IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Rodney Croskey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st August 1868.
I, JOSEPH RODNEY CROSKEY, of Cannon Street, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in that class of looms
wherein the shuttle is driven across the race by the force or pressure of
air.
I propose to apply in a position intervening between the second motion
wheel and the shuttle box end of the beam, and connecting the same
together, and on each side of the loom (or otherwise) a flexible barrel or
tube, whereby the air is compressed preparatory to its injection into the
shuttle box, or otherwise operating in the shuttle. This barrel or tube
may be made in any convenient form and material, but I prefer to form
it with a disc or plate of wood at each end with a tube between the

page_text: plates or discs consisting of india-rubber or canvas, or the two combined,
or of any other strong flexible air-tight fabrics. This tube should be
strengthened by rings of wire, or wood, or other material at suitable
intervals, kept in position by suitable guides or slide rods, so that when
the discs are brought near together by the pressure applied to them the
tube is contracted and assumes the form of gussets or folds; ar this barrel
or tube may be made of metal, operating like the slides of a telescope.
This tube is attached at one end to the sley beam, and at the other end
to a projection or stud on the second motion or other wheel of the loom,
and as the beam and the stud approach each other the air is suddenly
pressed with such violence as to ensure the speedy and effectual transit
of the shuttle across the race, thus dispensing with bell cranks and
levers and other appliances, and avoiding the noise and jar and wear
and tear more or less consequent on any arrangement other than the
above described.
I also propose to operate on an elastic vessel placed at the side, end,
or bottom of the sley beam by direct action of the stud or projection of
the second motion or other wheel of the loom, such stud being arranged
in such manner as that it strikes with a graduated increasing violent
pressure on a plate or projecting arm attached to the said bag as the
beam and the projection approach each other.
I also propose, in addition to or in lieu of the .spring now in use for
preventing the recoil of the shuttle, to use a pali, which will operate in
such manner as to pall the shuttle and cause it to act as a spring to
prevent recoil or as a valve (when no valve be used, as mentioned below)
for restraining the air in the act of being compressed, and to release
the same at will by means of a connection with the said projection or
stud, By adopting the rotary motion obtained by the stud or projection
aforesaid I am enabled in case of using a valve in any of the air passages
before its operating in the shuttle (which may be found necessary in
certain looms) to release such valve as speedily as may be desired, and
thus dispensing with the pall acting as a valve, and in fact to control
the operations of releasing the springs or valves, or to effect other rapid
and precise movements at will.
I also propose to introduce in the cases above mentioned a valve for
the purpose of restraining the air before compression in such portion of
the air passages as may be found most convenient.

page_text: By the action of the stud, instead of other and disconnected arrange-
ments, I find I am enabled to have at my service a larger quantity of
air than by any other means, and in order to economise such a supply of
air I propose to commence compressing it on one side immediately the
shuttle is driven from the other side, and retaining it by means of valves
or palls, and in the event of my tube or barrel not being equal to
such great pressure, to adopt an elastic or expanding chamber for its
retention in a compound form until ready for use, such chamber being
in connection with the air passages and regulated in its retentive powers
by springs or weights.
I also propose to use in the air passage a self-acting valve (when a
valve is necessary) in such a manner as that when the face of the com-
pressed air shall be of its required strength it will force back this valve,
which will be kept in its place until then by a spring or other equivalent
so arranged as that it will only recede upon a given or desired amount
of pressure being used.
I also propose when a valve is used or when the shuttle is pulled so
as to act as a valve, to introduce an induction valve to permit the
entrance of the air either into the elastic vessel or into the tube or barrel
of the air pump, as hercin described.
I further propose in this my Invention to use the rotary motion of
the stud or other projection from the said wheel in connection with
sliding rods or bars or guides, either slotted or provided with projections
or running on rollers or on the stud or on the beam or through
slides, and with or without joints, and whether sliding from the
stud through, over, or under the beam or from the beam over or
under the stud or through, over, or under any attachments thereto,
So as to procure a continuous and connected action between the
beam and its attachments, whether for the purpose of forcing the
air and causing it to act either directly or otherwise in driving the
shuttle across the race by means of the flexible air pump herein
described, or for producing the violent contraction of any other air
vessel attached to the beam or to the stud, or for operating on any bell
crank, striking plate, or spring or lever attached to the beam or its
attachments, and also to use such rotary motion in such other imme-
diate and direct though disconnected application, as herein partially

page_text: described, without the use of the said sliding bars or rods for the
purpose of forcing the air, as above described, or for acting upon any
bell crank, striking plate, spring, or lever attached to the beam or its
attachments.