Improvements in the Manufacture of Carpets and Rugs.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Dec., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 15th Sept., 1892-Accepted, 15th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Carpets and Rugs.
ALBERT WEBB of Copenhagen Street, Worcester, Horsehair Carpet Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
This invention relates to an improved method of arranging the threads of
horsehair, or horsehair and wool, in the process of weaving carpets or rugs, either
with a looped or cut pile, so as to produce a fabric much more durable than
ordinary wool carpets, with a greater brightness of color, and more susceptible
of decorative design than ordinary horsehair carpets. As horsehair yarn is too
hard to be woven effectively into a velvet carpet by the ordinary process known
as "three shot" velvet weaving, I now propose to obtain the effect of such weaving
by the method to be described.
To accomplish this, I place the threads of hair and wool, wound on bobbins,
in creel frames, in the same manner as ordinarily employed in weaving Brussels
carpet. Or the threads may be wound upon beams as in weaving tapestry
carpet or part may be on a beam or beams, and part in the creel frames, as before
mentioned. Prior to this, the threads put in the creel frames will be dyed, when
necessary, and those on the beams may have a pattern printed upon them in a
similar manner to the process ordinarily employed in preparing worsted yarns for
weaving tapestry carpets. To produce the fabric, the threads of hair and wool yarn are
drawn through the gears or healds, either of a jacquard carpet loom, or a tapestry
carpet loom, in the ordinary manner, but in the latter case, the loom will be
provided with a second gear for raising the material of which the surface is to be
made, known as a pole shaft or print gear.
In a jacquard loom, one set of the threads of hair will be put in one quarter or
row of healds, preferably the front quarter, and the other threads of hair or wool
in the remaining quarters, according as it may be desired to make two, three, four,
or five frame carpet.
In the tapestry loom, the threads of hair will be put by preference in the front
pole shaft or gear, and the wool, in the second pole shaft or gear; or they may be
placed alternately in the first and the second
In weaving, the row of healds, or the gear containing the hair threads, will be
raised, and a wire put under the raised threads in the ordinary manner employed
in weaving Brussels or velvet pile carpets. These threads will then fall, and the
binding thread be shot across in the ordinary manner. At the next lift of the
material to form the surface, the threads which first rose will remain below, and
other threads of wool, or wool and hair, will be raised, and the wire put under them,
the first threads rising only sufficiently high to allow the binding thread to pass
under them. The second row of threads will then fall, together with the row first
raised, and the latter will have a second binding thread shot across it, after which
it will again rise for the insertion of the next wire under it, whilst the second row
of threads will only rise to the same height as the first row rose, when the wire was
being inserted under the second row and so on.
If, instead of all the hair being raised at once, only half the number of yarns is
raised, alternated with wool, those threads, either of hair or wool, which rose above
the wire on the first occasion, will remain below the wires, until the alternate
remainders of both. kinds have been raised and bound in,-the object being to insure
a tight binding of the threads forming the surface, by causing each to receive two
binding threads above them, before they are brought to the surface again. It also
ensures that, the whole surface, of the carpet will have a sufficient and evenly

page_text: distributed quantity of hair upon it, so as to support and protect the wool amongst
which it is placed.
By this method of arranging that the threads of horsehair and wool shall be
held down whilst two binding shots are thrown, before they again rise to form the
surface, I am enabled to produce a horse-hair carpet with brighter coloring, and
possessing greater decorative effect, than ordinary horse-hair carpets.
Dated this 15th day of December 1891.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Carpets and Rugs.
I, ALBERT WEBB, of Copenhagen Street, Worcester, Horsehair Carpet Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The object of this invention is to improve the manufacture of what are known
as hair carpets and rugs, which, as hitherto made, have the advantage of great
endurance, but are inferior in appearance to ordinary terry, and much less cut-pile
carpets.
These hair carpets have a pile composed of spun horsehair, or partly of spun hair
and partly of wool, the two materials being in some cases twisted or spun together
to form a yarn.
There is, however, a great want of richness of color in such carpets and rugs, and
a very limited scope for design.
In carrying out my invention, I arrange the threads of horse or other hair and
wool in the loom in a manner that, while producing a fabric much more durable
than ordinary wool carpets, will secure a greater brightness of color than is
admissible in horse-hair carpets manufactured in the manner heretofore practised,
at the same time allowing of the introduction of almost unlimited design.
Spun hair carpets have not yet been so made as to admit of their loops being
severed to produce a cut-pile fabric, for the following reasons, viz. the slippery
surface of horsehair necessitates its being spun into a hard twisted yarn of rather
large diameter as compared with the worsted yarns of which carpets are usually
made. To secure this hard, slippery yarn firmly in its place when the loops are
to be cut, it is necessary that each thread of yarn used to form the surface loops
should be securely bound before being again brought to the surface.
