IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING TERRY AND CUT PILE FABRICS
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Collier at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
March 1854.
...
..
I, GEORGE, COLLIER, of Halifax, in the County of York, Mechanic, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
TERRY AND CUT PILE FABRICS" to be as follows:-
.
This Invention has for its object improvements in weaving terry and cut
pile fabrics. I find by experience, that in weaving terry fabrics by power,
where very delicate or thin wires are employed, that if the pressure on the
terry warp is continuous, as is usually the case, the terry warp. is liable to
pull back the last wire introduced when the lay recedes. This is a great evil,
and my improvement is to remedy this defect; and the way I do that is, by
causing a tappit to press a break upon the lever, over which the terry warp
passes just at. the time the shed is quite open and the beat of the. Jay is
taking place; then, when the shed is closed and the lay has receded, the terry
warp would be too slack, owing to the break being upon the terry warp lever;

page_text: but I obviate that by having a coiled wire or other spring to act upon a rod
that goes across the warp, and is caused to press the terry warp just enough
to prevent its being too slack for forming a clear shed, but not so much
as to cause it to interfere in any way with the wire that has been last
introduced.
In weaving mohair plush by power, I find that the hairs are so long that
they catch each other, and prevent the slay working freely, and if nothing was
done to remedy this evil, the consequence would be that the warp threads
would be continually broken, in consequence of the slay forcing its way
through the entangled warp. I remedy this evil by having a very much
coarser slay to work behind the ordinary one, which is made of wires, which
are not positively fixed, but will give way, and thus clear the long fibres
and prepare it for the fine slay passing freely through the warp. In making
some qualities of mohair and silk velvet, I find the slay has to be so fine, with
two threads in each dent, that when worked quickly by power it is very diffi-
cult to get the knots to weave into the work, the fineness of the slay chafes
them down. My improvement to remedy this evil is to have a slay that is
technically called a zigzag slay, which may be termed a double slay, one
behind the other, and which has on each side all the appearance of a slay
that is only half so fine, but when held up to the light it is seen that it
possesses all the advantages of the fine slay, because the back reeds are
placed fair between the front ones, and the knots work in much better whilst
it spreads the warp equal to the fine slay. In weaving mohair and silk velvet
by power, only two, three, or at most four wires are employed, and it
therefore becomes more difficult to have an oil brush to oil them, because if
fixed it would be in the way of the lay, and also in the way of the instrument
that withdraws and inserts the wires. My improvement consists in causing a
tappit to bring the oil brush upon the wires when they begin to be withdrawn,
and which takes the brush out of the way when they are withdrawn.
In weaving mohair or silk velvet by power (as before stated) very few wires
are employed; it therefore becomes most important, that if the weft should
break or be finished the loom should instantly stop, because if it did not a
serious damage would ensue, owing to the wires being out of the fabric, and
the weft has to be so delicate that it is very liable to break. My improve-
ment therefore consists in applying a weft stopper to each side the loom, which
immediately stops the loom when weft ought to come through the shed, but
fails to do so, but which is so arranged that it will not stop the loom either
when the wire is being introduced or when the weft is going across the fabric

page_text: in the other direction. The weft stoppers consist of forked levers, suspended
on each side of the loom; outside the slay are grates, which, when the lay comes
to the cloth, will in the absence of weft pass into the fork, in which case the
hooked end of the fork would come into contact with the catch lever and stop
the loom; but if weft went across between the grate and the fork, it would
raise the hooked end of the forked lever out of the way of the catch lever,
and would not stop the loom. The said catch levers are worked by a tappit,
which brings them into action when required, and prevents them from acting
when not required. For these reasons it is very important that the loom
should stop if it fails to withdraw a wire. And my next improvement consists
in applying a wire stop motion in conjunction with the said weft stop motion,
to stop the loom in the absence of a wire being withdrawn. The wire carrier
has applied to it an instrument or catch, which, if not supported, descends
and comes in the way of a lever or instrument, and is thus the means of
stopping the loom; but if the carrier takes a wire correctly the loom goes on
weaving.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Collier in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
COLLIER, of Halifax, in the County of York, Mechanic, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Collier, Her special licence that I, the said George Collier,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Collier, my executors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR
WEAVING TERRY AND CUT PILE FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Collier, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the

