THE history of the development of the power-loom, from its inception by Dr. Cartwright, has been written on many occasions. That story relates how old methods have been improved or else displaced by new ones of greater efficiency, and how the modern power-loom has, by the effort and skill of the pioneers of industry, been brought gradually to its present state of mechanical perfection. This march of progress goes on steadily, continuously, and almost imperceptibly to those who are not immediately interested in or affected by the changes that are thus wrought; until by some special circumstance they suddenly and unexpectedly arrest attention, and it is realized for the first time that a new era has dawned and promises changes of great magnitude.

The advent, now fifteen years ago, of what are popularly described as “automatic looms” marked the beginning of events of considerable importance to the weaving industry in particular, and to the textile industry in general. The essential element which distinguishes these looms from those of ordinary construction consists of special apparatus attached to, and forming an integral part of, the looms, which are thereby enabled to replenish weft automatically from a reserved supply conveniently held in readiness. This briefly constitutes the automatic element of the looms. There are, of course, many auxiliary attachments that are incidental to the weft-replenishing devices, and which increase their efficiency and productiveness.

Notwithstanding the comparatively short period that has elapsed since the adoption, on a commercial scale, of these looms, such has been the activity of inventors and loom-makers both at home and abroad, that looms of this class have already been designed in an almost endless variety of forms, some of which differ essentially in construction and operation, whilst many others differ only in minor details of construction. Most of these, however, have never matured to practical forms. Many have never escaped the secret confines of the experimenting room. Others have been doomed to premature failure, whilst some three or four types of real merit are struggling hard for supremacy. Which of the competing types will win, ultimately, is at the present time matter for conjecture. This will depend entirely on the type that will best meet the requirements of manufacturers, and the one that will endure the test of experience and time, which alone can be the deciding factors. But, for certain classes of fabrics for which they are suitable, it is safe to predict that automatic looms of some approved type are permanently established in the trade.

Whatever particular character these weft-replenishing devices assume, they may be broadly classified under one or other of two distinct types, namely, (1) that in which the same common shuttle is replenished with cops or bobbins of weft; and (2) that in which a fresh shuttle replaces the previous one. Each of these two broad divisions comprises numerous modifications in both their construction and also in the manner in which they operate.

Of the cop-or bobbin-changing type of loom, the “Northrop” loom, invented in Hopedale, Mass., U.S.A., by James H. Northrop (a native of Keighley, Yorks.), has gained a greater measure of success than that of any other automatic loom; and of the shuttle-changing type, the “Hattersley” loom, invented by Simeon Jackson, of Geo. Hattersley and Sons, Limited, Keighley, Yorks., has probably found greater favour than others of that type. Looms of the Northrop type require essentially the use of shuttles of special construction that are capable of self-threading the weft; whereas looms of the Hattersley type may weave with the same kind of shuttles as those employed in ordinary power-looms. Looms of both types are constructed so that the change of weft is effected instantaneously whilst they are running at full speed, without any loss of time; but when a change of weft takes place in the Hattersley modification of the shuttle-changing type, the looms stop running automatically for a few picks to allow more time for the changing of shuttles, after which the looms re-start automatically and continue running at full speed.

In addition to the essential elements constituting a successful weft-replenishing device, this requires to be supplemented by numerous appliances of a special character to ensure the general efficiency of the loom. For example, at that side of the loom on which the replenishment of weft is made, there is fixed a weft-cutting device to sever the superfluous trail of weft close to the selvedge of cloth after the insertion of each fresh supply of weft. In some looms the weft is replenished only when the previous supply fails either by breaking or becoming exhausted; and some are furnished with “weft-feeler” motions to put the weft-changing mechanism into operation and thus replenish the weft just before the previous supply is entirely depleted, thereby preventing broken or missing picks of weft which would produce faulty cloth. A warp-stop motion, which is sometimes applied to ordinary looms, is an almost indispensable accessory to an automatic loom. Its function is to detect the breakage of warp-ends, and to stop the loom automatically whenever that occurs. These remarks apply also to the controlling of the tension and delivery of the warp, which are sometimes effected automatically in looms of any description.

