AN IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME Communicated to him from
Year: 1883

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of the firm of A M and
W Clark of 53 Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of the
Institute of Patent Agents for an Invention of AN IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC
AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME Communicated to him from abroad
by Alwill Urbahn, of Paterson in the County of Passaic and State of New
Jersey, Manufacturer and Abraham Gould Jennings, of Brooklyn in the
County of Kings and State of New York, Manufacturer, both in the United
States of America
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark at
"
AN
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th December 1883.-
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK of the firm of A. M. and W. 'Clark of 53 Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents.
IMPROVED WOVEN FABRIC AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME communi-
cated to me from abroad by Alwill Urbahn of Paterson in the County of Passaic
and State of New Jersey, Manufacturer and Abraham Gould Jennings of Brooklyn
in the County of Kings and State of New York, Manufacturer, both in the United
States of America
This Invention relates, first to a new woven fabric having on a plainly woven
back ground, ornamental cords, ranged in suitable design, and secondly to the new
arrangement of loom for producing such a fabric.
The Invention consists first, and so far as the fabric is concerned in combining
with the shuttle, and twisted ground warp threads of the foundation fabric the
ornamental cord, which is held to the body of the fabric by shuttle-threads
which pass over the ornamental cord, the ground warp threads being all beneath
the same.
The Invention also consists in carrying the figure thread on opposite sides of the
ground warp thread, so that on each side of the fabric a separate design will be
produced by but one series of figure threads.
The Invention also consists so far as the loom is concerned, in providing said

page_text: loom with heddles having perforated needle-like projections through which the
ground warp threads and also the figure cords are drawn. And finally, it consists
in the new reed which is made of doubly looped pillars, all as hereinafter more
fully described
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the loom on which the improved fabric is
produced. Figure 2 is a top view of the harness and reeds of said loom.
Figure 3 a face view of the ground-warp harness
Figures 4 and 5 detail face and sectional views respectively of part of the harness
and Figure 6 a face view of part of the reed. Figure 7 an edge view thereof.
Figures 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 are face views of the new fabric. Figure 13 is a
sectional view of the loom for making a modification of the fabric. Figures 14,
15, 16, 17 and 18 are face views of said modification
In the drawing A is the frame of the loom. B is the beam from which the
ground warp threads for the foundation fabric are taken. These warp threads are
marked a and b in figure 1, and are carried through the heddles C, and D. Each
of these heddles has series of needle-like projections & as more clearly shown in
figures 4 and 5, the said needles & projecting downwards in one of the heddles C
and upwards in the other heddle D as shown in figures 1 and 3. The needles d of
the heddles have holes near their free ends, and through these holes the ground
warp threads are drawn. The heddle C which has the downwardly projecting
needles, is guided vertically in a frame E which is supported on pivoted posts F as
indicated in figure 3 or otherwise arranged, so that said frame E can be moved
laterally, and with it the said heddle C while at the same time, the leddle C can
be moved vertically in the frame E by the usual treadle connection. The other
heddle D which has the upwardly projecting needles, is guided in a fixed frame G
and only capable of up and down motion; yet this frame G if desired may also
be made laterally movable. The motion to be imparted to these heddles C. D. is
such in order to produce the foundation fabric, that, after the shed is once open as
shown in figure 1, and after the shuttle H has carried a shuttle thread through
this shed, the heddle C will be raised, and after the lower ends of its needles
are above the upper ends of the needles in the heddle D, the heddle C is moved
laterally, so as to carry each one of its needles over the vertical plane of one of
the projecting needles of the heddle D and then the heddle C is lowered again, so
that in the shed whenever the shuttle is thrown, the warp threads a that are
carried by the heddle D, will always be above the warp threads b. But between
receiving every new shuttle thread, the two adjoining warp threads a b are made
to cross one another, by the above described motion of the heddle C thereby
producing the effect which is clearly indicated in figure 12, where a, b, are the
The ground warp
crossed ground-warp threads, and i the shuttle threads.
threads ab after having passed through the harness heddles C, D, are passed
through the lower pillars e of the lower reed I and after having received the
shuttle threads and the figure threads, the whole fabric is wound upon the beam J
or carried from said beam to a suitable other beam L. The figure cords or threads
for ornamenting the face of the fabric are taken from a beam M and carried in
suitable strands ff through heddles N N and then between the downwardly
projecting pillars g of the upper reed P. Each of the heddles N has downwardly
projecting needles & like the needles of the beddles C and D, and the figure
cords are drawn through the holes that are near the free ends of these needles.
The upper reed P is suspended from the frame in such a manner that it is capable of
slight lateral motion which may be imparted to it by hand. The pillars of the
two reeds I and P are made as more clearly shown in figures 6 and 7 as follows.
Those of the lower reed I are upwardly projecting looped wires resembling hair-
pins, and the warp threads a b pass through these closed loops, so that they can not
escape from them. The pillars g of the upper reed P are looped wires of exactly
the same character as those of the lower reed excepting that they project down-
wards, but the figure threads or ornamenting cords instead of being passed
through these pillars, as do the ground warp threads are passed through the spaces

