IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS," MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Templeton, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS,"
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS,"
.
Sealed the 24th August 1855, and dated the 13th April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Templeton at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th April 1855.
J, JAMES TEMPLETON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS" to be as follows, that is
to say-
This Invention relates to the manufacture or production of pile fabrics for
various uses, as carpets and velvets, from what is technically known as "fur"
or "pile" or "chenile" material. In the existing process of manufacturing
fabrics of this general class, the "fur" material is woven into the fabric as a
weft, the pattern being primarily woven in in the manufacture of the fur
material itself. Now, according to the present Invention, the fur material
is used as a warp, the figure or pattern details upon it being prepared
in the ordinary manner. Fur warp goods of this class are much more
economical in manufacturing cost than goods woven from fur weft, inasmuch
as the weaver has much less trouble and difficulty in bringing out his pattern

page_text: in the loom, the operation being hardly more difficult than plain weaving, and
hence the goods may be woven in the power loom. The pattern or face
figure is produced entirely by the fur warp, the weft being simply the necessary
binding material. Fabrics of this class with fur warps may be woven in
various ways, and the weft may or may not be made to appear on the face.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Templeton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
TEMPLETON, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand cight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto.me, the said
James Templeton, Her special license that I, the said James Templeton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Templeton, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said James Templeton, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, 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 James Templeton, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention relates to the manufacture or production of figured pile
or velvet fabrics, such as carpets, rugs, and table covers, from what is technically

page_text: known as "fur," "pile," or "chenille" material. And whereas according to
the existing modes of manufacturing fabrics of this general class the fur
material is woven into the fabric as a weft; now, according to the present
Invention, such fur material is used as a warp, by which alteration in the
process the cost of manufacture is considerably reduced.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I shall
proceed to describe one mode of working it out in practice, and this will
enable the practical weaver to use it under the various modifications of which
it is susceptible. And to make the following description more clearly intel-
ligible, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of explanatory Drawings, to which I
shall refer as I proceed.
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a side elevation, and Figure 2 is a
front elevation, of a loom as arranged for working out my said Invention;
whilst Figure 3 is a front view, and Figure 4 is a side view, drawn to an
enlarged scale, of a portion of a reed as constructed for assisting in carrying
out my said Invention. As the disposition of the framing and general
construction of the loom are the same as in ordinary looms, I shall merely
particularise such parts thereof as I may have occasion to refer to in describing,
the process to which my said Invention relates. The fur material used in
carrying out the present Invention is a species of double fringe, formed by
weaving woollen or other wefts, generally of various colours, into a warp, in
which spaces occur at regular short intervals across the loom, and then slitting
up the fabric so made along the centre lines of the spaces, as is described
in the Specification of Letters Patent for England, granted to myself and
William Quiglay, and bearing date the Twenty-fifth July, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-nine. In producing a carpet with a multi-coloured pattern
according to the present Invention, the fur material is woven or produced from
wefts, of the various colours shot in such order as will cause them to appear in
their proper positions when the fur material is woven into the carpet fabric;
and whereas according to the ordinary system of manufacture the lines of fur
material correspond to the transverse lines of the pattern, that is to say, to the
lines across the fabric, such lines of fur material must, on the contrary,
according to the present Invention, be made to correspond to the longitudinal
lines of the pattern, that is to say, to the lines which run the long way of the
fabric. Thus, when the fur material is used as weft, such weft is composed of
the transverse lines of the pattern following each other in proper succession
alternately backwards and forwards to suit the alternate right and left motion
of the weft; but when the fur material is used as a warp, each line of warp
corresponds to only one line of the pattern, this line being longitudinal, and

page_text: having its portion of the pattern repeated upon it a greater or less number of
times, according to the length of the piece. When the fur material is first
woven its two fringes are disposed horizontally, but on being cut into strips
these fringes collapse or turn up, and in the finished carpet fabric hide the
"backbone," or centre line of web, which binds their component threads
together. This fur material may be beamed or prepared for the loom
according to the modes in use for beaming printed or other kinds of parti-
coloured warps, care being taken to give the several threads their relative
positions in an accurate manner, so that when woven they shall combine
together to form the desired pattern according to the original design. It is,
however, found advantageous in beaming this fur material to cause it to pass
over circularly-grooved rollers or grooved surfaces, which assist in keeping the
edges turned up, and in preventing the backbone from twisting. The roller
upon which the fur warp is beamed is represented in the Drawings hereunto
attached as placed in the loom at A, and the lines of fur material B pass up
from it over a roller C formed with circular grooves. In the actual machine
these grooves extend from end to end of the roller, but in the Drawing the
centre part only thereof is represented as grooved to facilitate the delineation.
The heddles and reed in front are also represented as incomplete, so as to shew
the details, which would otherwise be hidden by them. The roller C serves to
keep the edges of the fur material turned up so as to prevent it from becoming
twisted, and to throw back any twist so as to prevent it from reaching the
cloth, for which purpose also the fur material is held with considerable tension
to make it press firmly upon the roller. Leaving the roller C, the fur warp B
next passes through the metal eyes or mails D of a fixed heddle E, which
eyes or mails also assist in keeping the fringes turned up and the backbone
free from twist. The prevention of twist and the turning-up action are also
further aided by the peculiar construction of the reed F, through which the
fur warp B next passes. The reed is made so that the spaces between the
splits or wires are alternately large and small, and, the large spaces are
bridged across at about their centres, as at G. The fur warp lines B
are passed through the large spaces of the reed above the bridges G, in
such a manner as to rub upon these bridges, and so receive a last turning-
up action, the rubbing action also being a further precaution against twist.
In the particular arrangement represented in the Drawings, four warps in
all are used, that is to say, three besides the fur warp; but the practical
weaver will be aware that this number of warps may be altered according to
the special variety of fabric he wishes to produce. Of the three, one, H, is
termed the "catcher" warp, and is generally fine in quality, serving more par-

