IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING THE SHUTTLES OF LOOMS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING THE SHUTTLES OF
LOOMS." A communication.
Sealed the 18th September 1855, and dated the 16th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th July 1855.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING THE SHUTTLES
or Looms" to be as follows:-
It has been hitherto supposed that a shuttle when driven from the shuttle
box must preserve a nearly horizontal position to prevent it from flying out
of the web; and to accomplish this, a picker sliding upon a rod has been_most
generally used, which picker was impelled by a string or picker staff. To
obviate the use of a sliding picker, resort has been had to a means of so
hanging the picker staff as to give it a rectilinear motion, or a motion parallel
to the shuttle, by means of one or more pivoted arins, or by connecting a rocker
to it, which gives it a variable fulcrum.

page_text: The object of the present Invention is to dispense with the use of these
parts, as it has been found that the picker staff, confined at the lower end by
a pin, in the usual way for driving the sliding picker, will act equally well
directly upon the shuttle, provided it does not pass much beyond the perpen-
dicular. In carrying out this plan, the bottom of the staff is placed as near
the side of the loom as possible, so that when it stands perpendicular it is
nearly at the end of the shuttle box.
The present improvement, therefore, consists simply in mounting picker
staff to drive the shuttle in such a manner that its action on the shuttle shall
cease when it has reached a perpendicular position. If the end of the picker
staff passed over a larger portion of the arc of a circle than above mentioned,
it would as soon as it passed the perpendicular line begin to depress the heel
of the shuttle, and elevate the forward end of the latter, and thereby cause it
to shoot out of the loom. But during the first part of its progress the
tendency of the staff is to raise the heel and depress the forward part of the
shuttle, which is desirable in weaving, inasmuch as when a picker is used it
is set somewhat "rising" or inclined to point the shuttle slightly downward.
By the plan above described; it-will be seen that all the desirable action of the
shuttle is preserved, whilst several of the ordinary parts of the loom are dis-
pensed with, and the mechanism is thereby cheapened and simplified without
affecting in the least its capacity.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th January 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON,. of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County.
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent, Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 16th day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year. of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William.Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others. from time

page_text: to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR OPERATING THE SHUTTLES OF LOOMS,"
(being a communication from abroad,) upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, together with the Drawing hereto annexed, that
is to say :-
Fig. 1 represents a side view of one end of a loom with my improvement
attached; and Fig. 2 represents a vertical section through the same. Similar
letters where they occur in both Figures denote like parts.
It has been hitherto supposed that a shuttle when driven from the shuttle.
box must preserve a nearly horizontal position to prevent it from flying out of
the web; and to accomplish this, a picker sliding upon a rod has been most
generally used, which picker was impelled by a string or picker staff. To.
obviate the use of a sliding picker, resort has been had to a means of so hang-
ing the picker staff as to give it a rectilinear motion, or a motion parallel to the-
shuttle, by means of one or more pivoted arms, or by connecting a rocker to.
it, which gives it a variable fulcrum. My object is to avoid the use of all
these devices. I have found that the picker staff, confined at the lower end
by a pin, in the usual way, for driving the sliding picker, will act equally well
directly upon the shuttle, provided it does not pass much beyond the perpen
dicular. In carrying out my plan, I place the bottom of the staff as near the
side of the loom as possible, so that when it stands perpendicular it is nearly
at the end of the shuttle box.
My improvement, therefore, consists simply in using a picker staff to drive
the shuttle hung in the usual way, but so that its action on the shuttle shall
ease when it has reached a perpendicular position. If the picker staff passed
over a larger portion of the arc of a circle than above mentioned, it would as
soon as it passed a perpendicular line begin to depress the heel of the shuttle
and elevate its forward end, so as to cause it to shoot out of the loom. But
during the first part of its progress the tendency of the staff. is to raise the

page_text: heel and depress the forward part of the shuttle, which is desirable in weaving,
inasmuch as when a picker is used it is set somewhat rising or inclined to point
the shuttle slightly downward. I therefore preserve all the desirable action of
the shuttle, whilst I remove several pieces from the loom, and thus cheapen
and simplify it without effecting in the least its capacity.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use this Invention, I will
proceed to describe the same with reference to the Drawings.
A represents the frame of the loom, and B the shuttle box (one side only
of a loom being shown); C is a shaft attached to the frame of the loom
near its lower part, and on said shaft is a sleeve or boss D, which can be
adjusted on the shaft, and held by a set screw E. In the extreme outer end
of this sleeve or boss D, which is provided with lugs for that purpose, is pivoted
the picker staff F, the upper point of which projects through a slot G in the
shuttle box B, and through which slot it vibrates. H is a strap by which the
picker staff is vibrated.
In the end of the sleeve D is placed a pin I, which is pressed by the coiled
spring a against the picker staff when it arrives at a point perpendicular to its
pivoted point, as represented by the dotted line in Fig. 2. The blow of the
staff is thus eased off and caused to recoil slightly, whilst the shuttle, which
has up to this point acquired the momentum necessary to drive it through the
web, passes into the opposite shuttle box, to be returned by a precisely similar
operation on the other end of the loom.
It will be perceived that I do not use a rectilinear or parallel motion,
though the shuttle leaves the staff when they are at right angles to each other,
and I thus have all the advantages of a rectilinear motion without the connec-
tion necessary to produce it. My staff moves in the arc of a circle, and is
simply pivoted at its lower end in the usual simple manner, and by means
of the sleeve and adjusting screw the very nicest adjustment of the point at
which the staff should be stopped is had. By giving a rectilinear motion to the
staff, the dip of the shuttle, which is desirable, is lost; by this arrangement I
preserve it, and yet, as before stated, have all the benefit of such a motion
without multiplying pieces or mechanism to produce it. I have mentioned
the function of the spring a to be for easing off the blow of the staff, but it
also throws back the staff, so as to allow the shuttle on its return to enter the
shuttle box.
It has been found in practice that when the staff is hung to arms, said arms
become loose at their pivoted points by wearing, and that they must be oiled
to prevent friction; I avoid both these serious objections by dispensing with
the arms altogether.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of the Invention as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood that what I claim
therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, in contradistinction
from the operating of shuttles by a staff having a rectilinear motion, however
produced, is, the hanging of the staff upon a fixed pin or centre, and so
vibrating it in regard to the shuttle, as that the shuttle shall take its forward
motion from the picker staff, always with its hecl on the rise, and its point
dipped towards the shed by means substantially such as herein described, and
for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.B.)