IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Archibald Turner at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th October
1863.
I, ARCHIBALD TURNER, of Leicester, Elastic Web Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in looms for weaving relates to a novel
arrangement of machinery, whereby the use of shuttles for throwing the weft
thread or shoot is dispensed with. In ordinary looms the weft thread or shoot
is wound on a quill, and placed in a shuttle, which is thrown from side to side
of the fabric through the shed or opening formed by the warp threads, and the
weft thread or shoot is thereby laid across or deposited in the shed.
The present Invention has for its object to dispense with this shuttle
arrangement, and in place thereof the weft thread or shoot is wound upon a
large bobbin, spool, or reel, which will contain enough material to last for å
week or ten days, and is placed in any convenient part of the machine, so that
the thread may be drawn off as the weaving operation proceeds. The weft
thread is conducted from the bobbin or spool through a clamping apparatus
hereafter more particularly referred to, and also through an adjustable tension
eye for the purpose of regulating. the strain on the weft thread, and the amount
of thread that is drawn off the bobbin for each shoot. The clamping apparatus
is adjustable, so that the clamp is capable of being closed at any time
required.

page_text: In combination with this clamping apparatus, I employ an adjustable
tension eye, as already mentioned; this tension eye is fixed on an arm, which
is pivoted to the framework or some other convenient part of the machine, so
that it may be turned on the pivot as a centre. A graduated sector may be
adapted to this arm if desired, so that the attendant may at once set the tension
eye to any desired point according to the length or quantity of weft thread it
may be desired to draw or measure off from the spool or bobbin. This tension
eye may either be set at a given point, so as always to take up an uniform
quantity of thread, or it may be made to move periodically or intermittently,
so as to take up varying quantities, and thereby produce an ornamental edging
to the fabric. By means of this adjustable tension eye the quantity of thread
drawn off from the bobbin for each shoot may be measured with the greatest
accuracy, and therefore the width of the fabric may be regulated to a nicety,
as the apparatus may be adjusted to suit any description of work.
The thread after passing through the tension eye is conducted to the rear
end of a thread carrier, whereby the weft thread is introduced or passed into
the shed. The thread carrier consists of an arm or wire long enough to
extend across the shed, and has a groove made along its side to receive the
thread, which is also passed through an eye at the other end of the thread
carrier. This end of the thread carrier is bent round into a hook shape, so as
to cause the thread to form a loop at the end of the carrier. This thread
carrier is mounted on a reciprocating bar or rod extending across the machine,
and actuated by a cam or other suitable mechanism, whereby it receives a
to-and-fro motion, which will cause the thread carrier to pass in and out of the
shed. Besides this reciprocating motion the. carrier bar has a slight rocking
motion on its axis. This motion is imparted to it by a stationary cam piece,
against the edge of which an arm keyed on to the thread carrier bar bears as
it is reciprocated to and fro. This rocking motion of the thread carrier bar
is for the purpose of directing the thread carrier into the shed in the most
suitable manner for forming a good selvage. It will now be understood that
the thread carrier will carry a thread from the large spool or bobbin above
into the shed in which it will leave the weft or shoot, which is secured therein
by another thread, which may be called the seaming or selvage thread.
Various contrivances may be devised for passing the seaming or selvage thread
through the loop of the weft thread, I do not therefore mean to confine myself
to any particular arrangement of parts for effecting the intended object, which
is to secure the weft thread in the shed by means of another thread passed
through a loop formed at the selvage of the work from the weft thread or shoot.
One mode of effecting this object is by placing the quill containing the seaming

page_text: or selvage thread in a shuttle or other analogous instrument, which is mounted
in a vibrating arm, and is made to move up and down in a vertical direction
through the loop that is formed by the weft thread at the hooked end of the
thread carrier. This seaming or selvage thread by passing through the looped
end of the weft thread or shoot will prevent the latter from being drawn out,
but the tension thereon is capable of being so regulated and arranged that at
every alternate shoot the weft thread is left slack by leaving the clamping
apparatus open so as to admit of the thread being pulled round the outermost
warp thread or strand, so as to form a good and round selvage in elastic fabrics.
At the next shoot the clamp will be closed on the weft thread so as to hold it
tight, and thereby tighten the selvage between the first and second rubber
strands in elastic fabrics, and cause the two weft threads to be seamed together
by the shuttle thread. On the other side or edge of the fabric the selvage will
be made in the ordinary manner by the change of the shed.
In making plain fabrics, the loop at the end of the weft thread or shoot
must not be left loose, but the tension must be so regulated that the seaming
thread will lie along the edge or selvage of the fabric in nearly a straight line,
instead of being pulled over and round the outermost warp thread or strand,
and thereby forming a round selvage, as is required in elastic fabrics. The
motions for delivering the warp from the warp beam, for taking up the work
on the work beam, for forming the shed, and for working the slay or batten
may be of the kind usually adopted for such purposes, or any other arrange-
ment that may be found convenient may be employed for the purpose.
The shuttle which carries the thread for securing the weft thread or shoot
is mounted in a vibrating arm which comes forward to pass the thread
through the loop of the shoot, but retreats when the slay or batten comes
forward to beat up. The shuttle is moved vertically up and down by means
of a kind of rocking peg motion, which is mounted at the end of the vibrating
arm.
For some descriptions of fabrics I propose and find it convenient to use two
thread carriers and shoots, and two shuttles with binding threads; these two
thread carriers and their appendages may either be made to work alternately
from opposite sides of the fabric, or they may be made to work both from the
same side of the fabric.
It will be evident, that by using weft threads or shoots of different colours
in the two carriers, one side of the fabric may be made of one colour and the
other side of a different colour; this will produce the same appearance on
the fabric as is now effected by the use of two shuttles.
Instead of placing the quill containing the seaming thread for securing the

page_text: weft or shoot in the shed in a shuttle, which is to be passed through the loop
of the weft thread, as already explained, I propose, as a modification, to
mount the quill which carries the seaming thread on a rotating disc, in which
a slot or opening to receive the weft thread is cut out. One part of the loop
of the weft thread or shoot when passed across the shed enters this slot or
opening in the disc, which is then made to rotate and pass the quill with the
seaming thread entirely through the loop of the weft thread, which will thereby
be securely held in the shed.