CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF POWER LOOMS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF CORDED FUSTIAN OR FABRIC TO BE WOVEN IN DIAGONAL CORDS FROM COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
JONES, of Oldham, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, Cotton Manufacturer,
and THOMAS. MELLODEW, of the same place, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth
day of June, in the fourth year of His reign, give and grant unto us, our
exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power and sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said Joseph Jones and Thomas Mellodew, our
exors, adiñiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of
fourteen years therein mentioned, make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of " CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF POWER LOOMS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF CERTAIN KINDS OF CORDED FUSTIAN OR FABRIC TO BE WOVEN IN DIAGONAL CORDS
FROM COTTON, WOOL, AND OTHER FIBROUS MATERIALS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that if we, the said Joseph Jones and Thomas Mellodew,
should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument
in writing under our hands and seals, and cause the same to be enrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months then
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent, then
that the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages thereby
granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void, as in and by

page_text: the same, relation being thereunto had, Wilmore Tuny and a large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Joseph Jones and Thomas Mellodew, do hereby declare that the nature
of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
are particularly described and ascertained in and by the following description,
illustrated by the Drawings hereunto annexed, in which the same letters
and figures of reference in the different Drawings indicate the said parts
of the machinery in each.
The nature of our improvements consists in the adaption and arrangement
of certain additional parts to an ordinary power loom, by which the motion
of the heddles is so regulated and governed that the cord or stripe to be
produced on the face of a corded fustian or similar fabric shall assume a
diagonal direction across the piece, instead of forming lines parallel to the
selvedge as in corded fustians of the ordinary construction.
Sheet 1 of the annexed Drawings, Figure 1, represents a front view,
Figure 2, Sheet 2, a back view, and Figure 3 an end view of a power loom
to which our improvements are applied, and the remaining Figures represent
detached parts of the machinery or apparatus which will be hereafter referred
to. In Figure 1 and 2, A represents the fast and loose pullies through which
the motion is given to the loom: B, in Figure 1 and 3, is the cloth beam,
and C the warp beam, and the general arrangement of the greater part
of the loom is similar to ordinary looms and well known to persons conversant
with this description of machinery. In loonis for weaving corded fustians
and similar fabrics, the nature, size, and proportion of the cord to be
manufactured mainly depends on the arrangement and action of the heddles
which govern the position of the warp threads, and the size of cord to be
manufactured is dependant on the amount of threads or ends which are
elevated or depressed in the shed or opening in the warp through which
the shuttle passes. This shed or opening, or, in other words, the action or
working of the heddles which govern the position of the warp, has generally
been effected by wipers or tappets placed on a shaft driven according to the
judgment of the mechanic constructing the loom from the most convenient
movement in the loom. The rotation of these tappets or wipers elevates
or depresses a certain amount of the warp, according to the style and nature
of the cord to be produced, and it is in the adaptation and arrangement
of certain parts of machinery for producing a similar effect on the heddles
for the purpose of weaving diagonal cords that our improvements in the
construction of power looms consist. The amount of, warp threads or ends

page_text: elevated or depressed, to form the shed or opening through which the shuttle
has to pass, may be varied according to the number of wipers or tappets
placed on the revolving shaft of an ordinary loom, but it is obvious that
the amount of variations in which the warp may be placed must depend
and be limited to one single revolution of the shaft on which the wipers.
or tappets are placed, and this limitation it is the object of our Invention
to obviate.
.
We shall now proceed to describe the nature of our Invention with
reference to the annexed Drawings, and shew how we are enabled to vary
the position of the warp to a greater extent in forming the shed, and
thereby produce the diagonal cords in the fustians or similar fabric to be
manufactured. In looms of our improved construction, or in such as
our improvements are applied to, the rotary shaft on which the wipers or tappets
which govern the position of the heddles is entirely done away with,
and instead of the train of geering which conveys motion from the driving
shaft to the tappets, the driving shaft D (see Figure 2), Sheet 2, is
provided with a spur wheel d, which conveys motion through the carrier
wheel d¹ to the spur wheel d', which is thereby caused to revolve once for
every rotation of the driving shaft D or stroke of the lay or slay,
which is effected by a crank in the ordinary manner. On the axis of this
last spur wheel d² is placed an eccentric or scroll plate d³, the form of which is
best seen at Figure 3. This plate carries the small pulley or roller d', which
is connected with the lever E, so that every rotation of the plate d³ vibrates
the lever E on its fulcrum at e, which vibration is conveyed to a similar
lever F, through the connecting bars ff, and small lever f', and by tracing
the motion of these parts it will be seen that the two levers E and F are thus
caused to vibrate in opposite directions once for every revolution of the
plate d³. From the driving shaft D, motion is conveyed to the perpendicular
shaft G by means of bevel geering, as best seen at Figures 2 and 3, and at
the upper extremity of this shaft G is placed an horizontal scroll, the rotation
of which elevates the small lever 9 (see Figure 2), at every revolution, and
thereby gathers a certain amount of teeth in the ratchet wheel H by the catch
or dog, as represented in the Drawing, and the ratchet wheel H is thereby
forced forward a certain amount of its revolution at every revolution of the
shaft G. The letters h, h, represent an endless chain of a peculiar construction
(as will be best seen in the separate Figure 6) which passes over an octagonal
drum placed on the same centre or shaft as the ratchet H. This chain also
passes over the guide pullies 'h, 'h, and the speed of the ratchet h is so
arranged that every revolution of the shaft G moves the wheel II one eighth

page_text: of a revolution, and thereby carries the endless chain h, h, forward one link or
plate, which link or plate is made to correspond with the faces of the octagonal
drum on tho shaft of the wheel II, the form of which is shewn at Figure 7.
From the shaft G motion is conveyed to a small horizontal shaft I, best scen
at Figure 3, on which are placed two tappets or wipers, the form of which is
best seen at Figure 5, so that every revolution of the horizontal shaft I
traverses the part K back and forth alternately in the direction of the two
arrows seen at Figure 2, and this motion is imparted to one part of the
chain h, h, which passes in the direction shewn at Figure 2, and the
construction of this part of our Invention is seen separately in plan on an
enlarged scale at Figure 4. In this Figure i, i, i, i, i, i, i, represents a series
of small horizontal rods, which are arranged to correspond with the number of
heddles required for weaving the diagonal cords, and the traverse of the
part K being made to correspond with the uniform movement of the chain
h, h, either one or more of these horizontal pieces i, i, are forced forward at
each traverse, according to the spaces or blanks placed in that link of the
chain which is then presented opposite the part K. L, L, Figures 1 and 2,
represents the usual levers to which the various heddles are suspended, the
opposite extremity of which is fastened by the bands 1, 1, to corresponding
levers beneath the looms in the usual manner, but at the position at which the
bands 1, 1, would intersect the levers F and E, the vibrating motion of which
has been already described, there is attached to each band I, 1, the metallic-
hooked pieces marked m in Figure 1 and 2, which is either forced on to the
lever E by the action of one of the small rods i, or carried under the lever F
by the tension of the band to which it is attached, or by a small spring
arranged for that purpose. Thus the vibrating action of the levers F and E
either elevate or depress a certain number of the heddles, according to the
diagonal required in the corded fustian or fabric to be woven, and the amount
of changes or variations of the various heddles is only limited by the number of
links or plates of which the chain h, h, is constructed or composed, instead of
being limited to the single revolution of the shaft which carries the wipers or
tappets in the ordinary construction of looms for work of this nature.
Having described the nature of our improvements in the construction of
power looms, and in the manufacture of certain kinds of corded fustians or
fabrics to bo woven in diagonal cords, together with the manner in which the
Eame is to be performed and carried into effect, we hereby declare that wo
claim the arrangement and adaptation, as herein-before described, of an endless
chain of plates or links so constructed as to govern the position of the heddles
for the purpose of weaving diagonal, cords; but we do not otherwise claim any

page_text: separate parts of the loom or machinery which we have mentioned, we having
referred to them merely to show our Invention as used, applied, and adapted
to and with the looms now in common use. It will also be seen from the
preceding description that the nature and position or angle at which the
diagonal cords are placed on the face of the fustians or similar fabrics manu-
factured from fibrous materials, and requiring to be afterwards cut so as to
raise a pile thereon, depends on the construction and arrangement of the
chain h, h, as already described. The effect produced in cords woven with an
endless chain h, h, as herein-before described, is, that a greater number of
picks or shoots of weft can be thrown before the chain presents the link
which commenced the operation, and thereby produces a diagonal cord, the
race of which may be afterwards cut or opened and finished, as other corded
goods now are, the races of which run parallel to the selvage; and having
effected, by the means herein-before described, the weaving of diagonal cords,
which may subsequently be cut or opened, we therefore also claim as
our Invention the manufacture of corded fustians or fabrics woven in diagonal
cords from cotton, wool, and other fibrous materials which will admit of being
so cut and finished.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our bands and seals, this
Eleventh day of December, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-