CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON POWER LOOMS FOR THE WEAVING OF SILK, COTTON, LINEN, WOOL, FLAX AND HEMP, AND ALL MIXTURES THEREOF
Year: 1827

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HARVEY SADLER, of Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Machanist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Scal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of December, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-seven, in the eighth year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said John Harvey Sadler, His especial licence that I, the said
John Harvey Sadler, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said John Harvey Sadler, my executors, administrators, and assigns.
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON POWER
LOOMS FOR THE WEAVING OF SILK, COTTON, LINEN, WOOL, FLAX AND HEMP, AND
ALL MIXTURES THEREOF;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso that I, the said John Harvey Sadler, shall cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John
Harvey Sadler, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which it is to be produced, used, and carried into effect, is herein-
after particularly set forth and explained, reference being had to the expla-
natory Drawings hereunto annexed, and in which the same letters of reference
are made use of, as far as possible, to indicate and show the same parts
wherever they occur in the several Figures therein drawn.
In the first place, I declare that my said improvements do not refer to the
loom itself, for that, as to its several parts, remains in nearly the same form
and state as it formerly did, but they apply and refer to the means and
machinery which I have invented for moving and working the said several
parts of the loom, so as to enable it to work or weave good and effective work
of any description or width by any sufficiently strong moving power derived
from any of the usual sources and applied to the same, and these alone I
claim as my aforesaid Invention and improvement; the loom itself therefore
consists of the ordinary framework which is usually put up and constructed for
the particular kind of work to which it is to be applied, be the same what it
may; but if such form and construction has not a top rail or other convenient
means of supporting my said apparatus to be herein-after described, then such
top rail or other proper support must be added in a sufficiently strong and
effectual manner, as will bereafter appear, and in such place as may be
necessary. The looms to which I apply my said machinery and improvements
must have or contain all the usual parts common to looms, such as a warp
beam or rack and bobbins to contain the warp threads or yarns before they
are woven; a breast roll or cloth beam to receive the cloth as it is woven;
heddles, lams, or mails and lingos, to raise and depress the several parts of the
warp as required; a batten or sley, with the usual reed for striking home the
shoot, which shoot is worked or thrown by the usual and accustomed shuttle,
running in the usual shuttle race from boxes at its two ends, and such shuttle
is propelled or thrown by the usual pickers running on guide rods; and to all
these several parts I lay no claim as forming any part of my Invention or
improvement, except so far as they are connected or combined with my said
improvements, or so far as I have altered or improved the action of them, and
I shall therefore give no description of these several parts, but take it for
granted that their forms, constructions, and uses are understood by all who
may read this my Specification.
I shall now proceed to describe the machinery and parts thereof which I
do consider as constituting my Invention and improvement, and I shall at the
same time point out and describe the manner in which I use and apply the
same to give proper and effective motion to the several parts of the looms
above enumerated, or to any others which enter into and form part of the

page_text: construction of a loom. The annexed Drawings represent different views of a
loom with my improvements applied to the same, the size and proportions
being those of a silk loom, but which may be varied for other kinds of work.
Figure 1 is a side view of such loom; Fig. 2, a front view, or the loom as
it appears from the end where the cloth beam is applied; and Fig. 3, a plan,
or rather a view from above the loom. To work the loom, a rotary motion is
given in the same constant direction to the revolving shaft a, a, Figs. 2 and 3,
by means of a band or strap passed round one of the riggers or pullies 6, which
are of different sizes to vary the speed, and are hung loosely upon the end of
the said shaft, or in such manner that they can revolve without imparting
motion to it unless when the clutch box c is thrown forward, in order to
engage them with the said shaft. The clutch box c slides laterally upon a
square part of the shaft a, or if this part of the shaft is round, it must have a
projecting feather or rib to lay hold of the clutch box and prevent its turning
without the said shaft, and it will be distinctly seen in Fig. 2 that the teeth
of the said clutch box are inclined, or like ratchet teeth; consequently motion
can only be given to the shaft a when the rigger 6 turns in one direction.
d is a fly wheel fixed to or cast in one piece with the said riggers, for equalizing
the motion; and e, e, e, is a cast-iron or other sufficiently strong framing for
supporting the said shaft and all the other parts of my improved machinery,
which framing is firmly screwed down or otherwise fixed to the front top rail
f of the loom, or to some other framing capable of supporting it in that or
another situation to be herein-after described. Whenever it is desirable to
stop the loom while the moving power remains in action, this must be done by
throwing the clutch box c backwards, or out of gear with the riggers b, and
for this purpose I use the rod or lever g, h, i, Fig. 2, which is formed like
a clock pendulum, as it turns on a pivot or center at h, and has a lump
of metal or weight at its lower end g sufficiently heavy to cause it to
hang down perpendicularly. Its upper end is curved, so as to pass
between the clutch box c and the upright standard of the frame e, and it
terminates in an horizontal wedge i, of sufficient thickness to push the
shuttle box forward or into geer with the riggers whenever the pendulum
weight y is drawn out of the perpendicular by being brought to the front
of the loom when its rod is locked or lodged upon the latch k, which
holds it in that position; but whenever it is necessary to stop the working
of the loom, that latch may be drawn inwards or towards the centre of the
loom by its stud or handle, will the pendulum will be discharged, and will fall
into a perpendicular position, by which the wedge i is withdrawn from behind
the clutch box and permits it to retire, and it is at the same time pressed back

page_text: and thrown out of geer by a spring piece l, which is jointed on to the top of
the pendulum rod, and acts by its head, which is also wedge-shaped, in the
opposite direction on the opposite side of the clutch box, its spring causing it
always to bear on the said clutch box; but whenever the pendulum bangs
perpendicularly, the thick part of the wedge is brought against the said clutch
box, which makes the spring piece open to such an extent that it comes into
contact with certain cams or inclined projections on the inside of the fly wheel,
which in its revolution cannot fail to force the said clutch box inwards and
out of geer with the moving power. This spring piece and the wedge at the
top of the pendulum rod may act upon the two sides of the clutch box, as above
described, or may both be made to act with more convenience under the said
clutch box upon the small forked lever m, which commands the lateral motion
of the said clutch box, but which need not be used if the top of the pendulum
rod and its spring piece act upon the clutch box itself. It will thus be seen
how motion in one direction only is given to the revolving shaft a, a, and like-
wise how that motion may be instantly stopped if required without affecting
the source from which such motion is derived; and I shall now proceed to trace
the effects of the rotary motion so given to the shaft a, a, and to shew how it
operates upon the loom. In the first place, an endless screw is formed upon
the shaft a, a, at its end nearest to the said clutch box and immediately within
the standard that supports it, as will be distinctly seen in Fig. 2. This endless
screw acts into the teeth of a small wheel n, which turns on an horizontal axis
supported upon two bearings fixed to the said standard, and this horizontal
axis carries a small wooden friction roller o, Figs. 2 and 3, which can be set
nearer to or further from the said toothed wheel by nuts on its two sides,
which nuts are screwed on to the said axis, and are only seen in Fig. 3. The
use of the wooden roller is to impart motion to the horizontal plate or table p,
Figs. 2 and 3, which it does by friction only, and for this purpose the said
plate or table is made flat at its top surface, and in turning round it carries
with it the long vertical rod or spindle q, Figure 2, which is supported in top
and bottom bearings against one of the upright standards of the loom. It
will likewise be evident that the flat plate or table p will turn round with
greater or less velocity as the wooden roller o is placed nearer to or further from
its centre by means of its adjusting screw nuts before mentioned. The lower
end of the spindle q is formed into an endless screw, which works between
two wheels placed on the ends of two stretching or gathering rollers, one of
which is seen at A in Figure 2, and both of them at A, B, in Figure 1.
These rollers are for the purpose of stretching and gathering up the cloth as it
is woven, and delivering it to the cloth beam C, which derives its motion from

page_text: the cords or straps D, D, Figure 2, which pass round the rollers A, B, and
these cords or straps must be so adjusted to tightness by the tightening pullies
below them as to drive the cloth beam by their frixtion and yet let it slip,
because they impart more motion to C than is equal to the length of cloth
woven, and consequently always keeps the cloth duly stretched. In this way
then it will be evident that the cloth woven in this loom will be taken up and
deposited upon the cloth beam as fast as it is produced, and that the velocity
of this taking up may be regulated at pleasure by varying the distance of the
wooden roller o from the center of the horizontal plate or table p, as before
mentioned, or by using wooden rollers of different diameters, to admit of
which the said plate or table is adjustable to different heights upon the spindlo
7 by a set screw under the said plate, and which is scen in Figure 2.
