US1856119A - Weft needle or carrier for shuttleless looms - Google Patents

Description

y 1932- G. TOMKINSON ET AL 1,355,119

WEFT NEEDLE OR CARRIER FOR SHUTTLELESS LOOMS Filed April 5, 1930 l atentecl May 3, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GERALD TOMKIN SON, OF HEATHFIELD, WULVERLEY, NEAR KIDDERMINSTER, AND ERNEST JOSEPH PERRY, OF BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND WEFT NEEDLE R CARRIER FOR SHUTTLYELESS LOOMS Application filed April 5, 1930, Serial No. 441,754, and in. Great Britain December 18, 1929.

This invention has reference to shuttleless looms of the kind in which the weft needle or carrier is operated within the warp shed by means of a flexible extension or attachment such as an elongated steel blade or band, the invention being particularly applicable to looms of this kind for weaving carpets and like pile fabrics of considerable width, and having for its primary object to 1 provide for a particularly satisfactory disposition or location of such flexible extension or attachment when the needle or carrier is in its retracted position.

As an example of a loom of a type suitable in to have t1 e present weft inserting needle mechanism embodied therein, attention is invited to the loom disclosed in British Patout 22,601 of 1898 and the corresponding- U. S. Patent 65%,363 dated July 24, 1900.

The invention consists primarily in a weft needle or carrier, for use in shuttleless looms of the kind referred to, wherein the flexible needle extension or attachment is slidably accommodated within an elongated stationary guide of rigid construction having adjacent the warp shed an arcuate part which is adapted to deflect said extension or attachment out of and into its normal horizontal line of traverse through the warp shed. ac Preferably the guide has its outer part disposed vertically or substantially vertically and is of such a length as to accommodate the whole or the major part of the flexible needle extension or attachment when the latter is retract-ed from the warp shed. The invention consists further in an arrangement wherein the guide is of a substantially C formation in cross section, having inturned longitudinal edges embracing opposite edges of a blade or band constituting the flexible and slidable needle extension or attachment. The invention consists still further in an arrangement, applicable to a two-needle loom, wherein a facially superposed pair of flexible needle extension or attachment blades or bands are slidably accommodated within this (3 section guide. The flexible needle extension or attachment may be operated for the reciprocative traverse of the needle by at at taclnnent to a. cable or the like passing over a pair of upper and lower pulleys one of which is appropriately geared to the loom for oscillatory rotation, or the flexible needle extension or attachment may alternatively be operated by attachment to a driving chain or to one of a geared series of driving chains. in order that the invention may be clearly raider-stood and readily carried into practice, reference may be had to the appended explanatory drawings, upon whichz- Figure 1 is a front elevation, in more or less diagrammatic form, of a weft needle or carrier and an operating mechanism therefor in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the weft needle or carrier and its flexible extension or attachment and fixed guide as shown in Figure 1, the parts being disassembled for facility of illustration.

Figure 3 is a cross-section of the fixed guide and flexible needle extension or attachment as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure l is a cross-section showing a fixed guide of solid cast formation.

Figure 5 is a cross-section showing a fixed guide of solid built-up construction.

Figure 6 is a cross-section of a fixed guide as adapted for a two-needle loom.

In one method of carrying the invention into effect, a substantially rigid weft needle or carrier (6 of relatively short length is providecl with a flexible extension or attachment in the form of a spring steel blade or band I), of a length somewhat greater than the width of the carpet or fabric to be woven, this blade or band 5 being so manufactured as to nor mally assume and maintain a straight formation. At its end adjacent the weft needle or carrier at this flexible band 6 passes into and through a fixed guide 0 which towards its inner end has a straight groove 0 and is then continued in arcuate formation as shown at 0 so as to project outwardly and upwardly in transverse alignment with the warp shed, and which at its outer end is further continued in upstanding relation to the loom, preferably in a vertical or substantially vertical direction as shown at 0 or if desired at an appropriate inclination to the vertical as shown in dotted lines at c, this upstanding continuation of the guide 0 being of such a length that the whole or the major part of tlie flexible blade or band Z) when withdrawn ffom the warp shed may be accommodated within the guide. The guide a is preferably formed from a one-piece metal strip or sheet so as to be of C formation in cross-section (Figures 1 to 3) having inturned longitudinal elges c embracing opposite sides of the blade or band 6, the arrangement being such as to permit of a free sliding movement of the blade or band 6 within the guide. Alternatively the guide 0 may be of sectionalconstruction, the arcuate inner and lower part being either of grooved and channelled solid cast formation (Figure 4) or of a solid builtup grooved construction (Figure 5), and the upstanding straight upper part c or 0 consisting for example of a pair of flat strips or bars disposed in facially opposed parallel relation at a slight spacing so as to permit of a free sliding movement of the blade or band, or being alternatively of the aforesaid C-shaped open channel formation likewise adapted to permit of a free sliding movement of the blade or band 6.

The flexible blade or band I) is attached, at a point adjacent its upper and outer extremity, to an endless driving cable (Z or the like passed over a pair of upper and lower drums or pulleys e and f, the attachment being effected by means of a U-shaped clamp g or other fastening, and the lower drum or pulley f being geared to an appropriate part of r the loom, for example by a rack h and pinion z in association with a crank j and connecting-rod 7c, the arrangement being such as to provide for an oscillatory rotation of the drums or pulleys e f, to thereby slide the flexible blade or band b in alternately opposite directions within its fixed'guide c for effecting the reciprocative movement of the weft needle or carrier a through the warp shed. Alternatively the sliding reciprocative movement of the flexible blade or band may be effected by similar attachment to a driving chain or to one of a geared series of driving chains, or this movement of the flexible blade or band may be controlled by any other convenient means.

It will be seen that the flexible band extension or attachment Z) for the weft needle or carrier a, located vertically or substantially vertically as described, enables the loom to operate in a limited floor space approximating to that required for a shuttle type of loom, and it will further be seen that the fixed guide 0 effectively restrains the flexible blade or band against any tendency to displacement or distortion during either the outward or the inward movement, thereby ensuring a particularly uniform and reliable movement of the weft needle or carrier a during the whole of its reciprocating traverse through the warp shed. Inthis connection it is pointquired to maintain the needle in a straight,

horizontal position when the same is projected.

It will also be appreciated that the invention can be readily adapted and applied to shuttleless looms having two or more weft needles or carriers, for example by slidably accommodating two flexible blades or bands I) (Figure 6) in facial contact within a single fixed guide of the C section hereinbefore described, or by arranging two or more flexible blades or hands in parallel adjacent relation so as to be operated by a common driving mechanismbut each slidable'in a separate fixed guide. 7

We claim V v 1. A weft inserting mechanism for shuttleless looms comprising a needle element inclusive of a stiff needle portion proper and a flexible blade extension thereof, an elongated continuous guide member within which the flexible blade portion of the needle is longitudinally slidable, said guide member embracing the flexible blade portion of the needle and all parts of said guide member being stationarily mounted whereby the blade portion of the needle within the guide member is held against all deflection except such deflection as may be due to the shape of the guide member, a portion of said guide member being disposed in the plane of the normal line of traverse of the needle portion proper, another portion of said guide member being disalined with respect to said first mentioned portion and being connected therewith by a curved portion, and means entirely separate from the guide member connected with the flexible blade portion of the needle for recip rocating the same thereby to reciprocate the needle portion proper, the curved portion of the guide member serving duringreciprocation of the needle to deflect the flexible blade extension thereof into and out of the normal line of traverse of the needle.

2. A weft inserting mechanism as set forth in claim 1 in which the guide member'is of C-shaped cross section and in which the connection betwen the flexible blade portion of the needle and its reciprocating means operates in the slot between the edges of the guide

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