IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Eckersley, of Westhoughton, in the County
of Lancaster, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 30th June 1863, and dated the 6th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Eckersley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th
January 1868.
I, JAMES ECKERSLEY, of Westhoughton, in the County of Lancaster,
Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
One of my improvements in looms for weaving fabrics consists in attaching
to the shaft that, carries the arms for holding the reed in the lathe a lever,
which comes in contact with another lever or stud acted upon by a weight;
the said weight presses the reed in the direction of the cloth, so that when the
said reed comes against the cloth the blow will be in proportion to the weight
acting on the reed, and may be varied as required. The reed is held in its
place by a fixed bar, against which the lever slides during the time the shuttle
passes across the yarn. The object of thus acting upon the reed is to make
the blows given to the cloth as near equal as possible. A catch is attached to

page_text: the said lever, and acts upon a ratchet that moves a ratchet wheel coupled to
the cloth beam by suitable mechanism for the purpose of taking up the cloth
as required.
Another of my improvements in weaving is to prevent rebeaming the cloth,
and consists in placing a roller acted on by a weight or weights against the
cloth on the cloth beam, to prevent the folds of cloth from rubbing against
each other.
My next improvement is for the purpose of weaving stripes across the cloth
of equal or varying sizes, and consists in actuating by the moving cloth as it
is wound on the cloth beam a disk containing any convenient number of
indentations or projections on its edge or faces, which act on the shuttle-box
motion by means of a lever or other convenient mechanism for the purpose of
changing the shuttles, so as to weave the stripes of any desired width,
independent of the varying thickness of weft.
Another of my improvements for letting off the yarn from the beam consists
in passing the said yarn from the yarn beam over a bar acted on by a weight
or weights, either direct or by the use of levers or pulleys, and the said yarn
is let off the yarn beam by the action of a ratchet and wheel worked by any
convenient part of the loom. When too much yarn comes off the said yarn
beam, a rod attached to the before-named bar over which the yarn passes,
and also attached to the said ratchet, lifts the said ratchet from the wheel,
which then ceases to move until the yarn taken up by the cloth beam allows
the bar to move, and so put the ratchet into gear again.
Another of my improvements is for the purpose of taking up the cloth at
an uniform rate as it is woven, and is accomplished by placing a roller or bar
on the cloth that is wound round the cloth beam, and attaching a lever to the
said roller or bar; the other end of the said lever contains a slot, into which
works a stud projecting from a slide block which slides in a groove or slot
situate in the lathe sword. An arm also projects from the said sliding
block, and actuates another lever containing a slot at one end and a ratchet
at the other; the said ratchet moves a ratchet wheel connected to the cloth
beam by means of suitable mechanism, and thereby winds on the cloth as
required. The slots are for the purpose of allowing the levers to alter the
velocity of the ratchet wheel as the cloth increases in diameter on the cloth
beam.
Another of my improvements is for weaving and cutting pile fabrics, and con-
sists in weaving a double cloth, and cutting the pile which holds the two cloths
together whilst in the loom. To accomplish this I use two warps, one for the

