IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING
Year: 1861

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Louis Henri Réal at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
February 1861.
I, LOUIS HENRI REAL, of Paris, in the French Empire, Doctor, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING," to
be as follows:-
Hitherto in weaving fine fabrics, especially when composed of many colors,
the jacquard machine has been almost useless, owing to the immense expense
and labor required for producing the patterns.
Now the object of my Invention is to overcome this defect by constructing
an apparatus to take the place of the jacquard, which is capable of performing
that work and throwing in those colors which the jacquard cannot do. The
apparatus consists of a comb placed in a vertical, horizontal, or inclined
position, and free to move without bearing on the warp. The warp threads
on which the weaving is performed pass through the spaces in the comb per-
pendicular with the teeth of the comb, and consequently parallel with the band
of metal or other suitable material connecting the teeth; close to these teeth,
and successively with each row of the pattern, there is a band of sheet metal
or other material covered with paper or having a surface capable of receiving
writing or design, on which lines are drawn parallel with the teeth of the
comb, their distance apart being as near as possible equal to that between the
teeth of the comb, in such manner that the lines drawn on the band (taking
the place of the jacquard card) coincide with the teeth of the comb, and thus
the spaces on the band, with those of the comb, each with its co-ordinate
having the same fixed relation to each other as the jacquard card has-to the
cylinder, where each point of the card corresponds with a needle of the

page_text: jacquard, which in its turn corresponds with a hook and with its drawing cord,
in relation with the loop and the warp thread which it is intended to raise.
In my apparatus the relation of each space on the band with that on the
warp thread is direct or almost so; the comb contained in the space in the
warp thread being the only interval, and this is intended to maintain the warp
threads constantly in position. Each pattern band is independent of the others,
and merely bears its number. The bands may be numbered on each side. A
certain number of these bands required for working a certain time, say, a
quarter or half day, forms a series, so that by dividing the pattern into series
it can be made on several machines at one time.
If great accuracy is required in connecting the lines on the pattern band
with the teeth of the comb, which maintain a constant relation with the
warp threads, the comb may be used to make the impression either directly or
with the aid of a stereotype on glued paper, or to glue on the band as much as
possible of the same material as the piece supporting the division of the teeth
of the comb, so that heat cannot injure the joint, the two objects of the samo
material having an equal expansion. But there is a means which permits of
arriving successively, and in proportion as the work of the row advances, to a
great precision of effecting the connection without, however, a great accuracy
in the divisions of the spaces of the comb or of the divisions in the pattern card.
Suppose, for example, that the threads are begun to be thrown in.from the
right-hand side, in this case the pattern band is placed on the receiver, that is,
on the comb, which is arranged to receive. it in such manner that the first
division to the right exactly corresponds with the first division in the comb;
if the divisions on the band and those on the comb are not precisely of the
same size, the variance will soon become the sum of the difference at the end
of a certain number of spaces, commencing from the right; if, however, the
spaces are a very little larger than the divisions in the comb, the lines of the
spaces may encroach on the divisions in the comb until it becomes visible, a
quarter of a division, for example. So soon as the work reaches the division
where such a variance is visible, the exact register is again produced by an
adjusting screw having a thread regulated according to the fineness of the
divisions. There is a slide on each side of the comb, and it is on each of
these slides which are free to move on the comb, that each end of the pattern
band is secured by means of a thumb-screw; one of these slides is regulated
by an adjusting screw, the female part of which is on a piece fixed to the
comb, the other slide is held outside by a spring in such manner that the
pattern band while being held by the two slides is not only stretched by them,
but may be removed parallel with the comb by means of the adjusting screw,

page_text: which permits, in proportion as the work advances from right to left, for.
example, of from time to time re-establishing the precise register between the
spaces and the divisions of the comb which are their co-ordinates.
There is another precaution especially useful in close warp fabrics, but,.
however, not indispensable for guiding the eyes, viz., to divide the chain into
small regular series, with threads (every third, fourth, or fifth thread, for
example) marked by a distinct color. In order not to change the colors of
the warp these series may be indicated by a distinctive mark on the teeth of
the comb, a sign which would be reproduced on the co-ordinate lines which
separate the spaces of the pattern band. This distinguishing mark or sign is
by preference produced by giving to the teeth dividing the series a distinct
color from that of their corresponding lines on the pattern band.
. It is evident that with the facility afforded for effecting the junction by
series the variance may be allowed to increase more than a quarter of a
division, when, for example, it is not required to re-establish the junction at
cach quarter. Because in a ground color, for example, the point of entry of
the shuttle (spoulin) at the right will be very distant from its exit point at the
left, and then the digression would be more than a quarter or a third of the
division; the junction at the quarter or third of the series would leave a
greater latitude.
In the case where the (spoulin) shuttle's entrance at the right is somo
distance from the point where it makes its exit at the left, it is well to have
two index guides, free to slide with little friction, on a rod parallel with the
comb, and placed above the pattern band. The needle of the right-hand guide
is first placed in that division of the comb where the (spoulin) shuttle enters;
then by effecting the junction with the adjusting screw in proportion as the
eye advances towards the left, reading from the pattern band, the left-hand
needle of the guide is put in the division where the same (spoulin) shuttle
issues. The needles of these guides are raised when they are not required to
be used. Instead of these needle guides any other method for indicating the
division at which the (spoulin) shuttle enters and leaves may be adopted.
Reading. The design is by preference on a square piece of paper, the cross
divisions on which are exactly equal or nearly so to the divisions on the
pattern band, in order to facilitate the reading of the design, that is to say, in
a cross. direction on each band, and in each respective small co-ordinate
space of each color, or rather of the sign used to indicate the shade of each
color. To be easily able to pick out the different shades of color as required,
the spaces in the band are made of an oblong shape. If two spaces close to
one another are marked with different signs, it is as well in order to avoid

