IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKERS AND STOPPERS FOR LOOMS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Mitchell, of Openshaw, near Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Mill Manager, and John Mitchell, of Southport, in
the same County, Draper, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKERS
AND STOPPERS FOR LOOMS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Mitchell and
John Mitchell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th
October 1880.
FREDERICK MITCHELL, of Openshaw, near Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Mill Manager, and JOHN MITCHELL, of Southport, in the same County,
Draper. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKERS AND STOPPERS FOR LOOMS."
This Invention has for its objects, first, simplification in the construction of pickers
and stoppers for looms, and second, the reduction of the amount of friction
accompanying their use as ordinarily made.
We have discovered that the material known in commerce as " vulcanized
fibre" when working in contact with metallic and other substances requires little
or no lubrication, and our Invention consists in cutting, moulding, or otherwise
constructing pickers and stoppers from this material alone or in combination with
other materials.
In carrying out our Invention we make the pickers and stoppers of the usual or
any convenient form, and preferably in one piece. In practice we find that pickers
so made work with less friction than those formed of buffalo hide or any other
material at present employed, and that they require no lubrication; and, further,
that as the picker wears by contact with the point of the shuttle, no frayed edges or
rough surface is produced. It follows from this that we are enabled to increase the
production of the loom or drive it with a less expenditure of power, to give a more
perfect impact to the shuttle, and to obviate the risk of producing oil spots on the
fabric being woven, whilst any preliminary process, such as the soaking in oil,
required with buffalo hide, is avoided.
When the picker or stopper is made in one piece the risk of any part becoming
loose by wear does not occur, but when it is desirable that some portion of it should
consist of another material, we make those parts which are subject to friction or
impact with the shuttle from the "vulcanized fibre."

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Frederick Mitchell and John Mitchell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th April 1881.
FREDERICK MITCHELL, of Openshaw, near Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manager, and JOHN MITCHELL, of Lord Street, Southport, in the same
County, Draper. "IMPROVEMENTS IN PICKERS AND STOPPERS FOR LOOMS."
This Invention has for its object, first, the simplification of the construction of
pickers and stoppers for looms, and second, the reduction in the amount of the
friction accompanying the use of pickers and stoppers as ordinarily constructed.
We have discovered that the material known in commerce as "vulcanized
fibre" when working on metal or other surfaces requires little or no lubrication,
and our Invention consists in moulding or otherwise constructing pickers and
stoppers from this material alone or in combination with other materials.
In carrying out our Invention we construct the pickers and stoppers of the usual
or of any convenient form, and preferably in one piece. They may be moulded
from the material previous to vulcanization, but the method we have found most
convenient in practice is to take sheets of the vulcanized fibre of the desired thick-
ness, and cut the pickers and stoppers therefrom by means of saws, cutters, and
drills. The material may be worked thus into the desired shapes. When it became
necessary to join two or more pieces together for the purpose of increasing any of
the dimensions of the picker or stopper, we clean the surfaces and coat them with
the mother liquor of chloride of zinc or other metal, and subject them to pressure
and heat in contact, or they may be rivetted, screwed, or cemented together by glue
or other similar means. When it is desired to attach metal to the article, as,
for example, the eye to receiver the picker band, the metal may be rivetted,
screwed, or otherwise secured thereto, precisely as would be done in securing it to
wood.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the best means
known to us of carrying the same into effect, we desire it to be understood that we
do not claim any particular form or shape of picker or stopper, that which we claim
being the construction of pickers and stoppers for looms from the material known as
vulcanized fibre, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Mitchell, on behalf of myself and
of the said John Mitchell, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this First
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
eighty one.
FREDERICK MITCHELL. (L.S.)