page_text: cloth and the other for the pile. I also use two sets of healds, that is, one set
of healds for each cloth, each set of healds have both the cloth warp and the
pile warp passed through them, and are moved by my improved index
machines, hereafter mentioned. Two index machines are used, one for the
upper cloth and another for the lower cloth. The pile warp is let off the
beam that contains it at a greater velocity than the cloth warp, and the ratio
of the length of cloth warp and pile warp let off for a given length of double
cloth depends on the length of pile required; the said length of pile regulating
the distance between the two cloths, which are woven together and held
together by the pile warp only. For the purpose of cutting the pile a
travelling knife is placed upon guides, which pass across the loom in such a
manner that the knife will cut the pile that holds the cloths together in or
near the middle, and so make two cloths with the pile facing each other.
The said cloths are now passed over rollers containing pins upon their
surfaces; the said rollers are coupled by wheelwork, so that they may revolve"
in the same time. The knife passes across the loom and cuts the pile in the
interval occupied by the lathe in leaving the woven cloth and returning.
to it again, and is actuated by a lever and tappet, or by a picking apparatus
driven by the lathe sword or other convenient part of the loom. The knife
is made circular, so that after cutting a portion of the pile it revolves through
a portion of its circumference and brings a fresh and sharp part to cut the
pile. The knife is moved: on its axis by a catch acting on a ratchet wheel
fixed on the said axis. I also use a separate machine for cutting the pile."
The double cloth is taken from the loom and passed over a roller, and
through an aperture, or between two bars or rollers, with a knife working in
front of a similar character, and actuated in a similar manner to that attached
to the loom. The knife, when required, is picked across the cloth like a
shuttle and cuts the pile, and the cloths, which are now separate, are wound
over rollers containing pins, the said rollers being coupled by wheels.
My next improvement is for the purpose of lifting or moving the healds of
looms for weaving, so that various kinds of cloth may be woven from the
same or different materials, and is named an index machine, and consists in
attaching to any movable part of the loom an oscillating lever; the said lever
has two other levers attached to it, and the last-named levers actuate two
side rods, coupled by a cross head containing holes, so that rods or cords may
pass through. The said rods or cords are attached to the healds, which are
suspended by springs. The cords or rods are attached to sliding bars having
hooks or projections upon them, and the said sliding bars are actuated.

page_text: laterally by cross bars moving in guides, and having springs attached thereto.
The said cross bars are so arranged that one end of each can pass into the per-
forations of a square or other shaped cylinder movable upon axis, and having
patern cards passing over it. The said cylinder is actuated by the oscillating
lever and slides at right angles to the axis on which it revolves. When the
loom is in motion the cross head before named brings down the shed to a
horizontal position, and a projecting bar or projecting bars fixed on the
oscillating lever, and which moves through double the space moved through
by the said cross head, catches any of the said sliding bars that may have been
moved laterally by the cross bar connected thereto, having been prevented by
the card then in action from entering the perforations in the sliding cylinder,
and carries with it the heald attached thereto below the horizontal position
of the warp.
Another machine for accomplishing the same purpose as the one last named
is made by placing a bar against each of the sliding bars attached to the
healds in such a manner that a revolving cylinder having pegs or projections
on its surface acts by means of the said pegs or projections on the said bar and
moves it laterally, and thereby causes the oscillating lever to bring down the
sliding bar and open the shed below the horizontal position. In this machine
cards are not used. The said cylinder is made to revolve by the oscillating
lever acting upon a rachet wheel. The sliding bars used in the last machine
have springs attached, so that they may return to their original position after
being liberated from the oscillating lever. These machines may be placed
above or below the healds as required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 25
by the said James Eckersley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th
July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ECKERSLEY, of Westhoughton, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 30
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the, twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Eckersley, Her special licence, that I, the said James
Eckersley, my, executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the 35

page_text: said James Eckersley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
James Eckersley, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 James Eckersley, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
One of my improvements in looms for weaving is shown in Fig. 1, and
consists in attaching to the shaft a, that carries the arms for holding the reed e
in the lathe f, a lever b, which comes in contact with another lever c or stud
acted upon by a weight w, the said weight presses the reed e in the direction
of the cloth, so that when the said reed comes against the cloth the blow will
be in proportion to the weight w acting on the reed e, and may be varied as
required. The said reed is held in its place by a fixed bar d, against which
the lever 6 slides during the time the shuttle passes across the
yarn. The
object of thus acting upon the reed is to make the blows given to the cloth as
near equal as possible. A catch is attached to the said lever c and acts upon
a ratchet that moves a ratchet wheel coupled to the cloth beam by suitable
mechanism for the purpose of taking up the cloth as required.
My next improvement is for the purpose of weaving stripes across the cluth
of equal or varying sizes, and consists in actuating, by the moving cloth a,
Fig. 2, as it is wound on the cloth beam b, a disk c containing any convenient
number of indentations or projections on its edge or faces, which act on the
huttle-box motion by means of a lever or other convenient mechanism d for
he purpose of changing the shuttles so as to weave the stripes of any desired
width independent of the varying thickness of the weft. The shuttles will
lways be changed when the desired width of stripe is woven independent of
be number of picks, thereby tending to make the stripes more nearly equal.
Another of my improvements in weaving is to prevent rebeaming the cloth,

