CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN JACQUARD MACHINERY FOR FIGURING FABRICS AND TISSUES GENERALLY, AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMISSION OF DESIGNS TO SAID JACQUARD MACHINERY, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, AND COMPOSING PRINTING TYPES, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DUNCAN
MACKENZIE, of Goodman's Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Manufacturer,
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 Fifth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Duncan Mackenzie, my eñors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Duncan
Mackenzie, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Duncan Mackenzie, my exors, adñiors, or 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, and
in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and in all Her
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN JACQUARD MACHINERY FOR FIGURING FABRICS AND TISSUES
GENERALLY, AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSMISSION OF DESIGNS TO SAID JACQUARD
MACHINERY, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE TO PLAYING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS,
AND COMPOSING PRINTING TYPES, AND OTHER LIKE PURPOSES," communicated
to me from abroad; in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso that

page_text: I, the said Duncan Mackenzie, shall cause a particular description of the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and scal, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertained in
and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed; that is to say:-
In ordinary Jacquard looms the design is produced upon the fabric in the
operation of weaving by causing some of the warp threads to be raised, and
the rest to remain stationary, as the case may be; and this is effected through
the medium of certain horizontal bars or needles, which are thrust backwards
or allowed to remain stationary by the to-and-fro movement of the revolving
bar or prismatic box commonly used in such machines, and which is pierced
with holes on each face, over which pass the cards, also perforated according
to the pattern desired to be produced on the fabric. Now the said Invention
consists―
Firstly, in substituting for the revolving bar and cards the apparatus repre-
sented in Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the annexed Drawings.
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of an ordinary Jacquard loom embodying
the said improvement, and Fig. 1° a front view of Fig. 1. The compound
needles g. 9, 9, 9, are so suspended in the end of the batten as to allow them
to rise and fall a short distance therein. The portion of the inside of the
batten opposite to the needles B, B, B, B, is pierced with numerous holes
to allow of the needles entering and being held therein. H is a roller, also
pierced with holes, over which passes the pattern K, having the design
punctured in it in a similar manner to the cards, and which may be composed
of paper, gutta percha, or other suitable material. Supposing the machine to
be ready for working, that is, all the holes in the inside portion of the batten
closed by the extremities of the compound needles g, g, g, g, then, on rotary
motion being communicated to the roller H, a portion of the perforated
pattern will be brought immediately over some of the holes in the roller, and
the rest will be closed by the unperforated portion of the pattern. The lower
ends of some of the compound needles will then pass through the holes in the
pattern into those of the roller, and by so doing will cause their extremities to
slide down and leave their corresponding holes in the inside surface of the

page_text: batten at liberty to receive the ends of their corresponding needles B, B, B, B,
while the upper ends of those needles, which are maintained in their first
position by their lower extremities being in contact with the unperforated
portion of the pattern, and thereby prevented from sliding into the holes of the
roller, will strike against the ends of their corresponding needles B, B, B, B,
and force them backwards in the same manner as is done by the unperforated
portions of the cards in the ordinary Jacquard loom. The compound needles.
9, 9, 9, 9, may be brought back into their original position by any suitable
mechanism, ready to be acted on by the succeeding portion of the pattern,
which will be brought into position by the revolution of the roller H. Or the
roller H may be dropped down a short distance, so as to take the compound
needles out of the holes, and then, while the frame or batten is being brought
down again, to bring the succeeding portion of the pattern into the position of
the preceding portion. The holes in the inside face of the batten which admit
of the free entry of the needles B, B, are, it will be observed, precisely those
the lower ends of whose corresponding compound needles have passed through
the holes in the pattern into those of the roller; that is to say, the free holes
in the inside face of the batten correspond exactly with those of the pattern;
wherefore, when it is desirable to renew the pattern, a piece of paper or other
suitable material of the size of the pattern is caused to pass between the ends
of the needles B, B, and the holes in the inside face of the batten, whereby the
design of the pattern on the roller H will be pierced upon the paper. The
progress of the paper to be pierced is of course regulated by that of the pattern
over the roller.
Figure 2 is an elevation of a portion of the compound needles 9, 9, and of
the perforated roller H.
Figure 3 is a plan of a portion of the pattern with the design punched out.
Instead of the inside face of the batten being perforated, it may be entirely
removed, and the compound needles arranged in such manner that their upper
extremities may be exactly opposite to those of the needles B, and that when
any of them are displaced by their ends passing through the pattern the
corresponding needles B may take into the spaces thus left between the com-
pound needles g, I, J. For the better understanding of these improvements a
side and front elevation of an ordinary Jacquard loom are given in Figures 3*
and 3b.
Secondly, the said Invention consists in substituting the following arrange-
ments for those before described:-Figure 4 of the Drawings represents a
front view of the right-hand end of that portion of the machine to which this.
branch of the Invention is adapted. S is a fixed axle, replacing the axle of

