CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING VELVETS AND OTHER CUT WORKS
Year: 1824

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, STEPHEN
WILSON, of Streatham, in the County of Surrey, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Seventh day of October, in the fifth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Stephen Wilson, His especial licence, that I, the said Stephen Wilson, my
efors, admors, or assigns, or such others as I, tho said Stephen Wilson, my
exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might, make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING VELVETS AND OTHER CUT WORKS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
Stephen Wilson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
particularly to describe the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Stephen Wilson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Improvements to con-
sist in such an arrangement of warps and apparatus as will enable the velvet

page_text: weaver to manufacture two pieces of velvet at the same time with one poll
warp, by making the pile between two grounds, and attached to each, instead
of being raised upon one ground, as in the ordinary method of weaving velvet,
and then performing the operation of cutting the pile by passing a knife or
cutter between the two grounds, which cuts the pile in two parts and thus
separates the two grounds, while it leaves the requisite quantity of pile to each
ground. And in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Stephen Wilson, do hereby describe the manner in which I perform my
said improvements, by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing annexed, and the figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the principal parts of an ordinary loom
for weaving ribbons, in which those parts only which are coloured constitute
my said improvements. It will be seen that this loom is adapted for ten poll
warps in a row, and would, in the ordinary mode of making ribbons, manu-
facture ten pieces of ribbon by the same operation; but by the application of
my said improvements it will be shewn that it will manufacture twenty pieces
of velvet by the same operation which manufactures one piece. In this
Figure A, B, C, are three rollers, A being a ground warp roller, and which
warp I call the upper ground warp; B, the poll warp; and C, a second
ground warp roller, which second warp I call the under ground warp. In
this Figure I have coloured the upper ground warp purple, the poll warp pink,
and the under ground warp green, for the sake of distinction. D is the batten,
which I do not claim as any part of my said improvements, and therefore
have not coloured, but which it is necessary to describe, because, in the first
place, it is not the batten ordinarilly used for velvet weaving, though known
in its general form and principle as a batten for ribbon weaving; and, secondly,
because a deeper reed is required in this new mode of weaving velvet, such
depth to be regulated by the distance of the upper from the under ground
warps at the leeshes. The shuttles also, some of which are here marked
with the letter Z, I should observe, must be placed, with reference to the two
ground warps, in such a relative situation as to throw the shoot at the proper
time; and I merely mention this because I have stated the sort of batten
here described is known, but the arrangement of the shuttels in this batten,
as used for ribbon weaving, will not answer (without some little modification
which every competent workman will understand,) for the work herein de-
scribed as the object to be attained by the said improvements. The parts
coloured yellow are guides to conduct the work to the parts coloured blue

page_text: next to them, which are knives or cutters for cutting the pile, and thus dividing.
the upper from the under ground. E is the work when cut passing over the
rollers e, e, whence it is carried round the loom and wound on beams in the
ordinary way.
The foregoing description of Figure 1. has been given with a view only of
clearly shewing the general arrangement of the improvements and their local
situation, in order to make the description herein-after to be given of the
various parts in detail, and on a larger scale, more easily referable to the places
they are actually to occupy in the loom; but as the manner of giving the
requisite motion to the knives, in order to make them cut the pile, is more
clearly shewn in this. Figure than in the others which remain to be described,
I shall proceed to describe that in detail as follows; that is to say:-
The motion required to make the knives cut properly is a sliding motion
alternating from side to side, and is effected by means of the ordinary treadles
in the following manner :-The knives are all fixed at the proper angle on one
solid bed, which extends nearly the whole width of the loom. This bed is
placed in a groove or channel, so as easily to slide from side to side
with a short vibration.. A cord is attached to each end of this knife bed
and as the arrangement. at both sides of the loom is alike, I shall describe
only that which is shewn in the view represented by Figure 1. F is the said
cord, which is supposed to be attached to the end of the knife bed, and
comes out through the frame on a level with the knife bed, and passes over
the roller at G. It is then carried upward over the two rollers H and K, and
thence downwards to a lamb L, which is connected with the treadles on each
side of the loom in such. manner that whenever a treadle is depressed on
either side of the loom the knife bed, and consequently the knives attached
to it, are all drawn to that side of the loom on which the treadle is depressed,
and drawn back again whenever a treadle on the opposite side of the loom is
depressed, and thus by the constant working of the treadles a constant see-saw
motion of the knives is produced,, which causes them to effect the cutting. in
the required manner.
Having now described Fig. 1, I shall proceed to describe the other Figures
which represent the said improvements separately and on a larger scale; and
first I will describe Fig. 2, which is of the full size; and I will here observe,
with reference to the mention herein-before made of the extra depth of the
reed required for this mode of weaving velvet, and which depth I have herein-
before stated. must be regulated by, the distance between the upper and
under ground warps. at the leeshes, that the depth of reed required for the