page_text: said: Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same torbe 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 George Collier, do hereby declaré, the
Inature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof (that is 'to say)::
..::
This Invention has for it's object improvements in weaving terry and cut
spile fabrics. I find by: experience, that in weaving terry, fabrics by power,
where: very delicate or thin wires are employed, that if the pressure, on the
terry warp is continuous, as is usually the case, the terry warp is liable to pull
back the last wire introduced when the lay recedes.. This is a great evil, and
my improvement is to remedy this defect; and the way I do that is, by causing
a tappet to press a break upon the lever over which the terry. warp passes,
justiat, the time the shed is quite open and the beat of the lay is taking place;
then, when the shed is closed and. the lay has receded, the terry warp. would
be too slack, owing to the break being upon the terry warp lever; but I obviate
that by having a coiled wire or other spring to act upon a rod that goes across
the warp, and is caused to press the terry warp just enough to prevent its
being too slack for forming a clear shed, but not so much as to cause it to
interfere in any way with the wire that has been last introduced.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a transverse section; Figure 2, a right hand end view;
Figure 3, a left-hand end view; and Figure 4, a front view of a power loom,
suitable for weaving terry or cut pile fabrics, having my improvements applied
thereto. The other Drawings show separate views of some of the parts on a
larger.scale, the nature of which being written thereon it will not be nesessary
to repeat the same. a is the crank axis, which receives motion from a steam
engine or other motive power; and 'motion is communicated from the crank
axis a to the cam shaft by the toothed wheels a', b'. The pile warp is placed
on the beam or roller c*; one half of the pile warp passing over the roller c and
through the leaf of heddles c', the other half of the pile warp passing over the
iroller d and through the leaf of heddles d'. e is the tie or foundation warp
beam, one half of such warp being passed through the leaf of heddles e', and
the other half through the leaf of heddles e. The arrangement of the warps
being the same or similar to
and of the let off motions to. the warp beams
what has before been described in former Patents granted to me, it will not

page_text: be necessary to give a more particular description thereof, as a workman
acquainted with this class of machinery' will readily understand the same on
examining the Drawings, together with other parts which do not relate to my
present improvements, but which have been fully described in former Patents
granted to me and others. p is a cam or tappet fixed on the tappet-shaft or
axis p*, which receives motion from the crank axis a by means of the toothed
wheels a, a: The camp acts on a truck or roller carried by the lever p
fixed on an axis moving in, bearings carried by the framing of. the machine.
p is an arm fixed on this axis, which gives motion to the "sliding break-p* by,
means of a pin p³ moving in a slot in the plate p; so as to cause the concave
surfaces p to act on the convex surfaces po, affixed to the weighted levers
o which carry the rollers or rods c, d, over which the warp threads are
passed, and the break is brought into action upon the weighted levers o¹ to
take off the tension on the warp threads just at the time the shed is quite
open, and whilst the beat up of the lay is taking place, and thus prevent the
last wire introduced being pulled back by the tension on the warp threads;
and when the shed has closed, and the lay has receded, the terry warps would
be too slack, in consequence of the break being on the terry warp levers; to
obviate which, I employ rods p, p, carried by levers p, p, moving freely on
the axis of the levers o¹, there being springs p which constantly press the rods
pp, against the warp threads, in order to give a slight degree of tension
thereto, just sufficient to prevent the warp being too slack for forming a clear
shed, but not so much as to cause it to interfere in any way with the wire
just previously introduced.
"I would state, in respect to this part of the Invention; that I make no claim
to the mechanical parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the details
herein described. But what I claim is, the combination herein described for
acting on terry warps to facilitate the use of thin wires, as herein described!
I will now describe another part of my improvements in looms for weaving
terry and cut pile fabrics. In weaving mohair plush by power, I find that the
hairs are so long, that they catch each other and prevent the slay working
freely; and if nothing were done to remedy this evil, the consequence would
be that the warp threads would be continually broken in consequence of the
slay forcing its way through the entangled warp threads. In order to remedy
this evil, I employ a very much coarser slay q, Figure 5, (to work behind the
ordinary slay,) which is made of wires which are not positively fixed, but will
give way, and thus clear the long fibres and prepare it for the fine slay passing
freely through the warp. . I'also find, that in weaving some qualities of mohair

