CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Knowles, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 13th October 1857, and dated the 15th April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Knowles at the
Office of tho Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th April 1857.
I, ROBERT KNOWLES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention is designed for the purpose of stopping the action of the loom
at certain required intervals during the weaving, so as to allow of a number of
separate portions or divisions of the piece to be woven consecutively without
detaching each portion of the length from the "cloth beam." The apparatus
for effecting this object consists in the employment and use of a "change
wheel" gearing with a pinion on the end of the cloth roller or in connexion
with the "taking-up" motion. This wheel is provided at the side with a stud
or finger, which, as the wheel rotates, will strike a projection on the "stop
rod," and thus release the rod from its catch, and consequently stop the motion
of the loom. The attendant weaver may now wind the fabric on to the

page_text: "beam" by hand, and by again putting the loom in motion another length or
portion may be woven in connection with that last finished, being attached by
the warp threads only. The "change wheels" employed are so calculated
that one revolution thereof shall correspond with the length of each portion
required to be woven before the loom is stopped.
A second part of this Invention relates to an arrangement of apparatus for
letting back" the fabric from the "cloth roller" to a regular and uniform
distance when the weft thread breaks. This is accomplished by means of a
ratchet and ratchet wheel secured upon the end of the." cloth beam," by
which means a certain portion of the fabric is "let back" in a degree which
is adjusted or regulated by the pitch of the said ratchet wheel and the action
or throw of the ratchet.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Knowles in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
KNOWLES, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord Onc
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Knowles, Her especial license that I, the said Robert Knowles,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Knowles, my 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, usè, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER
LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
Robert Knowles, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Knowles, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement,and,accompanying Drawings (that is to say):
=-
My Invention is designed for the purpose of stopping the action of the loom
at certain required intervals during the weaving, so as to allow of a number of
separate portions or divisions of the piece to be woven consecutively without
detaching each portion of the length from the "cloth beam." The apparatus
for effecting this object consists in the employment and use of a "change
wheel" gearing with a pinion on the end of the cloth roller or in connexion
with the "taking-up" motion. This wheel is provided at the side with a stud
or finger, which, as the wheel rotates, will strike a projection on the "stop rod,"
and, thus release the rod from its catch, and consequently stop the motion of
the loom. The attendant weaver may now wind the fabric on to the "beam"
by hand, and by again putting the loom in motion another length or portion
may be woven in connection with that last finished, being attached by the
warp threads only. "The "change wheel" employed is so calculated that one
revolution thereof shall correspond with the length of each portion required to
be woven before the loom is stopped, that the length of the several pieces are
measured by the wheel instead of marking the warps, as hitherto.
A second part of this Invention relates to an arrangement of apparatus for
"letting back" the fabric from the "cloth roller to a regular and uniform
distance when the weft thread breaks. This is accomplished by means of a
ratchet and ratchet wheel secured upon the end of the "cloth beam," by
which means a certain portion of the fabric is "let back" in a degree which
is adjusted or regulated by the pitch of the said ratchet wheel and the action
or throw of the.ratchet.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto annexed a Sheet of Drawings illustrative of the same,
made upon a scale of about three inches to a foot, and having similar letters
of reference marked upon corresponding parts of the apparatus.
.
Fig. 1 is a side view of that portion of a loom to which the first part of my
Invention is applied, and shewing the situation of the "change" wheel in
connection with the spring handle for stopping the loom; Fig. 2 is a front
view of the same, shewing the stud upon the "change wheel" coming into
contact with the said handle; Fig. 3 is a side view of the opposite end of the
loom, to which the second part of my Invention, or "letting back motion," is
attached, being in connection with. the ordinary "taking-up motion" of the
loom. In Fig. 1, a, a, is the framing of part of the loom, and 6 the spring

page_text: handle; c and c¹ are the cloth rollers; upon c¹ is secured the pinion d, gearing
with and driving the "change wheel" c. f is a stud on the wheel e; for
striking the spring handle b. Thus it will be evident, that as the wheel e
revolves, the handle will be released from the catch and the action of the loom
stopped, and the length of the portion of fabric woven between such stopping
will be governed and regulated by the diameter and number of teeth of the
change wheel c. In Fig. 8, 9 is the ratchet wheel of the ordinary taking-up
motion; is the ordinary holding ratchet; and i, the ordinary impelling
ratchet acting upon such ratchet wheel; k is a radial lever, which is loose
upon the shaft or axis of the said ratchet wheel. At the upper end of the
lever is an additional holding ratchet 1, taken into the said ratchet wheel,
and at the opposite end of the radial lever is a weight; this radial lever, having
the axis of the ratchet wheel as its fulcrum, has a continual tendency to raise
the longer end of the lever against the upper of the two studs m, m, thus
keeping the ratchet in gear with the wheel, so that when the ratchet and lever
is carried down by the unwinding or "letting back" of the fabric, and the loom
being again set in motion, the weighted end of the lever will lift the ratchet
to its former position and ready again for action. It will be seen that the
studs m, m, are adjustable in the slotted bar n, secured upon the framing a, a,
the studs being intended to determine or limit the traverse of the bar and
ratchet, and consequently to regulate the distance the ratchet wheel is to be
"let back," thus governing the unwinding of the cloth. When the strap is
thrown off the driving pulley of the loom, the swing or momentum which the
loom retains causes it to make one or more "picks" before stopping, during
which action, if the weft be broken, a portion of the warp is wound on without
any weft having been interwoven, thus causing an imperfection in the fabric,
which is obviated in the following manner by these improvements. By a
proper adjustment of the two ratchets h, i, the ordinary lever, which is acted
upon by the weft fork, is made to lift both these ratchets instead of the holding
ratchet only, as in the usual way. By lifting both ratchets the cloth roller is
set at liberty, and will by the tension of the fabric and warp unwind or "let
back" until it is stopped. This stoppage is effected at the time desired by
the ratchet 1, the radial lever on which it is fixed being carried down until
arrested by the lower stud m, the position of which can be altered so as to
cause the ratchet to act sooner or later, as required. If the loom usually
makes one "pick" before stopping, the stud m must be so fixed that it will
cause the ratchet to take into the ratchet wheel when the cloth roller has
"let back" or unwound a small quantity; and if more than one "pick" be
made, the degree of letting back may be increased by altering the position of

page_text: the lower stud m. The upper stud is used to prevent the ratchet / following
the ratchet wheel further than the place where it is fixed, it being necessary
that it should follow it a certain distance to ensure the required action of the
ratchet wheel. When the loom is set again in motion, the weight upon the
lower end of the radial lever k brings the ratchet to its former position and
the lever against the top stud m.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, together with the
manner of performing the same, I wish it to be distinctly understood that
I claim,-
First, the employment and use of "change wheels" acting upon the spring
handle of the loom for stopping the action of the loom at certain required
intervals thus regulated.
And, secondly, the application of the radial rod and connected apparatus, or
its equivalent, to the "taking-up motion" for "letting back" the fabric from
the cloth roller, as herein-before described, set forth, and fully exhibited in the
Drawings annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Knowles, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
ROBERT KNOWLES. (L.S.)