US2643682A - Controller for loom dobby fingers - Google Patents

Description

June 30, 1953 R. G. TURNER 2,643,682

CONTROLLER FOR LOOM DOBBY FINGERS Filed May 10, 1952 FIG.4 2 H 5 5 W v 25 "T? INVENTOR 37 RICHARD e. TURNER ATTORNEY Patented June 30, 1953 UNITED; STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTROLLER Fort 23$; BOBBY FINGERS I ssisnor W rce ter, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application May 10, 1952, Serial No. 287,131

9 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in controllers for the harness lifter hook controlling fingers of loom dobbies and it is the general object of the invention to provide a controller which will permit all of the fingers to be raised when it is desired to level the harnesses or permit certain only of the fingers to be raised when it is desired to weave a simple pattern, such as a one up and one down plain weave.

Loom dobbies customarily employ fingers under control of a pattern chain for determining the vertical position of harness lifting hooks with respect to oppositely reciprocating knives. The fingers are customarily arranged in pairs, one pair for each harness frame, one member of a pair controlling the vertical position of the lower harness lifting hook and the other finger of the pair determining the vertical position of the. top harness lifting hook for the corresponding har ness. It is occasionally desirable to level the harness frames to bring all of the warp. threads to a common plane, in which event it has been com-. mon practice in the past to provide means for lifting all Of the dobby fingers so that al of the harness hooks will be given the same indication to cause all of the harnesses to level.

When a new warp is being placed in a loom it is customary to operate the loom to produce a plain weave without regard to the kind of weave which will be produced after the first step of installing the new warp has been completed and enough fabric has been woven to reach the takeup and cloth rolls. To weave the plain fabric the pattern cylinder usually has fitted to it a short chain pegged for plain weaving, and after the preliminary step has been completed the plain chain is replaced by the regular pattern chain for the desired weave.

It is an important object of the present invention to provide 'a controller mounted per-v manently on the dobby in such manner that it can be turned or otherwise moved in one direction to raise all the fingers for a leveling operation, or be moved in the opposite direction to effect plain weaving. As shownherein this result is accomplished by providing opposite sides of a finger controller with wings one of which has a straight continuous edge to lift all the fingers and the other of which is preferably notched so as to hold one finger of each pair in raised position and allow the other finger of the pair to be down. The wings are so disposed that the controller can assume a position in which neither wing will engage the fingers, thereby permitting the fingers to be controlled by a pattern chain.

It is a further object of the. invention to provide the controller with means to cooperate with a yielding lock which willhold the controller in any one of three different positions, that is, with both wings inactive, with one wing active to raise all the fingers, or with the other wing active to lift certain only of the fingers. The controller can be formed with three fiat surfaces each of which can cooperate with a yielding lock, such as a spring plunger, which will normally hold the controller in anyone of the three positions to which it is moved but will yield to permit the controller to move to either-ofits other two positions.

Figs. eand 5 are detailed vertical sections online 44, 5.-5, respectively, Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail vertical section on line 6-.6, Fig. 3, showing the manner in which the yielding lock cooperates with thecontroller.

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic view showin the con troller in the position in which all of the fingers are raised, 7

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7 but showing the controller in the position in which certain of the fingers are raised and others are down. 7

Fig. 9 is a detailed side elevation of one of the open bearings in which the controller is mounted, being similar toapart of Fig. 1 but with the 00111. troller removed to show the bearingfor it,

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing the relation between the fingers of a doubleindex dobby and the controller when the latter is in posi-. tion to effect plain weavin and F 1. is a d a rammatic el a i of do b showin upp r and lower l ft r ho ks and t eir respective knives and a harness jack.

Referri art c l y to e 1. and h dobby D has ck d front ates I and 2. especti e y. su o ed on a s an 3 moun ed any approved manner on the loom frame part of which is shown at 4. The dobby has a shaft 5 rotated. by a chain 6 every secon p c r beat of the loom. :Secured to the right end of shaft .5

as shown in Fig. l is a worm I which turns a worm wheel 8 fixed with respect to a pattern chain cylinder 9. The worm 8 moves the worm wheel intermittently and in usual practice when double index indication is used the pattern chain will be given an angular motion every second pick or beat of the loom.

The pattern chain, not shown in the drawings, will ordinarily determine the vertical positions of a set of fingers designated at F which are normally in low position but can be raised to high position. These fingers are of two types one of which shown at H) has an upturned arm H to efiect lifting of a bottom harness lifting hook 12. The other type of finger designated at 13 has a straight horizontal arm M to elevate a wire or lifter i for a top hook i6, see Fig. 11. Fingers l0 alternate with fingers l3 and a pair of fingers includes a finger of each type.

