IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Clay, of Coventry, in the County of Warwick,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Thomas Clay at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th December 1876.
THOMAS CLAY, of Coventry, in the County of Warwick. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
This Invention relates to that class or description of looms in which the weft
threads are carried by eyed rods or needles moving forwards and backwards in and
out of the sheds of the warp, there being for each needle a shuttle moved to and fro
in a race in line with the warps for tying or fastening the edges or selvages of the
fabric, and the Invention consists in various improved arrangements and combi-
nations of mechanical contrivances for enabling single or double looms of this
description to be worked with far greater speed and certainty of action than has
hitherto been attained.
To accomplish these objects I employ,-
First. An improved setting on and stopping notion, for enabling this description
of loom to be expeditiously started and stopped.
Secondly. An improved position taking-up motion, for the purpose of obtaining
uniformity of the fabric by preventing thick and thin parts being woven.
Thirdly. An improved compensator or regulator for maintaining the warps at
their proper tension when light, medium or heavy fabrics are woven.
Fourthly. An improved arrangement for holding and releasing the shuttle.
And, Fifthly. A simple and efficient motion for working two needles to and fro
in opposite directions.
These improvements will be clearly understood by the following particular
description thereof, reference being had to the figures and letters on the accom-
panying Two Sheets of Drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2 (Sheet 1) are side and
front elevations representing the application of some of my improvements to a
single needle loom; Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 7 are detached views of some of the parts;
and Fig. 6 (Sheet 2), a front view, showing the improved motion for working two
needles.

page_text: In the various Figures a represents the framework and table of the loom; b, the
breast beam; c, the healds or harness; d, e, the jacks and tappets for working the
healds; f, the needles; h, the shuttles; i, the taking-up roller; k, the stretching or
tension roller; and 7, the winding-on roller.
For expeditiously setting on or stopping the loom I employ a driving strap in
connection with a friction box instead of the ordinary slow process of changing the
driving strap from a fast to a loose pulley, and vice versa. On the main shaft n
of the loom there is a loose pulley o, having an internal conc; and on the shaft
there is an external cone p so held by a key or feather that it can be moved to
and fro and also revolve with the shaft, and on the loose pulley is placed the
driving strap q.
In the boss of the moveable cone there is a circular groove in which is placed one
end of a clutch lever, the other end of which is fitted by a recess to a spring
starting and stopping handles held in a detent when the loom is working, but
moved out either by hand when the loom has to be stopped or by a self-acting
stopping motion which is called into action when there is a breakage or absence of
weft thread from the needles, or absence of thread from the shuttles.
The weft threads for supplying the needles are taken from spools or bobbins t,
from which they pass in contact with tension discs u and through eylets and over
pins to a spring arm w, and from thence to the eye of the needlef. On the shaft a¹
I fix an eccentric and arm b¹ for giving motion to the lever d', which when there
is no breakage or absence of weft moves up and down, but when there is a breakage
or absence of thread the spring arm flies back to a lug or projection e¹ on the lever
and stops it, so that a plate or bar on the reed holder shall act on a spring pin f'
to give motion to one arm g' of a double lever to cause the other arm 1 to shift
the spring handles out of its detent, and thereby allow the handle to move by
means of the clutch lever the moveable cone from the hollow cone and stop the
loom, the same operations taking place when the handle is inoved by hand, but
when the loom is to be set on the handle is moved so as to press the two cones
together and afterwards held by the detent.
For giving a positive motion to the taking-up or sand roller i I fix on the
shaft n an eccentric ¹, which gives motion by means of the eccentric rod and
lever m¹ to the catch or propeller in contact with the ratchet wheel o¹ geared by
a chain of change pinions and wheels p' to the shaft of the sand or taking-up
roller i.
For compensating or regulating the required tension of the fabric I joint to the
lower part of the framework a lever, carrying the tension roller and an
adjustable weight 8', and cause the fabric to pass from the breast beam b over and
under the rollers to the weighted tension roller and from thence over and under
the rollers to the taking-up roller, and by shifting the weight to give more or
less pressure the tension on the warp and fabric is varied, as required.
From the taking-up roller the fabric is slack and wound from time to time on
the winding-on roller by hand, and when the tension roller and weighted arm
have descended so low as to be inconvenient the operative stops the loom and turns
the ratchet wheel by the two handles to give motion to the taking-up roller and
raise the tension roller and weighted lever to their highest positions.
In order to box the shuttle and release or unbox it with the greatest ease I
employ a stationary finger or holder a³, Fig. 5, in contact with one end of the
shuttle and a moveable finger or holder at the other end in contact with a
spring c², so that when the shuttle has to be removed the moveable finger has simply
to be turned back, and when the shuttle is again put in its place the finger is turned
forwards to the back of the shuttle and held firm by the spring.
In the single needle loom the needle is worked to and fro by a crank pin on the
disc wheel, and for giving motion to two needles passing in and out of two different
sheds of warp, one above the other, in order to put two filling threads in the sheds
of different colours, I place on the crank pin e* of the disc wheel f² a short rod
jointed to a crank pin on another disc wheel h², the latter pin having jointed on it

page_text: one end of a long connecting rod 1, the other end of which is jointed to the arm
connected by the short rod m² to the slide carrying the second needle, and thus two
needles can be worked upon a single shaft and gearing at one side of the loom, and
it will be seen that all the other parts of my improvements can be applied to the
double needle loom as well as to the single one, it being understood that when two
needles are employed there are two shuttles and two stopping motions.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention, I desire
it to be understood that in single and double needle looms I claim,
Firstly. The improved setting on and stopping motion for enabling this descrip-
tion of loom to be expeditiously startod and stopped, substantially as set forth.
Secondly. The improved positive taking-up motion for the purpose of obtaining
uniformity of the fabric by preventing thick and thin parts being woven, sub-
stantially as herein described and shown by the Drawings.
Thirdly. The improved compensator or regulator for maintaining the warps at
their proper tension when light, medium or heavy fabrics are woven, substantially
as described.
Fourthly. The improved arrangement for holding and releasing the shuttle, sub-
stantially as set forth.
And, Fithly. The improved motion for working two needles to and fro in opposite
directions, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Clay, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
THOMAS CLAY. (L.S.)