IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VELVET, AND IN APPA- RATUS EMPLOYED THEREWITH.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to (Hormis Laurent) Morel and (Guillaume Ambroise
Marie) Riboulet, of Lyons (France), Manufacturers, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VELVET, AND IN APPA-
RATUS EMPLOYED THEREWITH.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hormis Laurent Morel
and Guillaume Ambroise Marie Riboulet at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 19th October
1872.
We, HORMIS LAURENT MOREL and GUILLAUME AMBROISE MARIE
RIBOULET, of Lyons, France, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
VELVET, AND IN APPARATUS EMPEOYED THEREWITH," to be as follows :-
This Inventure related to the manufacture of velvets, plushes, and
similar fabrics formed of two pieces and cut in the middle to form the
pile, and consists in making the pile from the weft threads instead of
the warp threads by the following improved arrangements and apparatus.
For obtaining sufficient depth or height of pile each weft thread is

page_text: corrugated, Dent, or taken in by warp bureaus perpenur
thread.
If by any shedding motion worked by jacquard, dobby, or other
well-known apparatus, the higher warp thread is separated from the
lower one diverging threads are obtained forming a sharp angle, in which
is introduced a hollow rod of iron or other material called a weft
carrier, and if at this moment the shedding motion is put in action the
warp threads have liberty to return to their original positions, inclosing
between them the weft carrier, and if by any means the weft carrier is
brought back, the warp threads return to the positions they were in
before the shedding took place, the carrier leaving behind the weſt thread
it contained, which thread is submitted to the succession pressures of of
the warp thread so that it will be of a corrugated or zig-zag shape.
The weft carrier is jointed to a small support so that it can be moved
from a parallel to an oblique position, and the support and carrier are
connected to a tubular guide, which can be moved to and fro the entire
width of the warp. At one end of the support there is a steel rod
having a hook, which passes over the top of a support holding a regu-
lating iron, the depth which must be equal to twice the height or depth
of the pile.
The weft is supplied from a cop held on the tubular guide, and the
carrier is drawn back by the same means which caused its advance
between the diverged wark threads, and when it has arrived at its first
point of departure at the edge of the warp the weft thread is cut by
scissors worked one way by a roller on the slay or batten and the other
way by a weight, and there is also a knife to cut the weft if by any
chance it should be too much drawn by the corrugation, and after the
weft threads corrugated in the warps are beaten up by the reed of the
loom in the usual manner the ordinary knife or cutter having alternate
rectilinear movements cuts the weft thread in the middle, thereby
finishing the pile on the two pieces of fabric.
By arranging several weft carriers having cops of threads of different
colors or shades velvets can be manufactured having different transverse
colours, and thus any required length of velvet of any colour desired can
be woven from the same warps with different colored wefts.
By employing two jacquard one for pulling down the warps and the
other raising them, some threads may be crossed and some not, and thus
figured velvet can be made.

page_text: The harness and shedding motion can be so arranged that by the
same passage of the weft carrier the foundation of taffeta, satin, or
other stuff can have velvet flowers or other designs on the same foun-
dation.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HORMIS
LAURENT MOREL and GUILLAUME AMBROISE MARIE RIBOULET, of
Lyons, France, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Hormis Laurent Morel and Guillaume
Ambroise Marie Riboulet, Her special licence that we, the said Hormis
Laurent Morel and Guillaume Ambroise Marie Riboulet, our exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Hormis
Laurent Morel and Guillaume Ambroise Marie Riboulet, our 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF VELVET, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREWITH," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Hormis Laurent Morel
and Guillaume Ambroise Marie Riboulet, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Hormis Laurent Morel and
Guillaume Ambroise Marie Riboulet, do hereby declare the nature of
our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of illustrative
Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thercon (that is to say) :—
This Invention relates to the manufacture of velvets, plushes, and
similar fabrics formed of two pieces and cut in the middle to form the
pile, and consists in making the pile from the weft threads instead of the
warp threads by the following improved arrangements and apparatus.
For obtaining sufficient depth or hight of pilo cach weft thread is cor-
rugated, bent, or taken in by warp threads perpendicular to the weft
thread.
If Ly any shedding motion worked by jacquard, dobby, or other
well-known apparatus the higher warp thread is separated from
the lower one diverging threads are obtained, forming a sharp angle, in
which is introduced a hollow rod of iron or other material called a weft
carrier, and if at this moment the shedding motion is put in action the
warp threads have liberty to return to their original positions, enclosing
between them the weft carrier, and if by any means the weſt carrier is
brought back the warp threads return to the positions they were in before
the shedding took place, the carrier leaving behind the weft thread it
contained, which thread is submitted to the successive pressures of the
warp threads, so that it will be of a corrugated or zig-zag shape.
The weft carrier is jointed to a small support, so that it can be moved
from a parallel to an oblique position, and the support and carrier are
.connected to a tubular guide, which can be moved to and fro the entire
width of the warp. At one end of the support there is a steel rod
having a hook, which passes over the top of a support holding a regu-
lating iron, the depth which must be equal or twice the height or depth
of the pile.
The weft is supplied from a cop held on the tubular guide, and the
carrier is drawn back by the same means which caused its advance
between the diverged warp threads, and when it has arrived at its first
point of departure at the edge of the warp the weft thread is cut by
scissors worked one way by a roller on the slay or batten and the other
way by a weight, and there is also a knife to cut the weft if by any

