Hook for Jacquard machine

An improved hook mechanism for a double-lift open shed Jacquard machine of the type having upper and lower frames reciprocated vertically in opposition to one-another and respectively having grippers for engaging catches on the hooks for raising the hooks to raised positions, the machine having Jacquard needles extending across the hooks and respectively operative to displace the hooks laterally to select engagements of the grippers with the catches to control the weaving pattern, the hooks normally resting in their low positions on a bottom board having perforations for receiving the lower ends of the hooks, the improvements wherein:

• (a) each hook comprises a linear rod extending vertically through a needle and having a lower end extending through a perforation in the bottom board and having a stop operative to support the hook in said low position, the hook having a first catch near the top of the rod and having a second catch on the opposite side of the rod, and the hook having a laterally offset boss located below the first catch and extending away from the rod in the plane of the catches;
• and
• (b) the machine having finger means extending laterally across the hooks at the level of their bosses when the hooks are in low position, and the finger means engaging the boss of a hook in low position and orienting the hook such that, in cooperation with the press of an associated needle in one direction or in the opposite direction, one of the first or second catches of said hook will be offset with respect to a gripper of an associated one of the frames and not raised thereby and the other catch of the hook will be oriented to be engaged by an associated gripper of the other frame, the bosses being so located with respect to said finger means that engagement therebetween occurs only in said low position when the stops of the hooks are resting on the bottom board.