IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Keighley, of Bradford, in the County of York,
Power Loom Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 28th December 1865, and dated the 30th June 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Keighley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
June 1865.
I, JOHN KEIGHLEY, of Bradford, in the County of York, Power Loom
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to means of working the healds or heddles in such
manner as to obtain what is technically known as a "split shed," and the im-
provements consist in dispensing with the use of springs for that purpose;
also in simplifying and rendering the apparatus self-acting and certain in its
operations.
I employ an ordinary pair of levers, which are hinged at one end of the
loom frame, and operated or lifted and lowered at the other by rods attached
to a double crank fixed on the crank shaft. I also employ levers hinged to
the frame above and below the healds or heddles. These levers are connected
by bands at one end to the top and bottom of each heald or heddle respectively,
and the other ends of these levers are connected in pairs by rods, a top and
bottom lever being attached to each heald are connected by a rod. To each

page_text: of these rods is hinged a double hooked catch, which, by spring or other force,
has a tendency to be in a determined position until operated upon as and
when required. The catches are selected and acted upon by pin barrel peg
lags, or the needles of a jacquard apparatus or other pattern surface to place
any of them in suitable position for contact with either one or other of the lifting
or lowering levers according to arrangement of the pattern surface. These rods
are also provided with hooks or catches which serve to level the healds or
heddles, and thus prevent the necessity of employing other apparatus for that
purpose. The pattern surface is caused to act upon the catches, placing them
in contact with the levers at the time when the healds or heddles, and con-
sequently the warp threads, are level; by which means and arrangements
some of the healds are lifted, whilst others are lowered, and thus an equal and
simultaneous opening of the shed or warp threads is effected upward and
downward, thereby producing the "split shed" required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Keighley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
80th December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
KEIGHLEY, of Bradford, in the County of York, Power Loom Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord Ope
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Keighley, Her special licence that I, the said John Keighley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Keighley, 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 lawfully 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Keighley,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their bands and seals, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Keighley, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the. same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statément and accompanying two Sheets of Drawings (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to means of working the healds or heddles in such
manner as to obtain what is technically known as a "split shed," and the
improvements consist in dispensing with the use of springs for that purpose,
also in simplifying and rendering the apparatus' self-acting and certain in its
operations.
I employ an ordinary' pair of levers, which ȧré hinged at one end to the
foom' frame, and operated or lifted and lowered at the other by rods attached
to a double cránk fixed on the crank shaft. I also employ levers hinged to
the frame above and below the healds or heddles; these levers are connected
by bands át one end to the top' and bottom of each heald or heddle respec-
tively, and the other ends of these levers' are connected in pairs by rods and a
top and a bottom lever' being attached to each heald are connected by a rod.
To each of these' rods is' hinged á double hooked catch, which, by spring or
other force, has a tendency to be in a' determined position until operated upon
as and when required. The catches' are selected and acted upon by pin
barrel peg lags, or the needles of a jacquard apparatus or other pattern
surface to place any of them in suitable position for contact with either one or
other of the lifting or lowering levers according to arrangement of the pattern
surface. These rods are also provided with hooks or' catches which serve
to level the healds or heddles, and thus prevent the necessity of employing
other apparatus' for that purpose: The pattern surface is caused to act upon
the catches, placing' them in contact with the levers at the time when the
healds or heddles, and' consequently the warp threads are level, by which
means and arrangements some of the healds are liftéd, whilst others are
lowered, and' thus an' equal' and simultaneous opening of the shed or warp
threads is effected' upward and downward, thereby producing the "split
shed required

page_text: said levers, and to a double crank or two studs C and C, affixed to the hand
wheel C³, which is fixed on the crank shaft; D and D¹ are a series of ordinary
levers, hinged to the top rail and connected in pairs by rods D', and each pair
are attached by bands or cords Ds to each one of the leaves of healds or
heddles E, each of which are attached by other bands or cords E¹ to one of
another series of levers F which are hinged on suitable fixings F¹ attached
to the bottom rail. The levers D and F are connected in pairs by rods G, on
which are two hooks g and g¹, and to each of these rods is hinged a catch
G', on which are two books g and g³, which catch is acted upon by a spring g
having a tendency to hold it in a position to be operated upon as herein-after
described. These rods and catches are shewn full size at Figs. 3, 4, and 5;
H is an ordinary jacquard cylinder which is turned over by a catch I, hinged
to a fixing on the loom end, and reciprocating motion is given thereto by a
rod J connected to an eccentric K fixed on the crank shaft; L is a frame
with a series of slidable pins M arranged opposite the catches, which pins are
acted upon by the cylinder according to arrangement of the perforations in
the cards employed in the usual manner.
The jacquard apparatus and the rods, with their catches, are shewn in a
portion of an elevation and plan drawn full size at Figs. 6 and 7, where it will
be seen that when any of the pins M are acted upon by the card on the
jacquard cylinder they will press their respective catches out of position for
contact with the lever A, and into position for contact with the lever A¹,
which, by taking into the hooks 9 will lift the rods and thereby lower the
healds to which they are connected, whilst the catches not acted upon by the
card on the jacquard cylinder will remain in position for the hooks g³ to be
acted on by the lever A which will draw down the rods and lift those healds
which are connected thereto; consequently, while one portion of the warp
threads is lifted the other portion will be lowered, and thus form a "split
shed," and the hooks g and g¹ will always be acted on by both levers, which
will level the healds or close the shed. It will be observed that the springs
heretofore employed for drawing the healds downwards are dispensed with,
and the healds, levers, and rods are made to balance each other, or nearly so,
on the lever studs, consequently requiring but very little power to be applied
to move them either up or down; and it will be apparent that these improve-
ments are simple, self-acting, and certain in their operation. It will also be
evident that the catches on the rods may be operated by pin barrel peg lags,
or other pattern surface to place them in position required to be acted upon
by either of the levers A and A', and that the levers may be lifted more or
less by attaching the rods B to any one of the holes in the said levers either

page_text: Dearer to or further from the hinge or fulcrum thereof, and that the eccentric
K can be so adjusted and set as to cause the jacquard cylinder or other
pattern surface to operate the catches at the precise time when all the warp
threads or level or when the shed is closed, whereby there will be less
crossing and chafing of the warp threads than heretofore.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Keighley have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named John Keighley in
the presence of
WM. TASKER,
Patent Agent,
Halifax.
JOHN KEIGHLEY. (L.B.)