IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1854

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
bij the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Cumming at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th November
1854.
I, JOHN CUMMING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Pattern Designer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING" to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to a series of contrivances, more particularly appli-
cable for weaving, in a circle or continuously, by means of a shuttle or
shuttles travelling round a warp or warps arranged in a circle, whilst at the
same time the arrangements may be so modified as to render them suitable
for weaving with a reciprocating shuttle, the line of traverse of the shuttle
being either partially circular or rectilinear. According to one modification of
the apparatus for circular weaving, the warp. is drawn off beams or bobbins
placed near the bottom of the framing, and it passes up vertically, the woven
fabric being delivered upwards from the top of the machine.. The shed is
formed by means of horizontal heddles arranged in sections round the machine,
each section being acted on in succession by a central cam revolving on a
vertical axis. The weft threads of the fabric are beaten up by a series of
dents or flat wires, which take the place of the reed, as in the ordinary-loom.
These beating-up dents are arranged radially and horizontally, and are guided

page_text: vertically by an inner and an outer annular reed, arranged with the dents
vertical. These beater dents also serve to conduct or propel the shuttle round
through the shed, the shuttle running on wheels along the top of the dents.
In the weaving action the beater dents sink in front of the shuttle, whilst the
dents immediately behind the shuttle rise, so that the shuttle is, at it were,
constantly running down an inclined plane, whilst the dents rising behind it, as
it proceeds along, beat up the weft thread as it is laid along the shed by the
shuttle. The action of the shuttle may be assisted by means of a magnet,
carried round in connection with the cam rings, berein-after described, in such
a manner as to draw down the shuttle into the hollow of the dents, the shuttlo
being constructed partly or altogether of steel to bring it under the influence
of the magnet. The motion of the beater dents are caused by a pair of cams
or grooved rings. One of these cam rings works inside the inner guide reed,
whilst the other one works outside-the-outer guide reed, the two cam rings
being made to revolve in concert by suitable gearing. The. ends of the beater
dents work freely in the guide grooves on the cam rings, and these grooves
are.formed with aidescending wave-shape curve; so, as the.cam rings revolve,
the curved portion of the groove causes the beater dents gradually to fall and
rise in succession, as already herein-before described, the reeds thus acted upon
forming a species of sunk wave, in which the shuttle lies, and which carries
the shuttle with it as it travels round the loom. "By forming the guide grooves
on the cam rings with two or more wave curves, the heddle action being
arranged to correspond, two or more' shuttles may be made to work in the
same web, these shuttles following each other round the machine. By these
means a circular fabric will be woven; but by giving the cam rings a recipro-
cating motion, a fabric of the ordinary description with two selvedges may be
woven, the heddle action being suitably modified for this purpose. Or two or
more sets of warps may be arranged in a circle in the same machine, the same
-set-of-motions-thus-serving_to_produce two or more distinct pieces of fabric
simultaneously; and when two or more pieces of fabric are simultaneously
woven in a circle in this way, the reciprocating motion may be produced-by
the action of duplex cam rings revolving continuously in opposite directions.
In this case these cam rings are so constructed, that whilst one pair is driving
the shuttle of one piece of fabric 'in one direction, the other pair is driving the
shuttle of another piece in the opposite direction; and when the shuttle
reaches the extreme edge of its fabric, it immediately begins to be acted upon
by the cam ring which is revolving in-the-opposite-direction,-and-is..thereby...
driven back across the fabric. In adapting these contrivances to rectilinear
weaving, the vertical guide reeds become straight, and the cam rings become

page_text: parallel rectilinear guide frames, to which a reciprocating motion is given in
any convenient way. In this case the shed may either be formed as in the
ordinary loom, or, by a modification of the plan adopted in the. circular
arrangement, herein-before described; the warp, however, passes up vertically,
and the beater dents fall and rise in the guide rods, in the same manner as in
the circular arrangement. Instead of forming the shed by means of heddles,
as herein-before described, it may be formed by means of the beater dents
themselves, the heddles being dispensed with. In effecting this, the warp
threads are passed through eyes in the dents, or are otherwise connected to
them, and a horizontal movement is given to the dents in order to produce
the shed. This horizontal movement of the dents may be produced by means
of the cam rings, for which purpose the grooves in the rings for producing the
vertical movements of the dents, must be made of considerable depth hori-
zontally; each alternate dent must be formed with points standing up above-
the level of the intermediate dents, the latter having points projecting down-
wards below the level of the alternate dents. These points work in grooves
formed respectively in the upper and under sides of the deep horizontal
groove, in which the dents lie, and which produces their vertical movements.
The secondary grooves are so cut as to shift the dents horizontally, the upper
groove working the alternate dents outwards, and the lower groove working
the intermediate dents inwards, or vice versa, thereby forming the shed. These
contrivances are obviously applicable to the arrangements already herein-before
described for weaving with reciprocating shuttles, either circularly or recti-
lineally. The fabric produced in the circular loom may be taken up'in various
ways. According to one plan, a series of rollers or belts may be arranged
inside the fabric, and made to revolve in radiating planes. These rollers or
belts are formed with radiating pins on their outer surfaces, which pins take
into the fabric and lift it up, the rollers or belts being actuated by a central
screw movement or otherwise.