page_text: chance it should be too much drawn by the corrugation, and after the
weft threads corrugated in the warps are beaten up by the reed of the
loom in the usual manner the ordinary knife or cutter having alternate
rectilinear movement cuts the weft threads in the middle, thereby
finishing the pile on the two pieces of fabric.
By arranging several weft carriers having cops of threads of different
colours or shades velvets can be manufactured having different transverse
colours, and thus any required length of velvet of any colour desired can
be woven from the same warps with different coloured wefts.
By employing two jacquard machines, one for pulling down the warps
and the other for raising them, some threads may be crossed and some
not, and thus figured velvet can be made.
The harness and shedding motion can be so arranged that by the same
passage of the weft carrier the foundation of taffeta, satin, or other stuff
can have velvet flowers or other designs on the same foundation.
Our Invention obviates the following difficulties which are met with
in the manufacture of velvets of two pieces :-First, the diminution of
the brightness of the fabric in consequence of the oblique cutting of the
threads; secondly, the excessive reduction; thirdly, the blows or beating
up for tying; fourthly, the necessity of using silks of the first quality;
fifthly, the impossibility of having different transverse colors or shades
in the same piece; sixthly, loss in the materials for giving the pattern
or design; and seventhly, the slowness of the manufacture. All these
difficulties disappear in manufacturing velvets by corrugating, bending,
or taking in the weft instead of the warp, as herein-after described and
shewn on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a
plan and Fig. 2 an end view of parts of a loom having one arrangement
of our improvements, and Figs. 3 and 4 are diagrams for illustrating the
corrugated condition of the weft, and we give the name corrugated to
any thread of weft which is pressed by other threads perpendicular
to it.
In Fig. 3 a, b, represents a straight thread and c, c, d, d, threads per-
pendicular to the first, and if pressure is given to each of the threads d, d,
a corrugated form is given to the weft thread, as shewn in Fig. 4, the
same thread being between the two warps A, A, Fig. 2, used for making
the fabrics. If by any shedding motion with the warps arranged as
required we separate the higher warp from the lower one a certain

page_text: number of threads passing from one warp to the other we obtain
diverging threads, as shewn at a, b, Fig. 2; these threads form then a
sharp angle in which we introduce a hollow rod of iron called an iron
weft carrier, and if at this moment the shedding motion is put in action
the warp threads become at liberty to return to their original positions,
converging as at c, d, with relation to their positions a, b, enclosing
between them the iron weft carrier, and it is evident that each of the
stretched warp threads exerts a pressure on the iron, and if by any
means we bring back the weft carrier the warp threads return to
the positions they were in before the shedding took place, the carrier
leaving behind the weft thread which it contained, and the thread
which is obtained from a cop held at one end of the weft carrier is sub-
mitted to the successive pressures of the warp threads, so that it will be
corrugated as before described, and as this thread is the weft itself we
arrive at the system of making velvets by the weft, and this is the most ]
important of our Invention, which causes all the difficulties before
named to disappear.
The centre of the knife used for separating the two pieces is in the
centre of the two tissues, and the weft thread, which has been corru-
gated, is perpendicular to the cutting edge, and consequently its parallel a
section is towards the tissue, and all the corrugated threads are cut at
the same height and the velvet preserves all its brightness.
The thread carried by the weft carrier may be more or less chenilled;
the velvet will also be the same; and we can also cause the warps by
means of the shedding motion to corrugate the weft thread at each dent,
at every two dents, or at every three dents of the reed, and thus there is
no necessity of the reduction of the velvet which takes place with the
old method.
By our system we dispense with the blows for tying up by arranging
the harness and shedding motion in such a manner that the corrugation 3
of the weft thread is made by a certain number of warp threads, thereby
preventing the slipping out of the weft and consolidating the pile, results
which can only be obtained by having the thread forming the pile per-
pendicular to the warp threads.
In the old system of manufacture, where it is sometimes required to 3
have several thousands of threads, it was necessary that the materials
should be of the first quality, so that no burs or unoveness should

