An Improved Apparatus for the Reading of Patterns Direct on to the Selecting Machine of the Punch Press used in Making Jacquard Cards.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 27th Nov., 1889-Accepted, 28th Dec., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for the Reading of Patterns Direct on to
the Selecting Machine of the Punch Press used in Making
Jacquard Cards.
1, SIDNEY TEBBUTT, of Bluntisham, in the County of Huntingdon, but for the time
being residing in Oelsnitz i/V., Germany, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to machines in which the pattern or draft is read direct upon
horizontal bars, which bars are connected with the needles of the selecter, which
needles act upon the punches; and these bars by being brought nearer to or farther off
from the said needles, cause the punches to be acted upon or not, as desired. I speak
of bars acting in the same general manner as those described in the patent specifi-
cation of Benjamin Toone, dated A.D. 1886, No. 15,034.
My invention consists of two improvements.
The first is a keyboard which is similar to that of a musical organ, and has the keys
arranged in tiers, the lower tiers projecting sufficiently beyond the upper ones so as to
enable the former to be acted on conveniently by the workman.
The keyboard is so fixed that its keys act severally upon the ends of the bars of the
reading machine, there being one key to each bar. By striking the keys with the
fingers the bars are so operated as to be released from a catch, and by the action of
springs attached to them, move either backwards or forwards (according to the
position of the sley as hereafter mentioned), and thus operate such of the needles of
the selecter as may be desired. By this means the workman can read the pattern with
case and rapidity.
The keyboaril can be made so as to be easily detached and removed from the rest of
the apparatus, if required.
The second improvement has for its object to enable the workman by means of the
keys to cause the bars released by them to move either backwards or forwards, as he
may desire. It consists of a moveable sley connected with each of the bars by two
springs one on each side of it. By being placed, in one position=the tension of the
springs on the bars will be in one direction, and when placed in another position the
tension on the bars will be in the opposite direction, that is to say, the sley can
be so placed and held as to cause the bars released to move away from, or towards the
keyboard.
Another advantage of the said moveable sley is to enable workman, after a card has
been read and punched, to bring all the bars to one position again ready for reading
a fresh draft. The bars are all released at one time by means of another sley, and
then the first mentioned moveable sley is brought so as to act upon the bars towards
the position in which it is desired that they shall remain before commencing to
read.
The bars having been allowed to drop so as to be held by their catches, the
moveable sley is then moved to and held in that position requisite for causing the
desired movement of the bars.
Dated this Second day of March 1889.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Apparatus for the Reading of Patterns Direct on to
the Selecting Machine of the Punch Press used in Making
Jacquard Cards.
1 SIDNEY TEBBUTT, of Rugby Road, in Leamington, in the County of Warwick,
lately of Bluntisham, in the County of Huntingdon Mechanical Engineer do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to machines in which the pattern or draft is read direct on to
horizontal bars, which bars are connected with the needles of the selecting machine
in the same general manner as that shewn in the specification of Benjamin Toone,
A.D. 1886, Number 15,034, with the exception of the intermediate needles. It
consists of the application of a set of keys or levers to the ends of these bars whereby
they can be operated by a workman in the manner in which the keyboards of a church
organ, or pianoforte, are played, and of various improvements in the machinery
connected therewith for enabling this method of reading to be carried out.
The pattern is read by the workman by means of this keyboard upon the horizontal
bars, and when the selecting-needle-carrier is moved forward this pattern becomes
transferred to the punches of the punch-carrier. The machinery is now brought
back to its original position, and a fresh part of the pattern is read upon the bars and
punches.
In this way the operations of reading and transferring the pattern to the bars,
needles, and punches, as described in the specification of Toone is much quickened
and facilitated.
The machinery for carrying out these operations is shown in the accompanying
drawings.
Figure 1 is a plan in section of the bars and other parts of the machine. The
machinery as she wn in this figure is alike on both sides.
Figure 2 is a side view in section of the bars and machinery connected with
them.
