US788875A - Electrical stop mechanism for looms. - Google Patents

Description

7 PATENTED MAY 2, 1905. F. M. ARMSTRONG. ELECTRICAL STOP MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 28, 1902.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

r BY

hr-7 6% N ATTORNEY WITNESSES:

PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

- P. M. ARMSTRONG. ELECTRICAL STOP MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26, 1002.

iNVENTOR V TTORNEYX WITNESSES:

PATENTED MAY 2, 1905.

F. M. ARMSTRONG. ELECTRICAL STOP MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

' APPLIOATION FILED JULY 26,1002.

4 SHEET$-8HEET 3.

: l l i lfllllmlllll No. 788,875. PATENTED MAY 2, 1905. F. M. ARMSTRONG. ELECTRICAL STOP MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26, 1902.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Ri 10. E9611. {55 x12 2 m. fly/5f. E9715 WITNESSES: INVENTOR Patented May 2, 1905.

FREDERICK M. ARMSTRONG, OF PAW'TUOKET. RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO KID-ARMSTRONG COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTRICAL STOP MECHANISM FOR LOOIVIS SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,875, dated May 2, 1905.

Application filed July 26, 1902, Serial No. 117,071.

To (til whom/ it may coll/eerie:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. ARM- STRONG, a citizen of the United States, residing in Pawtucket,Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Electrical Stop Mechanisms for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates in the main to electrical warp stop-motions; and the object is, in part, to improve the circuit connections in such a manner that the iron frames of the looms may be utilized as parts of the circuit, but in such a manner that should the metal of .the frames of adjacent looms be electrically connected theparting of a warp-thread on one loom will not knock ofi' the adjacent looms. The circuit closer and breaker or switch connected with and controlled by the shipper-lever forms another feature of the invention and the drop devices a third feature thereof.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation of a loom, showing the relative positions of the parts and the circuits; and Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a part of the loom, showingtheshipper-leverand switch. Theseviews show the shipper-lever in the position it is held when the loom is running. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the circuits on a plurality or series of looms placed in a row abreast, as in a mill. Figs. l and 5 are views illustrating, on a larger scale, the construction of the switch, the former being a front view with the face-plate omitted and the latter a section at line :0 in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view showing the circuits, but illustrating the application of the invention also to a weft stop-motion, as Will be hereinafter explained. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are detail views of the form of switch to be used where the stop motion is controlled by both the warp and the weft. Fig. 7 is a front view of the switch with thefront plate removed and the cover in section, and Figs. 8 and 9 are re speetively sections taken at lines {a and a) in Fig. 7. Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 are Views of drops which may be used.

Fig. 16

illust "ates a slight modification of an opera- 5o tive connection between the shipper-lever and switch.

It may be explained here that in certain known forms of electrical stop-motions, of which that shown in the patent to Baker and Kip, No. 632,004, is an example of a warp stop-motion and that shown in the patent to Baker and Kip, No. 681,467, is a weft stopmotion, it is very desirable, for reasons of economy and simplicity, to utilize the iron frame of the loom for a partof the operatingcircuit. It is also the custom in a mill to place the looms in rows abreast and quite close together and to connect the loom-circuit conductors with main supply and return conductors from a dynamo or other generator, these latter conductors being common to all the looms in a row.

With the system of Wiring heretofore practiced, so far as .1 am aware, the objection is that if the iron frames of adjacent looms become electrically con nected-as by a wet floor, for example when one loom of a series knocks off or is stopped all the other looms in the series so electrically connected will knock elf. To obviate this difficulty and confine the control of the loom-stopping devices to the particular loom affected and at the same time to utilize the loom-frame for grounding the circuit is one of the important objects of 8c the present invention.

Referring primarily to Figs. 1 and 2, l is the iron frame of the loom. 2 is the vibratinglay. 3 is the breast-beam. 4: is the shipper-lever. 5 is a hunter on the lay. 6 is a 5 balanced dagger fulcrumed on the shipper-lever and adapted to be brought into the path of the hunter for knocking ofl the loom when i an o )eratin -electromagnet '7 is excited and l b attracts its armature 8, which is coupled by a rod 9 to one arm of the dagger.

The operating-magnet 7 has its coils in an electric circuit which is normally open and is autonjiatically closed or completed when a failure occurs in the warp or weft which requires the automatic stopping of the loom.

All of the above features are known and are i only used here for the purpose of illustration.

' October 20, 1903.

will be insulated from the loom-frame.