page_text: the revolving bar in ordinary Jacquard looms. C is the front plate with slotted
holes, in which are guided the heads O, O, of the needles R, R (see Figure 6,
which is a front view through the centre of the machine, and Figure 11 a
section on the line E, F, of Figure 6). The needles R, R, work in the same
manner and effect the same object as the compound needles first herein-before
described. Figure 5 is a front view of the left-hand end of the machine, with
the wheel U removed. K is a longitudinal rod, to the bottom of which is
fixed a perforated plate E (see Figure 9, section on the line A, B, of Figure 5,
and Figure 10, section on the line C, B, of Figure 4), through which pass
the lower portions of the needles R, R; L is another longitudinal rod, to
which is attached the spring II, that serves to keep the surface of the pattern
perfectly regular and smooth during its passage over the fixed plate, which is
perforated, as shewn on an enlarged scale at Figure 15, and arched at its two
longest sides, and which, serving as a support to the pattern, takes the place
of the perforated cylinder H, Fig. 1, first herein-before described. T is a
revolving shaft, on which are keyed the toothed wheels x, x, of the peculiar
shape shewn, and the indented wheels U and V. Rotary motion is communi-
cated to the shaft T by means of a catch, which partakes of the to-and-fro
movement of the carrying frame of the revolving bar, and acts upon the
wheel U. It follows that the wheels a, a, will partake of this rotary motion,
and bring successively the different portions of the pattern (which is made in
the form of an endless band, as shewn separately, Figure 12) over the fixed
plate z. When some of the holes in the pattern come immediately over thoso
in the fixed plates, the corresponding needles will fall through, and the design
be produced upon the fabric. A rising and falling movement is communicated
to the front plate C, which lifts the needles up out of the pattern when the
design is completed, and allows the wheels x, x, to bring the next succeeding
portion of the pattern into its place. During the retrograde action of the
machine the main shaft T is held firmly by the catch I taking into the inden-
tations of the stop wheel V. Figure 13 is a portion of the endless band shewing
the pattern punched therein, and the larger holes into which the teeth of the
pitch wheels a, a, gear, whereby the band is caused to revolve and pass over
the top surface of the fixed plate. Figure 14 is a representation of one of
the needles detached. The spaces left in the slots of the front plate C by the
heads O, O, of the needles R, R, in consequence of their lower extremities
passing through the perforated pattern into the fixed plato z, correspond
exactly with the perforations in the pattern, wherefore if a portion of paper
or any other suitable material be caused to pass between the horizontal
needles B, B, Fig. 1, and the front plate C, and at the same speed as thet of

page_text: the pattern over the fixed plate, it follows that the pattern will be repro
duced upon this piece of paper or other suitable material.
Thirdly, the said Invention consists in the application of the improved
Jacquard machinery, before described, to the playing of organs and other like
musical instruments, in which the noto is produced by a pin projecting from
the barrel coming into contact with the spindle of the air valve, or with the
tone-giving or sonorous substance whereby the change of tunes is rendered a
difficult and expensive operation. Now it will be evident that if, for example,
the ends of the needles B are made to strike against any sonorous substance,
such as the strings of a piano or the metal teeth in an organ, and so arranged
as to embrace the whole of the notes necessary to be produced, and that if the
tune be punctured upon the endless band after the fashion of the design to be
woven in the fabric, tunes may be played and varied at pleasure.
Lastly, the said Invention consists of a reading machine, determining the
exact position in which holes are to be perforated in some fabric or material
such as paper, gutta percha, &c., which is not so costly as card, but sufficiently
strong to enable it when applied to a Jacquard apparatus to force back the
needles where no holes have been made in such paper or other fabric or
material. This reading apparatus is so constructed as to enable the person
who has the reeled design paper and the apparatus placed before him to force
the required punches from the plate in which they are usually put in ordinary
reading machines into such other plate as is ordinarily used to convey the
punches to the blank card, in order that the selected punches' may be forced
tbrough the substituted material in the ordinary manner. By means of this
apparatus the reading in of the pattern may be effected by it in a less portion
of time than by the modes which have hitherto been adopted; and the whole
of the required punches may also be inserted into the punching plate (prior to
its removal from the apparatus to the material which has to be perforated) by
the reader depressing the keys of the apparatus with his fingers in the manner
of depressing the keys of a pianoforte, or other keyed musical instrument.
Figure 15 represents a side elevation of this reading machine, with portions
shewn in section. Figure 16 represents half of the same machine in plan,
with part only of the keys, bell crank levers, and needles. In Figure 15,
a represents the frame; b, b, the axes, which support the bell crank levers,
and upon which they work; c, c, represent the bell crank levers; d, d,
represent needles, which are capable of being slid with ease through holes in
the plates e, e, a sufficient distance to force the selected punches out of the
plate 9 into the plate h; i, i, are spiral springs, one of which is passed on to
each needle, and by being confined by the plate on one side, and. the