Reverting again to the shaft a, a, we arrive at the wheel E, which I place as
nearly as may be in the center of the front of the loom by making the shaft
a, a, of a proper length for this purpose. This wheel is fixed or keyed upon
the said shaft, and is an important part of my said Invention and improvements.
It is for the double purpose of working the batten and driving the shuttle,
and I shall therefore describe these operations separately, after first describing
the nature and construction of this wheel, which, for facility of construction and
workmanship, I make in three distinct plates or pieces, which I afterwards
unite together by pins, keys, or bolts passing through the whole of them, or
any of these plates may be cast upon the said shaft. These three pieces are
two thin circular plates or cheeks with a snail or excentric piece contained
between them, and if one of these cheeks is removed or taken off, Figure 4
will represent the form and appearance of the said snail and excentriccs
drawn to a scale of half the size I usually construct them. The two cheeks
are used for driving the shuttle in a manner which I shall presently explain,
and the snail is for working the batten by its operation on the bent lever 1, 2, 3.
This lever turns on a center or pivot at 3, being supported on a standard from
the bed or frame 1, 1, 1, first mentioned, and this standard is seen at 8 in
Figure 2. The bent lever has a stud or projection at 2 in Figure 4, which
stud slides upon the snail as it turns round, by which the said stud is moved to
varying distances from the center of the revolving shaft a, a, whereby the
upper end I of the said lever acquires a sufficient motion in a nearly horizontal
direction to work the batten, which its does by its end 1 being connected by
means of a leather strap, cord, or catgut with the upper end of the batten, as
seen at in Figures 1 and 3. It may here be proper to remark, that the
batten I make use of is of the swinging kind, leaving its center of motion at
F, Figures 1 and 3, in the two top side, rails of the loom; and its swords or

page_text: supports, which I make of iron, are united together by an iron arch or bow
above the two pivo's or centers, upon which they turn in such manner that the
said strap or cord, by being attached to the center of the said arch or bow, as
at G in Figure 3, may operate equally on the whole batten at once. The
action of the before-mentioned snail and bent lever is therefore not to cause
the batten to make its blow upon the shoot, but to withdraw the reed from
the work when the shed of the warp opens, and the blow of the batten is made
by its own weight in falling forwards again whenever the stud or projection 2
(Figure 4) falls into the cavity in the snails. If the weight of the batten
should not be sufficiently great, I increase its force by a spring or springs and
lines, applied as shown at H, H, Figures 1 and 3, or by springs of any kind or
weight acting over pullies, as may be most convenient; but I prefer the
application shown in the Drawing, because by sliding the cord higher up or
lower down on the spring H, Figure 1, the power of the lay and batten can be
made greater or less at pleasure; and I occasionally apply spring and cords from
the back posts of the loom to the bottom of the lay or batten, to counteract the
springs applied above, or sometimes when there are no springs above, and the
batten itself falls too heavily by its own weight. In this manner I can adjust
the force of the blow of the batten, and make it as strong or as delicate as
the nature of the work may require, with the great advantage at the same
time of leaving my batten at all times free to be moved backwards by the
hand to mend threads, or in case of any derangement taking place in the
work. The pivots or centers F, F, upon which the batten moves, are like-
wise adjustable by set screws, both in a verticle and an horizontal direction, by
which the reed can be most accurately set to its work. For light work, such
as book and mull muslin, crape, and gauze, I find it better to move the lay
and batten from the bottom altogether; and in this case I apply a shaft or
roller turning ou pivots between the two back posts of the loom, and I put a
pulley or rigger on each end of such shaft, one of which pullies is seen at a in
Figure 1, and I twist a line round the center of such shaft, and carry it, as
at b, to the bent lever of the wheel E, before described; and I likewise twist
a line, as at C, in a contrary direction, and carry it to near the bottom of each
sword of the lay, either directly or through the intervention of spiral springs,
to ease the pull, as the nature of the work may require. This shaft or roller,
with its lines, can be applied or removed at pleasure, as it makes no difference
in the other parts of the loom.
