CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS OR MACHINERY FOR WEAVING FABRICS
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLAUDE
MARIE HILAIRE MOLINARD, of the City of London, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Ninth day of April, in the third year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Claude
Marie Hilaire Molinard, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Claude Marie Hilaire Molinard, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Claude Marie Hilaire Molinard,
my exors, admors, 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, the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS OR MACHINERY FOR WEAVING FABRICS," communicated
to me by a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that I, the said Claude Marie Hilaire Molinard,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said
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 thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Claude Marie Hilaire Molinard, do hereby declare that the nature of the
said Invention is particularly described and ascertained in manner following,
that is to say:-
The said Improvements in Looms or Machinery for Weaving Fabrics are
applicable to that kind of loom or machinery which is used for weaving figured
goods, and is known to figure weavers by the name of the Tacquard loom.
The said figuring machinery is described in the Specification of a Patent
granted to Francis Lambert on or about the Eleventh day of April, in the
year One thousand eight hundred and twenty, and improvements thereon are
described in the Specification of a Patent granted to Stephen Wilson, on or
about the Eighth day of March, in the year One thousand eight hundred and
twenty-one. And the said figuring machinery operates to produce figures on
the face of the stuff corresponding to the figures pierced on a series of slips of
card fastened together, so as to form an endless band or web of such pattern
cards or slips, which is carried round and over the surface of a moveable
shaft or roller; and the several slips or pattern cards are caused to act at
proper intervals against the ends of needles which are connected by inter-
mediate apparatus with the warp threads, in such manner as to cause some
of them to be lifted up whenever the treadle of the figuring machinery is
depressed in a proper order and succession to combine with the weft threads,
so as to produce on the face of the woven fabric figures corresponding to
those which are pierced on the pattern cards. In such looms or machinery
the threads of the warp pass through the eyes of a harness of mails or threads,
the lower ends of which are weighted, and the upper are suspended by lifting
threads or cords, which pass through a plank or board pierced with a number
of holes, corresponding to the number of warp threads; and the said lifting
threads or cords (which support the mails or heddles) are fastened to the lower
ends of lifting rods or wires, the upper ends of which bear or rest against
lifting bars that are guided between the upright cheeks of the frame of the
figuring machinery. The lifting bars are connected to the treadle of the
figuring machinery, so that when the weaver presses down the treadle he
raises up the lifting bars. The upper ends of the lifting rods are hooked
or curved, so as to be able to catch over pins projecting from the lifting bars,
and then they can be lifted up by the said lifting bars whenever the same are
lifted by means of the treadle. But if the said lifting rods are pushed a little
away sidewise, then the hooks at their upper ends are clear of the pins of the
lifting bars, and the latter can be raised by means of the treadle without
lifting the lifting rods. The operation of the lifting rods in the aforesaid kind

page_text: of figuring machinery to lift up some of the yarns or threads of the warp at
each shoot of the weft in a proper order to combine therewith, to weave the
required figures, is produced by the lifting rods passing through eyes formed in
needles that are pressed by springs horizontally endwise against the surface
of a pattern cylinder or shaft, around which the endless web of pierced pattern
cards passes. The said pattern shaft is suspended by long vertical arms from
the upper part of the figuring machinery, so that it can vibrate or swing to
and fro horizontally, and its swinging motion is produced by the rise and fall
of the lifting bars, to which it is connected for that purpose; that is to say,
when the lifting bar to which it is connected descends, it causes the pattern
shaft (by means of rollers fixed to the lifting bar working in curved guides
attached to the arms of the pattern cylinder) to move towards the ends of the
needles, and then such of the needles as come opposite holes in the pattern
card or slip that is on that face of the pattern shaft will enter into them,
and the hooked upper ends of the lifting rods remain catching over the pins
of the lifting bars, so that, when the same are drawn up by the weaver
depressing the treadle of the figuring machinery, all the warp threads
belonging to those needles which enter into holes in the pattern card are
raised, to allow the shuttle to be thrown across the piece between them and
the other warp threads. But the ends of those needles that stand opposite
blank or unpierced parts of the pattern card will be pushed back thereby
when the pattern shaft is swung in towards them, as above described,
and thus the hooks at the upper ends of the lifting wires that pass through
the eyes of those needles are pushed away so as to be clear of the pins
of the lifting bars, and then when the latter are lifted up their pins will
not catch those particular lifting rods, and therefore the warp threads that
are connected with them will not be raised. Hence the raising up of
certain of the warp threads is produced by the operation of the pierced
parts or holes in the pattern cards, and the other warp threads are pre-
vented from being raised by the operation of the unpierced parts of the
cards; and the succession of cards or slips pierced differently that are brought
one after the other to act on the needles to regulate the order of the
successive openings of the warp is produced by means of certain catches or
clicks that operate to turn the pattern shaft round a portion of a turn (accord-
ing to the number of its sides) every time that it recedes from the ends of the
needles, that is, every time the lifting bar is raised, whereby the endless web
of pattern cards which catches upon pegs or pins on the circumference of the
pattern shaft is carried forwards, and a fresh slip or pattern card is thus
carried forward in preparation for the next shoot of the weft. By this known

page_text: combination of needles connected to the warp threads by hooked lifting cords,
and heddles, or harness, with a series of pattern cards caused to act on the
said needles by means of a pattern shaft and lifting bars provided with lifting
pins, the successive openings of the warp are produced in that order which
will cause the required figures to appear on the face of the woven fabric..
