IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
NICKELS, of York Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and fifty, in the thirteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Christopher Nickels, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,, the said Christopher Nickels,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Christopher
Nickels, my' exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times 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
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOLLEN AND OTHER FABRICS;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Christopher
Nickels, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to .be .inrolled in Her Majesty High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and. by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Christopher Nickels, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say-
My Invention consists, first, of improvements in the manufacture of terry
or uncut piled fabrics woven with woollen or other yarn.
Secondly, my Invention consists of improvements in the manufacture of.
cut pile fabrics, by causing the tops of the loops of terry or pile woven fabrics
to be ground off.
And thirdly, my Invention consists of improvements, in the manufacture of
felted fabrics, by causing them to be made with undulating surfaces.
may
I will now proceed to describe the first part of my Invention :---Heretofore,
in manufacturing terry or uncut pile fabrics, wires have been laid into sheds
opened in the warp and woven therein, such wires being of a length suitable
for being passed from side to side of the warp so as to protrude to some length
beyond each selvage of the fabric; these wires have been for the most part
introduced and withdrawn by hand, and there have been means devised for
introducing such wires by the act of the machinery, wherein terry fabrics have
been woven. Now, according to this part of my Invention, such wires be
said to be cut into nunerous parts, and each part carried by a stern, so that, in
introducing the wire into the open sheds of a warp in place of its passing from
one selvage to the other, the parts of the wire enter at numerous places
across the warp so as to come under the pile warp, and they uphold the loops
formed thereon till shoots of weft have fastened the same and rendered the
loops secure to the face of the woven fabric. In order that this part of my
Invention may be readily understood, I would state that in the Specification
of a former Patent, dated at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of June, One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, I described means of weaving terry
weavings and cutting the same into piled fabrics, and this part of my Inven-
tion has considerable resemblance to that Invention so far as introducing bent
wires into the warp at intervals; but when it is desired to make terry or
uncut pile according to this part of my Invention, the cutters of the former
Patent will be omitted, and only one row of hooks on the bar will be required,
and the form of the wires or hooks will be somewhat different to those de-
scribed in such former Specification, as is shewn at Figure 1, where part of a
longitudinal view of the bar employed is shewn full size; Figure 2 is a trans-
verse section thereof; Figure 3 shows a plan and section of a lead of hooks

page_text: or wires separately; and Figure 4 shows a section of an ordinary loom, having
apparatus applied thereto for carrying out this part of my Invention. In
-using this arrangement, the wires or hooks enter the warp and the bar shogs
end ways so as to take on the wires the warp threads which are to make the
terry loops, and the loops being made secure by successive picks of weft, the
hooks or bent wires will then shog or move back out of the loops and come
into position to take further warp thereon, and so on, as will readily be traced
by the cuts of wheels shewn. It will be evident that, when working with
jacquard, or figuring apparatus only, those warps which are selected for the
time being will be taken by the hooks or bent wires, and thus will terry
weavings be produced in pattern. I have not thought it necessary to shew
more than a section of a loom, as the same is well understood and is shewn
more fully in my said former Specification, and the parts shewn in the present
Drawings are arranged for working with the loom shewn in my said former
Specification, the hook, bar, and cutters there shewn being removed.
I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which consists of im-
provements in the manufacture of cut pile fabrics from terry or pile woven
fabrics: Heretofore, cut pile fabrics, which have been made from terry woven
fabrics, have for the most part been produced by cutting out the wires woven
into the fabrics in the act of weaving such terry fabrics. In other cases, par-
ticularly when weaving terry fabrics, that is fabrics with raised or projecting
loops, in warp machines, the loops have been cut by suitable cutters or knives
in the machine wherein the weaving takes place; but of late years various
means have been devised for making terry fabrics without wires and without
any ready means of cutting the terry loops when the fabrics are in the loom
or machine wherein the same is produced, and it is desirable to have means of
converting such descriptions of fabrics (and in fact terry fabrics produced in
any way) into cut pile fabrics, without or with very little waste of materials.
And I have found that terry fabrics may be converted into cut pile fabrics by
grinding off the ends of the loops of which the face of a terry fabric is com-
posed; and for this purpose I prefer to cause it to pass under the operation of
a rotating cylinder or cylinders, formed with a rough or file-formed surface or
surfaces, or coated with emery, ground glass, or other cutting grit, and I move
the terry fabric slowly past the grinding cylinder or cylinders, and I cause the
cylinder or cylinders to revolve quickly so as to grind off the tops of the loops,
and in this manner may terry fabrics made of silk, cotton, wool, or other fibre
or mixtures of fibres, be made into cut pile fabrics; and, in like manner, may
the face of a terry woven fabric after being cut, and also other pile woven
fabrics, be dressed or equalized on the face. I would remark that I am aware

page_text: "
that plain woven fabrics have before been subjected to the action of similar
grinding surfaces for the purpose of removing burrs or knots; I do not, there-
fore, claim the construction and use of such apparatus-generally, and the ma-
chinery for such purpose may be varied, this part of my Invention being con-
fined to improving pile fabrics made from terry or pile woven fabrics, by
grinding off the ends of the loops or pile to equalize and improve the pile
surfaces thereof.
I will now describe the third part of my Invention, which consists of causing
felted fabrics to be made with undulating surfaces:-I have discovered that if
a narrow edge of metal or other material be moved to and fro on the surface
of a fabric made by felting, that a lasting indented line will be produced, the
part of the fabric so acted on becoming more-felted than the other parts; and
if such lines be produced at small distances apart parallel to each other, the
effect obtained to the one surface is that. of being very similar to Brussels
carpeting. And this part of my Invention consists of producing on a fabric
(made by felting) an undulating surface by such -means, and this may be done
by causing the felted fabric to be placed on a table, so that the fabric may be
subjected to the action of a series of narrow edges, fixed side-by side and
parallel to each other, on a bar at the desired distance apart; such series of
edges resting on the fabric, and having a quick to-and-fro motion given thereto
on the cloth, by which the same will be marked with-indented lines, the spaces
of fabric between being elevated so as to appear like the undulations of
Brussels carpeting. I do not confine myself to this arrangement of apparatus
or machinery for producing this effect, as other arrangements may be employed,
so long as a fabric made by felting has its surface inade into undulations by
parallel indented lines.
.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the details, as herein described, so long as the peculiar
character of either part of my Invention be retained; but what I claim is,-
First, the mode of weaving terry, or uncut piled fabrics, herein described.
Secondly, I claim the mode of manufacturing pile fabrics by grinding off
the tops or ends of the loops or pile of terry, or pile woven fabrics.
•
And thirdly, I claim the manufacture of felted fabrics in such manner as to
cause them to be made with undulating surfaces, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Nickels, have hereunto set
my hand and seal this Twenty-second day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
CHRISTOPHER (L.s.) NICKELS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of July in
the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Christopher Nickels came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein ontained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped accord-
ing to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.