CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERED CORDED TEXTILE FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, BEING APPLICABLE EITHER TO HAND OR POWER
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Edmondson, of Blackburn, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERED CORDED TEXTILE
FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, BEING
APPLICABLE EITHER TO HAND OR POWER."
Sealed the 3rd November 1858, and dated the 11th May 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Edmondson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th May 1858.
I, RICHARD EDMONDSON, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERED CORDED TEXTILE
FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, BEING APPLI-
CABLE EITHER TO HAND OR POWER," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists, first, in introducing into the
warp certain cords, and covering the same by a woven texture above or
below, or both above and below, by the strands of the warp and woof
conjointly being so interwoven as to completely cover the same in

page_text: such a way that the covered cords will stand out in relief above or
below the rest of the fabric.
Secondly, in adapting machinery so as to produce, either by hand or
power, fabrics of this kind with case, by freeing the machinery from
oscillation and vibration, which, without such improvements, would
occur, as well as to prevent certain parts of the cloth from gaining
ground or weaving faster in one part than another, and also in taking
up the fabric as it is woven truly & evenly with as much ease as
other fabrics less complicated are taken up.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Edmondson in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 10th November 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
RICHARD EDMONDSON, of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the 11th day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-threc, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Ferself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Richard Edmondson, Her especial license
that I, the said Richard Edmondson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Edmondson, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF COVERED CORDED TEXTILE
FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE, BEING APPLI-
CABLE EITHER TO HAND OR POWER," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Richard Edmondson, 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

page_text: 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 sail Richard Edmondson, do hereby
leclare 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 (that is to say):
These improvements in the manufacture of covered corded textile
fabrics consist, first, in the introduction of cords into the warp, and in
covering the same by interweaving the threads of the warp and woof,
so as to form a complete texture on one or both sides of the cords.
Covered corded fabrics are used for many commercial purposes, but till
the present time the cords have been introduced into the fabrics in the
woof (which has limited the usefulness of such fabrics), as difficulties
have hitherto existed which have rendered the production of fabrics
having covered cords in the warp impracticable, which difficulties it is
the object of this Invention to remove. It is known in the trade that
designs in this description of fabric are produced by varying the
distances and thickness of the cords; with this scope in design it will
be seen that patterns may be designed of great inequality of thick-
ness, which, if arranged to be woven with the cords in the direction of
the warp, would (especially with patterns thin on one side and thick on
the other) produce certain irregularities in the mechanism, as some
parts of the warp would oppose greater resistance to the operating
parts than others. This inequality in the thickness of the fabric
further renders the ordinary system of "taking up" by simply winding
the web on a roller as it is woven impracticable, as will be obvious to
weavers.
With these preliminary observations I will proceed to explain the
manner in which I carry my Invention into effect, and in which I
overcome the difficulties alluded to, taking, for example, by supposition,
one of the most difficult and common designs of covered corded fabric,
(which, when understood, will render this mode of producing all other
covered corded designs quite clear to the practical weaver,) namely,
designs intended for skirts or undercoats. These designs or patterns, it

page_text: is known, have a number of cords arranged over that part intended to
form the bottom of the skirt, the upper part being thin and uncorded;
this design of fabric will present all the practical difficulties in its
manufacture which have been already referred to. The threads
intended to form the body or ground, the cords, and the threads for
covering the cords, are each wound on separate beams. The threads
for the body or ground of the web will be in number according to
the width and quality of the ground required, arranged as for an
even fabric, with spaces left for the cords, which may be either cords
or a number of uncombined threads. The covering threads will ex-
tend over the cords in the spaces left in the main body or ground.
When these warps on their respective beams are arranged in the loom
they are drawn through their respective healds; namely, the warp of
the main body is drawn as in the ordinary manner to produce plain
tweel or satin grounds, as may be required, using the number of leaves
necessary for such purposes; the cords are drawn through a separate
shaft of healds by themselves, a little longer than the skirt bottom, and
the covering threads or ends at the top or bottom sides are drawn
through separate sets of healds according to the description of covering
required, the number of covering ends to each cord being regulated
accordingly; when a plain covering is only required, two shafts of
healds are all that is necessary to the covering ends on each side.
The threads of the respective warps are drawn through the reed, the
same as the ordinary manner, observing the following rules:-If the
cords are small, and the covering ends few, then each cord alone with
its covering ends are drawn into one dent; but if the cords are thick and
the covering ends many then if they are both drawn in the same dent,
a second reed or reeds is fixed close behind the common reed to divide
the covering ends into such portions as will weave without “cockeling *
(as it is termed amongst weavers); if the cords are so thick as not to
work conveniently in one dent, they are divided, when formed of a
number of ends, and put into two or three dents, with as many of the
covering ends as the weaver finds convenient, or the whole cord is put
into a spaced dent with all the covering ends; in this case the second
reed or reeds before referred to must be used to keep the ends from