Up to the present time weft-replenishing devices are almost exclusively restricted to single-box looms employed in the production of standard varieties of fabrics of comparatively simple construction, and containing but one kind of weft requiring the use of only one shuttle. These devices have, however, been employed on check-looms weaving with more than one kind of weft, and therefore requiring the use of a corresponding number of shuttles at the same time; but automatic check-looms have not yet passed the experimental stage and become established on a commercial basis, although there are prospects of this taking effect in the near future.

Having thus far introduced the reader to what constitutes the chief elements of an automatic or self-acting loom, it will, at this stage, and before examining the details of their special mechanism, be both instructive and profitable to briefly survey the work of pioneers in this sphere of invention, as revealed in the records of the numerous Letters Patent that have from time to time been granted for inventions of devices for the automatic replenishing of weft in looms, and to trace the origin and development of such devices from the earliest authentically recorded date of their inception down to the present time.

From a research of the earliest published records of patents relating to weaving, which records date from 15th July, 1620, it would appear that the credit for the first patent for an automatic weft-replenishing device for looms is due to Messrs. John Paterson Reid and Thomas Johnson, both of Glasgow, who are the joint patentees of an invention of such a device described in the Patent Specification, dated 20th March, 1834, No. 6579. This is a large document of 69 pages of text comprising over 35,000 words and 12 sheets of diagrams. It describes in a very lucid manner several improvements in power-looms, of which that relating to the automatic replenishing of weft is treated almost as if it were regarded, by the inventors, as of only secondary importance to the other improvements which they describe.

In view of the great progress which has been made within recent years in the development of these looms, and also in consideration of the fact that a patent, which was granted to Charles Parker nearly seven years subsequently, and is described in the Specification dated 22nd October, 1840, No. 8664, has been frequently cited as the first patent relating to the automatic supply of weft in looms, the first-named document acquires a special interest, not only as a record of what is probably the first attempt in that direction, but also because it establishes, beyond refutation, the date and rightful title to the first patent granted for such an invention.

In the former specification, the patentees state that their improvements are applicable to what were then known as Johnson’s vertical power-looms, in which the warps were extended vertically from the warp-beam at the bottom to the cloth-roller at the top of the loom; and the reed, which served as the shuttle-race during the flight of the shuttle through the warp-shed, moved in a vertical plane when beating up the weft. These vertical looms were made double, to permit of two pieces of cloth being woven in them at the same time; but they had evidently been discarded, and were not then in use amongst manufacturers. The looms made according to Reid and Johnson’s specification were so very different from Johnson’s looms as to have very little in common with them excepting that they also were vertical power-looms in which the warps extended vertically. The specification states that the “great object” of their improvements is to enable four webs or pieces of cloth to be woven simultaneously and at one operation in the same loom, with only one slay which has a vertical motion, and also that the warps for the four webs are to be wound on two separate warp-beams. After describing in minute detail the construction of the improved loom, the patentees proceed to describe their invention of a device for the automatic supply of weft to their looms whilst these continue running. This part of their invention is introduced as if it were quite incidental and of little consequence, and is described as the “accessories and new improvements” which they apply to their vertical power-looms, as follows:—

