IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith Raworth and Benjamin Alfred Raworth,
both of Manchester, in the County of Lancastor, Engineers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 24th July 1877, and dated the 27th January 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith Raworth and
Benjamin Alfied Raworth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on
the 27th January 1877
JOHN SMITH RAWORTH and BENJAMIN ALFRED RAWORTH, both of Manchester, in
the County of Lancaster, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Our improvements relate to looms for weaving gauze or leno, or gauze combined
with plain weaving, in one or more colours
$
•
Also for producing the cloth as above in short lengths, with border patterns and
fringes for such articles as handkerchiefs, towels, quilts, and antimacassars
We use a pair of healds consisting of needles and guide wires fixed in an iron
frame, the needles in one heald pointing upwards and in the other downwards,
there is a guide wire to every needle, and the guide wires are nearly double the
length of the needles to allow for the opening of the shed. We obtain the side
traverse or "shogging" motion from an upright rocking shaft duiven by a swash
plate or cam on the treading shaft We shog both healds simultaneously, and like-
wise tread them both about equally, as in the plain calico loom, by this means we
get a clear shed from back to front of loom and keep a nearly equal tension on the
warp, so that the most tender yarn may be woven and knots passed easily.
For lifting the shuttle boxes and for controlling the various changes in the cloth
we use, by preference, Diggle's chain, but any of the common methods, such as
cards, pegs, or tappets, may be easily adapted, though not so simply and effectively.
We use a double chain barrel and two chains, one for working the shuttle boxes,
as in a common check loom, and the other for effecting the changes from gauze to
plain, and vice versa, and for regulating the speed of take up We can obtain all
these changes from one chain, that is, the shuttle box chain, but it is more simple
and convenient to use two.

page_text: For producing long articles, such as quilts, we use two double chain barrels, with
two chains on each, one pan set for working the shuttle boxes, and the other pan
set for working the othei changes, ananged after the manner known in the trade
as Raworth's handkerchief motion, for which Provisional Protection was granted to
John Smith Raworth, 11th March 1873, No 869
The treading shaft is fitted with cams for gauze & plain sheds, and the healds
are connected with either by hooked rods which take hold of pins in either treading
lever or pair of levers, according as they are acted upon by spring levers controlled
by the pattern chain, or we obtain the same result by holding or releasing the
fulcrum ends of the treading levers, or by throwing in or out of gear either cam or
pair of cams
The regulation of the supply of weft, and the other changes necessary to produce
the fringe, are governed by a locking shaft and levers connected with the shuttle
box chain
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Smith Raworth and Benjamin Alfred Raworth in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 25th July 1877
JOHN SMITH RAWORTH and BENJAMIN ALFRED RAWORTH, both of Manchester,
111 the County of Lancastor, Engineers
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING"
Our improvements relate to looms for weaving gauze or leno, or gauze combined
with plain weaving, in one or more colors
Also for producing the cloth as above in short lengths, with border pattorns and
fringes for such articles as handkerchiefs, towels, quilts, or antimacassars
We use a pan of healds having similar simultaneous but opposite motions
imparted to them both horizontally and vertically. The two healds consists of
needles and guide wires fixed in non frames-
For lifting the shuttle boxes, and for controlling the various changes in the cloth,
we use, by preference, Diggle's chain, but any of the common methods, such as
cards, pegs, or tappets may be easily adapted, though not so simply or effectually
We prefer to use a double chain banel on "Juggler" with two chains, one for
working the shuttle boxes and the other for controlling the changes from gauze to
plain, or vice versa, and for regulating the speed of take up.
