CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1854

page_text: Sealed the 24th April 1855, and dated the 29th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ashton Stansfield and
Josiah Greenwood at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 29th December 1854.
We, ASHTON STANSFIELD, of Todmorden, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton
Spinner and Manufacturer, and JOSIAH GREENWOOD, of the same Place,
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING" to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate to that class of power looms wherein small
"check" straps are provided at each end of the lathe or slay, for the purpose
of breaking or lessening the impulsive force of the "picker."
Our Invention is as follows:-The check straps act upon the "picker"
guide wires, and are limited in their action to a certain extent by their being
passed through the back-board of the shuttle box, and held or pressed against

page_text: "mid-feather" in the said back-board, by means of a spring or other suitable
pressure. Thus, the force of the "pick" is broken before the picker reaches
the "stud" on the shuttle box, thereby effecting a considerable saving in the
expense of pickers and picking straps, as well as in shuttles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ashton Stansfield and Josiah Greenwood in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ASHTON
STANSFIELD, of Todmorden, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton Spinner and
Manufacturer, and JOSIAH GREENWOOD, of the same Place, Manager, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in, the, eighteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Ashton Stansfield and Josiah Greenwood, Her especial license that
we, the said Ashton Stansfield and Josiah Greenwood, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Ashton Stansfield and
Josiah Greenwood, our 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Ashton Stansfield and Josiah Greenwood, or one of us, by an
instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, 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 Ashton Stansfield do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
Our improvements relate to that class of power looms wherein small

page_text: "check" straps are provided at each end of the lathe or slay, for the purpose
of breaking or lessening the impulsive force of the "picker."
Our Invention is as follows:-The "check" straps act upon the "picker"
spindle or guide wires, and are limited in their action to a certain extent by
their being passed through the back-board of the shuttle box, and impeded,
held, or pressed against a "mid-feather," or other contrivance, in the said
back-board, by means of a spring or other suitable pressure being applied to
the check straps. Thus, the force of the "pick" is broken before the picker
reaches the "stud" on the shuttle box, thereby effecting a considerable
saving in the expence of pickers and picking straps, as well as in shuttles.
In order that our Invention may be the better understood and explained in
detail, we have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawing, in which Fig. 1 is drawn
upon a scale of about two inches to a foot, and Figs. 2 and 3 being upon a
scale of about one-third the full size.
Fig. 1 exhibits a front elevation of a loom with our improvements attached ;
Fig. 2 represents a plan or top view of parts constituting our improvements;
and Fig. 3 exhibits a back view of the same, fully illustrative of the back spring
as applied to impart the pressure required. Similar letters of reference are
marked upon corresponding parts of the machinery or apparatus in all the
Figures.
In Fig. 1, a, a, represents the picking straps, and b, b, the "pickers"; c, c,
the "check" straps; and d, d, the "mid-feathers," against which the "check
straps are pressed or impeded by the action of the spring e (seen more dis-
tinctly in Figs. 2 and 3).
The entire action of the improved arrangement of the "check" straps will
be more readily understood on reference to Fig. 2, in which the picker b is
represented as being at the limit of its traverse, and ready to give propulsion
to the shuttle from the position of the "check" strap c, as shewn in the
Drawing. It will be evident that considerable resistance must be overcome in
consequence of the spring e pressing the "check" strap c tightly against or
upon the mid-feather d. While the space between the "check" strap a and
the stud fis traversed by the picker 6 and "check" strap a, the like resistance
will be presented at the opposite end of the lathe or slay, the position given
the "check" straps being fully illustrated in Fig. 1. Thus, by causing the
back springs e, e, continually to press upon and partially confine or impede
the "check "straps c, c, against the mid-feathers d, d, sufficient resistance is
maintained and made to operate through the "check" straps c, c, to effect a
considerable saving in the expense of pickers and picking straps, as well as in
shuttles.

page_text: Having now particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be distinctly
understood that we claim the novel application, employment, and use of
"check" straps in power looms for weaving, so arranged, that, by the action
of a spring, or other mechanical equivalent, and mid-feather, or other suitable
means, between which the check strap passes, the shifting motion of the
"check" strap may be impeded or retarded by such pressure as required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ashton Stansfield, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
ASHTON STANSFIELD. (L.S.)