CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN JACQUARD LOOms
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John M'Donald, of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County
of Lancaster, Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
JACQUARD LOOms."
Sealed the 17th December 1863, and dated the 4th July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John McDonald at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
July 1869.
I, JOHN MODONALD, of Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County of Lancaster;
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN JACQUARD LOOMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the novel employment and' use of mechanism to
retain the perforated cards of the jacquard loom in position upon-the jacquard
cylinder during the time of shedding, thereby imparting a more. perfect
action to the several parts in connection therewith, whether adapted for single
or double lifts, and also allowing the loom to work at any velocity.required;.
such arrangement of mechanism preventing the cards from leaving the
cylinders, and may be described as follows:-Behind the ordinary perforated
cylinder, over which the cards are caused to pass in the process of weaving, a
roller is placed extending the whole length of the perforations of such cylinder,
the said roller exerting a uniform pressure by means of a spring or weight in
connection with the said roller upon the cards bedding upon the surface of
the cylinder, the pressure of the aforesaid roller retaining the cards during

page_text: the process of weaving and the revolution of the cylinder in their proper
position upon the jacquard cylinder.
I would remark that two or more pulleys instead of the afore-mentioned
roller may be employed to effect the same purpose, or it may be effected in
several other equivalent ways, the chief feature and object being to hold the
cards upon the cylinder and prevent them being thrown off its surface during.
its revolution.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John M.Donald in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th
December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, JOHN
MCDONALD, of, Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County of Lancaster, Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of July, 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
John McDonald, Her special license that I, the said John McDonald, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
McDonald, my executors, administrators, and 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 Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN JACQUARD
Looms," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John McDonald,
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 John M'Donald, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists in the novel employment and use of mechanism to

page_text: retain the perforated cards of the jacquard loom in position, upon the jacquard
cylinder during the time of shedding, thereby imparting. a more perfect
action to the several parts in connection therewith, whether adapted for single
or double lifts, and also allowing the loom to work at any velocity required,
such arrangement of mechanism preventing the cards from leaving the cylinder,
and may be described as follows:-Behind the ordinary perforated cylinder,
over which the cards are caused to pass in the process of weaving, a roller is
placed extending the whole length of the perforations of such cylinder, the
said roller, exerting a uniform pressure by means of a spring or weight in
connection with the said roller upon the cards bedding upon the surface of
the cylinder, the pressure of the aforesaid roller retaining the cards during the
process of weaving and the revolution of the cylinder in their proper position
upon the jacquard cylinder..
I would remark that two or more pulleys instead of the afore-mentioned
roller may be employed to effect the same purpose, or it may be effected' in
several other equivalent ways, the chief feature and object being to hold the
cards upon the cylinder and prevent them being thrown off its surface during its
revolution.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about six inches to the foot, similar letters of reference being marked upon
corresponding parts of the mechanism.
Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of that part of the jacquard loom to
which the "perforated cylinder" is attached, and Fig. 2 is a front elevation of
the same.
a, a, is the upper portion of the framing of the loom, from which is suspended
the vibrating frame 6 and ordinary "perforated cylinder" c, over and around
which the cards d are caused to pass during the process of weaving, all of
which parts are well known, my present improvement consisting in the novel
application and use of the roller e, which extends the whole length from end
to end of the perforations of the cylinder c, the said roller exerting a uniform
pressure by means of the spring f in connection with the bell crank levers 9,9,
bedding upon the cards and firmly retaining them against the surface of the
cylinders c. The pressure of the aforesaid roller e, retaining the cards d
during the process of weaving and the revolution of the cylinder in their
proper place upon the jacquard cylinder, and insures greater precision in the
action of the jacquard apparatus than hitherto.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly

page_text: understood that I claim holding or retaining the cards in firm contact with the
surface of the "perforated cylinder" used in jacquard apparatus during the
action of the "lifts" by means of a roller or rollers, or mechanical equivalent,
which prevents the cards being thrown off, the surface of the cylinder during
its revolution, as herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the
Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said John M'Donald, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
JOHN MODONALD. (L.S.)