Now in looms or machinery intended for weaving figured fabrics constructed
according to the improvements for which Letters Patent have been granted
to me, the figures are produced also by the operation of needles and pattern
cards encompassing a pattern shaft or cylinder, by which they are caused to
act on the needles. But the needles and the warp are placed over the pattern
cylinder, so that the pattern cards are beneath the ends of the needles and
beneath the warp, and a rising and falling motion (as well as an intermitting
rotatory motion) is given to the pattern cylinder, whereby it is caused, every time
that the treadle of the figuring machinery is depressed, to lift up certain of the
needles in the order prescribed by the pattern card. And the needles are con-
nected directly to the warp threads, so that the rising of the pattern cylinder
in lifting up certain of the needles raised up also the warp threads that are
connected with those needles, whereby the warp is opened in an order suit-
able to the pattern that is pierced in the pattern cards. The pattern cards
are passed round and conducted forwards by the revolving pattern cylinder
in the way usuel in figure looms of the kind herein-before mentioned;
and the cylinder is turned round also in the usual manner (by: means
of catch bars or clicks acting in the teeth of a trundle or lantern wheel
at one end of the pattern cylinder), a portion of a turn at a time, so as to
carry the pattern forwards and bring a fresh slip or pattern card under the
needles at every shoot of the weft in weaving in a figure on the piece. The
intermitting rotary motion of the cylinder is produced as will be herein-after
described by the successive descents of the pattern cylinder, when the treadle
of the figuring machinery is released or allowed to rise. The depression of
the treadle between each shoot of the weft and the following acts upon
the pattern cylinder to lift it up, and thus to cause that pattern slip or card
which is then on the upper face or side of the pattern cylinder to bear upwards
against the ends of the needles; and the number of needles correspond to the
number of threads of the warp that are intended to act in producing the figures
on the face of the woven fabric. All those threads passing through eyes in the
needles when the pattern cylinder and pattern card are raised (by the depres-
sion of the treadle), all those needles that stand over holes in the pattern
card will enter into them and remain stationary, for the rising motion of the
pattern cylinder does not act upon them.. But those needles that are over

page_text: unpierced or blank parts of the pattern card are lifted up thereby, and lift up
those warp threads to which they belong, whereby the warp will be opened at
each successive shoot of the weft that is thrown across in weaving the figures
on the fabric in an order corresponding to the order of the blank parts and
holes of the successive slips or pattern cards that are brought beneath the
needles and raised up against their ends without the intervention of the inter-
mediate apparatus and harness that are requisite in the figuring machinery in
use, that I have herein-before alluded to, whereby the operation of setting up
the loom for weaving a figured stuff will be much simpler than heretofore; for
the needles being put in their places the workman has only to pass the several
warp threads through their eyes, in the order prescribed by this pattern paper.
