IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLUSHES AND VELVETS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Shiers, the younger, and John Jackson Shiers,
both of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLUSHES AND VELVETS."
Sealed the 16th September 1879, and dated the 4th July 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Shiers and John
Jackson Shiers at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th
July 1879.
RICHARD SHIERS, the younger, and JOHN JACKSON SHIERS, both of Oldham, in
the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLUSHES
AND VELVETS."
This Invention relates principally to the manufacture of plushes and velvets from
cotton, but it is also applicable to the mannfacture of such piled fabrics from silk,
worsted, and other fibrous substances, the object of the Invention being to obtain a
much longer pile than heretofore, and at the same time to get a firm, close, and
durable back, a fast bind for the pile.
The plush or velvet is woven with twenty picks to the round and with sixteen
ends or warp threads to the draft, each pile float passing over fifteen ends, and
the "
tie-up" may be so arranged as to work with as few as six shafts, I
prefer however (to avoid complication) to work with seven shafts, drawing 'in
together Nos. 1, 5, 9, and 13 in one shaft, Nos. 2, 6, 10, and 14 in the second shaft,
and Nos. 3, 7, 11, and 15 in the third; Nos. 4, 8, 12, and 16 being each worked
separately.
No. 1 pick is a "back binder" pick passing under 1, over 2, under 3, over 4, and
so on; No. 11 is the same.
No. 2 pick floats over 1, 2, 3, under 4, and over the rest.
No. 3 pick floats over 1 to 11 inclusive, under 12, and over the rest.
No. 4 pick floats over 1 to 7 inclusive, under 8, and over the rest.
No. 5 pick floats over 1 to 15 inclusive, and passes under 16.

page_text: "
No. 6 pick is a face binder" passing over 1, under 2, over 3, under 4, and
so on.
No.-16-is the same as No. 6.
Nos. 7, 15, and 18 picks are the same as No. 4.
Nos. 8, 14, and 17-are the same as No. 5.
Nos. 9, 12, and 20.are the same as No. 3; and
-No.-10,-13, and 19.are the same as No. 2.
There are thus four binding picks to the round (two backbinders and two face
binders) and each-pile-float-passes over fifteen ends, by which means. I obtain a long
pile, a strong bind, and a very firm back.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Richard Shiers and John Jackson Shiers in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd January 1880.
RICHARD SHIERS, the younger, and JOHN JACKSON SHIERS, both of Oldham, in
the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLUSHES
AND VELVETS."
Our Invention relates to the production of fabrics commonly known as plush,
including plush tabby velvets, plush Genoa velvets, and plush velveteens, and in
manufacturing this description of fabrics by means of certain combinations of sixteen
(or more) warp threads with weft threads. We thereby produce a deep pile cloth
with a finer and more silky surface, and with what is of the greatest importance
and which removes a defect which has always existed in a cloth of this description,
a much finer and firmer back (which prevents the pile from plucking or coming out
easily) than has hitherto been produced by a similar number of warp threads with
weft threads from the same reed, warp, and weft.
The back is inade either plain or tabby, or three or four leaf twilled or Genoa.
The warp is prepared for the loom as regards being dressed or sized and wound on
the yarn beain in exactly the same manner as the ordinary cloth. The plush or
velvet is woven by preference with twenty picks to the round and with sixteen
ends or warp threads to the draught. For the production of fabrics consisting of
sixteen warp threads with weft threads the usual course would naturally be to
employ healds consisting of sixteen shafts, each shaft containing individual healds
or loops to the amount of one sixteenth part of the whole number of warp threads,
Instead however of employing sixteen shafts for producing our combination of
sixteen warp threads with weft threads the same may be produced by using a less
number of shafts, the drawing in into the healds of the warp threads will however
in such cases not be a straight "gait over" but will vary in different ways, according
to the number of shafts to be employed which is well understood by practical
weavers. The weaver's draft for manufacturing our improved plush tabby velvets
of combination of sixteen warp threads with weft threads is given in Figure 1,.
Sheet 1, where it will be found that in employing sixteen shafts and a straight gait
over drawing in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, and 15th shafts, are by the
revolutions of the tappet always either raised or lowered exactly at the same time
and in the same manner, and consequently the warp threads which are drawn into
the healds or loops on these shafts are always lying exactly in the same position
during the process of weaving. It is therefore possible by having the healds or
loops which are spread or knit over these eight shafts all mounted or knit on one
shaft to produce exactly the same result, or else the healds or loops on the 1st, 3rd,
5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, and 15th shafts may be knit on two shafts, each shaft con-
taining four times the number of healds or loops as any one of the eight re-
maining shafts. On reference to Figures 2, 3, and 4 it will be found that we can'
still further reduce the said remaining eight shafts as the 2nd, 6th, 10th, and
14th shafts, rise and fall at the same time and in the same manner, so that by
having the healds or loops on these four of the remaining eight shafts all knit or
mounted on one shaft we can produce the same, result, in which case this one shaft
must contain four times as many healds or loops as any one of the remaining four
shafts. There are several other ways of varying the draft which will be well under-
stood by practical weavers.
