WRP THREAD BREAKS
Year: 1884

page_text: I, EDWARD SMITH, Manufacturer's Agent, of 15 Booth Street, Bradford in the
County of Yorkshire do hereby declare the nature of my invention for AN
AUTOMATIC MOTION FOR STOPPING THE LOOM WHEN THE WARP THREAD BREAKS
to be as follows :-
For this I insert in each dent of the reed a flat piece of metal hooked at the top
and having at the bottom a head with a hollow part in it sufficiently large to cover
the dent. These pieces of metal, which I preferably designate catches, are suspended
upon a wire inserted in the reed through small holes opposite to each other and in
Buch a position that at the opening of each shed the warp threads enter the hollow
part in the heads of the catches in front of the reed, thus raising the lower part of the
catch in front, and throwing backward the hook part of the catch behind, the reed.
Immediately above the top or hook part of the catches and running parallel with
them behind the reed, a string is stretched from one end of a piece of metal which
works upon a centre attached to the loom frame and which I designate an arm,
passing through an eyelet at the extremity of a similar arm working upon a centre
attached to the belt end of the loom frame, thence passing downward and through
an eyelet at the end of a lever, (to be hereinafter described) the said string having
a small weight attached to its extremity immediately below the said lever. To an
extention of the pivot of the weft fork a piece of metal is pivoted of the same
shape as the hook part of the weft fork and working alongside it. This hook is
supported a little above the head of the elbow lever which works in conjunction
with the weft fork, by an elbow lever of a similar shape but with the head at the
top reversed and rather higher, while the lower arm of this lever oxtends only as
far as the depending string and has an eyelet at its extremity for the said string to
pass through as before mentioned. This second elbow lever works on an extention
of the centre on which the other elbow lever works.
It will therefore be seen that in weaving goods for which one end in each dent
is required to be raised at the opening of each shed, that all the catches will be
regularly lifted; and that the aforesaid string, held in position by the two arms
and beaten down close to the reed by the action of the tappets on the small pulleys
Drinn R17

page_text: at the moment when the shed is fully opened, will work clear of the hook part of
the catches. Should a warp thread break, the particular catch suspended above it
would not be lifted at the next opening of the shed to which it belonged, con-
sequently the string being beaten down close to the reed would enter the hook part
of the catch and at the next advance of the reed to the fell of the cloth, the string
would be drawn forward by the catch, thus raising the lower arm of the elbow
lever throught which it is passed and throwing the top arm of the lever backward,
thereby allowing the hook working alongside the hook of the weft fork to drop on
to the catch which works in conjunction with the weft fork hook, and thus
automatically stopping the loom in the same manner as if the weft fork hook had
not been raised.

page_text: I EDWARD SMITH Manufacturers' Agent of 15 Booth Street Bradford, in the
County of York do hereby declare the nature of my said invention for "AUTOMATIC
MOTION FOR STOPPING THE LOOM WHEN THE WARP THREAD BREAKS " and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to an automatic motion for stopping the action of a Loom
when any of the warp threads break.
For this purpose I insert in each dent of the reed a flat piece of metal sloped at
at one end and having at the other end a head with a slit or dent in it sufficiently.
large to cover one dent of the reed. These pieces of metal which I preferably call
catches are pierced about the centre of their length with small holes by which they
are suspended in the reed, similar holes being pierced in each wire of the reed
opposite to each other and a small wire being passed through a dent and a catch
alternately-The end of the catch with the dent in it is made heavier than the
sloped end, the dent of the catch thus being close to the reed in front while the
sloped end of the catch stands slightly into the reed at the back in the normal or
stationary position of the catch. To prevent the dented end of the catch from
being pressed into the reed, the dents of the reed are pierced with an oblong hole,
and a flat wire is passed through such holes from end to end of the reed in such a
position, that when the top part of the catch enters the reed behind it rests against
this flat wire. These catches are thus pivoted on the lower or small round wire in
such a position in the reed that at the opening of each shed the warp threads or
ends enter the dent at the bottom of the catch thus raising the dented end of the
catch in front and throwing back the sloped end of the catch behind the reed.
Opposite the top or sloped part of the catches and running parallel with the row
of catches and behind the reed a segment of a hollow rod is soldered to a rod
hinged to supports which are either fixed in the top beam of the reed or soldered
to the reed itself This rod which works about half way round its hinge is turned
round clear of the tops of the catches by means of a projection attached near the
weft-fork end of the rod which projection comes into contact with a finger like
point at the forward movement of the reed to the fell of the cloth The rod is
supported in this position by a catch at the back of the reed which I designate the
support-catch until the return of the reed; and when the shed is fully opened the
lower end of the support-catch comes into contact with another finger like point,
thus releasing the rod which is then pressed quickly down by a small spiral spring
bearing on the projection near the weft fork end at the moment when all the
catches are lifted by the opened shed.
It will therefore be seen that in weaving goods for which one end in each dent
is required to be raised at the opening of each shed, all the catches are regularly
lifted, and that the aforesaid projection on the rod being dropped by the action of
the spiral spring at the moment when the shed is fully opened and all the warp
threads perfect the rod works clear of the tops of the catches; but when a warp
thread is broken, the particular catch suspended above it is not lifted, consequently
the rod when it is freed from its support is caught by the top of that particular
catch and at the next advance of the reed to the fell of the cloth, another projection
attached to the weft-fork end of the rod and at an angle with the projection before

