IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARPETS AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1850

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WOOD, of Over Darwen, Lancashire, Carpet Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of
January, 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 William Wood, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Wood, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Wood, 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 Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CARPETS AND OTHER FABRICS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William
Wood, shall cause a particular description of 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, to be inrolled 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Wood, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, 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 consists, first, of improvements in weaving carpets and other
terry fabrics; and, secondly, my Invention consists of improvements in weaving
pile fabrics when the pile is produced from the weft.
And in order that the several improvements may be most fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued
by me.
Heretofore, when weaving carpets and other terry fabrics when wires have
been used, the wires have been introduced and removed by hand, but of late
years wires have been introduced by the working of the machinery, and
Patents have been granted to me and others for means of so introducing the
requisite wires by the working of the machinery. In all such cases the wires
have been moved or carried into the sheds in the warps by means of various
apparatus, but there has been no separation between the moving instruments
actuated by the machinery and the wire till the wire is laid or passed into the
shed, that is, there has been no projecting of the wire, leaving it unsustained
when entering and in the shed.
Now, the object of this part of my Invention is so to arrange apparatus in
connection with looms used for weaving carpets or other terry fabrics, that the
wires may be projected or thrown into the sheds opened in the warps. And
my Invention also consists of improved means of withdrawing wires (used in
weaving carpets and other terry fabrics) by the working of the machinery.
And my Invention also consists of causing a cutter and apparatus to be so
applied to a loom as to cut out the wires from the loops on the surface of a
terry weaving.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.

page_text: application of my Invention; and the mechanical parts, which are colored, show
means of applying my improvements. The wires used by me are of tempered
steel, as such metal will retain its straight figure with more certainty than
other metal; and each wire a has formed on or fixed to one end a flat plate a',
of the shape shewn, the object of which will be better understood hereafter.
The apparatus for projecting the wires into the sheds, for withdrawing them
from the fabric, and for keeping up a constant supply of wires, is shown as
applied to the right-hand side of a loom. b is an open trough (carried by the
shuttle box, on that side for receiving the wires, and from which they are pro-
jected into the sheds formed in the warp to receive them. This trough is
partially enclosed by the top plate 63, which is bent upwards so as to form the
curved or bent front, as is shown at 6. The bottom is flat, and of a width to
receive the plates a¹ of the wires a. The left-hand end of the bottom of the
trough is formed with a slit or opening ³, within which the end of the picking
lever c moves. At the right-hand end of the trough, part of the cover b³ and
curved front 6 are removed, in order to allow the parts a¹ of the wires to
assume a horizontal position at the bottom of the trough when they are intro-
duced therein.
The trough is provided with the guides 65, 66, 67, at intervals, and it is between
these guides that the wires are first placed, and they are guided correctly to
the trough 6 by such guides, the guides in fact being at the places where they
are applied continuations of the sides of the trough, and as the ends of the
wires which first past beyond the end of the trough have a longer time by their
gravity to drop than the end a', it is found desirable that the trough 6 should
incline upwards at its left-hand end, and then when the wires a are thrown
out from the trough 6 into the open shed, they will fall therein in a horizontal
line, or nearly so; c is the instrument by which the wires a are thrown out
from the trough b. This instrument acts upon the head a', which is at the outer
end of the wire, somewhat in the manner of a picker acting upon a shuttle, it
having an armi c', which, by means of the cord d, is connected to the lever e, by
which the upper end of the instrument c is caused at the proper time to take
a sharp movement towards the left-hand side of the loom to drive the wire.
The lever e is actuated by the cam wheel e¹ on the axis f, which carries the
cam or tappet wheel for actuating the tredilles or levers in connection with the
harness; but as such parts form no part of my Invention, and are well under-
stood, I have not thought it necessary to show them in the Drawing. I would
remark, that although I have arranged the apparatus so as to throw the wires
by striking them at the outer ends, it may be desirable, when long or thin