For producing long articles, such as quilts, we use two double chain barrels, with
two chains on cach, one pair being set for working the shuttle boxes, and the other
pair for regulating the other changes
The taeading shaft is fitted with cams for gauze and plain sheds, and the healds
are connected with either by hooked rods, which take hold of pins in either
treading lever or pan of levers, according as they are acted upon by spring levers
controlled by the pattein chain
The regulation of the supply of weft and other changes necessary to produce the
fringe are governed by a rocking shaft and levers in connection with the shuttle box
chain We renew the weft in the shuttles as they become empty by removing the
empty shuttle and inserting a new one in its place during the formation of the fringe
by means of a sliding frame on the slay, which can be put in operation by the
weaver without stopping the loom
In constructing a loom according to our Invention, as generally described above,
we use a pau of healds consisting of needles and guide wires, which will be more
clearly understood on reference to the Drawings
Fig 1, Sheet 1, is a section of the loom, Fig 2 an end elevation, and Fig 3,
Sheet 2, a front elevation diawn to a scale of about one-fourth of the actual size'
The needles are marked a¹, the guides a², all of which are carried in two iron
fiames A, A, the needles in one heald pointing upwards, and in the other down-
wards, the warp threads are drawn through eyes near the points of the needles.

page_text: The guide wires are arranged to prevent the warp threads from getting down the
wrong spaces between the needles The sideway motion or shogging of the healds
is obtained from an upright 1ocking shaft b carrying two slide rods b², which take
into ears a' fixed on the side of the heald frames a³, motion is given to the upright
shaft b' by means of the pulley b³ running against the swash plate b³, the reverse
action being obtained from a spring b', but any other simple motion may be used,
such as a cam, excentric, or tappet Wo move both healds sideways at the samo
time in opposite directions, but we do not restrict ourselves to this, as nearly the
samo result would be obtained by giving all the side motion to one heald The
heald frames a³, a³, are slung from the shaft c', as in a plain calico loom, and con-
sequently more simultaneously, in opposite directions Motion 18 imparted to the
healds by the treading cams d, d, and levers d³ The cam d' is shaped for
tieading a plun shed, and the cam d² is shaped for treading a gauze or leno shed,
the peculiarity of which is that when the shuttle passes the same heald is always at
the bottom, the loom therefore will weave either plain or leno, according as the
cam do cam & is connected to the heald by the hooked rod e², e² The cams
only move the healds in one direction, the reverse action is obtained from the
spiral springs e The hooks e¹, c, are thrown in or out of gear with the treading
levers by spring arms e caned on a rocking shaft f¹, which is moved by the
pattern chain through the lever f² and rod ƒ³
In the Diawings, Figs. 1 and 3, a double juggler g¹ is shown arranged for callying
two pattern chains, one for lifting the shuttle boxes for changing the color or
thickness of the weft, and the other for working the rocking shaft f¹ for altering
the weaving from plain to gauze, or vice versa, but where no great variety of colour
oi pattern is requied all the changes may be worked from the shuttle box chain,
that is, one chain instead of two, by allowing the boxes to drop on a stop, as shown
at n', Fig 6, Sheet 3, and arranging the rods and levels so that the boxes shall not
begin to se until the lever f has sen one or two steps, or, if prefened, by
using two or more shuttles of the saine weft, so that no alteration will follow a 11s0
in the boxes, excepting a change fiom leno to plain, or vice versa
Although the hooks e', e, are shown as taking hold of the vibrating ends of the
treading levers & immediately under the healds, it is obvious that the same result
would be obtained were the connection between the treading levers and the healds
made permanent and the hooks transfened to the fulcium ends of the levers, the
said hooks being hung or hinged upon some fixed part of the fiame as the bean p',
or another modification may be made by connecting the fulcrum ends of the
treading levers with levers or rocking shafts or pulleys placed either above or below
the warp, aranged in connection with the lever, so that the withdrawal of a
bolt or hook will allow the lever or rocking shaft or pulley to vibrate under the
action of the cains d¹ or , but the insertion of the said bolt will arrest the motion
of the shaft or pulley or level, and consequently throw all the motion into the
healds.