page_text: and consists in placing a roller, acted on by a weight or weights, against the
cloth on the cloth beam to prevent the folds of cloth from rubbing against
each other.
Another of my improvements for letting off the yarn from the beam consists
in passing the said yarn a, Fig. 3, from the yarn beam 6 over a bar c acted on by
a weight or weights weither direct or by the use of levers or pulleys, and the
said yarn is let off the yarn beam by the action of a ratchet d and wheel e
worked by any convenient part of the loom or the lathe sword f. When too
much yarn comes off the said yarn beam a rod g attached to the before-named
bar over which the yarn passes, and also attached to the said ratchet, lifts the
said ratchet from the wheel, which then ceases to move until the yarn taken
up by the cloth beam allows the bar to move, and so put the ratchet into gear
again.
Another of my improvements is for the purpose of taking up the cloth at an
uniform rate as it is woven, and is accomplished by placing a roller or bar a,
Fig. 4, on the cloth that is wound round the cloth beam 6 and attaching
a lever c to the said roller or bar; the other end of the said lever contains a
slot, into which works a stud projecting from a slide block d which slides in a
groove or slot situate in the lathe sword e. An arm also projects from the
said sliding block and actuates another lever g containing a slot at one end
and a ratchet h. at the other; the said ratchet moves a ratchet wheel i con-
nected to the cloth beam by means of suitable mechanisin, and thereby winds
on the cloth as required. The slots are for the purpose of allowing the levers
to alter the velocity of the ratchet wheel as the cloth increases in diameter on
the cloth beam.
Another of my improvements is for weaving and cutting pile fabrics, and
consists in weaving a double cloth and cutting the pile which holds the two
cloths together whilst in the loom. To accomplish this I use two warps, one
for the cloth and the other for the pile; I also use two sets of healds, that is,
one set of healds for each cloth; each set of healds have both the cloth warp
and the pile warp passed through them, and are moved by my improved
ind machines hereafter mentioned. Two index machines are used, one for
the upper cloth and another for the lower cloth. The pile warp is let off the
beain that contains it at a greater velocity than the cloth warp, and the ratio
of the length of cloth warp and pile warp let off for a given length of double
cloth depends on the length of pile required, the said length of pile regulating
the distance between the two cloths, which are woven together and held
together by the pile warp only. For the purpose of cutting the pile a travel-

