CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN POWER LOOMS
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, Jonn
FERRABEE, of the Thrupp, in the Parish of Stroud, in the County Gloucester,
and RICHARD CLYBURN, of the same place, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS we did, by Petition, represent unto His most Excellent Majesty
King William the Fourth that we had invented "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
POWER LOOMS," and His Majesty being willing to encourage all useful inven-
tions, did issue His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of January, in the sixth
year of His reign, whereby His said Majesty did, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto us, the said John Ferrabee and Richard
Clyburn, His special licence that we, the said John Ferrabee and Richard
Clyburn, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said John Ferrabee and Richard Clyburn, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our said Invention; in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso obliging us, the said John Ferrabee
and Richard Clyburn, by an instrument in writing under our hands and

page_text: seals, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be
enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six months next
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Ferrabee and Richard Clyburn, do hereby declare that the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
are described and ascertained in manner following, that is to say:-
A is a frame of the loom. B is a loose, and C a fixed, rigger, and D a fly
wheel on the horizontal axis E. F is a flanch fixed on the other end of E,
having a pin 2 for moving the arm G when driven by power. The pin 2 may
be varied in distance from the axis E to give more or less crank motion to M
by the connected arms G, H, K, L. The arms H and K are fixed on the
axis I. G and H are connected by a joint, and K and M by a link L. There
are two vertical arms M which have their centres of motion on the fixed pins N.
The axis I has its bearings in cach end of the frame, and carries the toothed
sector O to drive the wheel P, which is loose on the axis S. The wheel Q is
loose on S, but is fixed to P, and moved with it. The wheel P carries two
catches, actuated by springs, which make them bear constantly against a
ratchet wheel of four teeth fixed on S between P and Q, so that when P is
turned a quarter of a revolution in one direction S is turned with it, but when
P is turned the contrary way S remains unmoved. Q turns a wheel R, loose
teeth is fixed within the
on the axis T, on which a ratchet wheel of four
wheel R, which carries two catches with their springs, similar in shape and
purpose to those before mentioned. On this axis T are fixed the four tappets
or cams U, U, for depressing two levers V, V, in order to cross the warp by
drawing downwards the lines I and headles g, h. On the axis Sarc fixed four
tappets W, W, for depressing two levers X. The pulley Y turns on a pin
fixed in the frame, and has a strap fixed by its middle part on the top of the
circumference of this pulley, the ends of the strap being fixed to the moveable
extremities of the levers X, for the purpose of moving the pecker lever Z fixed
to Y. The motion of Z thus given alternately towards the right and left hand,
is for throwing the shuttle by means of the cord A in the usual way. The
warp & being wound on the roller e is carried over the beam f through the
headles g, h, through the reed c, after passing which it is made cloth by the
action of the shuttle on B in delivering the weft in the usual way. The
cloth d³ is drawn over the beam k by the rollers and m, 1 being driven by the
ratchet wheel o and pinion p on a common axis driving the wheel q fixed on
the axis. The ratchet o is driven by a catch, balanced by a weight in the
d

page_text: common way used in power looms. To work this power loom by hand, the
arm G is detached from the lever H, which is then fixed to the free extremity
of the link w. The link w is jointed to one end of the lever v, which has
its centro of motion at a, and carries at its other extremity the vertical rodu,
at the top of which is fixed the horizontal wooden bar or handle t, which is
raised and depressed by hand like the handle of a common fire engine, by which
means all the motions of the loom are performed the same as when driven by
any other power, applied by means of the endless band 7 passing round c.
n is a weight suspended by an arm which is fixed on the axis I to serve as
a counterpoise to the batten b, and render its vibrations smooth and uniform
by acting in manner of a pendulum, which application for this purpose we con-
sider new and useful. This batten 6 may otherwise be suspended from above,
and the pendulum or pendulums m may be above the axis I. The loom, as
here described, is intended for weaving common broadcloth, or two-treadle
work; but if the kind of cloth to be woven requires more than two treadles, the
number of teeth in the ratchet wheel on the axis T, and the number of the
tappets U, must be made to correspond to the number of treadles; and also
the wheels Q and R must be made to turn a corresponding portion of a revo-
lution. The drawing rollers l, m, or the wheels which drive them, must
be so proportioned as to diameter that the circumference of m shall move
a little faster than that of l, in order to keep d' properly strained. d¹ passes
between m and l, and over m, and then falls on the floor into a box.
In this power loom we claim as our improvement the described combination
of the toothed sector, with the wheels P, Q, R, and their ratchet wheels, for
producing the alternate motion of the levers V and X; and also the described
combination of levers in Figure 4, for driving the loom by hand.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Ferrabee and Richard Clyburn,
have hereunto severally and respectively set our hands and seals, this
Nineteenth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named John Ferrabee and
Richard Clyburn (being first duly
JOHN (L.s.) FERRABEE.
RICHP (LS.)
CLYBURN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of July, in the
seventh year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the said
John Ferrabee and Richard Clyburn came before our said Lord the King
in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and
every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
also the Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King
George the Third.
And
Inrolled the Twentieth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six.