GB711955A - Improvements in or relating to an electrically controlled loom - Google Patents

Abstract

711,955. Looms. ELECTROTEXT CORPORATION. Aug. 10, 1950 [Aug. 12, 1949], No, 19909/50. Class 142(2) Pattern, mechanism. A perforated tape 27, Fig. 1, is drawn from a roll 28 by a motor 46 which is switched on and off by a feeler 49 to maintain a loop of tape ahead of a reading unit 26; the tape is pulled through the unit intermittently by a motor 36 acting through a slipping clutch 32, the output shaft 30a of which is allowed to make one revolution each time the armature 38 of a magnet 37 is disengaged from a tooth 39a; the tape is rewound on a roll 29 driven through a slipping clutch 43. In the reading unit, Fig. 5, spring-loaded plungers 93 are lowered by magnets 89, whereupon those plungers which pass through holes' in the tape 27 make electrical contact with terminals 73 in circuits controlling the shedding mechanism and the change-box motion; springs 96 raise the plungers to permit movement of the' tape; to enable the tape to be placed in position, the top of the unit is hinged at 79 and normally held closed by a latch 103. The unit may be remote from the loom and may control several looms. Shedding mechanism, Fig. 8. Energization of solenoids 166, corresponding to holes in the pattern tape, brings associated hooks 116 into the path of griffes 133; unselected hooks rest by their ends 118 on :a comberboard 119 which is moved oppositely to the griffes by bell cranks 142, 157 and linkages 146, 143, 158, so that a closed centre shed is formed. Change-box motion, Fig. 16. Shuttle boxes 181 at opposite ends of the loom are simultaneously depressed afterevery pick by cams 192, and are arrested as they rise by a lug 198 on each box encountering a latch 197 selected by the pattern mechan- 'insm described above. Each box has as many cells as there are shuttles, and the two boxes move in unison. Shuttle boxes and shuttles, Fig. 17. A motor 201 drives each shuttle through worm and bevel gearing and two vertical shafts 214 each carrying a pair of driving wheels 216, opposite which are spring- loaded idler wheels 217. Pick-up strips 219 on the shuttle engage strips 222 on opposite sides of the shuttle box cell, sufficient impetus to propel the shuttle across the loom being-generated whilst the shuttle is traversing the box. A contact (not shown) on the exterior of each cell registers with a fixed contact so that only the cell that is level with the shuttle race receives current.