shawland's Hill, in the County
of Renfrew, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER
LOOM WEAVING."
Sealed the 14th October 1856, and dated the 14th April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Patrick Robertson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th April 1856.
I, PATRICK ROBERTSON, of Shawland's Hill, in the County of Renfrew,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOM WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an arrangement of apparatus or mechanism in
connection with the power loom, whereby what is commonly called the
shedding motion is operated upon, so as to produce in a new and economical
manner the effect of double weft crossing the web; and the arrangement is
applicable to the weaving of all silk, cotton, or woollen fabrics where one
description of weft is used. To the wiper in common use for plain work I
attach a catch motion, operated upon by a lever with a spring, so as to stop the
wiper for any number of shots of the shuttle as may be required, and alter-
nately make the wiper revolve at intervals in such a manner as to give any
pattern of crossing required. The lever for putting the said wiper, catch in

page_text: and out of gear is operated upon by what are called tappits or cams, which I
fix on a ratchet wheel; and for retarding the up-taking motion of the beam on
which the cloth is wound, so as to beat up the weſt as closely as may be
required, I fix other tappits or cams on this ratchet wheel. By a wheel
pinion, which I place in connection with the wheel of the up-taking motion,
the ratchet wheel catches are disengaged, and by a counterbalance the ratchet
wheel returns to a fixed point.
I do not claim the construction of the apparatus or mechanism, or any parts
thereof; but what I claim as novel, and of my Invention, is, the arrangement
of the apparatus or mechanism to produce the effect desired of double weft
crossing the web in the manner described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Patrick Robertson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th October 1856.
TÓ ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PATRICK
ROBERTSON, of Shawland's Hill, in the County of Renfrew, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Patrick Robertson, Her special licence that I, the said Patrick
Robertson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Patrick Robertson, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN POWER LOOM WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Patrick Robertson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
⚫ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Patrick Robertson, 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, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to improvements in power loom weaving, and consists
in an arrangement of mechanism or apparatus connected with the power loom,
by which the shedding motion is stopped, and the shuttle allowed to traverse
through the same opening of the warp two or more times, so as to produce
cords or tapes alternately, according to pattern, with the usual fabric of the
cloth, whether plain or twilled. And in particular, having reference to an
ordinary power loom, and taking the common wiper used in plain weaving as
an example, I fit the wiper loosely on its shaft, so that it may or may not
revolve with it, according to circumstances. To make it revolve and produce
the regular openings of the warp for the passage of the shuttle, as in weaving
plain fabrics, I attach to one side of the wiper a moveable stopper or key,
which is kept in its place by a groove and a spring acting on one end of it;
the other end falls by the action of the spring into a slit or opening made
into the extremity of a collar fitted upon the wiper shaft, and made fast to it.
This stopper may be made to act either on a line with the wiper shaft, or at
right angles to it, the other parts of the mechanism being fitted to suit. I
have found it advantageous to make it act at right angles, and the apparatus
described is applicable to this mode of arrangement. When the stopper or
key is in its place, i. e., entered into the slit or opening of the collar, the wiper
revolves with the shaft, and cloth is made with the single yarn used as weft.
To suspend the action of the heddles when the shed is open, I affix a lever at
right angles to the wiper shaft to the back rail of the loom, mado with an eye
large enough to allow the lever to traverse freely on the collar fixed upon the
wiper shaft. Upon the faco of the circular part of the lever forming the eye
are two bevelled projections, placed exactly opposite to each other. When
the lever is acted upon and brought close up to the revolving wiper, one of
these projections comes in contact with a similarly bevelled and projecting part
of the key or stopper, which keeps the wiper revolving, and at the moment
when the shed is open for the shuttle, releases the key from the slit of the
retaining collar, and stops the action of the heddles, thereby causing repetitions
of the weft used through the same opening of the warp to form a cord, two or
more cords in close contact forming a tape. To keep the wiper steadily at
rest, a circular part is fixed to the opposite side of the wiper from that holding
the key or stopper, which is notched, and into which notch a friction pulley
fixed on the end of a lever falls by the action of a spring. In order to disen-

page_text: gage the apparatus which acts upon the ordinary wiper and stops its motion, I
use a spring, attached to the lever, to keep its projections from acting on the
key; and to bring the lever forward into contact, a ratchet wheel, with cams or
tappets placed upon it, according to pattern, is used; but for very extensive
patterns any of the ordinary modifications of the jacquard machine might be
advantageously employed, either with or without the ratchet wheel. The
ratchet wheel is placed in a convenient position at one side of the loom, and
so that the tappets or cams act upon one of the ends of a double-armed lever,
the arms being placed at right angles. To the other end of the lever is
attached a rod, which connects it with the lever that operates upon the wiper.
When the cams upon the ratchet wheel, which is driven one tooth every
passage of the shuttle, comes in contact with the bevelled projection on the
arın of the right-angled lever, the key holding the wiper is disengaged, and the
heddle action suspended accordingly for two or more shots. By acting upon
the projecting end of the catch which moves the ratcliet wheel, I can, by
pinions working in connection with the up-taking motion, stop the motion of
the ratchet wheel, and by a counterbalance or spring make it return to the
same point, so that it is not necessary to affix cams or tappets round the whole
circumference. These tappets are fixed on one side of the ratchet wheel; on
the other side are also tappets, which bear on a lever acting on the catches
of the up-taking motion, and by disengaging them, the part where the repe-
titions of the weft through the same opening is made, is more closely beat
up. To ensure steady motion, a friction pulley is cast in connection with
To catch the weft at the selvages
the ratchet wheel, acted upon by a lever.
when the usual shedding motion is stopped, I employ an additional rod, fixed
where the heddles are hung above. At each end of the rod is a small pulley
over the selvages, from which depends a strap with a wire having an eye for a
selvage end or thread to pass through. To each of the wires a small weight is
attached to make it fall. To give motion to this rod, I use an additional
pulley fixed on it, in connection with another lever, counterbalanced so as to
keep its pulley in close contact with a wiper, placed in a convenient position
on the wiper shaft, the lever being made to traverse, so as to raise the selvage
ends one shot, and allow them to sink the next.
The arrangement of mechanism or apparatus herein described can be
adapted to the weaving of all silk, cotton, or woollen fabrics, whether plain or
twilled, also to lappets and other figured cloths made by the power loom.
I do not claim the individual parts of the machinery or mechanism herein
described, as the same are well known, and have been employed in other
arrangements for other purposes; but what I claim as my Invention is,→

page_text: First, the arrangement of mechanism or apparatus in connection with
the ordinary power loom, by which the shedding motion is stopped, and the
shuttle made to traverse two or more times through the same opening of the
warp, so as to produce cords or tapes with one shuttle, similar to those which
result from the emplyment of two shuttles, one with single and the other with
coarser yarn, or with two, three, or more plies wound together and thrown in
at intervals, according to pattern.
Secondly, I claim as my Invention the giving a variety of weaving effects
with one shuttle, by the suspension of the heddle action at intervals, in the
manner herein-before described.
Thirdly, I claim the beating up the cloth and catching the weft at the
selvages, in the manner herein-before described.
Lastly, I claim the adaptation of the jacquard machine, either without or
in conjunction with the ratchet wheel, to produce the required patterns, as
5 herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Patrick Robertson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
PATRICK ROBERISON. (L.S.)