page_text: mentioned strikes the point of a swivel-catch and turns another.point of the swivel-
catch on to the hook part of the weft fork, thus automatically stopping the loom
by preventing the weft-fork from being raised by the weft thread.
In order to enable my invention to be fully understood I will proceed to describe
the same by reference to the accompanying drawing in which figure 1 is a sectional
side elevation of part of a loom with my improvements applied thereto, the shed
. being shewn fully-opened, and all the parts in position for the ordinary working of
a left hand loom.
Figure 2 is a perspective view shewing the swivelling catch arrangement applied
to the weft fork of the loom.
Figure 3 is a back clovation of a reed with some of the parts which are shewn in
position for a right hand loom but these parts can easily be removed and put in the
reverse way at the opposite end of the reed so as to adapt the reed for a left hand
loom.
A is the ordinary working reed shewing tho oblong hole A¹ (through which is
passed the flat wire) and the round hole A³ (through which is passed the small
round wire) pierced through each wire of the reed.
B and B are two of a series of catches, proferably made of sheet steel. The
catch B, it will be seen, is somewhat shorter than the catch B' and of a somewhat
different shape in order to allow its flanged sides to work freely inside the flanged
sides of the catch B¹. These flanged sides are made by blocking up the end of the
catch and afterwards sawing in the dent, by rivetting narrow pieces of metal on the
catches, by soldering ends of the required shape on the catch or by cramping
the end of the catch itself. Figure 4 is an end view of one of the catches shewing
the dent in the saine, B³ is a wire or wooden rod to keep the catches steady when
working.
C is the segment of the hollow rod or bar soldered to the free parts of the
hinge C' and working about half way round the supporting parts P of the hinge
the parts of the hinge being connected together by the wire C² passing through
them.
D is the projection from the hinged rod C, C¹ and is fastened near the end thereof
by the screw D¹ and strikes, and is turned up by, the projection I at the advance of
the reed to the fell of the cloth thus turning about half way round on its hinge the
rod C, C¹.
E is the support catch which is pivotted to a flat piece of metal R fastened in
the beams A of the reed, the support catch E being kept pressed against the
segmental rod C by the spring F³ when not in contact with the finger-like point F
which releases the rod C, from the support catch E and is inserted through a hole
bored in a casting F which is bolted in any suitable manner to the loom frame, the
point F being fixed in position by the screw F³.
G is a small spiral spring one end of which rests on the projection D and presses
it down thereby turning back the rod C when released from the support catch E
the spring G is placed on the rod G' which is fixed to the support Q of the rod C, Ci
by the bolt G³.
His the rod attachment which works at an angle to clear the top of the finger
like projection K, when the rod C, C', has been turned or dropped clear of the catches
and when the reed advances to the fell of the cloth, but when the rod C, C' has been
propped up or prevented from turning back by reason of one of the series of
catches B or B' maintaining its upright position in consequence of a warp thread
breaking, this attachment maintains its perpendicular position and when the reed
advances to the fell of the cloth the edge of the projection K is struck by the rod
attachment H and the swivel catch L is turned on to the hook part of the weft
fork (which is shewn by the dotted lines in figure 2) immediately before the weft
fork passes into the weft-grate, thus preventing the book end of the weft fork from
being raised; the projection I against which the projection D strikes is fixed by
nuts on the screw I which passes through and is bolted to the casting M; J is a

