IMPROVEMENTS IN JACQUARD POWER LOOMS AND IN APPARATUS FOR DRIVING Looms
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Erastus Brigham Bigelow at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
August 1867.
I, ERASTUS BRIGHAM BIGELOW, of Boston, United States of America, at
present residing at the Queen's Hotel, Manchester, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN JACQUARD POWER LOOMS
AND IN APPARATUS FOR DRIVING Looms," to be as follows:-
One of the objects of this Invention is to facilitate the operation and
adjustment of the jacquard harness. The first part of it relates to a mode
of moving the trapboards and journals to raise and depress the harness to
form the shed, and is particularly applicable to jacquard looms in which the
harness is counterpoised, that is to say, one part of the harness is raised
whilst the other is depressed, as described in a Patent granted to me dated the
11th day of March 1846, (No. 11,128), and may be understood as follows:-
Upright levers, one for each of the trapboards and journals to be actuated, are
placed at a side of the jacquard machine but at some distance from it, which
upright levers vibrate on a central axis and are supported by the main frame
of the loom, so that the jacquard machine may be raised or depressed to
adjust the height of the harness without moving them. From the upper
ends of these upright levers cords or chains lead off horizontally over guide

page_text: pulleys and down to their respective trapboards and journals, in such manner
that by moving the lower arms of the upright levers towards the loom they
will raise the trapboards and journals with which they are connected, and by
allowing them to be moved in the opposite direction the trapboards and
journals will fall by their own gravity. To actuate the upright levers two
oscillating levers or bars are placed parallel to their axis near their lower
ends, which oscillating levers or bars open and close in correspondence with
the formation of the shed, that is to say, when they close they bring all the
upright levers to a line and close the shed, and when they open the outer one
allows such of the trapboards and journals as are to be depressed to fall by
their own gravity and that of the harness which rests upon them, whilst
the inner one by the action of latch levers presently to be described raises
such of them as are to be raised. From this description it will be seen
that at the time of the beat up of the lay the whole of the jacquard harness
is brought to a common level or plane and the shed elosed, and that to form
the succeeding shed a portion of it is raised and the remaining portion
depressed from said common level or plane. The latch levers above alluded
to which connect the upright levers with the inner oscillating lever or bar to
raise the trapboards and journals are provided with a latch or hook on their
inner ends, and may be jointed to the lower ends of the upright levers in a
similar manner to that of the latch levers described in a Patent granted to
me, dated the 12th day of July 1867 (No. 2058). The order in which
the latch levers engage with the inner oscillating lever or bar to raise
the trapboards and journals may be regulated by cords, balance weights,
and a pattern surface similar to those described in the last-mentioned
Patent. In this case however I place the balance levers and pattern surface
down near the main shaft of the loom, and lead the cords up over guide
pulleys near the central axis of the upright levers and down again to the latch
levers. By connecting the trapboards and journals with the upright levers by
cords or chains leading horizontally from the guide pulleys over which they
pass to said upright levers the jacquard machine may be raised or lowered to
adjust the height of the harness, without materially changing the relation of
the trapboards and journals to the moving parts of the loom or requiring the
length of the cords or chains to be changed.
The next part of my Invention relates to a mode of raising and depressing
the jacquard machine to adjust the height of the harness, as it distends or
contracts by atmospheric or other causes. For this purpose I place two shafts
across the top of the loom frame parallel to each other, from each of which two
arms extend, the arms of one shaft being opposite to those of the other, the four

