CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOмS
Year: 1822

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAN
GOODMAN, of the City of Coventry and the Borough of Warwick, Hatter,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of His United Kingdom, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-two, in the third year of His reign, give and grant
unto me, the said William Goodman, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
William Goodman, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, during the term of years
therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in
all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOмS;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, that if I, the said William Goodman, shall not particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void,
as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso. I, the said
William Goodman, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained in and by the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the
following description thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention of certain improvements in looms apply to that description of
looms usually employed for the weaving of narrow articles (commonly called
Dutch engine looms), and consist principally in a novel arrangement of the
shuttles and slays in the batten.
The general appearance of the loom with its improvements will be seen in
the Drawings, of which Fig. 1 is an end view, shewing the disposition of the
warps for two sets of shuttles; Fig. 2 is a front view of the same loom, a
portion of the breastpiece being removed for the purpose of seeing the front
of the batten and the two ranges of shuttles. The construction of the batten
with the slays and the shuttles are in every respect the same as usually
employed in engine looms, except that in my improved loom there are three
shuttle boards, forming two distinct races for the reception of two sets of
shuttles, the warp or slay spaces of the upper range intervening between the
spaces of the lower range. Fig. 3 is a representation of part of the back
of the batten, shewing the situation and manner of fixing the slays and the
construction of the driver.
The front of the batten consists of three planks a, a, a, as seen in Figs. 1
and 2, one of which planks is affixed to the top rail of the batten by means
of a series of slay screws; the bottom plank is affixed to the lower rail c of
the batten in a similar manner, and the middle plank is secured to the slay
rail d either by ordinary wood screws or by pins with shoulders, so as to leave
a space between the back of the plank and the slay rail for the action of the
driver. The back view of the batten at Fig. 3 shews the top and bottom
rails b and c with the clips of the slay screws, and the slay rail d, to which the
middle plank is attached. This slay rail is affixed to the batten by means of
the two swords j, j, which are secured to it, and also by iron straps near the
middle extending from the top to the bottom rails. On the upper and lower
surfaces of this rail d there are shallow mortices to receive the ends of the
slays e, e, e, and the reverse ends of the slays rest in rebates in the top and
bottom rails, and are secured by the clips of the slay screws; the shuttles,
made after the ordinary construction, are introduced in the races between the
shuttle boards, and the horizontal action of the driver f impels the shuttles
to and fro through the warps. The driver f, which in the ordinary engine
looms is formed like a ladder, in my improved loom must be constructed with
teeth extending from the top and bottom rail of its frame, and which teeth
may or may not (at the option of the workman) be united together in the

page_text: middle by diagonal pieces for the purpose of giving the teeth greater stability.
The general operation of the loom will be understood by the following descrip-
tion:-g, g, are the rollers, upon which a sufficient quantity of the material
is wound to form two warps; from hence the threads pass in the ordinary
manner to the back slays h, h, then under the warp rollers i, i, to the leashes
k, k, knotted to arrange with each set of warps, through which each distinct
warp is passed to its respective slay. Near this point the shuttles pass to and
fro, and by the interweaving of their weft threads produce the work, which is
driven by the beating up of the batten, and drawn off through the top and
bottom spaces m, m, and n, n, in the breastpiece, it then proceeds to the
work roll or rollers l, and thence to the back castle, where it is distended by
the weighted bags and pullies; from these pullies it is carried over the top
castle o, and through the apertures p, p, in the work castle, where it is secured
by a wedge to keep it from running back, and as the length of the work
accumulates it is coiled round the bobbins q, q.
Though I have thought it necessary for the better understanding of my
Invention to describe the complete construction and operation of an engine
loom as improved by me, yet I only claim as my own Invention the new
arrangement of the shuttles and the slays as connected with the batten, and
the suspending of the knotted parts of the leashes on one set of shafts to
arrange with the same, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Goodman, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.