IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BRAIDS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Friedrich Eduard August Büsche at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th March 1880.
FRIEDRICH EDUARD AUGUST BUSCHE, of Schwelm (Westphalia), in the Empire of
Germany, Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF BRAIDS."
This Invention relates to improvements in braiding machines, and has for its
object greater simplicity of construction & operation, & consists chiefly in so
constructing & arranging the parts as to enable me to dispense entirely with the
use of slotted guiding plates or guiding circles hitherto employed for guiding the
bobbin carriers or travellers. For this purpose I combine with the notched disc
wheels or drivers certain springs, catches, jointed fingers, or arms, single or double,
self acting or otherwise, in order to grip & hold the bobbin carriers or travellers
in the drivers, & to retain them until they are required to be transferred to the
next driver; or I may combine springs with the bobbin carriers in lieu of with the
drivers in such a manner as to cause then to be held in position in the driver by
friction or pressure alone. The springs, catches, jointed fingers, or arms acted on by
springs may either be caused to open & close by the action of the bobbin carrier
as it enters and leaves them, or they may be opened by a positive motion obtained
from cams or eccentrics, & be closed again by a spring. In cases where the
catches, fingers, or arms on the one driver would be liable to come in contact with
those on the next I arrange the said fingers or arms at different heights, so as to
overlap one another. By this system of securely holding & retaining the bobbin
carriers in the drivers without the aid of guide slots or guide circles I am enabled
with facility to dispose or arrange a braiding machine with the drivers & their
bobbin carriers in a conical-position; that is to say, converging towards one common
central point above the machine, whereby the disadvantage of the alternating slack
& tension of the threads as they approach towards & recede from the centre is
obviated, & consequently the tension weights are not liable to be constantly rising
& falling, as in the ordinary arrangement of braiding machines. This enables me
to employ by preference springs in lieu of tension weights, which springs, according
to another part of my Invention, are rendered capable of being easily adjusted &
fixed to the exact required tension, & used in connection or not with the parts for
bringing the stop motion into action. In applying my improved arrangement of
spring I first introduce the spring into the bobbin carrier or traveller, & thread

page_text: up the same ready for use. I then attach a removeable weight or weights tem-
porarily to the said spring, in order simply to bring it to the proper tension. I then
lift up the spring by the thread until it is brought with its thread eye just under-
neath the spool catch or detent lever, when such lever is in its normal position, &
I then fix or secure the lower end of the spring by a set screw introduced through
a slot or through a tapped hole in the side of the bobbin carrier or traveller.
The spring having been thus adjusted & fixed, the weight or weights having
performed their function, may be removed, & the spring will be found to give at
all times the tension for which it was originally adjusted or set by the weight or
weights. When this arrangement of spring is used in connection with the parts for
bringing the stop motion into action I connect the thread eye by a double wire loop
with a sliding tube below, which tube may be guided by a stem or spindle projecting
downwards from & held in position by the same parts which are attached to the
lower end of the spring, & which are fixed in the traveller by the set screw before
referred to, such parts being grooved on each side in order to guide the wire loop
with its tube & prevent them from turning. When the thread breaks the spring
will contract, thereby causing the double wire loop & its tube to descend, the end
of the tube then protruding below the traveller in a position to act upon the stop
motion.
When the arrangement of travellers or bobbin carriers is vertical, in contra-
distinction to converging, as previously mentioned, I employ a peculiar combination
of tension weight & spring, wherein the gravity of the weight when in free action
is transmitted directly to the thread without the actual intervention of the spring
itself, which spring comes into action only when the weight, by its inert force, is
prevented from taking up the slack thread, which office the spring itself then fulfils.
According to one arrangement the thread eye is formed on the end of a slide working
along the upper part of the weight, & arrested in its ascent by a stop or shoulder.
The spring is secured at its lower end to the top of the weight, whilst its upper end
is secured to the upper part of the slide, which slide is prevented from turning
round the weight by guide slots or otherwise. By this combination or arrangement
of weight & spring the wear & tear of the spring is greatly reduced.
In order to obviate the slight variation in the tension of the thread due to the
lifting of the spool catch over the teeth in the top of the spool, I substitute for the
usual deep ratchet teeth a friction surface on the top of the bobbin or spool, which
surface may consist, for example, of cloth, felt, fur, caoutchouc, or other suitable
elastic or yielding frictional material, upon which the spool-catch will continue to
exert more or less pressure, even when slightly lifted by the action of the tension
spring for the purpose of supplying the thread to the braid. A slight blade spring
or tongue may also be fitted underneath the said friction spool catch for the same
purpose, & if desired suitable frictional material can be applied to the said spool
or its blade spring.
In order to facilitate the unwinding of the thread from the spool I employ a
sliding thread guide in the bobbin carrier, having a spring attached thereto &
operating thereon, the lower end of the spring being attached to a fixed point in
the bobbin carrier. In those cases where the stop motion is disposed above the
drivers, as in the German system of braiding machines, for example, then the lower
end of the spring last referred to will be attached to a sliding stop piece working
on the side of the traveller or bobbin carrier, the stop piece when so used being
lifted by the action of the spring to a regulated extent, & when a thread breaks
it slides down within the range of the stop motion.
Where found desirable, I propose to combine with a braiding machine a simple
arrangement for winding the spools which can be readily attended to by the usual
attendant on the braiding machine, thus enabling him to wind the spools for his
own machines with merely nominal superintendence or labour. For this purpose I
mount a bevel wheel on the lower part of the worm shaft connected with the
delivery rollers of the braiding machine, such bevel wheel gearing into a bevel
pinion mounted loose, with a clutch arrangement upon a horizontal driving, spindle,

page_text: which drives by bevel gearing another horizontal spindle on which the spool is to
be mounted. The before mentioned driving spindle actuates through a
worm &
worm wheel a cylindrical scroll cam which imparts the required to-&-fro motion
to the thread guide along the spool. When the spool is full it acts upon a lever
which at once disengages a spring stop lever acting upon the clutch arrangement,
& thus stops the driving spindle. To start the driving spindle again it is simply
necessary to move back the spring stop lever, when the two levers become again
connected, and the operation of spooling goes on as before. The thread is supplied
from a reel or swift mounted in supports attached to the upper ends of the standards
of the delivery rollers.