In some cases where the fabric desired to be woven is intended to be of extreine
richness in its pattern, and where consequently a very great number of warp
threads are required (because a great many must be raised at a time, and the
very much
order in which they are raised.at each shoot of the weft will also be
varied), I use a broad pattern plank, extending across the breadth of the figuring
machinery to raise the needles, instead of a pattern cylinder as aforesaid.
because a cylinder or many-sided shaft cannot be conveniently made of sufficient
diameter to admit of as many needles being acted upon by one of its sides, as.
such very richly figured stuffs may require, while a pattern plank (as I will
herein-after describe and shew in the Drawings hereunto annexed) admits.
of using a great depth of needles from back to front of the machinery,
as well as across the breadth of the machinery, whereby many more needles
and warp threads can be used than could be conveniently used with a pattern
cylinder. The said pattern plank has only an up and down motion given to it
to lift up successively the slips or pattern cards that are brought over its upper
surface, which slips are connected together to form an endless band in the
usual way, and are carried forwards so as to place a fresh portion of pierced
card under the needles at each shoot of the weft by means of small carrying
rollers, to which an intermittent rotatory motion is given, as I will hercin-after
more particularly describe in reference to the Drawings. But whether I use
a pattern cylinder (or many-sided shaft) which has an up and down motion,
and also an intermitting rotatory motion, or whether I use a broad pattern
plank, which has only an up and down motion given to it, the pattern cards
being drawn forwards by a motion independent of the pattern plank,-in all
cases in the looms or machinery constructed with the improvements, for which
a Patent has been granted to me, the pattern cards that operate on the needles
are under the warp and needles; and the needles are themselves connected
directly with the warp threads, and the blank or unpierced parts of the cards

page_text: act against the ends of the needles to cause them to open the warp. For the
more complete explanation of the aforesaid improvements I have hereunto
annexed two Sheets of Drawings, wherein Sheet I. contains views of the
figuring machinery put together, and Sheet II. detached views of many of the
separate parts thereof. No. 1 is a side view of a loom with the figuring
machinery that operates by a pattern cylinder. No. 2 contains a side view
and part of a front view of the same figuring machinery. 15, 18, 19, 7 are.
the framing of the figuring machinery. 1, 1, are the needles made of steel or
brass; they are guided and supported so as to remain truly vertical, and so
that their weight does not hang upon the warp threads which pass through
them, as seen in the Drawing, viz, at their lower ends they pass through a
brass plate 3, pierced with holes corresponding to the number of needles. that
are to pass through it. The perforated plate 3 is let into a frame 20, 20, that
rests upon steps or bearers 13, 13; and the ends of the frame 20 are provided
with adjusting screws to adjust the place of the brass plate 3, 3, so that its
holes shall be in the right places to guide the needles and keep them exactly
to match with the holes that they are to enter into in the pattern cylinder.
The brass plate 3, 3, should therefore be as near the lower ends of the needles
as conveniently may be. About at the middle of their length the needles pass
through another set of guide holes in a wooden plank 4, 4, supported by the
framework 19, 19, at the upper part of the machinery. The needles are
made with conical swells or stops on them just above the part where they
pass through the guide plank 4, and those conical stops rest in the holes of
the plank 4, which, therefore, supports the needles and takes off their weight
from the warp threads (see the detached views of the needles in Sheet 2);
above the frame of the figuring machinery, the needles pass through a
grating at 10, formed by a set of wires passing through brass plates, and
extending across the width of the machinery, being supported in a frame of
wood, in which are placed also wooden cross rails (that can be removed by
lifting up a hinge flap fitted on one side of the frame) to prevent the needle
from quitting their proper places in the lower guide plate. The grating 10
and its frame are supported by upright standards 9, 9, see the detached views
of the several guides 3, 4, and 10, in the detached Figures, Sheet II. The
warp threads pass through eyes in the needles which are made for that
purpose, with a long opening at the part where the eyes are to be let in. The
eyes are small oblong glass frames with divisions across them, forming several
apertures (see the detached Figures in Sheet 2), and one of these eyes is
cemented into the opening in the body of the needle. And as 'there are
several apertures in each eye, so more than one warp thread may be passed

page_text: through each eye. Note, the eyes may be formed in the metal of the
needles themselves (as shewn in some of the detached Figures in Sheet 2);
but I prefer using glass eyes, because they are less liable to cut the warp
threads by the continued action of raising them up, their inside edges being
smoother and rounder than those of metal eyes. can well be made. The
needles are also made with a long flat spring at that part of their length
which is put under the warp, the object of which is to enable the weaver to
bend them readily at that part to get his hand in among the needles in case
of any derangement of the warp threads where they pass through the eyes of
the needles. 2 is. the pattern cylinder. It is properly a 6-sided shaft of wood,
or it may be of metal, such side being pierced with holes corresponding to the
number of needles used in the figuring machinery. The necks of the cylinder
2 are supported in a frame 5, 5, consisting of two iron bars 5, extending
across the machinery from front to back. The frame 5 is attached to upright
iron sliding rails 8, 8, one at each end of the framework (as shewn by the
front view of one end in No. 2), the lower ends of which sliding rails rest
(when the machinery is at rest) upon blocks of wood or stop pieces fixed on
the cross piece 15 (see Nos. 1 and 2), and they are received in suitable sockets
let into the cross piece 7, and also in other sockets at the upper part of the
frame to guide them when they are slided up and down, as will be herein-
after described. At the lower end of each of the sliding rails 8 a step or
stirrup is formed, as seen in the front view No. 2, and straps a are attached to
those steps by screw links b, the upper ends of those straps being fastened to the
circumference of pullies 6, which are fitted on an axis 6, extending all along
the figuring machinery from end to end thereof. The axis 6, 6, is supported
in bearings in the cross piece 7, 7..
