Improvements in Shuttle-operating Mechanism for Looms.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), s0th Sept., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 27th June, 1891-Accepted 15th Aug.,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
1891
Improvements in Shuttle-operating Mechanism for Looms.
I, JAMES ALVIN TUCKER (Machinist) of No. 116 Rhodes Street, Providence,
Rhode Island, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object to provide an improved picker-staff check which
will relieve the shock, both when the shuttle is received and when it is started,
thereby preventing undue wear on the picker-staff and preventing it from being
accidentally broken. To this end, the invention consists in providing the picker-
staff with a spring-pressed support which is fitted to slide longitudinally in bearings
on an arm projecting outwardly from a casting or bracket which is mounted on the
end of the lay shaft, and having a bearing or socket for the shuttle box-operating
rod. This rod may be of any well known construction but is preferably screw-
threaded.
The picker-staff is pivoted to the longitudinally-movable picker-staff support
intermediate of the lugs which constitute its bearings, motion being imparted thereto
through the medium of the actuating bar or strap connected thereto above its
pivotal point, as usual. The picker-staff support consists of a flat metal piece
provided with longitudinal extensions which pass through the bearings, and having
a central slot, and a rearwardly-extending lug or projection. In the slot is
adjustably secured a bolt or pin on which the picker-staff is pivoted and the spring
which bears against the projection at the rear of the support tends to keep the
picker-staff support and lower end of the staff pressed constantly outward, the
tension of the spring being regulated by a screw rod which is connected to the end
of the spring and passes through the same and through an aperture in the projection
and lug and is provided on the outside with a nut which may be tightened and the
spring compressed more or less.
By pivoting the picker-staff adjustably on its support it will be seen that its
adjustment may be regulated to a nicety and the tension of the returning spring or
operating strap adjusted. With this arrangement of parts, the impact of the
shuttle is taken up by the spring and in starting the picker to knock the shuttle
back across the lay, any resistance of the shuttle or too-sudden impact is relieved
by the movement of the picker-staff support against the tension of the spring. The
mechanism employed is exceedingly simple, not liable to get out of order, and may
be adjusted and regulated by any one even though not skilled in the art, the angle
at which the picker staff stands being easily and quickly adjusted by moving the
pin in one direction or the other and the tension of the spring by simply setting up
or loosening the nut.
Dated this 20th day of September 1890
JAMES A. TUCKER.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Shuttle-operating Mechanism for Looms.
I, JAMES ALVIN TUCKER (Machinist) of 116, Rhodes Street, Providence,
Rhode Island, United States of America, 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 :-
This invention has for its object to provide an improved picker-staff check which
will relieve the shock both when the shuttle is received and when it is started
thereby preventing undue wear on the picker-staff and preventing it from being
accidentally broken, a further object being to simplify and reduce the cost of the
mechanical parts.
To these ends the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and
combinations and arrangements of parts to be now described and pointed out
particularly in the claims at the end of this Specification.
Referring to the accompanying drawings,
Figure is an elevation of one end of the lay-frame of a "fly-motion" loom
having my invention applied thereto.
Figure 2 is a top plan view of the castings or brackets on the end of the lay-
shaft which carry the picker-staff support.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the same.
Figure 4 is an end view, and
Figure 5 is a perspective view of the same.
Similar letters of reference refer to the same parts.
The letter A indicates the lay-beam and B the lay-shaft, the bearings and lay-
operating mechanisms not being shewn as they are well known in the art and form
no part of my present invention. On the end of the lay-shaft B is mounted a
casting or bracket C having the outwardly-extending arm D with the two lugs d
provided with bearings for the longitudinally-movable picker-staff support E and
the bearing or socket F for the shuttle-box operating rod F¹ which may be of any
well known construction but is preferably screw-threaded, as shewn. The picker-
staff H is pivoted on the longitudinally-movable picker-staff support E before
referred to, intermediate of the lugs d, motion being imparted thereto through the
medium of the actuating bar or strap G connected thereto above its pivotal point,
as usual.
The picker-staff support E consists of a flat metal piece provided with longitudinal
extensions which pass through the bearings in lugs da central slot e and a
rearwardly-extending lug or projection E. In the slot is adjustably secured by
means of suitable set nuts a bolt or pin on which the picker-staff H is pivoted and
engaging the lug or projection E' on the rear is a spring I the tendency of which is to
keep the picker-staff support and lower end of the staff pressed constantly outward
the tension of the spring being regulated by a rod K which is connected to the end
of the spring passes through the same and through an aperture in the projection E¹
and lug d and is provided on the outside with a nut k which may be tightened and
the spring compressed more or less, as will be readily understood.
By pivoting the picker-staff adjustably on its support it will be seen that its
adjustment may be regulated to a nicety and the tension of the returning-spring or
operating-strap adjusted, as will be readily understood. With this arrangement
of parts the impact of the shuttle is taken up by the spring and in starting the
picker to knock the shuttle back across the lay any resistance of the shuttle or too-
sudden impact is relieved by the movement of the picker-staff support against the
tension of the spring I. The mechanism employed is exceedingly simple, not
liable to get out of order, and may be adjusted and regulated by any one even
though not skilled in the art, the angle at which the picker-staff stands being easily
and quickly adjusted by moving the pin h. in one direction or the other and the
tension of the spring by simply setting up or loosening the nut k.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is―
ว
1. In a loom, the combination, with the lay-frame and the bracket mounted on
the lay-shaft and having two bearings therein, of the spring-pressed picker-staff
support sliding longitudinally in said bearings, the picker-staff pivoted on said
support intermediate of the bearings, and the operating strap or rod, substantially
as described.
2. In a loom, the combination, with the lay-frame and the bracket mounted on the
lay-shaft and having bearings therein, of the spring-pressed picker-staff support
sliding in said bearings, the picker-staff adjustably pivoted on said support, and the
operating strap or rod, substantially as described.
3. In a loom, the combination, with the lay-frame and the bracket mounted on
the lay-shaft and having bearings therein, of the picker-staff support sliding in said
bearings, the picker-staff pivoted on said support, the spring bearing against the
same, means for regulating the tension of the spring, and the operating strap or rod,
substantially as described.
4. In a loom, the combination, with the lay-frame, the bracket mounted on the
lay-shaft and having the outwardly-extending arms provided with the lugs, of the
picker-staff support sliding in bearings in said lugs, the spring in rear of said
support, the lug on the support against which the spring bears, the adjustable rod
engaging the spring to adjust its tension, and the picker-staff pivotally connected to
the support, substantially as described.
are say
1001
TOOT own TO
J. A. TUCKER.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.