IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL GAUZE AND ANALOGOUS FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Strang, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Manufacturer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WEAVING PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL GAUZE AND ANALOGOUS FABRICS, AND
IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Strang at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 25th May 1881.
WILLIAM STRANG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL GAUZE
AND ANALOGOUS FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
This Invention has for its object to simplify, facilitate, and otherwise improve
the weaving of plain and ornamental gauze aand analogous fabrics.
In carrying out the Invention in the case of a plain gauze fabric, what is known
as a gauze reed is employed, but instead of being moved vertically like heddles as
heretofore it is stationary. The gauze reed, as made according to one modification,
comprises long splits or reed strips fixed in the top and bottom bars of the reed,
there being alternated with these long splits, short or half-length splits which are
fixed at one end only, and have eyes formed in their free ends, the position of such
eyes being about midway between the top and bottom bars. The warp threads
passing through the eyes of the short splits are in one modification led to them
downwards from a transverse guide rod or roller placed in a somewhat elevated
position at a little distance behind the gauze reed. The other warp threads are
moved vertically (as by heddles) for forming the sheds by a pair of transverse rods
fixed together at their ends, and arranged sufficiently apart for the warps to pass
between them. The warps last referred to also pass through a reed to which
transverse movements are given at times when the warps passing through it are
moved clear of the short splits of the gauze reed, such transverse movements causing
the warps passing through the eyes to be crossed and recrossed by the other warp
threads which produces the gauze action.

page_text: The gauze reed may be made in the ordinary way, or it may be of an improved
construction, admitting of the production of finer fabrics. The having the gauze
reed stationary instead of being movable as heretofore facilitates its being con-
structed for finer fabrics, and for fabrics modified in various ways from ordinary
gauzes. Instead of the short splits being fixed with their ends in a line to one
side of the line in which the ends of the long splits are fixed, their eye ends being
inclined towards the middles of the long splits, their ends are fixed in the same
line with the ends of the long splits. In one modification there is substituted for
every alternate long split fixed at both ends a split acting as a long split, but fixed
at only one end, namely, to the bar opposite to that to which the short eyed splits
are fixed, each such substituted split extending to and projecting more or less
between two short eyed splits. The lateral movements imparted to the warps by
the transversely moving reed in conjunction with the substituted splits prevent the
warps from interfering with each other. In another modification there are two
short eyed splits in every interval between the long splits, one being fixed to the
top bar and the other to the bottom bar; and in this case the modified gauze reed
has to be moved vertically like heddles.
When using very fine wefts, and especially silk, in carrying out the present
improvements, the ordinary shuttle pirn and mode of winding on pirns is found
unsuitable, and the weft is used as wound in cylindrical layers on comparatively
long small-ended bobbins. The bobbin is held in the shuttle by a spindle or
skewer formed or fitted with a smooth cap of metal or other suitable material to
cover the outer end of the bobbin, and to minimise frictional action on the weft as
it is being drawn off. This improvement is applicable with coarse as well as with
fine wefts.
With the improved apparatus or arrangements herein before described combined
in some cases with the improvements described in a Provisional Specification filed
by the present applicant, on the thirty first day of March 1881 (No. 1418), various
fabrics may be produced, some having uniform textures the same, as or more or less
modified from ordinary gauzes, and some having combinations of such textures with
each other, or with ordinary plain or twilled textures. Figuring produced by
means of jacquard harness may also be combined with any of the textures, or with
any combination thereof, such figuring being produced either by means of special
figuring wefts, as in leno curtains, or by flushing or otherwise dealing in well
understood ways with the warps or wefts. Amongst other effects ornamental
devices can be produced by flushings effected simultaneously on both sides of the
fabric, an effect not hitherto conveniently obtained. Two or more warp threads
may be passed through each of the two spaces between each short eyed split and
the adjacent long splits; and a novel duplex gauze action may be produced by
crossing warp threads in opposite directions over or under the threads passing
through the eyes of the short splits. This duplex gauze action may be employed
with or without figuring, such figuring being produced by flushing or with special
figuring wefts; and when combined with figuring no additional mechanism is
required, the transversely shifting reed moving half or other portion of its threads
across the threads passing through the eyes of the short splits when shifting to one
side, and when returning moving back those first crossed, and making the remainder
cross to the other side. When it is desired to move the crossing threads simul-
taneously in opposite directions, for an unfigured duplex gauze for example, this is
effected by employing two very narrow transversely moving reeds or combs or
perforated rods, each operating on a portion of the crossing threads, and moving
vertically or not as may be required in different cases.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Strang in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th November 1881.
WILLIAM STRANG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL GAUze
AND ANALOGOUS FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR."
My said Invention has for its object to simplify, facilitate, and otherwise
improve the weaving of piain and ornamental gauze and analogous fabrics.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I will proceed to particularly describe my improve-
ments, referring where it appears necessary to a Sheet of explanatory Drawings,
which is hereunto appended.