page_text: wires are used, to modify the arrangement of the parts of the apparatus, and
to cause the enlargement or head of the wire to be nearest the warp, and that
the head or enlargement should be struck, and thus be projected with the wire
into the shed. Upon the axis fis affixed a tooth wheel f³, which is taken into
and receives motion from the pinion g on the axis g³, by which motion is given
to the batten. The wire having been thrown out from the trough 6 by the
action of the instrument e, is prevented going too far by means of the stop h,
which consists of a piece of leather, india-rubber, or other suitable partially
elastic material; and to prevent the wires, by rebounding, again entering the
trough 6, I apply the light spring 6%, which, by being placed over the left-hand
end of the trough 6' and acting upon the end a¹ of the wire a, as it passes out
from the trough, communicates to it a downward tendency, so that in rebounding
it comes back at a point a little below that at which it passed out from the
left-hand end of the trough b, and strikes against another piece of leather, or
it may be india-rubber or other suitable partially elastic material i. The
spring 65 also serves to assist the enlarged end a¹ of the wire a in assuming a
vertical position when free to do so. k, k, are other pieces of leather, suspended,
as shown, from the upper part of the batten, the object of which is to guide
the wires in their descent. The wires are thrown into the shed immediately
after the warp which is to form the pile has been raised, and I prefer to throw
in the wires before the shuttles go in, but do not confine myself to that arrange-
ment. When the wire has been thrown into the shed a beat up takes place,
then the pile warp is caused to descend and enclose the wire, then the binding
warp opens and the shuttles are thrown across, and the beat up takes place in
the ordinary manner.
In the arrangement above described two shuttles are used, and they
are thrown across at the same time, one shuttle carrying the linen shoot
as in ordinary carpet weaving, and the other a large soft weft for the
The ordinary
back, as described under a former Patent granted to me.
linen shoot passes above the dead and worsted warp, and the softer weft passes
below the dead and worsted warp, there being also a binding warp for the soft
and linen weft. When the soft weft is not used, then there should be two
picks of the linen weft between the succeeding wires, one above and the other
below the worsted warp. The wires a will lie across the fabric, and side
by side, as shown, till by the winding or taking up of the fabric they are
successively brought into a position to be withdrawn, and this is accomplished
by means of hooks or holders j,j, carried by the endless chain, or it may be a
band, which is carried by means of the rollers j,j³. The roller j³ is affixed

page_text: to the axisj, which has motion given to it so as to move the chain j¹ from the
axis g', there being a bevill wheel is affixed on that axis, which takes into
and drives the bevelled pinion j on the axis j, upon which is affixed the
bevelled pinion j³, which takes into and drives the bevell pinion 1º on the
axis 1, upon which is affixed the bevell pinion ", which takes into and drives
the bevilled pinions on the shaft j*; and the speed of the chain is so regulated
that a wire may be drawn out and be in position to be taken by instruments
carried by the batten when the batten is making its beat up; ¹³ is a spring
which opens to allow of the head a' of the wire a passing. This spring then
serves to sustain the wire a after it has been withdrawn from the fabric,
and previous to its being received into the apparatus carried by the batten.
When the batten comes forward for the beat up, it comes against the spring
and pushes it forward, so as to release the wire a; and if the wire is withdrawn
from the fabric, the wire will drop. It will be seen, however, that the batten
in one instance strike the spring, and the wire will not drop by reason of its
being partly in the fabric, and at the next time of the batten acting on the
spring the wire will have been withdrawn, and therefore it will drop. The
wire will, therefore, only be in position to be dropped every other beat up of
the batten, and at such time the hook; will (by passing round the drum³) be
relieved from the head a' of the wire a, which it had withdrawn from the work.
The head a' of the wire comes between the fixed framing l, as shown, and
the same is thereby prevented being carried further by the hook j; the hook
is thus allowed to pass away round the drum. The wires, when they drop
from the chain j, are each successively received on to the arms m, which are
affixed to the axis m', which is retained in position to receive the wires by
means of the spring m³ acting upon the strap m³, affixed to the drum m* on
the axis m'. This axis m¹ is carried by bearers m³, carried by the shuttle
box on that side of the loom, and to it is affixed the drum or pulley m®, to
which is affixed one end of the chain m7, the other end of the chain m' is
affixed to the upper end of the lever m³, which turns upon an axis m³, carried
by the back of the batten. The lower end of the lever m³, when the batten
is at the back, as shown, is in a position. to be acted upon by a roller n froin
the arm n', which turns upon the bearing n³, and when such takes place the
chain m' will draw the axis m¹ partly round, as shown by red lines in the
enlarged view, when the wire a, which had been dropped on to the arms m,
will be carried upwards and received between the curved plates 65, 66, & b',
and by the arms.m will be pushed so far as that it will fall into the trough 6,
and be in position to be shot or projected into the shed by the next movement