page_text: confusion to write the signs at different levels; with these precautions I can
transcribe on a very fine warp without confusing the designs. In large
fabrics, such as carpets, for example, their centre part may in some cases be
doubled, so that it is made, for instance, four times as fine in detail, provided
the shuttle chain (chaine a spouliner) can be divided. Then in reading off,
each space of the large gauge is divided on the pattern card into two other
narrow spaces by a line of a clear color, but which does not reach the edge of
the band flush with the comb, in order to maintain, in spite of the subdivision,
the relations of the large spaces with the corresponding spaces in the comb.
With the same color which has subdivided each space of the large gauge
there is a line drawn on the pattern band which divides all the spaces, being
subdivided transversely, in order to be able to write separately on each.
new subdivision their relative signs, which I call indices, representing the
shades of the colors, and also the particularity of the pattern. The signs or
indices are read by preference from top to bottom; the succession of the two
small rows written on the same band would also be read in the same manner,
in order that the row at the top of the band may be woven first. There is no
opposition afforded to the passage of the design which presents these sub-
divisions in squares four times finer, the pattern band being only required a
little larger.
In excessively fine fabrics, where the space is not large enough to write the
indices representing the pattern and color, the spaces on the band are made
double the size of the divisions in the comb, care being taken that the tooth
of the comb, before corresponding with the centre of the space on the band, is
distinguished from the tooth corresponding with the line separating the spaces.
This alternate distinction of the teeth of the comb in no way prevents the
larger series being distinguished from the divisions in the comb, as I have
shewn, for the sake of greater facility, in the connections by series. To read
from the band, a regular rule is agreed upon, such as, for example, by
dividing each space lengthwise so as to double its width, and to make the
upper half correspond with the division of the comb on the right of the tooth,
making a small series, and the lower half on the pattern band, with the
division to the left of the same tooth. The points of junction uniting several
spaces, in order to indicate similar indices, will divide the upper or the lower
half space; according to the one, the point of junction indicates.
Any system of signs may be adopted, provided they are ordinate and
co-ordinate with similar signs placed on the spindle-shaped bobbins (spoulins),
shuttles, or needles filled with colors, indicated by these composed signs.
These (spoulins) shuttles are provided with material, and placed in a case

page_text: within reach of the weaver, the cases being also indicated by signs. One
method of arranging the signs, and what appears to me the most simple, and
at the same time most significant, is that which consists in designating the
colors by a letter, by preference, the initial of the name of that color, as a
means of preventing the double use of the same letter, and afterwards to
indicate the shades or graduation of the different colors by figures, but as it is
more simple to read the figures in their ordinary manner, and also from top
to bottom, the figure for tens will be placed above the figure for units, that
for hundreds above that for tens, so that the distinguishing letter of the color
named will be still above the highest figure; thus the 45th graduation of red
will be indicated in the same case of the pattern band. In order to read
the design, which only requires to be simply and naturally colored on the
square paper, a reference to all the colors is used, affording a sort of rule for
referring to each color and its graduations, with a number of the arrange-
ment referring to each shade. Arranging the different colors under certain
numbers will enable the workman to proceed at a great speed with his work.
The pattern card is placed opposite the row of the design lengthwise, and in
order to transcribe the design I proceed from left to right, as in ordinary
writing, and this is done for all kinds of patterns for carpets or other fabrics,
for in each space of the pattern band, the space not being too short, any
conventional sign can designate, for example, a material different from that
which the simple signs before mentioned did, which are used over again
without another sign in the material most used in the design, in order not to
uselessly complicate the reading. An important point to notice in the pattern
card is, that if a color has been used on the same place as on the preceding
band, in order to take up the same (spoulin) shuttle already connected by its
thread to the fabric in course of manufacture. It is done by a thick point,
marked in the space, and placed, by preference, above the letter, followed by
its figures.
In spite of this point the letters and the figures are in their
space so as to be able to regulate the non-detached (spoulin) shuttle, and
which ought, with all in the same space, to be placed in one of the divisions
in the case or frame in a double or triple row between the workman and the
point where the weaving is being carried on, so as to prevent all the non-
detached (spoulins) shuttles from becoming entangled with one another.
The band ought to be placed on the design in such manner as to show half
the design of the preceding row, so that the reader may ascertain if the same
colors are to be indicated on the pattern card as have already taken the same
place on the preceding one. In order to indicate that the (spoulin) shuttle
in use ought to be used in the next band in the same division, or on ono

