IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Andrew Phillips at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his. Petition, on the 21st
July 1862.
I, ANDREW PHILLIPS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark; North Britain,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to the arrangement and construction of looms for
weaving carpets and other generally similar figured fabrics, and is based upon
an Invention of improvements in weaving carpets for which Letters Patent
were granted to the said Andrew Phillips, and dated on or about Eighteenth
of July, numbered 1694, 1859. In this Invention the looped or velvet-pile
surface of the fabric is formed wholly of the weft, which is bound in by a
secondary or binding weft.
The present Invention comprehends an improved arrangement of the
-weaving mechanism so as to accomplish a similar result with simpler but
more efficient means. Under one modification or system of arrangement the
warp is wound upon two beams arranged at the back of the loom and placed
in the usual way. In addition to this there is a fixed or "dandy chain" of
warp wound upon two beams arranged inside the warp beams. The object
of this dandy chain, which is not affected by the action of the heddles, is to
afford a proper support for the shuttle when a-large proportion of the warp
threads are depressed by the jacquard mechanism. The yarn composing the
warp and dandy chain is formed of hemp or other similar and comparatively

page_text: inexpensive material, the figured surface of the woven fabric being wholly
formed of the woollen weft. Above the warp beams is arranged a beam
having a row of pins inserted therein, to each of which a short india-rubber
spring is attached. The other ends of the springs are connected to a series of
wires or cords which extend to the front part of the loom, and are fastened to
a cross rail parallel to the breast beam; these wires are arranged so that there
is one wire between each pair of warp threads. In their passage to the front
part of the loom the wires pass through eyes formed in a series of pendent
wires or cords furnished with mails to admit of the passing through of the
wires. Those pendent wires are connected to a series of liftors arranged
overhead, and formed, by preference, of flat pieces of steel or iron. These
lifters are formed with a longitudinal slot at the upper part, and a bar passes
through the whole scries; this bar is connected to an overhead lever, which is
attached at the other end to one of the treadles of the loom, if actuated by
manual power, or the lever is operated by a cam movement in a power loom.
In either case the depression of the backward end of the overhead lever causes
the whole series of lifters to be raised, and they are upheld by the projecting
part of a notch formed in the lower part of each lifter coming over a rail
extending across the upper part of the loom. The effect of raising the lifters
simultaneously with the shedding movement is to cause the whole series of
horizontal wires to rise in manner similar to the upper portion of the shed, so
that when a shot of weft is made, and the wires are caused to descend, each
wire takes down the weft, causing it to form a loop by extending it over a
series of loop formers which are arranged between the horizontal wires. The
attachment of the horizontal wires to 'the india-rubber springs at the .back
admit of their readily rising with the action of the treadle or cam, the springs
serving to assist in bringing them back to their normal position when released.
The pendent wires, through which the others pass, are brought down when the
lifters are released from the bar above by springs attached to a cross rail
beneath: The lifters are released at each shedding action by means of a slide,
which traverses along the face of the lifters, and pushes them off almost simul-
taneously from the sustaining bar. At each end of the frame in which the
lifters are arranged there is fitted a pulley to which the ends of a band of
india-rubber are fastened, so that when this band is drawn, either to the right
or left, the band is drawn off from one pulley and wound on the other. A
metal slide having a wedged-shaped front extremity is fastened to the india-
rubber band, and slides to and fro on the sustaining bar. When the shuttle is
thrown this slide is liberated by a picker movement, so as to cause it to
traverse along the sustaining bar and back; in its traverse it knocks off the

page_text: lifters, and restores them to their normal position. The loops are formed by
causing the weft to take an undulating form in passing over a series of thin
flat bars, which are supported at the back by a stationary guide reed, and at
the front on the inner part of the breast beam. These bars have laterally-
projecting pins at the backward ends, and slide up and down between the
wires of the reed, and they are further guided by passing through a second
stationary reed fitted at the central part of the loom framing. The front end
of the bars are rounded if only a small loop is required on the surface of the
fabric, and if a thick pile is required the end of each bar is flattened and made
to a corresponding depth. When these loop or pile formers are lying flat or
in their normal position on the breast beam the weft passes over them in an
uninterrupted line, but if a certain proportion of the bars are raised, a corre-
sponding number of loops are formed, which are secured to the body warp by
the binding weft. The raising of these loop formers is effected by connecting
them to a jacquard machine, so that the desired figure will be produced, the
different colours being obtained by throwing in various coloured weft, according
to the sequence of colour in the design to be woven. When the loom is in
motion the heddles arranged in front of the second fixed reed cause the warp
to form an ordinary shed; whilst the jacquard machine raises the loop formers
for the pattern, the weft is thrown in, and the horizontal wires are depressed,
the several loops being secured by the binding weft. As the cloth is woven it
is taken up by a self-acting movement, and wound upon the beam. A lever
is carried on a stud which is supported in a bracket on the loom framing; the
free end of this lever extends backwards, so that as the lathe goes back it
depresses the lever, and causes a pawl carried on its front extremity to move a
ratchet wheel round one tooth. This ratchet wheel is keyed on the stud
carrying the lever, and at the inner end of the stud is a pinion which gives
motion to a wheel on the pike roller, which roller is paced to the cloth beam
so as to cause it to move in unison with the pike roller. The pile surface in
the woven fabric is obtained by weaving it with deep loops, and afterwards
sheaving these through by a suitable cropping machine.