The dobby operates with oppositely reciprocating bottom and top knives ii and i8, respectively. The bottom knife ll moves first to the right, Fig. l, on a working stroke for one beat of the loom and then to the left on an idle return stroke on the next beat of the loom. The top knife l8 moves in directions opposite to the directions of motion of the lower knife, and each knife has a two-pick cycle of operation. Each lower hook and its corresponding upper hook are pivoted to a lever 19 connected to a harness lifting jack 20 pivoted on a stationary cross rod 21. Each pair of fingers controls the vertical positions of the corresponding pair of hooks relative to the 4 three positions to which it may be moved. The lower end 42 of each rod is adapted to engage one or another of the surfaces 35-48 of the associated head 35. 7

Under normal conditions the controller will be in the normal idle position shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the wings 25 and 2'! beneath the under sides or edges 46 of the dobby fingers and out of engagement with the fingers. When the controller is thus placed all of the fingers can rest on the support bar 23 without engaging either knives l1 and i8, and the pans of fingers and hooks control a single harness jack. The fingers are pivoted on a transverse rod 22 and their right ends as viewed in Fig. 1 rest on a support bar 23 when the fingers are in their normal down position.

The matter thu far described is of common construction and operates in'usual manner.

In carrying the present invention into effect there is provided an elongated controller designated generally at C which has a lengthwise body 24 formed on one side thereof with a wing 25 havinga straight uninterrupted edge 26 preferably substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the controller. On the other side the body 24 has a second wing 2'! formed with teeth 28 separated by slots 29 forming a notched edge 30, the teeth and slots providing high and low areas, respectively, of wing 2'1. Opposite ends of the controller have aligned gudgeons 3| coaxial with the axis of the controller and fitting into open bearings 32. One of these bearings is shown in Fig. 9. The controller C and its axis extend transversely under all the fingers F and the controller is mounted for angular motion in the bearings 32. Each gudgeon terminates in a handle 33 by which the controller may be turned manually in the bearings 32.

Each gudgeon is formed with a head 35 having three flat surfaces 36, 31 and 38. Each side of the dobby is provided with a yielding lock designated generally at L and comprising a rod and surrounded by a compression spring M which lies between the'lower enlarged end 42 of the rod and a small bearing 43 secured at 44 to the adjacent dobby frame. A nut 45 at the top of the rod it limits downward motion of the rod under action of the spring 41; As contemplated herein there will be a yielding lock at each side of the loom, but this may not be necessary if the spring 4| of a single yielding lock is sufficiently strong to hold the controller in any one of the wing, and the wings will be on opposite sides of a vertical plane containing the axis of the controller. This will be the condition for normal weaving after the preliminary steps of installing a new warp into'the loom have been completed and when the pattern chain to weave the desired pattern is on the cylinder 9. Under these conditions each rod 40 will engage a surface 36 to hold the controller in its normal inactive position.

If it be desired to level all of the harnesses the controller will then be rocked in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 by elevation of the handle 33, thus moving the controller to a second position as shown in Fig. '7, in which position the continuous uninterrupted edge 25 of wing 25 will lift all of the fingers F and locate them in their high position. When in this position the spring plunger rods 49 will engage the surfaces 31 to hold the controller stable in the position shown in Fig. 7.

As already stated hereinbefore it is customary in the preliminary step of installing a new warp in a loom to produce a simple weave, such as a plain one up and one down, regardless of the kind of weave which will be produced when regular weaving begins. During this preliminary step the controller will be turned in a clockwise direction from the position shown in Fig. 2 by depression of arm or handle 33 to elevate the wing 21 so that the controller will occupy a third position such as shown in Fig. 8. When in this position the teeth 28 will raise or locate certain only of the dobby fingers in high position to permit the corresponding harness lifting hooks to be down in the paths of the dobby knives and the remaining fingers will register with and be in the notches or slots 29 and will remain in low position to hold their hooks in raised position out of the paths of the knives.

In a double index dobby with the fingers arranged as already described the effect of plain weaving can be produced by having the teeth 28 and slots 29 of a width corresponding to the lateral space occupied by two adjacent fingers. The arrangement of five pairs of fingers and the associated teeth 28 and slots or notches 29 for production in a plain weave is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 10. The fingers are shown in pairs I, II, III, IV and V, each pair corresponding to a pair of hooks and the associated harness jack. The fingers are shown of different heights in Fig. 10 merely to distinguish the pairs from each other, but it will be understood that in actual practice all the fingers will be of the same height. Finger H] of pair I will be held up by tooth 28A and finger l3 of pair I will be down in slot 29A. The bottom hook for finger W of pair I will therefore be down in the path of the lower knife and will be pulled out every other pick of the loom. The top hook for finger l3 of pair I will always be down so that its hook will be out of the path of the top knife. For this pair I, therefore, the bottom knife only will lift the harness frame corresponding to pair I, lifting it Ion one pick and allowing it. to be down on the next pick.

The fingers of thesecond pair II are reversed from those of the first pair, finger ll! of pair II being down in slot 29A and finger l3 of pair II being up on tooth 283. The hook H! for this second pair II will therefore always be out of the path of the lower knife and the upper hook will be in the path of the top knife. The harness frame corresponding to pair II will therefore be lifted on those beats of the loom when the harness frame for pair I will be down, and vice versa. This same relation will exist for the other pairs III, IV and V of fingers, pairs III and V being in the same position as pair I, and pair IV being in the same position as pair II. The dobbywill therefore weave a plain one up and one down so long as the controller C is held stationary in the third position thereof in which wing 27 controls the fingers.

