IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."--A communication from
abroad by William Nuttall and Thomas Isherwood, both of
Westerly, in the County of Washington, State of Rhode Island,
and Charles Ralph Broadbent, of the City, County, and State of
New York, both in the United States of America.
Sealed the 9th October 1874, and dated the 1st May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st May 1874.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists of a comb of one or more wires or feelers,
and devices for presenting them after the shuttle passes behind the

page_text: weft thread in advance of the reed to comb the weft or filling towards
the feelers of the weft fork used for throwing off the shipper lever to
ensure the raising of it properly when the weft is present, the said comb
and the stopping mechanism being located at the front and near the.
middle of the loom or thereabouts.
It also consists of a novel arrangement of means for presenting the
feeler to the weft in a suitable position in advance of the cloth, and
then moving it away so as not to interfere with the beating up of the
weft by the reed.
The arrangement of the stopping mechanism at the middle of the
lay saves the necessity of employing one near each edge of the warp,
and it is better because in the latter arrangement an end of broken
weft extending to the middle of the warps, or beyond, will often raise
the latch of the weft fork and prevent the stopping of the loom.
It often happens in looms carrying several shuttles that owing to 1
the cutting or over straining of the weft in particular places by the
shuttle boxes it breaks, so that the ends are long enough to raise the
latches when the stop motion is at the side of the loom, and thus the
loom is not stopped as soon as it should be, hence the arrangement
of the stop motion at the front of the loom is particularly desirable for
such looms, but it may be arranged on each side when it may be more
desirable to do so.
According to one method of carrying out the Invention the apparatus
consists of a cam on the cam shaft, a bell crank, and a rock lever
combined with said wires for operating them; and it also consists
of an arm connected to the rock lever which carries the latch and
feeler arranged relatively to the lathe, so that immediately after the
feeler has performed its functions the lathe strikes said arm and by it
moves said rock lever and the latch and feeler out of the way of the
lathe at the moment of beating up, and it also moves the rock lever
which throws off the shipper lever whenever the weft is not present,
and it is caught by the latch. The rock lever which the latch acts on
to throw off the shipper lever when the weft is not present, is con-
nected to another rock lever which throws the shipper lever. The
wires are thrown up behind the weft to hold it against springing back
when it strikes the feeler, and thus failing to throw the latch above
the notch of the rock lever connected with the shipper lever, which

page_text: it is very liable to do if the tension of the weft is a little slack. To
present these wires and withdraw them at the proper time they are
attached to a little block or head pivoted to one end of a rock lever,
as before mentioned, pivoted to a bracket on the lathe, and connected
at its other end by a rod with the long arm of a bell crank or elbow
lever whose short arm is acted on by a cam on the cam shaft, as before
described. The return of the wires is effected by the weight of the
long arm of said elbow lever.
To move the latch and feeler out of the way of the lathe when it
beats up, also to move the rock lever connected with the shipper lever,
and throw off the latter by it whenever the latch engages it, an arm is
attached to the foot of a rock lever which carries the latch, and arranged
in such relation to the lathe that as soon as the latch is carried beyond
the notch a stud on the lathe strikes the upper end of said arm and
swings the latch, carrying rock lever back.
When by reason of the failure of the weft the latch is not raised
it catches in the notch, when the last-named lever is thus swung back
and forces back the lever connected to the shipper lever, which is thrown
off by an arm pivoted at its foot, and connected to a rock lever pivoted
on the front beam of the loom, so that its outer end is forced against
the shipper lever, the arms and the rock levers are detachably con-
nected to their feet, being fitted in holes in them, and secured by binding
screws so that they can be readily taken out when required. This stop
mechanism is is preferably arranged at the middle of the lathe to avoid
the necessity for two sets, which is required when arranged near one
side of the loom in consequence of the ends of weft breaking long
enough to raise the latches the same as the unbroken weft. This often
happens, particularly in looms carrying several shuttles, owing to the
cutting or straining of them in particular places by the shifting boxes;
but I do not limit myself to one set of apparatus in the middle, for
if found necessary or preferable in any case a set may be arranged at
cach side.
According to another method the apparatus consists of a new arrange-
ment of devices for causing the tripping of the shipper. lever when
the weft in not present, by which I am enabled to dispense with that
portion of the apparatus which in the first method is arranged in front
of the cloth roll so as to require to be removed for removing the cloth

