IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING." -A communication from
abroad by George Crompton, of Worcester, Massachusetts, United
States of America.
Sealed the 26th February 1869, and dated the 1st September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st September 1868.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office,"
No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Consulting Engincer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," a communication, to
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of the
hooked jacks and lifters and depressors for operating the harness levers
from the pattern chain or cylinders of fancy looms.

page_text: The said Invention consists, first, in combining with long upright
harness levers and suitable lifter, depressor, and evener mechanism
jacks pivoted thereto and arranged horizontally, and having hooks or
notches upon their opposite edges, which hooks or notches engage
with the lifter and depressor mechanism.
The said Invention also consists in so constructing and arranging
harness jacks that they rest directly upon or against the pattern chain
or cylinder, so as to be distributed by the said chain or cylinder without
-the intervention of intermediate mechanism.
Also in the employment of a yielding lifter bar for raising the jacks,
the said bar being so constructed and arranged that it will yield to any
undue strain of the pins of the pattern cylinder caused by their
accidental projection too far from the peripheral surface of the cylinder.
And, lastly, in operating the warp of a fancy loom by means of
hooks, one attached to each extremity of the connections from the
harnoss, and seizing either hook by the movement of a bar or bars in
either direction to raise and depress the harness as may be determined
by the contour of the pattern chain, and retiring the said hooks to their
normal condition by the return of the evener bar or bars, the hooks
.being attached to the said connections in such manner as to produce a
bias on the chain. The frame of the loom is constructed in any
convenient and suitable manner.
. In carrying into practice the first part of my Invention long upright
levers are pivoted in proper bearings at the side of the loom, and pro-
vided with notches in which are to be secured the cords for connecting
the ends of the levers with the leaves of the heddles. Upon each of
:these levers is pivoted a jack, each of which jacks may be slotted to
.allow the lever to pass through the same. The jacks are each provided
with two hooks, one on each side facing in opposite directions, and are
guided by a rack. Two guides provided with apertures through which
the slide rods pass are also held in position in brackets extending from
the frame, one of these rods having fastened upon it the elevator and the
other the depressor.
The lifter and depressor embrace the row of jacks; the said jacks are
raised and lowered by the joint action of gravitation and a pattern
chain or any ordinary pattern mechanism, and the jacks may rest

page_text: directly upon the balls or the tubes of the pattern chain (as described
in the second part of this Invention) as the said jacks happen to be
either up or down. To cause the lifter and depressor to slide to and fro
each slide rod is connected by a link to an arm of a rocking shaft;
this shaft is provided with another arm which is connected with a crank
pin upon a revolving shaft by a connecting rod. Upon cach slide rod
is also mounted an evener to act against the levers. The pattern
mechanism is supported and actuated in any suitable manner, and may
be of any proper variety; the movements of the lifter and depressor
and eveners, and also of the pattern mechanism are to be properly
graduated and timed in relation to each other, and also in relation to the
motions of other parts of the loom.
In carrying the second part of my Invention into practice the
harness levers or treadles are mounted on a shaft extending between and
supported by two brackets; cach lever ncar its upper end has an arm
extending outward, cach arm having hinged or hung to its outer end a
horizontal jack with two hooks, one hook being at proper times thrown
into connection with a lifter bar, and the other hook at proper times
into connection with a depressor bar. In bearings on the top of the
frame made by the bracket the pattern cylinder is mounted, and cach
jack rests directly upon this cylinder or the pins thereof between the
joint of the jack and the lifter bar, the jack itself being thus directly
acted upon by the pattern cylinder instead of being acted upon through
intervening mechanism. The lifter bar is supported on the top of twó
rocker arms, and the depressor bar on two other rocker arms, and
between the two sets of arms is a rocker shaft having two oppositely
projecting arms jointed to the rocker arms of each set, and being
vibrated from a rocker shaft connected by a link with an arm pro-
jecting from the rocker shaft. The rotative movement of the rocker
shaft in one direction carries the lifter and depressor bars towards each
other, and its movement in the opposite direction separates then. When
the lifter and depressor approach cach other they bring all the harness
levers into line for redistribution of the jacks from the pattern chain,
the pins of which acting directly upon the jacks throw part of the
hooks up into connection with the lifter bar, and leave part of them
in connection with the depressor bar, thus establishing the proper shed
formed by the next respective movements of the levers.

page_text: In practising the third part of my Invention to prevent injury from
any undue strain of the pins of the pattern cylinder upon any one
.or more of the jacks, the lifter bar is connected to the rocker arms
by pins, the heads of which are fastened to the lifter bar, while their
.shanks extend loosely through ears on the top of the arms; a spring
placed around cach shank bears at its upper end against the ear, and
.at its lower end against an enlargement on the end of the pin. The
.two springs hold the lifter bar down against the arms unless some
pin of the cylinder getting started from position is too long to
freely pass by its jack, in which case the springs allow the lifter
'bar to yield, and this enables the pattern cylinder to move on without
sbreakage.
In carrying into operation the fourth part of the said Invention a
series of jacks is arranged directly over corresponding jacks of another
series, one end of each upper jack being directly attached to the upper
cording of one of the harness frames, and one end of the corresponding
jack beneath it to the under cording of the same harness frame; the
upper jacks and upper cording and the lower cording and lower jacks
therefore make the direct connection of the harness frames with
the pattern chain or cylinder, the jacks of the lower series resting upon
the chain. Each upper jack has a hook which is arranged to be seized
by a horizontally reciprocating lifter and depressor bar or shed openor
if it is thrown downwards, and each lower jack has a hook arranged to be
caught by the said horizontally reciprocating lifter and depressor bar
if the jack is thrown upwards; the jack being thrown upwards at
proper times by the pattern chain or cylinder, and the hooks of the
upper jack being pressed downwards by the stress or bias of the upper
cording or by gravitation and such stress. The evener brings the
jack hooks into line for each redistribution of the jacks, this evener
,having a bar operating against hooks on the upper or lifter jacks and a
.bar for operating against hooks on the lower or depressor jacks.
For operating the lifter, depressor, and evener mechanism a link
connects a crank pin on a shaft with an arm extending from the rocker
shaft, at each end of which is an arm connected by a link with an
arm fixed to a slide rod, to the end of which the lifter and depressor bar
-is fastened, and an arm connected by a link with an arm extending
from another slide rod to which the evener is fastened. The outward

page_text: movement of the two arms moves the depressor bar outward and effects
the outward movement of both the upper and lower jacks.
It will be seen that the hooks for effecting the rise of the harness-
frames are entirely separate and independent from the hooks for pro--
ducing the depression of such frames, and that by this arrangement
and the arrangement of the evener mechanism the jacks are not
clamped between evener bars, but are brought into line, the upper set
independently from the lower set by the upper and lower bars,
the stress in evening being only upon the upper and lower cording:
connections.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th February 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane,. in. the County of. Middlesex, Consulting:
Engineer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her-
Letters Patent, bearing; date the First day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-.
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her. heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Robert. Lake, Her special licence.
that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, administrators,.
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William. Robert Lake, .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" upon the condition (amongst. others), that I,.
the said William Robert, Lake, 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..

page_text: 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 William Robert Lake, 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
Drawings forming a part of this Specification :-
My Invention relates to the construction and arrangement of the
hooked jacks and lifters and depressors for operating the harness levers
from the pattern chain or cylinders of fancy looms.
The said Invention consists, first, in combining with long upright
harness levers and suitable lifter, depressor, and evener mechanism
jacks pivotted thereto and arranged horizontally, and having hooks or
notches upon their opposite edges, which hooks or notches engage with
the lifter and depressor mechanism.
The said Invention also consists in so constructing and arranging
harness jacks that they rest directly upon or against the pattern chain
or cylinder, so as to be distributed by the said chain or cylinder without
the intervention of intermediate mechanism.
Also in the employment of a yielding lifter bar for raising the jacks,
the said bar being so constructed and arranged that it will yield to any
undue strain of the pins of the pattern cylinder caused by their accidental
projection too far from the peripheral surface of the cylinder.
And, lastly, in operating the warp of a fancy loom by means of hooks,
one attached to each extremity of the connections from the harness, and
seizing either hook by the movement of a bar or bars in either direction
to raise and depress the harness as may be determined by the contour of
the pattern chain, and retiring the said hooks to their normal condition
by the return of the evener bar or bars, the hooks being attached to the
said connections in such manner as to produce a bias on the chain.
Sheets 1 and 2 of the Drawings represent a loom or loom frame
embodying the first part of the said Invention. Figure 1 shows the said
loom or parts of the loom in rear elevation; Figure 2 is a side elevation,
and Figure 3 is a plan thereof; Figure 4 is a section through one of the
harness levers.

page_text: In these Drawings à denotes the frame; b, b, the long upright
levers, pivotted in proper bearings at the side of the loom at c, and
provided with notches d, d, in. which are to be secured the cords
which connect the ends of the levers with the leaves of the heddles.
Upon each of these levers is pivotted, in such manner that it is free to
oscillate up and down, a jack e, each of which jacks may be slotted to
allow the lever to pass through the same, as shown in Figure 3. The
jacks are each provided with two hooks f, f', one on each side thercof,
facing in opposite directions, and are guided by a rack g. Two guides
1, 1, provided with apertures through which the slide rods h, h, pass, and
by means of which they are guided and supported, are also to be held
in position in brackets extending from the frame, one of these rods
having fastened upon it the elevator i, and the other the depressor k.
The elevator and depressor are preferably attached to the rods by means
of sleeves and set screws, as shown in the Drawings, and their ends
may be guided by slots in a piece of metal properly supported (see
Figure 4).
The lifter and depressor embrace the row of jacks. The said jacks
are raised and lowered by the joint action of gravity, and a pattern
chain m or any ordinary pattern mechanism and the jacks may rest
directly upon the balls or the tubes of the pattern chain (as described
in the second part of this Invention) as they (the jacks) happen to be
either up or down. In order to cause the lifter and depressor to slide to
and fro each slide rod is connected by a link to an arm of a rocking
shaft o supported in any proper way. This shaft is provided with
another arm p, which is connected with a crank pin q upon a revolving
shaft by means of a connecting rod or pitman 8. Upon cach slide rod
is also mounted an evener t, the eveners acting against the levers,
as will be readily understood. The pattern mechanism is to be
supported and actuated in any suitable manner, and may be of any
usual and proper variety, and the movements of the lifter and depressor
and eveners, and also of the pattern mechanism are to be properly
graduated and timed in relation to each other, and also in relation to
the motions of other parts of the loom. The manner in which the parts
operate is evident to any one conversant with looms.
The second part of the said Invention relating to the disposition of
the jacks so that they may be directly acted upon by the pattern chain

page_text: or cylinder is shown in Sheets 1 and 2 of the Drawings, and a loom or
Toom frame embodying this improvement is also shown in Sheets 3, 4,
and 5. Figure 5 is a plan, Figure 6 is a front elevation, Figure 7 is.
an end elevation of the loom frame and the harness mechanism;
Figure 8 is a vertical section between the heddle levers.
c
In these Figures as denotes the frame; b, the pulley shaft carrying
the fast and loose pulleys c³, d², and connected with and driving the
lathe shaft e by a train of wheels in the usual manner. a², a³,
denote the harness levers or treadles mounted on a shaft b' extending
between and supported by the two brackets c³. Each lever near its
upper end has an arm d' extending outward from it, as seen in Figure 8,
cach arm having hinged or hung to its outer end a horizontal jack e¹,
having two hooks.', 9', each hook f being at proper times thrown
into connection with a lifter bar h,, and each hook g¹ at proper times
into connection with a depressor bar . In bearings on the top of the
frame made by the bracket c¹ the pattern cylinder is mounted,
and each jack e¹ rests directly upon this cylinder or the pins thereof
between the joint of the jack and the lifter bar h', as seen at Figure 8,
the jack itself being thus directly acted upon by the pattern cylinder
instead of being acted upon through intervening mechanism. The lifter
bar is supported on the top of two rocker arms 1, and the depressor
bar on two other rocker arms m', and between the two sets of arms.
is a. rocker shaft n¹ having two oppositely projecting arms o¹, p³,
respectively jointed to the rocker arms P, m³, the arms o¹, p³, being
vibrated from a rocker shaft connected by a link with an arm &¹
projecting from the rocker shaft, rotative movement of the rocker
shaft in one direction carrying the lifter and depressor bars towards
dach other, and its movement in the opposite direction separating them,
as will be readily understood. When the lifter and depressor approach
each other they bring all the levers a¹ into line for redistribution of the
jacks from the pattern chain, the pins of which acting directly upon the
jacks throw part of the hooks f¹ up into connection with the lifter
bár h', and leave part of them in connection with the depressor bar i",
thus-establishing the proper shed formed by the next respective move-
ments of the respective levers a', the connection between the harness
leyers and the pattern cylinder being thus made very simple and
direct.
(.

page_text: The third part of the said improvements relating to the lifter bar
is shown in Figures 6, 7, and 8.
To prevent injury from any undue strain of the pins of the pattern
cylinder upon any one or more of the jacks the lifter bar is connected
to the arms by pins t, the heads of which are fastened to the
lifter bar, while their shanks extend loosely through cars u¹ on the
top of the arms A, a spring ¹ being placed around each shank and
bearing at its upper end against the ear, and at its lower end against'an
enlargement on the end of the pin. The two springs hold the lifter bar
down against the arms unless some pin of the cylinder getting started
from position is too long to freely pass by its jack, in which case the
springs allow the lifter bar to yield, and this enables the pattern cylinder
to move on without breakage.
;
Sheets 6 and 7 also show a loom embodying that part of my Invention
which consists in so arranging the jacks that they will be directly
operated upon by the pattern chain or cylinder; but these Sheets are
principally designed to show the arrangement of the harness mechanism,
constituting the fourth or last part of the said Invention. In these
Sheets Figure 9 represents an clevation of the part of the loom frame
adjacent to the harness mechanism; Figure 10 is a plan of the same;
Figure 11 is a vertical section through the pattern chain; Figure 12 iş
a section showing the position of each pair of jacks when ready for
redistribution.
:
In these Figures a* denotes the loom frame; 62, the harness leaves;
c, the pattern chain; d, e, the cording which connects the leaves to
the jack mechanism; f, g, represent pairs of jacks, the series of jacks f
being arranged directly over the corresponding jacks of the series g³, onė
end of each upper jack f being directly attached to the upper cording d
of one of the harness frames, and one end of the corresponding jack g³
beneath it to the under cording e³ of the same harness frame, so that thè
upper jacks and upper cording and the lower cording and lower jacks
make the direct connection of the harness frames with the pattern chain
or cylinder, the jacks of the lower series resting upon the chain, as seen in
Figures 11 and 12. Each jack f' has a hook h³ (see Figure 12), which look
is so arranged as to be seized by a horizontally reciprocating lifter and
depressor bar or shed opener &³ if it be thrown downward, and each jack 9
has a hook so arranged as to be caught by said horizontally recipro-

page_text: being thrown upward at proper times by the pattern chain or cylinder,
and the hooks of the jack f being pressed downward by the stress or
bias of the upper cording or by gravity and such stress. ² denotes the
evener which brings the jack hooks into line for each redistribution of
the jacks, this evener having a bar operating against hooks 12 of the
upper or lifter jacks and a bar m³ for operating against hooks n³ on the
lower or depressor jacks.
The lifter, depressor, and evener mechanism is operated as follows:-
A link o³, see Figure 9, connects a crank pin on shaft p² with an arm q³
extending from the rocker shaft, at each end of which is an arm & con-
nected by a link with an arm fixed to slide rod u³, to the end of which
the lifter and depressor bar i is fastened, and an arm u³ connected by a
link with an arm extending from slide rod w³ to which the evener k³
is fastened, the outward movement of the two arms & moving the bar i
outwardly and effecting the outward movement of both the upper and
lower jacks, the shed opener and evener being operated by the rocker
arms so as to make the shed deeper in the rear than in the front for the
purpose of making a perfect shed, the upper jacks thus moved elevating
the harness frames to which they are corded, and the corresponding
movement of the adjacent lower jacks depressing the harness frames to
which they are corded, and thus producing the proper shed, and the
subsequent outward movement of the arms ³ causing the evener to
operate upon the evener hooks of both sets of jacks to bring the jacks
into line (so that they may disengage from the lifter and depressor bar),
the lifter hooks on the upper jacks being thus brought into their normal
position or into engagement with the lifter and depressor bar, from which
position such of them as belong to leaves to be next depressed are raised
by the next movement of the pattern mechanism, which movement
carries such upper hooks out of engagement with the lifter and
depressor bar by pressing the lower hooks into engagement therewith, as
will be readily understood. It will thus be seen that the hooks for
effecting the rise of the harness frames are entirely separate and inde-
pendent from the hooks for producing the depression of such frames,
and that by this arrangement and the arrangement of the evener
mechanism the jacks are not clamped between evener bars, but are
brought into line, the upper set independently from the lower set by the

page_text: upper and lower bars ³, m³, the stress in evening being only upon the
upper and lower cording connections.
Having thus fully described the said. Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim,-
In combination with the long upright levers located at the side
of the loom frame the jacks pivotted thereon and provided each with
two notches or hooks, the said notches or hooks being on opposite sides
or edges of the jacks.
Also the combination of long upright levers located at the side of a
loom frame and jacks pivotted thereon and provided with notches, as
described, with a lifter and depressor, the one above and the other below
the jacks.
Also the combination of long upright levers and jacks pivotted thereon
and provided with notches, as described, with lifter, depressor, and evener
mechanism, the latter acting upon the upright levers.
Also the combination of upright levers and jacks hooked, as described,
pivotted thereon, with a pattern mechanism and a lifter and depressor
embracing the row of jacks, all these combinations being and operating
substantially as herein-before set forth.
Also combining the upright levers and hooked jacks (with lifter,
depressor, and evener mechanism) directly with the pattern chain or
cylinder without intervening mechanism, substantially as described.
Also in combination with the jacks, when arranged substantially
as described, the yielding lifter bar 1 operating substantially as set
forth.
Also the combination and arrangement of mechanism for operating
the warp of a fancy loom by means of pairs of hooked jacks, one of each
pair being attached to each extremity of the connections from the harness
frame, and one hook of each pair being seized in each outward movement
of a lifter and depressor bar or shed opener to raise or depress the harness
as may be determined by the pattern mechanism, the hooks being
thai nomal nosition for redistribution by the evener

page_text: Also the arrangement of the cording of the jacks to produce a bias
against the chain, substantially as described, and as shown in Sheets
6 and 7..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, havo
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of t
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-nine.
Witness,
THO. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Mess. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
W.C.
(1.5-)