Figure 3 is a side view in section of a bar with its key and elastics in various
positions.
Figure 4 is a front view of part of the lifting-sley.
Figure 5 is a front view of part of the back-metal-plate.
17
Figure 6 is a front of part of a frame carrying spindles to which the elastics are
fastened, which 1 call the spindle-sloy.
Figure 7 is a side view of the principle parts of the complete machine, the arrange-
ment for holding the draft above the keyboard, roughly shewn in figure 8, being
omitted for want of space.
Figure 8 is a back view of the principle parts of the whole machine.
Figure 9 is a plan shewing the general arrangement of the strings connecting the
bars of the reading machine with the needles of the selecting machine.
In using the words "back" and "backwards "I refer to positions near or nearer
the workman at the keyboard end of the machinery, and "front" and "forwards" to
those near or nearer the workman at the punching end.
In figure 3, B1, B2, B3, is a horizontal bar of a like general nature to those
described in the specification of Toone 2, p is a projection upon the under side of
the bar which, falling behind or in front of the lower edge of the hole in P, acts
as a stop or catch to prevent the bar moving backwards or forwards (as the case
may be till raised by the lifting-sley or keys. It will be seen that the bar,
though of uniform width throughout, has the under side of its back end cut away
about one-half.
e, e are staples on the bar to which the elastics which connect the bar with the
spindles are fastened.
د.

page_text: E, E are respectively back and front elastics joining the bar B¹, B², B³, to the
spindle M. These are shewn at rest in the case of the bar B3; but in the case of B¹
and B2 the front elastic is slack, and the back elastic is stretched.
ss are stops upon the bar which prevent it going too far forwards or backwards.
is a hook to which the string which connects the bar with the selecting-needle is
fastened.
K', K2, K³, is a key or lever having a for its axle or fulcrum.
S is a section of the lifting-sley, shewn also in figure 4.
P is the back-metal-plate, shewn also in figure 5.
P is the front-metal-plate.
M is a spindle, shewn also in figure 6..
In figure 2 S the sley, P¹ the back plate, P2 the front plate, M one of the spindles,
are more fully shewn; as also are the keys and bars.
F, F are bars forming part of the franiework of the machine.
N1, N2, are sections of the cross bars of the frame holding the spindles.
D is one of the bars which carry the axles upon which the various rows of keys are
hinged, and is placed at an angle in order to enable each lower tier to be projected
beyond the one above it.
In figure 1, N is the lower-cross-bar of the spindle-sley.
A is a section of one of the side castings to which the plates P1, P2, are fastened.
This casting carries the spindle R, which forms a slide rod upon which the casting C,
carrying the spindle-sley, travels. At c a roller is fastened on the casting C, which
works in the slot of the actuating levers shewn in figure 7.
The back position of the spindle-sley is shewn in figures 1, 2, and 3, by the dotted
lines.
In figure, the squares are the vacant spaces through which the bars pass, and
these are considerably larger than the size of the back ends of the bars.
In figure 5, the squares are also the spaces, the rest of the figure being the surface
of the metal plate; these spaces are just wide enough to allow the bars to pass through
them, but are deep enough to allow the bars with projections p p to pass.
The holes in the front-metal-plate P2, are not shewn in a separate figure.
Figure 6 shows the spindles M, M, M, one of which passes between each vertical
row of bars. The top and bottom bars N1, N2, are shewn, but the side castings
joining these bars are not shewn.
In figures 7, and 8, U, U, U, is the cast iron framework which carries the
machinery.
I, I, are the levers which act directly on to the rollers 01, 0%, and are fastened
on to the shaft T. This shaft is carried in bearings in the framework U, U, and
runs the whole width of the machine, the levers L, L², being fastened to each
end of it.
His a lever fastened to the shaft T by means of which the workman makes the
shaft revolve the required distance for causing L, L, to move the spindle-sley
backwards or forwards as required.
This lever H is held in its extreme position by the same mechanical means as those
used in railway signal boxes for holding the levers in position, as appears in the
drawing.
In figures 7, and 9, X are the strings connecting the bars with the selecting
needles.
Y and Z are fixed sleys through which the strings pass for the sake of altering and
directing their course.
In figure S, W, and W, are levers acting upon the under side of the lifting-sley S
for raising and lowering it.
W1, is lengthened and carries a handle V for the use of the workman.
WW2, are connected by a rod so that the movement of the one causes a corre-
sponding movement on the part of the other.
Jis an arrangement of bars for holding the draft or pattern.

page_text: machine.
CLIC
GO one general nameWORK
It must be understood that the castings A, A, are so shaped as to afford spaces for
the movement of the metal parts carrying the spindle-sley through them, to enable
the spindle-sley to be actuated from the outside.
The method of action is as follows:-
We start with the bars in the back position, as B' figure 3, and the spindle-sley in
the position shewn by the dotted lines in figures 1, 2, and 3.
The spindle-sley is first moved forward by the workman to the position which it
occupies in figures 1, 2, 3, 7, and 9, and by this means the elastics on the back part of
the bars are stretched, while those on the front part are slackened. The workman
then strikes the requisite keys according to the pattern. By doing this the ends of
the corresponding bars are raised, and their projections released from the lower
edges of the holes of the back plate, and the tension of the elasties draws them
forward through the holes till they assume the position of the bar B³, figure 3, and of
the lowest bar but one in figure 2.
The strings which connect the bars with the selecting-needles are of such a length
that they span loosely the distance between them when the bars are in the back
position. When therefore the bars operated upon by the workman have assumed their
forward position their strings become slack.
The workman at the punching machine end now, by means of the usual mechanical
means, draws forward the selecting-needle-carrier to ward the punch-carrier. In
doing so the needles whose strings have been slackened by the forward movement of
the bars are carried forward by the carrier, into the punch-block, and drive the corre-
sponding punches into the hand-plate of the punching machine. The other needles
are prevented by their strings from coming against the punches.
The workman now moves backwards the spindle-sley to its original position shewn
by the dotted lines, the casting C travelling upon the rod R. This makes all the
elastics upon the back parts of those bars which have been operated upon slack, and
the front elastics stretched; while both sets of the elastics upon those bars which
have not been operated upon are at rest. The lifting-sley S, is now raised, the pro-
jections upon the forward bars are thereby carried clear of the lower edges of the
holes of the plate P1, and their tightened elastics cause them to travel backwards. The
lifting-sley is thereupon lowered, and the bars drop into their original position, with
their projections standing behind the lower edges of the plate.
It will be noticed that the holes or spaces of the lifting-sley S, are so large that the
ends of the bars can, when actuated by the keys, and while the sley S, is at rest in its
lowest position, move freely up and down.
The bars and keys are made of walnut wood; the lifting-sley is a thin metal plate
punched with holes; the spindles are round and of brass, the cross-bars of iron; the
elastics should be of the best rubber about one-sixteenth of an inch thick when not
expanded, and are doubled.
The selecting machine and other outside parts are of the ordinary make used for
punching jacquard-cards in lace-curtain factories.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In machinery such as is commonly employed for selecting according to pattern
the punches which are employed in a separate machine to punch jacquard-cards
where the reading of a draft is first transferred to horizontal bars connected with
selecting needles, as has been partly herein before described, the combination with
the said bars of a keyboard for actuating them according to the pattern required
to be read as, and for the purposes, herein before, and by the accompanying drawings,
described and illustrated.
2. In machinery such as is commonly employed for selecting according to pattern

page_text: punches which are employed in a separate machine to punch jacquard-cards where the
reading of the draft is first transferred to horizontal bars by means of a keyboard as
herein described, a moveable spindle-sley, of the kind, and used for the purposes.
hereinbefore, and by the accompanying drawings, described and illustrated.
Dated the 25th day of November 1889.
SIDNEY TEBBŪTI.