IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AND ORNAMENTING OF CARPETS, RUGS, AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WOOD, of 37, Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Carpet Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fourth day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of Her reign,.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Wood, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Wood, my exors, adñors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Wood, my exors, adñiors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF AND ORNAMENTING OF CARPETS, RUGS, AND OTHER FABRICS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Wood, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal,' to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wood, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements consist, firstly, in the use of silk waste in the manufacture
of terry-looped or piled carpets or rugs, and for warps in other carpets. Here-
tofore silk has been occasionally employed in the manufacture of these goods
to a small extent, but its great comparitive cost has prevented its use being
more general. The object of this part of my Invention is, to use silk in these
fabrics in its most practicable shape (its cost being considered) by working up,
in any convenient method, the silk known as dressers, winders, weavers, or
other waste, either alone, or, if desired, mixed with any other suitable fibrous
material, into threads or yarn, suitable for being woven either on the face, or
in the body, or back of those fabrics. It should be stated that silk waste has
heretofore been spun and used in the manufacture of various fabrics; it will
not, therefore, be necessary to describe the process of spinning, and it will only
be desirable to state that, when to be used in the making carpets and rugs, it
should be spun of a size to correspond with the worsted or other yarn with
which it is or may be used.
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The second part of my Invention consists of a mode of printing or dyeing
patterns or designs on warps; hitherto in warp printing, the pattern has
generally been produced by blocks or on the tapestry carpet principle, wherein
the separate yarns are marked or printed with the colours due to them,
according to the pattern to be produced when a complete warp is made. I
do this by preparing cells or compartments of the same shape as the outline of
the pattern required, (and elongated when required for piled fabrics,) and so
that all the colors may be produced on the warp at one time. This mode of
printing having been described by me in a former Patent, where the object was
to print or dye woven fabrics, it will not be necessary to give any further
description thereof.
The third part of my Invention relates to the securing a more correct
outline or pattern in warp-printed goods. By the present process after the
threads of warp have been printed, steamed, and washed, they are laid side by
side to form a warp; the workers or setters beginning at one end, place the
threads in a proper position (as regards the print marks), relatively to one
another, drawing some threads forward and others backward, and when the
whole number of threads in the width are set they are fastened in a clamp
until the length of setting is wound on to the beam of the loom. The clamp
is then removed, and another length set in the same manner. In this way

page_text: some of the warp threads go on the beam much tighter than others, so that
there is a constant tendency, during the unrolling of the beam in the process of
weaving, for the warp threads to come out of their exact place in relation to
each other, and so produce an irregular outline or pattern. The object of this
part of my Invention is to check or overcome such tendency. . I do this by
fastening and retaining any suitable holders, clamps, or fastening arrangements
transversely on the warp where the pattern is set, which holders, clamps, or
fasteners are with the warp wound on the warp beam, and removed during
the process of weaving; and I find that a simple means of effecting this is, by
preparing narrow strips of loather as long as the loop beam is wide, filled with
short wire points. I place one of these at each setting, on or under the warp
beam when set, and wind the warp on or over the strips of points, which,
entering through the warp threads, keep them in the same position as they
were set; but I do not confine myself to such means, but purpose to use any
convenient means of securing the threads of warp in their proper position
during weaving.
The fourth part of my Invention consists in producing an improved figured
or ornamental fabric by combining the use of the jacquard machine with
printed warp threads. A great defect in tapestry or printed warp fabrics is
the difficulty and uncertainty of producing an evenly colored or flat ground, and
also great irregularity of outline; and the object of this part of my Invention
is to remedy these points as much as possible. To effect this I use both dyed
yarns and printed yarns, preferring to make the ground color of the fabric of
dyed material, and the figures or design of printed throads, and when so doing
I use a two-frame jacquard machine, having the ground color bobbins in one
frame, and the bobbins of printed yarns in the other, when, by the action of the
jacquard, the ground or figure-threads will be brought up in their proper
places. By this combination, or adding of dyed warp threads to printed warp
threads, an even colored ground and correct outline of the figure are produced.
The fifth part of my Invention consists in freeing printed goods or materials
from the thickening used with the colors in printing. Heretofore the mode of
doing this has been by washing the goods or materials after printing and
steaming; but in some fabrics, such as Brussels or pile carpets, this process is
difficult of execution, and deteriorating in effect. In lieu of or in addition to
this mode, I expel the thickening material by mechanical means, such as
beating or brushing the goods or materials when dry. I find a quick and
easy mode of doing this is by using a machine having two cylinders or rollers
in a frame, passing the printed fabric, when dry, face upwards over the lower
cylinder, and having the upper cylinder fitted with flaps, beaters, or brushes,

page_text: or other suitable fittings revolving in contact with or against the face of the
fabric as it passes over the lower cylinder, and thus driving out the thickening
material, which may be carried away by means of fan blasts or currents of air,
or other suitable arrangement.
The sixth part of my Invention consists in a mode of giving additional sub-
stance to Brussels or pile carpets or rugs. Heretofore these fabrics have been
usually woven with only two shoots of weft to a wire, though sometimes with
three or four. This part of my Invention consists in gaining the requisite
substance by giving greater number than four shoots of weft to a wire,
varying in number according to the desired thickness of the carpet or rug
required, which weft shoots may be given off from one or more shuttles; and
when a dead warp is used I prefer to divide the threads of such dead warp by
the action of the heddles, so as to lay the weft shoots as much in layers or
under one another as possible.
The seventh part of my Invention consists of a modification of the ordinary
"trevat" or pile-cutting knife, when it is traversed by mechanical means in a
power or mechanical loom. As the traversing knife is described by me in a
former Patent, I need only say in what this differs from it. The knife or
cutter in my former Patent was fixed, and moved in a straight line on a fixed
bar; but if from any irregularity in the machine or warps, the wire be not
brought exactly under the cutter, the loops may not be properly cut, and the
object of this part of my Invention is to remedy this evil. This I do by
making the front face guide plate of the "trevat" jointed or in bearings, and
kept, by spiral springs, bearing on the wire next the reed, in a somewhat
similar manner to the action of the hand weaver when cutting out a wire with
an ordinary trevat; but I do not confine myself to this particular construction,
but to the use of any other arrangement containing a guide piece or plate and
springs.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
wish to confine myself to the precise description herein contained; but what
I claim is,-
First, the use of silk waste, either alone or in combination with other fibrous
material, in the manufacture of terry-looped or cut-pile carpets or rugs, and for
warps in other carpets.
Second, the printing or dyeing patterns on or into warps or warp materials,
by forming cells for coloring matter of the shape of the pattern required, (elon-
gated when intended for cut-pile fabrics,) and pressing the warp into or in
contact with them.

page_text: Third, the fixing and retaining on printed warps of any suitable fasteners or
fastening arrangement, so as to secure a better defined outline or pattern in
the fabric.
Fourth, the combining the use of the jacquard machine or draw loom with
printed warp threads.
Fifth, the freeing printed goods or materials from the thickening used with
the colors, by beating or brushing it out when dry, or by other mechanical
means, in lieu of or in addition to washing it out.
Sixth, the giving additional substance to terry-looped or cut-pile carpets,
hearth rugs, or mats, by weaving more than four shoots of weft to each wire or
terry.
Seventh, the forming the "trevat" or knife, by which the wires are cut out
when moved by mechanical means in a power or mechanical loom with joints
and springs, so as to be guided in its traverse across the work by the terry
wire in the fabric.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.