NEW IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR WEAVING WITHOUT CARDS, WHICH MECHANISM IS APPLICABLE TO ALL LOOMS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hunter Henry Murdoch, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"NEW IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR WEAVING WITHOUT CARDS, WHICH MECHANISM
IS APPLICABLE TO ALL LOOMS."-A communication from abroad by Count
Peter Ambjorn Sparre, of 88, Rue Lafayette, Paris, France.
Sealed the 17th March 1871, and dated the 5th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hunter Henry Murdoch
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th October 1870.
I, HUNTER HENRY MURDOCH, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in the County
5 of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "NEW IMPROVED MECHANISM FOR WEAVING WITHOUT CARDS, WHICH
MECHANISM IS APPLICABLE TO ALL LOOMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention as communicated to me relates to new improved
mechanism applicable to looms for weaving as a substitute for jacquard
O cards, and it consists in the use of an engraved plate and intermediate

page_text: Mechas I comm
by the cards in jacquard apparatus.
UC
The action of the said improved mechanism is similar to that of a
numismatic engraving machine, with the difference that while in the
numismatic machine the original engraved plate or medal is copied by
means of one single point or key sliding over the surface of the original
plate, according to this Invention the reliefs and depressions in the
original plate representing the design are transmitted to the ordinary
needles by means of a series of points or keys equal in number to said
needles. The said points or keys being set in a straight horizontal line
are caused to recede when they are acted upon by a relief on the said
original plate, and when opposite a depression in the said plate they
remain stationary. The said keys or points form part of rectangular
formed levers having a perforation in its angular part through which passes
a horizontal rod or bar extending along the face of the original plate.
The said points or keys project in front of the said original plate, and the
said levers extend behind to a much longer distance, so that when the
point or front part of the lever is slightly pressed upon by the relief of
the plate its back part or lever oscillating round its axis will rise to an
elevation sufficient to permit an inclined plane or other mover advancing
below the end of the said back part or lever to force it up to the position
required. The said lever or back part is guided in its movement by
projections downwards passing through a comb or other suitable guide.
Each of the said levers has also upon its upper part a projecting arm in
contact with the lower end of a vertical rod, the upper end of which rod
is tapered, forming an inclined plane to act against and draw back one
of a series of horizontal bars mounted in a frame and capable of sliding
backwards and forwards therein. The said horizontal bars which
correspond in number with the said needles have each a square head,
forming together a sort of mosaic surface with each head opposite one
of the needles. Just behind the said heads when they are in their
normal position is a comb, each tooth of which comb passes between a
vertical row of the horizontal bars, the said comb is caused to rise at each
stroke of the pedal which actuates the apparatus. By its rising the said
comb allows the heads of the horizontal bars to retire when acted on
by the relief of the engraved plate, the said comb then falls into its
original position and draws the heads which have not been caused to
retire against the needles opposite them. Those needles are pushed back

page_text: by the said heads in the same way as in a jacquard apparatus, they are
acted upon by the unpierced parts of the cards. The heads which have
been forced back having no action upon the said needles which are then
worked by the claws of the jacquard in the usual manner.
It will be readily understood that the mechanical arrangements for
transmitting the action of the reliefs on the engraved plate to the needles
may be modified in various ways to produce the same result.
At each stroke of the machine the engraved plate is caused to advance
slightly in the same manner as in the numismatic machine, so as to
bring other reliefs and depressions against the keys, which keys being
depressed by the said reliefs cause the lever ends to rise, so as to come
into position to be forced up by the advancing wedge or its equivalent,
which motion causes the vertical bars to rise and by their upper wedge-
shaped ends to push back the corresponding horizontal bars behind the
course of the comb. Instead of the backward move of the horizontal
square headed bars in order to let the comb push the bars not acted upon
against the needles I prefer in some cases to reverse the inclined plane
on the upper part of the said vertical bars, causing the horizontal square
headed bars to move in an opposite direction, and to push direct against
the needles, thus suppressing the comb and its movements.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hunter Henry Murdoch in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HUNTER
HENRY MURDOCH, of No. 7, Staple Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, Her special licence
that I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 1
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 "NEW IMPROVED
MECHANISM FOR WEAVING WITHOUT CARDS, WHICH MECHANISM IS APPLICABLE TO
ALL LOOMS," (a communication to me from abroad by Count Peter
Ambjorn Sparre, of 88, Rue Lafayette, Paris, France,) upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, 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 thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention as communicated to me relates to new improved
mechanism applicable to looms for weaving as a substitute for jacquard 5
cards, and it consists in the use of an engraved plate and intermediate
mechanism in communication with the ordinary needles operated upon
by the cards in jacquard apparatus.
The action of the said improved mechanism is similar to that of a
numismatic engraving machine, with the difference that while in the 2
numismatic machine the original engraved plate or medal is copied by
means of one single point or key sliding over the surface of the original
plate, according to this Invention the reliefs and depressions in the
original plate representing the design are transmitted to the ordinary
needles by means of a series of points or keys equal in number to the 3
said needles. The said points or keys being set in a straight horizontal
line are caused to recede, when they are acted upon by a relief on the
said original plate, and when opposite a depression in the said plate they
remain stationary. The said keys or points form part of rectangular
levers, each of which has a perforation in its angular part through which 3
passes a horizontal rod or bar extending along the face of the original
plate. The said points or keys project in front of the said original plate
and the said levers extend behind to a much longer distance, so that

