CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Weild, of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 5th July 1858, and dated the 11th January 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Weild at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 11th January 1853.
I, WILLIAM WEILD, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING" to be as follows, that
is to say
It consists, firstly, in an improved temple or apparatus for stretching
the cloth laterally during the process of weaving, the said temple being
of the kind called self-acting. The essential features thereof are shown
in the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1. A, A', are the two jaws of a
pair of nippers, which are mounted on a frame or slide B, capable of
moving to a slight extent laterally. C, is also another slide, which
passes through guides in B, and through such other guides as may be
necessary fixed to the principal frame D. There are two- pairs of
nippers with their corresponding slides, namely, one pair for each

page_text: selfedge of the cloth; and the slides C, are caused to have a continual
inward and outward movement, one double stroke being effected during
one revolution of the crank shaft. This alternate action may be com-
municated from the slay or from any other convenient source, and
it is so arranged that at every outward movement a pin or projection b,
strikes the trail a, of one of the nipper jaws A, thereby first closing the
nippers on the cloth, and afterwards carrying them forward the re-
mainder of the stroke. The cloth will thus be stretched every beat up,
and when the slide Ċ, goes back will be alternately released. As I
prefer also that the nippers should not release the cloth until the slide
C, has nearly finished its inward stroke, I apply to the tail of the
jaw A, a catch E, which falls into gear when the slide moves outward,
and holds the jaw firmly in its place during the return stroke until
released by striking against a stop F, fixed at any point required..
My Invention consists, secondly, in an improved mode of taking up
the cloth as it is woven. This is shewn in Fig. 2. A, A, are two
rollers, under and over which the cloth passes; it is thence brought to
the cloth beam B. C, is also a contact roller, which winds the cloth on
to B, as it is delivered from A'. The take up is effected by means of
the usual gearing, by applying the motion thereof to one or both of the
rollers A, A¹; and in order to wind the cloth tightly on the cloth beam
the contract roller C, must also have a motion applied to it, the speed
of which slightly overruns that of A, A¹. It will be observed, that the
most important feature in this arrangement is the facility of employing
the taking up rollers A, A', as a temple for stretching the cloth. This I
effect by placing one or both of them in a trough, and roughening their
surfaces, as is well understood.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in an improved mode of keeping the
warp in a sufficient state of tension as it is delivered from the warp beam.
This is also shewn in Fig. 2: The warp, after passing from the warp
beam W, is carried over a roller R, of (any suitable material,), which is
supported on the extremities of two levers L, oscillating on the centre of
the warp beam. These levers are of the bell crank kind, and their
other arms carry the weights X. The roller R, and the warp beam W,
are geared together by.spur wheels, as shewn. It will now be seen that

page_text: when the cloth is taken up, the-pull of the yarn will have a tendency to
turn the roller R, on its centre; & the roller will thus, in consequence
of its being geared with the warp beam, act upon the latter in a direction
contrary to its proper motion when letting off the yarn. The yarn will
thus be drawn off the warp beam in a state of constant tension; and at
every take up the roller R, will turn round a little in a direction contrary
to that of the warp. More or less tension may be given by moving the
weight X; and the levers L, are allowed to oscillate a little to give
facility for shedding.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Weild in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th July 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
William Weild, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Weild, Her special license that I, the said
William Weild, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as J, the said William Weild, my 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 law-
fully 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 CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Weild, by an instru-
ment in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Weild, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
My Invention consists, firstly, in an improved construction of self-
acting temple or apparatus for keeping the cloth stretched laterally to
its proper width at the point between the beat up and the breast bar of
the loom. The peculiar features of construction, and the consequent
mode of action of this apparatus, will be readily understood on reference
to the Drawing, Fig. 1, which is a horizontal view of the temple looking
towards the breast bean, the slay and other parts of the loom being
supposed to be removed. The red line at the top of the Figure repre-
sents a section of the web or cloth, the selvedges being right and left.
It will be seen that each of these selvages passes between the jaws of a
pair of moveable nippers a, a. (The nippers, as well as their respective
movements, being precisely similar on both sides of the centre, but only
reversed in position to one another, are marked with the same letters of
reference.) A, is the breast beam or stretcher to which the movements
are attached. B, is a wedge or double inclined plane, which is supposed
to be fixed to the centre of the slay bed, and to vibrate therewith.
C, C, are horizontal bars, capable of sliding in guides on the breast
beam A, and furnished with bowls c, c, bearing against the sides of the
wedge B, by the force of the coiled springs d. Thus, with every vibra-
tion of the slay, the wedge B communicates an endwise and contrary
motion to the sliding bars C. The jaws a, of the nippers oscillate on
pins in the frames D, which are capable of sliding to a limited extent
on A, in the same direction as C. The bars C, also, in addition to their
guides attached to A, pass through other guides in D; and the latter are
furnished with springs f, which brings them to rest against the stops g,
when not otherwise forced outwards. To each jaw a, is appended an
additional projecting finger b, against which a pin h, on the bar C,comes
in contact in its outward movement; and j, is a catch, which, by means
of a spring, drops over the point of b, when forced back by the pin h