page_text: .
work, when the grounds are separated by the distance here shown from
M to N will be four inches. But to return to the description of Figure 2.
This Figure represents two leeshes O and P of the full size; P is the leesh
which raises the poll; and O is the leesh which raises the upper and lower
ground, and the two eyes R and S on this leesh O form one peculiar feature of
my said improvments, as will be hereafter explained. T is a ground warp;
V is a poll warp; and W is a second ground warp; X is a guide to determino
the length of the pile, as will be hereafter explained; and Y is the work
before it undergoes the operation of cutting.
Having now described the various parts of this Figure, I shall proceed to
describe the manner of working the same, in order to make the poll warp
serve for both the ground warps, and which is performed as follows (that is
to say) :-
The shafts being raised the leesh of the poll warp draws the poll warp up
to the upper ground warp, where it is bound in with as many shoots as may
be deemed necessary. By another motion of the shafts the poll warp is then
drawn down to the lower or under ground warp, and bound in with a similar
number of shoots, the work being tied down in the course to alternate after the
proper number of shoots. By this arrangement and operation it will be found
that a perpendicular thread of poll warp connects the upper ground warp
with the under one, and it is this thread when cut that becomes the pile. The
length of this thread is determined by the opening in the mouth of the guide
X, for as the batten strikes the shoots all but close home to the guide, and
the angle made by the approximating of the two warps at the guide from the
eyes R, S, keeps the upper and lower ground warps constantly separated as
far as the opening of the guide will permit, it stands to reason that the length
of the thread which connects the upper and under grounds must be determined
by the opening of the guide. It will be observed that one of the main features
of this part of the said improvements is the two eyes R and S on the leesh O.
The before-mentioned operation having been performed, the work Y is made,
and consists of two grounds connected together by pile or short threads of
poll warp, and the separation of theso two grounds, by cutting the connecting
threads, is the operation which forms the work into velvet, making two pieces
of velvet of each piece of work, and is performed in manner shewn in
Figure 3, which Figure I will now describe.
In this Figure D is a part of the batten, for as each piece in the row is alike,
I have only thought it necessary to describe one piece. Z, Z, the shuttles; A, B,
and C, the three warps; X, the guide to determine the length of the pile; and r

page_text: a second guide to direct the work properly to the knife or cutter U. It will be
seen by this arrangement, that as the work is made and drawn round the machine,
the knife, which is constantly kept in motion from side to side by the motion
of the treadles, as herein-before described; splits or cuts the work in two, the
poll threads being sufficiently long when cut in this manner to leave sufficient
length of pile to each ground to form two pieces of velvet, which two pieces
are kept separate by the rollers S, S, and drawn round the machine in the
ordinary manner.
Having now described the various Figures of the Drawing, it only remains
to be added, with regard to the manufacture of velvets with the said improve-
ments, that they are equally applicable to the manufacture of broad velvets,
plushes, and shags; but when used in the broad velvet loom, the knife, which
must then be long but still very thin, should have a stiff back of brass, or
other material, something like the back of a tenant saw, to keep it flat, even,
and steady to the work.
Now,
the said improvements to which I claim exclusive right and privilege
under and by virtue of the said Letters Patent, are,-
First, to the arrangement of two ground warps, one above the other, with
one poll warp between them and common to both for the purpose of making
one piece of work.
Secondly, to the guides X and r.
And thirdly and lastly, to the knives or cutters, and the arrangement for
giving motion to the same, and the application of the same to the purpose
aforesaid.
All which said several improvements I do verily believe to be new, and
never to have been before used in that part of His said Majesty's United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Dominion of
Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and I do hereby declare this to be
my Specification of the said improvements, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve or
disguise, with the proviso in my said in part recited Letters Patent contained;
wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to the
said improvements.
o In witness whereof, I, the said Stephen Wilson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.
STEP" (LS.) WILSON.
e

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of February,
in the year of our Lord 1825, the aforesaid Stephen Wilson came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.