page_text: when the point or front part of the lever is slightly pressed upon by the
relief of the plate its back part or lever oscillating round its axis will rise
to an elevation sufficient to permit an inclined plane or other mover
advancing below the end of the said back part or lever to force it up to
the position required. The said lever or back part is guided in its move-
ments by projections downwards passing through a comb or other
suitable guide. Each of the said levers lias also upon its upper part a
projecting arm in contact with the lower end of a vertical rod, the upper
end of which rod is tapered, forming an inclined plane to act against and
draw back one of a series of horizontal bars mounted in a frame and
capable of sliding backwards and forwards therein. The said horizontal
bars which correspond in number with the said needles have each a
square head, forming together a sort of mosaic surface with each head
opposite one of the needles. Just behind the said heads, when they are
in their normal position, is a comb, each tooth of which comb passes
between a vertical row of the horizontal bars. The said comb is caused
to rise at each stroke of the pedal which actuates the apparatus. By its
rising the said comb allows the heads of the horizontal bars to retire
when acted upon by the reliefs of the engraved plate, the said comb then
falls into its original position and draws the heads which have not been
caused to retire against the needles opposite them. Those needles are
pushed back by the said heads in the same way as in a jacquard apparatus,
they are acted upon by the unpierced parts of the cards, the heads which
have been forced back having no action upon the said needles, which are
then worked by the claws of the jacquard in the usual manner.
It will be readily understood that the mechanical arrangements for
transmitting the action of the reliefs on the engraved plate to the needles
may be modified in various ways to produce the same results.
At each stroke of the machine the engraved plate is caused to advance
slightly in the same manner as in the numismatic machine so as to bring
other reliefs and depressions against the keys, which keys being depressed
by the said reliefs cause the lever ends to rise so as to come into position
to be forced up by the advancing wedge or its equivalent, which motion
causes the vertical bars to rise, and by their upper wedge-shaped ends to
push back the corresponding horizontal bars behind the course of the
comb. Instead of the backward motion of the horizontal square-headed
bars, in order to let the comb push the bars not acted upon against the
needles, I prefer in some cases to reverse the inclined plane on the

page_text: upper part of the said vertical bars, causing the horizontal square-headed
bars to move in an opposite direction and to push directly against the
needles, thus suppressing the comb and its movements.
Having explained the nature of this Invention, I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of parts of a loom for weaving
constructed according to this Invention; Figure 2 is a front elevation of
The same letters and figures of reference are used to indicate
like parts in the different Figures of the Drawing.
the same.
A is the wooden frame of an ordinary jacquard loom fitted with twelve
horizontal rows of hooks and needles, each row corresponding with one
of twelve rows of horizontal bars 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
The said bars which are represented separately in side view and plan at
Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, have each a square head, and together when in
position form a sort of mosaic surface, as seen at Figure 2, each head
being opposite one of the needles of the loom so as to act as a substitute
for the holes in the ordinary jacquard cards. The said bars 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, are mounted in frames, of which there is one for
each vertical row of bars. The said frames are composed of a suitable
number of plates or strips of iron or other suitable metal. In the
Drawing seven such plates are used for each frame, four of which plates
marked u, w, v, and y, form the outer sides of the frames, and three,
x, s, t, are placed transversely to act as stays, giving strength to the said
frames. The said plates or strips are shown separately in edge and side
views at Figures 8, 9, 10, and 11. It will be seen that the plates w and y
have each twelve holes pierced in their length to support the bars 1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and allow of their sliding freely therein. z¹ are
springs fixed at one end to the woodwork u', u', and at their other ends
acting upon studs or projections on the said bars to keep the said bars in
their proper positions; z² is a frame in which slides vertically through
the action of the screw V a plate, upon which is keyed an engraved plate
in the same way as in a printing press. On each side of the frame z³ is
attached a plate E which moves in slides D bolted to the woodwork A.
Above and parallel with the plate E are the plates U and D' mounted in
a similar manner. The said plates U and D' move in slides V¹ and E¹
*respectively. In the plate D¹ on the same side as the bars is a vertical
slot in which the comb A³ has a to-and-fro motion. The ends of the

page_text: said comb A³ are supported by the arms C jointed at x', which arms give
the said comb a reciprocal motion up and down. At the upper part of.
the machine is the ordinary box (not shown), which at each stroke of
the pedal raises the hooks, the said box is provided with guides which
extend through a slot in the woodwork A, and carry at their outer ends
the plates B which are guided at bottom in the slides J. In the plates B
are four slots in which travel the three sliding heads F, W, and M, and
the arm H, which is jointed at J'. The sliding head F is attached to thic
plate E, W is attached to the plate U, and M is attached to the plate D'.
O2 and J2 are bevil wheels to reverse the rotatory movement of the
screw V, so as to allow of weaving backwards or forwards. a, b, c, d, e, f,
g, h, i, j, k, and I are metal plates represented separately in side and front
elevation at Figures 12, 13, 14, and 15, the said plates pass through and
are guided by the slots in the plates and u (Figures 8 and 9). At their
upper ends they are tapered or wedge shaped, and at their lower ends
they are connected with the key levers m, n, o, p, q, r. The said key
levers m, n, o, p, q, r, which are represented separately in side and end
views at Figures 16 and 17 are suspended at their inner ends e¹ on a
bar along the face of the machine, e" is a comb, each tooth of which
is traversed by the bar f', and the said key levers m, n, o, p, q, r, pass
each between two teeth of the said comb. d is a horizontal comb
between the teeth of which comb pass the arms m¹, n', o¹, p¹, q¹, r¹, of
the key levers m, n, o, p, q, r, to prevent the said key levers when rising
from drawing up with them through the friction of contact any of the
adjoining levers.
The working of the machine is as follows:-When the weaver presses
down the pedal with his foot as in ordinary looms the plate B is caused
to rise by the guides on the upper box. In its upward motion the said
plate B brings the frame Z (carrying the engraved plate) towards the
points a of the key levers m, n, o, p, q, r, until the reliefs of the
engraving have pushed back the corresponding points a² of the said key
levers, and have caused in consequence the opposite arms of the said
levers to rise. At the same time those points a² which are opposite
depressions in the engraved plate are not acted upon, but remain
stationary in their normal position. As soon as the engraved plate has
acted upon the key levers, as described, and before the said plate retires,
the inclined plane U" is caused to advance by the action of the sliding
head W, and forces up the ends of the key levers which have been

page_text: slightly raised by the reliefs on the engraved plate, and brings them into
the position indicated by the dotted lines f*, at the same time forcing up
the corresponding plates a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, into the positions
indicated by the dotted lines. The said plates in their upward movement
act by their wedge shaped heads upon the projections g* on the bars 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and draw back the said bars. During the
upward movement of the plate B the arm H engages with the lever c
and by its forked part it raises the said lever c to c¹, and with it the
comb A³. At the same time the sliding head M causes the plate D¹ to
advance and brings the part D to D³. Each tooth of the comb A³ passes
between one vertical row of bars, and when the said comb is raised those
of the said bars which are acted upon by the heads of the plates a, b, c,
d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, retire from the path of the said comb. The comb A³
then falls back into its original position, being freed from the arm H
which strikes against a rod fixed in the woodwork A. When the plate 1
descends the plate D² which was in the position marked D³ retires back
with the comb A³ towards the needles, and the said comb draws with it
all the heads of the bars 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, which
have not been caused to retire previous to the said combs falling into
position. The said heads thus drawn forward by the comb then push
back the needles, acting in the same manner as the unpierced parts of
the cards generally used in jacquard apparatus, whilst those heads of
the bars which have retired from the comb, as herein-before described,
perform the functions of the perforations in the said jacquard cards. At
the time when the heads of the bars push back the needles the other
parts of the mechanism return to their former positions the engraved
plate is moved a little higher or lower, and the operation begins again.
Having thus explained the nature of this Invention; and means for
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details herein-before described and illus-
trated in the accompanying Drawings, as the same may be varied, and
the different parts of the machine may be actuated by means different
from those described and illustrated without departing from the nature of
the said Invention; but what I claim as the Invention is, the construction
and combination of parts constituting a mechanism applicable to loomis
for weaving as a substitute for jacquard cards, substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say, using a surface having upon it given reliefs and depressions

page_text: communicating with the needles of any jacquard apparatus by means of
points or keys on the ends of oscillating levers, which points or keys are
caused to recede slightly by coming in contact with the reliefs of the
said surface, and their levers are caused to move sufficiently for an
inclined plane or other mover of sufficient force to raise the said lever
arms to such an extent as to enable them through intermediate
mechanism to cause bars or their equivalent placed each opposite one of
the said needles to advance or retire, the object of the advance of the
said bars being to push back the said needles, and to prevent the corre-
sponding hooks from being clutched by the claw of the jacquard, whilst
the retiring bars have no action on the corresponding needles, the hooks
of which are then raised by the said claw of the jacquard.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hunter Henry Murdoch, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Fifth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
B. WILLCOX,
His Clerk.
H. H. MURDOCH. (L.S.)