“In order to avoid stopping the motion of the loom when any one of the four weft threads break, twice or three times as many shuttles as are required for constant use are to be lodged in suitable receptacles or shuttle boxes, which are so arranged that the breaking of a weft thread will cause a change of shuttles, and a substitution of spare shuttles, which have been provided and placed in the said receptacles ready for such changing; for instance, the breaking or failure of a weft thread from either of the two shuttles, which work on the same reed as one pair, will cause the pair to be removed, and a pair of spare shuttles to be brought into their place instantaneously, without any act of the person who attends the loom, and who will therefore have no occasion to stop the motion thereof when a weft thread breaks or runs off, but will only have to take care to keep the loom at all times provided with a sufficient number of spare shuttles ready filled and inserted into their proper places in the receptacles, leaving it to the machinery of the loom to remove those shuttles which have been working, and to substitute others the instant that a change becomes necessary in consequence of the breakage or failure of weft thread. But if, by neglect of the attendant, the loom is not so provided with a pair of spare shuttles ready filled and placed in preparation for changing as aforesaid by the machinery on the breakage or failure of any weft thread, then the loom will stop its own motion, wherefore the weaving cannot be continued unless all the four webs have their several wefts duly inserted in a proper manner for working cloth.” From this description it is of interest to note that what probably constituted the first automatic loom was of the shuttle-changing type, to which nearly all subsequent inventors in this particular field have chiefly devoted their attention.

It was not until an interval of nearly seven years had elapsed after Reid and Johnson’s patent that a patent was granted to Charles Parker, of Darlington, for the second invention of an automatic weft-replenishing device, which, like its predecessor, was also one of the shuttle-changing type. This device, along with other improvements in power-looms, is described and illustrated in the specification dated 22nd October, 1840, No. 8664, in which the fourth claim made by the patentee is in respect of “means of changing the shuttle when the weft is broken or the shuttle is empty of weft” without the necessity of stopping the loom for that purpose.

The next and third patent for an automatic weft-replenishing device, which, like the two previous devices, was a shuttle-changer, was that granted to an agent, William Newton, to whom the invention was communicated from a foreign country not named in the specification which is dated 28th April, 1852, No. 14,092. This document states that the invention relates to improvements in looms for weaving plain, figured, or fancy fabrics, and that it consists in the employment of several shuttles arranged in the loom in such a manner that if the weft failed, or the shuttle missed or flew out of the shuttle-box, a second shuttle would always be in readiness to take its place, without it being necessary to stop the loom in order to replace it with a fresh shuttle. In carrying out the improvement, several shuttles where placed one above the other in a box, or in guides fixed immediately above the shuttle-race or box, and held in their place by means of a stud, plate, or catch, which, when required, was removed so as to allow a second shuttle to enter the shuttle-box in place of the spent shuttle, which, by the same motion, was pushed out. In the event of a shuttle flying out or missing the shuttle-box, the same mechanism caused a fresh shuttle to supply its place. The special mechanism which affected the changing of shuttles was put into operation by means of a weft-stopping device which detected the absence of weft whenever this failed to pass along the shuttle-race in front of the reed.

After an interval of five years from the granting of the previous patent, Patrick McFarlane, of Perth, patented an automatic weft-replenishing device which marks a distinctly new departure from the previous inventions for the same object, and one, moreover, which has the distinction of constituting the prototype of cop-or bobbin-changing devices, of which type a modification has been so successfully adopted in the construction of Northrop automatic looms. McFarlane’s invention is described in the Patent Specification dated 13th April, 1857, No. 1046, which states that “the first part of the invention consists in means or arrangements by which a loom is made to supply its shuttle or shuttles with fresh weft when the weft last placed in the shuttle or shuttles has become broken or exhausted.” The cop or bobbin of weft was placed in a case which fitted inside the shuttle in which it was held securely during weaving, but from which it could be easily ejected and replaced by another weft-case containing a fresh supply of weft whilst the loom continued weaving. Any practicable number of these weft-cases were conveniently stored and retained in a suitable receptacle or hopper, so that the successive weft-cases could take the place of those removed, as they were each in turn inserted in the shuttle. The chamber containing the reserve supply of weft-cases was attached to the framing of the loom opposite the shuttle-box or boxes, so that when the absence of weft was detected by the weft-fork, this put into operation the weft-changing mechanism which forced a weft-case from the hopper into the shuttle, and thereby displaced the previous weft-case which fell into a box or basket.

