IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Collier, of Failsworth, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 22nd July 1862, and dated the 29th January 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Collier at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
January 1862.
I, MATTHEW COLLIER, of Failsworth, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention refers to those looms which are employed for weaving goods
commonly called "small wares," ribbons, or other such narrow fabrics.
According to my improvements I arrange the warp threads vertically, and
the reeds in a horizontal position. The shuttles therefore travel horizontally,
and I cause them to be thrown in a diagonal direction in reference to the reeds,
or at right angles thereto, the fabrics being woven side by side, but with the
surfaces which constitute their breadths opposite to each other. Or, according
to another arrangement, I combine these relative positions of reeds and shuttles
with a horizontal disposition of the warp. The reeds and shuttles I mount
together in a frame, which has the required motion imparted by any ordinary
means, and the picking is effected by the arrival of one end of a lever in

page_text: contact with an inclined plane, by which means it is caused to turn upon a
centre, and thrust forward a frame which embraces the shuttles; another
incline effects after the same manner the passage of the shuttles in the other
direction; in order, however, to ensure their complete motion, I apply spring
pieces with which they arrive in contact should they have failed in passing
through the shed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filel
by the said Matthew Collier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th July 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MATTHEW
COLLIER, of Failsworth, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Matthew Collier, Her special license, that I, the said Matthew Collier, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Matthew
Collier, my 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 LOOMS FOR
WEAVING," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Matthew
Collier, by an instrument in writing, under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Matthew Collier, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of a loom
constructed according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; and
Fig. 3, an end view.

page_text: The driving shaft is shewn at a, upon which there is a crank b, which, by:
means of a connecting rod c, causes a lever d at each side of the loom to vibrate
upon a centre e. This lever d gives an upward and downward motion in it's
vibrations to rods f, the upper ends of which are connected to a frame g,
mounted upon guide rods h: Beneath the frame g are affixed ribs i, which
carry the reeds k, shewn by the red lines in the Drawing, but a portion only of
them are drawn in Fig. 2. Extending across the frame g are wires l, between
which the shuttles, one of which is shewn at m, are placed, and by which they,
are guided laterally, they being supported as they pass through the shed by
running upon the reed k and ribs i. At o are wires running the length of the
frame g, and which serve to keep the shuttles down. The warp threads are:
shewn in Fig. 2 by the blue lines p, they being there represented as consti-
tuting an open shed. At q are the healds, placed horizontally and connected:
to shafts r, shewn by yellow lines in Fig. 2. To these shafts are adapted:
cords 8, which after passing over pulleys t, are connected with any ordinary
tappet motion, and at their other ends are springs u, which draw them and
consequently the healds back after they have been operated upon by the said.
tappet motion. It will thus be seen that the revolution of the shaft a carries:
upward and downward the frame g, together with the reed k and shuttles m.
Upon the rod f is fixed a bracket v, which carries a lever w, passing into a slot
formed in the frame g. This lever is provided with projecting parts a, within
which is situate a lever y, its upper end being connected to the first-mentioned
lever w, and its lower end carrying a roller, which rests upon a double
incline z, *. Suppose the parts to be in the position shewn at Fig. 3, the'
upward motion of the rod f will by carrying the lever w with it cause the
roller a to move along the incline z, against which it will fall by its own gravity.
Having arrived at the top thereof, the beating up will have been effected,
and the downward motion of the frame 9 will cause the roller a to pass along
the incline *, whereby the lever w will be caused to turn upon its centre
and act upon the frame g, which, by being thus caused to move along the guide
rods h, will pass the shuttles between the warp threads. When the frame and
reed again ascend, the roller A will pay upward along the incline 2*, and then
by moving down the other incline z, will, after the manner above described,
bring back the shuttles through the open shed.
By the foregoing description it will be perceived that the ribbons or other
such articles are woven side by side, but at an angle to those lines which they
occupy in ordinary small ware looms, so that their breadths partially face each
other, forming a series of steps. In order, therefore, that they may be wound upon
one beam extending along the loom, they must be turned partly round after'

page_text: they are woven, as shewn by the blue lines in Fig. 1, where one of such narrow
fabrics is represented upon the work beam. The taking up is effected by the
vibrations of the lever d, which draws downward a cord b attached to a lever
C, and thus motion is communicated by a click D to a ratchet wheel E, and
from thence through the medium of a worm and wheel to the work beam F.
The warp threads proceed from bobbins, one of which is shewn at G.
Instead of the foregoing arrangement, I also employ a horizontal disposition.
of the warp threads, retaining the main feature of weaving the fabrics so that
they partially face each other, or are woven as it were in steps. In order to
illustrate this modification of my Invention, it will merely be necessary to con-
sider Fig. 2 as an elevation instead of a plan view.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I do not confine myself to the mechanical arrangements
herein-before described, they being merely given as one method of accom-
plishing my improvements; that which I claim as secured to me under the
above in part recited Letters Patent being the general arrangement of the
loom above described, but especially the weaving of such goods as aforesaid in
the step form, an angular arrangement substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Collier, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
M: COLLIER. (L.S.)