The illustration, Fig. [3], shows the next form of hook that was used, and which is used at the present time in many French machines. This also rested on a perforated board. The chief object of this hook was to remove the necessity of having springs to force back the needles. At the point marked A, a rod passed through the hooks from one side of the machine to the other, which kept the hooks quite firm. Near the top of the hook at positions B and B¹, two more rods were placed, one being at the back of the hook and the other at the front, the bottom of the hook being held firmly, while the rod B pressing against the back portion of the hook caused a certain amount of spring.
The rod B¹ was to prevent the hook from swinging under the blades of the griffe when the latter was descending. The needles used with this hook had an elbow which pressed against the front of the hook as shown at C.
Fig. 5. Showing Deep Griffe Blades.
What we shall term the ordinary shaped hook, but which formerly was much thicker, was next used. This is illustrated in Fig. [4]. The lower portion of these hooks passes through a grate, each hook passing through a single slot. When first used, these hooks were often bent or “crowned” under the griffe as it descended. In some cases the trouble was due to the wire from which the hook was made, but more often it was due to there being too great a distance between the point where the needle was in contact with the hook, and the griffe, causing the hook to swing or vibrate. To overcome this defect, deep griffe blades (shown in Fig. [5]) were introduced.
The use of these deep blades made it difficult for the fixer to replace broken hooks, in addition to adding weight to the machine, so another change was made, deep and shallow blades being fixed alternately; using hooks shown in Fig. [6]. In this arrangement the long hooks had a tendency to swing back under the short blade owing to the great length of the hook, when the loom was run at a high speed.
Fig. 6. Alternate Arrangement of Griffe Blades.