page_text: of the instrument c, as before described. I would here state that as, according
to the arrangement shown, a wire will only be required to be taken at every
other coming forward of the batten, it will only be necessary that the axis m³
should be turned partly round, so as to raise the arms m at every other return
of the batten to the back; the arm n¹ is arranged to be lifted out of the way
when the pile warp is open, as shown. For this purpose there is a cord n³,
made fast to the arm n¹ at one end, and at the other to the lever o of the
harness which actuates the pile warp, and when the pile warp is raised
the arm n will be raised out of the way of the lever n'. In the Drawings,
and the description thereof above given, I have shown the beating up to be
by a crank, as is most generally the case in power looms, but cams have been
in some cases employed for such purposes, and it is desirable, when high
speeds are required, to employ cams or tappets in conjunction with means of
introducing wires by machinery, so as to obtain more time before and after
the beat up; the one dwell being to allow more time for introducing the
wire, and the other dwell being for allowing more time for the wires to drop
after they have been drawn out of the fabrics. I do not make any claim to
the use of cams or tappets for causing and regulating the beat up of power
looms, the same not being new, but it is new to apply cams or tappets in
combination with means for introducing wires by machinery for weaving terry
fabrics.
When it is desired to cut the pile, I employ grooved wires, as shown in
the Drawing, and the circumstance of using the head a¹ to each wire a will
ensure the grooved side being uppermost; and I employ a cutter p, fixed to
the carriage p¹, as shown, such carriage being moved to and fro at intervals on
the bar p by the lever p³, one end of which is, by the rod p*, connected to the
cutter carriage p', as shown, and such lever p³ receives motion from a cam p³,
acting on the lever p, which is attached by a link p' to the lever p³, and the
apparatus is so arranged as to cut each time the cutter is moved across the
machine. The apparatus for withdrawing the wire by the hook and chain will
be retained, and the wires will be returned to the trough, as before explained.
By these means may wires be thrown into the warp for producing terry
weaving, then be cut out, then withdrawn, and then returned, so as to be
again ready to be projected into the warp.
I would remark, that the arrangement of cutting apparatus above shown
and described may be varied without departing from my Invention, so long
as the cutting of wires out of terry weavings by the machinery wherein such
weavings are produced be retained. The peculiarity of this part of my

page_text: Invention consists of causing the wires to be cut out of terry woven fabrics by
the act of the machinery.
Another, the second part of my Invention consists of an improvement in the
weaving of piled fabrics where the pile is obtained from the weft. It is well
known that in weaving fustians the pile is obtained by the use of a pile weft,
which is cut, and which rises between the warp. By such means, however, a
very short pile can be obtained, depending on the distance apart of the warp.
Now, the object of this part of my Invention is to obtain a greater length of
pile than when the pile weft consists of a length equal only to the width of the
fabric; and for this purpose I employ what may be called a compound weft (for
the pile weft), such compound weft consisting of one or more yarns wound
round a straight yarn or weft, winding the same more or less close, according
as it is desired to have a longer or shorter pile. Hence, when such compound
weft is thrown into a fabric woven in the manner of fustian weaving, and when
such threads have been cut, as heretofore practised in fustian cutting, it will be
evident that in place of the pile being short, that is, of a length depending on
the distance at which the warp threads are apart, the cutting or dividing the
helically wound weft will cause there to be a comparatively long pile, depending
on the length of yarn wound on the straight weft, and in proportion as the
length of helical weft is longer than the straight weft on which it is wound.
I prefer, when weaving carpets by this mode of weaving, to employ a thick
soft weft at the back, which thick soft weft may also be employed in forming
the back of other weft pile fabrics.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the details herein described, so long as the peculiar
character of any part be retained; but what I claim is,-
First, the improvements herein described for weaving terry fabrics, and for
withdrawing and cutting out the wires employed.
And, secondly, I claim the employment of helically wound weft when
weaving piled fabrics when the pile is obtained by cutting the weft. And I
also claim the employing of a thick soft weft for the back in weaving weft pile
fabrics.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wood, have hereunto set
my hand and seal. this Twenty-third of July One thousand sich
WILLIAM (L.B.) WOOD.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of July,
in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid William Wood came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. .And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped accord-
ing to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty.