IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gadd, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Consulting Engineer, and John Moore, of the same
Place, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
FOR WEAVING."
"-
Sealed the 9th December 1870, and dated the 16th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gadd and
John Moore at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 16th June 1870.
We, WILLIAM GADD, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Con-
3 sulting Engineer, and JOHN MOORE, of the same Place, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates more particularly to the reeds of looms, and
consists of improvements in the methods of locking or fastening the

page_text: reed when the said reed is fitted to yield to the pressure of the shuttle
in cases when the said shuttle remains in the shed instead of passing
into the shuttle box, that is to say, when the said reed is fitted as a
loose reed. In the case of a reed so fitted it is of importance that the
reed be firmly held during the final beat up of the weft, and for this
purpose we employ a number of latches, bolts, or levers, which lock
the reed or the reed case at as many different points as may be thought
to be desirable according to the length of the reed or to the strain
on the same. The reed case in which the reed usually rests is or
may be hinged so as to be capable of being moved outwards by the reed
until the slay when beating up approaches nearly the termination of its
stroke, when the said reed case is locked by the afore-mentioned latches,
bolts, or levers. The method of locking the said reed case which we
prefer to employ may be described as follows:-A shaft is mounted in
bearings fixed to the slay, and on the said shaft is fixed or formed a
number of levers or latches, the ends of which are formed with pro-.
jecting pieces, which when the said shaft is swivelled in its bearings
are moved into positions behind the aforesaid reed case, thereby locking
the said reed case and preventing the outward movement thereof. Any
convenient number of levers or latches may be fixed or formed on the
said shaft, and the reed case may thereby be locked at as many points
in its length as may be desired. The said shaft is provided with as
many bearings as may be necessary to prevent it from yielding to the
pressure on the reed when beating up, or abutments may be fixed to the
slay, the said abutments furnishing support to the said shaft at points
as near as may be to the said latches or levers. The said shaft is caused
to swivel at the required time by any suitable means, as, for example,
a lever fixed on the said shaft may be acted upon at the required time
by an incline fixed to the loom framing. In place of the latches being
fixed to the shaft, as aforesaid, they may be fitted to slide in suitable
supports or bearings, being moved simultaneously into positions suitable
to lock the said reed case by the swivelling action of the said shaft,
or by the sliding motion of a rod or otherwise, as found to be most
suitable and convenient in each case, or the reed or reed case may
be locked by a continuous bar attached to the said latches, levers, or
bolts.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Gadd and John Moore in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 16th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
GADD, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, and JOHN
MOORE, of the same Place, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth 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
cxccutors, 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 is 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 more particularly to the reeds of looms, and
consists of improvements in the methods of locking or fastening
the reed when tho said reed is fitted to yield to the pressure of the
shuttle in cases when the said shuttle remains in the "shed" instead
of passing into the shuttle box, that is to say, the said reed is fitted
as a "loose reed." In the case of reeds so fitted it is of importance

page_text: " of the weft,
that the reed be firmly held during the final "beat up
and for this purpose we employ a number of latches, bolts, or levers,
which lock the reed or the reed case at as many different points as
may be thought to be desirable according to the length of the reed or
to the strain on the same. The reed case, in which the reed usually
rests, is or may be hinged, so as to be capable of being moved outwards
by the reed until the sley when beating up approaches nearly to the
termination of its stroke, when the said reed or reed case is locked by
the afore-mentioned latches, bolts or levers.
In order that the nature of our Invention may be readily understood,
we have furnished, to accompany this Specification, two Sheets of
Drawings illustrative of several methods of carrying the said Invention
into practical effect, the said Drawings being made for the most part to
a scale of about one-half of the full size, and having letters of reference
marked on portions of each Figure, similar letters indicating corre-
sponding parts in the various Figures.
Referring in this place to Sheet 1 of the said Drawings, Figs. 1 and 2
represent cross sections through an ordinary loom "sley," as fitted with
one of our arrangements for locking the reed; Fig. 3 is a back view of
a small portion of the said sley, and Fig. 4, a back view of a larger
portion thereof, the said Fig. 4 being drawn to a smaller scale than the
other Figures named. In the said Figures and throughout the Drawings
a is the sley, b is the reed, and c is a rail or bar forming the back part
of the case in which the lower part of the reed rests. The said bar c
is attached to a number of fingers d, d, which are fixed on the "stop
rode, so that at times when the bar c is not locked it may be
moved away from the body of the sley, the said stop rod turning in its
bearings and acting as a hinge. A second rod f is fitted to revolve in
suitable bearings fixed to the sley, and on the said rod is fixed the
levers g, g, and the end lever h, shewn more clearly in Fig. 7, which is
a side view of a portion of a loom. The lever h is fitted with a bowl,
which when the sley is beating up runs up the incline h³, and thus
causes the rod f to rotate to some extent. During the main portion of
the stroke of the sley the levers 9, 9, are in the position represented in
Fig. 2, and when in the said position the reed case is unlocked, and in
the event of the shuttle being caught in the warp the reed will be
capable of yielding to the pressure and will move outwards, as shewn in
Fig. 2; the bar c being also moved outwards and causing the rotation

page_text: of the stop rode, whereby the further action of the sley is or may be
stopped. The advantages attendant upon this yielding of the rced aro
well understood. At all times when the shuttle clears the warp in due
time and enters one of the boxes, the afore-mentioned rotation of the
rod fmoves the levers g, g, into the position shewn in Fig. 1, in which
position the ends of the said levers oppose themselves to the aforesaid
outward movement of the bar c, which is thus locked in the position
shewn in Fig. 1, and affords the requisite support to the reed during the
beating up. In order to prevent the springing of the rod f, which
would arise from the strain upon the levers g, g, during the beat up of
the weft, the said strain is sustained by abutments or brackets x; x,
which are fixed to the sley. It will thus be seen that it is only requisite
to make the said levers and other parts of a suitable strength, and to
employ a suitable number of the said levers, so as to lock the reed or
reed case at as many points as may be required to be enabled to make
the reed capable of yielding as aforesaid in looms of any width, that is
to say, of any length of reed space that may be practically required, and
capable so far as the reed is concerned of weaving the heaviest fabrics.
It will also be seen that the rod c may be comparatively light so long as
it is capable of raising all the said levers simultaneously into the
locking position. Fig. 5 represents a cross section of a sley, and Figs.
and 8 are back views of portions of the said sley; the said Figs.
illustrating a modification in the arrangement herein-before described.
In this example the top bar y and the bottom c¹ of the reed case are
connected together at or near each end of the reed by bars, one of which
is shewn at i in Fig. 6, and the portion of the bar y extending between
the "
sley swords" (z is made capable of being swivelled on two pins,.
one of which pins is shewn in dotted lines in the said bar. A rod f
and levers g¹, g³, are employed acting as in the case of the rod f and
levers g, g, afore-mentioned. The full lines in the Figures represent the
reed as locked for the "beat up," but when the shuttle is caught the
levers g¹ will be in the position of the dotted lines, and the reed and case
will be capable of swivelling partly around the centre of the bar y, as
shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. 5. The ordinary stop rod is or may
be dispensed with, and various methods of effecting the stoppage of the
loom by the said swivelling of the reed case may be employed; oue
method being shewn in Fig. 8, wherein a short stop rod e¹ is represented.
as fitted with a lever j, which bears against the bar i, so that the
said rod is actuated by the afore-described movement of the reed case.

page_text: The rod f¹ is or may be actuated in a similar manner as represented
in Fig. 7. The remaining Figures on Sheet 1 illustrate a third method of
accomplishing the object of our Invention. In this example the reed or
reed case is locked by means of sliding bolts or latches. In the said
Figures the reed 6 is retained in the reed case by the bar c², and the said
bar is connected by the fingers d', d¹, with the stop rod e in a similar
manner as in the first example. The rod f' is fitted with a number of
levers g³, g², cach of which levers is jointed to a bolt k, and each bolt
is retained in position on the sley by micans of a
scrow which
passes through a slot in the said bolt, and is so adjusted as to
permit the said bolt to slide up and down when moved by the lever to
which it is jointed, or the said bolts may be fitted to slide in metal
frames or between metal cheeks, or otherwise fitted to slide as found to
be desirable. The said lever or levers and bolts remain in the positions
represented in Figs. 10 and 12, during the time occupied by the
traversing of the shuttle, and when they are in the said positions the
reed is unlocked, and is free to move outwards, as represented by
the dotted lines in Fig. 10, in case the shuttle be caught in the warp.
In order to lock the reed the rod f is caused to swivel in its bearings at
a suitable time by the means hercin-before described when referring
to Fig. 8, or by other similar or suitable means, whereby the levers on
the said rod raise the said bolts into the positions shewn in Figs. 9, 10,
and 13, wherein it will be seen that the upper ends of the said bolts will
act to retain the bar c² in the position shewn in Fig. 9, and will thereby
prevent the outward movement of the reed, and the reed is thus securely
locked, and is then capable of acting with the force required to beat up
the weft. It will be seen. that it is only necessary to multiply the
number of the said levers and bolts to enable our Invention to be
applied to the longest reeds that may be practically employed.
Sheet 2, to which we will now refer, is illustrative of further means
for effecting our object. Fig. 14 represents a cross section of a sley
with our Invention applied thereto; Figs. 15, 16, and 17, are back
views of portions of the said sley; Fig. 18 is an end view of the
said sley, and Fig. 19 an end view of a portion of a loom side, Fig. 20
being a plan view of one end of the sley, and Fig. 21 a back view
of an entire sley drawn to a smaller scale than the other Figures,
with the exception of Fig. 19. In the example illustrated the locking
of the reed is effected by the sliding action of a rod instead of by
the rocking or swivelling action of a rod as in the previous examples.

