Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Apr., 1887
Complete Left, 14th Jan., 1888
Complete Accepted, 17th Feb., 1888
I JOHN MATHIESON of Bell Street, Calton, in the city of Glasgow, County of
Lanark, North Britain, Overlooker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
My Invention relates to mechanism employed to control the movements of the drop
boxes in looms which are adapted to change the shuttles during the weaving process
as is well understood. In such looms the several shuttles are contained in boxes
which are raised or lowered as may be required to bring any particular shuttle into
use and to effect this raising and lowering with certainty and correctness and without
shock or violent action is the object of my invention. I connect the drop box with a
rocking lever which can be moved upon its fulcrum into any one of several positions
corresponding to the number of shuttles the said movements being regulated by
means of vibrating levers or arms which act upon the said lever to move it into the
required position each arm being adapted to move the lever into a different position.
Each arm is provided with a hinged hook or griff which is connected with a suitable
pattern chain or barrel or pattern mechanism which governs the action of the parts.
A bar or rod is caused to reciprocate or is carried by an arm or by arms or by a
vibrating frame which is acted upon by a crank or tappet. As the said bar or rod
vibrates one or another of the said hinged hooks is moved into position by the action
of the pattern mechanism to engage with the said bar or rod for each change of the
shuttle the consequence being that the connected arm will be caused to move upon
its fulcrum and thereby to act upon the drop box lever. Each arm is provided with
an anti-friction bowl which is adapted to act upon a face formed upon one arm of
the lever so as to raise or depress the lever according to which method of action is
adopted. The said bowls differ in distance from the fulcrum of the arms so that each
arm will move the lever into a different position or will determine a different position
for the lever. The stud for each bowl is adjustable in position so that the position of
rest of each shuttle box can be separately regulated. The drop box may be either
raised or lowered by the direct action of the said arms the reverse movements being
effected by the weight of parts or by means of a spring or of springs as preferred.
ID 571

page_text: To check vibration of the parts I prefer to employ a friction brake acting on an arc
shaped face formed upon the lever. The face or faces upon which the vibrating arms
act may be curved or shaped so that the movement of the lever is more rapid in one
part than another whereby sudden starting and stopping may be avoided. In a four
shuttle drop box mechanism there would be four vibrating arms each separately
controlled by the pattern mechanism this being an important feature in the invention
namely that separate and distinct parts are acted upon by the pattern mechanism for
each change. To prevent breakage of parts in cases wherein a shuttle jambs or otherwise
when the movement of the drop box is prevented I prefer to provide a relief
apparatus. I communicate the motion from the tappet shaft by means of a jointed
forked link which is caused to embrace a stud or part upon the arm or frame which
carries the aforesaid bar or rod. A spring keeps the parts engaged but yields and
liberates the said stud or part when the strain is excessive.
Dated this 13th day of April 1887.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Drop Box Motions for Looms.
I JOHN MATHIESON of Bell Street, Calton in the city of Glasgow, County of Lanark,
North Britain, Overlooker do hereby declare the nature of this 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
My Invention relates to mechanism employed to control the movements of the
drop-boxes in looms which are adapted to change the shuttles during the weaving
process as is well understood. In such looms the several shuttles are contained in
boxes which are raised or lowered as may be required to bring any particular shuttle
into use and to effect this raising and lowering with certainty and correctness and
without shock or violent action is the object of my Invention. I connect the drop-box
with a rocking lever which can be moved upon its fulcrum into any one of several
positions corresponding to the number of shuttles the said movement being regulated by
means of vibrating levers or arms which act upon the said lever to move it into the
required position each arm being adapted to move the lever into a different position.
Each arm is provided with a hinged hook or griff which is connected with a suitable
pattern-chain or barrel or pattern mechanism which governs the action of the parts.

