CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
REID, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April, (One
thousand eight hundred and fifty,) in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Reid, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Robert Reid, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Reid,
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 lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso that I, the said Robert Reid, should cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner is to
be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Reid, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be obt formed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My Invention relates to the sewing or working of figures into cloth by
means of small bobbins or pirns, while said cloth is in the process of being
woven; and the same consists,
Firstly, in the method employed by me for sewing covers, that is, the method
of working in threads of different colors upon the same shot of the ground
weft, and on the same threads. of. the warp, thus causing certain colors to
surround certain other colors.
Secondly, my Invention consists in rendering the entire threads of the warp
available for sewing purposes at each shot of the ground weft, thereby enabling
me to produce all over or continuous patterns or figures as closely contiguous
to each other as may be desired, without that waste of sewing material conse-
quent on.ordinary figured weaving.
Thirdly, my Invention comprehends also the peculiar arrangement of
mechanism by which the position of the frames containing the sewing shuttles
is regulated, and the mechanism by which these shuttles are thrown across the
warp in the process of forming the figure.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I shall proceed to
describe the various parts, referring to the Drawings hereunto annexed, in the
various figures of which the same letters are employed to indicate similar parts
wheresoever they occur.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In Sheets Nos. I. and II., the first parts of my Invention are shewn as
applied to an ordinary hand-loom. Figure I. represents a lateral elevation
of the loom with the improved gearing applied; Figure 2 is an end view of
the same, seen from the front; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section through the
centre of the loom; Figure 4 is a sectional plan of the loom taken on the
line X, Y, in Figure 3.
In Sheet No. III. the Figures comprehend detail Drawings, on an enlarged
scale, of these and also of other parts of my Invention, and shall be duly
noticed in the course of the following description :-The sewing shuttles are
contained in a frame A of brass or any other suitable material, of the full
breadth of the web, and formed into a circular arc, the centre, of which

page_text: coincides with the point c', at which the warp and the weft are interlaced
together in the formation of the cloth by the ordinary action of the loom.
The shuttles a, a, a, are disposed in this frame in parallel rows, each row
containing pirns b, b, b, on which the weft is wound, the number of covers in
the figure to be sewed being dependant upon the number of rows of shuttles
contained in the frame A. At right angles to the parallel grooves above
referred to, the frame A is traversed by transverse openings or slits, the space
between each two corresponding with the distance between the contiguous
figures to be formed on the cloth; and the lower ends of these compartments
(each of which contains a set of shuttles) are formed into points c, c, c, for the
purpose of penetrating the warp, and disposing it into a form suitable
for the action of the harness and the sewing' apparatus. The frame A is
mounted upon a stock B, made of hard wood, and jointed to the breast beam E
by links C and D, the centre of motion c¹ of which coincides with the centre
of the circular frame A. Thus, when the sewing frame is not in action, it
rests with the points upwards against the front of the breast beam, and the
lay F is at liberty to drive up the weft to the point c', as in the ordinary action
of the loom; but when it is required to work in the figures, the frame 'A is
turned over with the points downwards until stopped by a peculiar arrangement
of mechanism to be hereafter described, and is then in the position requisite for
working the shuttles according to the arrangement of colors required for the
design. To counterbalance the weight of the frame A and its appendages, two
springs d, d, are attached between the stock B and one of the upper rails of
the loom. The apparatus for working the shuttles is attached to the lay F,
which at the instant when the sewing frame A is raised for the purpose
of being brought into operation, is fixed in the exact position requisite for
working by nieans of a system of levers e, e, and f, f, the former of which
are jointed to the breast beam, having one end brought into contact with the
link c, so as to be pressed down by the latter when the frame A is thrown
back; but so soon as it is raised from this position, the opposite ends of the
levers e, e, are drawn down by the springs g, g, which at the same time elevate
the further extremities of the levers f, f, carrying adjustable catches for arrest-
ing the motion of the lay, and fixing it at the proper position, as above
specified. The apparatus for arresting the frame A at the position where the
shifting gear shall act upon the particular row of shuttles required for
the formation of the pattern, is as follows:-The cards in the Jacquard
machine are cut so as to cause the latter to operate on one pair of the
strings h, h, h, which, passing over a system of pulleys, act upon a set of small
sliding bars i, i, i, (see Figures 6, 10, and 11,) passing through the lay and
projecting in front of it. A series of adjustable stops j, j, j, fixed to the

page_text: circular arms G, G, on each side of the shuttle frame, and coming successively
into contact with the bars i, i, i, arrest the downward motion of the frame at
the required position, the length of the stops being so regulated that when any
particular row of shuttles is to be worked, the stops j, j, corresponding to that
row, shall rest upon its appropriate sliding bars i, i. When not pulled back by
the action of the Jacquard machine, the bars i, i, i, i, are kept constantly
pressed forward by the (vulcanized india rubber) springs h, k, see Figure 6.
I now proceed to describe the mechanism by which the sewing shuttles
a, a, a, are shifted or moved through their appropriate portions of the warp
on the formation of the shed. The shifting apparatus, which in Figure 3 is
shewn in action upon the lowest row of shuttles, is more fully represented (as
disengaged) in Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (Sheet No. III). In Figure 5 it is
shown (under the shuttle frame) in front elevation, in Figure 6 in transverse
section, and in Figure 7 in end elevation; Figure 8 represents a back view,
and Figure 9 a plan of the same. It consists of a light horizontal bar or
stock H, H, adapted to work in vertical slide frames 1, 1, fixed to the lay.
On the front surface of this bar two pieces m, m, are fitted to slide horizon-
tally, cach being capable of moving independantly of the other. Each of
these pieces carries a small spindle or shaft n, n, working on centres, and
mounted with a series of bent steel wires o, o, o, pitched to the exact distance
required for the throw of the shuttles, cach shuttle having two holes formed
in it for receiving the points of the wires o, o. The manner in which these
various motions of the shifters are effected is as follows:-Upon the upper
surface of the bar H a sliding piece p is adapted to move horizontally back
and forwards. It is formed with two curvilinear grooves or slots (sec
Figure 8), to give the requisite angular motions to the spindles n, n, by
means of the levers 9, 7; and these parts are so constructed and adjusted with
relation to each other as to impress these motions at the proper points in the
stroke of the piece p, which is also provided with a catch 7, acting successively
upon the two pins s, s, attached to the frames m, m, carrying the front and
back rows of shifters respectively. To prevent the latter from moving hori-
zontally until they are fairly engaged with the shuttles, two steel stops t, t, of
a breadth and height corresponding to the angular and horizontal motions of
the spindles n, n, are affixed to the bar H, and act successively upon each side
of the levers 7, 7. The catch and pins s, s, are provided in the springs, as
shewn in the Drawings (Figures 8 and 9), for the purpose of rendering their
action smooth and easy. The stroke or amount of travel of the shifter frames
m, m, is determined by the length of these frames in relation to the distance
between the shoulders u, u, on the bar H, against which, at the termination of
the stroke in either direction, the ends of the frames m, m, are caused to abut

page_text: alternately; by the action of the catch 7, against the pins s, s, the springs of
which are so adjusted as to carry the frames to which they are respectively
attached easily through the required space when unimpeded; but to oppose
little to the passage of the catch r from the one pin to the other, at the termi-
nation of the travel of each of the shifter frames. The action of this mechanism
is as follows (see Figures 5, 8, and 9)-When the handle p is moved from
right to left, the first of the curvilinear grooves on the sliding piece to which
it is attached causes the lever q to rise, and thus to throw forward the front
row of shifters 0, 0, 0, into the holes formed in the shuttles a, a, a, as before
described, the arriving at the summit of the groove, the catch r comes into
contact with the pin s, and by the continued motion of the piece p (the end-
long motion of the front shifter frame being now unimpeded) carries the front
row of shifters with the shuttles a, a, a, from the one end of their compart-.
ments in the frame A to the other. This completes one half of the stroke,
and the end of the lever p, being now no longer supported by the guide t, is
depressed by the action of the grooved slide, and the wires o, o, o, disengaged
and thrown back; but at the same time, and still by the continued motion of
the piece p in the same direction, the other set of points are thrown into
action, and passing through the other set of holes formed in the shuttles, carry
them through the required space in the compartment into which the first set
had only introduced their ends. To bring them back to their original positions,
the motion of the piece p has only to be reversed. When not in action the
shifter frame rests on the bottom of the slides 1, 1, in front of the lay, so as to
be clear of the warp when working the ground shot; but when about to be
used, it is. elevated by means of the treadle and lever J, J. To prevent the
warps from being injured by the introduction and action of the steel wires
0, 0, 0, a pointed shield v, v, formed also of steel wire, is fixed into the stock H
opposite to and surrounding each set of the hooks 0, 0, see Figure 5.
The remaining Figures in Sheet No. III. represent various modifications of
the shuttle frame, more simple in their construction but more limited in their
operations than the frame shewn in Figure 5. Figure 12 represents a section
of a frame of the same kind, and attached to the loom in the same way as
that already described, with this difference: that instead of being circular it is
straight, and has only two rows of shuttles, the position of the frames and
shuttles being such as to approximate as nearly as possible to the circular
arrangement, thus making the degree of tension upon the two rows of sewing
threads nearly equal.
Figures 13, 14, and 15 represent a front elevation, transverse section, and
a plan of a frame adapted to the working of one covered all-over or con-
tinuing patterns. The frame A is mounted upon the lay F, having the shifters

page_text: attached to it. The stock B moves vertically in slides K, K, which are also
capable of adjustment in a transverse direction by the dovetail slides L, L.
The frame, with its appendages, is raised by means of a treadle, and when
brought into action falls into the warp by its own weight. The shuttles a, a, a,
are moved by a corresponding set of simple levers W, W, having their centres
of motion about the middle of their length, and driven by means of a handle p
attached to a slide frame having a number of small eyes or loops through
which the ends of the levers are inserted. A small catch a regulates the
stroke of the shuttles, restoring them to their proper places when they have
been urged too far. The sewing threads are tightened at the time of throwing
the ground shot, by means of a cord Y stretched between two arms working
on centres, and so arranged as to be thrown alternately to the front and back
of the frame.
The frame shewn at Figures 16 and 17 is similar in construction to that
shewn at Figure 13, but adapted to the working of covered patterns. Each
compartment of the frame A contains four shuttles (but
a lesser or greater
number may be used), one of which is thrown into the adjoining compartment
at each stroke of the shifter p, which shifter is furnished with a series of
tridents or three-pointed forks Z fitted to embrace the shuttles, and after
displacing one shuttle to take up the next in order, and so on, until the empty,
compartment to the extreme right is filled, when, by reversing the action of
the shifter; the shuttles will be replaced in their original compartments.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would state that I do not confine myself to the
precise details, so long as the peculiar character of my Invention is retained.
But what I claim is,―
Firstly, the production, by means of loom sewing, of figured fabrics having
two, three, four, or more covers, as before described, on each figure, or on any
part thereof:
Secondly, the production of loom sewing, as before described, of all-over or
continuous patterns or figures as closely contiguous to each other as may be
desired:
And thirdly, the arrangement of mechanism by which the position of the
frames is regulated, and the mechanism by which the shuttles are thrown
across the warp.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Reid, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty.
ROBERT (L.S.) KEID.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Robert Reid, came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, 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.
Enrolled the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.