IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING WIRE CLOTH
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Sussex Place, Lough-
borough Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING WIRE CLOTH."-A Com-
munication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th September 1856.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sussex Place, Loughborough Road,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING WIRE CLOTH," to
be as follows:-
These improvements are more especially applicable to the weaving of the
coarser wire fabrics, in which the filling wire is too inflexible to be easily
inserted by a shuttle and bobbin, such fabrics, for example, as are used for
screens, fences, &c.
This part of the improvements relate to preparing and inserting the filling
wire. The filling wire, instead of being introduced into the shed of the warp
wire by a shuttle as is done in weaving the finer wire fabrics, is either pushed
in by the action of rollers or drawn in by nippers. The filling wire is put on
to a reel or revolving frame at one side of the loom, and is drawn therefrom
and delivered into the shed of the warp wire by means of feed or crimping

page_text: rollers. The feed or crimping rollers have an intermittent motion, alternating
with the vibrations of the lathe, which delivers into the shed the required length
of filling wire for each shoot. A cutting apparatus is applied to the lathe, or
otherwise operated, so as to cut off the filling wire after each insertion, thus
presenting a new end of the wire for each operation.
When sufficiently stiff filling wire is used, the feed or crimping rollers as
they revolve to draw the said filling wire from the said reel or frame push it
into and through the open shed of the wire warps, suitable guides being
employed to direct it in its proper course therein. When the filling wire is
not sufficiently stiff to be pushed into the shed by the feed or crimping rollers
as aforesaid, nippers are employed to work in connection with said feed or
crimping rollers, which draw it in, the said nippers being attached to the end
of a sliding arm or bar on the side of the loom opposite to where the filling
wire is placed. At the proper stage of the operation of the loom, the said
nippers pass through the shed of the wire warp and seize the end of the filling
wire (from which the preceding shoot was cut, and which now projects from
the said feed or crimping rollers), then the said nippers move back in unison
with the motion of the said feed or crimping rollers, drawing the filling wire
into the shed as it is delivered from said rollers.
When the filling wire is not too stiff to be suitably crimped by the process
of weaving, plain smooth feed rollers may be employed to deliver the filling
wire into the shed; but in forming some fabrics it is necessary to good work
that the filling wire should be crimped before it is inserted, in which case the
feed rollers are fluted and geared together, so as alternately to bring the pro-
jection of one into the groove of the other as they revolve, and thus crimping
the wire; the size of the grooves being adapted to the size of mesh required,
and the motion of the feed or crimping rollers (if employed) being so graduated
as to place the filling wire in a suitable position, each shoot to conform in
respect to its curves to the warp wires. To keep the crimped filling wire thus
inserted the proper side up until it is secured by the warp wire, guide fingers
may be employed, or the nippers which are employed to draw the wire into the
shed may be moved forward to the line where the said wires are bound in by
the warp wires before they release their
grasp.
Another part of the Invention relates to controlling and delivering out the
wire warps, and consists in part in giving to each warp wire a separate tension
on a separate spool or beam, and delivering the whole during the process of
weaving by means of rollers having a suitable connection and motion for that
purpose.
This part of the Invention also consists in combining with a power loom for

page_text: weaving wire cloth a railway delivery motion, so constructed as to have a
carriage at the back of the loom running on ways or rails, the forward ends
of the warp wires being connected with the loom in the usual way, while their
rear ends are attached to said carriage; then, as the operation of weaving
proceeds, the carriage is drawn towards the loom either by the pull of the
warp wires or by a positive mechanical motion according to the size of the
wire wrought. The said carriage may be held back by a brake or weights.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Sussex Place, Loughborough Road, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, 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 POWER LOOMS FOR WEAVING WIRE CLOTH," a communication,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Tomlinson
Bousfield, my executors or administrators, 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 George Tomlinson Bousfield, 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 thereof, that is to say :-

