IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING WOOLLEN DAMASKS.
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Irving Holdsworth, of Shaw Lodge Mills,
in the Parish of Halifax, in the County of York, Worsted Manufacturer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING WOOLLEN DAMASKS.".
Sealed the 6th October 1857, and dated the 8th August 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Irving Holdsworth
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th August 1857.
I, WILLIAM IRVING HOLDSWORTH, of Shaw Lodge Mills, in the Parish of
Halifax, in the County of York, Worsted Manufacturer and Merchant, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING
WOOLLEN DAMASKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in weaving woollen damasks,
and consists in manufacturing the ground of such fabrics transparent. For
this purpose the cards or pattern surfaces used in producing the ground are so
cut or formed as to allow of a given number of threads of weft to go under a
given number of threads of the warp; and this is accomplished by lifting every
alternate thread up to the ninth for five successive shoots. The adjoining five
threads are lifted altogether for every alternate shoot of the said five shoots.
Then reversed action takes place, that is, the threads lifted altogether will'
be lifted over every alternate thread, and those lifted alternately will be
lifted altogether for the next five shoots; then again the action is reversed.
The weaving of the ground of the cloth can be varied, so as to produce a'
greater or less amount of transparency, by using more or less thread than nine
and five in the two changes.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Irving Holdsworth in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd February 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
IRVING HOLDSWORTH, of Shaw Lodge Mills, in the Parish of Halifax, in the
County of York, Worsted Manufacturer and Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Irving Holdsworth, Her special licence that I, the said William
Irving Holdsworth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Irving Holdsworth, 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 WEAVING WOOLLEN DAMASKS," (a commu-
nication,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Irving
Holdsworth, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, 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 I, the said William Irving Holdsworth, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in weaving woollen damasks,
and consists in manufacturing the ground of such fabrics transparent. For
this purpose, the cards or pattern surfaces used in producing the ground are so
cut or formed as to allow a given number of threads of weft to go under a
given number of threads of the warp, and this is accomplished by lifting every
alternate thread up to the ninth for five successive shoots. The adjoining five
threads are lifted altogether for every alternate shoot of the said five shoots.
Then reversed action takes place, that is, the threads lifted altogether will be
lifted over every alternate thread, and those lifted alternately will be lifted

page_text: altogether for the next five shoots, then again the action is reversed. The
weaving of the ground of the cloth can be varied, so as to produce a greater or
less amount of transparency, by using more or less thread than nine and five
in the two changes.
Having thus stated the nature of the said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
Woollen damasks according to this Invention are woven by the aid of
jacquard or perforated cards, as heretofore, but in place of the cards being
perforated to act on or select the threads, as formerly, they are perforated to
act in such manner as to make the grounds of woollen damasks transparent
when held up to the light, whilst when looking at them in the opposite
direction the woollen damasks have a solid and beautiful appearance. The
order in which the warps are actuated by the perforated cards may according
to the Invention be varied and yet obtain woollen damasks which will shew
the patterns on transparent grounds when looking through them to the light;
and this will be readily understood by a weaver of woollen damasks by
reference to the portion of design or pattern paper hereunto annexed, which
shows a specimen of a pattern for a ground for a woollen damask. And it
will be understood, that the cards perforated to produce a ground according to
such design will cause every alternate thread up to the ninth to be lifted for
five shoots, and the adjoining five threads to be lifted altogether for every
alternate shoot of the said five shoots. Then the lifting of the threads will be
reversed, that is, the threads which were lifted altogether will be lifted every
alternate thread for five shoots, and those which were previously lifted every
alternate thread will for such five shoots be lifted all together; then the order
of lifting will be again reversed, and so on continuously in producing the
ground.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Irving Holdsworth, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
WILLIAM IRVING HOLDSWORTH. (L.S.)
Witness,
JAMES THOMAS,
Waterhouse Street,
Halifax.