page_text: ticularly to act in combination with what is termed the "catcher" weft, in
binding down the fur material into the body of the fabric. This catcher warp
is passed through the eyes of a heddle I, worked in the usual manner by a
treadle action J, and thence through the narrow spaces in the reed F. Another
of the warps K is termed the ground warp, and serves more particularly to
bind the ground fabric together, and to give strength and solidity to the fabric,
whilst the remaining warp L, which is termed the dead warp, serves to give
body or thickness to the fabric, and is held at considerable tension in the loom.
The warps K and L are passed respectively through the eyes of the heddles M
and N, also worked in the usual manner by the treadle action J. The greater
portion, if not the whole, of the threads of the warps K and L are passed through
the wider spaces of the reed F, being, however, kept below the bridges or divi-
sions G, and the remaining threads of these warps, if there are any, are passed
through the narrow spaces in the reed along with the catcher warp threads. Two
wefts are employed, each having its separate shuttle boxes, as at O and P; the
upper of these wefts is termed the catcher weft, whilst the lower one is termed
the ground weft, and serves, in conjunction with the ground and dead warps, to-
form the ground fabric. The shedding action is effected by means of the three
treadles J; and in the routine of the weaving action, if we suppose that the
treadle first struck raises the catcher warp H above the fur warp B, then the
upper or catcher weft is shot across over the fur warp B; the second treadle
which is struck will raise the ground and catcher warps K and H to nearly a
level with the fur warp B, and will at the same time depress the dead warp L,
forming a shed through which the ground weft is shot, this being below the
fur warp. The third treadle then forms a shed by depressing the catcher and
ground warps H and K sufficiently below the dead warp L, to form a shed
through which a second shot of ground weft is passed. Next, the actions of
the second and third treadles are repeated, and two more shots of ground weft
are thrown (all the ground weft shots being below the fur warp); after which
the first treadle is again struck, whereby the catcher warp H is raised above
the fur warp B, and a catcher weft shot is then thrown above this fur warp,
thereby effecting the binding down thereof into the fabric, and the weaving
routine proceeds in the order just described, the first treadle being acted upon
once after each set of four alternated strokes of the second and third treadles.
The weaving action may be varied in many ways, but it is better always to
arrange the sheds and weft shots so that the one described as the first shall
immediately follow one like that described as the third, so that the catcher
warp having been taken below the dead warp in the shed or shot immediately,
preceding the catcher shed or shot, the bridges G in the reed in beating up the

page_text: catcher shot will press this shot forward over the fur a short distance, and as
the recoil of the warps will afterwards take it backwards a short distance, it
will bring the catcher weft below any particle or tuft of fur which it might
at first catch improperly and press down. In cases where it is necessary to
re-adjust the lines of fur warp in the loom, this warp may be made to pass
over a roller covered with wire card filleting, or over an endless belt covered
with wire card filleting, and passed round two or more rollers, and the lines of
warp may be adjusted upon it, each line that may be out of position being set
either back or forward upon the pointed wire card, as may be necessary. Fur
warp goods of the class to which my said Invention relates are much more
economical in manufacturing cost than goods woven from fur weft, inasmuch
as the weaver has much less trouble and difficulty in bringing out his pattern
in the loom, and as the weaving action is hardly more complex than plain
weaving, the goods may be produced in the power loom. The pattern or face
figure is produced entirely by the fur warp, the weft being simply the necessary
binding material. Fabrics of this class with fur warps may be woven in
various ways, and the backbone of the fur material may be arranged to form
part of the under surface of the fabric, so as to shew a pattern below as
well as above.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself
to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from
the principles or main features of my Invention; but what I consider to
be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the system or modo of manufacturing figured pile or velvet fabrics,
such as carpets, rugs, and table covers from "fur," ".
"pile," or "chenille "
material, wherein such material is woven in as a warp, as herein-before
described.
Second, the application and use in the manufacture of pile fabrics of a
surface warp, consisting of "fur," "pile," or "chenille" material, such as is
manufactured according to the Patent granted to myself and William Quiglay,
as herein-before described and referred to..
Third, the application and use in beaming apparatus and looms, in which a
warp of "fur," "pile," or "chenille" material is employed, of grooved rollers
or surfaces for keeping the fur turned up and in an untwisted state, as herein-
before described.

page_text: Fourth, the application and use in looms for weaving "fur" or "pile" warp
fabrics of a reed, in which the alternate spaces are bridged across to separate
the "fur" or "pile" warp from the other warps, and to keep the fur of the
warp turned up and in an untwisted state, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Templeton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
JAMES TEMPLETON. (L.S.)