The drawing in into the healds must be arranged to suit the number of shafts
employed. We have also to state that it is not indisputably necessary to employ
any shaft at all in the process, but the warp threads may be raised or lowered by
various other methods, as, for instance, by means of jacquard machines or other
similar contrivances, but in whatever way it is done the warp threads must follow

page_text: follow each other in the same manner, as will presently be shown, whatever con-
=trivance_may_be_used_for_rising or lowering the warp threads and thus producing
the successive sheds.
The plush tabby velvets, plush Genoa velvets, and plush velveteens, which we
Fare now describing, and the manner in which the sheds will have to follow each
other are exhibited in Figs. 1 and 5, Sheet I, and Fig. 7, Sheet 2.
The first shed is opened out by raising the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 19th, 11th, 13th,
and 15th shafts,-and-lowering the remainder; this first weft thread is a binder or
back pick.
The second shed is opened out by only raising the fourth shaft and lowering all
the rest, into which shed a weft thread is thrown by the shuttle which thus inter-
weaves with every sixteenth warp thread across the whole width of the piece, while
this same weft thread floats over all the intervening warp threads of every "gait
over; "this second weft thread is a weft float or face pick.
The third shed is opened out by raising only the twelfth shaft and lowering all
the rest, into which shed a weft thread is thrown by the shuttle, which thus inter-
weaves with every sixteenth warp thread, namely, the twelfth, twenty eighth,
forty fourth, and so on across the whole width of the piece, while this same weft
thread floats over the remaining threads of every "gait over;" this is likewise a
face pick.
The fourth shed is opened out by raising only the eighth and lowering all
the rest, which forms again a weft float or face pick, interweaving only with every
sixteenth warp thread, namely, the eighth, twenty fourth, fortieth, and so on across
the whole width of the piece, while this same weft thread floats over the remaining
warp threads of every "gait over; this face pick is likewise a face pick.
"
The fifth shed is opened out by raising only the sixteenth shaft and lowering all
the rest, which again forms a weft float or face pick, interweaving only with every
sixteenth warp thread, namely, with the sixteenth, thirty second, forty eighth, and
so on across the whole width of the piece, while the same weft thread floats over
the remaining warp threads of every "gait over "; this is also a face pick.
The sixth shed is opened out by raising the second, fourth, sixth, eighth, tenth,
twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth shaft, and lowering all the rest, and is therefore
just the reverse of the first shed, and constitutes a binder or back pick, the sixth
shed being exactly the reverse of the first shed; these two back sheds or back picks
in the first and sixth sheds so completely interweave the whole of the warp threads
with each other that not one of them across the whole width of the piece remains
loose or unoccupied, thus forming the close and firm back so essentially necessary
in the production of a good sound tabby plush velvet.
The seventh shed is opened out by raising only the eighth shaft and lowering all
the rest, and is therefore in every respect equal to the fourth shed, and thus produces
a weft float-or-face-pick-bound into every sixteenth warp thread.
The eighth shed is opened out by raising only the sixteenth shaft and-lowering-
all the rest, it is therefore equal in every respect to the fifth shed, and thus produces
a weft float or face pick.
The ninth shed is opened out by raising only the twelfth shaft and lowering all
the rest, it is therefore in every respect equal to the third shed and thus produces
a weft float or face pick.
The tenth shed is opened out by raising only the fourth shaft and lowering all
the rest, it is therefore in every respect equal to the second shed, and thus produces
a weft float or face pick, bound into every sixteenth warp thread.
The eleventh shed is opened out by raising the first, third, fifth, seventh, ninth,
eleventh, thirteenth, and fifteenth, and lowering the remainder; this weft thread
is also a binder or back pick, and merely serves to form the back of the
cloth.
The twelfth shed is opened out by raising only the twelfth shaft and lowering all

page_text: the rest, it is therefore in every respect equal to the third shed and the ninth shed,
and thus produces a weft float or face pick.
The thirteenth shed is opened out by raising only the fourth shaft and lowering
all the rest, it is therefore equal in every respect to the second shed and the tenth
shed, and thus produces a weft float or face pick.
The fourteenth shed is opened out by raising only the sixteenth shaft and
lowering all the rest, it is therefore in every respect equal to the fifth shed and
the eighth shed, and thus produces a weft float or face pick.
The fifteenth shed is opened out by raising only the eighth shaft and lowering
all the rest, it is therefore in every respect equal to the fourth shed, and the seventh
shed, and thus produces a weft float or face pick.
