IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton; of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for tho
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."-A communication
from abroad by Mr. Van Peteghem, of Ghent, in the Kingdom of
Belgium.
Sealed the 28th December 1860, and dated the 21st July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st July 1860.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil. Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOM'S FOR WEAVING," to be as
follows:-
This Invention of improvements in looms for weaving has for its object to
construct looms for weaving figured fabrics in such a manner that the use of
perforated cards, and consequently the preliminary operation of "reading" or
transferring the pattern or design to such cards may be dispensed with. To
this end the figure, pattern, or design to be produced in the fabric is to be cut
out or otherwise formed in wood or some hard substance, and the several
parts of which the pattern or design is composed are secured in any con-
venient manner in a moveable frame or carriage which is capable of being
moved to and fro on guides by means of suitable mechanism. A griff or trap

page_text: board of the ordinary kind is used, and is worked and lifted in the usual
manner instead of the ordinary "cylinder" or prism of the jacquard apparatus.
The projecting ends of the horizontal needles are made to enter horizontal
holes made in the face of a reciprocating block, which is moved forward at
proper intervals like the cylinder or prism of an ordinary jacquard loom. A
series of vertical holes are made in the reciprocating block to receive the ends
of a series of pendent weights or lingoes, which are suspended by cords or
strings from the ends of a corresponding. number of levers mounted above, to
the opposite ends of which are connected a series of vertical needles which
project upwards, and nearly touch the face of the pattern or device. The
vertical and horizontal holes made in the reciprocating block meet at or near
its centre, and thereby form rectangular passages through the block. It will
now be understood that if the pendent weights or lingoes are allowed to
descend to the bottom of the vertical holes in the block, the horizontal needles
will be prevented from going home to the ends of the horizontal holes, and
consequently the hooked wires of the jacquard will be pushed back, and will
not be lifted by the griff when it rises.
The operation of the several parts is as follows:-The frame which carries
the vertical needles and their levers is raised, and the upper ends of these
needles brought against the face of the solid pattern or design, when all those
needles which come against the projecting part of the pattern will be pushed
back, and by depressing the ends of their levers will raise the opposite ends
of the latter, and by so doing raise the pendent weights, or prevent them from
descending into the vertical holes of the reciprocating blocks, so that when this
latter moves forward the horizontal needles may enter "home." The hooked
wires of the jacquard will therefore be left in a position to be acted upon by
the griff when it rises. All those vertical needles that are opposite to the
open part of the pattern when they are lifted will of course act in precisely.
the contrary manner, and will result in their corresponding warp threads being
left down.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," being a communica-
tion from abroad by Mr. Van Peteghem, of Ghent, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of improvements in looms for weaving has for its object to
construct looms for weaving figured fabrics in such a manner that the use of
perforated cards, and consequently the preliminary operation of "reading"
or transferring the pattern or design to such cards, may be dispensed with.
To this end the figure pattern or design to be produced in the fabric is to be
cut out or otherwise formed in wood or some hard substance, and the several
parts of which the pattern or design is composed are secured in any convenient
manner in a moveable frame or carriage, which is capable of being moved to
and fro on guides by means of suitable mechanism in order to operate upon
the needles whereby the pattern warp threads are selected. A griff or trap-
board of the ordinary kind is used, and is worked and lifted in the usual
manner to raise the pattern warps. Instead of the ordinary "cylinder" or
prism of the jacquard apparatus the projecting ends of the horizontal needles
are made to enter horizontal holes made in the face of a reciprocating block,
which is moved forward at proper intervals like the cylinder or prism of an

page_text: ordinary jacquard loom. A series of vertical holes are made in the recipro-
cating block to receive the ends of a series of pendent weights or lingoes,
which are suspended by cords or strings from the ends of a corresponding
number of levers mounted above, to the opposite ends of which levers are con-
nected a series of vertical needles which project upwards, and nearly touch
the face of the pattern or device. The vertical and horizontal holes made in
the reciprocating block meet at or near its centre, and thereby form rectan-
gular passages through the block. It will now be understood that if the
pendent weights or lingoes are allowed to descend to the bottom of tho vertical
holes in the block the horizontal needles will be prevented from going home
to the ends of the horizontal holes, and consequently the hooked wires of
the jacquard will be pushed back, and will not be lifted by the griff when it
rises.
The several Figures in the accompanying Drawing represent various views
of a loom constructed and arranged according to the present improvements.
Fig. 1 is an elevation representing the right hand side of the loom; Fig. 2 is
a longitudinal sectional elevation taken in the line A, B, of Fig. 3; and
Fig. 3 is a section taken in the line C, D, of Fig. 1.
The operation of the various parts will be best understood by. reference to
Fig. 3, in which A, A, is a wooden or iron framing placed at the upper part
of the loom, and called by the Inventor the carriage; B, B, is the pattern
which is laid upon the carriage to be read or used during the working of the
mechanism; C, C, is a frame in which the lovers of the needles are mounted,
and by which needles the operation of "reading" is performed. This frame,
with its appendages, is called the "reader;" D is a quadrangular block for the
reception of the weights or lingoes of the needle levers; it performs the office
of the ordinary jacquard cylinder, and is called by the Inventor the "pusher
bar."
The carriage A is provided underneath with grooved bearing pieces which
slide upon iron rods. It receives its motion either forward or backward by
means of the lever E, which is called the regulator. The pattern B, whether
it be produced upon wire cloth, or stuck upon a plate having divisions cor-
responding to the needles of the reader, or cut out in wood (in the same manner
as for inlaying purposes) is placed upon the carriage A.
The reader C is composed of a series of small levers r made of very thin
metal, and which are all in the same plane, independent of each other, and
set at equal distances apart, their divisions being exactly the same as those of
the needles; the designer, in the proportions of his pattern, must therefore be
guided by them. Each lever r is provided with a needle s, which is brought

page_text: into contact with the pattern, and is also provided at the end opposite to
where the needle is situate with a weight or lingo which descends into the
block D. Each lever has its fulcrum upon a knife edge, as seen clearly in
Fig. 3, and is supported in a vertical position by each extremity being made to
pass through a comb p fixed to the box C.
An important part of this portion of the apparatus consists of a horizontal
slatt or bar of iron F, which is placed between the comb or reed, which guides.
the needle levers and the needles 8. The following is its operation:-In
the position of the mechanism shewn in the sectional view, Fig. 3, the griff O
is below. By means of the lever G, upon which the bowle v' of the griff
acts, the reader or frame C is raised up. The bar F, which is governed by
four levers W at its extremities, has also risen; but to double the extent of
the rise of the reader or frame C, this operation is effected in the following
manner: One extremity V of these levers W is hinged by a screw to the
framing, consequently this is the fixed point. The levers W are also attached
at the middle to the reader or frame C, therefore the extremity next the bar
F has double the extent of motion of the central part. The reader or rocking
levers have also the same movement; the weight of their respective weights
or lingoes which are in the block or " "pusher bar" holds them at one
extremity, the centre u is raised, and the needles & therefore rise at the other
extremity, and pass beyond the copper plate which serves as their guide, unless
they meet with resistance in the pattern B, which prevents them from rising,
in which case the weights or lingoes will rise in the block D, as will be here-
after explained. When the reader descends, the bar F will bear upon all the
rocking levers and all the needles will descend.
The regulator E (Fig. 1) is composed of a forked lever a mounted on a pin.
or binge below; there is also an inclined projecting piece b, and a bowle or
roller c mounted on the griff O. This bowle c acts upon the inclined
shoulder of the lever in order to rock it from right to left; d (Fig. 1) is a
belical spring which draws the lever from left to right, when the bowle c of
the griff O has moved down out of contact with the inclined shoulder 6 of the
lever; e is a stop pin, against which the lever a strikes when drawn forward
by the helical spring d. By placing this pin in one or other of the holes
which are at the side of the said pin, the forked lever f may be made to pull
round the toothed wheel h to the extent of a greater or less number of teeth,
and by means of the pinion and screw ; act upon the nut R of the
framing B. This is for the purpose of moving the carriage A backwards and
forwards; g is a helical spring acting upon the tail of the lever f of the
toothed wheel h. This spring 9 terminates in a thread within reach of the

page_text: weaver, who may attach it to a pin in order to bring back the carriage A into
its normal position.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The weaver acts with his
foot upon the treadle in the ordinary manner in order to raise the griff O, and
by the alternating upward and downward movement of the griff the following
movements are produced, viz., first, the displacement of the carriage A by
means of the regulator E; secondly, the automatic performance of the operation
of "reading" by the action of the reader or frame C; thirdly, the horizontal
reciprocating movement of the block D in order to act upon the needles.
The first of these movements is effected during the rising of the griff, and the
second and third during its downward movement; thus, on the griff' rising
to the extent of about an inch, the pusher bar will recede as the bowle c of the
griff leaves the inclined shoulder 6 of the lever a, and the spring forces it
back. Immediately afterwards, at a height of about two inches, another
bowle (Fig. 3) of the griff leaves the curve of the bent lever G, and the
reader descends by reason of its gravity. A third bowle c, mounted upon the
hinder part of the griff, will then act upon the inclined shoulder 6 of the
regulator lever in order to cause the carriage to advance. The griff will
then remain raised in order to form the shed for the passage of the shoot of
weft.
On the operator allowing the griff to descend, the bowle c, which acts upon
the lever a of the regulator, leaves the inclined plane b, and the belical
spring d will bring the rocking lever a against the stop pin, and thus prepare
the number of teeth of the wheel h to be taken up at the next raising of the
warps; the griff, in again descending, will act with another bowle v', in order
to raise the reader or frame C, and the operation of "reading" will be per-
formed, that is to say, the needles which meet with any resistance in the
pattern will raise the lingoes 1 of their respective rocking levers r in the
block or pusher bar D, and those, on the contrary, which do not meet with any
resistance, will leave their weights or lingoes down in the block. This move-
ment, which takes place with great rapidity, is immediately followed by tho
approach of the block or pusher bar towards the needle board m by means of
the roller ", which acts upon the inclined shoulder of the lever h¹. In
this position the lingoes of the jacquard block will not push back the cor-
responding book, this being effected by those lingoes which remain down.
Having now described this Invention of "improvements in looms for weaving,
and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, as com-
municated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid the mode herein set forth of

page_text: operating upon the pattern warp threads by means of the pattern direct
without the intervention of perforated cards, as is now the case.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.B.)