IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Oldham Whittaker, of Hurst, near Ashton-under-
Lyne, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, and Cyrus Wallwork,
of the same Place, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Oldham Whittaker and
Cyrus Wallwork at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 28th May 1856.
We, OLDHAM WHITTAKER, of Hurst, near Ashton-under-Lyne, in the
County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, and CYRUS WALLWORK, of the same Place,
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the "jacquard," or other similar arrangements of
apparatus usually employed in weaving figured patterns, and our object is to
obtain a more perfect and steady change in the shed of the warp, combined
with a higher rate of speed of the machine. For this purpose, we adapt two
griffs or knife boxes, moving alternately from and towards each other in a
perpendicular line, so that when the top or upper "griff" or "knife box" is
ascending the other or lower one will be descending. The wire hooks used
for giving motion to the harness, &c. are also formed with an additional pro-
jection upon each, so situated that they are capable of being actuated
either

page_text: of the two griff's or knife-boxes in their motion, as aforesaid, so that the
hooks, &c. not required by the pattern to be raised or taken up by the top
griff or knife-box will be caused to fall by the gravity of the lingoes, &c. in
connection with the lower one, each wire hook acting upon the harness and
warp threads in the ordinary manner. By this means the change in the shed
of the warp will be produced simultaneously and with perfect steadiness. The
two griffs or knife-boxes, before stated, receive their motion by means of levers
and rods, connected to two eccentrics, mounted in a suitablo manner on the
crank shaft, whereby the change of shed will be made every pick, or upon each
revolution of the said shaft. The pattern card cylinder or barrel, and tho hori-
zontal needles used for forcing the hooks, mentioned above, out of the reach of
the griffs or knife-boxes, may be actuated by any of the ordinary arrangements
of mechanism applicable for such purpose. The lingoes, harness, and their
connections may also bo similar to those generally used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Oldham Whittaker and Cyrus Wallwork in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 28th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, OLDHAM
WHITTAKER, of Hurst, near Ashton-under-Lyne, in the County of Lancaster,
and CYRUS WALLWORK, of the same Place, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of 1Ier reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Oldham Whittaker and Cyrus Wallwork, Her especial license that we, the
said Oldham Whittaker and Cyrus Wallwork, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Oldham Whittaker and Cyrus
Wallwork, our 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
FIGURED FABRICS," upon the condition, amongst others, that we, the said
Oldham Whittaker and Cyrus Wallwork, by an instrument in writing under
our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should parti-

page_text: cularly 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 Oldham Whittaker, do hereby declare
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):-
Our Invention relates to the jacquard, or other similar apparatus usually
employed in weaving figured patterns, and our object is to obtain a more
perfect and steady change in the shed of the warp, combined with a higher
rate of speed of the machine.
"
The arrangement we adopt is shewn in two views of the accompanying
Drawing; Fig. 1 being a partial front elevation of a loom; and Fig. 2, a
detached view of the jacquard apparatus, on a larger scale. I shall, in the first
place, describe the latter, in order to explain the principle of our Invention,
and subsequently show a method by which it may be adapted to a loom. The
ordinary card cylinder" is shewn at a, operating upon the needles b in the
usual manner, and through which the hooks c are passed. Above these is a
griff" or "knife box" d, which being caused to rise and fall, selects such of
the hooks as are permitted to be taken, as is well understood. The hooks c
are at their lower ends formed with loops e, within which are situate blades f,
constituting a second "griff" or "knife box," capable therefore of lifting the
said hooks when the warp threads thereof are at the bottom of an open shed,
so as to present them to the action of the upper "griff" d, subject, however, to
the avoidance thereof by the ordinary action of the needles b. According to the
position of the parts shewn in the Drawing, the shed is supposed to be open,
the hooks 1, 2, 3, 4, and with them their warp threads, having been raised by
the grill" d, and those shewn at 5, 6, 7, 8, having been allowed to fall by tho
weight of the ordinary lingoes," but, as during that descent they have rested
upon the blades f, their motion will have been steadied, and free from that
concussion incident to ordinary jacquard apparatus. Suppose, now, that at the
next shed it shall be necessary for the warp thread connected to 1 to remain
below, and that belonging to 5 to be elevated; simultaneously with the descent
of the "griff "d, and consequently hook 1, the blades f will rise, carrying with
them the hook 5, by means of the loop e thereon, until the two books occupy
the same horizontal position; the needles b, having then been operated upon
by the cards as usual, the hook 5 will be selected and raised by the "griff" d,
carrying its thread to the top of the shed, and the loop of the hook I will be

page_text: received by the blade f, and conducted gradually downward to form the bottom
of the shed. In like manner, if it be desired that the hooks 1 and 5 shall at
the next shed again occupy the position shewn, the latter will not be taken by
the "griff" d, but will remain by its loop upon the blade f, to be again conducted
downward. It will be perceived that by this arrangement the warp threads are
not governed by the direct action of weights, but being confined during their
movements to the two "griff's" d, f, are worked steadily, as though adapted to
the shafts of an ordinary power loom.
The foregoing describes the operation of those parts of a "jacquard " loom
constituting our Invention; the method of giving motion to the same may, it
will be evident to all competent persons, be varied. I have, however, shewn
an arrangement we adopt, and which I will now describe. To the crank shaft
of the loom are adapted two excentrics g, h, the former connected by means of
a lever i to a cross piece k, to which rods 1, 7, are attached, which rods pass
through guides connected to the framing m, and carry the series of blades of
the lower griff, which part of the apparatus is therefore caused to move upwards
and downward by the excentric g. The second excentric h is also connected
to a lever n, which at its other end is connected by a link to the upper griff d,
mounted so as to be capable of sliding upon the rods 7, and by these means
the two griffs are caused to approach and recede from each other to effect tho
operations described in reference to Fig. 2.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim as our Invention the use of two "griffs" or "knife boxes" to one
set of hooks, capable of advancing towards and receding from each other, each
of such "griffs" or "knife boxes" acting by direct means and by aid of addi-
tional projections or loops upon the hooks, so as to raise any one desired, or to
descend with it, according to the shed required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Oldham Whittaker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
OLDHAM WHITTAKER. (L.S.)