An interval of only three years elapsed before the next patent was granted for a weft-replenishing device patented by Thomas Ingram, of Bradford, for which the specification is dated 4th April, 1860, No. 861. In this specification, the patentee describes a device which combines the elements of both a shuttle-changing and also a cop-or bobbin-changing loom. The invention relates to mechanism for effecting a continuous action in looms without stopping them to change the bobbins or cops, or for an additional supply of weft, whether that is all used up or only broken. This was effected by forming an opening or aperture in the front, back, top or bottom of the shuttle-box “large enough to admit a shuttle, or a case containing a spool or spools of weft, to pass through to be inserted within the box.” Also, “when the weft is broken or used up, or a change of weft is required, the shuttle, or the case within the shuttle containing the weft, is immediately expelled through one of the openings in the shuttle-box, and supplied through another of the openings with another shuttle or a case containing a further supply of weft.” The patentee states later that he is aware of a patent for a previous device “to exchange the cop of weft by means of a portable case, whilst the loom was in action,” and does not claim that device as a part of his own invention; but what he claims “is the combination and the general arrangement of apparatus or mechanism for producing or effecting continuous action in looms for weaving.”

A device of a different character from any of those previously described was one that formed the subject of a communication from Julius Boeddinghaus, of Elberfeld, Prussia, to an agent, William Brookes, and is described in the specification dated 14th November, 1860, No. 2787. The function of this device was merely that of ejecting the shuttle automatically when the weft failed; but the replenishing of weft required to be performed by hand in the usual manner. The ejecting of the shuttle was effected by causing it to shoot downward through an opening in the base of the shuttle-box at one end of the slay, and on the occurrence of which the loom would stop.

A patent for the next device which, although not strictly belonging to the present category of inventions, is, nevertheless, closely allied to them, was that granted to John Leeming, Bradford, and described in the specification dated 5th February, 1861, No. 301. The specific object of this device was to effect changes of weft of different kinds or colours for the production of check fabrics. Weft-cases, as introduced by Patrick McFarlane in 1857, were employed to contain the weft, and the weft-cases were exchanged automatically in the same shuttle according to a prearranged scheme of decoration, but not on the failure of weft, in which event the loom would stop as usual. The device was, therefore, a checking motion to effect changes of different kinds of weft by changing cops or bobbins, instead of employing a number of separate chambers, each containing a shuttle with a different kind of weft, and bringing these in line with the race-board, as required. In this respect, therefore, the present device may be regarded as the first recorded attempt to adapt the automatic weft-replenishing element to perform the function of a checking motion.

The next following patent for a weft-replenishing device was that granted to three Crawfords and Robert Templeton, of Beith, Ayr, and described in the specification dated 17th February, 1862, No. 419. This invention, which is of the shuttle-changing type, introduces two distinctly novel departures from any previous invention of the same class, namely, the employment of a six-chambered revolving shuttle-box to bring fresh shuttles into working position, and also what corresponds to a weft-feeling motion to effect the replenishing of weft before the supply in use is quite depleted. The chambers of the multiple shuttle-box are charged with reserve shuttles contained in a hopper. At each change of shuttles the boxes revolved on their common axis for one-sixth of a revolution to receive a fresh shuttle in readiness for the next change. On arriving at the bottom of its circuit, the discarded shuttle fell out of its chamber into a receptacle. The weft-feeling motion operated the weft-changing mechanism when the weft was nearly depleted. This was effected by constructing the weft pirns or bobbins with a longitudinal slot to receive a curved blade-spring fitting inside the shuttle so that it entered the slot in the bobbin and passed underneath the weft. On the weft becoming exhausted to a certain fixed point on the bobbin, the blade-spring was automatically released, on which it projected through a slot formed in the shuttle side. Thus, on the shuttle arriving in its chamber of the rotary boxes, the blade-spring came into contact with a part of the weft-changing mechanism which was thereby put into operation to change the shuttles.

