AN IMPROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING CARPETS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Smith, of the Patent Woollen Cloth
Company, Love Lane, in the City of London, Gentleman, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING CARPETS."
Scaled the 28th February 1854, and dated the 31st August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st August 1853.
I, EDWARD SMITH, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING CARPETS" to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce a cheap and durable fabric.
with a worsted surface to be used for all purposes of carpeting. This
object I attain by arranging the picks of the shuttle and the motions of
the harness in the carpet loom in such a manner that the shoots of
wool shall form stripes or cords of any given width running parallel
with the selvage. The back of the fabric is made of linen or cotton
yarn, beaten up close, and the cords are formed by alternately throwing
in two shoots of linen or cotton for the back, and two shoots of worsted
for the face, but this may be varied according to the thickness of the
worsted yarn employed, and the quality of fabric required to be pro-
duced, the main object being to produce on the fabric a close worsted
face with the least possible expenditure of wool.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said. Edward Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 28th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I.
EDWARD SMITH, of the Patent Woollen Cloth Company, Love Lane, in
the City of London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Ifer
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Smith, Ter special
licence that T, the said Edward Smith, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Smith, my ex-
ecutors, 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, usc, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF MANUFACTURING CARPETS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward Smith, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
My Invention of "An Improved Mode of Manufacturing Carpets"
has for its object to produce a cheap and durable fabric with a corded
or ribbed worsted surface somewhat resembling Brussels carpeting, and
which fabric may be used for all purposes of carpeting. The ribbed or
corded surface is produced from the weft, which is thrown in a peculiar

page_text: manner; two shuttles are employed, one being provided with linen
weft to form the ground of the fabric, and the other with a woollen
weft to form the surface. The picks of the shuttle and the motions of
the harness in the loom are arranged in such a manner that the
shoots of wool shall form stripes or cords of any given width running
parallel with the selvage, while the back of the fabric is made of the
linen or cotton warp and weft, which must be beaten up close to
secure the woollen weft. The cords are formed by alternately throw-
ing in two shoots of linen or cotton for the back or ground of the
fabric, and two shoots of worsted to form the face, but this may be
varied according to the thickness of the worsted yarn employed, and
the quality of fabric required to be produced, the main object being to
produce on the fabric a closed corded or ribbed worsted face in imita-
tion of Brussels carpet with the least possible expenditure of wool.
When the fabric is woven the surface may be ornamented with any
desired pattern or design by means of any of the well-known processes
of printing and although the cords or ribs of the fabric will run.
parallel with the edges or selvages of the piece, yet when it is made
up into a carpet the surface will present all the appearance of a good
Brussels carpet, and will wear equally well. By this means of weaving
fabrics I am enabled to dispense with the use of tags or wires to form
the loops of the surface, and consequently a considerable economy of
time and labour is the result.
In order that the process or operation whereby this appearance is
produced upon the surface of the fabric may be better understood I
will proceed to describe it more minutely, and will refer to the accom-
panying Drawing, in which Figures 1, and 2, are diagrams representing
cross sections taken in different places of the fabric made according to
my Invention. The warps are shewn at a, a', a², and a³, and the woollen
weft is denoted by the red line 6; it will be seen that the weft in Fig. 1,
after being tied in, is made to float over four warps; then it passes
under one warp a', by which it is bound into the work; the weft then
floats over six warps, when it is again bound into the fabric by passing
under the warp a; the weft afterwards floats over four warps, as in
the first instance, then over six, and so on alternately, as above de-
scribed. Fig. 2, shews the manner of floating the next succeeding

page_text: 77
weft; in this case it, will be seen that the weft is first thrown over six
warps a*, instead of over four, as in the first instance, and then-over
four, and afterwards over six; but the practical-weaver will more easily
understand this method of floating the weft by inspecting the diagram'
or tie sliewn at Fig. 3,. which will indicate to him the mode in which
he must arrange the harness of the loom to work the warps so as to
produce the required "tic." The red lines 1; 2, 5, 6, 9, 10, indicate
the worsted-shoots; the others 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, represent the linen
shoots, while the vertical lines indicate the ground warp, which is com-
posed of linen or cotton yarn.
Having now described my Invention of an improved mode of manu
facturing carpets, and the best means with which I am at present
cquainted for carrying the same into effect, I would observe, in con
clusion, that I am aware. that fabrics with a twilled woollen surface
have heretofore been inade and used for carpeting; I do not there-
före mean or intend to claim such fabrics as of my Invention, nor do I
mean to confine myself to the precise "tie" shewn in the diagram for
producing the ribbed or corded appearance required; but that which I
consider to be new, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, is, producing a fabric with
a corded or ribbed woollen surface suitable for carpeting in imitation of
Brussels carpeting, as above described.
:
In witness, whereof,. I, the said Edward Smith, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-eighth day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
EDW. SMITH (L.S.)