AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE REGULAR LETTING-OFF' OF THE YARN FROM THE BEAM IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jules Bélicard, of Manchester, and Robert
$
Roberts, of Bury, both in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention
of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE REGULAR LETTING-OFF'
OF THE YARN FROM THE BEAM IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jules Bélicard and
Robert Roberts at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 6th November 1874.
We, JULES BÉLICARD, of Manchester, and ROBERT ROBERTS, of
Bury, both in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE REGULAR
* LETTING-OFF' OF THE YARN FROM THE BEAM IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to
be as follows: :-
This Invention is designed principally to be applied to looms for
weaving velvets and other piled fabrics, for which Her Majesty's Letters
Patent were applied for by the said Jules Belicard the 10th day of June
1874, No. 2014, but it is also equally applicable to looms in general.

page_text: At each end of the yarn beam we mount a ratchet wheel having one
tooth to about every three or four inches, or we form similar teeth upon
the edge of the beam ends. Attached to each side of the loom is a
bracket carrying a weighted lever, which levers bear upon the teeth of
the ratchet wheels on the yarn beam in such a way as to keep the yarn
to the tension required. It will be evident that as the yarn is taken up
in weaving the slow revolution of the yarn beam caused by the "pull"
of the yarn will cause the ratchet teeth to gradually raise these weighted
levers, and the teeth at each end of the beam are so arranged alternately
with regard to each other that by the time one lever is raised to its
highest point the other lever is only raised half way. Whilst therefore
the full tension is on the yarn by means of the latter lever it becomes
necessary to release the former from the tooth which raised it to its
highest position and to lower it on to the next tooth, and so on in
succession upon alternate sides, so that the tension upon the yarn
remains always the same, and the "letting-off" shall be quite regular
and without jerk. This we effect as follows:-Bencath each weighted
lever projects the outer end of a second lever placed at right angles to
the former and mounted about its centre on a stud fixed to the frame.
The inner end of this lever extends above the cam shaft of the loom,
whereon there is keyed a disc or cam having two projections. The
inner end of the lever is furnished with two fingers. These projections
and fingers do not come into contact until one of the weighted levers
before mentioned has been raised by a ratchet tooth to its highest
position; the second-named lever, whose outer end is beneath it, follows
this motion until its inner end becomes raised sufficiently for one of the
projections on the disc to catch hold of it and pull it down, which will
cause the outer end to raise the weighted lever, and by means of an
incline at its end throw it off the tooth. By this time the second pro-
jection has caught the second finger and prevents the weighted lever
from falling suddenly on to the next tooth, but as the cam shaft and
disc continue to revolve it is lowered gradually without jerk on to the
next tooth below. This occurs alternately at each side of the loom, so
that one weighted lever is always keeping the yarn tight whilst the
other is being lowered on to the next tooth.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jules Belicard and Robert Roberts in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Jules ·
BELICARD, of Manchester, and ROBERT ROBERTS, of Bury, both in the
County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Jules Belicard and Robert Roberts, Her
special license that we, the said Jules Belicard and Robert Roberts,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Jules Belicard and Robert Roberts, 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 Ohannel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING THE
REGULAR LETTING-OFF' OF THE YARN FROM THE BEAM IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Jules Belicard
and Robert Roberts, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said Jules Belicard and Robert Roberts,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying
Drawings (that is to say) :-
This Invention is designed principally to be applied to looms for
weaving velvets and other piled fabrics, for which Her Majesty's Letters
Patent were applied for by the said Jules Belicard the 10th day of June
1874, No. 2014, but it is also equally applicable as a "letting-off".
motion to be applied to looms in general.