Having thus shewn how the motion of the batten is produced, I shall,
while upon that subject, describe my improved method of fixing and steadying
that batten in its work. It has always been customary to fix the batten

page_text: immoveably to the lower ends of its swords, but instead of doing this I con-
tinue the swords downwards, and attach them by certain joints and metal rods
to the lower part of the framework of the loom, by which I obtain a steadi-
ness and other advantages never before obtained in a free swing batten as
applied to power looms. This part of my Invention and improvements can
only be shown in Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings, in which I is a side
view of one of the swords of the batten made of iron. To the bottom of
each of the swords I attach, by a double joint, the piece of iron K, bent into
the form of right angle, and to this I again join the rods L by similar joints;
and the bottoms of the rods L are again attached by double joints to a step
or projecting frame M, which I form either in iron or wood on each side of
the bottom of the front standards of the loom. I use the ordinary batten,
with its reed, shuttle race, and boxes, and other appurtenances; and it there-
fore forms no part of my Invention, except as to my mode of fixing and using
the same, which I do by screwing or otherwise fixing the bottom of the said
batten upon the horizontal part of the angular irons K, as shown at N; and
the advantages of this arrangement and mode of using the same is, that I
not only insure much greater steadiness in the blow of the batten, and obviate
that detrimental vibration that used to take place when swinging battens of
large dimensions were used, but I likewise throw the batten itself into the
most favorable positions for work. Thus, when the shed of the warp is
opened, and the batten is thrown back for the passage of the shuttle, as is the
case in Figure 1, it will be seen that the batten is so thrown back at its top
that the shuttle race takes a position that is parallel and coincident with the
threads that form the bottom of the shed, and that by this position the shuttle
is thrown back or towards the reed, and consequently it can have no tendency
to fly out of its race, an accident that frequently happens in the common mode
of hanging battens. It will be observed that a small arch or curvature is
given to the lower ends of the swords I, to admit of the batten thus falling
back. It will likewise be apparent, that as the batten comes forward to
make its blow, the action of these joints and rods will be to throw its upper
part forwards, and thereby to depress the front part of the shuttle race out of
the way of the warp, and cause the blow of the reed to be made as nearly as
possible upon its central line; and I likewise occasionally apply a stiff spring
or piece of iron K to each of the right-angled pieces K, by means of a double
joint. This piece is quite loose while the batten is in the position shown in
the Figure; but when it comes forward to make its blow, its ends come into
contact with the back of the swords and of the pieces L, and make the whole
as stiff as if it was one piece of iron, all of which are manifest advantages.

page_text: Having thus shown how the batten is to be moved and worked, I shall now
return again to the description of the wheel E, to describe how it produces
the necessary motion of the shuttle. To the outside of each of the cheeks of
this wheel I fix a steel inclined plane or wing O, Figure 4, and which are
likewise shown in Figure 1, 2, and 3; but that the same may be more dis-
tinctly seen, Figure 5 represents the outside of the cheek, which has been
before stated to be removed in order to exhibit the snail, and one of the
wings O is shewn upon it. These wings or inclined planes are springs in
order to ease their action, but they must be of sufficient strength to act upon
and move the upper end of the lever or driver P, P, as they revolve. This
lever is of iron at its upper part, but continues downwards of wood for the
sake of lightness; it turns upon pivots or center screws s, s, Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 6, in a cock or square opening provided for that purpose in the back part
of the bottom of the frame e, e, e, and this square opening has stop screws in
its two sides, as shown at t, t, to regulate the quantity of motion of the said
lever. The top of this lever carries a tumbler or turnbuckle v, to receive the
action of the said spring wings or inclined planes, and whether this tumbler is
inclined to one side or to the other, it is sure to be struck by one or other of
the two wings, and thereby moved to the opposite side to that in which it was
before placed, because this lever is incapable of standing in a perpendicular
position on account of a spring placed underneath it, which produces the
necessary motion for impelling the shuttle. The spring is held underneath
the bottom of the frame e, e, by screws, and cannot therefore be seen in any
of the Figures before referred to; but the said lever, with its tumbler and
