US2439688A - Handrail and reed holder - Google Patents

Description

A. A. GORDON, 3RD

HAND RAIL AND REED HOLDER Filed Oct. 1?, 1946 April '13, 1948.

2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR ALBERT A. GORDON 3rd ATTQRNIEY April 13, 1948.

A. A. GORDON, 3RD

- "HAND. RAIL AND REED HOLDER Filed Oct. 17, 1946 lNVENTOR ALBERT A. 00/?00/1/ 5m ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 13, 1948 Albert A. Gordon,

3rd, Worcester, Mass., ass'ignor :to LOromp'ton '& Knowles Loom iWorks, Worces ter,=Mass.,.a corporation of Massachusetts Application October 17, 194,6, Serial'No.7I03,81'1

'5 Claims.

This invention relates 'to improvements in hand rails and reed holders for'looms and it is thegeneral object of the invention toprovide a handrail and reed holder 50 made that it has negligible vibration during loom operation.

During the operation of a loom theilay swings baekwardiyand forwardly by power derived from the crank shaft and when it reaches approximatch; its mid position on its backward stroke theshuttle is picked. The power for-picking the shuttle imposes a load on the loom driving motor which 'causes *a temporary drop in the :rate of motion of the lay. ihe shuttle is picked out of a shuttle box having a binder .or shuttle check exerting a "holding force on the shuttle, and when this holdingforce is overcome as the shuttle is moved -outofthebox there :is an endwise thrust imparted to the lay. The reed -along whichthe shuttle travels :is held along its lower edge by a part of the lay and along itsupper edge by .a handrail.

When looms are operated at high speed and hand rails are "made as constructed heretofore, that is, of wood or combinations "of wood and steel, the temporary interruption in the hackward motion of the lay and the aforesaid end thrust incident to picking set :up vibrations in the hand rail which cause back-and forth move ments of the upper end of thereed with respect to the lay. This .movement of the reed interferes with the flight of the shuttle because of the fact that the reed 'does not present a straight line guide 'for the shuttle.

I have "found that when the hand rail is made o'fa light metal or alloy the'principal component of which is either magnesium or "aluminum'the hand rail vibration 'is veryslight and the reed is therefore held with its upper end in practically a straightline. The shuttle is thusguided in a straight path along the lay and can be picked more smoothly outcfand-into shuttle boxes.

Hand rails generally'areprovidedwith ag-roove to receive the upper'end o'fthe reed and are customarily provided with some 'formof shuttle guard usually fastened by screws'or boltsto -the wooden part of the hand rail. It is another object "of my present invention to providea hand rail made in one piece of the metals already mentionedand having a reed receiving "groove on the. bottom of a rear vertical web, 'a'horizontal forwardly 'extending top Web, and a depending "front apron or thelike serving as a 'shuttleguard. 'I-h-e two Webs and apron are-integral and provide a stiff but lightweight hand rail which possesses the advantages already mentioned.

. forth.

'En the accompanying drawings, wherein 'a convenient embodiment of my invention is set forth,

Fig. -1 'is'a side elevation of part of a loom having the lay thereof provided with my improved form of hand rail and reed holder,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged 'front elevation looking to the direction of arrow Fig. 1,

Fig. '3 "is an enlarged planviewof-one end of the handrail looking in the direction of arrow 3,Fig.

Figs. i and 5 are vertical sections on lines 4-44 and 5- 5, respectively, of Fig. 2, and

Fig. 6 is -a perspective'view of one end of the hand rail viewed from the rear thereof.

Referring to Fig. *1, the loom frame H1 is provided with top andbottomshafts l and i2 connected together "by the usual gearing I 3. The top'or crankshafthas a connector i4 attached as at +5 to a lay It mounted on lay swords one of which is shown at I 1. The lay swords move about an axis relatively low *in the loom, the axis for the swords shown "in Fig. 1 being defined by a rocker shaft 1'8 which is fixed with respect to the loom frame. As shaft ll rotates the lay moves back and "forthinthe usual manner. The lay is provided with -a shuttle box 20 to receive theshu'ttle S, and'the latter when boxed lies between a boxback '21 fixed to the layand some form of check, suchas the usual binder 22. A picker stick -P picks the shuttle out of box 20 during rearward movement of the lay.

The warp W, supplied in usual manner, extends forwardly through a-reed'R havingtop and bottom rails '55 and 26 between which extend the reed dents 27. The lay 'swords have upward extensions 28 one of which is shown particularly in Fig. 4. The bottom rail 26 is held on the lay bytheusual backstay 29.

When thepicker stick exerts end force'on-the shuttle S as the lay reaches approximately the mid position of its backward stroke there is a temporary drop in loom speed, and the lay instead of 'moving rearwardly with a smooth mo tion is subject to a slight interruption. This interruption occurs at the same time the picker stick pushes theshuttle S out of the shuttle box 2e against "the frictional forces exerted by the box back "24 and the binder 22. As the shuttle leaves the box itis guided through the warp shed along the reed R and ultimately reaches another shuttle box at the opposite side of the loom. At the instant of picking, therefore, the lay is subject to forces tending to set up vibrations in the reed, and it is obvious that the rigidity of the reed with respect to the lay will have an important bearing on the character of motion of the shuttle.

In carrying my present invention into effect I provide a hand rail and reed holder designated generally at H having a rear vertical web 30, a top forwardly extending web 3|, and a depending shuttle guard apron 32. The two webs and apron are formed integral with each other and extend lengthwise across the lay. .The bottom of the rear web 38 is forked to provide front and back walls 33 and 34, respectively, defining a downwardly opening groove 35 which receives the upper reed rail 2'5. As shown in the drawings the rear wall 34 is curved backwardly so that the lower end thereof is behind the upper rear part of web 30, but this is not an essential feature of the hand rail.

In order to receive the lay sword arms 28 the vertical web 30 at the rear of each end thereof is provided with a flat surface 36 which extends vertically downwardly from the top web 3| along the rear part of the vertical web 30 and cuts across the rear part of the rear wall 34 as shown in Fig. 6 to define a shoulder 31 which fits closely against the adjacent lay sword extension 28. An aperture 38 extends through the web 30 and surface 36 below the top web 3| and above the front wall 33. Aperture 38 receives a bolt 39 having a head M3 which is drawn against an elongated washer 4| when a wing nut 42 is tightened. The washer 4| is preferably though not necessarily made of the same material as that of which member H is made, and fits snugly between the top Web 3| and wall 33 and is thus held against turning.

The previously mentioned apron 32 hangs downwardly substantially parallel to the rear web 30 and forms a shuttle guard which may be of any desired depth. Because of the construction of the member H sufiicient rigidity can be attained by having a relatively shallow apron 32 and this permits a considerable amount of light to fall on the fell of the cloth. This is of particular advantage when center filling stop motions are used.

A loom equipped with a hand rail and reed holder as set forth hereinbefore shows in actual practice that there is practically no back and forth vibration ,of the member H during loom operation. The hand rail is light and when made of magnesium or aluminum, or alloys made principally of these metals, the reed remains substantially straight and affords a straight guide for the back wall of the shuttle. Tests made by sensitive instruments adapted to measure very small deflections show that the usual hand rail is subject to considerable vibration as already mentioned, but when the hand rail is made as set forth herein the curve representing its deflections is to all intents and purposes a straight line.

While the hand rail has been described as being made of magnesium or aluminum, in actual practice an alloy of one or another of these metals is used. Thus, in one instance, I havemade the hand rail of an extruded alloy of magnesium containing 1.5% manganese. It is not known just which property of these metals is responsible for the vibration dampening effect, but I believe their specific gravities and also their moduli o e a ticity 4 are closely associated with the advantages already mentioned. At room' temperature the specific gravity of magnesium can be taken as 1.74, while that of aluminum is 2.80. It may be that such alloys as are suitable for hand rails will vary slightly from these figures, but the range of specific gravity of the metal of which the hand rail is made will be substantially from 1.74 to 2.80. The modulus of elasticity is approximately 6,000,- 000 for magnesium and 10,000,000 for aluminum, and there may be slight variations in these figures for alloysof these two metals. Wood such as has been used for hand rails heretofore has a range of modulus of elasticity of 1,285,000 for white ash native to New England to 1,485,000 for western grown ash. The modulus of elasticity of the steel when used as a reinforcement for the wood is from 28,000,000 to 29,000,000. The specific gravity of the wood is from .5 to .6, while the specific gravity of the reinforcing steel is from 7.7 to 7.83. It will therefore be seen that the metals mentioned herein lie intermediate wood and steel so far as the ranges of their specific gravity and moduli of elasticity are concerned.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have it is made dampens vibrations to suchan extent that the top of the reed is prevented from vibrating back and forth and the shuttle is for all practical purposes guided in a straight line across the lay. It will also be seen that the shuttle guard is integral with the hand rail and together with the rear and top webs 30 and 3| provides a reed holder possessed of considerable rigidity. The apron 32 forming the shuttle guard is so constructed as to permit a considerable amount of light to fall on the fell of the cloth when the lay is in forward position, thereby facilitating an examination of the weft when the loom is stopped by a center stop motion. Shoulder 31 abuts lay sword extension 28 and assists in holding the member H firmly in position.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

,1. A combined hand rail and reed holder for a loom lay having lay swords, said rail and holder being an elongated member having a vertical web the lower end of which is divided to form front and back walls defining a reed receiving 2. A combined hand rail, reed holder andshuttle guard for a loom lay comprising an elongated one-piece member having a rear vertical web the lower edge of which is formed with a longitudinal reed receiving groove, a top web extending forwardly from the top of said rear web, and an apron depending from the front of the top web and forming a shuttle guard.

3. A combined hand rail, reed holder and shuttle guard for a loom lay comprising an elongated member having a rear vertical web the lower edge of which is formed with a longitudinal reed receiving groove, a top web extending forwardly from the top of said rear web, and an apron depending from the top web forward of and parallel to the rear web and forming a shuttle guard, said webs and apron being integral throughout the length of said member.

4. In a combined hand rail and reed holder for a loom lay having lay swords, said rail and holder comprising an elongated member having a rear web the lower edge of which is divided to form front and back walls defining a longitudinal groove to receive part of a reed, a top web extending lengthwise of said member and projecting forwardly from the upper part of said rear web, said front wall projecting forwardly from the rear web and extending lengthwise of said member, and means securing said member to said lay sword including an elongated washer in front of said rear web and between said top web and front wall.

5. A combined hand rail and reed holder for a loom lay comprising an elongated member having a vertical web the lower edge of which is forked to form front and back horizontally spaced longitudinally extending walls between which is located a reed receiving groove, said front wall extending forwardly from said rear web, and a top web integral with the rear web extending forwardly from the upper part of the rear web and overhanging said front wall.

ALBERT A. GORDON, 3111).

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS OTHER REFERENCES The Textile Manufacturer, March 1945, pages 109-111.

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