In the weaving of wool-velvet carpets by the ordinary process, by which two
weft shots are thrown across the fabric between each wire, ordinary wool yarn
being soft, allows the lathe or slay to beat the first weft partially under the wire
forming the pile, and after the second weft is shot across the slay, beats the
wire of the next loop partially over it, so that the wires forming the successive
loops are nearly touching each other when the process is complete, but the hard
hair yarn will not give way to the blow of the slay, but keeps the first weft
some distance from the first wire, and the second wire in similar manner kept
away from the second weft, the result being, a space between the two wires,
nearly equal to the thickness of another wire. When the loops of a wool carpet
are cut, the fibres stand so close together that they support each other, and
present a uniform and even surface, but if the same be done with a horse-hair
carpet made as above described, the fibres, which are fewer in number (on
account of their greater thickness), are some distance apart, and receive no
mutual support, so that a ridgy and uneven appearance is seen on the surface.
As horse-hair yarn is too hard and thick to be woven effectually into a velvet
pile carpet by the ordinary process employed in velvet-pile carpet weaving, I
now propose to obtain the effect of such weaving by the method to be described.

page_text: I use yarns composed wholly of horse-hair and wholly of wool, or those in which
horse-hair is spun or twisted together with wool, and I so arrange and operate the.
warp threads which are to form the face of the carpet, that the loops or tufts of
wool will alternate with loops or tufts of horse-hair, or when using yarns composed
of hair and wool spun or twisted together, I make the loops of one shed alternate
with the loops of another and similar shed, and each receive two binding shots,
which will secure them firmly in the fabric. The threads of hair and of wool
wound on bobbins, I place in creel frames in the manner commonly practised in the
Brussels carpet manufacture. Or the threads may be wound upon beams, as in
weaving tapestry carpets, or part may be on a beam or beams, and part in the creel
frames, as before mentioned.
The threads. carried by the creel frames will be dyed when necessary, and those
on the beams may either be dyed or may have a pattern printed on them, in a
similar manner to the process ordinarily cinployed in preparing worsted yarns for
weaving tapestry carpets.
To produce the fabric in a jacquard carpet loom, the threads of spun hair (or, in
lieu thereof, a portion of the composite wool and hair yarn before mentioned,) will
be drawn through the eyes of their healds in the ordinary manner, and I prefer to
draw them into the row of healds known as the first "quarter," that being the row
nearest to the lathe or slay. The remaining threads of wool (or wool and hair)
will be put, in similar manner, in the remaining quarter or quarters, according as it
may be desired to make two, three, four, or five frame carpet, and a thread from
each quarter will then be put in cach reed or division of the slay. Or in wearing
with two quarters or sets of healds, the threads may be entered alternately by
drawing a hair yarn into the first heald of the first quarter, and a wool yarn into
the second heald of the same quarter, and so on. The healds of the second quarter
will then be drawn in in a contrary manner, the first heald receiving a wool yarn
and the second a hair yarn.
In making stair carpet, however, the borders may, if desired, be composed
entirely of wool; wool threads taking the place of hair threads in these parts, as
there is always less wear on the borders of a stair carpet than on the middle part.
The threads are raised for the insertion of the wire required to form the pile,
by cards operating on the jacquard mechanism, in the usual manner, which cards
are so designed that they will raise the whole of the hair threads at each alternate
lift of the jacquard, or half of them at each lift,-alternate halves being lifted each
time, the remaining threads of each lift being in such case of wool. The threads
of cotton or linen required to form the warp and backing of the carpet, are entered
in gears of a similar description, and in the same order as is usually employed in
weaving wool velvet carpets.
.
To produce the fabric in a tapestry carpet loom, it will be necessary to provide
two healds such as are ordinarily used in weaving tapestry carpets, and are known
as print healds, or pole shafts, for operating the surface threads, which healds will
be actuated by cams of a peculiar configuration and arrangement.
The ordinary cam, as is well known, first raises its heald to its highest point
for one quarter of a revolution of the cam box (which turns once in four
revolutions of the loom), and subsequently draws the heald down to its lowest
point for the second quarter revolution, repeating these actions for the two
quarters remaining to complete one revolution of the cam box. The cam I require
acts in the first two quarter revolutions in the same manner as the ordinary
cam, but in the third quarter revolution, it lifts the heald only about half the
height, thus bringing the face threads in the heald to a position about midway
between the highest and the lowest points. In the fourth quarter, it draws the
heald down in the same manner as the ordinary cam. The cams which operate
the first and second healds, which contain the face threads, are so placed in the
cam box, that when the first is at its highest point, the second is at its middle
height, and vice versa, both healds being drawn down together at every half
revolution of the cam box.

page_text: The threads of hair will be drawn through the eyes of the first heald, and the
wool threads through the eyes of the second heald, or they may be placed
alternately in each heald, as before described, in drawing the healds of a jacquard
loom, but I prefer the first named method; or if the composite hair and wool yarn
be used, each heald will receive its complement of the same yarn.