page_text: roll. In this second plan the wire rising up through the lathe behind
the weft (the weft fork being in front of the weft) is mounted on a
rising and falling block below the race beam by pivoting it thereto
so as to swing forward and backward and on the pivot; or on the wire
itself is arranged a tripping finger which is to be swung forward when
the weft is present by the backward pressure of the weft on the wire
to be held in the position for allowing the shipper to remain undis-
turbed. When however the weft fails to be present to press the wire
back a light spring, which is suitably arranged for the purpose, swings
the finger back over the horizontal arm of an elbow lever which has
a rod projecting from the side of its vertical arm, so that when the
block goes down the finger will swing the rod forward and hold it
in the position to strike the lever, when the lathe beats up and cause
it to throw off the shipper lever. The clbow lever is pivoted to a
bracket projecting downward from the race beam, but the block on
which the wire is mounted. is attached to the upper end of a connecting
rod, and works in guides on the bracket, and the connecting rod is
attached to a lever at the lower part of the loom which is forced
downward by a cam on the cam shaft, and raised by a spring. The
cam throws the lever down during the latter part of the beat up, and
if the weft is present and presses the wire back properly the finger
goes down in front of the arm of the elbow lever and does not disturb
it. The weft fork is now suspended from the upper part of the loom
frame by an arm so as to leave the front of the cloth roll free, and
it is mounted on a pivot, so that it can be thrown over back out of the
way when it may be required to do so, a light spring holding the arm
and the fork to cause the latter to press the wire back by the weft.
In this arrangement the wire becomes the tripper for freeing the shipper
lever, whilst the fork takes the office of the comb for pressing the weft
against the tripper. The weft fork can be dispensed with in this arrange-
ment, for the weft will generally be strong enough and have sufficient
tension to push the wire back; but it may be better to use it for it
ensures certainty.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special
licence that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Melville
Clark, 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, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention. for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," a communication to me from
abroad by William Nuttall and Thomas Isherwood, both of Westerly,
in the County of Washington, State of Rhode Island, and Charles
Ralph Broadbent, of the City, County, and State of New York, both
in the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings; and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
:―
Thi Tvaution sonaiata of a anmh ..
maxo winos On faclang

page_text: .
B
and devices for presenting them after the shuttle passes behind the
weft thread in advance of the reed to comb the weft or filling towards
the feelers of the weft fork used for throwing off the shipper lever to
ensure the raising of it properly when the weft is present, the said comb
and the stopping mechanism being located at the front and near the
middle of the loom, or thereabout.
It also consists of a novel arrangement of means for presenting the
feeler to the weft in a suitable position in advance of the cloth, and
then moving it away so as not to interfere with the beating up of the
weft by the reed.
The arrangement of the stopping mechanism at the middle of the
lay saves the necessity of employing one near each edge of the warp,
and it is better because in the latter arrangement an end of broken.
weft extending to the middle of the warps, or beyond, will often raise
the latch of the weft fork and prevent the stopping of the loom.
It often happens in looms carrying several shuttles that owing to
the cutting or over straining of the weft in particular places by the
shuttle boxes it breaks, so that the ends are long enough to raise the
latches when the stop motion is at the side of the loom, and thus the.
loom is not stopped as soon as it should be, hence the arrangement
of the stop motion at the front of the loom is particularly desirable for
such looms; but the stop motion may be arranged on each side when
it may be more desirable to do so.
According to one method of carrying out the Invention the apparatus
consists of a cam on the cam shaft, a bell crank, and a rock lever
combined with said wires for operating them; and it also consists
of an arm connected to the rock lever which carries the latch and
feeler arranged relatively to the lathe, so that immediately after the
feeler has performed its functions the lathe strikes said arm and by it
moves said rock lever and the latch and feeler out of the way of the
lathe at the moment of beating up, and it also moves the rock lever
which throws off the shipper lever whenever the weft is not present,
and it is caught by the latch. The rock lever which the latch acts on
to throw off the shipper lever when the weft is not present is con-
nected to another rock lever which throws the shipper lever.
According to another method the apparatus consists of a new arrange-
ment of devices for causing the tripping. of the shipper lever when