The pattern that is to regulate the successive openings of the warp is
pricked or pierced on slips or cards, such as are usually employed in the
figuring machinery of figure looms of the kind herein-before alluded to, they are
laced together, and encompass the pattern cylinder in the usual manner, being
retained thereon and carried forward thereby when the cylinder is turned by
means of small pegs that project, out like the teeth of wheels from the faces
of the cylinder at each end of the length thereof, and catch into corresponding
holes made for, the purpose in the slips or pattern cards. The several slips form
therefore an endless web or belt of pattern cards, which goes partly round the
pattern cylinder, and is conducted away therefrom over suitable carrying
rollers, in the usual way, cach card being pierced with that arrangement of
holes and blank parts that will correspond to a particular order of lifting up of
the warp threads. Note, the cards or slips may be pierced by the usual

page_text: methods of piercing the pattern cards for the figuring machinery of looms, such
as are in use, attending only to the distinction that, in the cards that operate in
this improved machinery, the blank or unpierced parts act upon the needles to
lift up the warp threads. I have not shewn the endless web of pattern cards
in the Drawing, to avoid confusion of parts. The up and down motion of the
cylinder, whereby a pattern card is lifted up to bear against the lower ends of
the needles at every shoot of the weft, is produced in the following manner:
The treadle 14 which is worked by the weaver is connected by a cord or a
strap at d, to the circumference of the pulley e (see No. 2); thence, whenever
the weaver depresses the treadle 14, the strap a will be wound up on the
circumference of their pullies 6, 6, and thus lift up the sliding rails 8, 8, with
the frame 5, 5, and the pattern cylinder. The diameter of the pullies e and
6, 6, being such that a convenient depression of the treadle 14 will wind up a
length of strap a, a, equal to the height that the cylinder ought to be raised for
making a sufficient opening of the warp. These proportions will therefore
vary according to the nature of the fabric that is to be woven, viz, according
to the quality of the material, and the size of the shuttle. When the cylinder
is raised up as above described the pattern card that is then on its upper
surface is pushed up against the ends of needles 1, and according to the order
in which that card is pierced some of the needles will match with holes, and
entering therein will not be raised, while others will be over blank parts of the
card, and being lifted up will carry up with them the particular warp threads
that pass through their eyes, and which will combine with the weft thread that
is thrown across while the warp is open, to make a portion of the shade or
figure of the fabric. The cylinder having performed its office of lifting up the
pattern card, and raising some of the needles while the others were left
unlifted, the weaver releases the treadle 14, whereby he allows the cylinder
to descend, and those needles that were raised up drop down again, and their
corresponding warp threads that were raised resume their original places, the
lay being beat up in the usual way. But while the cylinder descends one of
the teeth of the trundle at its end catches against a click or tooth near
the end of one of the long levers or catch bars 16, which are suspended
vertically from centre pins in the rail 17, at the upper part of the
machinery (see No. 1, where one of the levers 16 is shewn in contact with
the cylinder); and as the tooth of the trundle cannot move the lever 16 away,
because it presses it or pulls it nearly in the direction of a line passing
th cugh its centre of motion, the trundle is compelled itself to turn round,
and thus the pattern cylinder is turned round one sixth of a revolution, so as
to bring a fresh slip or pattern card under the ends of the needles, in a manner

page_text: similar to that in which the pattern shaft of the tacquard loom that I have
herein-before alluded to is turned. But to prevent the cylinder from being
turned round by the catch bar 16 more than its proper quantity, viz', a
portion of a turn corresponding to the number of its sides (an upright
T-headed lever 1, 1, is supported in the stop of one of the sliding rails 8,
see No. 2, and its T head rests close under the trundle at the end of the
cylinder, being pressed up in contact with its tooth by a spiral spring (not