page_text: k, is again another pin projecting from A, to release the catch when the
frame D, moves towards the centre or inwards. The operation of
the mechanism may now be readily traced as follows:-Supposing the
slay to be back, the wedge B will have retired, and the two sets of slides
C, and D, will in consequence have approached towards each other from
opposite sides of the centre; the nippers a, a', will also have released their
hold of the cloth, allowing convenient time for taking up, if thought
proper, at this point. As the beat up now takes place, the wedge B,
will advance, working upon the bowls c, and thereby propelling sideways
the slides C, so as to bring the studs h, in contact with their respective
fingers b. The effect of this will be, first, that the jaws a will be brought
hard down on the selvages of the cloth, so as to grip them firmly; and,
secondly, that both the slides D, with their nippers, will be moved
laterally in contrary directions, thus stretching the fabric to an extent
corresponding to the amount of motion given. In the meantime the
catch j, has been forced over the point of b, so as to retain it during the
return stroke, and maintain the grip of the nippers until released by
coming in contact with the stud K, which should take place as late as
possible, or just before a fresh hold is required to be taken. The object
of this arrangement is to prevent the nippers from releasing their grip
too early, and thus allowing the cloth to spring back with a rebound.
Another important point also attained is this, that in consequence of the
stretch being given by the stud h, bearing against the arm b, the harder
the strain may be the firmer becomes the grip of the nippers. Instead
of the wedge B, as used for the purpose described, any of the well-
known mechanical resources suitable to same object may be used; and
the same may also be said of all the parts of this contrivance, which it is
evident may be modified without destroying its distinctive features.
Although this temple is more or less applicable in the weaving of all
descriptions of fabrics, it is designed here more particularly in reference
to the case of goods of a heavy class.
My Invention relates, secondly, to an improved method of taking up
the cloth as it is woven, the peculiar feature of the mechanism which I
employ for this purpose consisting in the application of the common
roller temple as an element in taking up, while at the same time