page_text: A bar or rod is caused to reciprocate or is carried by an arm or by arms or by a
vibrating frame which is acted upon by a crank or tappet. As the said bar or rod
vibrates one or another of the said hinged hooks is moved by the action of the pattern
mechanism into position to engage with the said bar or rod for each change of the
shuttle the consequence being that the connected arm will be caused to move upon its
fulcrum and thereby to act upon the drop-box lever.
My Invention will be most clearly understood when described with reference to the
accompanying drawings. In the said drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the
improved drop-box motion as it appears when looking toward the end of the loom, and
Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same parts. In the said Figs. a is the said vibrating
lever bare the said arms four in number and A is the drop-box. The lever a is
mounted upon a fulcrum at c and one end of the lever is connected by a link d with
the drop-box. The other end of the lever is formed with a curved face a¹ upon which
bowls carried by the vibrating arms b b act to move the lever. These bowls differ in
distance from the common fulcrum e of the arms so that each arm has a different
action upon the lever. To each arm 6 is hinged a hook f which is connected by
means of a rod or wire g with a lever h there being four of these levers one for each
hook. These levers are mounted upon a fulcrum at i and each lever is provided with a
pinj. The barrel of the pattern-chain k is carried by a lever-frame which has a
lever arm which is connected by a link m with a crank n upon the tappet shaft the
effect being that the pattern-chain barrel is moved toward and from the pins j. Any
pin which has not presented to it a hole in the pattern-chain is pushed upward by the
movement of the pattern-chain barrel the effect being that the corresponding lever h
is moved upon its fulcrum and the connected hook fis drawn in a direction indicated
by the arrow in Fig. 1. A lifting bar o is mounted to vibrate upon the axis at e
which is also the fulcrum of movement of the arms b as aforesaid. The said lifting
bar is connected by a link p with a crank upon the tappet shaft. In the example the
crank n which actuates the arm also actuates the lifting bar. As this bar vibrates
upon its axis any one of the hooks f which is drawn in the indicated direction as
aforesaid is caught by the lifting bar and is lifted thereby as in the case of the hook
marked the result being that the connected arm is moved from the position of the
arm 6 to the position of the arm marked 6. The bowl upon this arm is at the greatest
distance from the fulcrum e and determines the position for the lever to move the
drop-box to its highest position or to keep it in such position. A spring q acts upon
the lever a and tends to raise the drop-box. A curved face a¹ is formed upon the
lever and is concentric with the axis c of the lever. A braker fixed upon a shaft r¹
is kept pressed against this curved face by the action of a cam s upon the tappet
shaft. The said cam by depressing and holding down the end of a spring lever t
which is attached to the brake shaft r¹ keeps the brake pressed upon the face a¹
during nearly the whole of the revolution of the cam excepting only at the times
when the lifter bar o is in its highest position as indicated in the drawing. At such
times a flat upon the cam relieves the pressure upon the brake lever and the lever a
is then free to yield to the action of the spring if not prevented from so yielding by
one of the bowls upon the arms b. When the parts are in the position represented in
Fig. 1. the lever is prevented from moving. To render the action more clear I will
number the bowls on the arms 6 1. 2. 3 and 4. On the lifter bar o moving downward
the bar 6 would be released and would fall back into the position of the bar b.
Supposing the arm carrying the bowl 1. to be next lifted the lever would be moved to
the full extent of its range of motion and the drop-box would be lowered to its lowest
point. So long as the said arm continued to be lifted the drop-box would be
stationary but supposing the arm carrying the bowl 2 to be lifted the brake r at the
same time being eased, the spring would be free to move the lever, until the said bowl
stopped the movement and the drop-box would fall one step and be then in position to
bring the second shuttle into action. If the arm carrying bowl 3 had been lifted the
drop-box would have fallen two steps to bring the third shuttle into action and so on,
the drop-box being either lowered by the action of the bowls or raised by the action
of the spring into positions governed by the bowls. The studs carrying the bowls are
9

page_text: adjustable in slots formed in the arms as indicated in the drawings. Although I
prefer to use bowls or rollers revolving upon studs fixed to the arms in order to reduce
friction such bowls are not absolutely necessary. In the example the connecting
link p is of a peculiar formation being adapted to release its. hold upon the lifter bar
in the event of an obstruction to the movement of the said bar such for example as
would be caused by the jamming of a shuttle in the shuttle box. A stud or projec-
tion at u is fixed to or formed on the said bar and is gripped between two jaws p p¹
which are formed by the hinging of a part p' to the link p. The two jaws are drawn
together like a pair of nipper tongs by means of a spring which is of sufficient
power to enable the link to perform its ordinary work. In the event of an excessive
strain the jaws open and release the stud so as to prevent the breakage of any of the
parts.
I do not confine myself to the exact formation of the lever a so long as it is
adapted to be acted upon by the arms 6 to raise or draw downward the drop-box.
Having now particularly described and ascertained my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
(1.) The combination of the parts forming the complete drop-box motion substan-
tially as set forth and illustrated.
(2.) In a loom drop-box motion the lever a connected with the drop-box and acted
upon by the vibrating arms b which are provided with griffs f connected with the
pattern mechanism and acted upon by the lifter bar or plate o substantially as set
forth.
7'
b
(3.) In a loom drop-box motion the lever a connected with the drop-box, the
spring to raise the drop-box, the brake to hold the lever, the holding and releasing
cam or tappet n acting upon the brake lever and the arms 6 vibrating to raise one arm
of the lever a and thereby to lower the drop-box, in combination with pattern
mechanism acting upon hooks or griffs and with a lifter bar which by lifting any hook
vibrates the connected arm b substantially as set forth and indicated.
(4.) The relief link p p' v for the purpose set forth.
(5.) In a loom drop-box motion a lever shaped to be worked on its fulcrum in one
direction by vibrating arms of varying length the movement of the said lever in the
other direction being effected by means of a spring or weight in combination with
pattern mechanism for selecting the arms to be vibrated and with hooks or griffs and
a vibrating lifter bar substantially as set forth.
Dated this Thirteenth day of January 1888.
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.