spring, are drawn separately at Figure 6, which will render their form and
construction apparent. P, P, is the lever, which is curved and has a
cylindrical piece Q in its center, into the two ends of which the pivot screws
s, s, upon which it turns, an inserted; y, y, being part of the square frame
before mentioned, in which the said lever is hung and turns, and is the
tumbler or turnbuckle. The under side of the cylinder Q carries an arm,
with a friction wheel R, which presses upon the spring S, shown in cross
section in the upper Figure; but a front view of the said spring, friction
wheel, and lever are given at T, T, in which R is the said friction wheel, lying
on one side of the central point of the spring, and it will be evident that that
friction wheel cannot move with the cylinder on its center of motion Q, to get
over the point of the spring, without bending and depressing it, and conse-
quently the moment the friction wheel gets upon the point of the spring it
will be suddenly shot over it with a force proportioned to the strength of the
spring, and this is all that will be necessary for throwing the shuttle, for,

page_text: notwithstanding the motion of the upper end of the lever P, P, may not
exceed three inches or thereabouts, yet that motion is so multiplied by the
length of the lower arm of the lever, and the effect of the spring is so sudden,
that I find it fully equal to the sending a shuttle with the greatest certainty
through a warp of any width, provided the spring is made of sufficient strength;
and its power may at any time be diminished or increased by loosening or
tightening the two screws T, T, the heads of which come above the bottom
plate of the frame e, e; for that purpose the lower end of the lever P, P, is
attached to the pickers for driving the shuttle by cords in the usual manner,
as may be seen in Fig. 2. Before dismissing the motion of the shuttle pro-
duced as aforesaid, I shall describe two other improvements which I have
invented and applied to it, and which I consider as parts of my said improve-
ments, and these are, first, that instead of permitting the shuttle to expand a
part of its force, as has always hitherto been done in driving back the picker
of the box into which it enters, I connect the two pickers at the two ends of
the race together by fine catgut or other sufficiently strong lines or cords,
passing over pullies and underneath the batten in grooves made for the
purpose, in such manner that whenever either of the said pickers is drawn
forward by the driver to propel the shuttle, the opposite picker is drawn to
the further end of its box to make room for the shuttle, and thus no resistance
is offered to its entrance, and the force necessary to remove the picker is
transferred from the shuttle to the spring that impels the driver, besides which
the line or cord that connects the pickers with the lower end of the driving
lever P, P, need never be slack and in the way of the work, as was formerly
the case, which is a great advantage. Secondly, it has always been customary
to introduce a spring plate into the back of the shuttle box, to be pressed back
by the shuttle upon its entrance into the said box, for the purpose of operating
upon certain levers or catches for throwing the loom out of geer and motion
whenever the same was not pressed upon, owing to the shuttle stopping short
in the shed and not making its full traverse. This spring plate not only
imposed much friction upon the shuttle, but often produced a vibratory and
uncertain action; to obviate this, I therefore introduce the edge of a friction
roller mounted upon the end of the usual spring into the back of the shuttle
box in place of the said plate, and instead of causing this roller to operate
upon levers as the spring plate did before, I find that the contact of the
shuttle causes the roller to revolve, thereby diminishing the friction that before
existed, and I make use of this revolving motion to cause the axis of the said
roller which turns with it, to wind up a small but strong catgut or other string
which winds round a cylinder upon a hook or excentric latch or bolt that

page_text: projects from the bottom of the batten, and is held in its proper position by a
spring, which may be spiral, or contained within the cylinder like a watch
spring, in such a position that it would always strike against a stop prepared
for that purpose, and by doing which it would throw the loom out of gear and
stop its motion; but when it is drawn upon by the cord of the friction roller it
makes part of a revolution, and is drawn out of the way of and passed by the
side of the said stop without interrupting the motion of the loom. The stop that
I make use of consists of a stud or projection rising from the junction of two
slight iron rods, which are fastened at their ends to the two front posts of the
loom, as seen at d, e, Figures 1 and 2, the stop being at f; the end d is
fastened to the left-hand front post of the loom, and the other end e has a
sliding motion, by which it is capable of acting on a tail of the latch R, so
