IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND- WEAVING-DEVICES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eugenia Wernicke of 40 Wilhelmstrasse Berlin S W.
Prussia German Empire for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND-
WEAVING-DEVICES
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eugenia Wernicke at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th April 1883.
EUGENIA WERNICKE of 40 Wilhelmstrasse Berlin S.W. Prussia German Empire
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND-WEAVING-DEVICES "
This invention relates to a weaving device or apparatus whereby woven fabrics
can be produced without the assistance of a loom or of machinery for operating
the shatts &°. This apparatus consists substantially of a frame-like shaft fitted
with healds or heddles which latter it is advantageous to make of slight metal-
rods and this shaft is directly conducted by the hand of the operator in such &
manner that the "shed" is formed in the chain and this chain may for this purpose
be stretched horizontally.
The
The filling in of the weft threads is effected by means of a filling-in-rod upon
which the weft is wound and which also serves for beating up the weft.
fabrics produced by means of this device are chiefly intended to replace the
articles produced by crochet and knitting can be added to the strips of fabric.
The chain-threads will advantageously be united at their en is by being woun
round by a single thread. They are then placed between the strips or laths of a
press and by tightening a screw the threads are made fast. This press can con-
veniently be screwed fast on a table; the fixing of the chain may however be
effected in any other manner also.
The shaft consists of a frame in which are mounted the healds or heddles, which
at the centre have an eye. These heddles are preferably made of wire as they
have to be as rigid and stiff as possible. Firmly stretched thread healds may
however also be used though with less advantage. The shaft may advantageously
be provided with a somewhat stout handle below, which will facilitate the
manipulation. The number and thickness of the healds their distance from one

page_text: another and also the size of the shaft are entirely dependent on the nature of the
work to be done.
The "filling in rod" consists in an elongated wooden stick of lense-shaped
transverse section the ends are rounded into a concavity so that the rod can be
more readily wound with thread. One of the points thus formed is with advantage
elongated to some extent whilst the end of the woof-thread can be held fast on an
incision of the stick. After the chain threads have been fastened in the described
manner in the press or otherwise, they are drawn through the shaft the threads
being alternately taken one through the eye of a heddle, and the next through the
space between two adjacent heddles or healds; the other end of the chain threads
is fastened on a fixed bar or strip say by winding them upon the back of a chair.
Two cross bars or rods are now inserted the end of the woof thread is tied on to
one of the cross-bars or on to one of the chain threads and the work is then ready
to start. In working with the apparatus the operator lays hold of the shaft with
the left hand, and of the filling in rod with the right hand. By depressing the
shaft the shed is opened underneath as all the threads that are taken through the
eyes of the heddles are depressed, whilst the other threads reinain taut. The woof
is now filled in by taking the rod through the open shed; at the same time the
preceding woof thread is pressed against the cross bars or rods. By raising the
shaft the shed is opened above. When the work proceeds, the finished part of the
work is fastened in the press instead of the chain threads.
Patterns may also be woven by this arrangement, by not going through the
shed with the filling in rod but, when the shed is open, passing the rod by its
point above or below the groups of chain threads, according to the formation of
the shed.
"
By this means all kinds of woven patterns can be produced in a simple manner
by hand. By using several "filling in rods on which yarn of different colors is
wound, and by using chain-threads of different colours, patterns of great variety
of colours may be produced.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Eugenia Wernicke in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th October
1883.
EUGENIA WERNICKE of 40 Wilhelm Strasse Berlin S.W. Prussia, German Empire
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HAND WEAVING DEVICES
"
This invention relates to a weaving device or apparatus whereby woven fabrics
can be produced without the assistance of a loom or of machinery for operating the
shafts &c. This apparatus consists substantially of a frame-like shaft fitted with
healds or heddles which latter it is advantageous to make of slight metal-rods and
this shaft is directly conducted by the hand of the operator in such a manner that
the "shed" is formed in the chain and this chain may for this purpose be stretched
horizontally.
The filling in of the weft-threads is effected by means of a filling-in-rod upon
which the weft is wound and which also serves for beating up the weft. The
fabrics produced by means of this device, are chiefly intended to replace the
articles produced by crochet and knitting or embroidery can be added to the strips
of fabric.
The said weaving apparatus is represented in the accompanying drawing in
which
Figure 1 shows how the fabric is produced,
Figure 2 shows the shaft
Figures 3 4 5 and 6 a press adapted for tightly stretching the chain and.
Figures 7 and 8 the "filling-in-rod."
The chain-threads will advantageously be united at their ends by being wound
round by a single thread. They are then placed between the strips on laths a b c
(as shown in Figure 6) of the press and by tightening the screw d the threads are
made fast. This press can conveniently be screwed fast on a table; the fixing of
the chain may however be effected in any other manner also.
The shaft A consists of a frame in which are mounted the healds or heddles o
which at the centre have an eye i These heddles are preferably made of wire as
they have to be as rigid and stiff as possible. Firmly stretched thread-healds may
however also be used though with less advantage. The shaft A will advanta-
geously be provided with a somewhat stout handle f, which will facilitate the
manipulation. The number and thickness of the healds, their distance from one
another and also the size of the shaft are entirely dependent on the nature of the
work to be done
The "filling in rod " B Figures 7 and 8 consists in an elongated wooden stick of
lens-shaped transverse section. The pointed ends r of the same are furnished with
slots which spread into recesses, through which passes the weft thread wound up
on the filling in rod. As the points r of the rod B thus remain perfectly free, the
introduction and passage of the rod are much facilitated. After the chain threads
have been fastened at their ends at m Figure 7 in the described manner, in the
press or otherwise, they are drawn through the shaft A the threads being alter-
nately taken one through the eye of a heddle, and the next through the space
between two adjacent heddles or healds; the other end of the chain threads is
fastened at n (Figure 1) on a fixed bar or strip say by winding them upon the
back of a chair. Two cross bars or rods S are now inserted, the end of the woof
thread (Figures 1 and 2) is tied on to one of the cross bars S or on to one of the
chain threads and the work is then ready to start. In working with the apparatus
the operator lays hold of the shaft A with the left hand and of the filling in rod

page_text: with the right-hand. By depressing the shaft A as shown in Figure 1 the shed is
opened underneath as all the threads that are taken through the eyes of the
heddles are depressed, whilst the other threads remain taut. The woof is now
filled in by taking the rod through the open shed; at the same time the preceding
woof thread is pressed against the cross bars at rods S By raising the shaft A the
shed is opened above. When the work proceeds, the finished part of the work is
fastened in the press instead of the chain threads.
Patterns may also be woven by this arrangement, by not going through the shed
with the filling in rod but, when the shed is open, passing the rod B by its point r
above or below the groups of chain-threads, according to the formation of the shed.
By this means all kinds of woven patterns can be produced in a simple manner
by hand. By using several "filling-in-rods" on which yarn of different colors is
wound, and by using chain-threads of different colours, patterns of great variety of
colours may be produced.
Having now described the nature of my said invention and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I claim :-
First: A weaving device to be operated by hand wherein the "shed" is formed
by a single shaft or frame A which has rigid or stretched "healds" or "heddles"
the same tool B serving for passing the weft thread through the "shed" and for
beating it up substantially as set forth.
Second: In the "filling in rod" B the arrangement of the inwardly widened
slots in the pointed ends of said rod for receiving the coils of weft thread substan-
tially as set forth and illustrated.
In witness whereof I the said Eugenia Wernicke have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twelfth day of October in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighty three