IMPROVEMENTS WEAVING SACKS OR BAGS AND FOLDED FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREPOR.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Haworth, of No. 7, Lothbury, in the
City of London, and James Thomson, of Dundee, in the County of
Forfar, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
WEAVING SACKS OR BAGS AND FOLDED FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREPOR.
"
IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Haworth
and James Thomson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 12th November 1875.
"
WC, WILLIAM HAWORTH, of No. 7, Lothbury, in the City of London,
and JAMES THOMSON, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for IM-
PROVEMENTS IN WEAVING SACKS OR BAGS AND FOLDED FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR," to be as follows:-
This Invention has principally for its object the adaptation of means
and arrangements for economically weaving comparatively heavy or

page_text: coarse yarns such as are commonly employed for making sacks or bags,
and generally consist of jute, hemp, or flax.
In carrying out the improved arrangements the sack or bag is woven
so as to require no subsequent seaming or stitching of any kind, and
under another modification a fabric is woven in a folded form in two or
three plies, and so that a comparatively narrow loom can be utilised in
forming cloth of certain kinds of a width which would require a much
wider and heavier loom if woven in the ordinary way.
In weaving sacking or heavy fabrics as contemplated in carrying out
the present Invention the comparatively increased space which would be
occupied for a given length of fabric if warp and cloth beams or rollers
were used as in ordinary looms would gause great inconvenience by
necessitating the too frequent stoppage of the loom to take out the com-
pleted webs and put in materials for fresh webs. This inconvenience is,
however, avoided by adopting what may be termed a system of endless
or continuous weaving, in which system the warps are drawn off bobbins
carried by a frame or creel, which may be in a separate chamber from
that containing the loom, and are led by guide rollers to rollers placed
in the loom in the manner herein-after explained. In a similar way the
fabric as woven is not wound up on a roller or beam carried by the loom,
but after being led round or between rollers, which by a nipping action
or by means of roughened or pointed surfaces draw it forward as it is
being woven, is led down through a slot in the flooring to a chamber
beneath that in which the loom is placed. As the bobbins of warp
yarn become exhausted fresh bobbins full of yarn can be substituted and
the yarn ends be pieced together without interrupting the weaving
action, which may thus proceed continuously. The warp yarns are
passed round a considerable part of each of three rollers carried at the
back of the loom, and whilst these three rollers are geared together by
equal sized spur wheels the roller round which the yarns pass last is
made slightly larger than the others, in consequence of which the
middle roller is drawn in tightly between the other two so as to nip the
yarns and prevent their slipping on the rollers. A bevil wheel fixed to
the middle one of the three rollers has in gear with it a bevil pinion on
a shaft extending to the front of the loom, whereon a wheel fixed on it
a friction strap is applied, such friction strap being made adjustable by a
screw. By these means increased tension can be applied to the warp
yarns when weaving them into a single ply, and whenever it is necessary

page_text: to move the yarns backwards or forwards the friction strap can be
loosened and the shaft can be turned by means of a hand wheel in the
usual way.
The weaving of the fabric in two or more plies depends, as is well
known, on the heddle mounting, on the manner of entering the warps
through the heddles, and on the order or succession in which the heddles
are moved to form the warp sheds, a different order of working the
heddles being necessary when weaving the whole warps into a single ply,
as required at different parts of a fabric intended to form sacks.
In sack weaving apparatus made according to the present Invention
the heddles are suspended by springs, and are pulled down by treadles
or levers as required for forming the sheds. The treadles are acted on
by cams formed or fixed on a shaft, which is turned by gearing from the
ordinary low shaft of the loom or otherwise, so as in one modification in
which the object is to produce the texture known as plain weaving to
revolve at one half the speed of the low shaft.
When a twilled or other different texture is to be produced the relation
of the speeds is of course altered to suit. There are two sets of the
cams, one for weaving the warps into two plies and the other for weaving
them into one ply, and the cams are moved along with or on their shaft
to bring one set or the other into operation by a lever that can be acted
on by the hand or foot of tlic worker. To admit of thus shifting the
cams without hindrance the heddles are all temporarily lowered, and the
treadles thereby let down by moving a bar, to which all the suspending
springs of the heddles are attached.
The low shaft is by preference geared to the cam shaft, not directly,
but through one or both of a pair of pinions in gear with each other,
and connected and held by links and levers in such a way that one is
always in gear with the spur wheel on the cam shaft, whilst by means
of a handle either can be put in gear with the pinion on the low shaft.
This arrangement admits of the direction of the motion of the cam
shaft being reversed at any time, which has the effect of throwing the
lower threads of warp up to the upper side, and vice versâ, so that the
work can be examined occasionally to make sure of the under ply being
properly woven.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Haworth and James Thomson in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th May 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
HAWORTH, of No. 7, Lothbury, in the City of London, and JAMES
THOMSON, of Dundee, in the County of Forfar, North Britain, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-.
cessors, give and grant unto us, the said William Haworth and James
Thomson, Her special licence that we, the said William Haworth and
James Thomson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said William Haworth and James Thomson, our
executors, administrators, and 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 WEAVING SACKS OR BAGS AND FOLDED FABRICS, AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR,”
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Haworth
and James Thomson, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 we, the said William Haworth and James
Thomson, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement in writing,
reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
Our said Invention has principally for its object the adaptation of
means and arrangements for economically weaving comparatively heavy

page_text: or coarse yarns, such as are commonly employed for making sacks or
bags, and generally consist of jute, hemp, or flax.
In
carrying out our improved arrangements the sack or bag is woven
so as to require no subsequent seaming or stitching of any kind; and
under another modification a fabric is woven in a folded form in two.or
three plies, and so that a comparatively narrow loom can be utilised in
forming cloth of certain kinds of a width which would require a much
wider and heavier loom if woven in the ordinary way.
In weaving sacking or heavy fabrics as contemplated in carrying out
our present Invention, the comparatively increased space which would
be occupied for a given length of fabric if warp and cloth beams or
rollers were used, as in ordinary looms, would cause great inconvenienco
by necessitating the too frequent stoppage of the loom to take out the
completed webs and put in materials for fresh webs. This inconvenience
however we avoid by adopting what may be termed a system of endless
or continuous weaving, in which system the warps are drawn off bobbins
carried by a frame or creel, which may be in a chamber separate from
that containing the loom, and are led by guide rollers to rollers placed
in the loom in the manner herein-after explained. In a similar way the
fabric as woven is not wound up on a roller or beam carried by the
loom, but after being led round or between rollers, which by a nipping
action or by means of roughened or pointed surfaces draw it forward as
it is being woven, is led down through a slot in the flooring to a chamber
beneath that in which the loom is placed. As the bobbins of warp yarn
become exhausted fresh bobbins full of yarn can be substituted, and the
yarn ends be pieced together without interrupting the weaving action,
which may thus procced continuously.
The weaving of the fabric in two or more plies depends, as is well
known on the heddle mounting, on the manner of entering the warps
through the heddles, and on the order or succession in which the heddles
are moved to form the warp sheds, a different order of working the
heddles being necessary when weaving the whole warps into a single
ply, as required at different parts of a fabric intended to form sacks.
In sack weaving apparatus made according to our present Invention
the heddles are suspended by springs, and are pulled down by treadles
or levers. These levers are acted on by two sets of cams, which are
moved along with or on their shaft to bring one set or the other into.

page_text: operation as required, and to admit of thus shifting the cams without
hindrance the heddles are all temporarily lowered by moving a bar to
which all the suspending springs are attached.
And in order that our said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, we hereunto append two Sheets.
of explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing
a loom as adapted and fitted for carrying out our Invention, but not
showing various minor details common to ordinary looms. In these
Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like
parts wherever they are repeated.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, is a plan, and Figure 2 is a
front elevation; Figure 3, on Sheet 2, is a side elevation, and Figure 4
shows mechanism for indicating or counting and for stopping the loom
when the change in the weaving action has to take place.
'The warp yarns 1 (shown by a yellow line in Figure 3) are led to the ]
loom directly from bobbins without the ordinary intermediate operation
of warping or beaming.
The bobbins may be upon a creel or frame, such as is ordinarily used
for similar purposes, and which may be in a chamber separate from that
in which the loom is placed, and the yarns 1 are led thence by suitable
guide rollers to the back of the loom, where after passing over a small
roller or bar 2 they pass in a serpentine direction round considerable
portions of three rollers 3, 4, 5, carried at the back of the loom. These
rollers 3, 4, 5, are geared together by equal sized spur wheels, but the
'roller 5, round which the yarns pass last, is made slightly larger than 2
the others, in consequence of which the middle roller 4 is by the strain
on the yarns drawn tightly in between the other two 3, 5, so as to nip
the yarns and prevent them from slipping on the rollers. A bevil
wheel 6, shown by a red circle in Figure 3, and fixed to the middle
roller 4 has in gear with it a bevil pinion 7 on a shaft 8 extending to 3
the front of the loom, where on a wheel fixed on it a friction strap 9 is
applied, such friction strap being made adjustable by a screw, and being
provided for the purpose of applying increased tension to the warps,
when in weaving sacking they have to be woven into single ply, so as to
unite the two plies into which they are woven at other parts. A hand a
wheel 10 is also fixed on the shaft 8, and by means of it the warp
rollers 3, 4, 5, can be moved forwards or backwards when required in

