IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HAIR CLOTH AND OTHER FABRICS IN WHICH THE WEFT IS INSERTED IN SEPARATE LENGTHS, AND IN LOOMS OR MACHINERY FOR WEAVING SUCH FABRICS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Peter Joel Livsey at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
February 1870. A communication from abroad by Isaac Lindsley,
residing at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States.
I, PETER JOEL LIVSEY, of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF HAIR CLOTH AND OTHER FABRICS IN WHICH THE WEFT IS INSERTED IN SEPARATE
LENGTHS, AND IN LOOMS OR MACHINERY FOR WEAVING SUCH FABRICS," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Isaac Lindsley, residing at Pawtucket,
Rhode Island, United States, to be as follows:—―.
The object of the first part of the Invention is to economise material
in the manufacture of hair cloth and other fabrics in the production of
which separate lengths of weft are employed. As hair cloth is generally
woven the warp threads are operated in the body of the fabric to form a
twill," but on each side of the fabric there is a narrow selvedge
produced by operating the warp threads to make plain weaving, which
gives a better hold upon the ends of the hair weft and a more secure.

page_text: selvedge than there would be if the whole fabric were of the twill"
formation. In weaving the hair cloth it has hitherto been the practice to
draw in the hair weft so as to leave cach end of it overhanging both
selvedges to an equal extent. This part of the Invention consists in
drawing in the weft so that only one end of it will overhang the selvedge
on one side, as hitherto, the other end of the weft reaching across the
twill part of the fabric but not across the plain or selvedge part, but as
the weft is drawn in so as to alternately overhang the selvedge upon one
side-and-then-upon-the other side of the fabric the result is the same as
the ordinary fabric, except that at both selvedges the end of every
alternate weft will be absent from the selvedge part of the fabric. With
this improved mode of manufacture it is advisable to arrange the warp
threads forming the selvedge a little closer together than in ordinary
hair cloth fabrics to make up for the defect of weft, and if required the
selvedge threads may be interwoven with ordinary endless weft to give
increased strength and security.
Secondly. The improvements relate to combinations and arrangements,
of mechanism for weaving hair cloth and like fabrics formed by separate
lengths of weft by self-acting means, and are made upon those improve-
ments for which Letters Patent were granted to George Tomlinson
Bousfield, numbered and dated as follows, namely, No. 2061, dated 19th
August, A.D. 1863; No. 2328, dated 21st September, A.D. 1863; and
numbered 3066, dated 29th November, A.D. 1865.
One part of the improvement consists in fixing the mechanism which
draws the weft into the shed and the mechanism which selects the weft
to the framing of the loom so as to remain stationary and not move with
the lay as hitherto, and in causing the lay to be worked by a cam or
cams or other equivalent means, so that it can stand or have but little
movement while the drawing in mechanism is within the shed. With
this modification all or some of the movements for controlling the
selecting mechanism" and the healds and "take-up hitherto
depending upon the continued movements of the "lay" may be produced
by a cam or cams or their equivalents.
"
Another part of the improvements relate to means for introducing
weft in separate lengths from both sides of the loom, which is accom-
plished by means of a shuttle having a double set of nippers or their
equivalents, which shuttle is passed through the shed by a pushing and
drawing movement by two rods which simultaneously enter the shed at

page_text: cach side and meet in the middle, one rod pushing the shuttle into the
middle of the shed, the other drawing it out alternately, or the shuttle
may be "
picked" through the shed. Or the nipper shuttle may be
carried through the shed by a "cradle" or carrage running on wheels in
a race in the lay under the warp, the nipper shuttle passing above the
lower threads of the warp being propelled by contact with wheels in the
"cradle" or carriage which act upon wheels in the nipper shuttle, the
warp threads passing between the wheels in the cradle or carriage and
those in the shuttle. The nippers upon the shuttle may be connected or
constructed so that when one nipper opens the other will shut, or each
nipper may be acted upon separately. The nipper shuttle if required
may be made to interlock with the cradle or carriage on each side of the
shed, the interlocking mechanism being removed or withdrawn out of
the way when passing into the shed. The opening and closing or
locking and unlocking of the nippers of the shuttle may be performed by
a lever and cam if required, the lever acting vertically upon the nipper
shuttle so as not to disturbe its position in the cradle or carriage. The
lay where the double nipper shuttle is used may be actuated by a cam or
cams, and the mechanism for actuating the shuttle or the selecting
mechanism may either move with the lay or be stationary or detached
therefrom, and the mechanism for controlling the healds and "take-up"
by the weft may be actuated by cams or other equivalent means.
In carrying out the improvements in the manufacture of hair cloth and
similar fabrics as herein first described, the result is accomplished in
looms drawing weft from one side only by giving a reciprocating move-
ment to the mechanism which opens the nippers at an earlier and later
part of the stroke of the nippers, but in looms feeding weft on both sides
it is only necessary to adjust the mechanism to produce the result
required.