An example may be seen in the United States 1 Patent of Baker and Kip, No. 741,951, dated Referring now to Fig. 3, 1 will explain the manner in which the circuit-conductors are arranged with respect to the drop devices, the operating-magnet, the switch, and the main conductors leading to and coming from the dynamo or generator. In this view two looms A and B are indicated, and there may be any number of such looms arranged abreast in a single row or series. Two looms will suifice to illustrate the purpose of this invention so far as the circuits are concerned. Mounted on the loom-frame is a compound terminal such, for example, as the terminal illustrated and described in the patent of Baker and Kip, No. 624,154, of May 2,1899. It will only be necessary to explain here that this compound terminal comprises a metal bar-terminal 10, which is in metallic contact at its ends with the metal loom-frame, and astrip of metal 10, set in but insulated from the bar-terminal 10 and forming the other terminal of the operating-circuit. Obviously the strip-terminal The part of the circuit 11 grounded in the loom-frame is indicated by a dot-and-dash line and connects with the main common conductor 12, leading to the dynamo, and the part of the circuit 11, which is formed usually of insulated wire and is exterior to the loom-frame, connects with the main common conductor 12 from the dynamo. In other words, the bar-terminals 1O connect, respectively, with the iron frames of the looms in the series, and these iron frames are connected to the main return-conductor 12, and the main supply-conductor 12* is connected by the conductors 11* to the respective terminal strips 10 of the compound terminals on the looms. In the circuit formed by the conductor 11 is the operating-magnet 7 next to the terminals 10 and a switch or circuit-breaker 13 between the magnet 7 and the conductor 12*. This switch will now be described with especial reference to Figs. 4 and 5, which show its preferred form. \Vithin a suitable casing 13, which may be of metal and secured to the loom-frame, is rotatively mounted a roller 13, of wood or other insulating material, having fixed to it a contact-plate 13, on which may bear normally two contact-springs 13. These springs are connected electrically at binding-posts 13 with the respective wires of the circuit 11. A spring 13 coiled about the journal of the roller 13, tends to hold the plate 13 from under and out of contact with the spring contacts 13 thus opening or breaking the operating-circuit of the loom. The shipper-lever 4 (see Figs. 2 and 3) is coupled to an arm 13 on the projecting journal of the roller 13" by a suitable chain or connector 14, and when the loom is running the shipper-lever holds the arm 13 pulled over,

as in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5, and the circuit is thus closed at the switch; but it remains broken at the compound terminal. At the compound terminal the circuit may be closed by a drop 15, which is usually made of thin steel and supported on a warp-thread, its slotted lower extremity embracing the bar-terminal 10, with which it is normally in contact. When its supporting warp-thread parts, the drop falls into contact also with the stripterminal 10, thus completing the circuit through the operating-magnet 7, which acts through its armature 8, the rod 9, the dagger 6, and the hunter 5 to knock off or stop the loom. When the shipper-lever is set free and shifts to stop the loom, it moves toward the switch 13, and thus removes the strain on the connector 14 and allows thespring 13 to rotate the roller 13 and break the circuit at the switch. The switch has or may have a suitable protecting cap or cover 13 of some insulating material. It will be noted that the break in the circuit made by the movement of the shipper-lever stops the flow of the current through the operating-magnet at a moment after the closure is made at the compound terminal, and this prevents the burning out of the insulation. Ordinarily the circuit has been grounded in the loomframe at this breaking-point; but in the present construction there is but one connection with the loom-frameviz., where the part 11 is grounded therein and the conductor 12 connects therewith. The terminal strip 10, the magnet 7, and the switch 13 are all in an insulated exterior part of the circuit which connects with the main conductor 12. In the ordinary or old construction both of the main conductors connect with the loom-frame, one point of connection being at the shipperlever, where the circuit is broken by the stopping of the loom. This old wiring placed the operating-magnet 7 between the break at the shipper-lever and one of the main conductors and placed the generator or dynamo in circuit between the magnet and the terminal 10.

While, as stated above, one object of the invention is to prevent the stopping of several looms when one is stopped, an equally important function is the stopping of a loom when a short circuit occurs in the wiring connections, inasmuch as such leakage cuts down the voltage of the current, thereby impairing the efficiency of the stopping device. Such short circuits are particularly liable to occur on looms when metal wrenches, loom parts, &c., are laid on the loom and in contact with the electrodes or other necessarily-exposed portions of the circuit. By employing a groundcircuit in the manner above described no such current leakage can occur without stopping the loom, and thus giving evidence of its existence. Therefore it is essential that one terminal of the open circuit shall be connected through the loom-frame with one pole of the sourceof current and that the other terminal, the magnet and switch, shall be insulated from the loom-frame. From this it will be seen that one of the essential features of the invention consists in insulating from the loomframe all that portion of the circuit extending from one terminal to the source of current and including in that insulated portion the switch and'magnet and in grounding in the loom-frame that portion of the circuit extending from the source of current back to the other member of the compound terminal.