page_text: side, a thick point is marked, by preference, below the figures in the space.
With the facility in this system of indication, which is not obtained in the
jacquard machine, the foreman weaver has under his complete direction the
shortest and most advantageous method of execution, for when he has once
calculated and determined the method of execution, he reduces it on to the
pattern card. The pattern band can be notified by special signs previously
arranged with the warp chain (connected by the point of junction)
of the same color, a certain number of times for each warp chain, in such
manner that each following band will be marked for the warp chain pre-
viously charged, a particular sign indicating that there is nothing to do until
the positive signs reappear on the pattern card. It is necessary also to
"point" on the design to show that part which has been carried forward:
This would be the original manner of proceeding in weaving. It is not
necessary in this method to make use of the presser comb (peigne battand),
but only of the indicating comb. In some cases it will be found useful to
push the points in advance, or rather to make them serve over again for the
back ground, and from time to time to indicate on the pattern band by a sign
that it is time to fill up the back ground with all the reserve left in the rear.
This method of proceeding will be especially found advantageous for tapestry
on canvas, in which case the band indicators can be employed in proceeding
by row, and especially in weaving only in proportion as the tapestry advances.
In the caso of tapestry on canvas, it will be found advantageous not to finish
off the piece until it has been removed from the machine, in order that the
machine may be used for other ornamental work, while the piece is finished
by hand. A mixed fabric may be also made, the background of which would
be, for example, woven on the machine in Aubusson point, while the pattern
would be on canvas.
Operation of the apparatus (spouliné) with the simultaneous indicator.-
This allows of the introduction of a certain number of improvements, cal-
culated in advance for certain cases, even in the method of weaving. I have
described some in the previous part of this description; there are a few more
which I will now proceed to describe. In simple chain weaving, as the
Aubusson kind and India shawl, it would be advantageous, when it presents
a background or uniform color of a certain extent, to make use of a cloth
guide to open a suitable entrance for the shuttle, so that it may enter enter
and leave as required, although the said guide has acted uniformly on all the
warp threads, for it is sufficient to depress with the hand or with a flat
instrument the point preceding that where the shuttle enters, and afterwards
the point where it issues. For the same purpose, and instead of the cloth

page_text: guide, a sort of hand comb is sometimes employed, provided with teeth, each
terminating in a small fork. The space between each of these teeth is such,
that a warp thread being crossed by the forked end of the tooth the adjacent
warp thread is not seized by the second fork or the second tooth of the comb,
but only the third warp thread, and so on, in such manner that on presenting
this toothed comb forked perpendicularly to the chain and near the indicating
comb, whence this chain is somewhat distant, and by afterwards depressing
the warp threads, seized by this forked comb the same effect is produced as
that resulting from the cloth guide. It is only necessary to know where to
begin the depression, in order to allow the shuttle to enter more or less distant.
The shuttle issues where it is required, or rather where it is marked to do;
if, however, the forked comb is not large enough to allow the shuttle to pass
through the warp the position of the comb is changed to allow the passage
of the shuttle to be completed.
For similar kinds of work to those before described there is a method of
weaving tapestry by which the holes left between the warp threads are closed
with two different colors, in order to avoid the greater number, if not all, of
the darns after the weaving; but that is only possible when the weaving is
carried on regularly row by row in, for example, a determined direction from
right to left. This means consists in regularly crossing the thread from the
right by the thread from the left in each row, so as to make between them
two threads in the work of the lace. This method of action presents another
advantage; by twisting the two threads together an interline is given to the
chain, in appearance similar to the lines filled by the same color. For those
kinds of work furnished with a double chain, with a special weft forming the
frame of the fabric, as the figured "reps" and French shawls, if they are
figured, it is necessary to raise the guide of each of these fabrics before the
figuring takes place towards the reverse side the whole thickness of the large
chain, and the alternate threads of the small chain in the "reps," for example,
in order to have only to depress with the hand or with a flat tool the preceeding
point, the entrance and the point following the exit of the shuttle, so that
the thread from the shuttle travels along the right side of the fabric to the
intermediate points, where the large and small chains have not been depressed
towards the right side of the fabric.