page_text: impede the work, whereas in our system we have only to govern a single
thread, which is incontestibly more easy and allows the employment of
materials of all qualitics.
By arranging several weft carriers having cops of threads of different
colors or shades we are capable of manufacturing velvets having
different transverse colours, which cannot be done by the other system,
and thus we are able from the same warps to make a required length of
velvet of any colour desired, and thus effect a great economy in the
preparation of the picee.
By employing two jacquard machines, one for pulling down the warps
and the other for lifting them, we can cross some of the threads used
for making the velvet and exclude others, and thereby make figured
velvets.
The harness and shedding motion can be so arranged that we can
manufacture by the same passage of the weft carrier the foundation of
taffeta, satin, or other stuff having velvet flowers on the same foundation,
and it will be seen from the foregoing description that the manufacture
can be more rapidly performed and a great economy effected in manual
labour.
To obtain these results we employ the machine shewn in the Drawing,
and also a shedding motion for diverging the threads, and push cither by
hand or mechanism the tube guide C, the support D, and the weft
carrier F, which is introduced into the space formed by the divergence
of the threads a, b, c, d. Through the weft carrier is passed a thread a,
supplied from a cop P, and this thread forms, the weft. When the weft
carrier has passed entirely across the warp a small crank D' connected
with the weft carrier comes in contact with a projection or catch N,
which causes it to move in an oblique direction and force the end of the
weft holder against the tissue, and when the shedding motion is
slackened the weft carrier will be enclosed as before described.
At one end of the support D there is a steel rod K having a hook,
which passes over the top of the support E of a regulating iron G pro-
vided with a roller, thereby making the weft carrier F and regulating
iron solid with each other. At this time the weft carrier is drawn back
by the same means which has been employed for the advance, and each
of the threads of the warp acts upon the weft, giving it corrugations,
the dimensions of which are regulated by the iron regulator, the thick-

page_text: ness of which is equal to twice the height to be given to the pile of the
velvet when the weft carrier has arrived at its first point of departure
at the edge of the warp the weft thread is cut by forceps or scissors II,
worked one way by means of a roller O on the slay or batten B comming
in contact with a projection or snug on the rod M' and the other way by
a weight. These scissors are fixed on a rod in a socket I enclosing a
spiral spring for keeping the scissors forward, and when a blow has to be
given to beat up the fabric the body J of the slay or batten strikes the
projection N and forces the scissors back, so that the reed V can advance
and beat up the fabric, and at the same time the weft carrier is touched
by the steel rod K in order to place it parallel with the slay, and this
rod K also meets a projection which separates it from the iron regu-
lator G, which is then acted upon by a spring to which it is fixed in order
to turn it aside and return to its original position. At Q will be
scen a small steel blade fixed to a support, the cutting edge of the blade
being turned toward the weft thread, so that if by chance the weft thread
should be too much drawn by the corrugation the tension would cause
the thread to be cut by forcing it against the cutting edge of the
blade.
At the front part the machine the knife or cutter L separates the two
picces, the knife being put into alternate rectilinear movement by any
ordinary apparatus worked by the machine.
Whatever may be the means employed for arriving at these results,
whether by hand labour or by machinery worked by power, we claim as
essential characteristics of our Invention,-
First. The corrugation of the thread of weft by the threads of the
warps by any mechanical means, but more especially those shewn and
described.
Secondly. The application of a regulating iron for giving corrugations
the required height, whatever may be the form of the iron.
Thirdly. The application of a hollow rod or bar of iron or other
material of any desired shape to be used as a weft carrier for trans-
porting the weft thread from one side of the warp to the other, and the
oblique arrangement of the weft carrier in relation to the fabric.
Fourthly. The arrangement of the harness and shedding apparatus
which avoids the necessity of giving blows for tying up.

page_text: Fifthly. The arrangement of jacquard machines, which allow in con-
sequence of the direction given to the weft to make by a single passage
of the weft carrier the foundation of the stuff of any kind of fabric or
tissue, and form at the same time velvet patterns or designs, and this for
all descriptions of tissues, whatever may be the nature of the textile
materials employed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Hormis Laurent Morel and
Guillaume Ambroise Marie Riboulet, have hereunto set our
hands and seals, this Twelfth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
ALBERT CAHEN,
Civil Engineer,
32, Boulevard Magenta,
at Paris.
H. L. MOREL.
(L.S.)
G. A. M. RIBOULET. (L.S.)