page_text: shoulder fixed on each pin at the other, the back end of each needle is forced:
against the plate f fixed to the frame, and thereby the needles and the bell crank.
levers are kept in a position to be acted upon by the keys j. Each needle in
the machine has a small opening in it, through which the upper end of one of
the bell crank levers passes with a little freedom. When a pattern has to be
read by this machine from a ruled design paper, all that is required to be.
done by the reader is to press down such keys of the apparatus as force out
the punches corresponding with those marked, or blank squares on the design.
paper as indicate which warp threads have to be raised, or which remain:
stationary; and when all the required punches for one card or other material
have been forced into the punching plate, the plate with the punches in it has
then to be removed to the blank card or other material required to be pierced,
and after the punches have been forced through it by the well-known machine-
used for that purpose, the plate and punches are withdrawn from the card or
other material and placed again in the apparatus, when the punches are
returned into the openings from which they were previously forced in the
ordinary manner, so that when it is required by the pattern they may be again
forced out.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which I claim.
as constituting the said Invention are as follows:-
Firstly, the employment in Jacquard machinery of an endless band of paper,
gutta percha, or other suitable material, on. which the pattern has been
punctured when passed round a cylinder attached to the batten.
Secondly, the employment of the compound needles g, g, which are actuated
by the passage of the punctured paper over the revolving cylinder, and the
mode of causing them to act upon some one or other of the horizontal needles
B, B, for the production of the pattern in the fabric.
Thirdly, the mode of bringing the needles into a position ready to be acted
upon by the next.succeeding portion of the pattern in the endless band, either
by causing the revolving cylinder to fall so as to withdraw the endless band
from contact with the needles, or by causing the case carrying the whole.
of the needles to slide up the batten a short distance, to effect, the same,
purpose..
:
Fourthly, the employment of needles of the form represented in. Figure 14,
and before described, which needles act on the horizontal ones, and so deter-
mine which of the warp threads should be raised and which left stationary.
Fifthly, the employment of the frame for supporting the needles, constructed
as represented in Figures 4 and 5, and before described.

page_text: Sixthly, the employment of the fixed curved perforated plate over which the
endless pattern band is caused to pass by the pitch wheels, as before described.
Seventhly, the combination and arrangement of means for lifting the
needles out of the holes in the endless band when the design has been trans-
mitted to the fabric, so as to allow of the passage of the next succeeding
portion of the pattern over the curved plate and underneath the points of
the needles.
Eighthly, the peculiar arrangement and combination of parts for trans-
mitting motion to the improved Jacquard machinery herein-before described:
Ninthly, the mode of producing the design upon a fresh endless band during
the working of the Jacquard loom, as before described.
Tenthly, the application of an endless band of paper, gutta percha, or other.
suitable material, having the tune punched out therein, to the actuating of
Jacquard machinery for the production of sounds in musical instruments.
Eleventhly, the employment of an endless band of gutta percha, or any of
the compounds thereof, having the pattern punched out upon it, for actuating
the needles which act on the horizontal needles, and thereby determine which
of the warp threads shall be raised and which left stationary.
And lastly, I claim the arrangement and combination of the various parts
constituting the reading apparatus before described, when used to place the
whole of the required punches in the punching plate before any of them are
driven through the card or other substituted material.
In witness whereof, I, the said Duncan Mackenzie, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord