US502231A - Circular loom - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

1 t 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. A. DE LASKI. CIRCULAR LOOM.

Patented July 25, 1893.

$1 M (luau lea (No Model.) 1 -4 Sheets-Sheet 8.

' A. DE LASKI,

CIRCULAR LOOM. No. 502,231. Patented 'July 25, 18.93.

(No Model.)

4 sh eets sheet 4. A. DE LASKI.

CIRCULAR LOOM. V 7 No. 502,231. Patented July 25, 1893.. 29-

wi lmmeo 6C g 72M151 AKWW Kw. Q-QMWQQW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT DE LASKI, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CIRCULAR LOOM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 502,231, dated July 25, 1893. l Application filed April 10, 1891. Serial No. 388,417. (No model.) Patentedin England March 11, 1892, 110.4,817.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT DE LASKI, of Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Circular Looms, (for which I have obtained a patent in Great Britain, No. 4,817, dated March 11, 1892;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My present invention relates to that type of weaving machines usually denominated circular looms, and has for its main object to produce 'a loom, of this description, in which the construction of those portions of the loom which have to do with the manipulations of the warp threads, shall be such as to render the loom capable of more rapid and eflicient action, while at the same time it shall be exceedingly simple, and economic of manufacture; easy of management, bya com paratively unskilled operative; and possessed of great strength and durability, though built comparatively light.

In the United States Letters Iatent'granted to me April 26, 1887, No. 361,994, is shown a circular loom of the same general character as that made the subject of this application; but the structural changes made the subject of this case haveenabled me to produce a loom of this type, which, in practice, is far superior to the one made the subject of my said patent; especially in the particulars of,

a capacity to produce a much greater quan tity of the tubular woven fabric in a given time; greater durability, under a more rapid speed; adaptability to be more easily run, or managed; and greater perfection and variety in the product turned out.

To enable those skilled in the art to which -my improvement relates to make and use of the loom, with some of the parts omitted,

however, for the sake of simplifying the drawlugs and in order to better show those parts of the machine in which my invention resides. Fig. 2, is a partial top view of the cap-plate of the machine frame and of What is termed, a spider-plate; that is attached to the under side of said cap-plate. Fig. 3, is a partial top view of the said spider-plate, showing also one of the several sliding shoes, which work in the radial apertures of said plate, and also a portion of a pair of connecting rods such as arc mpanies each one of the said several sliding shoes.

Fig. 4, is a detail, vertical section, enlarged scale, at the line x, m, of Fig. 3; but showing also the rim of the cap-plate; one of the several pairs of bell-crank levers mounted thereon; and the upper portions of the pitmen which connect said levers to the heddles of the loom harness. Fig. 5, is a top, or face, view of the cam that drives the shoe'pieces that are mounted on the spider-plate. Fig. 6, is adetail view showing merely, in side view, or elevation, a pair of heddles; the ways in which they work; and portions of the pitmen by which they are raised and lowered.

Fig. 7, is a detail view, showing, in elevation,

one of a series of reed-like devices; the vertical wires, or rods, of which serve to steady and guide the warp threads, at the vicinity of the sheds, formed during the weaving operation. Fig. 8, is a diagrammatical view illustrating a certain adjustment of parts which control the warp threads, in making the sheds which adjustment is for the purpose of varying the character of the woven fabric. Fig. 9, is a detail, partial, horizontal, sectional view, taken at about the plane indicated by line g g at Fig. 1; but showing only the weaving-pin at the middle portion of the machine.

In the several figures the same part will be found always designated by the same letter, and, in Fig. 1 I have broken off, or left out, the lower portions of the supporting columns (in order to show the important parts of the machine on a larger scale) which, it must be understood, hold up the main frame-work shown, and all the working parts thereon, at about the same elevation as in my patented machine hereinbefore referred to. I have also purposely omitted from the drawings all of the take-off mechanism (which is, of course, a necessary part of the loom); because nothing therein forms any part of the subject matter of invention sought to be patented in this case, and, furthermore, it is of a novel construction and forms the subject matter of another application filed herewith by me for Letters Patent, Serial No. 388,419, in which it will be found fully described. In like manner, I have refrained from fully showing and describing, in this case, the shuttle and shuttle-driving mechanisms of the loom, these portions of the loom also comprising certain structural features of novelty which constitute the subject matter of still another application filed herewith by me, Serial No.

In the drawings A are four metal columns which are supposed to stand on and be securely bolted, at their bases, to, a suitably firm and strong circular base-frame, and each of which sustains one of the four vertical, post-like, metallic frame-pieces, A. These hollow metallic frame-pieces, A are securely bolted, at their flanged bases, to the caps, of the columns A and, in turn, vertically support, as shown, the top-frame A of the machine, which is cast in skeleton form, with a series of radially arranged, arm-like, portions,a acentralhub a; and a ring-like part (1-7, four of which arm-like portions a rest upon and are securely bolted, at their extremities, to the top flanges of the four frame pieces, A and which ring-like portion M, has secured to it certain other parts of the machine, as will be presently explained. From the extremities of those arm-like portions, a which are not supported on the four castings, A, depend four, substantially, similar, cast iron frame-pieces, A, and by these eight vertical castings (arranged as shown, in a circle and equidistant) and the top-frame A, are sustained, directly, or indirectly, all the stationary, and working parts, which compose the weaving mechanism of the loom.

From the under-side of the top-frame, A (bolted thereto) depends a sort of V-shaped casting, or hanger B, which is formed with a hub-like portion, b, within which is journaled the lower end of a hollow vertical shaft E the upper end of which is journaled in the larger part of the bore of the hub E, of top frame A This V-shaped casting B, is preferably braced, laterally, at its lowermost part, by obliquely arranged braces (not shown), which have their lower ends secured to the hub, b", and their upper ends bolted to the under side of the top-frame A, and, as shown, this casting B, has also an enlargement, or hub-like portion, at 5 which is bored out to form a bearing box for the innerend of the main drive-shaft, B, of the machine; which shaft is provided with two other-journal boxes, one at I), (in one of the metallic frame pieces A and the other at 11 on one of the warp beam brackets.

The main shaft B is provided, in the case shown, with a suitable pulley B to which motive power is imparted by a suitable belt (not shown), and is provided, at its inner end,

with a bevel pinion D, which drives a bevel gear, B that is made fast on the hollow shaft B and thereby said shaft is rotated at the proper speed.

To the inner perimeter of the ring-like portion d of the top-plate is securely fastened, by suitable lugs, 0 projecting radially from the perimeter thereof (and bolts passing through said lugs 0 and the said portion M), the spider-plate O, which, it will be seen, lies in substantially the same plane as the part a and, arranged in a plane immediately below that of the said spider-plate, is located the cam B, which operates to actuate certain shoe-pieces, arranged on the spider plate, and which,through the media of said shoe-pieces and certain connections, to be presently de scribed, gives motion to the heddles of the loom. The said cam, B", is made fast on the hollow shaft B and rotates with it, of course; all as clearly shown.

In the eight oblong, or slot-like apertures 01, of the spider-plate, O, are fitted, to slide freely, the eight shoe-pieces cl, (see Fig. 3) to the outer ends of which are pivoted the inner ends of the pitmen h, which, at their outer ends, (see Fig. 4) are connected to the bellcrank levers 71 that drive the heddle pitmen 76. These pitmen, or connecting rods, 70, are arranged, as shown, in eight pairs, with the lower ends of the two of each pair coupled, respectively, to the upper horizontal bars of the two frames of each pair, or set, of beddles, II, (see Fig. 6,) and each pair, or set, of bell cranks, 77;, is pivotally combined, as shown, with the pintle h, of a little metallic stand h eight of which stands are bolted to the portion,a"", of the top, frame of the loom; all as clearly shown.

Each of the shoe-pieces d, is composed, as shown, (see Fig. 4,) of two castings, the lower one of which is in cross-section, of a sort of inverted T-shape, while the upper one is in the form of a plate; the two parts being secured together (to hold them in engagement with the spider-plate) by means of the bolt Z that passes through both castings near the inner end of the shoe, and the dotted-in screw '6 that passes through the top-plate and enters a tapped hole in the other casting near the outer end of the shoe; and the bolt i is provided at its lower, headed, end with an anti-friction roller t', that properly fits and travels within the groove of the cam B (see Figs. 4 and 5) which operates to drive the said shoe-pieces.

The heddles H, are arranged to slide vertically, in suitable grooves, or ways, h, formed in the sides of the castings, A and A, (see Fig. 6) near their inner edges, and the eight sets of heddles constitute a circular harness, or heddle mechanism. Said heddles are composed each of curved, upper and lower angleiron bars H, and vertical, parallel, wires h secured at their ends in said bars and having eyes at their middle portions, for the accommodation of the warp threads; and each end of each curved bar, or angle-iron, is provided with a shoe-piece 71- of raw hide, or other suitable, durable material, that fits and works, with the least possible friction, in one of the grooves h.