shewn in the Drawing) which is wound round the stem of the lever 11;
when the cylinder in descending is turned round as aforesaid by the click or
tooth of the lever 16, the spring 11 yields and allows the cylinder to be
turned. But by the time the cylinder has descended to its original position,
that tooth of the trundle which bore against the click or tooth of the lever 16,
when the cylinder began to descend, will have passed away clear of it by
reason of the next tooth of the trundle bearing against the inclined tail of the
lever 16, and pushing it away from the circumference of the cylinder, and
that second tooth of the trundle will have come up round, so as to pass the
point of the tooth of the lever 16, which will then drop under it; 'and then
the elasticity of the spring lever 11, being allowed to resume its effective
force and press the T head of the lever up under the tooth of the trundle,
retains the cylinder in that position while the lever makes the next thread 'to
raise up the cylinder, so as to ensure that it shall rise up correctly in its
place to act against the needles. Note, there are two levers 16, but only
that one which is drawn in the Figure in contact with the cylinder operates
during the regular working of the figuring machinery. The other can be
brought into operation for backing the cylinder if the weaver has made a false
shoot. Or both levers 16 can be disengaged, so as to throw the shuttle more
than once without changing the order of the opening of the warp threads.
These operations of the catch bars or levers 16, 16, being similar to those of
the catch bars that turn the pattern shaft in the figure looms in use alluded
to in the beginning of this Specification, and, being therefore known to figure
weavers, need no further description. 21, 21, are the pieces of the frame of
the loom. 22, 22, represent a series of heddles or ground harness, which may
be used in combination with the figuring machinery before described
to weave the plain ground of the figured stuff. The heddles are
intended to act upon those warp threads in which the needles 11 do not
act, and hence the number of them will be of course regulated by the proportion
that exists between the. plain and the figured part of the stuff, the warp threads
that are to be lifted by the ground harness passing through suitable eyes in the
heddles. The ground harness or heddles may be suspended by cords passing

page_text: over rollers, and connected with treadles to work the several heddles; or the
shafts or camms of the heddles 22 may be adapted to be acted upon. by two
small pattern rollers not shewn in the Drawing, which may be placed within-
side of the frame so as to be out of the way of the weaver, and they are to act
under the outside ends of the shafts of the heddles 22 to lift them up, the
heddles being suitably suspended and guided in their vertical motion. The
small pattern rolls will be supported in a manner similar to the great pattern
cylinder of the figuring machinery before described, and be moved. up and
down by a separate treadle belonging to them, with a winding-up roller and
strap; and they will be also furnished with trundles or teeth on their ends,
and catch bars to turn them so that they may be raised up and turned in
descending again, when the treadle belonging to them is worked in the way
described for raising and turning the great pattern cylinder. In the faces
of each of the small pattern rolls there must be as many holes pierced
as there are series of heddles, and round each of the said small pattern rolls a
series of pattern cards will be carried, forming an endless belt composed of as
many slips as there are series of heddles, which slips must be pierced to
correspond to the warp threads that are to be acted upon by the heddles:
that is to say, the cards must be so pierced that every time the pattern rolls
make a portion of a turn a pattern slip will be brought under each of the
outer ends of the heddle shafts, pierced with holes in such an order that when
the small pattern rolls are next lifted up by the depression of their treadle, the
pattern slip will present holes under the shafts of all these series of heddles
that are not to be raised. But a blank or unpierced part of the same slip will
be under the shaft of that particular series of beddles which is to be raised for
lifting up such of the warp threads as are to combine with the weft thread that
the weaver is about to throw across the piece for producing the plain ground.