that it may release the pendulum g, h, i, whenever the stop f is struck, and
will thus throw the motion of the loom out of gear. g is an iron standard for
supporting the central part of the iron rods d and c, and keeping them and the
stop in the proper position to be struck when the excentric latch has not
been drawn aside by the action of the shuttle. I consider this as an important
improvenient, because as the shuttle passes into its box and turns the said
friction roller, the action of the spring becomes stronger and stronger the more
it is wound up, and it thus gradually retards the shuttle and entirely prevents
its rebounding, while at the same time the force of the spring so wound up
becomes a store of power to be communicated back to the shuttle for pro-
pelling it whenever it is again driven forwards by its picker. In wide looms
I adopt pendant latches, as it is better to stop at both ends of the batten on
account of its length; and these latches I merely draw to one side by the
winding motion of the friction roller of the shuttle box, and thus take them
out of the way of the stops that would otherwise impede their motion. These
pendant latches are connected together by a cord, and are kept in their per-
pendicular hanging position by their own weight or by springs applied to them
for that purpose; or whenever therefore the said rollers leave turned round,
and the shuttle is properly lodged in its box, the motion of the loom will
proceed; but if the shuttle does not arrive at the roller and turn it round, then
the said latches or bolts will not be drawn out of the way, and the motion of
the loom will instantly stop before it can do any harm to the work that is in
it. I shall now once more revert to the revolving shaft a, a, and tracing its
operation, the wheel V, which is for working the heddles, is the next that
requires explanation. This wheel is keyed or immoveably fixed or cast on to
the extreme end of the shaft a, a, so that it must revolve with it, and it is
separately. shown of half the size that I construct it at Figures 7 and 8 (Figure

page_text: 7 being a front, and Figure 8 a side view or profile of it. It carries on its
external forco, or that which is furthest from the shaft, a projecting piece to act
as a cam, which is cast upon or otherwise united with it, as seen at v, and the
front shape of this piece is also shown at v, in Figure 1, in which it will bo
seen that it is concentric, or agrees on its outside with the center of motion of
the said shaft for nearly a semicircle, or for a greater or less portion of a circle,
according to the nature and velocity of the motion it is intended to produce,
and the nature of tho motion that is required for the work in the loom, and its
other side or edge is a portion of a much larger circle or curve so excentric
that at its highest elevation it passes very little beyond the conter of motion of
the said shaft. The use of this cam is to depress an arm a, which projects
from the side of the vibrating shaft or axle W, Figures 2 and 3, and which
arm has a roller on its end to diminish the friction. The same vibrating shaft
has another arm w projecting from the same side of it, but not quite in the
same direction, as will be seen in Figure 1, and this last arm is to act upon
and depress one end of the levers X, X, Figures 1 and 3, which turn upon
centers in the arm Y, and they are for the purpose of acting upon the heddles
Z, Z, which they do in a manner that will be obvious on inspecting the
Drawings; as, however, there is but one arm w to act upon the said levers, it
is evident that only one of the said levers can be acted upon, unless the said
vibrating lever is made to shift or move endwise, which I accordingly cause
it to do by the following contrivance :-A short lever is placed so that it can
play horizontally on a pivot or axis formed on the left-hand side of the central
standard of the frame e, e, e, in the manner shown at Z, Figures 2, and like-
wise at Z in Figures 7 and 8, and which may likewise be seen in Figs. 1 and
3. One end of this lever is forked vertically, and the said fork lays hold of a
notch turned in the vibrating shaft W, Figures 2, 3, and 7, and the other end
carries a fork h, Figures 1 and 7, which is affixed to the top of the said lever
by a pivot, and this fork lays hold of or embraces one of the thin edges or flanches
of the wheel V, which it will be observed is turned like a pulley with a groove
and two projecting edges; and by a particular contrivance, which I shall
describe, I cause this last-mentioned fork to be transferred from one edge or
rim of the said wheel V to the other in every revolution of that wheel; but
Figure 7 will render this more apparent, as it represents the profile or side
view of this wheel, with the lever z and its fork h¹, and shews the manner in
which the edge of the wheel is cut or formed in one place only of its circum-
ference; thus, as the wheel revolves in the direction of the arrow, it will be
evident, from the curvature that is given to the projecting edge at ¹ and the part
