IMPROVEMENTS IN TEXTILE FABRICS AND IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING SUCH FABRICS
Year: 1854

page_text: by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Jean Maric Chevron and Charles
Victor Frederic de Roulet at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 25th May 1854.
We, JEAN MARIE CHEVRON, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Civil Engineer,
and CHARLES VICTOR FREDERIC DE ROULET, of Paris, aforesaid, late a Ship
Owner, but now, out of business, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TEXTILE FABRICS AND IN MACHINERY FOR
MANUFACTURING SUCH FABRICS" to be as follows:-
Our said Invention consists, firstly, of a new mode of weaving or manu-
facturing a cloth or textile fabric, such cloth or fabric being of a novel
description.
In making this cloth or fabric we use two warps, one of which we call the
fixed or foundation warp, and the other the floating warp.
The foundation or fixed warp threads of this cloth or fabric are placed or lie
therein nearly in the same manner as the warp threads of ordinary cloth, but
having below or on one side of them every shoot or weft thread used for
binding the floating warp threads to them.
Each thread of the floating warp passes across one or more of the fixed
warp threads, and then through, between two of those fixed warp threads,
or over the selvedge (as the case may be) to the lower or other side of
the foundation or fixed warp, and the foundation or fixed warp being
then caused to form the upper part, or one of the parts of an open shed,

page_text: for the admission of the shuttle and the floating warp to form the lower
or other part of the shed; a weft or shoot thread is thrown across in the
shed by means of a shuttle in the usual way, after which the floating warp is
carried back to the opposite side (above or below, as the case may be), and
in so doing each floating warp thread passes back again between the same two
foundation warp threads or over the selvedge (as the case may be), the weft
thread being beat up by a batten or slay in the usual way.
Each floating
warp thread being then again caused to pass across one or more of the founda-
tion warp threads, and through, between two other of the foundation warp
threads, or over the selvedge (as the case may be), to the lower or other side of
the foundation warp threads, and an open shed being again formed as before,
a weft or shoot thread is thrown across by means of a shuttle, and the floating
warp is again carried back to the opposite side of the foundation warp threads,
and the weft thread beat up in like manner as before; and thus in weaving or
manufacturing this cloth or fabric, the floating warp threads are caused to pass
first down through one opening between two of the foundation warp threads,
and then through some other opening between two foundation warp threads,
in each case after the passage of the shoot or weft thrad,, returning back
by the same opening, and thus the floating warp threads are caused to be
looped or bent over one side of the foundation warp threads, so as to form an
external facing to one side of the fabric, covering the foundation warp threads
more or less, as the fabric may be more or less closely woven, the loops being
held or tied by the weft or shoot threads on the opposite side of the foundation
warp and fabric.
This description of cloth may be made with floating warp threads of different
colours, or those warp threads may be previously printed, so as to produce a
pattern or patterns upon the surface of the fabric when woven. The founda-
tion warp
threads may generally be made of inferior material, and the floating
warp threads may be made of any fibrous material, of which the face of the
fabric may be intended to be composed. The floating warp threads may also
be made of two-or-more-different-kinds-of-material,-such-as-silk-and-cotton,
so as to present a striped appearance. Instead of being woven closely, the
fabric may be woven in a light open manner, so as to have an appearance
somewhat resembling lace.
The second part of our Invention consists of a new combination of machinery
or apparatus for weaving or manufacturing the cloth or fabric herein-before
described. The loom or apparatus which we have constructed for this purpose
is furnished with a beam or roller, mounted at the back of the loom, and
containing the foundation warp, from which the threads of that warp are

page_text: unrolled in the usual way. The foundation warp passes along to the breast
board or beam or the place where it is woven into the fabric.
A straight bar is placed across the loom, parellel to and a short distance
behind the breast board. Along the upper side of this transverse beam we
place a row of rods or wires, in a vertical position and parellel to each other, so
as to resemble a comb, with the teeth standing upwards, and this we call the
transverse bar comb.
The upper end or points of the rods or teeth of this comb are all upon the
same level, and nearly upon the same level as the upper side of the breast
board, and they are furnished with holes at or near to their upper ends, through
which the threads of the foundation warp pass, so that these warp threads may
be held sufficiently far apart to permit the floating warp threads to pass down
through between them. The batten or slay is mounted upon pins or a joint at
the lower part of the frame of the loom or below the breast board, and the
upper part of the batten is furnished with a row of rods, wires, or teeth
resembling a comb, and somewhat similar to the transverse bar comb already
mentioned; and the upper ends of the rods or teeth at the top of the batten,
which we call the batten comb, project to a short distance above the foundation
warp, the threads of which pass through the spaces between the rods or teeth
of the last-mentioned comb.
.
Above the foundation warp we place a frame (which we call a rocking
frame), mounted upon pins or bearings at each side, in such a position that the
front of it may be capable of being depressed down to the foundation warp at
place immediately behind the teeth of the transverse bar comb, or nearly so.
Upon this rocking frame, and at or near to the back of it, is mounted a roller
or beam containing the floating warp threads.
a
Along the front bar of this frame, and on, the under side of it, is fixed in a
vertical position a closed comb, containing a row of bars or rods, similar to
those of the transverse bar comb, before mentioned, but shorter, and each end
of each of them attached to a longitudinal rod or bar running the whole length
of the comb, so that the spaces between the vertical bars or rods may be
closed at their ends.
The bars, rods, or teeth composing each of the three combs which have been
mentioned, are made of the same guage or thickness, and the width of the
spaces between them are also all the same. The numbers of the teeth depend
upon the number of warp threads to be used.
The floating warp threads which come from the roller at the back of the
rocking frame, as before mentioned, pass through the spaces of the closed comb
to the breast board, where they are woven into the cloth or fabric.

page_text: The rocking frame above described has motion given to it either by treddles
or any other convenient means, and it is mounted so as to be capable not
only of a rocking motion, in order that the front bar of the frame may from
time to time be brought down upon the foundation warp and again raised, but
also of lateral motion, so that the floating warp threads may from time to time
be placed immediately above the spaces between the foundation warp threads,
between which portions of such floating warp threads are to be passed upon
the descent of the front of the rocking frame, for the purpose of forming a shed
through which the shuttle is to pass.
Upon the rocking frame being depressed, it bends down the floating warp
threads, and also the foundation warp threads, at a position immediately behind
the teeth of the transverse bar comb; but the teeth of that comb sustain the
foundation warp threads at portions of their lengths immediately in front of
the parts depressed, and thus prevent the depression of those portions of them
which extend from the comb to the breast board where they are woven into
the fabric.
The depression of the front of the rocking frame also causes the threads of the
floating warp to pass down between the teeth of the transverse bar comb, and
they are in this way depressed to such an extent as to form a shed in front of
the transverse bar comb sufficiently large for the passage of the shuttle.
The raising of the front of the rocking frame also raises the floating warp
threads out of the spaces between the teeth of the transverse bar comb and
above the foundation warp, and the batten or slay beats up the shoot in the
ordinary way.
The loom is furnished with a counterbalance weight, for effecting the lateral
motion. of the rocking frame in one direction, the motion in the opposite
direction being effected by means of a treddle or otherwise, as before men-
tioned. It is also furnished with a counterbalance weight for raising the
front of the rocking frame, the depression of the front of the frame being
The loom
effected by means of a treddle or otherwise, as before mentioned.
may be furnished with a weft stopper, and all the ordinary parts of looms
applicable to the loom or machinery above described.