A further modification of this arrangement may be made by doing away with
the springs and substituting two complete double cams in place of the single
ones (, d, the fulcrum ends of each pair of ticading levers being alung fiom
opposite sides of two levers, pulleys, 01 1ocking shafts, when the motion of either of
these pulleys is arrested by the lever for mechanism in connection therewith,
then the treading levers which are attached to it will govern the motion of the
heald
The amount of power required to move the strap f¹ is so small that almost any
form of pattern chain will do as well as the one shown, which is known in the
trade as Diggle's, such as wood lags with pegs, perforated on strips, as in Wright
Shaw's well-known gingham, loom, or Jacquard cards or cams, or tappets, revolving
continuously or alternately in opposite directions In adapting Wright Shaw's
chain to this loom we use the outside holes for working the shuttle boxes, as 19
usual, and the middle hole, which 19 generally used for throwing in gear the double
|drop cam, we apply to the purpose of regulating the shaft f, as the "double drop,"

page_text: may very well be dispensed with in making the articles for which this room is
specially adapted At the back of the loom we place a iced h¹ for the purpose of
holding the warp ends straight and opposite the eyes in the healds
Our method of taking up the cloth as it is woven is shown in Figs 2 and 3,
is the sand roller, k², the cloth beam, k³ is a worm driven by gear from the
treading shaft d', and actuating the sand roller through the medium of the toothed
wheels, hs, The wheel on end of shaft k³ is only in gear with wheel k³ on
worm shaft when the strap is on the diving pulley, the force of the weaver's hand
bringing the two wheels in gear by means of the sping lever 1, when the loom is
standing she can take up or let off the cloth by turning the handle 78- On the end
of shaft f¹ is an arm f* for the purpose of drawing the wheel k' out of gear with
wheel when the loom is weaving plain cloth
In place of this arrangement of worm and spur wheels we sometimes use the
common ratchet wheel with a spring arm from shaft f¹ for lifting the catch or pawl
out of gear at the plain parts, or if the plain parts are large we use two pawls and
lift one of them out of gear at the plain parts.
The spring m³ is for easing the warp in the opening of the shred and for taking
'up one or two picks which the weaver may requue to let off the cloth beam in
shuttling
In forming the fringes of towels or sponge cloths we lift the boxes to one con-
taining an empty shuttle and throw it as many picks as are required without weft
to form the fringe, while this is being done a wire or iod from the aim m² on the
The shaft m³ is moved
shaft m³ prevents the weft fork from stopping the loom
by a level m' resting on part of the 11sing box geal, and in addition to stopping
the action of the wett fork is useful for putting in gear an extia pawl for accelo-
rating the take up at the fringe, if the finge be so wide as to cause serious delay
in weaving.
In manufacturing long articles, such as quilts, in order that the pattern chain
may not become inconveniently long we use two double chain barrels with two
chains on each, one pan set for working the shuttle boxes and the other pau set foi
working the other changes arranged after the manner known in the trade as
"Raworth's handkerchief motion," for which provisional protection was granted to
John Smith Raworth, 11th March, 1873, A D, No 869
Fig 6, Sheet 3, shows the arrangement of hooks whereby the chains are alter-
nately connected and disconnected with the lever n² or the lever f', as the case
may be
The 1ods ff, are in connection with the two pattern chains set for
making respectively the middle and border patterns of the quilt or other article in
process of manufacture
The shuttle boxes are let down lower by one box than then usual position, so
that the fist box is worked from a second box link and the second from a thud
box link The foot n is bolted to the lever n² to prevent the boxes from falling
below their lowest working position whenever there occurs in the chain a link
shallower than an ordinary second box link In the centre pattern chain we place
only one first box link, Fig 10, Sheet 3, this we call the "counting link," we also
use a link rather shallower in the middle than a second "box link," Fig 9, this we
call the "drop link" In the border chain we use two first box links, one we call
the "bordering link" and the other the "finishing link" Whenever the counting
link and the bordering link" pass over the chain banel together the 10d f7 18
released from the stud n³ and the 1od f³ takes its place, and so continues until the
diop link" and "finishing link" come together when the 10d f7 again gets hold
of the stud n³ The numbers of links in the two chains we ariange so that the
least common multiple of the two numbers is equal to half the total number of