page_text: These improvements are more especially applicable to the weaving of coarse
wire fabrics, in which the filling wire is too inflexible to be inserted by a shuttle
and bobbin, such fabrics, for example, as are used for window screens, coal
screens, fences, &c., &c. The improvements relate to the application of appa-
ratus for preparing and inserting the filling wire, by means of which the filling
wire, instead of being introduced into the shed of the warp wire by a shuttle as
is done in weaving the finer wire fabrics, is either pushed in by the action of
rollers or drawn by nippers. The filling wire is put on to a reel or frame on
an axis at one side of the loom, and is drawn therefrom and delivered into the
shed of the warp wire by means of feed or crimping rollers. The feed or
crimping rollers have an intermittent motion (alternating with the vibrations
of the lathe) which delivers into the shed the required length of filling wire for
each shute. A cutting apparatus is applied to the lathe, or otherwise operated,
so as to cut off the filling wire after each insertion, thus presenting a new end
of the wire for each operation.
When sufficiently stiff filling wire is used, the feed or crimping rollers as
they revolve to draw the said filling wire from the said reel or frame push it
into and through the open shed of the wire warps, suitable guides being
employed to direct it in its proper course therein. When the filling wire is
not sufficiently stiff to be pushed into the shed by the feed or crimping rollers
as aforesaid, I employ nippers to work in connection with said feed or crimping
rollers, which draw it in, said nippers being attached to the end of a sliding
arm or bar on the side of the loom opposite to where the filling wire is
placed. At the proper stage of the operation of the loom, the said nippers pass
through the shed of the wire warp and seize the end of the filling wire (from
which the preceding shute was cut, and which now projects from the said feed
or crimping rollers), then the said nippers move back in unison with the motion
of the said feed or crimping rollers, drawing the filling wire into the shed as it
is delivered from said rollers.
When the filling wire is not too stiff to be suitably crimped by the process of
weaving, plain smooth feed rollers may be employed to deliver the filling wire
into the shed; but in forming some fabrics it is necessary to good work that
the filling wire should be crimped before it is inserted, in which case the feed
rollers are fluted and geared together so as alternately to bring the projection
of one into the groove of the other as they revolve, and thus crimping the wire;
the size of the grooves being adapted to the size of mesh required, and the
motion of the feed or crimping rollers (and nippers if employed) being so
graduated as to place the filling wire in a suitable position, each shute to
conformn in respect to its curves to the warp wires. To keep the crimped

page_text: filling wire thus inserted the proper side up until it is secured by the warp
wire, guide fingers may be employed, or the nippers which are employed to
draw the wire into shed may be moved forward to the line where the said
wires are bound in by the warp wires before they release their grasp.
Another part of the Invention relates to controlling and delivering out the
wire warps, and consists in part in giving to each warp wire a separate tension
on a separate spool or beam, and delivering the whole during the process of
weaving by means of rollers having a suitable connection and motion for that
purpose.
This part of the Invention also consists in combining with a power loom
for weaving wire cloth a railway delivery motion, so constructed as to have
a carriage at the back of the loom running on ways or rails, the forward
ends of the warp wires being connected with the loom in the usual way whilst
their rear ends are attached to the said carriage; then, as the operation of
weaving proceeds, the carriage is drawn towards the loom either by the pull
of the warp wires or by a positive mechanical motion, according to the size of
the wire wrought. The said carriage may be held back by a brake or by
weights.
In the Drawings annexed hereto, and which form a part of this Specifica-
tion, Figure 1 is a plan of the loom; Figure 2, a front elevation; Figure 3, a
left-hand end elevation; Figure 4, a right-hand end elevation; and Figures 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are details; Figure 16 is also a right-
hand elevation of the looms shewing the improved delivery apparatus, and
Figures 17 and 19 are details thereof. The driving apparatus, harness motion,
and other parts of the looms not required to exemplify the improvements are
omitted in the Drawings, but they may be similar to those described in the
Patent for improvements in looms suitable for weaving wire cloth, No. 2298,
and dated 13th October 1855. a, a, a, represents the frame of the looms; b, the
lathe; c, the wire warp beam; and d, the whip roller over which the wire
warps i, i, pass to the harnesses and reed in the usual way; e, e, represent the
take-up rollers, which may be operated in the manner described in the Patent
just alluded to; f represents the main shaft of the loom, and g, a counter
shaft, for operating the nippers for drawing the filling wire into the shed,
said counter shaft 9 being driven by the said main shaft f through the
medium of the mitre gears k, k. The reel j, on which the filling wire / is
placed at the side of the loom, turns on the stud m, and rests on the collar n
to give it friction to straighten said filling wire. The filling wire is drawn
from the reel j and delivered through the guide o into the shed of the warps
by the feed rollers p, p. The feed rollers p, p, are pressed together to gripe

page_text: the wire by the springs q, 9, and at appropriate intervals, with respect to the
motion of the lathe, have an intermittent motion, which inserts the filling wire.
This intermittent motion is given by the wheel r on the main shaft f, said
wheel r being provided with teeth on that portion of its circumference, during
the rotation of which the feeding action is required, which teeth act on the
wheels, and through the bevil wheels t, t, and the spur wheels u, u, turn said
feed rollers. The filling wire after the insertion of each shot is cut off to
present a new end for the succeeding shot, which operation is performed by
the cutter on the sword of the lathe, which, as the lathe advances to beat up
the cloth, acts as one blade of shears against the guide o, which acts as the
other blade, and thus cuts off the wire.
In weaving some fabrics the warp wires are sufficient to guide filling wire
into the open shed as it is delivered into it by the feed rollers, as just
described; but in weaving fabrics of large meshes, for which the warp wires
are placed at a considerable distance apart, I employ other guides, such as
are represented by w, w, in Figure 8. These guides are supported above and
below the cloth at these forward ends by the rods y, y, and at their rear ends
back of the reed by the rods z, z, a guide being placed between each warp
wire (or as often as may be required), their inner faces being on a line with
the warp wires of the open shed, thus producing an even plane for the filling
wires to slide over.
When the filling wire is too slender to be inserted in the manner just
described I employ nippers, which seize the end of the filling wire at each
successive shute, and, moving in unison with the feed rollers before described,
draw the said filling wire into the shed. a', a', represent the jaws of the
nippers, which are shewn on an enlarged scale in Figures 9 and 10. They
vibrate on their respective studs 6, 6, and are forced together to grasp the
filling wire by the spring arms c', c', acting on the pin d'. These nippers are
attached to the sliding bar e', which slides on the ways f¹, f. To open and
close the nippers to grasp and release the wires, a sliding rod g' is placed on
the back side of said sliding bar e', and supported by the guide stands h', h',
said sliding rod g¹ having a cam-like projection extending forward between
the jaws a', a', of the nippers. The jaws a¹, a¹, of the nippers are also pro-
vided with cam-like surfaces j', j, so that when the projection passes to and
fro between them it causes the jaws of the nippers to be opened and closed to
grasp a wire; the movement of the sliding bar e causes the sliding rod g¹ to
strike against the stop k', and force the projection over the surfaces j, j
and when the nippers are to be opened to release a wire, the said sliding bar
e strikes against the stop and forces said projection back again, as before.

page_text: The required motion is communicated to the sliding bar e¹ by the double cam
m² acting through the medium of the cam roller n¹³, lever o¹ connecting bar p³,
lever g', and connecting bar v¹, said double cam being shaped so as to conform
in the time of its action to the teeth on the wheel r.
When the filling wire to be used is too large to be suitably crimped by the
process of weaving, the feed rollers p, p, are grooved or fluted, as represented
on an enlarged scale in Figure 12. The grooves or flutes are made of a size
to crimp the wire to conform to the meshes of the cloth to be woven.
It will be obvious, from the foregoing description, that the filling wire when
crimped, preparatory to being inserted in the shed of the warp, must be drawn
in, so as to have the crimping conform to the alternate movements of the shed,
that is, every other shot of filling wire must be drawn in so as to have the
distance of one mesh further forward with respect to the crimping rollers than
the alternate ones. This may be effected by giving an additional motion for
the purpose either to the nippers or the crimping rollers; I sometimes also
construct and operate the nippers so as to have a motion towards and from the
lathe to carry the filling wires forward to the fell of the cloth, and hold them
in position until they are secured by the warp wires.
In the Letters Patent above referred to the wire warps are described as
being wound on a beam formed with grooves (as represented in Figure 1), and
delivered therefrom during the operation of wearing by an apparatus governed
in its action by the tension of said wire warps.
In the improved mode of delivering out the wire warps, the wire warps
instead of being wound on a beam are delivered to the loom from spools
arranged in a creel, each wire having a separate drag or tension. From the
creel the wire warps, as indicated by the red lines in Figure 16, pass over the
pressure roller w¹, around the cylinder r¹, under the pressure roller 6", up
over the whip roller d, thence to the harness and reed, in the usual way.
The arms y', y', and 21, 2, which support their respective rollers, swing on
the studs a, a, (one on either side of the loom,) which allows the said
rollers to press on to the cylinder x, and thus gripe and hold the warp wires
from slipping thereon. c, c", are weights for adjusting the pressure rollers
6. The cylinder ', instead of being made with grooves, like the wire warp
beam c, above alluded to, has a plane surface, and instead also of containing
the wire warps, only serves to control their delivery as they are drawn from
the spools, and preserve them of an even length. To allow the wire warps to
yield at the opening of the shed, and to adapt their delivery to the actual
requirements of the fabrication of the cloth, and at the same time preserve the
wire warps under uniform tension, the action of the cylinder a¹ is imparted and

page_text: regulated by in the same manner as the action of the wire warp beam in the
Letters Patent, No. 2298, above referred to, and as the apparatus employed is
the same in both cases, and is therein fully described, no further description of
it is here deemed necessary. ell, ell, represent the posts of the creel which
support the warp wire spools f", f",f"; and 9", a brace to keep the creel
in position. The warp wires as they are drawn from the spools may be kept
the required distance apart by a reed suitably placed back of the roller w.
Figure 17 gives a front view of a part of the creel frame; and Figures 18 and
19 are enlarged views of the manner in which the spools are supported
therein, and the friction applied to give the required tension to the wires.
Figure 18 is a horizontal section of one of the creel posts, the red lines
showing the manner in which the spools are supported. Pins h, h,
project from one side of said creel posts to support one end of the bobbins,
while the other ends thereof are supported by similar pins 1, 2, pro-
jecting from a spring lever j", j". The spring levers ", ", vibrate on
stud pins k", ", and are pressed against the head of the spools to produce a
drag on the wire by the springs 7", ", the action of which is respectively
regulated by the adjusting screws m", m". The adjusting screws m¹¹, m",
are provided with leather nuts n", n", to keep them in position, and the spring
levers,, are provided with stops o", o", to prevent the springs ", 7", from
throwing them too far forward when the spools are taken out. To remove a
spool from the creel, the attendant presses its spring lever away from the head
thereof with one hand and takes the spool out with the other.
Wire fabrics woven with cut filling, as above described, are without proper
selvages, that is, the ends of the filling wire projects beyond the warp
wire, as represented in Figure 13. To bend the ends of the filling wire
suitably around the outer warp wire to form the selvages, I employ machinery
separate from the loom, the acting parts of which are represented in Figures
5, 6, 7, 13, 14, and 15, the red lines indicating the wire cloth. The cloth to
be acted upon is held by clamps, while fingers are brought into action which
turn the ends of the alternate filling wires in opposite directions around the
selvage warp wire. p", p", represent the clamps, the inner edges of which
are made thick for strength, and the outer edges thin to allow the filling wires
to be bent around them; q", q", represent the fingers which turn the filling
wires, extending from their respective rock shafts 11 and s", said fingers being
alternately connected with said shafts, as represented in Figure 5, which is a
full-sized plan of the clamps, fingers, and of a piece of the wire cloth, the
parts being in position to begin their operation. Figure 13 is a transverse
section of the parts in the same position as in Figure 5.

page_text: When the parts are in the position just designated, the rock shafts ll and
s" are turned a short distance in opposite directions, the shaft r" carrying the
fingers having their ends under the ends of the wires upwards, and the shaft
s" carrying the fingers having their ends above the wires downwards, which
bends the wires, as represented in Figure 14. The shafts and s" are then
moved inwards towards the clamps, which movement bends the wires, as
represented in Figure 15, the operation being completed by stamps which
bend the wires closely down, thus forming a true and smooth selvage.
When short pieces of cloth are to be acted upon, the cloth may be placed
under the action of the selvage apparatus by hand; but when a web of cloth is
to be operated upon, it may be put on to a roller and passed through the
machine, as indicated in Figure 6, in which t¹ represents the cloth roller; u¹
a roller to guide the cloth; ", the take-up roller; and w", another roller on
which the cloth is wound after it is finished. The take-up roller v¹¹ is pro-
vided with pins suitably placed to penetrate the meshes of the cloth to hold it
in position as it is drawn forward. 11, 1, represent the stamps for pressing
down the wires, and completing the operation after they have been bent by
the fingers, as aforesaid. Figure 7 represents an end view of the clamps,
fingers, and rock shafts as applied to both selvages of the cloth, also of the
cams by which the said rock shafts are turned to bend the wires.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the details
herein described; but what I claim is,―
First, the application to power looms for weaving wire cloth of the apparatus
herein described for preparing, introducing, and cutting the filling wire.
And, secondly, I claim the application to power looms for weaving wire cloth
of the apparatus herein described for controlling and delivering the warp wires.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
W. S. HARRISON,
New Court, St. Swithin Lane,
London.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)