AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING NETS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Ducomet, of No. 20, Rue des Petits
Hotels, Paris, in the Republic of France, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING NETS."-
A communication from Monsieur Auguste Bonamy, residing at
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Joseph Ducomet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 9th July 1873, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
DUCOMET, of No. 20, Rue des Petits Hotels, Paris, in the Republic of
France, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING NETS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to
O grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal
Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that

page_text: it is a communication from Monsieur Auguste Bonamy, a person resident
at Saint-Just-en-Chaussé, (Oise), in the Republic of France.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Ducomet, do hereby declarc
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, reference being had
to the Drawing hereto annexed, and forming part of this Specification,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention consists in the construction of an improved machine or
loom for making fishing and other nets.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 is an end elevation, and
Figure 2 a front elevation of my improved machine or loom.
The essential parts of this machine are,—
First. The needles A mounted on the bar a, and held in position by
the plate a'.
Secondly. The hooks A¹ soldered on to the levers a', which are jointed
to a comb carried by a bar a¹.
Thirdly. The hooks A² mounted on the bar a², and held in position by
the plates a².
These three bars conjointly form the mesh by means of motions a
which I will proceed to describe.
As the net is made it is moved on to the drum T, it is kept stretched
by weights P which may vary at discretion, and the effect of which is
communicated to the drum by the sector T", and the pawls T", T11.
Motion is communicated to all the parts of the machine firstly by 2
the shaft B provided at its extremities with pulleys and a fly wheel;
this shaft B has a double crank arm to allow of the loom being.actuated
by hand (the crank arms are not shewn in the Drawing). This shaft B
is provided at one end with a pinion D, Figure 2, communicating by
means of wheels motion to the shaft B, and the other end with a 3
pinion D' which communicates motion to the shaft B¹, and thence by
means of the wheels R, R', to the shaft B". These three shafts carry
the cams necessary for the different motions of the machine. The.
shafts B' and B"" receive a continuous motion, but the shaft B" has an
intermittent motion which is produced by the clutch E, which cannot 3

page_text: turn on the shaft B, but has a lateral movement in its longitudinal
direction. It will be understood that if the clutch is not engaged in the
pinion D, this pinion will stop, and the shaft worked by it will also stop.
The clutch E is actuated by a rod E¹ and a lever E", when the
segments F come in contact with the tail of the lever E", and cause it
to move on its centre or fulcrum. The segments F are mounted on a
wheel Eset in motion from the shaft B. When the segments are
free of the lever E" by the effect of the rotatory motion of the wheel,
this lever returns to its place and the connection from the pinion D
again takes place.
The various functions of the machine are as follows:-The hooks A²
are fixed. The needles A are mounted on a bar moveable round an
axis H carried by the balance lever H', moveable round an axis H³.
The balance lever H¹ is worked by the lever H³, and the needle bar is
worked by a lever H' and a connecting rod H³. The levers H³, H³,
receive motion from two cams placed on the shaft B", so as to cause the
needles to perform a motion which shall place the meshes on to the
hooks A³, the presser K moved by the levers K' and K², by means of
a cam placed on the shaft B" brings down the meshes on to the necks of
the hooks A². Then the bar M raised by the crank lever M², M², worked
by a cam placed on the shaft B", raises the levers a¹ which raise the
hooks A¹ which are made to come against the hooks A³, so that a long
needle may be passed through the interior of these hooks A' and into the
necks of the hooks A²; this done, the motion of the shaft B² stops
through the disconnection of the clutch E, Figure 2. The shaft B' and
the shaft B", as herein-before described, having a continuous movement,
the cam L, Figure 2, cause the levers L', L', and L2 to act; the lever L
describes around its axis a part of a circle equal to the curve of the
bar L³, and draws on that bar a carriage L'; to this carriage L is fixed
the end of a long needle enclosed in a groove made in the curved bar L³,
it will be understood that the lever L having described this curve, the
needle is pushed forward and thrown through the hooks and by means
of a hook soldered at its free end it takes hold of the bobbin thread L* in
the backward motion, which brings the lever L³ and the carriage L* back
to their normal positions; the needle draws the thread through the hooks
and its end is brought towards the side of the machine opposite to that
of the bobbin. A cam placed on the shaft B¹ then sets in motion the
levers N, N, N, N, and chains N¹, N³, wound on the pulleys N2, N³, N³,