page_text: "cockeling." The tie-up is arranged so that when the cords rise to form
a "shed" all the top covering warp threads will rise with them, together
with as many of the covering warp threads (if any) on the under side
as are necessary to form the covering texture required on the under
side of the cords; and when the cords sink to form the opposite shed
all the under covering warp threads will sink with them, together with
as many of the upper covering warp threads as are necessary to form
the covering texture on the upper side of the cords. The quantity of
woof in the texture forming the covering of the cords cannot (as
will be obvious) equal that of the main body or ground of the fabric
under any circumstances; this will depend upon the frequency of the
rising or sinking of the cords which may alternately rise and fall, in
which case equal quantities of woof will be on the top as on the bottom
side of the cord; this woof will form a texture when there are
covering warp throads with which to interweave it; it will thus be
obvious that the cords may rise once and fall twice every three picks,
or that they may rise fewer and fall a greater number of times, or vice
versâ, as required.
"
The second part of my Invention relates to the arrangement and
modification of the loom, and its niechanism, to adapt it to weave
the fabrics referred to in the first part of my Invention. In designs
of covered corded fabrics for skirts or undercoats, mentioned in the
first part of my Invention, the healds necessarily contained a greater
quantity of warp at one side than the other; consequently there will
arise a greater strain upon the healds in forming the "sheds" at
one side than at the other; this, with the ordinary tie-up or mode of
suspending such healds, would create an oscillation in them, and cause
unequal sheds to be formed. To obviate this inconvenience I fix upon
a centre or point upon the shaft of the healds where the strain of the
yarn on the healds on one side of the point will be equal to that on
the other side (which would be the point on which the shaft would
balance when risen or fallen to form the "shed"), and make that point
the centre of the "tie-up," or if the fabric has a corded portion on one
side, and uncorded portion on the other, then the shafts are cut so
that those parts containing each portion may work independent of the

page_text: other. This inequality in the quantity of yarn on each side of the fabric
also causes a greater resistance to the beat up of the reed (when woven
in hand looms) on one side than the other, from which another incon-
venience arises in the shape of a vibration of the slay, causing a closer
weaving of the weft on one side than the other. To remedy this I use
a slay heavier on one side than the other, and as I find that the
resistance to the beat up is about directly as the number of threads of
yarn in equal spaces of the reed, I weight the slay as near as possible
proportionate to the quantity of yarn, so as to give a momentum to all
parts of it proportionate to the resistance to be overcome by each part.
The last modification of mechanism whieh remains for me to describe
is for taking up the fabrics as woven; the difficulty of accomplishing
this has already been alluded to, arising from the unequal thickness of
the fabric for this purpose, I employ three rollers similar in size and
form to the ordinary and common breast beam roller, which forms one
of the three, the second roller being placed directly under the breast
beam roller, or more towards the slay; the third roller is the cloth
beam, which may be placed, as convenient, at a distance a little below
the others. The first and second rollers are covered with a soft kind
of cloth or felting, or other material, which will permit the cords of the
woven fabric to sink and bed themselves in it. These rollers are
brought to work in contact with each other by set screws, by which the
cloth is firmly pinced between them. The fabric passes as it is woven
over the breast beam roller, and between it and the second roller, and
then on to the cloth roller; motion for taking up is imparted to the
breast beam roller by any of the usual modes, and the fabric may be
wound on the cloth beam as taken up by hand, or by a weight or
friction. The peculiar feature of novelty of the above mode of taking
up consists in the use of the soft cloth or felt, or other material, which
permits the cords to sink and embed, so that the rollers firmly pince the
ground or thinnest portion of the cloth, by which means an equal strain
is put upon the whole width of the fabric in taking up.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the mode in
which it may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I
claim, First, the covering of cords in the warp of a fabric by a woven

page_text: texture above or below, or both above and below, the cords, as herein-
before described. Second, the use of a reed or reeds behind the com-
mon reed to keep the cords or strands from "cockeling," as hercin-
before described. Third, the improved "tie-up" of the heald shafts,
and the working of them in sectional parts, so as to produce parallel
sheds, as herein-before described. Fourth, the weighting of the slay
to prevent vibration, as herein-before described. And fifthly and lastly,
the use of "covered" rollers for the purpose of taking up the fabric as
it is woven, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Edmondson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of November, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
RICHARD EDMONDSON. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and [delivered
(being duly stamped) by the
within-named Richard Ed-
mondson in the presence of
THOMAS HELM,
of Blackburn.