Note, I have not shewn this apparatus for working the ground harness in the
Drawing, but it will be understood by the foregoing description as it is so
nearly like the mechanism already described, for working the great pattern
cylinder on a smaller scale. The small pattern rolls being only of such length
and diameter as to act fairly on the lower ends of the heddle shafts of the ground
harness without being in the way of the work, and the position and arrangement
of the parts that are to be operated upon by the said small pattern rollers may
be at the discretion of the person who makes the loom according to the conve-
nience of the weaver. And note further, that the apparatus above described
is no part of the aforesaid improvements; and I do not lay any claim to it under
the Patent that is granted to me, which relates only to the machinery for
producing the figured part of the fabric; for the figuring machinery that I

page_text: have herein-before described may be used in' combination with any mode of.
applying a ground harness in figure looms that is in use, with such modifica-,
tions only in the arrangement thereof as may appear expedient to the maker
of the loom to prevent the said ground, harness interfering with the parts of.
the figuring machinery. Nor, indeed, is the use of any ground barness-
absolutely requisite for the operation of the figuring machinery herein-before-
described, because the weaving of the plain ground of the fabric, as well as of
the figured part, may be done by means of the needles, by connecting all the
warp threads with needles in the way that I have herein-before described as
being done only for some of them, and causing a pattern slip or card eor--
responding to the plain part of the fabric to be brought forward on to the upper
face or side of the pattern cylinder 2, to act at suitable intervals (according to.
the pattern), to raise up those of the warp threads that are to be combined
with the weft thread for forming the plain ground. Only, by thus weaving
the whole fabric by means of the needles, the expense of the pattern cards is.
greater them by using ground harness if there be a large proportion of plain-
ground in the pattern. The object, therefore, of using ground harness is.
economy of the pattern cards and of suitably piercing them. Hence it will
depend on the discretion of the weaver when to set up his loom with a ground-
harness, and when to work it entirely with needles.
ถ
When the figuring machinery above described is used for weaving a tissue
of various coloured figures with a ground harness, the operations of the weaver.
are as follows:-When he pulls the lay towards him he depresses the treadle:
14 to raise the cylinder 2, and thus raise up such of the needles as are con-
nected to those warp threads that his pattern requires to lift up for the forma-
tion of the figure. Then he takes his shuttle containing the first of the several
colored weft threads that are to combine with the warp, videlicit, that colored
weft thread that is to combine with the particular warp threads he has
just raised, and he throws the shuttle across, then he releases the treadle 14
and lets the cylinder 2 down and beats up the lay. Then he presses
down the treadle, and raises the pattern cylinder again to lift up those
warp threads that are to be combined with the second colour of the.
weft threads, and he throws the shuttle containing that weft thread, and.
beats up again as before, and so on until he has thrown all the several
coloured weft threads; then he presses down the treadle belonging to the
ground harness to act on that part of the ground harness to which those warp
threads are harnessed which were not lifted for the preceding shoots of the
weft; that is to say, he lifts up those warp threads that were not lifted up by
the great pattern or figure cylinder for weaving the figured part of the stuff,
and which are to combine with the ground colored weft thread to make the

page_text: ground color or plain part of the fabric. Having done this, he throws the
shuttle containing the ground colored weft thread and beats up the lay, and
then there will be the addition of one entire weft thread all across the width
of the stuff, which will be of several colours in combination with the several
warp. threads. When it is desired to weave figured fabrics the figures of
which require an exceedingly greater number of warp threads, the figuring
machinery may be constructed in a way a little different from that above
described, see No. 3. Instead of a pattern cylinder for lifting up the needles
I use, as stated in the commencement of this Specification, a pattern plank 3,
which is pierced with suitable holes to let the needles pass into when they
fall over holes in the pattern card. The endless web of pattern card passes
over the pattern plank but is not carried forwards by it; and in order to carry
it forwards to bring a fresh slip under the needles for each successive shoot
of the weft it is passed over two small carrying rollers 2, 2, which have pins
or teeth at i to catch into and carry forwards the endless web of pattern cards
whenever the said rollers are turned. The pattern plank 3 has its up and
down motion given to it by its connection with the sliding rails 8, 8, pullies 6,
and winding up tackle, and treadle 14, in the same way that an up and down
motion is given to the pattern cylinder described in reference to Nos. 1 and 2.