page_text: the usual way. From the three rollers 3, 4, 5, the warp yarns 1 pass
up to the back rail 11, and thence proceed forwards to the heddles 12
(of which only one leaf is shown in Figure 3). The cloth 13 as it is
woven (and shown by a continuation of the yellow line) passes over the
front rail 14, and thence proceeds down to and passes round a roller 15
driven by any suitable take-up motion; and fitted with pins or otherwiso
roughened to prevent slipping, and next between a pair of drawing
rollers 16, 17, which are pressed together by means of springs and
adjusting screws applied to their journal bearings. The rollers 15 and
17 are geared together, and the cloth after passing over the latter
proceeds downwards through a slot in the floor to a chamber beneath.
The heddles 12 are suspended by cords 18, which pass over pulleys
to helical springs 19, and they are pulled down by treadles or levers 20
as required for forming the sheds. The levers 20 centered at the lower
part of the back of the loom and extending thence towards the front in
a usual manner are acted on by cams 21 fixed on a shaft 22, which is
turned by gearing indicated by red circles in Figures 3 from the ordinary
low shaft 23 of the loom (or otherwise), so as in the modification shown
in the Drawings, in which the object is to produce the texture known
as plain weaving to revolve at one-half the speed of the low shaft.
When a twilled or other different texture is to be produced the
relation of the speeds and the arrangement of the cams is of course
altered to suit. There are two sets of the cams 21, one for weaving
the warps into two plies and the other for weaving them into one ply,
and the cams are moved along with their shaft 22 to bring one set or
the other into operation by a lever 24 that can be acted on by the hand
or foot of the worker. The lever 24 is jointed to a ring 25, fitted loose
in a groove formed in a boss fixed on the end of the shaft 22, and the.
cams 21 of the two sets being alternated with each other, only a small
movement of the shaft 22 is required, the idle cams being always
between the treadles 20. To admit of thus shifting the cams 21 without
hindrance the heddles 12 are all temporarily lowered, and the treadles 20
thereby let down clear of the cams 21 by moving a bar 26 to which all
the suspending springs 19 are attached; this bar 26 is bent so as to
have parts 27 at right angles to the part 26 to which the springs 19 are
attached, such parts 27 being entered into guide sockets 28 fixed to the
framing. A hand lever 29, centered on a bracket 30, is connected to
the spring holding bar 26,. 27, and serves for moving that bar so as to

page_text: raise or lower the heddles as required. In Figure 1 the hand lever 29
is shown in the position in which it is placed to lower the heddles.
After the cams 21 with their shaft 22 have been shifted, the hand
lever 29 is moved over towards the middle of the loom, and is then held
in a notch 31 formed for it on the bracket 30.
The mechanism shown in Figure 4 on Sheet 2 of the Drawings com-
prises a vertical shaft 32 driven by bevil wheels 33 from the take up
roller 15, and having on its upper end a pinion 34 in gear with a spur
wheel 35 on a vertical spindle having a worm 36 on its lower end. On
the spindle of the wheel 35 there is fixed a disc 37, having on it two
pins which encounter a stud 38 fixed to the stopping and starting
lever 39. One of the pins on the disc 37 acts on the lever 39, and stops
the loom whenever the requisite number of inches of the two plies
forming the width of a sack are woven. The attendant worker then
shifts the cams 21, and restarts the loom which is next stopped by the
second pin on the disc 37 whenever the width of single ply uniting the
two plies is woven. The cams 21 are thereupon shifted back again and
the loom re-started for the next width of two plies. The worm 36 is for
gearing with a worm wheel disc 40 indicated by blue lines and to be
carried by a stud with a pointer which will indicate the number of sacks
woven. The wheels 34 and 35 can be changed to suit different widths.
of sack, and we prefer to proportion the parts so that cach tooth of the
wheel 35 corresponds to an inch of cloth, so that, for example, a wheel
with 28 teeth will correspond to sacks of 24 inches in width with 4 inches
of intervening single ply, or 2 inches on each side of each sack.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, we have to state that we do not restrict
ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated, and that
we do not claim any of the separate parts excepting as herein-after
stated, but that what we believe to be novel and original, and claim
as the Invention secured to us by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,―
1. The system or mode of weaving heavy or coarse yarns of jute or
similar fibrous materials, wherein the operation is effected in a
continuous manner as herein-before described, and by means of modi-
fications of the loom, substantially such as are herein-before described.
2. The combination of the three rollers (3, 4, 5,) for the warp yarns
2. The combination of the three rollers (3, 4, 5,) for the warp yarns

page_text: JAMES THOMSON. (L.S.)