The foregoing brief descriptions of the first eight patented devices for the automatic replenishing of weft in looms will serve to indicate the general character which those devices assumed down to February, 1862. Although since that date to the present time the number of patents for devices of that class of inventions number many hundreds, yet it is significant that none of these later devices differ in any essential element from those of earlier inventions. The table on page 209 gives a list of weft-replenishing devices for which Letters Patent have been granted, down to 1894, with the date and number of specification, the names of patentees, and type of device.

LIST OF PATENTS FOR AUTOMATIC WEFT-REPLENISHING DEVICES.

During the periods of four years ending December, 1900 and 1904, there were 34 and 163 British patents respectively granted for inventions relating to devices for the replenishing of weft automatically in looms, which figures bear striking evidence of the amount of energy and inventive talent which have been expended in this direction during the past few years. And how forceful are these figures when contrasted with the number of patents (31) extending over the first period of 61 years. It was, however, not until after the advent, in 1894, of the Northrop automatic loom, which received such favourable reception by American manufacturers, that the adoption of automatic looms was taken into earnest consideration by British manufacturers, many of whom now recognize that in one form or another such looms have a definite sphere of usefulness in the manufacture of a great variety of different classes of fabrics of simple construction and embodying one series each of warp and weft threads.

The Northrop Weft-replenishing Device.

The most characteristic features and essential elements of this device, and also those which distinguish it from all previous inventions of this class, consist of the removal of cops or bobbins of weft that are conveniently retained in a circular rotary hopper or magazine, and of their insertion into a self-threading shuttle, by mechanical means operated automatically either on the breakage or depletion of weft, or else when the weft is depleted to a predetermined amount, as may be elected. The magazine containing the reserve supply of weft is always mounted above the shuttle-box situated on the right-hand side of the loom, as represented perspectively in Fig. 167, which shows a bobbin-hopper A from which a pusher B is in the act of removing a full bobbin of weft and inserting it into the shuttle, thereby ejecting the previous bobbin C which falls down a chute into a box D.

The parts of this device are better represented by the sectional view shown in Fig. 168, which illustrates a cop-hopper A freely mounted on a stud E to permit of its partial rotation, intermittently, immediately after each successive change of weft, so as to bring into position another cop to be in readiness for the next change of weft. The hopper here shown is one constructed with sockets for 28 cops, F; but the space occupied by the pusher reduces its actual capacity to 25 cops. These are previously placed upon skewers, G, of special construction, after which they are disposed in a horizontal position around and between the rims of two discs or plates that are formed with notches for the reception of the skewers, as represented in the diagram.

The conditions under which a change of weft is effected depends entirely on the equipment of the loom, which may be adapted so that a change will take place only when the weft either breaks or otherwise fails in its supply; or else the loom may be furnished with an attachment known as a “weft-feeling” device which effects a change of weft immediately before the previous supply is completely consumed, albeit, in this case, if the weft should break, the loom will stop automatically, as under ordinary conditions. The object of this device is to avoid such defects as are liable to be caused in cloth in consequence of broken and missing picks of weft, and so produce cloth of superior merit. If, however, such a device is not employed, the weft-changing mechanism is put into action, on the failure of weft, by the weft-fork hammer pulling backward the weft-fork, as usual. But whether the operation of the weft-changing device is controlled by the weft-fork or by the weft-feeler, the object in either case is to cause the notched and free end of a trip-finger H to tilt upward from its normal position, as shown in the diagram, so that on the forward stroke of the slay K the finger will be struck by a bunter J fixed on the front of the slay-baulk. The trip-finger is loosely mounted on a stud fixed at the bottom of a short arm of an L-lever which constitutes the pusher B, fulcrumed freely on a stud L. Thus, in the event of the trip-finger being tilted on the forward stroke of the slay, the free end of the pusher, which reaches over the ready-positioned cop in the hopper, is suddenly depressed when the slay is at its extreme forward position, thereby removing that cop from the hopper, and forcing it into the shuttle M, through the bottom of which the previous cop-skewer is expelled and passed down a chute N. The next flight of the shuttle causes the weft thread to pass through a slit formed in a brass casting fixed in the upper side of the shuttle, and then to enter the shuttle eye automatically. At the same time, the remnants of both weft threads are severed near to the selvedge of cloth and also at a point near to the hopper, so that they shall not become obstructive or involve the risk of being carried along accidentally into the warp-shed. All these operations occur in proper rhythmical sequence whilst the loom continues to run at full speed, which, for a loom of 36 inches reed-space, may be up to 150 picks per minute.