page_text: At each end of the yarn beam we mount a ratchet wheel having one
tooth to about every three or four inches, or we form similar teeth upon
the edge of the beam ends. Attached to each side of the loom is a
bracket carrying a weighted lever, which levers bear upon the teeth of
the ratchet wheels on the yarn beam in such a way as to keep the yarn
to the tension required. It will be evident that as the yarn is taken up
in weaving the slow revolution of the yarn beam due to the "pull"
of the yarn will cause the ratchet teeth to gradually raise these weighted
levers, and the teeth at each end of the beam are so arranged alternately
with regard to each other that by the time one lever is raised to its
highest point the other lever is only raised half way. Whilst therefore
the full tension is on the yarn by means of the latter lever it becomes
necessary to release the former from the tooth which had raised it to its
highest position and lower it on to the next tooth, and so on in
succession upon alternate sides, so that the tension upon the yarn
remains always the same, and the "letting-off" shall be quite regular
and without jerk. This we effect as follows:-Beneath each weighted
lever projects the outer end of a second lever placed at right angles to
the former and mounted about its centre on a stud fixed to the frame.
The inner end of this lever extends above the cam shaft of the loom,
whereon there is keyed a disc or cam having two projections. The
inner end of the lever is furnished with two fingers. These projections
and fingers do not come into contact until one of the weighted levers.
before mentioned has been raised by a ratchet tooth to its highest
position; the second-named lever, whose outer end is beneath it, follows
this motion until its inner end becomes raised sufficiently for one of the
projections on the disc to catch hold of it and pull it down, which will
cause the outer end to raise the weighted lever, and by means of an
incline at its end throw it off the tooth. By this time the second pro-
jection has caught the second finger and prevents the weighted lever
from falling suddenly on to the next tooth, but as the cam shaft and disc
continue to revolve it is lowered gradually without jerk on to the next
tooth below. This occurs alternately at each side of the loom, so that
one weighted lever is always keeping the yarn tight whilst the other is
being lowered on to the next tooth.
A simpler modification of this arrangement may be made as follows :—

page_text: ratchet wheels we place the said levers lower down at the back of the
loom, and connect them each by cords or wires with two pawls or fingers
acting upon the teeth of the ratchet wheels. These pawls or fingers are
of such a length that as soon as each finger has been-raised a certain
height the tooth of the ratchet becomes withdrawn from the end of the
pawl or finger, and it falls by its own weight on to the next tooth. The
pawls or fingers are so arranged as to act in succession, so that there is
no jerk to the warp, and hence there is no liability to break or injure the
warp. By this arrangement the second levers at right angles to the
weighted levers and the discs. or cams for actuating the same are
dispensed with...
This modification is represented on the annexed Drawing, in which
Fig. 1 is a side elevation and Fig. 2 a back view of so much of a power
loom as is necessary to illustrate our Invention, a, a, being part of the
frame of the loom, and b, b, the yarn beam. At each end of the yarn
beam b, b, is a ratchet wheel c, c, each wheel being acted upon by two
pawls d, d'; the two pawls at one side of the beam being connected by
cords or wires e, e, to a weighted lever f, f, and those at the other side
being connected by wires e¹, e¹, to a weighted lever f', f¹. 9, 9g, are
springs, which act upon the pawls or fingers in an outward direction so
as to prevent them from catching against the side of the teeth when
released.
By either of the above modifications the "letting-off" of the yarn
from the yarn beam is effected in a much more even and regular manner
than by the method hitherto used, and the amount of weight required to
give the proper amount of tension to the yarn is only about one-tenth
that ordinarily employed for this purpose.
Having now described the nature and object of our said Invention
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, we wish it to be understood that
we claim as our Invention,―
The particular construction and arrangement of apparatus for letting-
off yarn from the beam in looms for weaving, as herein-before described
and illustrated by the annexed Drawing, or any mere modification or
imitation thereof, constructed and operating in substantially the same or
a similar manner.
And, more especially, we claim the application of weighted levers,

page_text: attached to or forming part of the end or ends of the yarn beam, sub-
stantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jules Belicard (on behalf of myself
and the said Robert Roberts), have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One 5
thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.