CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Owens, of Chadderton, in the County of
Lancaster, Loom Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 26th February 1867, and dated the 31st August 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Owens at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st August
1866.
I, JOHN OWENS, of Chadderton, in the County of Lancaster, Loom Manager,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to that description of loom for weaving known as the
jacquard, and is designed for the purpose of weaving different patterns or
designs with greater facility by means of a novel arrangement and construction
of apparatus which constitutes the intermediate mechanism that forms the
connection between the ordinary perforated cylinder and the shafts of the
healds, and upon which depend the various motions of the healds.
The improvements consist in the employment and use of a novel description
of mechanism to determine the "rise" and "fall" of the healds, which may
be thus described:-Upon the upper portion of the loom two vertical bearings
are secured which support a number of pulleys placed side by side in the form
of a cylinder, over which chains or cords are passed, the two ends of each cord
being attached to the flat blades, which are thus balanced over the cylinder,

page_text: and the parallel edges of the blades are reduced in the middle of their length,
whereby a recess is formed on both sides of the blade; the lower ends of these
blades are attached by cords to treadles or levers, one end on one side the top
supporting pulley, and the other end to another lever working on a fulcrum
on the opposite side of the said pulley; thus as the chains are caused to
"rise" or "fall" by an arrangement of mechanism herein-after described they
alternately effect a corresponding motion of the levers to which their ends are
attached; these levers are connected to the shafts of the healds, one set to the
top shafts, and the other set to the bottom shafts, so that their rising or falling
effects the opening and closing of the warp called "shedding," upon the
variation of which depends the formation of devices or patterns, the irregular
motion of the healds or "pattern shedding" being effected in the following
manner-Within the recesses formed in the aforesaid blades flat bars of metal
are placed, which extend across and embrace the whole series of blades, and
are connected by rods to tappets or cranks which, when revolving, give the
bars a regular rise and fall, which movement is transmitted by the bars acting
against the ends of the recesses in the flat blades to those blades only with
which the bars come into contact, thereby opening the required shed.
In order to weave by this arrangement a pattern upon the fabric under
manufacture a lateral sliding motion is given to these blades by the ordinary
jacquard pattern cards and cylinder, each vertical blade being held in position.
by a transverse or horizontal bar in which two recesses are formed, one recess
embracing the blade on one side the supporting pulley, the other blade being
retained in the recess on the other side, and from the ends of these transverse
bars the ordinary jacquard needles project, thus during the reciprocating
movement of the pattern cylinder the perforations in the pattern cards allow
the needles of the retaining transverse bars to enter the perforations of the
card and cylinder, but when no perforation is presented the blank cards force
back the needles against which they press, so that each blade corresponding.
with their guide bars is forced back and displaced so as to escape the rising
bar which passes them, and the descending bars take them down in the
opposite direction; by this means the patterns are worked with the greatest
facility and a better cover produced upon the cloth. By perforating the
cylinder with four or more sets of holes on all its sides, and having the cards
perforated for various patterns, the aforesaid arrangement of needles may be
adapted to work any one of the said patterns desired; this is effected by
supporting the blade guide bars in adjustable bearings, by which means they
can be raised or lowered so as to be placed opposite any one of the pattern
perforations in the pattern cards and cylinder.

page_text: I would remark that this Invention is also applicable to the weaving of
plain fabrics, such as calico, by simply adapting cards to actuate the healds in
regular order, as in calico looms; and also that a principle feature in the
Invention is supporting and balancing the weight of the treddles and apparatus
connected therewith by means of the top pulleys, cylinder, or quadrant levers,
which may be adjusted as an equivalent, so as to relieve the warp from
weight or strain.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Owens in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
OWENS, of Chadderton, in the County of Lancaster, Loom Manager, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, .did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Owens, Her special license that I, the said John Owens, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Owens, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Owens, 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 John Owens, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say): :-
My Invention relates to that description of looms for weaving known as
the jacquard, and is designed for the purpose of weaving different patterns or

page_text: .
designs with greater facility, by means of a novel arrangement and construction
of apparatus which constitutes the intermediate mechanism that forms the
connection between the ordinary perforated cylinder, and the shafts of the
healds, and upon which depends the various motion of the healds.
The improvements consist in the employment and use of a novel description
of mechanism to determine the "rise" and "fall" of the healds which may
be thus described. Upon the upper portion of the loom, two vertical bearings
are secured which support a number of pulleys placed side by side in the
form of a cylinder, over which chains or cords are passed, the two ends of
each cord being attached to flat blades which are thus balanced over the
cylinder, and the parallel edges of the blades are reduced in the middle of
their length, whereby a recess is formed on both sides of the blade, the
lower ends of these blades are attached by cords to treadles or levers, one
end on one side the top supporting pulley, and the other end to another
lever working on a fulcrum on the opposite side of the said pulley, thus as
the chains are caused to "rise" or "fall" by an arrangement of mechanism
herein-after described, they alternately effect a corresponding motion of the
levers to which their ends are attached. These levers are connected to the
shafts of the healds, one set to the top shafts and the other set to the bottom
shafts, so that their rising or falling effects the opening and closing of the warp
called "shedding" upon the variation of which depends the formation of devices
or patterns, the irregular motion of the healds or patterns "shedding" being
effected in the following manner:-Within the recesses formed in the aforesaid
blades flat bars of metal are placed, which extend across and embrace the whole
series of blades, and are connected by rods to tappets or cranks, which when
revolving gives the bars a regular rise and fall, which movement is trans-
mitted by the bars acting against the ends of the recesses in the flat blades to
these blades only with which the bars come into contact, thereby opening the
required shed.
In order to weave by this arrangement a pattern upon the fabric under
manufacture, a lateral sliding motion is given to these blades by the ordinary
jacquard pattern cards and cylinder, each vertical blade being held in position
by a transverse or horizontal bar on which two recesses are formed, one
recess embracing the blade on one side of the supporting pulley, the other blade
being retained in the recess on the other side, and from the ends of these
transverse bars the ordinary jacquard needles project, thus during the recipro-
cating movement of the pattern cylinder the perforations in the pattern cards
allow the needles of the retaining transverse bars to enter the perforations
of the card and cylinder, but when no perforation is presented, the blank

page_text: cards force back the needles against which they press, so that each blade
corresponding with their guide bars is forced back and displaced so as to
escape the rising bar which passes them, and the descending bars take them
down in the opposite direction, by this means the patterns are worked with
the greatest facility and better cover produced upon the cloth. By per-
forating the cylinder with four or more sets of holes on all its sides, and
having the cards perforated for various patterns, the aforesaid arrangement
of needles may be adapted to work any one of the said patterns desired;
this is effected by supporting the blade guide bars in adjustable bearings,
by which means they can be raised or lowered so as to be placed opposite
any one of the pattern perforations in the pattern cards, and cylinder.
I would remark that the Invention is also applicable to the weaving of
plain fabrics, such as calico, by simply adapting cards to actuate the healds
in regular order as in calico looms, and also that a principle feature in the
Invention is supporting and balancing the weight of the treadles and apparatus
connected therewith, by means of the top pulleys, cylinder, or quadrant levers
which may be adapted as an equivalent so as to relieve the warp from weight
or strain.
In order that our Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about one inch and a half to the foot, similar letters of reference being marked
upon corresponding parts on all the Figures.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of the head stock or framing of a
jacquard loom which contains the improved apparatus for giving to the healds
the necessary shedding motion required for manufacturing plain cloths or for
producing designs or patterns upon the fabric under manufacture; Figure 2
represents a side elevation of the same; Figure 3 represents a side elevation
of the top frame supporting the lifting knives, blades, and cylinders, having
applied thereto an improved arrangement of endless chains and pulleys for
actuating the lifting knives and card cylinders which may be applied instead of
the mechanism shewn in Figure 1.
In Figures 1, 2 and 3, a, a, is the headstock framing supported on the
loom framing b, b, the shaft c supported in the bearings d of the bead-
stock a, a, is supplied with a series of pulleys e, e, e, these pulleys support
the recessed blades f, f, being attached to the treddles h and i, these treddles
being again connected or attached to the shafts of the healds k, k, the
blades f, f, are caused freely to rise and fall by means of the knives or bars q, q',
herein-after described, affecting thereby, through the medium of the treddles
and healds afore-mentioned, any desired shedding motion required to be given

page_text: during the operation of weaving. The constant and regular rise and fall of the
transverse knives or bars q, q', is obtained by means of the cam p, through the
medium of the levers r, connecting rod s, and pulleys or tappets o, o¹, these
transverse knives which are connected to the pulleys or tappets o, o¹, by the
straps t, t, are constructed so that they will fit with a slight clearance into the
recesses of the blades f, f, so that when rising or falling they will force the
blades against which they come into contact up or down, the effect of which
being such upon the healds as to produce, when the blades are acted upon by
the mechanism herein-after described, patterns or devices upon the woven
fabric; or the knives or blades q, q', may be actuated by means of an endless
chain arranged, as seen in Figure 3, the chain a¹ passing over and under
the guide pulleys b, 61, is actuated so as to have a reciprocating motion
imparted to it by means of the rocking wheel c', the ends of the knives
or bars q, q', being secured to the chain a' at the point d', d', their position in
the Drawing being shewn when the shed is closed. Thus when the wheel c is in
motion, the chain is caused to move in the direction indicated by the arrows,
thereby giving to the knives q, q', the required rise and fall for effecting a pattern
or plain shed during the operation of weaving. When alternate equal numbers
of the blades f, f, are raised and lowered, a plain fabric, such as calico, will be
woven, but when it is desired to produce a pattern or device the needles and guide
bars u, u, are acted upon by the cylinder and cards in the following manner :-
The guide bars u, u, are provided with recesses as seen in Figure 3, through
which the blades f, f, are inserted, the whole series of bars being supported
and held in position by means of the needle guide plates v, v, the needles w, w;
are secured on to the ends of the guide bars u, u, and are kept in a central
position by means of the springs a, the ends of the needle projecting through
the needle guide plates v, v, are acted upon by the pattern card and jacquard
cylinder in the, ordinary manner. Thus when the cylinder at the time of
changing the shed is forced against the ends of the needles, those entering
the perforations of the cylinder remain as they were and are taken up by
the ascending knives g, and the remaining ones being forced back by the
pattern card are taken down by the descending knives q', thereby imparting
an irregular shedding motion to the healds, which being continued according
to the arrangement of the pattern cards will produce any woven device or
pattern pre-arranged. I would here remark that the cards and cylinders
may be applied on each side of the apparatus and arranged to work alternately,
and they may be applied either to the upper or lower series of the projecting
needles.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, together with the

page_text: method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the novel arrangement, combination, and construction
of apparatus to be applied to the upper framing of looms for the purpose of
weaving fabrics either plain or with designs as herein-before described, set forth,
and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Owens have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JOHN OWENS. (L.S.)