The Hattersley Weft-replenishing Device.

(Patent No. 22,523, 11th December, 1900.)

The chief characteristic element which distinguishes this device—which is one of the most successful modifications of the shuttle-changing type—from other weft-changing devices, is the stopping of the loom to effect the change of shuttles, and then the restarting of it, automatically. The object of that course is to allow more time to accomplish the change, and so avert the straining and breaking of the mechanical parts, which are more liable to occur when the changing of weft is effected whilst the loom continues to run at full speed, as in all other automatic looms. It is also claimed that this arrangement enables a loom to be run at the same speed as an ordinary loom of the same width and construction, whereas continuous-acting looms require to be worked at a slower velocity.

In the Hattersley loom, the reserve supply of shuttles that have been previously furnished with weft are retained in a hopper or magazine which is mounted on the breast-beam and facing the shuttle-box on either the right-or left-hand side of the loom. The changing of shuttles may be effected either by the action of the weft-fork only when the weft actually fails from any cause, or else by the operation of a weft-feeler, before the weft completely fails, as desired. In either case a change of shuttles involves a series of six distinct operations which occur in the following sequence, namely: (1) stopping the loom, (2) raising the shuttle-box fender, (3) ejecting the failing shuttle from its box, (4) removing from the magazine another shuttle and placing it in the emptied shuttle-box, (5) lowering the shuttle-box fender back into its normal position, and (6) restarting the loom. These operations, of which the second, third, and fourth are represented by diagrams in Figs. 169, 170, and 171, are accomplished by means of a series of four tappets governed by an indented clutch-wheel, all of which are loosely mounted together on the second-motion or picking-shaft, at the same side of the loom as that on which the driving-pulleys are situated. The clutch-wheel is driven by means of a pinion carried by the loose driving-pulley, and revolves continuously, so that when a change of shuttles is called for, an indent or notch in the clutch-wheel becomes engaged by a lug which, being secured to the tappets, turns these for one revolution, and thereby performs the series of operations just enumerated. Thus, in the event of weft either failing or becoming nearly depleted, either the weft-fork hammer or else the weft-feeler motion, according to the equipment of the loom, first disengages the starting-handle to pass the driving-belt from the fast or driving-pulley to the loose pulley, thereby stopping all the primary movements of the loom, and at the same time putting into operation the series of four tappets which effect the changing of shuttles. Then one of the four tappets raises the shuttle-box front, C, above the shuttle B, as shown in Fig. 169, to permit of the removal of the shuttle. A second tappet then operates the pusher D, which advances to eject the discarded shuttle from its box, whence it falls into a receptacle, as shown in Fig. 170. A third tappet next operates the feeder E, which removes the bottom shuttle from the hopper A and places it in the same shuttle-box as that previously occupied by the ejected shuttle, as represented in Fig. 171. The shuttle-box fender now falls sufficiently to prevent the withdrawal of the newly inserted shuttle from the box as the feeder withdraws and returns to the magazine to receive another shuttle in readiness for the next change, after which the shuttle-box front falls to its normal position, and finally the fourth tappet replaces the starting-handle into its operative position to transfer the driving-belt back again from the loose to the fast driving-pulley and thereby re-start the loom.

All the movements just described are performed during one complete revolution of the tappets, and involve a stoppage for six picks, corresponding to six revolutions of the crank-shaft. Therefore, in a loom running at a speed of 180 picks per minute, the changing of shuttles would involve a stoppage of the loom for only two seconds.