page_text: ling knife is placed upon guides which pass across the loom in such a manner
that the knife will cut the pile that holds the cloths together in or near the
middle, and so make two cloths with the pile facing each other. The said
cloths are now passed over rollers containing pins upon their surfaces; the
said rollers are coupled by wheelwork, so that they may revolve in the same
time. The knife passes across the loom and cuts the pile in the interval
occupied by the lathe in leaving the woven cloth and returning to it again,
and is actuated by a lever and tappet or by a picking apparatus driven by the
lathe sword or other convenient part of the loom. The knife is made circular,
so that after cutting a portion of the pile it revolves through a portion of its
circumference and brings, a fresh and sharp part to cut the pile. The knife is
moved on its axis by a catch acting on a ratchet wheel fixed on the said axis.
I also use a seperate machine for cutting the pile. The double cloth is taken
from the loom and passed over a roller and through an aperture, or between
two bars or rollers with a knife working in front, of a similar character and
actuated in a similar manner to that attached to the loom. The knife, when
required, is picked across the cloth like a shuttle and cuts the pile, and the
cloths, which are now seperate, are wound over rollers containing pins, the
said rollers being coupled by wheels.
My next improvement is for the purpose of lifting or moving the healds of
looms for weaving, so that various kinds of cloth may be woven from the same
or different materials, and is named an "index machine," and consists in
attaching to any movable part of the loom an oscillating lever a, as shown in
Fig. 5, which is a bird's-eye view of a part of the machine, a portion of it
being in section; Fig. 6 is an end view, and Fig. 7 a side view. The said
lever a has two other levers b, b₁, attached to it, and the last-named levers
actuate two side rods c, c₁, coupled by a cross head d containing holes, so that
rods or cords e, e₁, may pass through. The said rods or cords are attached to
the béalds, which are suspended by springs when required. The cords or rods
are attached to sliding bars f,f₁, having hooks or projections upon. them
(see Fig. 8), and the said sliding bars are actuated laterally by cross bars 9,91..
(through which they pass) moving in guides h, h₁, and having springs attached
thereto. The said cross bars are so arranged that one end of each can pass
into the perforations i of a square or other shaped cylinder k, movable upon
axis and having pattern cards passing over it. The said cylinder is actuated
by the oscillating lever a by means of the studs 1, 1₁, working in the diagonal
grooves of the sliding plates m, m₁, and slides at right angles to the axis on
which it revolves. The revolutions are caused by catching any of the projec-

page_text: tions against the catch s. When the loom is in motion the cross head
before named brings down the shed to a horizontal position, and a projecting
bar n or projecting bars n, n,, fixed on the oscillating lever, and which moves
through double the space moved through by the said cross head, catches any
of the said sliding bars f that may have been moved laterally by the cross
bars 9 connected thereto, having been prevented by the card then in action
from entering the perforations in the sliding cylinder k,. and carries with it the
heald attached thereto below the horizontal position of the warp. The slide
bars o, o, are for the purpose of guiding the cross head d.
Another machine for accomplishing the same purpose as the one last named
is in part shown in Fig. 9, and is mad by placing a bar t against each of the
sliding bars f, attached to the healds in such a manner that a revolving
cylinder u, having pegs or projections on its surface, acts by means of the said
pegs or projections on the said bar and moves it laterally, and thereby causes.
the oscillating lever à to bring down the sliding barf and open the shed below
the horizontal position. In this machine cards are not used, and the square
cylinder and its necessary adjuncts are dispensed with. The cylinder u is
made to revolve by the oscillating lever a acting upon a ratchet wheel w by
means of the ratchet x. The sliding bars used in the last machine have
springs s attached, so that they may return to their original position after
being liberated from the oscillating lever a. These machines may be placed
above or below the healds as required, and when two cloths are woven together,
as in the case of velvet or pile fabrics, two machines are used. The number.
of the sliding bars fare the same as the number of healds on which they have
to act.
•
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the said Invention is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
what I claim as new and of my Invention is,-
Firstly, the mechanism and combination of parts for giving an uniform
blow to the cloth and for taking up the said cloth, as described and in part
illustrated in Fig. 1.
Secondly, the disk moved by the cloth and the mechanism and the combina-
tion of parts for weaving stripes, as herein described and in part illustrated
in Fig. 2.
Thirdly, the apparatus and combination of parts to prevent rebeaming the
cloth, as herein described and set forth.
Fourthly, the letting-off motion and combination of parts, as herein described
and in part illustrated in Fig. 3.

page_text: Fifthly, the taking-up motion and the combination of parts, as herein
described and in part illustrated in Fig. 4.
Sixthly, the weaving of pile fabrics double by the use of two index machines
and cutting the same, as herein described.
Seventhly, the apparatus and combination of parts, called index machines,
for moving the healds, as herein described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Eckersley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
THOMAS BALDWIN,
Bury, Lancashire.
JAMES ECKERSLEY. (L.s.)