Bolted to the outer faces of the eight vertical frame-pieces A and A, a short distance below their upper ends, and projecting outwardly therefrom, radially of the loom-frame,

securely bolted, or otherwise fastened to the brackets, near their ends. The inner and lower ring m ,I designatealacing-ring; while the upper one, m is a feeler-pin ring, and each of said ringsis horizontally perforated, with a number of holes (arranged in sets corresponding to the sets of heddles), equal to the greatest number of warp threads that can be used on the machine.

In each of the holes of the ring, m is fitted, so as to slide freely therein, a feeler-pin, or short rod '11, which, as usual, has an eye at its inner end,through which passes a warp thread, and has a compressible spiral spring n on its outwardly protruding portion; all so as to operate, in a manner well known, to take up the slack of the sheds of the warp threads. These threads are drawn off from the beam, 1 at that portion of the beams periphery nearest to the center of the loom, and they are passed, from the point where they leave the wound beam tangentially, downward and outward to and through the feeler-pin eyes; thence downward and inward to and through the holes in the lacing-ring, m, from whence they pass through the eyes of the heddle wires, h and thence on to the weaving pin, 0 or central, point of the loom.

Interiorily of the circular harness of the loom is a concentrically arranged set of V61: tical wires, or rods, P, that are, preferably, arranged in eight sets, each set comprising a sort. of reed-like frame, that is secured at each side to the inner edge, or portion, of one of the vertical frame-pieces of the loom; the entire set making up asort of circular cage, with an aggregate number of wires equal to the greatest number of warp threads ever used on the loom. These wires, against which the warp threads impinge, and slide,'-when carried up and down bythe heddle wire eyes, are arranged, preferably, as near to the outer devices of the shuttle, as possible, and they serve to guide and steady the threads of the shed through which the shuttle, or shuttles, is, or are, rapidly driven. In the case shown,

I use two shuttles and each of them travels on a circular track, composed of two rails, F. F so to speak, the outer one of which is secured to and supported by the inwardly projecting, bracket-like, lugs, 11 of the vertical frame-pieces of the machine; while the inner one rests on the inner ends of the four radially arranged arms, F

Each shuttle comprises a frame, provided with four track-wheels that travel two on the outer and two on the inner circular rails of the track, and each is provided with a bobbin and suitable tension devices, which need not to be either fully, or definitely, described, herein, as they form no part of the invention made the subject of this case but are made the subject matter of another application filed by me, Serial No. 388,418. a

Each of the shuttles is driven, through the medium of two anti-friction wheels, N0. 2,

mounted on its truck, by a novel driving mechanism, which, for the purposes of this case, need be described only in a very general way, as follows:-On the lower end of the hollow shaft, 13*, is mounted, fast, the hub E of a rotatory frame composed essentially of four, radially arranged, arms, B at the outer end gof each of which is formed a cylindrical socket, or hole, in which is secured, by set screws, the spindle, or shank, of a stationary pin, or arbor, at the outer end of which is mounted, to turn freely, a hub f that is provided with a bevel pinion f, and a frictiondriving wheel, f The pinion engages with 'a stationary pin-gear, e the circular rim F,

of which is secured to brackets e, of the loom- IOC.

frame and as the arms B are driven around by the rotation of the hollow shaft E the pinions f, and their accompanying friction wheels, f are carried around in a circle and at the same time rapidly rotated on their axes, and thereby, and by frictional contact between the wheels f and the peripheries of a set of idlers on each shuttle track, the shuttles are thrown, or driven, rapidly and continuously in a circular path of motion.

Each of the warp beams is provided with an automatic, or compensating band-brake,

that operates to insure the drawing-offof the beam threads under the proper and a sub stantially uniform tension. This tensional device, or warp beam brake, consists, as shown, of a leather, or other suitable cord, or belt, 1 passed nearly once around the grooved periphery of a wheel, or sheave-like head, at one end of the beam; the said band Z having one end fastened to a short rod, or bar, Z, that works loosely in a hole in a cross bar of one of the beam brackets and the other end secured to the upper end of a rod Z which has its lower end coupled to a bracket m, in such manner that, by means of, two wing, or thumb, nuts, I the threaded end of the said rod Z can be taken in, or let out, and fastened in place. That'end of the brake-band which is anchored ingly, or elastically connected with said cross bar, by reason of the rod, Z, being provided with a loose, or compressible, spiral spring s all as clearly shown.

