CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS SUITABLE FOR ORNAMENT OR DRESS
Year: 1844

page_text: SMITH, of Salford, in the County of Lancaster, Weaver, 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 Fourteenth day of October, in the eighth year of Her reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Smith, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Smith, my exors adñiors, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said John Smith, my exors, adñiors, and 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 and Wales and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF FABRICS SUITABLE FOR ORNAMENT OR DRESS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said John Smith, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her 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
John Smith, do declare the nature of my Invention of Certain Improvements
in the Manufacture of Fabrics suitable for Ornament or Dress, to consist in a
new arrangement and adaption of parts to be applied to looms for weaving

page_text: by which certain fabrics are manufactured with greater dispatch and economy
than by the means at present in common use; and the manner in which these
improvement are performed and carried into effect will be seen by reference to
the annexed Drawings, and the following description, in which the same letters
and figures of reference refer to the same parts throughout.
Fig. 1 is a front view; Fig. 2, a plan; and Fig. 3 a side elevation of a
loom called in the district of Manchester a smallware loom. Fig. 4, 5, and 6,
are enlarged sections and. views of detached parts of the loom herein-after
referred to, for the purpose of making my Invention better understood. This
loom is used for the manufacture of tapes, laces, and fringes, and it is to the
latter article that my improvements are in this instance applied.
In these Figures A represents the lay or slay for beating up the weft; B,
the bobbins containing the warps, the course of which is indicated by red
lines; and C the headles or harness for distributing the same. In the
arrangement of these and some other parts of the loom there is no variation
from the arrangements of ordinary looms; but it will be remarked that the
shuttle is dispensed with, and the shoot or distribution of the weft during the
weaving process is performed by other means, which I shall now proceed to
describe.
The weft belonging to or to be inserted in each warp is placed on a separate
bobbin, as seen at D, Figs. 2 and 3, at the back of the loom, the course of
which is indicated by blue lines, the bobbins being held or retarded from
giving off too quickly by a pressure or break. From these bobbins D the
weft is carried forwards parallel to the warp and through an eye or opening
in one end of the lever d, the opposite end of which moves on the fulcrum d'.
On the driving shaft of the loom is placed the eccentric or tappet E, which
periodically depresses the lever E', the extremity of which is connected by
the band e to the lever E', moving freely on its fulcrum at in the
upper part of the loom. The vibration of this lever E is imparted to the
lever d by the band c', which, acting against the spiral spring d², produces a
periodical elevation or depression in the weft carried by the lever d. Another
tappet F, also placed on the driving shaft, acts on the lever F, and by
vibrating the lever F conveys in like manner an alternating vibration to the
small lever G, which is also provided with a small spiral spring g. The
levers G and d are thus caused to vibrate in opposite directions once only at
cach revolution of the driving shaft. Upon the lay or slay A in front of the
reed, and immediately below the warp, is placed a straightedge or slide bar
H, extending along the whole width of the loom. This slide bar H is pro-
vided with a series of projecting hooks h, one to each warp, and at one

page_text: extremity it passes under a curved guide I, in which the pin i, fastened on
the slide bar II, is placed, so that each vibration of the lay or slay A traversing.
the pin i in the slot or opening in the guide I moves the slide bar H'in the
direction indicated by the arrow when the slay is beating home the weft
(see Fig. 2), and in the opposite direction when the slay is back, and the shed
or opening of the warp takes place. By this action, and by reference to the
shape and position of the hooks h, it will be seen that when the shed is open
the hooks are between the warp, and at this period also the levers d are
depressed, thereby placing the weft over each hook h respectively, the
hooks then retiring as the slay proceeds forward; each hook carries its weft
along with it in a looped or double form. As soon as the shed is closed the
lever G, which is immediately below the loop of weft, rises by the action of
the tappet F, and strikes off or relieves the hook h of the loop of weft; 'and.
this operation is periodically repeated at each stroke of the lay or slay A as
the weaving proceeds. Thus the shoot or pick of the shuttle is entirely
obviated; and instead of being restricted to the amount of weft a shuttle can
contain, any convenient amount of weft may be placed on the bobbin D, and
the shed or opening of the warp is only required large enough to admit the
hooks h, as shewn in the Drawings (at Fig. 3, and 5 & 6), the position of the
hooks and slide bar II being as when the slay is in a medium or perpendicular
position. In weaving heavy fringe where the weft or hanging looped part
is thick this dispensing with the shuttle is a great convenience, inasmuch as
the quantity on the bobbin D is not restricted to the size of the shed, nor
subject to the consequent frequent renewal of the weft and the stopping of the
loom for that purpose.
My improvements are also applicable to other varieties of weaving, particu-
larly to the introduction of occasional figures or objects into cloth by the
occasional introduction of other weft by an ordinary shuttle, in which case
the material proceeding from the bobbin D would become sometimes warp
and at other 'times weft; but the exact application of such improvements are
so numerous, and depend so much on the nature of the fabric to which
they are to be applied, that the peculiar application must be left to the
judgment of the manufacturer, and are well known to persons conversant with
the subject.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, together with the
manner in which the same may be performed and carried into effect, I do
not confine my Invention to the exact form of parts or arrangements of such
parts as have been herein-before delineated and described for carrying such
Invention into effect, as I am well aware a great variety of movements or

page_text: mechanical combinations may be arranged for. producing a like or similar
result; nor do I claim any individual or separate part of such machinery, as
herein-before set forth and described; but I do claim as my Invention the
drawing or conducting the continuous material or weft between the warp
threads during the process of weaving without the intervention of a shuttle
or similar contrivance, together with the introduction of occasional figures or
objects into woven fabrics or cloth, in the manner herein-before particularly
described. And although I am aware that horsehair and perhaps other
materials are woven without a shuttle, such are not continuous wefts to which
my Invention applies. And such being, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, new, and never before used in that part of Her Majesty's Dominions
called England, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I deliver this as
my true and faithful Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of October, in the year of our Lord
Que thousand oight hundred and fonts C