page_text: round plate forming part of the pivot J' and the top of the pivot is screw
threaded and by means of a nut passing over the same the projection K and swivel
catch L are bolted to the plate J.
"
O is a wire or string attached at one end to the swivel catch L and at the other
end to the rod which supports the weft fork, and is left rather slack to allow of the
swivel catch L being turned on to the hook part of the weft-fork and when the
swivel catch L has been so turned and the supporting arm of the weft-fork is
consequently pulled back the wire or string O is drawn tight and the swivel
catch is thrown back into position again ready for the next starting of the loom.
In figure 7 which is a detached sectional view of one of the reeds of the loom,
N is a wire or string to pass under and support any catches at the ends of a reed
when the full number of catches are not required-such wire or string being
attached in any suitable manner to the reed or to the hand rail.
Figure 5 is a detached side elevation shewing an alternative shape of catch to be
used when a lighter one is preferable, but I would observe that I do not confine
myself to the exact forms of the catches shewn in the drawing as it is evident that
they may be modified and still be used in the manuer and for the purpose herein
described.
Figures 8 and 9 are a part front elevation and an end view respectively of
a guard to slot over the top beam of the reed when the warp is woven out and
when the gears are being removed for another warp to be twisted in, such guard
covering the catches both at the front and back of the reed and being fastened to
the reed by bolts or other suitable means.
Figure 6 is a back elevation drawn to a larger scale of the rod attachment H
shewing more clearly that the lower part of the same is free only to work upwards
and when the rod C has been dropped or turned back and the projection D is in a
perpendicular position this lower part is kept in a horizontal position by the
projecting parts H; H¹ is the hinge of the rod attachment H.
I would observe that in weaving those kinds of goods for which one end to every
two dents is required to be lifted at the opening of each shed, the catches are put
into alternate dents of the read and an end put on to the catch with a dent in it
sufficiently large to cover two dents of the reed; and in weaving those kinds of
goods in which one end is raised to every three dents of the reed at the opening of
each shed, the catches are inserted in every third dent of the reed and have a head
put on them with a dent in sufficiently large to cover three dents of the reed.
I would also mention that in weaving with this stop motion the cloth must be
kept well templed out so that the dents at the ends of the reod are not bent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
(1) Providing the dents or wires of the working reed of a loom with holes pierced
therein for receiving a wire on which a series of catches is pivotted.the said catches
operating in combination with suitable mechanism for stopping the motion of a
loom, when any of the warp threads break as herein before described.
(2) In an automatic motion for stopping the action of a loom upon the breaking
of a warp thread a series of catches pivoted in or working into the dents of the
working reed of the loom and arranged to be raised or operated upon by the warp
threads at the opening of each shed substantially as and for the purposes herein
before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
(3) In an automatic notion for stopping the action of a loom upon the breaking
of a warp thread the use of the hinged segmental rod operating in combination
with the series of catches in the reed and tho knock off motion substantially as and
for the purposes herein before described and represented in the accompanying
drawing.
(4) In an automatic motion for stopping the action of a loom upon the breaking
of a warp thread, the swivel catch herein described and shewn for preventing tho

page_text: weft-fork hook being raised in combination with the string attachment for throwing
it back into position operating substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein before described and represented in the accompanying drawing.
(5) The guard for slotting on the top beam of the reed when the gears are being
lifted out as herein before described and represented in figures 8 and 9 of the
accompanying drawing.
Dated 12 JS DL-1001