IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDS FOR JACQUARD MECHANISM
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Whitehead, of Huddersfield, in the County
of York, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARDS
FOR JACQUARD MECHANISM."
Sealed the 21st July 1857, and dated the 19th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Whitehead at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th May 1857.
I, WILLIAM WHITEHEAD, of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CARDS FOR JACQUARD MECHANISM," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved construction of cards used in jacquard
machines whereby greater economy and durability are obtained, one set of
cards answering for any variety of patterns or designs.
According to this Invention the cards, which may be composed of wood,
metal, or other strong and durable material, are perforated throughout to cor-
respond to the whole of the needles in the jacquard, and when required for.
any particular pattern the holes are plugged up by small pegs inserted therein
in any required order and number to suit the particular design to be

page_text: produced. When a change of design is required, the pegs are withdrawn and
are again inserted in a different order, one set of cards being thus made to
serve any number of designs.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Whitehead in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
19th November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WHITEHEAD, of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Whitehead, Her special license that I, the said William Whitehead,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Whitehead, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CARDS FOR JACQUARD MECHANISM," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Whitehead, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Whitehead, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to an improved construction of cards used in
jacquard machines whereby greater economy and durability are obtained, one
set of cards answering for any variety of patterns or designs.
According to this Invention the cards, which may be composed of wood,
metal, or other strong and durable material, are perforated throughout to

page_text: correspond to the whole of the needles in the jacquard, and when required for
any particular pattern, the holes are plugged up by small pegs inserted therein
in any required order and number to suit the particular design to be
produced. When a change of design is required, the pegs are withdrawn and
are again inserted in a different order, one set of cards being thus made to
serve any number of designs.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto. annexed,
the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout both
Figures.
.
Figure 1 of the annexed Sheet of Drawings represents a back view of two
cards linked together, constructed. according to my present Invention, and
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same, with one of the plugs
detached.
A is the body of the card, which is here represented as being composed of
wood, but I do not confine myself to any particular material, so long as such
material is not liable to undue expansion or contraction under atmospheric
influences, and is strong enough to withstand a constant wear and tear, these
cards being intended not merely for the working of one design or pattern only,
as is at present the usual custom, but are required for all designs, one set of
cards only being used. The card is perforated with a corresponding number
of holes a, a, to the holes in the cylinder, and these holes in the card are
made slightly tapered or contracted from the front to the back face of the card.
In these tapered holes are temporally inserted a number of correspondingly
tapered or conical plugs b, b, which fit tightly therein, and effectually prevent
the passage therethrough of the needles of the jacquard which may corre-
spond to such plugged holes. It is thus obvious that the plugged portions of
the cards will have the same action upon the jacquard needles as the plain
or unpunched portions of the ordinary cards at present in use, whilst those
holes which are left unplugged or open will allow the ends of the needles to
pass through without pushing them back. By properly reading off the
pattern and plugging all those holes which are not required for producing the
design, or vice versa, according as the jacquard is to be worked, a perfect
pattern is produced; and as the plugs are easily pushed out and reinserted
in any desired order or pattern, it will be obvious to the practical weaver
that the same set of cards may be successively employed for an infinite number
of designs.

page_text: Although I have described the holes in the cards, and the plugs to be fitted
therein, as being tapered or conical, they may be made of course perfectly
cylindrical, but in that case the plugs would be more liable to get loose and be
then-pushed out of their holes by the pressure against them of the ends of the
jacquard needles, whilst their. insertion, and withdrawal would not be so readily
accomplished.
These cards may be laced or tied, together in any convenient and durable
manner; the plan I'at present adopt is to connect each card with its neighbours
by means of small wire links c, c, at each end of the card, in the manner
shewn in the Drawings.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is. or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements, which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my said Invention; but
what I consider to be novel. and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by. the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
The application and use of pattern cards for jacquard machines composed
of strips of perforated wood or other suitable material and fitted with moveable
plugs or strips arranged, as regards, their number and position, in accordance
with the pattern or design to be produced, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Whitehead, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of November, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-seven..
WM WHITEHEAD. (L.S.)