page_text: between the looped pillars, as indicated in figure 6. This arrangement enables the
operator by shifting the upper suspended reed P laterally to carry any one of the
figure threads over the space between any two pairs of ground warp threads, and
then by lowering the corresponding heddle N to bring such figure thread into. the
lower part of the shed wherever it may be desired to have it tied to the ground
fabric by the shuttle thread. By this arrangement can be produced on the loom
the ornamentation in any desired form, as is indicated by figures 8, 9, 10 and 11,
that is to say, each figure thread can be carried along diagonally on the fabric or it
can be carried straight or both straight and diagonally, or in zigzag form, as may be
desired, it being of course essential in this connection, that the heddles N should
partake of the lateral motion which is imparted to the reed P. To this end, the
reed P is provided with arms has shown in figure 2 that extend backwards, and
straddle the ends of the heddles N N so that whenever the reed P is moved
laterally, the heddles N N will move laterally to the same extent. The lower
reed I has no lateral motion but is moved backwards and forwards in the usual
manner of operating reeds..
By a slight change of parts the figure thread which forms the design can be
carried on opposite sides of the body threads so that on each side of the fabric a
separate design formed by the figure thread, will be produced, and yet only one
series of figure threads employed.
The advantage of this modified arrangement is first, that a less quantity of figure
thread will be required for the same fabric, and secondly, that by a judicious
arrangement the figure thread will be worked into broken designs on each face of
the fabric, producing effects that cannot possibly be produced on a loom where
figure threads are otherwise employed, because such figure threads are usually
exposed throughout their extent on one face of ordinary fabrics, or otherwise lost
entirely to the eye, if as in certain kinds of carpets they are concealed where their
faces are not to be exposed. In this modified fabric, however, all that which is
concealed from one face of the fabric is exposed on the other face. in harmonious
and proper design.
For making this fabric, the same kind of loom that is hereinabove described and
of which a portion is shown in figure 13 can be used. In figure 13, the letters a b
represent the ground warp threads that are taken from a beam and passed through
the heddles, C, D, which heddles have needle-like projections d above described,
and more fully shown in figures 4 and 5. said projections being perforated near the
ends to admit said ground warp threads.
H represents the shuttle which carries the shuttle threads i between the warp
threads ab in the manner more fully indicated in figure 12. The figure cords ff
are carried through heddles N N, and then between downwardly projecting pillars
of the upper reed P. Each of the beddles N has downwardly projecting needle-
like bars & like those of the heddles C and D and the figure cords are drawn
through the holes that are near the free ends of these needle like bars. The upper
reed P is suspended from the framing in such a manner that it is capable of slight
lateral motion. Now, in order to lay these figure cords on alternate sides of the
fabric they are first tied by some of the shuttle threads to the upper face of
the ground fabric and then afterwards by other shuttle threads to the lower face
of said ground fabric. That is to say while the heddles N N or such of them as
may be needed for the purpose are above the warp threads ab the ground fabric
alone will be formed, and part of the figure cords held freely above such ground
fabric. The figure cords are then carried down into the lower part of the shed and
tied by one or more of the shuttle threads to the ground fabric, and then the figure
cords are kept under the shed as indicated in figure 13 and more of the ground
fabric is made above them, until the figure cords are again raised into the shed to
be tied by one or more shuttle threads and then the figure cord is again carried
over the warp threads a b and so on thus producing a fabric which shall have part
of the same figure cords fon one face, and part on the other face thereof. The
result will be a different design according to the greater or less degree of lateral

page_text: motion imparted to the heddles N N during the progress of the weaving, and the
design produced will invariably be a more or less broken figuring such as is indi-
cated in figures 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18. If the ground fabric is made quite close,
the figure cord will appear prominently on each side of the ground fabric, if
however, the ground fabric is made more or less open, the figure cord can be seen
throughout, when the fabric is held against the light. Figure 15 shows the
reverse of the fabric shown in figure 14. Figure 18, the reverse of that shown
in figure 16.
Having described the nature of the said Invention and the manner of performing
the same I declare that what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is:
1st As a new article of manufacture, a fabric consisting of crossing ground warp
threads a b, shuttle threads e and figure threads f which are held by the shuttle
threads only, substantially as described.
2ndly In a loom for making figured fabric the harness heddles made with
perforated needle-like projections d through which the warp threads are passed,
substantially as described.
3rdly As a new Article of manufacture the woven fabric composed of ground warp
threads a band ground shuttle threads i and of the figure cords ff that are placed
alternately on opposite sides of the ground fabric to produce figures of broken lines
on each face of the fabric substantially as described.
4thly The reed I having upwardly projecting loops e combined with the upper
reed P having downwardly projecting loops 9 said upper reed P being suspended so
that it can receive lateral motion substantially as described.
g
5thly In a loom the combination of the heddles C, D, N, having the perforated
needle-like warp guides d with the reeds I P having looped pillars e g and with
mechanism for moving said heddles and reeds, substantially as described, all arranged
so that the figure threads passing through the reeds P shall be held between the
pillars g of the upper reed, while the ground warp threads that are carried by the
reeds C, D, shall be passed through the pillars c of the lower reed substantially as
specified.
6thly The laterally movable reed P combined with the arms h h and heddles N N
substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.
In witness whereof I the said Alexander Melville Clark have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty ninth day of November A.D. 1883.
T