0 is the weaving pin which, as usual, is removably secured to the lower end of a stationary vertical tube, E, which is arranged interiorly of (but out of peripheral contact, during nearly its whole length, with), the hollow rotatory shaft, B and which is made fast, at its upper end, to the smaller portion of the hub, E, of the top-frame A of the loom.

W is a sheave-stand mounted on the upper end of the hub, E, of the top-frame and carrying a peripherally grooved wheel, 10 which is used as a guide-wheel over which to draw a flexible tube 2), or any other cylindrical device, upon, or around, which it may be desired to weave the tubular fabric; after the well known fashion.

In the general operation of the machine, after it shall have been supplied with the eight warp-beams, and the properly filled shuttle-bobbins, and shall have been properly threaded and adjusted ready for use, the weaving operation is performed in substan tially the manner of other circular looms of the same type as that shown, and much after the fashion of the wayin which my patented loom (hereinbefore referred to) works, it being understood, of course, that there is employed some suitable take-off mechanism; to draw the tubular woven fabric, either alone, or together with any other tube, or article, on which the fabric may have been woven, off of the weaving pin, 0 at the proper speed. After having properly started up the loom, in the usual manner, the constant rotation of the hollow central shaft, B causes the cam 13*, to revolve, and the revolution of the latter effects the proper reciprocatory movements of the shoe-pieces, cl, that slide in the radial slots of the spider-plate, O, and through the connections, shown, between these sliding shoe-pieces and the heddles, the latter are worked, to properly form the sheds in each of the eight sets of warp threads that are drawn from the eight warp beams. During the formation of the sheds the shuttle trucks are caused to travel rapidly and with the proper speed through the sheds, and'lay in the filling threads that are supplied from their bobbins and which pass finally through eyes in batten-shoes (not shown) that form the extremities of Spreaders, and which operate to force the helically laidin weft threads close on to the external surface of the weaving pin; all in a manner which will be readily understood by anyone skilled in the art, and in the same general manner, as in the case of looms such as shown in my said patent and that are in use, for weaving hose, (be.

As the shuttle mechanism, with. all its connections; the means for driving the shuttles; and the take-off mechanism, are not involved, as to any of their novel features of construction, in my present application,the foregoing brief explanations, with reference to the operations thereof, will suffice; but, with reference to those portions of the loom involving any structural features made the subject of this application, the following further description, as to the novel operations and advantageous results of said features, would seem to be proper and necessary.

The important object of having the warp threads drawn directly from the beams, under a substantially uniform tension, of the proper degree, I accomplish by means of the automatic, or self-acting, band-brake, used, as shown, on each one of the beams. This bandbrake will not operate, to maintain such a variable and constantly decreasing brake resistance to the rotation of the beam, as is necessary to form a uniform impediment to the unwinding, or pulling off, of the threads, throughout the using up of all the thread of the beam; but has to be periodically set, or readjusted, during the running-off of the warp thread. Said automatic brake-device will, however, work, under an average, rapid, speed of weaving, for nearly, or quite,awho1e day, without requiring adjustment, and, hence, practically speaking, serves the purpose of an automatic tension device, and when in use it operates as follows:-After having been set, or adjusted, by either drawing down, or slacking up on, the draft-rod, Z to adjust the tension of spring 8 and fastening it, by turning home the thumb nuts Z thereon, so as to thus effectuate the proper degree of resistance to the turning of the beam, by the draft of the warp threads 01, the initial movement of the beam on its axis (caused by the pull of the threads drawn therefrom) tends,

of course, to wind the brake-band Z closer or tighter, on the grooved periphery of the brake wheel, or head Z and were the shorter ends of the brake-band Z anchored bya rigid means of attachment to the cross bar of the bracket K, the said band would be wound up so tight as to apply an undue amount of brake-power to the beam head; but, by reason of the elastic, or yielding, means of anchorage shown and described, this initial IIO tendency of the brake-band is counteracted,

and as the yieldingly anchored end of the band, on which the draft strain comes, yields to the pull on it, the band acts only with the desired power, predetermined by the extent to which the band and the spring of its yielding anchorage shall have been strained up, by the adjustment, of the parts, previously made. As, however, the device will then continue to act with a substantially uniform, or self compensating, brake-power, throughout a certain limit only, i. 6. only until the diameter of the cylinder of wound thread shall have been reduced to a given extent, (until the beam shall have been reduced in diameter, say from an inch and a half to two inches,) a readjustment of the brake must then be made, by hand, when it will again continue to oifer the same proper andsubstantiallyuniform impediment to the turn of the beam on its axis, and con sequently cause the same tension in, or on, the warp threads as they are pulled oif, or unwound.

