IMPROVEMENTS IN NET MACHINES
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Weldon Symington at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th September 1873.
I, WILLIAM WELDON SYMINGTON, of Chard, in the County of
Somerset, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN NET MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to make fast net of large or small mesh.
with bobbins and carriages, and my said Invention consists of a frame or
machine in which the said bobbins and carriages are combined with
pickers, hooks, and guide needles, and with mechanism for working the
the same as herein-after described.
For convenience of description I will first describe the manner in
which the threads are arranged and the knots are formed, and then the
arrangement of the carriages, bobbins, pickers, hooks, and guide needles,
and of the mechanism by which they are worked..
The warp threads pass from the warp beam over a guide roller
through a reed and under a tension roller which has a rising and falling
motion, thence the said threads pass through the race. of the carriage

page_text: circle and over a work bar, at the lower edge of which the knots are
formed by the tying of the weft threads with the warp threads; from
this bar the net made passes to the work beam.
6
"
"
The knots are made as follows:-There are two sets of pickers, one
set at the front of the threads and the other at the back. Supposing
both sets to be between the warp threads, close under the edge of the
work bar, the comb bars are shogged," i.e., moved endways one
gate." The hooks then by a backward and forward radial or "tipping'
.motion pass between the warp threads and engage therewith. They
then descend below the combs, carrying down with them the said threads,
and the guide needles rise and carry up the said threads so as to form
openings, the tension roller rising in like proportion to give out the
necessary length of warp for the said openings. During these motions
the back pickers by a backward radial or "knocking out" motion
desengage themselves and descend to the back combs through which the
bobbin carriages pass (the said carriages being at this time stationary
between the teeth. of the front combs). The said pickers then by a
forward radial motion. pass between the guide needles and the openings
in the warp threads and engage with the said threads, and then rising
take up the said threads to the work bar, the hooks still retaining the
threads below the comb bar. During this rising motion of the pickers
the guide needles descend below the combs, so as to allow of the
backward and forward traverse of the bobbins and carriages, which now
pass backward through the openings, carrying with them the weft
threads so as to form loops. The comb bars are then shogged one
"gate" from right to left, and the weft threads are thereby twisted half
round the warp threads. The weft threads are then passed by the
bobbins and carriages forward between the warp threads, but this time
outside the loops.

page_text: opposite picker-bar now “knocks out," (i.c., disengages the pickers from
the knots), the work beam at the same time taking up the requisito
amount of the net to make a mesh of the required size. The hooks
then come forward between the warp threads, the picker bar is shogged
from right to left, the hooks are then again tipped backward, and the
several motions described are repeated (with the exception of the pickers,
the back pickers this time being stationary, and the front pickers
descending) to form another row of knots.
I will now describe the manner in which the various parts are con-
structed, arranged, and actuated. The driving shaft of the machine is
connected by a connecting and disconnecting clutch, or by fast and loose
pulleys and bands with a main laying shaft, on which are keyed cams
which give the necessary rising and falling motions to the parts. This
shaft by means of bevil wheels drives a vertical shaft at one end of the
machine, on which shaft are keyed cams which give the endway or
shogging motions to the comb bars and picker bars. The pickers aro
affixed to horizontal bars which respectively work at the front and back
of the hooks. Each picker bar is carried by arms affixed to a sliding
bar mounted in bearings in two arms carried by a rocking shaft so as to
be capable of sliding and turning therein. The picker bar rocking
shafts are worked from two of the cams on the main laying shaft.
An endway motion from left to right is given to the sliding bars
which carry the picker bars by means of levers worked by two of the
cams on the vertical shaft. The reverse motions of the said sliding bars
is effected by springs. The radial motions of the picker bars are given
to them by means of double ended levers worked by two of the cams on
the main laying shaft.
'
The bobbin carriages (which are similar to those used in lacc
machines) are driven by two horizontal fluted rollers which engage
with the teeth of the said carriages, and are driven by a toothed
quadrant which engages with pinions keyed on the shafts of the said
rollers. This quadrant is driven from a cam on the main laying shaft.
The bobbin carriages work in combs mounted on bars in front of and
behind the hooks.
An endway motion in one direction is given to these bars by means of
a lever actuated by one of the cams on the vertical shaft, the return of
tho said bars being effected by a spring. The hooks are affixed to a

page_text: horizontal bar the ends of which are made cylindrical so as to be capable
of turning in bearings in links, the lower ends of which are jointed to
arms affixed to a rocking shaft by which the raising and lowering of the
hook bar is effected, the said rocking shaft being worked from a cam on
the main laying shaft. The ends of the hook bar slide in vertical guides 5
in the frame of the machine. One end of the said hook bar carries a
tappet which being acted upon by a double ended lever worked by one
of the cams on the vertical shaft gives to the said bar the radial motion
necessary to effect the tipping of the hooks for disengaging them from
the loops. The other end of the said bar carries a plate which slides 1
against the end of a spring, and is so curved that as it rises and falls, it
being acted upon by the said spring, gives to the said bar the tipping
motion necessary to enable the hooks to retain the loops until dis-
engaged therefrom as aforesaid.
The guide needles are affixed to a bar which has a rising and falling 1
motion in guides adjacent and parallel to the guides in which the hook
bar works.
The needle bar is raised and lowered by the arms of a rocking shaft
worked by one of the cams on the main laying shaft. The tension roller
and the reed are mounted on a rocking shaft worked from one of the
cams on the main laying shaft. The work roller is turned as required
by means of a worm wheel on the axis of the said roller, with which
The said ratchet
wheel a worm driven by a ratchet wheel engages.
wheel is driven by a clawker or hook jointed to a double ended lever
worked by a cam on the main laying shaft.