page_text: the weft is not present, by which I am enabled to dispense with that
portion of the apparatus which in the first method is arranged in front
of the cloth roll so as to require to be removed for removing the cloth.
roll.
· Figure 2 is a front elevation with some parts broken away.
Figure 3 is a front elevation of a loom having the improved stop
motion applied to it, a part of the front beam being broken away to show
the apparatus clearly.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the loom with a part of the frame
broken away.
In the plan illustrated by Figures 1 and 2 A represents the lathe
beam or race; B, the wires to be thrown up behind the weft c to hold
it against springing back when it strikes the feeler D, and thus failing
to throw the latch E above the notch F of the rock lever G connected
with the shipper lever, which it is very liable to do if the tension of
the weft is a little slack. To present these wires and withdraw them
at the proper time they are attached to a little block or head C pivoted
to one end of a rock lever H which is pivoted to bracket I on the lathe,
and connected at its other end by a rod J with the long arm K of a
bell-crank or elbow lever whose short arm L is acted on by the cam M
on cam shaft N to present the wires. The return of the wires is effected
by the weight of the long arm of said elbow lever.
To move the latch and feeler out of the way of the lathe when it
beats up, also to move the rock lever G-and throw off the shipper lever
by it whenever the latch engages it, the arm O is attached to the foot P
of rock lever Q which carries the latch, and arranged in such relation
to the lathe that as soon as the latch is carried beyond the notch F of
rock lever G a stud R on the lathe strikes the upper end of said, arm,
and swings the latch carrying rock lever Q back.
When, by reason of the failure of the weft, the latch is not raised
it catches in the notch F when lever Q is thus swung back, and forces
lever G back to throw off the shipper lever S by the arm T connected-
to its foot U, and the rock lever V connected to said arm T and pivoted

page_text: on the front beam W, so that its outer end is forced against the shipper
lever. The arms T and O, and the rock levers G and Q are detachably
connected to their feet P and U, being fitted in holes in them, and
secured by binding screws X, so that they can be readily taken out
when it may be so required. This stop mechanism is preferably arranged
at the middle of the lathe to avoid the necessity for two sets, as is
requisite when arranged near one side of the loom, in consequence of
the ends of weft breaking long enough to raise the latches the same as
the unbroken weft. This often happens, particularly in looms carrying
several shuttles, owing to the cutting or straining in particular places
by the shifting boxes; but I do not limit myself to one set of apparatus
in the middle, as there may be a set at each side if found necessary or
preferable in any case.
In the second plan illustrated in Figures 3 and 4 A' represents the
wire rising up through the lathe behind the weft B¹; C¹ is the weft
fork in front of the weft. This wire A¹. is mounted on a rising and
falling piece D¹ below the race beam E¹ by pivoting it thereto at F¹,
so as to swing forward and backward and on the pivot%; or on the
wire itself is arranged a tripping finger G¹ which is to be swung forward
when the weft is present by the backward pressure of the weft on the
wire A¹ to be held in the position for allowing the shipper to remain
undisturbed. When however the weft fails to be present to press the
wire back a light spring H' which is suitably arranged for the purpose
swings the finger G¹ back over the horizontal arm I' of an elbow lever
which has a rod J¹ projecting from the side of its vertical arm K³, so
that when the block D¹ goes down the finger will swing the rod forward
and hold it in the position to strike the lever L' when the lathe beats
up and cause it to throw off the shipper lever M'. The elbow lever
I', K', is pivoted to a bracket N¹ projecting downward from the race
beam, but the block D¹ on which the wire is mounted is attached to
the upper end of the connecting rod O¹, and works in guides P¹ in the
bracket, and the connecting rod is attached to the lever Q₁ which is
forced downward by the cam R¹, and raised by the spring S¹. The
cam throws the lever down during the latter part of the beat up, and
if the weft is present and presses the wire back properly the finger G₁
goes down in front of arm I' and does not disturb it. The weft fork C¹
is in this arrangement suspended from the upper part of the loom frame
by an arm U¹ so as to leave the front of the cloth roll free, it being.