The sixteenth shed is opened out by raising the second, fourth, sixth, eighth,
tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, and sixteenth, and lowering the remainder; this also
forms a binder or back pick.
The seventeenth shed is opened out by raising only the sixteenth shaft and
lowering all the rest, it is therefore equal in every respect to the fifth shed.
the eighth shed, and the fourteenth shed, and produces a weft float or face
pick.
The eighteenth shed is opened out by raising only the eighth shaft and
lowering all the rest, it is therefore in every respect equal to the fourth shed,
the seventh shed, and the fifteenth shed, and produces a weft float or face
pick.
The nineteenth shed is opened out by raising only the fourth shaft, and
lowering all the rest, it is therefore equal in every respect to the second shed,
the tenth shed, and the thirteenth shed, and produces a weft float or face
pick.
The twentieth shed is opened out by raising only the twelfth shaft and lowering
all the rest, it is therefore equal in every respect to the third shed, the ninth shed,
and the twelfth shed, and produces a weft float or face pick.
All succeeding sheds are merely repetitions of the preceeding twenty, so that the
proper pattern for weaving our improved plush tabby velvets which we have been
describing, consists of a combination of 16 warps interwoven with twenty weft
threads, as will be seen by referring to Fig. 9, Sheet 2, in which Figure 9 shows
the formation of leaving out the weft floats or face picks; Fig. 10 shows the
formation of the face of the same, leaving out the binders or back picks; and Fig. 1
(Sheet 1) shows the combination of both the preceding, thus constituting the
weaver's draft for weaving our improved plush tabby velvets which we have been
describing hitherto and shewn in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, Sheet 1, and Figs. 9 and 10,
Sheet 2. It will be seen by examining these Figures that for every back pick or
binder four different and distinct weft floats or face picks are introduced into the
manufacture of this description of improved plush tabby velvets, and that each of
these weft floats in every instance is floating over fifteeen warp threads in the
combination of 16 warp threads according to our Invention.
Although the above described method of carrying our Invention into practice is
the one which we have found most suitable, it will be obvious that various other
alterations may be adopted either in the way in which the different weft floats
follow each other in succession or in manner in which they are interwoven with
the warp threads.
Having now described the method of producing our improved tabby or plain
back plush velvets we will now proceed to describe the method of producing our
improved plush Genoa or twill back velvets and plush velveteens, also consisting
of 16 warp threads with 20 weft threads, it will not be necessary to repeat all the
minute particulars already stated as the method of producing these fabrics resembles
the method already described for producing the tabby or plain back plush velvets,
except in the binders or back picks, which will be easily understood by practical
weavers on reference to Figures 11 and 12, where the binders or back picks are

page_text: clearly shown. Plush Genoa velvets differ from plush tabby velvets mainly in the
formation of the back of the cloth which in the plush tabby-velvet-is-plain-or-tabby,
=while-in-the-plush Genoa velvet it is 3 or 4 leaf twill, it is therefore obvious that
_our_combination of-16 warp threads with 20 weft threads may be employed as well
-in-connection with a 3 or 4 leaf twill back as with a plain or tabby back, and will
only differ in the manner in which the back of a fabric is formed, and we have
merely to refer to the annexed weaver's drafts, Figures 5 and 6 (Sheet 1), and 7
and 8 (Sheet 2), from which-the-manner of drawing in will be easily perceived,
various alterations may be introduced either in the relative proportions of weft
picks and the back picks or binders, or in the way in which the different weft floats
follow each other in-succession or in the manner in which they are interwoven with
the warp threads.
The
Plush velveteens likewise consist of a 3 or 4 leaved twill back into which the
weft floats or face picks are interwoven in the same manner as in weaving a plush
Genoa velvet, and our improvements are therefore equally applicable to plush
velveteens as to plush Genoa velvets and are carried out in the same manner.
weaver's drafts, Figures 5 and 6, 7 and 8, Sheets 1 and 2, being also those for
drawing in and weaving our plush velveteens which are made in a coarser reed and
of coarser warp and weft than plush Genoa velvets. Other descriptions of backs
besides a plain or tabby back and a 3 or 4 leaved twill back may be employed,
provided such backs are made sufficiently close and firm to retain the weft floats
and to fasten the plush or pile when finished.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we claim as our Invention
the manufacture of plushes, velvets, and velveteens by the interweaving of sixteen
or more warp threads with weft threads, substantially in the manner herein-
before particularly described and illustrated by the weaver's drafts hereunto
annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Richard Shiers, the younger, and John
Jackson Shiers, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirtieth day of
December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy
nine.
RICHARD SHIERS, JUR. (L.S.)
JOHN J. SHIERS.
(L.S.)