of the same that is cut away, that the fork h¹ will turn on its swivel, and will

page_text: be transferred from ¹ to the point K', in making which traverse it is assisted
by the lozenge-shaped piece n' that is inserted in the middle of the groove;
the wheel will therefore revolve round with the swivel fork upon or embracing
the side K, until at length it will be found at m', and then it will incline again,
and by passing the lozenge n¹, will be transferred to the point of the side l',
upon which it will make another revolution, and will thus be alternately
transferred at every revolution from to K¹ and from m to l, and consequently
the lever ¹ will receive an alternately horizontal motion equal to the distance
of the two rims from each other, which may be made more or less at pleasure;
and this alternating motion I employ to rack or push the vibrating shaft
laterally backwards and forwards, in such manner that its single arm w is first
made to act upon and depress one of the levers X, and then to depress the
other, which is all that is necessary for working two heddles or two pair
of heddles, which may be tyed up to the levers X, X, through the intervention
of jacks, or in any of the usual and accustomed manners well known to
weavers. When, however, the work that is in the loom requires a greater
number of heddles, and consequently of levers like X, to be used, I do not use
this apparatus or cause the vibrating shaft W to rack at all; but I take out
the lover, Fig. 7, and I put a collar or other contrivance upon the pivot or
pivots of the said vibrating shaft, so as to prevent its having any lateral
motion at all, and I introduce the star wheel apparatus, shown at Fig. 6,
between center screws placed for that purpose in the arm a, Fig. 2, and an
additional arm p, placed upon the said vibrating shaft, in the situation indicated
at q', q', in Fig. 2. This star wheel must have as many points or radii
as there are levers to be pressed upon, and the width of its radii must
be equal to that of the levers, in order that as the said star wheel is lifted up
or brought down by the motion of the vibrating shaft W, produced as afore-
said by its arm x and the cam or excentric piece v upon the wheel V, that
some one or other of the arms or points of the said star wheel may press down
nearly vertically upon one of the levers, which are ranged side by side (in a
proper carriage, like the levers X, X, directly under the said star wheel. As
the number of radii or points of the star wheel must correspond with the
number of levers and heddles to be operated upon, different star wheels may
:be made and fixed in the same loom, as required, with very little loss of time;
and in order to cause these radii or points to press and act in regular suc-
cession upon the said levers, I cause the said star wheel to revolve, so that
every one of its points shall be downwards in succession in the following
manner:- Fig. 9 is a side view of such a star wheel having 8 points, and
consequently formed to act upon 8 levers; by the side of the said star wheel,

page_text: and fixed upon its axis, I form a flat plate r, in which there are as many
projecting pins s', s, s', as the star has points; a lever t, with a notch in it, falls
by its weight upon one of the uppermost of these pins, and acts as a holder to
prevent the said star wheel from turning, and thus insures that its lowest point
w shall always fall upon its corresponding lever a, the top of which is notched
to receive it. All the heddle levers turn on the centre y in the lever carriage u,
and the holding lever t is mounted on an arm v, to support it, which arm
is fixed against the side of the lever carriage in such manner that it may bend
forward against the spring, otherwise, from short radius of the arm p', when
moved down by the vibrating shaft W, the pins s' would be drawn out of the
notch of the holding lever t. As the arm p carries the star wheel down,
a latch 7, which is mounted on a spring 8, lays hold by its inclined head of the
next pin to that which is held by the lever t; and as this latch 7 has a stop
screw under it at 8, which prevents its descending below a certain adjustable
distance, the head of the latch 7 will lift up the hold-down lever t, and thus
release the pin S' from its notch; but as the arm p¹ rises again, the latch 7 will
keep down the pin that it has taken hold of, and will thus cause the next pin
to enter the notch in t by sliding under its inclined face at 9; and thus every
time that the arm p¹ rises will the adjacent point of the star wheel, as 10, be
brought into the lowest position w, and be held there, so that the point 10 will
next depress the lever 11, and so will all the levers in succession be depressed
until the star wheel has made an entire revolution, when the point w will again
be brought into contact with the first lever a. After the above description it
is hardly necessary to state that the arms of the star wheel arise in a spiral
manner out of its central axis, in order that they may operate in proper
succession upon the heddle levers.
