INVENTION FOR MAKING RUGS, CARPETS, OR ANY ARTICLE OF FURNITURE OR DRESS CONSISTING OF CARDED WOOL OR COTTON, SILK, OR ANY CTHER SUBSTANCE CAPABLE OF BEING CARDED AND INTERWOVEN, TO FROM A FIRM TEXTURE OF SPUN YARN, WORSTED, SILK, COTTON, OR OTHER SPUN SUBSTANCE, OF ANY NUMBER OF COLOURS FORMED INTO A FIGURE, IN IMITATION OF NEEDLEWORK, WITH OR WITHOUT THE AFORESAID CARDED WOOL OR OTHER CARDED SUBSTANCES, ON THE SURFACE OF ANY PIECE OF GOODS WOVEN BY THE COMMON LOOM, WITHOUT PASSING THE THREAD THROUGH THE REEDS
Year: 1812

page_text: ΤΟ
HESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WEBB, of Hoxton, in the County of Middlesex, Weaver, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirteenth day of June, in the fifty-second year of His reign, did
give and grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, 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, my
"INVENTION FOR MAKING RUGS, CARPETS, OR ANY ARTICLE OF
FURNITURE OR DRESS CONSISTING OF CARDED WOOL OR COTTON, SILK, OR ANY
CTHER SUBSTANCE CAPABLE OF BEING CARDED AND INTERWOVEN, TO FROM A
FIRM TEXTURE OF SPUN YARN, WORSTED, SILK, COTTON, OR
OTHER SPUN
SUBSTANCE, OF ANY NUMBER OF COLOURS FORMED INTO A FIGURE, IN IMITATION
OF NEEDLEWORK, WITH OR WITHOUT THE AFORESAID CARDED WOOL OR OTHER
CARDED SUBSTANCES, ON THE SURFACE OF ANY PIECE OF GOODS WOVEN BY THE
COMMON LOOM, WITHOUT PASSING THE THREAD THROUGH THE REEDS;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said John
Webb, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
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 (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Webb, do declare as follows:-
A piece of goods may be made to any breadth, but I shall describe a
machine to make a piece a yard wide.
I have a common loom with two headles, about eighteen inches wider than
usual, the front posts of which are level with the work at top. On each of the
said posts I have a bar of iron, bolted in front, eighteen inches higher, which
bars I call A. The reed of the loom has this difference from the common
reed, the dents are firmly fixed at top, but left entirely open at bottom, to
admit between them other parts of the machinery, which, with their uses, will
be described in their proper places. Supposing a few threads to be shot across
the warp,
I have an iron bar fixed between and on the bottom of the bars A,
which said bar goes across the whole breadth of the loom. On this bar small
steel pieces are fixed, about two-thirds as thick as the distance between dent
and dent of the reed, five inches long, the ends of which point towards the reed;
they are fixed so that every one of the said stell pieces may pass between
every dent of the reed.
At the end of all these stell pieces a groove is cut; in
which a piece formed as margin, and called a lifter, being about one inch
long, is rivetted at Figure 2. At Figure 1 another small piece is rivetted,
about nine inches long, under the other small pieces above-mentioned, and
coming four inches beyond the front of the loom, across an arbour. The above
nine-inch pieces act as a lever to raise or sink the lifters. The two small
pieces when rivetted to the lifter I call lever needles; they are formed as p
margin. An iron bar, which I call B, is fixed between the bars A and the
middle posts of the loom, one on the right and the other on the left. On each
of these bars B another upright bar C is fixed, about two feet long, having a
groove cut in the middle; at bottom about four inches long. In each of these
grooves a piece about an inch long is made to slide up down.
In the middle
of each of the said sliding pieces is a centre screw; from the points of these
centre screws another iron bar D is placed across the loom, and about two
inches under the warp. About an inch from each end of the said bar D
another upright bar E is fixed, about two feet long. These are coupled
together at top by a bar across. In the bottom of the bar D a groove is made
for another bar F to slide in, about six inches shorter than the bar D. At
each end of the bar F another upright bars G is fixed; that on the right is one
inch and that on the left five inches distant from the upright.bar E; thus it is
obvious the sliding bar F and the two upright bar G constitute a sliding frame.
At the top of the upright bars G are fixed a cleft or hook, to enable the sliding
frame to slide on the coupling bar that is coupled to the upright bars C, are