page_text: mounted on a pivot V₁, so that it can be thrown over back out of tho
way, as indicated in dotted lines W', when it may be required to do so.
A light spring X' holds the arm and the fork to cause the latter to press
the wire A back by the weft. It will be seen that in this arrangement
the wire A becomes the tripper for freeing the shipper lever, whilst
the fork takes the office of the comb for pressing the weft against the
tripper. The weft fork C¹ may be dispensed with in this arrangement
since the weft will generally be strong enough and havo sufficient tension
to push the wire back; but it may be better to use it as it ensures
certainty.
Figures 5 and 6 show sectional and front elevations respectively of
another arrangement of the apparatus in which the wires are caused
to be presented behind the weft thread, and the arm for raising the
tripper is presented to it by a lever arranged in such relation to the cam
as to amplify the range of the movement imparted by the cam, whereby
the apparatus is made to work much easier than when the full range
of motion is obtained directly from the cam, and they also rise in less
time. A guard is also arranged on the tripper lever so contrived that
when the tripper is allowed to strike the lever by the failure of the weft
it will be positively prevented from glancing or sliding off, and thus
failing to throw out the loom.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in these two
Figures.
A is the cam which it will be noted is cut very shallow, and has but
little rise for throwing the lever B by which the motion is imparted,
thus making an easy working arrangement. The lever is acted on by
the cam near its middle, being pivoted at C, so that the other end to
which the connection is made has much greater range, and the con-
nection is made to another lever D by a rod E on which the comb wire
or wires F are pivoted at G, and the lever is pivoted at H to a bracket I
on the race beam J, so that the range of movement is further amplified,
the comb wires being on the free end of the lever, and the rod E being
connected to it between said end and the pivot. The lever B is raised
by a spring K. L is the tripper for throwing off the lever O pivoted
to a bracket M projecting forward and downward from the race beam,
and having an arm N projecting rearward from the pivot to be lifted
by an arm P of the comb to prevent it from striking the lever when the

page_text: weft is present, and said arm is thrown up by the pressing of the comb
back by the weft. A light spring Q connects with the short arm R
of the comb, projecting downward from the pivot, to keep arm P down
and the comb forward when not subject to the influence of the weft.
When the tripper strikes against the plain face of the lever O it is
apt to glance or slide off without moving the lever sufficiently to throw
out the shipper lever, it is therefore proposed to attach a small plate S
to the lower edge of the lever so as to project forward and receive the
end of the tripper above it, when it comes against the lever and
effectually hold the tripper so that it cannot escape and fail to do its
work.
It will be noted by an inspection of Figure 5 that before the comb
escapes from the weft at T the tripper passes under the plate S so far
that it cannot possibly be thrown back by the shocks of the machine,
or by any other cause, and thus throw off the loom when the weft is
present, which is the case with some contrivances in which the tripper
is left after the action of the weft on the feeler, so that it may still be
thrown against the lever, and throw it off when it should not. V is a
small spring applied to the tripper to prevent it from being shaken out
of place by the jarring of the loom.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1st. The combination with the lathe of the wires B and mechanism,
substantially as described, for presenting them behind the weft and
withdrawing them in the manner set forth.
.
2ndly. The combination with the weft fork of a loom stop mechanism
of a fork or comb to comb the weft against the fork in advance of the
reed, substantially as specified.
3rdly. The weft fork located in the front of the loom in combination
with a supporting arm or lever which presents it to the weft and moves
it out of the way of the reed, substantially as specified.
4thly. The combination of the rock lever H, head C, connecting rod J,
lever K, L, and the cam M on the cam shaft N, with the guard wires B,
and the lathe of a loom, substantially as specified.

page_text: 14thly. The combination of a guard plate S with the lever O and the
tripper L, substantially as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and 5
seventy-four.
Witness,
HY. SWALES,
53, Chancery Lane,
London.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)