As, in practice, it is necessary, in order to run a circular loom fast and yet have it wear well, and keep in good running order, that the heddles, or moving parts, of the harness, be worked with a reciprocatory movement such that while each complete stroke of a heddle (up and down), shall be completed in the shortest possible time, the transition, from the movement of the working parts in one direction to their movement in an opposite direction, shall be gradual enough to avoid all sudden shocks and strains on any of the working parts. It is important to have the cam B made with its groove of such shape, as shown (see Fig. 5), that there is a very gradual translation of the cams surface from the small concentric curve into the large one, and vice Versa.

I also gain further advantages in my improvedloom,by operatingeach heddle through the medium of a single pitman connected to the middle of the upper bar' thereof, and connecting the pair of pitmen of each set of heddles to two bell-crank levers mounted close together on a single arbor, and connecting the other arms of the said bell-cranks, by a pair of connecting rods, to the shoe-piece of the spider frame. Y

By reason of the easy, or smooth, movements of the heddles, acquired by the use of my improved driving mechanism, I am enabled to make them very light and at. the same time have them strong and durable.

In the operation of my improved loom, I am enabled to attain to a higher rate of speed than I could otherwise run the machine at (with the best results),by reason of the presence and effects of the reed-like frames, or sets of vertical guide-wires, P, that, as shown, encompass the shuttle track. Since these wires operate not only to greatly diminish, or prevent, the lateral vibrations, or agitations, of the warp threads, during the rapid making of the sheds, and the rapid flights of the shuttle trucks through the sheds, but also insure the descent, always, of the upper threads of the shed into the spaces between the teeth of the comb-like device G that has to be employed. in this type of circular loom to control the movements of the shuttles, or hold them laterally on the track. It will be observed that the sections of these guide wires are arranged, so that the entire series form an encircling cage of vertical equidistant rods, and I have avoided having any warp thread (or guide wire), come exactly in line with a radius that would pass from the axis of the weaving pin to the center of a heddle and have arranged the warp threads of each section so that one half of them impinge against one side of the guide wires of a single frame and the othenlialf against the opposite side of the other'half of said wires; all of the warp threads being de: fiected from radial lines where they come into contact with the guide wires all as plainly shown (see Fig. 9) in the drawings. By this arrangement of the guide-wires and warp threads, I enforce always a frictional contact between every thread and some one of the guide-wires, and am thus enabled to insure the desired and an efficient contact between these wires and said threads, for the purposes explained. I consider this arrangement, or combination, of guide wires and warp threads another important feature of my present invention,since thereby,I am enabled to so diminish the agitation of the shed threads under a fast speed of the loom, as to prevent such a mixing, or entanglement, of the warps at the vicinity of the weaving pin, as would injuriously interfere with the action of the devices, which are designed to rapidly and. properly lay-in the fillingthreads, spirally, around said pin.

In running a loom of the type shown, it is, of course, important to have all the parts made so that they will work well, and at the same time will neither easily clog up, nor render liable any soiling (by the dropping on to it of oil, or dirt, from overhead) of the fabric produced by, and discharged centrally from, the loom; and, hence, in the practical working of such a loom I gain more, or less advantage, from the novel construction of'the spiderplate shown.

In my patented machine, I used a spiderplate having radial recesses, in which worked the sliding shoe-pieces driven by the cam; but experiment, and experience in the use of such a loom have demonstrated, that with such a form of spider-plate, dust and dirt will quickly collect in the radial recesses,or slots, and, accumulating on the bottoms of the radial grooves, are liable to escape therefrom (especially at the inner ends of the grooves) and render liable a soiling of the woven fabric. Besides in any receptacle thus afforded, the collection of oil and dirt tends to gum up the working parts, and, if the spider-plate and cam both are reversed, then, as experience has shown, the groove of the cam will collect dirt, and its working surfaces wear more rapidly.

By the use of a perforated spider-plate, such as described, with shoe-pieces and arranged as shown,I have produced a mechanism in which little wear arises and great cleanliness is attained.