page_text: In the said Figures a is the sley, 6 is the reed, and is a bar, which
during the regular working of the loom retains the reed in its ordinary
working position. The said bar is connected by the latches or bolts m, m,
with the stop rod e, which is fitted to rock in its bearings, and also to
receive an endwise sliding movement, as will be herein-after described.
The said latches are each connected by the upper end to the said bar by
means of a stud, screw, or bolt o, which passes through a slot in the said
latch, so that the said latches may slide in the direction of the length of
the sley without moving the said bar, and at the same time the said bar
cannot move outwardly, so as to give way to the thrust of the reed
without also moving all of the said latches, and thereby causing a partly
rotatory movement of the stop rod on which the latches are fixed.
Brackets or detents p, p, are fixed to the sley, and are so formed that
when the aforesaid sliding movement is imparted to the stop rod, each
latch slides behind a projecting portion of one of the said brackets, as
shewn in Figs. 15 and 21. When in the position as represented in
Fig. 16, the said latches are free to yield to the pressure of the reed
upon the bar ; but when the said latches have been moved sideways so
as to engage with the said detents or brackets, it will be seen that tho
said yielding of the latches will be prevented, and the reed will thereby
be firmly locked so as to be able to drive home the weft with the
requisite force. The method of imparting the said endwise or sliding
movement to the stop rod may be varied, but the method we have
found suitable is illustrated in Figs. 17 to 21, both inclusive. A
finger piece is loosely mounted on the said stop rod, and slides on
a studs, which stud prevents the rotation of the said finger piece
around the axis of the stop rod. The said finger piece is mounted
between a bush or collar t fixed or formed on the stop rod, and the
stop finger u fixed to the said stop rod, and the said finger piece is
formed with a projection which comes into contact with the inclines v
and w fixed to the framing of the loom. As the sley works to and fro
the said projection comes into contact with the incline when the said
sley is near the end of its forward stroke, and the action of the said
incline imparts a movement to the finger piece and thereby to the
stop rod in the direction of the arrow, whereby the reed is locked, and
on the sley approaching the termination of its rearward stroke the
incline to acts on the said finger piece and thereby moves the stop rod
back into its former position, thereby unlocking the reed. In the event
of the shuttle being caught between the recd and the warp, the said

page_text: reed whilst unlocked will be capable of yielding to the pressure of the
shuttle and the latches moving outwards the stop rod will be partly
rotated and the end of the stop finger u will be raised and will throw off
the strap guide lever in the usual manner. When the stop finger is
thus raised the end of the finger will pass under the said stop finger,
when the said finger r is moved by the incline v, and the finger piece
will slide on the rod without imparting a movement to the said rod,
whereby it follows that the afore described sliding movement will not
be imparted to the latches. Although only four latches are represented
in Fig. 21, and in Fig. 13 in Sheet 1, a greater number may be employed
according to the width of the loom and to the weight of fabric required
to be woven in the loom to which our Invention may be applied, our
remarks relative to the applicability of the other examples herein-before
described to looms of great width being equally applicable to this
example. Other means may be employed to impart the necessary
rocking or sliding motion to the rod which actuates the levers, bolts,
or latches than those herein-before described and illustrated in the
Drawings, as, for example, the action of the shuttle when entering a
shuttle box may impart the said motion to the said rod.
We would remark in conclusion that our Invention differs from
previously adopted methods for effecting the same object to some extent
in that by means of our Invention a reed may be locked, fastened, or
sustained at any desired number of points or places in its length, say,
for example, at ten points or places, and that the said reeds shall be
held or sustained with equal rigidity or firmness throughout the whole
of the said ten points or places, so that whatever may be the length of
the reed it will be held by the locking apparatus as firmly in the centre
of its length as at each end thereof.
Having now described and illustrated the nature of our Invention,
together with four varying methods of carrying the same into practical
effect, we would have it to be understood, that we do not confine
ourselves to the precise details as described and illustrated, but that we
claim in the first place the said four methods severally and collectively
substantially as herein-before described, and as illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawings; and in the second place we claim any modification of
any one of the said methods wherein the reed or reed case is locked,
fastened, held, or sustained by means of levers, latches, bolts, or detents
which at such times as the said reed is required to be fast are moved

page_text: into position or positions to lock, fasten, hold, or sustain the said reed at
as many different points or places in the length of the said reed as
may be thought to be desirable.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Gadd and John Moore,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy.
Signed and sealed by the said
William Gadd and John Moore
in the presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,
Agent to the Patentees,
3, Smithy Door,
Manchester.
WILLIAM GADD. (L.S.)
JOHN MOORE. (L.S.)