IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Talbot, of Blackburn, in the County of
Lancaster, Overlooker of Power Looms, and Benjamin Croasdale, of
Witton, near Blackburn, Joiner, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS."
Sealed the 1st December 1857, and dated the 17th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Talbot and
Benjamin Croasdale at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 17th August 1857.
We, RICHARD TALBOT, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Over-
looker of Power Looms, & BENJAMIN CROASDALE, of Witton, near Blackburn,
Joiner, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS," to be as follows:-
Firstly, we place the cams or points for working the pickers on the crank
shaft instead of the tappet shaft, as heretofore adopted, by which we dispense
with the tappet shaft, and consequently the crank and tappet wheels; secondly,..
we work the sheds or healds by means of a dobby, the said dobby being worked.
by a tappet on the crank shaft; thirdly, instead of the ordinary temple we fix.
a lever at each side of the loom, each of which supports a pulley with a small
toothed disc having a revolving surface motion, and as they revolve the teeth
penetrate each side of the fabric and keep it extended; and, fourthly, instead

page_text: of the usual drop-box motion, we raise the box by means of a lever, which is
worked by a wheel receiving motion from the slay, which improvements are
applicable to looms worked either by hand or power.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Talbot and Benjamin Croasdale in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 16th February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RICHARD
TALBOT, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, Overlooker of Power
Looms, and BENJAMIN CROASDALE, of Witton, near Blackburn, Joiner, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Richard Talbot and Benjamin Croasdale, Her special licence that we, the
said Richard Talbot and Benjamin Croasdale, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Richard Talbot and Benjamin
Croasdale, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Richard Talbot and
Benjamin Croasdale, 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 Benjamin Croasdale, for and on behalf of
myself and the said Richard Talbot, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is
to say):-
Our Invention consists of a simple arrangement for working the drop box.
We employ a crank or lever at the end of the crank shaft for giving

page_text: motion to a beam or lever working in bearings in any suitable framing, and
also a cylinder or drum giving motion to a strap furnished with projections,
for the purpose of forming a pattern, the said projections coming in contact
with other projections upon a double elastic plate or spring, which is lifted up
as required by the beam before mentioned, and allows the shuttle box to fall;
the reverse operation being caused by weights or springs.
These improvements will be clearly understood by reference to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, with the figures and letters of reference thereon,
in which Fig. 1 is an end elevation of the framing and other parts of a loom,
shewing our improvements; Fig. 2, a longitudinal elevation of the same,
having one of the top frames removed, in order to shew the interior; and
Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6, are views of detached parts.
In Figs. 1 and 2, a represents the drop box, which is attached by the rod
or wire to one end of the lever c, working on the fulcrum d in the
frames e, the other end of the lever c being connected by the strap f to one of
the parts g of the double spring, seen detached at Fig. 4, the said part g
having a projection h fixed upon it; the other part of the double spring is
shewn at i, with a hook at the top, and also a projection k, the lower part of
the spring being fixed to the lever 1, to which is attached the coiled springs m.
Fixed to the framework is the seating n, so that the projection h may rest
upon it when required, and the double spring has a pin o to regulate the
extent of motion. The cylinder is shewn at p carrying the pattern strap q
and projections, the said cylinder being put in motion by means of the bevil
gear s, worm wheel t, and worm u, on the tappet shaft v. On the fulcrum w
there is another lever x, put in motion by the crank or lever y on the crank
shaft, the other end of the said lever having a knife or plate z, so as to catch
the hook of the double spring when the said hook is pushed over it by one of
the projections on the pattern strap, there being a spring a to keep the parts
g and i with their projections up to the cylinder.
In Fig. 2 the drop box is shewn at its highest position, and the lever land
double spring at their lowest positions, having been pulled down by the springs
m in consequence of the projection h being pushed off its seating n by one of
the projections on the strap.
In Fig. 3 the lever and double spring are shewn in their highest positions,
and also prepared for falling. After the required number of picks have been
thrown with the box in its highest position, a projection on the pattern strap
pushes the hooked part i of the double spring over the knife or plate z, which
in its motion overcomes the force of the springs m, and raises the double
spring, thereby allowing the drop box to fall to its other position by its own

page_text: weight, there being a balance 6¹ to. prevent too sudden shock... The aforesaid
arrangement is of great simplicity, and affords the means of giving the. changes
with ease and expedition, thereby being admirably adapted for weaving checks
or similar patterns.
In connection with the foregoing improvements we give a drag or check to
the yarn in addition to the usual levers and weights when throwing in thick
weft, or when a thick stripe is required, by causing the slay sword c¹ to pull
the yarn beam by means of the levers d and e', the latter being. connected to
the rope f¹; the end of the lever d' is hooked, as seen in Fig. 5, the hook
with its lever being pulled from the slay sword, as the pattern may require, by
the cord g' attached to the lever l, thereby allowing the yarn beam to be acted
upon by the usual levers and weights only.
At Fig. 6 the cylinder is shewn detached, having upon its periphery a
number of wires, placed so as to act as teeth, fitting the leather or other
projections in the inner part of the pattern slay.
Having thus fully described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be distinctly
understood that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details herein set
forth, as such may be varied or modified without departing from the principle
thereof; but we claim as our Invention, and which to the best of our know-
ledge and belief has not been hitherto used within the realm, the arrangement
of machinery or apparatus for working the drop boxes of looms, as herein
described, and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Croasdale, for and on behalf
of myself and the said Richard Talbot, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
BENJAMIN CROASDALE. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named Benjamin Croasdale,
in the presence of
E. J. HUGHES, Patent Agent,
Manchester.