It will be seen that the warp threads (instead of beingarranged as in my patented machine so as to tend to pull unevenly on the feeler-pins), are led from the inner portion of the beams periphery down to the eyes of the feeler-pins and thence obliquely down to the lacing-ring in such a manner that every thread, in being drawn off of the beam through the eye of a feeler pin, always pulls on, and tends to slide the pin in, a line coincident with the axis of the pin-hole, and that,hence, there is no liability of any binding of the IIO feeler-pins. By having the brackets K, verticallyadjnstable, Iam enabled (as illustrated at Fig. 8) to adjust both the feeler-pin ring and the lacing-ring on, though it is mainly the latter that needs to be moved, so as to vary the conditions of the sheds of the warps and weave a fabric either alike on its interior and exterior surfaces, or one presenting a harder, or more tightly, woven interior than exterior.

For some purposes, as for instance, in the manufacture of small, rubber lined, garden hose; in the use of which the hose is never subjected to great internal strain, it is very desirable to have the exterior of the fabricated cotton jacket woven more loosely than the inner surface, so that the exterior of the hose will have a soft, cushion-like texture, that renders the article much more durable; because such a surface will not so soon, or easily, become worn by abrasion and handling, as will the harder surface of a more tightly woven fabric.

At Fig. 8 is best illustrated the feature of construction in my loom by which I am enabled to make this desirable change, when required, in the character of the product turned out.

It will be understood that if the lacing-ring be in the lowermost position, or, in other words, in the position usual in weaving a tubular fabric, the texture will be the same on the outer and inner surfaces of the woven tube; whereas if the lacing-ring be moved up, more or less, so as to bring thethreads of the shed into the positions indicated by the clotted lines at Fig. 8, then the outer surface of the fabric will be woven more loosely, or will be softer than the inner surface; because under this condition of the parts the upper threads of the shed will always lie in lines that more nearly approach straight lines and hence will be under less tension (because of their feeler-pins not having been pulled inwardly so far) than the lower threads of the shed, and as it is the thread of the upper shed that is always on the outside of the filling last laid in, it follows that the filling being laid in will draw the warp so tightly over the outer circumference of the last laid in weft thread as it would were the said upper thread of the present shed under more tension. Of course, in lieu of moving, or adjusting upwardly the brackets K and all their attachments, in order to make this change in the character of the'fabric woven, the lacing-ring m, may be vertically adjusted by some other means, or in some other manner, if found expedient, or more desirable.

Having now, so fully explained the several features of my present invention, that any one ordinarily skilled in the art of'building circular looms can make and use machines containing, either in part, or in whole, said novel features; and wishing it to be understood, that although I have in practice used all the separable features of improvement together (and in a loom containing also other novel structural features which relate, however, to the shuttle mechanism), a loom may be made and used containing only a part of my present invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a circular loom, the combination with the central rotatory shaft; the perforated spider-plate O; the cam 13; and a pair of heddles, of a sliding shoe-piece 01, arranged in the spider-plate and in engagement with the groove of the cam 13; a pair of connectingrods connected at one end, to said shoe-piece; a pair of bell-crank levers, one arm of each of which is coupled to the other end of said connecting rods; a suitable support for the pintle, or arbor, on which said levers oscillate; a pair of connecting rods, connected at their upper ends to different ones of the arms of said bell-crank levers and at their lower ends to the frames of said pair of heddles; allsubstantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a circular loom, the combination with the frame of the machine, of a reed-like device,or frames, having a series of vertical rods, or wires, P; the said device being arranged, as specified, intermediately of the heddles and the shuttle track, and so that the Warp threads of the loom will impinge, laterally against, and be thus laterally steadied and vertically guided by, the said wires, at the locality where the sheds are formed; all substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

3. In combination with the Warp-beam of the loom, and the usual feeler-pins thereof, a lacing-ring, or device, on, and suitable means for supporting said ring; the combination being such and so operating, as shown, that all the warp threads pass from the beams through the feeler-pins, and thence through the holes of the said lacing-ring, at such angles to the axes of the feeler-pins that each and all pull always on said pins, during the weaving operations, in a direction tending only to move said pins in lines coincident with the axial lines of the holes, or bearings, within which they are arranged.

4. I11 a circular loom, the combination with the harness and Warp beams thereof, of a vertically adjustable lacing-ring, or device on, provided with holes through which all the warp threads are passed; whereby the loom may be adjusted to weave either a tubular fabric that will have a softerexterior than interiorsurface, ora fabric equally hard on each of said surfaces.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 6th day of April, 1891.

J. N. MOINTIRE, M. E. FOXTEN.

ITO

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