page_text: arms being in a position to receive and support the four feet of the jacquard
machine. These shafts are connected together' by a connecting bar jointed
to suitable arms, in such manner that when the shafts are turned in one
direction they will raise the jacquard machine, and when turned in the
opposite direction they will depress it. A long lever extends downwards from
one of the shafts which the weaver takes hold of to turn the shafts to bring the
jacquard machine to the required height, which long lever is held in position
by a pawl acting on ratchet teeth.
Another part of my Invention relates to a mode of operating the cylinder or
polygon which carries the pattern card in jacquard looms and may be under-
stood as follows:-Two sliding bars are placed parallel with the needles one on
either side of thein, the forward ends of which carry the cylinder or polygon,
whilst their opposite ends are connected to the upper ends of upright arms
extending upwards from a rock shaft, the oscillation of which causes the
cylinder or polygon to move towards and from the needles as required. To
impart this vibrating movement to the cylinder or polygon a double or
grooved cam is made to turn loosely on the end of the rock shaft before
mentioned, which cam acts on an upright lever the lower end of which is sup-
ported by a stud on which it vibrates, whilst it upper end is connected with one of
the upright arms of the rock shaft, so that as the cam is shaped so will be the
vibrating movement of the cylinder or polygon. Motion is imparted to the
cam by means of an upright shaft which by bevil gear connects it with the
main shaft of the loom. To turn the cylinder or polygon on its axis a star
wheel connected with the before-mentioned cam is employed the driving part
of which revolves on a stud on an arm of the rock shaft, so that the rocking of
the shaft will not alter the relation of the two parts of the star wheel. The
driving part of the star wheel is connected with the cylinder or polygon by a
horizontal shaft and bevil gears, so that when the driving part of the star
wheel turns the cylinder or polygon turns in accordance with it. By this
arrangement both the vibratory and intermittent rotary motions are given to
the cylinder or polygon by an upright shaft, and by making the bevil gear on
the upper end of the upright shaft so that it will slide up and down with the
jacquard frame; the jacquard machine may be raised or depressed to
adjust the height of the harness without the necessity of adjusting the con-
nections by other means, and the cylinder or polygon will move back with
the loom when its motion is reversed and maintain its proper relation there-
with.
The object of another part of my Invention is to diminish the amount of
shafting heretofore required for driving looms and to lessen the expense for

page_text: belts used therefor.
Instead of having an independent belt for driving each
loom, as is usual, I employ only one belt or rope for a series of looms, the
number of such series being varied in different cases as circumstances may
require. For this purpose I employ lines of mill shafting, but instead of
having a line of shafts for every two rows of looms, as is usual, I employ only
one line for as many rows of looms as are to comprise the series to be driven
by one belt or rope. If, for example, twenty looms are to be driven by one
belt or rope I arrange them in pairs in ten rows, with their driving pulleys
presenting towards each other, and locate the mill shaft by which they are to
be driven over the central passage, thus placing five pairs of the series of
looms on each side of the mill shaft. To drive this series of looms two main
pulleys are put upon the mill shaft, one of which is in a transverse line with
the driving pulleys of the left-handed looms. The belt or rope is guided from
the main pulleys on the mill shaft to the driving pulleys of the looms by guide
pulleys suitably arranged and supported for the purpose, the general direction
of the belt or rope being as follows:-Starting from the face of the first main
pulley on the mill shaft, which is in a transverse line with the driving pulleys
of the right-handed looms, the belt or rope passes down around the driving
pulley of the loom nearest to it, thence up over guide pulleys and down again
around the driving pulley of the next loom, and so on until the first five right-
handed looms on this side of the mill shaft are acted on; the belt or rope then
passes over a guide pulley to a line with the driving pulleys of the left-handed
looms, thence down and up around the driving pulleys and guide pulleys of the
first five left-handed looms, thence up over the second main pulley on the mill
shaft, thence down and up around the driving pulleys and guide pulleys of the
second five left-handed looms, thence over a guide pulley back to a line with the
driving pulleys of the right-handed looms, thence down and up around the
driving pulleys and guide pulleys of the second five right-hand looms up to the
first main pulley on the mill shaft, whence we started. To give steadiness of
motion to the belt or rope I apply a balance wheel to such of the guide
pulleys as may require it, and I also apply to the belt or rope a vibrating pulley
so arranged and weighted as to take up its stretch, and at the same time keep
it at a uniform tension. This mode of driving is particularly applicable to
looms in which a clutch arrangement is substituted for the fast and loose
pulley, and I intend to apply it in connection with the mode of engaging and
disengaging the driving pulley with the driving shaft described in the
Specifications of the Patents granted to me respectively on the 27th day of
September 1866 (No 2503), and the 1st day of May 1867 (No. 1269).
The guide pulleys may be placed either above or below the driving pulleys of

page_text: the looms, and the same with respect to the mill shafts. In place of flat
belts I prefer to use round ones, the pulleys being grooved to conform there-
with, and for driving looms on the plan above described I intend to use ropes
made of wire or of cotton or other fibrous materials. To enable the weaver
to put on, take off, or stop the belts or ropes without stopping the mill shafts
I connect the main pulleys with the mill shafts by friction clutch arrange-
ments, whereby the main pulleys may be stopped and started while the mill
shaft is in motion.