page_text: N2, by which means the carriage O receives a rectilinear motion in the
transverse direction of the loom, and performs the gathering up as in
stocking looms. The combinations of mechanism suitable for producing
the motion of the carriage may vary, and those used in stocking looms
may be applied.
The carriage O in its rectilinear motion brings down successively the
levers a¹, and each of the hooks A¹ takes up the length of thread
necessary for the formation of a fresh mesh; when the operation is
complete the clutch E puts the shaft B¹ again in motion. The needles A
then fall, and the presser K in falling takes off the meshes from the
hooks A², and from the needles A; the release of the meshes and the
previous interlacing of the threads cause the knot to be formed at each
mesh. The tightening of the knot is effected by the levers P' and the
drawer P¹; a cam serves to lower the lever P', and the upper hook of
the drawer P¹ catches the toothed wheel P² keyed on to the drum T, and
forces the drum to turn; but just at this time the balance lever P³ is
raised by a cam placed on B", which raises the lever P6, which sets in
motion the rod P7 and fixes the levers a¹, so that the meshes of the net
placed on the hooks A³, and strongly drawn by the turning of the
drum tighten the knots to the necessary extent. While the drawer P¹
is engaged on the toothed wheel of the drum to tighten the knot, the
grooved drawer P* mounted on the lever P', and drawn forward by it in
its motion presses on the sector T' and causes it to swing so as to allow
the catches to advance one or more notches according as required by the
winding up of the net. When the knot is tightened the needles A
engage in the meshes and take them off the hooks A¹; this action is
effected by the oscillations of the needle bar worked by the levers H'
and H. The machine is then ready for a fresh operation.
In the operations herein-before described it should be observed,-
Firstly. In putting the bobbin thread L on the long needle passing
through the hooks. I have described that this needle is provided at its
end with a hook X, Figure 6; this hook passes into a central hole made
in a small wheel while the thread is passed into a hole excentric to the
latter, and into a pincer which retains its extremity, Figure 6'; when the
needle is inserted in the central hole the small lever X³ worked by a cam
and a rod X³ turns by means of a ratchet wheel, the large wheel X+,
Figure 6', which turns the pinion X², causing the latter to describe an

page_text: entire circle; by this means the thread is wound round the body of the
needle, and when withdrawn it draws the thread with its hook X to the
other extremity of the loom. Two needles may be employed, one placed
on the right, the other on the left of the loom; but I prefer employing
only one for the sake of simplicity, and by which I obtain a similar result.
Secondly. The formation of the selvage is effected in the following
manner-In gathering up the thread is taken hold of at each end by a
hook carried by a lever which puts it into the fork Y, Figures 5, 5¹,
5¹¹,
and brings it close to the knife V; but immediately after the gathering
up has taken place, when the needles A. fall and the presser K takes off
the meshes, the selvage apparatus consisting of levers R', R¹, and R³,
Figure 3, give motion to a hook R, and operate as follows:-The hook R
set in motion by the lever R³ receiving motion from the levers R³, R³,
worked by a cam falls and takes off the thread which it previously held
and puts on the thread distended by a lever, as herein-before described.
This motion is so combined that after putting on the thread the hook R
presses against the knife V, Figures 5, 51, 5", and cuts it off, firstly,
to detach it from the bobbin on one side; secondly, to detach it from
the needle on the other side, the spring R² brings back the hook to its
normal position, and also serves to keep the thread of the selvage put on
by R stretched. A selvage apparatus is mounted at each end of the needle
bar at R, Figure 1, and is represented in Figure 1 with the selvage
thread in the position it occupies with regard to the net. The hook R,
Figure 3, serves to take off from the long needle the ends of the thread
which remain adherent thereto after cutting.
Thirdly. The needle bar a has a translating movement from right to
left, and vice versa, in the longitudinal direction of the machine alter-
nately at each row, and of a distance equal to the space between two
needles. This movement is effected by means of a lever u, the fork of
which is engaged on the part u¹ forming one with the needle bar, and of
the disk u² actuated by the wheel E""; the disk u² is cut in the form of a
cam for producing exactly the required movement.
Fourthly. During the time that the needle bar returns to its normal
position, and that it advances to catch in the hooks A², a counter cam
placed on the shaft B" acts on the levers N, N, N, N, and pullies N³,
N, N2, N3, and brings back the carriage O to its normal position ready
to commence a new operation.

page_text: Fifthly. To regulate the tightening of the knots I have made the
drawer P¹ in two pieces, sliding one on the other in grooves. On one of
these pieces is mounted a support carrying a lever P*; this lever P* rests
on a stop fixed on the other piece of the drawer in such wise that if the
lever P should cause the drum to roll round too much the drawer may
be lengthened, but with a pressure regulated by the weights P³, which
pressure is also produced on the knots.
Such is the general construction of my improved machine and its new
combinations.
Until now the hooks corresponding to the hooks A³, and employed in
looms worked by hand have been constructed of two separate pieces
soldered in a lump of tin Figure 4bis and 4bis, so that it required two
leads for forming a hook, and besides the precision of the spaces between
them was often disturbed by the displacement of these two leads, or
there was a want of precision arising from the contraction of the metal,
or from the deterioration of the mould in which they were cast.
By one of my improvements I make a complete hook formed of two
pieces rivetted or soldered together (Figures 4 and 4¹), the part S is
formed out of a bar cut by machinery in the form of a comb and so as to
exactly correspond to the thickness of and enclose the hook. The hooks
are besides supported by plates and several together. By this means the
coincidence of the parts is always obtained.
Until now in all looms for making nets it has been necessary in com-
mencing a net to have beforehand a piece of thread called the fag end,
and which after having been mounted on the drum T had to be mounted
mesh by mesh on the needles A, giving rise to great loss of time which
I obviate by means of a light bar R, B, provided with hooks, Figure 7,
in number equal to that of the needles A, and at the same distance
apart.
I employ this bar as follows:-After having made the first move-
ments of the loom as if there were some net on the needles the
gathering up is effected in the ordinary manner, and before making the
movement which takes the meshes off the hooks A', the machine is
stopped for a moment, and the hooks of the bar R, B, are engaged in
the meshes, and this bar is attached to the drum by cords. In fastening
the knot the thread is tightened on the hooks R, B, and on the hooks A¹,

page_text: from which the needles A take it off as herein-before described, and
the machine can work as if a net were set up.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Ducomet, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.