page_text: likewise coupled by a bar across. On the top of the upright bars E another
cleft or hook is fixed, about three inches long, to secure the frame in its proper
place when it rises or falls. On the top of the sliding bar F, small thin steel
pieces are fixed, of the form as margin. At the end there is a hole through
which the yarn or thread goes. The other end, Figure 2, is fixed to the afore-
said sliding bar. These small thin pieces I call conductors; they are about
three-eighths of an inch broad, and about four inches long from Figures 1 to 2.
As these conductors are to guide the threads over the lifters of the lever
needles, they must be less in number than the said lever needles by the last
6, 10, 15, 20, more or less, according to the room wanted to form the pattern.
The threads are warped upon a seperate large reed, and pass through the
bottom of the harness and through the holes of the conductors, the ends of the
threads being fastened to the work, which is already supposed to be the shot.
As the conductors are now supposed to be below the work, it is necessary to
raise them all above the lever needles; and as these conductors are so fixed
as to pass between all the lever needles, I shall now describe how they are
brought over the said lifters and lever needles, so as to form the pattern and
work intended.
We must suppose two or three threads to be shot across the warp in the
usual way by a shuttle. It is then necessary to raise the warp threads above
the top of the lifters and lever needles, to give the conductors an opportunity
to be raised above, shifted over, and to fall under the said lifters and lever
needles, which I do in the following manner-To raise the warp threads above
the lifters and lever needles, I have an iron bar placed on two centres on the
top of the front posts of the loom. Across each of the ends of the said iron
bar another bar is fixed, the one end of which reaches one inch beyond the
ends of the lever needles, the other end comes under the arbour in the front of
the loom. On the ends of the said bars, an inch beyond the ends of the lever
needles, I have a small screwed bar, which is about three inches below the
warp. A knob being fixed on the above-said arbour, and the said arbour being
turned, raises the warp to any height wanted, a weight being suspended on the
warp reel, to give it liberty to rise or fall. To raise the conductors from under
to above the lever needles, I have a stand fixed at the bottom of each of the
bars A, in each of which said stands a lever H is placed, on two centre screws.
one end of which lever goes under the bar D, the other end going under the
arbour above-mentioned, which arbour being turned (a knob being fixed on it),
raises the bar D, and with it the whole of the sliding frame.
As the con-
ductors are fixed to the sliding frame, the thread is raised from below to above
the lifters and lever needles, as follows:-About two inches from the bottom of

page_text: the bar E, on the left hand, on the inside next the sliding frame, a shaft I is
placed on a centre screw, the other end of which comes two inches beyond the
front of the loom and three inches below the arbour. On the upright bar G
of the sliding frame a small knob is fixed, and on the shaft I, opposite to the
said knob, a wheel is fixed, cut in various notches, according to the pattern
intended to be made, which said notches must be so cut, high or low, that the
shaft I being turned, will just shift the conductors over the aforesaid lifters &
lever needles. The end of the lever H being now brought of the knob on the
arbour, lets the conductors down below the warp, to be ready for the next row.
On the right hand upright bar G a spring is fixed, to keep the above-mentioned
knob close to the notched wheel. Five inches above the said notched wheel,
and on the same upright bar to which that is fixed, a stand and lever working
on two centres are placed; this lever reaches over the arbour. About half an
inch from the inside of the arbour a lifting dog is placed, having a click at the
end, which catches a tooth in the saw-tooth wheel to be fixed on the shaft. A.
knob being fixed on the arbour under the aforesaid lever, the arbour being
turned will turn the shaft I one tooth, and consequently the notched wheel
will thus shift the conductors, and guide the threads over the lifters & lever
needles; but as the sliding frame rises and falls, and as the one end of the
shaft I is not yet supposed to be secured, it must be secured at the front of the
loom in the same manner as the bar D, a centre piece being placed in a small
sliding piece on an upright bar, as that is. The threads being thus conducted
over the lever needles, and the lever H being off the knob on the arbour, is
then let down under the work; but as it is necessary to raise the lifters, to
give the threads an opportunity to get under them, and the instant they are
under to sink them again into a small groove cut in the bar of the lever
needles, I have a piece of iron fixed exactly long enough to admit all the
levers of the needles, just to lay upon them, and no longer. The arbour being
turned will raise the lifters as high as I wish, by the thinness or thickness of
the said piece of iron that is screwed on the arbour. About an inch from the
arbour I have nutt upon all the levers of the needles, to which is fixed a spring,
to make the lifters fall when the end of the lever is off the iron on the arbour,
as above described. As it is now necessary that the thread or stitch thus
formed should be drawn from under the lifter to the farther part of the lever
needles, I have a cord, one end of which is wound twice round the warp roller,
and then brought and wound twice round the other roller that rolls up the
work when finished. The end of this cord is by pullies brought over the top of
the loom, and is worked by a treadle, which (a weight being suspended at the
other end of the cord) draws the work from under the lifters to any part of the