Figure 10 is a perspective view of a star wheel of 8 points, taken from the
opposite side to that which is exhibited in Figure 9, and from this and
the foregoing description its application and use will be quite apparent, and
whenever more than four heddles are to be used, it will be found more
convenient in its use than the racking motion of the vibrating shaft W,
produced as aforesaid by the wheel V.
In all the above explanations of my improvement of the loom I have
described my aforesaid apparatus as being placed across the top of the loom
and above the work, but I have observed that if there is not the convenience
of placing it there, it must be supported and fixed in some other convenient
situation; and to show how far these said improvements admit of being placed
elsewhere with equal effect and advantage, and likewise how completely they
are applicable to weaving of every description, I have annexed a Drawing of a

page_text: loon of an entirely different kind to any that have been before described, and
in which my aforesaid improvements are applied below the work instead
of above it. Thus, Fig. 11 is a side view, and Fig. 12 a front viow, of that
particular kind of loom used for weaving ribbons and tapes, and called an
engine loom, and which in the Drawing is represented as weaving six ribbons
or throwing six shuttles at once. The application of my improvements to this
kind of loom, and placing them below instead of above it, will be seen by
these Figures occasions so little alteration in the forms of the several parts of
my machinery, that it will merely be necessary to refer to them by name to
make the nature of the transposition intelligible. Thus, in Fig. 11 and 12,
a, a, is the first revolving shaft as before; b, the riggers for communicating
motion; c, the clutch box for throwing out of gear; d, the fly wheel; e, e, e, the
frame or bed and standards for supporting the machinery, which, together with
the revolving shaft, is now reduced to little more than half the width of the
loom, because in this case the heddle levers work in the centers instead of at
the side of the loom; ff, the rail for supporting the machinery; K, the bolt
or latch for stopping the loom, which is here shewn will only operate by hand;
i, the wedge at the pendulum top for pushing the clutch box c into gear with
the fly wheel and riggers; 1, the spring piece for pushing out of gear by acting
on the commanding lever m; p, the friction table, which was before described
as being turned by the woodden roller o, and having an endless screw at the
bottom of its spindle q, but that action is now reversed, for q has no endless screw
upon it, and the plate or table p has teeth on its edge to take into the endless
screw upon the shaft a, a, and this plate p given motion to the woodden roller
o by friction; and this roller carries the horizontal shaft Q, Figure 11, with an
endless screw upon its end, which works in between the four gathering rollers
A, A, B, B, between which the ribbon alternates up and down, and being held
and drawn forwards by friction alone, which I increase, if necessary, by a
weighted roller laying upon and between the two uppermost ones, so that the
ribbands fall untouched into a box placed below to receive them, and this
I consider as a new mode of taking up as applied to ribbon and tape work.
The shaft a, a, carries the same triple wheel or snail between two checks as
before described at E in the other looms, but the tail of its bent lever rises up
much higher, as seen at 2, and operates on the bottom of the batten instead of
its top, to draw it backwards by a cord, as before, which is shown at 3, in
Fig. 11. The same spring wings o, o, operate on the shuttle driver, but the
tumbler or turnbucklo v is placed above the pivot on which the shuttle lever
or driver P, P, turns, instead of being on the opposite side of that pivot; but
the same arm and friction roller and spring as before described are made use

page_text: of, and the same stop screws t, for limiting the quantity of motion. The
wheel V, with its excentric v, are exactly the same in their form and operation
as was before described, as is likewise the vibrating shaft W, and is contained
between or within the standards, instead of extending beyond one of them; and
by this means the heddle levers, which are also just the same, are brought to
the center of the loom. It will therefore appear from the above description
that all the several parts of a loom, let its construction be what it may, will be
worked by the application of some, or one, or the whole of my aforesaid
improved applications of machinery, and that the same are applicable to the
weaving of most fabrics; and I therefore claim the same as above described
and applied to the several parts of looms as at present made and constructed;
but I do not claim any parts of such looms unless I have so altered their forms
and operations as to constitute them new combinations of machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Harvey Sadler, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.
JOHN HARVEY (L.S.)
SADLER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1828, the aforesaid John Harvey Sadler came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight.