Patent ID: 7475708

Claim:
A shaft drive for at least one heald shaft of a weaving machine, comprising: at least one driven device associated with the heald shaft and connected therewith for maintaining the heald shaft in resting phases and for imparting motion phases thereto, a control device for controlling the actual speed of the driven device and thereby that of the heald shaft, a clutch device forming part of the shaft drive and arranged between a driving device and a gearing for transmitting the driving motion to the heald shaft, wherein the clutch device has a first driving disk connected with the driving device and a second driving disk, as well as a driven disk, to be connected selectively with the first or the second driving disk by means of at least one switching pawl, and wherein the switching pawl is held by a bi-stabile biasing device for movement back-and-forth between two stabile positions, with the bi-stable biasing device including a push rod having one end pivotally connected to the switching pawl and its other end slidingly supported in a pivotally mounted counter support such that the push rod forms a straight line with a pivot point of the switching pawl, and a compression spring mounted on the push rod and supported between the counter support and a washer secured to the push rod.