Figure 1 on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is a vertical section showing
parts of a loom as arranged according to one of my improved modifications for
weaving plain gauze; Figures 2, 4, and 6 are sections, and Figures 3, 5, and 7 are
corresponding front views of portions of gauze reeds to be used in carrying out
different parts of my Invention; Figure 8 is a plan of a shuttle as fitted with a
weft bobbin for weaving fine gauzes according to my Invention, and Figure 9 is a
section of the bobbin. In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to
mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
In carrying out my Invention in the case of a plain gauze fabric, what is
known as a gauze reed is employed, but instead of being moved vertically like
heddles as heretofore it is stationary. The gauze reed, marked 10 in Figure 1, and
made according to a well known plan, comprises long splits, dents, or reed strips
fixed in the top and bottom bars of the reed, there being alternated with these
long splits short or half-length splits, which are fixed at one end only, and have
eyes formed in their free ends (the upper ends in the modification shown in
Figure 1), the position of such eyes being about midway between the top and
bottom bars. The warp threads 11 passing through the eyes of the short splits of
the gauze reed 10 are led to them from a transverso guide rod or bar 12 placed at
a little distanco behind the gauze reed 10, and at a height or level nearly the same
as that bar of the gauze reed to which the short splits are fixed. With the gauze
reed 10 in the position shown in Figure 1 the warps 11 passing through the eyes
of the short splits pass in an upward direction to the eyes, but when the gauze
reed 10 is placed with the short splits pointing downwards, then the guide bar 12
is placed near the upper bar and the warps 11 descend from it to the eyes of the
short splits. From the eyes of the short splits the warps 11 passing through them
proceed directly through the main or lathe reed 13 to the fell of the cloth. The
other warp threads 14 are moved vertically (as by heddles) for forming the sheds
by a pair of transverse rods 15 fixed together at their ends, and arranged just
sufficiently apart for the warps to pass easily between them. These rods 15 are
fixed to lever arms 16 at the sides of the loom, and the vibrating motion for
raising and lowering the warps 14 is given to the lever arms 16 by cams 17 on a
shaft 18 rotating at the same rate as the crank shaft of the loom. The warps 14
also pass through a reed 19, which when the bar 12 is in the position shown in
Figure 1 may be fitted to rest and slide transversely on the upper concave side
thereof. The reed 19 may be moved transversely by any suitable mechanism,
such as is in use for moving cross-motion reeds or equivalent apparatus, the
transverse motion being given at the times when by the action of the bars 15 the
warps 14 are moved clear of the short splits of the gauze reed 10, such transverse
movements causing the warps 11 passing through the eyes of the short splits to be

page_text: crossed and recrossed by the other warp threads 14, which in concert with the
other well understood weaving operations produces the gauze action. When the
gauze reed 10 is placed with the short splits pointing downwards it is fixed at such
level as that the warps 11 passing through the eyes of the short splits in proceeding
directly thence through. the main reed 13 to the fell of the cloth always lie upon
the race, or form the bottom of the shed instead of the top, as in the modification
shown in Figure 1, and between each shed the other warps 14 are moved down
below the points of the short splits next moved transversely under those points,
and then raised up again for the next shed.
The gauze reed may be made in the ordinary way, or it may be of an improved
construction admitting of the production of finer fabrics. The having the gauze
reed stationary instead of being movable, as generally the case heretofore, facilitates
its being constructed for finer fabrics, and for fabrics modified in various ways
from ordinary gauzes. Instead of the short splits of the gauze reed being fixed
(in the ordinary way, as shown in Figure 1), with their held ends in a line to one
side of or behind the line in which the ends of the long splits are fixed, their eye
ends being inclined towards the middles of the long splits, their ends are fixed in
the saine line with the ends of the long splits. In one modification, shown in
Figures 2 and 3, there is substituted for every alternate long split fixed at both
ends a split acting as a long split, but fixed at one end, namely, to the bar opposite
to that to which the short eyed splits are fixed, each such substituted split
extending to and projecting more or less between two short eyed splits. The
lateral movements imparted to the warps (14) by the transversely moving reed (19)
in conjunction with the substituted splits prevent the warps from interfering with
each other or getting into wrong spaces. In a second modification; shown in
Figures 4 and 5, the alteration or substitution of the long splits is carried a step
further; and for every one of the long splits of the ordinary gauze reed there is
substituted a split fixed to the bar opposite to that to which the short eyed splits
are fixed, and projecting to a greater or less distance into each space between the
short eyed splits. When a gauze reed, such as is shown in Figures 4 and 5, is used
in combination with jacquard harness, novel and peculiar weaving effects can be
produced by moving the cross-motion reed or equivalent apparatus two successive
steps in one direction and the reverse. For example, with the short eyed splits
pointing upwards certain warp threads selected by the pattern mechanism may be
raised, crossed once, and lowered, and then for a following shed raised again and
crossed a second time in the same direction, thus getting each over two threads
passing through the eyes of the short splits, and being afterwards returned again
by two reverse steps to their original positions. In a similar way there may be
more than two successive crossings in one direction.