One thread from each heald will then be put in each reed or division of the
slay. The backing threads known as stuffers, may be entered in the long eyes-
of the front print heald only. I prefer to work both the hair and the wool
threads off a creel in a jacquard loom, but with a tapestry loom, one set of
threads may be on a beam, and another working from a creel, or both may be
beamed.
In weaving, whether in a jacquard or tapestry loom, I proceed, in the manner
indicated by the diagrams I., II., III, and IV. of the drawings, to produce, in
succession, the sheds for the reception of the weft shoots, and the terry. wires
forming the pile.
Diagrams I., II., III, and IV., shew the succession of sheds for the four steps
required to form one course of work, and
Fig. 5 is a section, on an enlarged scale, of the work, taken in the line of the
warp...
Fig. 6 shews the modified form of cam required to work the healds for the face
threads in the tapestry loom.
Fig. 7 shews the set of cams required in a loom. provided with two healds for
working two groups of face threads, the working positions of the cams being
arranged relatively to each other.
Assuming the first healu (1) to receive the hair threads marked A in the
diagrams, and the second heald (2) to receive the wool threads B, and tlie other
healds (3,4,) of the loom to operate the cotton or linen chain threads C, D,-the
process is as follows:-
The warps C, D are entered by putting two consecutive threads in two
consecutive eyes in the heald 3, followed by two next consecutive threads in two
consecutive eyes in heald 4, and so on, as is usual in weaving Brussels or velvet
carpets.
In Diagram I. it will be seen that the threads A are raised to their greatest
height, the threads B to a middle height, which call the "level," the
threads C to the same level, and the threads D will be at their lowest point
or lathe bed.
In this position of affairs, a wire E, such as that ordinarily used for weaving
Brussels or velvet pile carpet, is inserted between A and B by any of the ordinary
means employed in carpet looms for this purpose, and a weft of linen or other
suitable thread F is shot across from right to left, between C and D, thereby
completing the first step in the course. After the beating up, the threads are drawn
down, together with the threads B, to the lowest point or lathe bed, passing through
the threads C, which will remain unchanged; the second shed is thus formed, as
illustrated by Diagram 11. The weft is now shot across from left to right
under the threads C, and above all the other threads. The beating up by the
lathe now takes place, and this completes the second step in the course, the first
binding threads put over the threads A tying down the row of hair loops on the
wire, which will subsequently be withdrawn, as usual.
The threads B are next raised to the highest point, as shown in Diagram III.,-
the threads A being raised to the middle height or level. The positions of the
chain warps C and D are now reversed, D being at the level, and C at the lowest
point or lathe bed. A wire is then inserted as before between B and A, and a
weft is shot from right to left between D and C. After the beating up, the third
step of the course will be completed. The threads B, together with A. will next
be drawn down to the lathe bed, passing through the chain threads D, which will
remain unchanged, as shown in Diagram IV. A weft will be shot from left to
right between D and the rest of the threads, and be beaten up, thus putting the

page_text: second binding thread over the threads A, forming a row of loops of wool across
the fabric like the hair loops before formed, and completing the fourth step of the
course. The movements of the heddles to produce these several changes of shed,
will be effected by the several cams A', B, C, D, arranged as shewn in Fig. 7.
The round of movements will then commence again, as first described, by which
the threads B will, in their turn, receive their second binding thread, before being
again raised to form the surface.
If the threads of hair and wool should be entered alternately in the healds, or
the cards of the jacquard (when that apparatus is used) be so designed that only
half the number of hair threads will be raised at one time, the remaining half being
wool threads; those threads of wool and hair which were raised to form the surface
at the first insertion of a wire, will remain below the wire during the insertion of the
second, they being drawn down and bound in with the second set of threads in the
manner already described, before being again raised to form the terry surface.
This process ensures that every tuft or loop forming part of the surface of the
fabric, shall be securely bound in with two wefts above it, and also that the whole
surface of the carpet or rug, with the exception of the border, as before mentioned,
shall have a sufficient and an evenly distributed quantity of hair upon it, to support
and protect the wool pile amongst which it is placed.
By this method of arranging that the threads of horse-hair and wool shall be
held down whilst two binding shots are thrown, before they again rise to form the
surface, I am enabled to produce a horse-hair carpet or rug with brighter colouring,
and possessing greater decorative effect, than is possessed by ordinary horse-hair
carpets, and one which will admit of the loops being severed to form a cut-pile face.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. The mode of weaving hair carpets and rugs as described, which consists in
dividing a course into four steps, and providing each row of loops formed in such
course with two binding threads, as and for the purpose above set forth.
2. A cut-pile carpet of horse-hair and wool combined, the rows of tufts of which
are secured by two binding threads, in the manner and for the purpose above set
forth.
Dated this 15th day of September 1892.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.