Figs. to illustrate in detail several forms of contact-making drops which may be 1 used with the terminals or electrodes 10 10.

Figs. 12, 13, and 14 show the drop with slot for the compound terminal situated above the warp 20. In Fig. 12 the warp-thread passes through a simple thread-aperture 16. In Fig.

13 this aperture connects with an elongated closed slot below, and in Fig. let the said aperture connects with an open slot below. In the constructions of Figs. 10. 11, and 15 the slot for the compound terminal is below the thread aperture 16 and is connected with the latter by a narrow slit 17. Above the warp is a slot 18 to receive a guide rod or wire 19. In Fig. 10 the slot 19 is open at the upper end. In Fig. 11 it is closed at the upper end, and in Fig. 15 it is closed at the upper end and provided with an inclined surface 20 to form a contact with the strip-terminal 1O in cases where for certain reasons it is desirable to put the compound terminal above the warp. The drop of Fig. 15 may thus be employed where the terminals are above the warp or below the warp.

Fig. 6, as stated, is a diagram showing how the invention is adapted for use in setting in 1 operation the stopping mechanism of the loom when the weft in the running shuttle is substantially exhausted and also when a warpthread fails. In this figure the magnet, circuits, &c., for the warp stop-motion are the same as those before described, the part 11 of the circuit being grounded in the loom-frame; but the switch illustrated in detail in Figs. 7, 8, and 9 differs from that seen in Figs. 4 and 5 in having an extra or third contact device which closes a branch circuit for the weftcontrolling devicethat is to say, this branch circuit comprises an exterior portion 11", including an operating-magnet 7 X and a portion 11, which is grounded in the loom-frame. There is a break in this branch circuit which will be closed and the circuit completed when the exhausted shuttle S enters the shuttlebox. The current then flows, for example, from 12 to the middle spring-contact of the switch 13 (see Fig. 6,) thence by conductor 1lto and through the coils of the operatingmagnet 7 x to the shuttle, thence to the circuit 11, grounded in the loom-frame, and thence through the latter to the conductor 12. As

the switch 13 is precisely like the switch 13, except in having a third contact-spring for the branch circuit, the same reference char acters are employed in Figs. 7, 8, and 9 as are employed in Figs. 4 and 5.

The switch herein described has some ad vantages which may be pointed out. It is simple and inexpensive and is readily adaptable to looms having their shipper-levers arranged in any of the ordinary or known ways. The spindle 13 on which the wooden roller or part 13 is secured, may be readily drawn out and reversed, so as to put the handle 13 on the opposite side of the casing. The roller is set on the spindle by means of an ordinary set-screw 13. (Seen in Figs. 1 and 5.)

Obviously it is not material whether the current flows back to the generator through the conductor 12 or 12.

So long as all the loom-frames are to the same pole of the generator direct and the exterior circuits 11, containing the operatingmagnets, are directly connected with the other pole of the generator the conditions required will be fulfilled.

Obviously, also, other means than the chain 14 may be employed to enable the shipperlever to actuate the switch 13 to break the circuit through the magnet. In Fig. 16 another device is illustrated. This device comprises a pin 14*, which projects out from the arm 13 of the switch into the path of the shipper-lever 4,whereby when the latter shifts it actuates the arm 13 to rotate the roller 13 and break the circuit. In this form of the device the spring 13 is so set as to hold the circuit closed normally, and it is the action of the shipper-lever direct which breaks the circuit. In this figure the position of the shipper-lever (indicated by dotted lines) is that it occupies when the loom is running.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In an electrical stop-motion for looms,the combination with an electric circuit including a generator, a portion of which circuit is composed of the metal of the loom-frame and said circuit having in it a normally open break, a magnet adapted to be energized by said circuit and thereupon to operate loom-controlling devices, devices adapted to close said normally open break in the circuit, and a switch insulated from the loom-frame for breaking the circuit a moment after the normally open break shall have been closed, that part of said circuit between said switch and the normally open break in the circuit being insulated from the loom-frame and containing the coils of said electromagnet.

2. In an electrical stop-motion for looms,the combination with an electric circuit including a generator, a portion of which circuit is composed of the metal frame of the loom and said circuit having in it a normally open break and a normally closed break, of a magnet adapted to be energized by said circuit and thereupon to actuate loom -controlling devices, devices adapted to close said normally open break in the circuit upon the failing of a warp-thread in the loom, a switch wholly insulated from the loom-frame and adapted to open the normally closed break in the circuit, and means for actuating said switch after the loom-controlling devices shall have been operated by the magnet, the portion of said circuit lying between said switch and the normally open break in the circuit, and which contains the coils of the operating-magnet, being insulated from the loom-frame.

3. In an electrical stop-motion for looms,the combination with the metal frame of the loom, the loom-stopping mechanism, including the shipper-lever, and magneto-mechanical means for setting said stopping mechanismin operation, of an electric circuit for energizing the operating-magnet, said circuit having in it a normally closed break controlled by a switch insulated from the metal of the loom and actuated by the shipper-lever, and a normally open break adapted to be closed automatically for stopping the loom, and the said switch, the portion of said circuit between the switch and the normally open break therein, which portion includes the electromagnet, being insulated from the loom-frame, and the remaining portion being in said frame.

4. In an electrical stop-motion for looms,the combination with the metal frame of the loom, the loom-stopping mechanism, including a shipper-lever, and magneto-mechanical means for setting free said shipper-lever to stop the loom, of an electric circuit for energizing the operating-magnet, an insulated switch in said circuit, means between said switch and the operating-lever whereby the latter, in Shift ing to stop the loom, breaks the circuit, and automatic means for closing a normally open break in said circuit, one part of said circuit including one of the terminals being grounded in the loom-frame, and the other part, wherein are situated the two breaks and the operating-magnet, exterior and insulated from the loom-frame.

5. In an electrical stop-motion for looms,the combination with the metal frame of the loom, the compound terminal, one electrode of the same being connected electrically with the loom-frame, a main conductor 12, connected electrically with the loom-frame, a shipper-lever, magneto-mechanical means for setting free said shipper-lever to stop the loom, an exterior electric circuitincluding the other electrode of the compound terminal, the operating-magnet, and an insulated switch controlled by the shipper-lever, and the said switch.

6. A circuit-closing drop for an electrical warp stop-motion, of thin metal, having an aperture for the passage of a warp-thread, an

open slot above said aperture and a slot below the latter, substantially as set forth.

7. A circuit-closing drop for an electrical warp stop-motion, of thin metal, having an aperture for the warpthread, a slot below said aperture connected with the latter by a narrow slit, and a slot above said aperture to receive a guide, substantially as set forth.

8. A series of looms having metallic frames and magneto-mechanical stop mechanisms, the said loom-frames each forming a part of the controlling loom-circuit and connected directly with one pole of the generator, aswitch in the exterior part of the circuit of eachloom and insulated from the frame, and means for operating said switch to break the circuit, the said switches and the operating-electromagnets being in those parts of the respective circuits which are insulated from the loomframes.

9. A series of looms having metallic frames and magneto-mechanical stop mechanisms, the said loom-frames each forming a part of the controlling loom-circuit to the loom side of the normally open break at the stop mechanism and connected directly with one pole of the generator, the otherpole of the generator being connected to a switch in the exterior part of the circuit of each loom and insulated from the frame, the said switch, and automatic means for operating said switch to break the circuit when the loom is not running, the switch and the operating -electromagnet of each loom being in that part of the circuit of the loom which is exterior or insulated from the loom-frame.

10. A stop-motion for looms comprising a normally open electric circuit, one portion of said circuit, including one of the terminals, beinginsulated from the loom-frame, said portion also includinga magnet adapted to setin operation loom-stopping mechanism and a switch, the other portion of said circuit, including the other terminal, being grounded in the loom-frame, and means for closing said circuit upon the breaking of a thread.

11. In an electrical stop-motion for looms the combination with the metal frame of the loom, a compound terminal, one member of which is grounded in the loom-frame, a shipper-lever, a magnet and means actuated thereby to free the shipper-lever, a switch adapted to be actuated by the movement of the shipper-lever, said magnet, switch and othermember of said terminal being included in a portion of the circuit insulated from the loomframe, and means for closing the circuit through said terminal.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name, this 5th day of July, 1902, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK M. ARMSTRONG.

WVitnessesf:

JAMES WILsoy, MARY M. MoGIRR.

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