The frame 5, 5, 12, 12, together with the plank 3, and the carrying rolls 2, 2,
being attached to the rails 8, 8, to partake of the motion given to them. And
note, in Nos. 1 and 2, transverse pieces 12, 12, are shewn, and the bars 5, 5,
are prolonged front and back of the frame, which is not necessary for the use
of a pattern cylinder 2. But it is done to shew how a cylinder machine may
be altered to a plank machine by taking out the cylinder 2 and putting in
its place a plank 3, and mounting the pivots of the small carrying rollers 2, 2,
in the holes left for them in the bars 5, 5, Nos. 1 and 2. The carrying
rollers are turned round to carry forward the successive slips or pattern
cards by means of a trundle on the end of one of the carrying rollers and
a catch bar or lever 16, which operates on it to turn it round whenever
the frame 5, 5, 12, 12, descends, and thus a fresh pattern is drawn forwards
under the needles. The pattern plank 3 is made of four several planks, each
pierced separately, and then fixed one on the other, and adjusted so as to
form one solid plank with holes through it, and the needles are not all of the
same length; for if they were, as there are so many of them from front to back
of the machine, those that are nearest the lay and the weaver would produce
by their rise a much greater opening of the warp than those that are farthest
from the lay. Hence, to produce an equal opening of the warp by all the
needles that are raised, those which are nearest to the lay are shorter in the
proportion of their proximity, so that they fall short of the surface of the

page_text: pattern plank, and are not taken up by it so soon as the needles that are
nearer the back of the machine. The lengths of the needles being thus
proportioned according to their positions in respect to the front and back of
the machine, the several threads of the warp will be lifted to equal heights, to
produce an uniform opening of the warp. The principal distinction then, it
will be seen, between the machinery represented in Nos. 1 and 2, and that
represented in No. 3 is that in the former, the pattern cylinder performs a
double office, videlicit, by its rising motion it lifts up the pattern card to bear
against the ends of the needles, and by its rotatory motion it carries the endless
belt of pattern cards onwards, so as to bring successively fresh portions of
pattern under the needles; while in the construction No. 3 the two operations
are separately performed, the pattern card being caused to bear against the
needles by the rising motion of the plank 3, which has no other than an up
and down motion; and the web of pattern cards being advanced means of
carrying rollers 2, 2, that are turned as herein-before described. Note, the
rollers 2, 2, are prevented from making more than their proper part of a
revolution at a time by a horizontal spring lever 11 (see the side view No. 3).
with a T head, which bears against the teeth of the handle on the end of the
roller 2, and retains it while the pressure is being given to the needles in a
manner similar to that described in reference to the spring lever 11 in Nos. 1
and 2.
The foregoing distinction between the machinery Nos. 1 and 2 and that of
No. 3 being explained, the operation of the parts of the latter will be under-
stood, without further description, by applying thereto the description of the
operation of the machinery Nos. 1. and 2. And note, the use of a pattern
plank instead of a pattern cylinder is only requisite or advantageous for
weaving fabrics of very rich and varied patterns and of great size, to produce
which requires an immense number of warp threads, and. consequently an
immense mass of needles; for this construction admits of much greater
depth for the needles than when a cylinder is used, because, as herein-before
stated, it would be inconvenient to use a cylinder of sufficient diameter for
each of its sides to be sufficiently long, as will be readily understood by
comparing Nos. 1 and 3 of the Drawings. But for all ordinary manufactures
I use the machinery described in reference to Nos. 1 and 2.
For the further information of workmen employed in constructing the above-
described machinery, I have hereunto annexed a second Sheet of Drawings,
which contains detached views of the principal parts thereof. The explanations
of the several parts are written on them. But I do not confine myself to that
precise construction of the parts which I have exhibited on the Drawings, as

page_text: variations may be made therein, provided the essential properties of the
machinery herein-before described be preserved.
Now whereas I have described in this Specification many parts which are
or may be known, or which are very similar to the parts of figure looms that
are commonly known or in use, I hereby declare, that the improvements to
which I claim the exclusive right under the Patent herein-before in part
recited, consist in placing the pattern cards of that kind of figuring machinery
which I have herein-before described under the warp and under the needles, as
I have described, and in connecting the needles themselves directly with the
warp threads, in such manner, that the said pattern cards are caused by the
rising motion given to the pattern cylinder (or pattern plank) over which
they pass to act upon the lower ends of the needles. The blank is unpierced,
parts of the said cards lifting up certain of those needles, and lifting up
thereby the corresponding threads of the warp connected to those needles in
a suitable order, regulated by the said blank parts of the cards to combine
with the weft threads, so as to produce the figure that is intended to be seen on
the face of the woven fabric.
In witness whereof, I, the said Claude Marie Hilaire Molinard, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September,
in the fourth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord William the
Fourth, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.