In another modification of gauze reed, which is shown in Figures 6 and 7, there
are two short eyed splits in every interval between the long splits (of the ordinary
gauze reed), one short split being fixed to the top bar and the other to the bottom
bar; and in this case the modified gauze reed has for some of the sheds to be
moved vertically like heddles. The warps through the eyes of the upper short
splits descend to them from an upper guide rod or bar, and those through the eyes
of the lower short splits ascend to them from a lower guide rod or bar; and
between these upper and lower guide rods or bars pass the other or loose warps.
With this kind of gauze reed the weaving operations may be considerably varied;
but according to one modification in which ground weft shots are alternated with
figuring weft shots the following cycle of operations occurs, the gauze being
supposed to be in a position holding the warps passing through the eyes of its
short splits down on the race:-1. Half of the other or loose threads are raised by
the harness, the gauze reed remaining stationary, and the ground weft is shot.
2. A figuring shed is formed in the loose threads, the gauze reed still remaining
stationary, and the figuring weft is shot. 3. One half of the loose threads are
4. A figuring
raised, the gauze being also raised, and the ground weft is shot.
shed is formed in the loose threads, the gauze reed being lowered, and the figuring

page_text: weft is shot. The transverse or crossing movement for producing the gauze is
given to the cross-motion reed (19), and by it to the loose warp threads just before
the formation of each shed for a ground shot, that is, before the first and third
operation of each cycle..
The gauze reed shown in Figures 6 and 7 may be used for weaving a kind of
fine plain gauze, and in this case it is moved alternately up and down for alternate
sheds. The loose warp threads or those not passing through the eyes of the short
splits pass through the cross-motion reed (19), but each half of them is kept
separate from the other half by upper and lower transverse guide rods or bars
behind the cross-motion reed (19), and these warp threads have no vertical motion,
the upper half always passing over the shuttle and the lower half always lying on
For producing the sheds there are no motions but the alternate up and
down motions of the gauze reed and the alternate right and left motions of the.
cross-motion reed, the latter being effected in one direction whilst the gauze reed.
is at or near its highest position, so that the upper half of the loose warp threads
can cross under the downwardly pointed short splits, and in the other direction
when the gauze reed is at or near its lowest position, so that the lower half
of the loose threads can pass over the upwardly pointed short splits.
the race.
The various reeds shown in Figures 2 to 7 may if preferred be constructed
with the held ends of the short splits fixed like those of a common gauze
reed in a line to one side of the line in which the ends of the long splits are
fixed.
When using very fine wefts, and especially silk, in carrying out my present
improvements, the ordinary shuttle pirn and mode of winding on pirns is found
unsuitable, and I use the weft as wound in cylindrical layers on comparatively long
small-ended bobbins. The bobbin 20, which is shown in Figures 8 and 9, and does not
rotate, is held in the shuttle by a spindle or skewer formed or fitted with a smooth
round cap 21 of metal or other suitable material to cover the outer free end of the
bobbin, and to minimise frictional action on the weft as it is being drawn off.
This improvement is applicable with coarse as well as with fine wefts, and for
various fabrics.
With the improved apparatus or arrangements herein before described, combined
in some cases with the improvements described in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to me, and dated 31 March 1881 (No. 1418), various fabrics may
be produced, some having uniform textures the same as or more or less modified
from ordinary gauzes, and some having combinations of such textures with
each other or with ordinary plain or twilled textures in different stripes or portions
of the fabric. Figuring produced by means of jacquard harness may also be
combined with any of the textures or with any combination thereof, such figuring
being produced either by means of special figuring wefts as in leno curtains or
by flushing or otherwise dealing in well understood ways with the warps or wefts.
In my Provisional Specification relative hereto certain weaving effects with
flushings on both sides of the fabric, and effects produced by a duplex gauze action
are mentioned, but I do not herein make any claims respecting such effects, as I
have not as yet sufficiently worked out the arrangements required for their
production.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by and in terms of the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The weaving of plain gauze fabrics by means of apparatus, the parts of which
are combined or arranged and operate substantially in the manner bereinbefore
described with reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings.
2. The application and use of a gauze reed constructed as herein before described
with reference to Figures 2 and of the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: 3. The application and use of a gauze reed constructed as hereinbefore described
with reference to Figures 4 and 5 of the accompanying Drawings.
4. The application and use of a gauze reed constructed as herein before described
with reference to Figures 6 and 7 of the accompanying Drawings.
5. The employment in the shuttles used in weaving plain or ornamental gauzes
or other fabrics of long small ended bobbins having the weft wound on them in
cylindrical layers and fitted with smooth round caps, substantially as and for the
purposes hereinbefore described.
6. The weaving of ornamental gauze or analogous fabrics by means of any of the
improved gauze reeds herein before described, and in any of the modes herein before
indicated.
7. The system or mode of arranging apparatus for weaving plain and ornamental
gauze and analogous fabrics wherein the gauze reed is stationary, such gauze reed
being constructed according to any of the modes herein before described with
reference to Figures 1 to 5 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Strang, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty-one.
W. STRANG. (LS.)