page_text: it answers its ordinary purpose of keeping the fabric stretched laterally.
Fig. 2, is a section. of a loom with this part of my improvements
applied; and Fig. 3, a front view of the same. Figs. 4, and 5,
represent modifications of the taking up motion. Referring to Figs.
2, and 3, A is the crank shaft, B, the tappet shaft, and C, the
slay. Such other remaining parts of the Drawing as are not shewn
colored, as they are well understood, it will be unnecessary here
to describe. D, is the ordinary roller temple, roughened or furnished
with a number of fine teeth on its surface, and revolving in the trough
d. The cloth passes in the usual manner between the trough and the
roller. It is then brought over another roller D', from which it passes
down to the cloth beam E, being firmly pressed and coiled thereon by
the contact roller F. This roller has its motion communicated in the
usual manner by the ratchet wheel e, worked from any part of the
machine and a train of wheels, which may be varied according to the
number of picks required per inch. In addition to these wheels another
set is also applied, as shewn in the Drawing, for the purpose of gearing
together the contact roller F, and the roller D', and the latter is again
geared with the temple roller D, so that the motion of the two (tan-
gentially) may be equal. On the other hand the wheels connecting
D', with F, are so calculated (with reference to the respective diameters
of the two rollers) that the circumference of F, may slightly overrun
that of D¹. Thus the amount of take up or number of picks per inch
will in reality be governed by the rollers D and D', while F will only
serve to wind the cloth tightly on the cloth beam, and will slip to the
amount of its excess of motion. The temple rollers D, and D', with the
trough, I have shewn suspended on levers G, which bear by means of a
spring g, on a stop bar f, the intention of this arrangement being to
allow the whole to give way when the shuttle should happen to trap in
the shed. Instead of levers, however, a slide may be used, as is well
understood. The constructive details of this part of my improvements
may be modified in various ways, at the same time inaintaining the dis-
tînctive features of the Invention, as, for instance, in the manner shewn
in Figs. 4, and 5, respectively. In Fig. 4, one temple roller D, only is
used, and the trough is inverted or placed over the roller, the cloth also

page_text: passing over the latter instead of under, as in the former case. In
Fig 5, two rollers are employed, as in Fig. 2, but one of them is applied
as a contact roller so as to dispense with the additional one F. This
will be readily understood from inspection. In every case the object of
the improvement is, that the temple apparatus may, by having a positive
motion given to it, answer the double purpose of keeping the cloth
stretched, and of regulating or otherwise assisting in the take up.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in a new and improved mode of letting
off the warp from the yarn beam. This is also shewn in Fig. 2, where M,
is the yarn beam (in section), placed in its usual position; on its axis is
keyed a spur wheel (the pitch line being represented by a red line) the
teeth of which gear into those of another wheel N, keyed on to a bar or
roller n, over which the yarn passes in its course towards the reed. The
roller n, with its wheel, is supported on double armed levers p, (one at
each end,) which are free to oscillate on the axis of M, as a centre of
motion, and which are weighted with weights o, to keep a sufficient
stretch on the yarn. Instead of weights, however, springs may be
applied in a manner which it is unnecessary to describe. It will now
be seen that the pull of the yarn, tending otherwise to uncoil the beam
M, will be prevented from doing so with too great facility by reason of
its passing over the roller n, inasmuch as the latter also will have a ten-
dency to turn on its axis, and to force M, in the contrary direction by
reason of the two being geared together; a considerable amount of
strain will thus be thrown on the yarn, which in uncoiling from the
beam by the take up will be caused to slip on the roller n, to a slight
extent, in consequence of the motion of the latter being opposite to that
of M. The difference of diameter, and consequent difference of leverage
of M, and n, will regulate the amount of tension, and this may also be
increased or diminished by adjusting the weights or springs before
mentioned. Stops 9 on the framing are provided to prevent the levers p,
with their roller, from being pulled too far forward. Fig. 6, represents
a modification of this apparatus, in which weights or springs are dis-
pensed with, the lever p being acted on by a camb on the tappet shaft
B, so as to cause it with its roller to vibrate, and stretch and slacken the
yarn alternately. Care must be taken in this case that the extreme

page_text: stretch may take place about the time of beating up. Other modifica-
tions may also, in some cases, be conveniently applied, and this may be
done while at the same time the general character of the Invention is
preserved.
Having now fully ascertained and described the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I would
have it understood that what I claim therein as new and of my Inven-
tion, is as follows:-First, I claim the construction of a jaw or nipper
temple, in which the nippers by an outward and inward motion alter-
nately seize and release the cloth, but do not release it until the inward
motion is nearly completed, as described. Secondly, I claim the em-
ployment of the ordinary roller temple so as to answer the double pur-
pose of stretching the cloth and taking up, namely, by communicating
to the roller a positive motion, as lierein-before described. Thirdly, I
claim the construction of a letting off motion, as before described with
respect to the third part of my Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Weild, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
WILLIAM WEILD. (L.S.)