picks requned in the quilt on other auticle to be manufactured
"
"E
Figs 4 and 5 are two views of different forms of treading cams, which may be
In this instance the
used in place of those shown at d², d², Fig 1 and Fig 3
cam d³ is always connected to the healds by a 1od sumilar to the 1ods ', Fig 1,
but with a slot or loop in place of the hook. The other cam do is connected to

page_text: the healds by a hooked 10d, as at e³, Fig 1, whenever it is required to weave gauze
or leno The trending levers d', Fig 1, aro constantly held up to the cams d³, d², by
spings to prevent them from falling when out of gear with the heald
The hooked 1od e² may in some cases be dispensed with and a permanent con-
nection between the treading levers and the hoalds substituted for it
In such case
we form the cam about the same in shape as ³, and throw it in or out of gear
with the shaft d' by a clutch or carrier stud controlled by the rocking shaft fl In
this instance we counter weight the cam d so that when out of gear it will rest
with the large side uppermost
The weft which is usually used in making articles such as those for which the
loom is adapted is often very thick, and consequently much time is lost in supplying
fresh bobbing To obviate this evil we remove the empty or partly empty shuttle
after the completion of one or two cloths or towels, and insert a full shuttle in its
place by means of a simple contrivance which does not necessitate the stoppago of
the loom o, Fig 1, Fig 3, and Fig 11 is a sliding frame fixed on the slay while
the loom is working, the weaver places a full shuttle in the recess o³, and as soon
as the cloth or towel is finished and the shuttle boxes have usen to their highest
position she pushes the handle o³, forcing the empty shuttle out at the back and
carrying the full one for ward into its place In Figs 1 and 3 the frame is shown
pushed home, with the empty shuttle shown at o' left hanging on a hook ready to
be picked off by the weaver When the boxes have fallen to a lower position the
frame o¹ can be pulled back ready to receive a fresh shuttle In Fig 11, which is
a plan drawn half full size, the fiame o' is shown partly pushed forward as in the
act of ejecting the empty shuttle
Fig 7 is a side elevation and Fig 8 a plan of the portion of Diggle's chain as
ananged for working changes from leno to plain, or vice versa Each high link in
the chain represents two picks plain, and each low link represents two picks, gauzo,
or leno
Fig 12 is a section and Fig 13 a front elevation of a small portion of one of the
healds marked a¹, a³, a³, in Fig 1, Sheet 1, a² are the needles, and u² the guide
wires.
We are aware that looms are in existence for weaving gauze or leno in which
needle healds and worm take-up are used, and we make no claim to the Invention
of these simply, but only in combination with such other parts herein-before
described as extend the limit of then usefulness
Having now described the nature of our Invention and the means whereby the
same may be carried into effect, wo wish it to be understood that we claim as our
Invention,
First The general arrangement and combination of parts of a loom for weaving
gauze or leno, combined with plain weaving in long or short lengths, as described
above and shown in Drawings, Figs 1, 2, 3
Second The use of a pair of healds, constructed as described, having similar
Simultaneous but opposite motions
Third The method of connecting and disconnecting the treading levers with the
healds by hooked rods, or modifications thereof
Fourth The use of Diggle's chain or Wight Shaw's chain, or any pattern chain,
cam, or tappet for regulating the changes from the plain cam to the gauze or leno
cam, or vice versa, whether the healds acted upon be such as those described or the
common doup healds made of twine or combinations of wire, or twine healds with
one or more needle healds
Fifth The use of a pair of treading cams, in shape as shown at d³ and d³, Fig 5,
or both of the same shape as d³, one of which may be constantly attached to the
healds and the other thrown in or out of gear by a hooked rod or clutch
Sixth The use of Diggle's chain for regulating the take-up as required for the
different speeds of gauze and plain weaving by acting on the pawls or worm gear
through the rocking shaft f¹ or m², as described, or similar simple mechanism
Seventh The adaptation to the production of long articles in "gauze" and

page_text: #!
plain" of the hooks shown in Fig 6, along with the arrangement of two chains
acting in concert, as described
Eighth The method of renewing the weft by inserting fresh shuttles in the
shuttle boxes, as described and shown in Figs 1, 3, and 11
In witness whereof, we, the said John Smith Raworth and Benjamin Alfred
Raworth, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighteenth day of
July, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
-
Witness,
JOSHUA C WHITNEY,
30, Blackfriars St,
Manchester.
JOHN SMITH RAWORTHI
(LS.)
BENJAMIN ALFRED RAWORTH (LS)