AN IMPROVEMENT IN WEAVING TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Oldham, of Leeds, in the County of York,
Overlooker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN WEAVING TEXTILE
FABRICS."
Sealed the 30th November 1855, and dated the 4th October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Oldham at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
October 1855.
I, HENRY OLDHAM, of Leeds, in the County of York, Overlooker, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN WEAVING
TEXTILE FABRICS" to be as follows:-
My Invention is an improvement in weaving textile fabrics by power looms,
and consists in the use of a worm or screw working a nut, to regulate the
motion of the weight upon the ordinary weighted lever, so as to give to the
weight an uniform and self-acting motion, and thereby at once to economize
labour, and to secure a more evenly woven fabric.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Oldham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
OLDHAM, of Leeds, in the County of York, Overlooker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Oldham, Her special license that I, the said Henry Oldham,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Oldham, my exccutors, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN WEAVING
TEXTILE FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry
Oldham, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
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 Henry Oldham, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention of An Improvement in Weaving Textile Fabrics" relates to a
novel arrangement or construction of the parts connected with the work beam
of power looms, and has for its object to cause the take-up motion to act in
such a manner as to take up the work more evenly than heretofore, so as to
prevent any unevenness in the cloth. This object is effected by causing the
work beam to be rotated at an uniform surface speed, which is produced by
the use of a worm or screw working a nut, which is made to regulate the
position of the weight upon the ordinary weighted lever, so as to give to the
weight an uniform and self-acting motion, by moving it along the lever as
the diameter of the work beam increases.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view of part of the side of a

page_text: loom, shewing the manner of applying my Invention; and Figures 2 and 3
are side and end elevations of the same portions of a loom, for the same
purpose.
In Fig. 1, A, A, represents the side framing of part of a power loom, to
which the Invention is adapted; B is the main shaft, which gives motion to
the whole loom; C, C, are two lateral arms or levers fixed to the shaft B; and
D, D, are two pins bolted or otherwise fastened to these arms C. As the shaft
revolves, these pins D alternately come in contact with the under side of the
weighted lever E, and raise the same; F is a moveable weight, which is
capable of being slidden along the lever E, which it will be understood passes
through a slot hole in the weight F. The weighted lever E has its fulcrum at
G, which is fixed in any convenient manner to the framing. At the end
of the lever E are a pair of arms I, I, carrying at their outward ends a catch
or click that takes into the teeth of the ratchet wheel J, so that when the
catch or click is pushed forward it will drop into and fit within the teeth of
the wheel J.
It will now be seen that at every half revolution of the shaft B one of the
pins D will raise the weighted lever E, and will thereby push the catch or
click forward, so that it will fall into the socket of one of the teeth of the
wheel J, and when the pin D passes away from the lever arm by the revolu-
tion of the shaft B, the weight F on the lever E will be sufficient to lower the
lever arm E to its original position, and thereby bring back the click, which
will therefore draw round the wheel J with it, and so on continuously every
time the lever E is raised by the pins D. To the shaft of the wheel J, whose
bearing is in any suitable part of the framing, the toothed pinion L is fixed,
and gears into the wheel M, which actuates the cloth beam N, on which the
cloth as it is woven has to be wound. On the shaft of the cloth beam is fixed
the worm O, which gears into a small worm wheel P, (see Fig. 3.) The worm
wheel P is fixed on the end of the screw shaft Q, and this screw shaft Q
turns in a suitable framing, which also, as in this case, may be fixed to the
framing of the loom. R is a nut, working upon this screw shaft Q, and it is
held in position by the fixed rod S, passing through a suitable slot in the knob
T of the nut; U is a rod, which connects the nut R with the weight F on the
lever E by means of two loose moveable joints V and W. The loom being set
in motion, it will be seen that every time the catch or click of the arms
I draws the wheel J forward, as before explained, a proportionate winding
movement is conveyed to the cloth beam N, through the intervention of the
pinion L.
As the cloth beam turns the worm O on its shaft, a proportionate movement

page_text: is given to the screw shaft Q, and as the screw shaft will carry forward the nut
R, as above explained, the weight F will be pushed along the lever E, by
means of the connecting rod U. By these means, the extra power that is
necessary to turn the cloth beam N as more cloth is wound upon it, is met by
a próportionate increase of power from the increased leverage obtained by
pushing the weight further down the lever E.
Having now described my Invention of "An Improvement in Weaving
Textile Fabrics," and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would
observe, in conclusion, that I do not mean or intend to confine myself to the
precise arrangement and construction of parts herein shewn and described, as
they may doubtless be varied in some particulars without departing from the
nature and object of my Invention; nor do I mean to claim the exclusive right
to communicate a varying speed to the work beams of looms, as I ani aware
that that has been done heretofore; but that which I consider to be new in
the above-described arrangement, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid is, the mode herein shewn and
described, or any mere modification thereof, of working the cloth beam of
looms; I claim particularly increasing the power to turn the cloth beam (as the
diameter thereof increases) by means of a movable weight, which may be
pushed along the lever, whereby the gearing connected with the work beam is
actuated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Oldham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
HENRY OLDHAM. (L.S.)
Signed and sealed by the above-named Henry
Oldham, in the presence of
J. B. WILKINSON,
Clerk to J. & H. Richardson & Gaunt,
Solicitors, Leeds.