page_text: lever needles. If the shuttle is again thrown two or three times, and the same
operations are performed as before described with the conductors (their threads
being under the lifters, and the former stitch being behind on the lever needles),
the said stitch being brought forward by the treadle cord, will pass over the
lifters, and consequently over the last thread that was performed.
By a continuance of these operations the pattern is formed on the surface
of any piece of woven goods, according to the form of the notched wheel above
described, as fancy may suggest or pattern require. In order to make a still
greater variety of patterns, I have two or more sliding frames and conductors,
made exactly like the one above described, only the two or more frames must be
no longer than it is taken care of, have only the same number of conductors
on the two or more frames as there were on the one. These frames being
made to shift in various directions, according to the form of the notched
wheels applied to them in the same manner as the single sliding frame above
described was, may be formed into any variety of pattern. It will be easily
seen that when the conductors are all on one frame the edges are not filled up,
and that when the conductors are on two or more sliding frames the edges and
a small part of the middle of the work are not filled up now, though these edges
may be fitted up by the usual methods adopted by carpet weavers, yet, as I
wish to have the work all alike, I fill them up in the following manner :-
I will suppose there are ten lever needles more than there are conductors,:
consequently there will be ten lever needles empty (say, on the left hand). As
these conductors shift to form a pattern, those ten that were empty on the left
hand will be filled up, while the same numbers on the right hand will be
empty. Now, in order to fill any single or any number of lever needles
whatsoever, whether in the middle of the work or only on the edges, as
occasion may require, I take the following method:-Suppose, for example,
ten lever needles were empty or without conductors on the left hand, I have
two pieces of flat iron bars secured on each of the insides of the bars A, one
of which stands edgewise, the other lies flat and parallel with the lever needles,
both of which iron bars project three inches beyond the lifters of the lever
needles. These iron bars are for a bar K to slide on. At each end of the
bar K, I have eleven pieces which I call conductors L.
somewhat different from the former ones, being in form
and are two inches long from Figure 1 to 2, and four inches long from
Figures 2 to 3. The said conductors are placed between each of the ten
last lever needles at each end. Like the former ones, they have a hole at the.
end at Figure 1, through which the thread passes. As these conductors Lare
above the lever needles, I have another notched wheel fixed on the shaft I.
These are made
as in the margin,

page_text: ;
Against the notch I have a spring fixed to go in or come out of the said notch.
In the middle, between the bar K and the said spring against the notched
wheel, I have a lever on two centres, one end of which comes against the
spring the other end of said lever goes two inches higher than the bar K,
between two pins that are put in the said bar K. Thus, when the shaft I is
turned by the arbour as above described, it will shift according as the afore-
said spring is in or out of the notch of the wheel that is on the shaft I.
This spring pressing against the lower end of the aforesaid lever, and the
other end of said lever going between the pins on the bar K, must shift the
conductors on the said bar K to right or left, as occasion may require. The
threads being thus formed over the ten lever needles at each end, it is plain
that those ten on the right hand would have each a double row of stitches,
while all the other needles had but a single row. To prevent this I have at
the front of the loom, and under the arbour, a turned iron roller of three
inches diameter placed on two centres, fixed on each of the posts in the front
of the loom. On this said roller I have as many pieces of iron screwed on
at equal distances, long or short, according to the number of stitches I want,
to prevent their being made double. Above the arbour, five inches distant
from it at the right hand, a stand is fixed, in which is placed on two centres
a lever M, seven inches long; the other end of the lever reaches over the
arbour. On this lever, withinside the arbour, is a lifting dog, having a click
or hook at the end, going into a saw-tooth wheel that must be fixed on the
above-said iron roller, a stop-dog being fixed to the wheel to secure it in its
proper place.
A knob being fixed on the arbour under the lever M, the
arbour being turned will turn the roller one tooth. The ends of the lever
needles being bent down a little lower than the aforesaid long or short pieces
that are screwed on the said roller, will then draw the lever of the needles forwards,
and thus raise the lifters. Supposing the last ten of the lever needles were
empty before the last ten conductors L fill them, then all the ten lifters must be
raised as above to form the stitch just described; but as those ten lever
needles on the right hand are supposed to be all filled before the conductors
L passed over them, it is necessary the lifters should be all down to pre-
vent the said conductors L from forming another stitch. For this purpose
I have a small shoulder withinside the large roller in all the levers of the
lever needles. Against the said shoulder I have a seperate spring to all of
them. These springs bring down all the points of the lifters into the groove
cut in the steel bar of the said lever needles. Thus, to prevent the aforesaid
conductors L from forming a stitch, let the space in a straight line from the
iron on the roller that raised the ten lifters on the left hand be without any

page_text: piece of iron, consequently the lifters will be all down, and the work drawn
back, as before described. Another knob fixed on the arbour, and pressing
against the bar K by the arbour being turned, will bring the said bar K
forward, and thus, the conductors L will draw the threads over the top of the
lifters to a level with the lower threads that were drawn over the tops of the
lifters, an opportunity of being secured by a shot from the shuttle to prepare
for the next row of the work, the bar K being brought back again by a spring;
by repeating the whole of these operations, the work as first described will be
compleat. It should be observed that according to the number of lifters at any
time to be raised, the piece of iron screwed on the iron roller must be in length
exactly the same as the breadth of the said lifter; on the other hand, if any
numbers of lifters are to fall a space equal to the width of such lifters must
be without any iron on the roller.
To make a different kind of goods with the same loom, and the principal
part of the same movements, I have the bar K before described sliding
between the pieces before-mentioned that was screwed to the bars A. On
this bar K, I have a sliding frame placed, with a notched wheel shaft and
saw-tooth wheel, and made to shift by the arbour for the same purposes as the
other sliding frames are. On the before-mentioned sliding bar F, I have only
the before-mentioned conductors L working in the same manner, except that
the threads are secured with another shuttle by fine hemp. To fill up the
edges I put ten, more or less as may be wanted, of the first-described con-
ductors at each end, and the same number, except one, of lever needles fixed and
worked exactly as those before described, which fill up and finish the work to the
desired pattern. The various ways of changing and interchanging the two
sorts of conductors and lever ncedles must be left to the fancy of the workman,
or the quality of the goods wanted. When I make rugs or other goods, I
have three treadles and a number of lever needles, more or less, according to
the desired pattern. The conductors being fixed on one, two, or more sliding
frames as before described, the open spaces between the pattern that is formed
I fill up with wool in the following manner:-The wool is carded and dyed,
and put into the warp by hand, in the same manner as the yarn in the best
rugs. When it is woven into the warp I have an instrument like a wool-
comber's comb with which I comb the wool to an even, smooth surface, an
then cut it short or not, as most approved. When I make rugs and other
goods, &c. all wool on the surface, I have a different way of combing the
wool. I have a wooden frame with four upright posts; between the two
front posts I have an arbour placed, which turns by a driving wheel.
inches lower than the arbour I have a bottom for the goods to lay on.
Five
On

page_text: each side of the posts I have two iron bars to place three spindles filled with
sharp small teeth. The teeth of the first spindle are 3 inches long, that of
the second th longer than that of the third, four inches long. These spindles
are all placed on centres, and are turned by a wheel on the arbour, and drive each
other by the wheels working into each other in all the spindles. These said.
spindles go across the piece of goods to be combed, the teeth of the spindles
working of an inch into each other to clear them from the wool that is combed
off. To shift the goods to be combed, so that the whole may be done alike, I
have a frame of wood four feet long sliding in a groove, and filled with hooks
to which the piece of goods is hooked. A cord is fastened to each end of the
said frame, and brought by pullies over all the three spindles and the arbour
to a round piece of iron which turns on centres six inches under the said
arbour. On this said round piece of iron a saw-tooth wheel is fixed, into a
tooth of which a click or hook comes from a lever over the top of the arbour.
A knob being placed on the said arbour, it will turn the said piece of iron to
which the cord is fastened, and thus shift the piece of goods to be combed from
one end to the other till it is completely finished. In a heavy piece of goods
it will be found necessary to have oue of the said cords, &c., at each end of the
arbour
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the welfth day of October, in the
year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Weeb came before our Lord the
King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in
that case made and provided.