IMPROVE- MENTS IN ORNAMENTAL WEAVING
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Strang, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ORNAMENTAL WEAVING."
Sealed the 23rd May 1856, and dated the 22nd February 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Strang at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
February 1856.
I, WILLIAM STRANG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer; do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTAL WEAVING, to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to certain improved mechanical arrangements for
producing in the hand loom the class of ornamental fabrics known as sewed
goods, such improved arrangements being much simpler than those in ordinary
use for a like purpose, and admitting of the working out of an increased
variety of patterns, whilst the goods thereby produced are of very superior
appearance.
In the ordinary "sewing" or "embroidering "frame adapted to loom's for
weaving the class of goods herein-before referred to, the yarn or thread for
producing the sewed device or pattern is carried by a number of small shuttles
or pirns contrived to shift laterally in a groove upon the frame. Slits or spaces
are formed between the shuttles, for the warp threads to rise up between the

page_text: shuttles, accordingly as these are made to do so by the jacquard harness action,
and whilst such warp threads are lifted up, the shuttles are passed through or
under them by the action of a pair of bars with downward projecting wires,
one of which bars pushes the shuttles half through below the raised warp
threads, whilst the other bar draws them over the remaining half of the space
to be crossed, the wires entering eyes on the shuttles for the purpose of moving
them.
Now, instead of this complicated arrangement, a similar result is worked,
according to the present Invention, by the following means:-The yarns or
threads for forming the ornamental device are contained in small cylindrical
boxes (or shuttles), formed of brass or other suitable material, the thread ends
issuing from small apertures in the front ends of the boxes, inside which they
are clipped between spring plates, to give then the requisite tension. These
boxes or shuttles lie in a series of angular troughs or seats, fixed to the frame
by separate brackets or projections, leaving spaces between each to permit of
the rising of the warp threads, and the angular points of the trough are
directed downwards, so as to divide the rising warp threads. The boxes or
shuttles are shifted across from one trough to another by means of downward
projecting plates, fixed to a bar capable of sliding in a groove in the top of
the frame. These plates descend sufficiently far to push the small shuttles
across when the bar is shifted transversely, which shifting may either be done
directly by hand, or by means of a contrivance similar to that known as the
lappet wheel," and employed in the manufacture of certain classes of figured
goods.
A further improvement consists in using two, three, or even more rows of
shuttles or boxes, with their troughs or carrier details in one frame, each row
being shifted by means of a separate sliding bar, by which means a greatly
increased variety of patterns may be produced. The cylindrical boxes or
shuttles may either be a simple box closed by a lid, in which are the aperture
and the tension springs for the issuing thread, the thread being wound sepa-.
rately, and then inserted into the box; or the thread may be wound directly
into the box, upon a small spindle temporarily inserted therein, the box being
formed with a slit down the side for the admission of the thread whilst being
wound, such slit being made along the whole length of the box, to permit of
the threads being properly built up on the spindle. When the. box is filled,
the temporary spindle is removed, and the thread is passed through the
aperture in the lid or cap, as in the other form of box or shuttle herein
described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Strang in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st August 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STRANG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer;
send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Strang, Her special license that I, the said William
Strang, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Strang, 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 Mau, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN ORNAMENTAL WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Strang, 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 Strang, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to certain improved mechanical arrangements for
producing in the hand loom the class of ornamental fabrics known as "sewed
goods," such improved arrangements being much simpler than those in ordinary
use for a like purpose, and admitting of the working out of an increased
variety of patterns, whilst the goods thereby produced are of very superior
appearance.
"
In the ordinary sewing" or "embroidering" frame adapted to looms for
weaving the class of goods herein-before referred to, the yarn or thread for
producing the sewed device or pattern is carried by a number of small shuttles
ór pirns, contrived to shift laterally in a groove upon the frame. Slits or spaces

page_text: are formed between the shuttles, for the warp threads to rise up between the
shuttles, accordingly as these are made to do so by the jacquard harness action,
and whilst such warp threads are lifted up, the shuttles are passed through or
under them by the action of a pair of bars with downward projecting wires,
one of which bars pushes the shuttles half through below the raised warp
threads, whilst the other-bar-draws them over the remaining half of the space
to be crossed, the wires entering eyes on the shuttles for the purpose of moving
them.
Now, instead of this complicated arrangement a similar result is worked
out, according to the present Invention, by the following means:-The yarns
or threads for forming the ornamental device are contained in small cylindrical
boxes (or shuttles), formed of brass or other suitable material, the thread ends
issuing from small apertures in the front ends of the boxes, inside which they are
clipped between spring plates, to give them the requisite tension. These boxes
or shuttles lie in a series of angular troughs or seats, fixed to the frame by
separate brackets or projections, leaving spaces between each to permit of the
rising of the warp threads, and the angular points of the troughs are directed
downwards, so as to divide the rising warp threads: The boxes or shuttles
are shifted across from one trough to another by means of downward pro-
jecting, plates, fixed to a bar capable of sliding in a groove in the top of the
frame. These plates descend sufficiently far to push the small shuttles across
when the bar is shifted transversely, which shifting may either be done directly
by hand, or by means of a contrivance similar to that known as the "lappet
wheel," and employed in the manufacture of certain classes of. figured
goods.
A further improvement consists in using two, three, or even more rows of
shuttles or boxes, with their troughs or carrying details in one frame, each row
being shifted by means of a separate sliding bar, by which means a greatly
increased variety of patterns may be produced: The cylindrical box or shuttle
may either be a simple box closed by a lid, in which are the aperture and the
tension springs for the issuing thread, the thread being wound separately, and
then inserted into the box; or the thread may be wound directly into. the box,
upon a small spindle temporarily inserted therein, the box being formed-with
a slit down the side, for the admission of the thread whilst being wound, such
slit being made along the whole length of the box to permit of the thread
being properly built up on the spindle. When the box is, filled, the temporary
spindle is removed, and the thread is passed through the aperture in the lid or.
cap, as in the other form of box or shuttle herein described.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I have

page_text: hereunto appended and shall now proceed to describe a Sheet of explanatory
Drawings, shewing one mode of working out my said Invention in practice.
Figure 1, on the Sheet of Drawings, is a front elevation, and Figure 2 is a
side elevation of a loom, as fitted with my improved embroidering frame.
In these Figures very little more than the mere framing of the loom is
shown, as the principles or main features of my Invention will be rendered
sufficiently intelligible to the weavers of "sewed goods" without a more com-
plete and elaborate drawing. Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the shuttle
or box used in the sewing or embroidering frame; Figure 4 being an inside.
elevation of the cap, shewing the spring plate frictional appliance; Figure 5
is an elevation of a shuttle or box, partially sectioned; and Figure 6 is an
inside clevation of the cap, as fitted with a perforated disc of india-rubber to
act as the frictional appliance; Figure 7 is an elevation of the pirn or spindle,
upon which the thread is wound previously to being inserted in the shuttle or
box represented in Figures 3 and 5. The embroidering frame is a bar A,
carried in front of the lathe B, and supported by cords C, attached to a lever
frame D above. In this instance there are four suspensory cords C, the two.
outermost being attached to short upright pieces E on the ends of the bar A.
These pieces E are slotted vertically to receive pins projecting from a small
bar F, sliding in a groove in the top of the lathe handle, and capable of being
shifted by the handle G. One end of the bar F projects and carries a pin or
pike, which works in a groove in a wheel H, similar to a "lappet" wheel.
The groove on this wheel which turns gradually round by means of a ratchet
movement worked by the treadle action regulating the lateral shifts which the
weaver gives to the bar F, and by means of this bar to the frame A, according
to the pattern. The bar A carries a number of angular troughs I, attached
to it by vertical brackets or plates J, arranged so as to leave a narrow vertical
slit between each plate. In these troughs lie quite loosely the shuttles K
containing the thread, to be worked into the fabric by means of the frame.
These shuttles are shifted by means of a series of plates E, fixed to a bar M,
which slides in a groove in the frame bar A, a plate passing down on each side
of each shuttle. When the shed is formed, a portion of the warp threads are
raised by a jacquard or other movement, and then by a treadle movement in
connection with the lever frame D; the frame A is allowed to descend by its
own weight. The pointed bottoms of the angular troughs divide the warp.
threads, and cause them to enter the slits between the troughs. Lateral shifts
are given to the frame, as already mentioned, for the purpose of bringing the
slits between the troughs immediately over the portions of the warp threads,

page_text: lifted by the jacquard to aid the proper division of these threads by the troughs,
according to the pattern. When the shuttles are sufficiently below the raised
warp they are moved transversely, so as to pass under the warp threads which
have entered the slits between the troughs, and in such a manner that each
shuttle passes into the trough next that in which it was before the movement.
This movement is effected by shifting the bar M, each pendant plate L of
which pushes its corresponding shuttle over into the adjacent trough. In this
manner, as the weaving goes on, the shuttles are shifted from side to side as far
as is equal to the width of a trough, the thread from the shuttle being caught
or woven in after each shift, and so producing the sewed or embroidered device
upon the fabric, according to the pattern. The bar M may be shifted by hand,
or in various other ways. In the Drawings it is represented as connected by
cords N on each side to crank levers O, cords P, from which pass up to the
jacquard mechanism above, which jacquard mechanism, however, is not shown
in the Drawings. One cord P draws the bar M in one direction, and the other
in the other direction, the jacquard cards being cut so as to cause the lifting of
the two cords P alternately. The shuttle, as represented in Figures 3 and 5,
is a cylindrical box Q, of brass or other suitable material. The thread is first
wound on a pirn or spindle R, Figure 7, after which one end S of this pirn is
removed, and the thread is inserted into the box Q, as shewn in Figure 3, the
spindle R being withdrawn from its centre. The thread is unwound from the
centre, and passes out through an aperture in the cap T of the box or shuttle.
In this cap is a frictional appliance consisting, according to one modification
shown in Figures 3 and 4, of two plates U, pressed together by springs, the
thread passing between the two plates, by which it is frictionally held with
the requisite tension. According to another modification, represented in
Figures 5 and 6, the frictional appliance consists of a simple disc of india-
rubber V, held in the cap T by means of a ring, and formed with a central
perforation, through which the thread passes, being frictionally held by the
india-rubber with the requisite tension.
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 may 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 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 general:

page_text: arrangement and construction of the frame, shuttle troughs, shuttles, and
shuttle-shifting mechanism, for producing what are known as "loom-sewed" or
"loom-embroidered " goods, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Strang, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.
WILLIAM STRANG. (L.S.)