IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLAITED FABRICS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
NICKELS, of York Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Tenth day of February, in the fifth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Christopher Nickels, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Christopher Nickels, my exors, adiñiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Christopher Nickels, my exors, admors,
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 law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PLAITED FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, that I, the said Christopher Nickels, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, 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 in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Christopher Nickels, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):—
In making plaited fabrics for frills and for other purposes, the folding and
fastening of the plaits have been performed by hand after the fabrics used
have been woven. Now, the object of the Invention is to manufacture plaited
fabrics by the act of weaving in a loom; and in order that the Invention may
be most fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to
explain the means pursued by me, and in doing so I will first explain the
Invention in its most simple form; and, in doing so, I will suppose the fabric
to be made according to the Invention to be a plain tabby weaving of linen,
cotton, silk, or other yarn or thread.. In explaining the Invention I will
suppose that it is desired to have a fabric woven in an ordinary loom, with
stripes of plaited fabric of an inch and a quarter wide, and that there shall
be stripes of fabric, also an inch and a quarter wide, as is shewn in the
Drawing hereunto annexed, which represents a portion of fabric according
to the Invention; in such case the warp employed. would be placed on two
warp beams, that portion of the warp which goes to make the plaited fabric,
as shewn at a, a, being warped on to one beam, and the parts of the warp
which go to make the parts b, b, of the fabric, being warped on to another
beam; by which arrangement the two warp beams can be differently weighted,
that warp beam which carries the spaces of warp which go to make the plaited
fabric being only lightly weighted, and the warp beam which carries the spaces
of the warp which go to make the parts b, b, of the fabric being much more
heavily weighted, care being observed that as the warp for making the plaited
fabric a, a, will be more quickly used up than the parts of the warp which go
to make the parts b, b, of the fabric, that warp should be longer in proportion.
The weaving is then to be carried on in the ordinary manner for weaving
tabby, that is, equal warp threads up and equal down in forming the shed for
receiving the weft; observing, however, that the taking up of the work is so
arranged as to be done only so fast as the parts of the warp b, b, of the fabric
are unwound from their warp beam, which may be performed in any con-
venient manner. I usually perform the take-up by means of weighted cords
attached to a small dancing roller, drawing the work as it is produced over the
breast beam, the work being from time to time wound up by a workman or
by any convenient means. The work as it progresses, by the weft being
successively thrown in and beaten up, will be formed into plaits at a, a, in
consequence of the warp which makes those portions of the fabric being less
weighted, for it will readily be understood that when the weft is thrown in and
the reed is beating it up, the warp for making the parts a, a, will be more

page_text: readily unwound than the parts of the warp which go to make the parts b, b;
the consequence of which will be, that so soon as a quantity of weft has been
thrown in and beaten up, so that the further beating up will overcome the
weight of the parts of the warp a, a, those parts will give way to the reed; and
as the weighting of the parts of the warp which go to make the parts b, b, of
the fabric will resist the beating up of the weft for a longer time, the further
throwing in and beating up of the weft will cause the fabric at a, a, as made,
to be formed into plaits, and the size of the plaits will, in some degree, depend
on the difference of the weighting of the parts of the warp a, a, and b, b; for,
so soon as there has been a quantity of weft thrown in, which in the beating
up of the reed will offer such a resistance as will overcome the weighting of
the parts of the warp b, b, then the plaiting again commences; hence it will
be seen that the effect of plaiting of the fabric will depend on the relative
speeds at which the two sets of warp threads a, a, and b, b, are unwound, for
if they were equally weighted, or otherwise all delivered at the same speed,
the fabric produced would be equal in all parts, but as the one set b, b, is con-
trolled to be delivered slower than the other set a, a, the set of warp threads
a, a, will be more quickly used up, whilst the weft threads will be more closely
beaten up on the set of warp threads b, b. I have here spoken of the warp
threads a, a, and b, b, being governed by difference of weighting in order to
regulate their being delivered from their warp beams at different speeds, that
being the means at present practised; but it will be evident that other means
of regulating and governing the delivery of the warp threads a, a, and b, b, so
that they are delivered at different speeds, according to the plaits desired to be
made, may be resorted to in place of difference of weighting of the two set of
threads.
In the above description I have explained the Invention in the simplest
form, but it will be evident that, besides tabby weaving, twills, satins, and other
plain as well as ornamental weavings may be made, either in the plaited or
unplaited parts of the fabrics; and such plain and ornamental weaving will be
performed in the ordinary manner, and as is well understood, for a weaver will
perceive that the order in which the various threads of the parts a, a, of the
warp are lifted in respect to each other, so as to vary the pattern of fabric pro-
duced, will not interfere with the fabric a, a, being plaited according to my
Invention, and such is the case in respect to the fabric made by the parts b, b,
of the warp threads; and, although I have only mentioned two warp beams or
rollers being used, a greater number may be employed, care being observed to
weight or regulate them correctly according to the effect desired. In some
cases it is desirable that the parts b, b, should be made double, so as to receive

page_text: cotton or other filling or whalebone; in such cases I divide the parts b, b, into
two' warps in the ordinary way of making double fabric, and as is well under-
stood. By such means of weaving as are above described, plaited fabrics may
be manufactured with facility, the plaits being securely held or tied by the
intermediate portions of the fabric.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per
forming the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to
the precise details above given, provided the peculiar character of the Inven-
tion be retained, and it is not necessary that the parts a, a, and b, b, of the
warp should be of the same materials, as they may be varied according to the
effect desired to be obtained; but what I claim is, the mode of weaving plaited
fabrics by dividing the warp into separate sets or parts, and causing the sepa
rated sets or parts to be delivered at different speeds as the weaving with the
weft proceeds.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Nickels, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and f
CHRISTOPHER (L.s.) NICKELS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirtieth day of July, in the
year of our Lord 1842, the aforesaid Christopher Nickels came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Tenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight.hundred and forty-two.