After the preliminary step of installing a, new warp has been completed the controller will then be returned to its normal position shown in Fig. 2 and the pattern chain for the fabric to be woven will be applied to the cylinder 9. The preliminary step is carried on without the requirement of a pattern chain on cylinder 9 and the chain which is to produce the pattern of the fabric to be woven thereafter is the only chain to be used.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth a simple form of controller for the fingers of a loom dobby, the controller being of such form that it can be either in an idle position which will permit control of the fingers F by a pattern chain, can be in the second position shown in Fig. 7 to elevate all of the fingers when it is desired to level the harness, or can be in the third position shown in Fig. 8 when it is desired to effect plain weaving without use of a pattern chain on the cylinder 9. It is to be understood of course that if a plain weave is to be produced after the preliminary step is completed the controller can then be left in the position shown in Fig. 8 and a chain on cylinder 9 will not be necessary. It will also be seen that the controller has fiat surfaces for cooperation with a yielding lock which will hold the controller in any of the three positions to which it can be moved. As contemplated hereinabove the controller has been set forth as though it might be made as a single casting with all its parts integral and it is for this reason that the opening bearings 32 are provided, but the invention is not necessarily limited to a one-piece controller.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

I. In a loom dobby having a set of harness lifter hook controlling fingers each capable of being either in low or high position but normally in low position, a controller under the fingers mounted on the dobby for angular movement about an axis transverse of and below said fingers, said controller having a wing effective when the controller is turned in one direction around said axis to insure location of all of said fingers in high position and said controller having a second wing effective when the controller is turned in the opposite direction around said axis to locate certain only of said fingers in high position.

2. The dobby set forth in claim 1 wherein the first wing has a straight uninterrupted edge to engage all the fingers and wherein the second wing has teeth to engage said certain only of the fingers :separated by slots registering with the remainder of theifingers. 1

3'. In a loom dobby having a'set of harness lifter hook controlling fingers each capable of being either in low or'high position but normally in low position, a controller under the fingers rockable about an axis transverse of and below said fingers, said controller when in normal position having wings on opposite sides of a vertical plane con taining said axis. and the controller when in normal positionlocating said wings out of engagement with said fingers, the controller when turned in one direction about said axis from normal position thereof causing engagement between one of said wings and all of said fingers, said one wing being thereby effective to hold all the fingers in high position, and said controller when rocked in the opposite direction about said axis from the normal position thereof moving the other wing into controlling position with respect to the fingers and said other wing being thereby effective to hold certain only of the fingers in high position.

4. In a loom dobby as set forth in claim 3 wherein said other wing has high areas alternating with low areas and the high areas are effective when the controller is rocked in said opposite direction to hold said certain only of the fingers in high position while the low areas thereof register with other of said fingers and are ineffective to raise said other fingers.

5. In a loom dobby having a set of harness lifter hook controlling fingers each capable of being either in low or high position but normally in low position, a controller for the fingers extending under the latter and rockable about an axis transverse of and below the fingers, said controller having wings extending transversely of the fingers on opposite sides of a vertical plane containing said axis and out of engagement with the fingers when the controller is in one position, one of said wings effective when the controller is turned in one direction about said axis to a secend position to maintain all of the fingers in high position and the other wing effective when the controller is turned in the opposite direction to a third position to maintain certain only of said fingers in high position.

6. The dobby set forth in claim 5 wherein the controller is provided with a head having fiat surfaces, one for each of said positions of the controller, and resilient lock means on the dobby to engage said fiat surfaces one at a time to hold the controller yieldingly in any of the three positions to which the controller can move.

7. In a controller for a set of harness lifter hook controlling fingers 'of a loom dobby having a bearing at each side of the set, said controller comprising an elongated body having coaxial gudgeons at the ends thereof for mounting the controller for rotation in said bearings, a wing on one side of said body having an uninterrupted edge for engagement with all of said fingers, and a second wing on the opposite side of said body provided with slots alternating with finger engaging teeth.

8. The controller set forth in claim 7 wherein at least one of said gudgeons is provided with a head having a plurality of flat surfaces for cooperation with a yielding lock.

9. In a loom dobby having a set of harness lifter hook controlling fingers each capable of being either in low or high position but normally in low position, said fingers arranged in pairs and each pair controlling a top and a bottom lifter hook for a harness frame, a controller under the fingers rockable about an axis transverse of the set of fingers, said controller including a wing normally out of engagement with the fingers and having teeth of a width corresponding to the width of a pair of fingers alternating with slots each of a width substantially equal to the width of a tooth, the fingers of a pair registering one with a tooth and the other with a slot adjacent to the tooth, adjacent fingers of two adjacent pairs of fingers registering with a slot and the other fingers of 8 the adjacent pairs registering one with a tooth on one side of the slot and the other with a tooth on the other side of the slot, the controller when rocked around said axis causing the teeth to raise one finger of each pair to high position and causing the other finger of each pair to occupy a slot and remain in low position.

RICHARD G. TURNER.

No references cited.

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