page_text: and silk velvet, that the slay has to be so fine, with two threads in each dent,
that when worked quickly by power it is very difficult to get the knots to
weave into the work, as the fineness of the slay chafes them down; and my
improvement to remedy this evil is to employ.a slay r, Figure 5, technically
called a zigzag slay, which may be termed a double slay, one behind the other,
and which has on each side the appearance of a slay that is only half so fine,
but when held up to the light it will be seen that it possesses all the advan-
tages of a fine slay, because the back reeds or dents are placed fair between
the front reeds or dents, and by employing a reed of this description the knots
will work in much better, and the warps will be spread as well as by the
ordinary fine slay.
'
I would remark, in respect to this part of my Invention, that what I claim
is, the application of the slays q, r, in combination with power looms, as herein
described.
I will now describe another of my improvements in looms for weaving
terry and cut pile fabrics. In weaving mohair plush and silk velvet by
power, only two, three, or at most four wires are employed, and by reason
of the small number of wires employed it becomes difficult to have an oil
brush to oil them; for if fixed it would be in the way of the lay, and also of the
instruments which withdraw and insert the wires; and this part of my present
improvements consists in giving a to and fro movement to the oil brush from
time to time to place it in a position to oil the wire as it is withdrawn, and then
to move out of the way of the hook and wire holder. s¹, is a lever, moving on
a fulcrum at s2, which receives motion from a cam s, fixed on the cam shaft or
axis 6; the lever s' is connected by a link to the lever arm s, to the upper
end of which the oil brush is attached by a pin joint, which will be readily
understood on examining the Drawings.
I would state, in respect to this part of my Invention, that I claim the
giving a to and fro motion to the oil brush.
I will now describe another of my improvements in looms for weaving terry
and cut pile fabrics. In weaving mohair and silk velvet by power, as before
stated, very few wires are employed; it is therefore very important, if the weft.
thread should break or be used up, that the loom should instantly stop, for if
it did not a serious injury would ensue, owing to the wires being out of the
fabric; the terry warp would thereby be drawn out of the harness, and the weft
requires to be so delicate that it- is very liable to break; and this part of my
improvements consists in applying a weft stopper to each side of the loom,
which immediately stops the loom when weft fails to go through the shed; and

page_text: the apparatus is so arranged that it will not stop the loom when the wire is
being introduced, or when the weft is going across the fabric in the opposite
direction, each of the weft stoppers acting alternately to detect the absence of
the weft. The weft stoppers consist of forked levers suspended on each side
of the loom; outside the slay are grates, which, when the slay comes to
the cloth, will in the absence of weft pass into the fork, in which case the
hooked end of the fork would come into contact with the catch lever and stop
the loom; but if weft went across between the grate and the fork, it would
raise the hooked end of the forked lever out of the way of the catch lever, and
would not stop the loom. The said catch levers are worked by a tappet, which
brings them into action when required, and prevents them from acting when
not required. For these reasons it is very important that the loom should:
stop if it fails to withdraw a wire. t, t', are forked levers, which are supported.
by and move freely on axes carried by the levers u, u', which are supported by
and move freely on studs or axes v, v¹, affixed to the framing of the machine.
w, w', are levers or fingers also moving freely on the axes v, v', and the levers w,.
wl, receive a to and fro motion by being connected by the links w² to the lever
arms w³ fixed on the axis w, motion being communicated to the lever arm w³,
fixed on the axis w', by the cam w, fixed on the cam shaft or axis b. The
levers w, w; have a step or notch formed on their upper ends, which are so
formed as to catch or engage with the arms of the forked levers t, t¹, suspended
over them when not raised out of the way by the absence of a weft thread,
which when correctly thrown across the fabric acts by the beat up of the lay
upon the forked end of one of the levers t, t', and the loom goes on working;
but should a weft thread break or be used up, then one of the levers w, w,
(as the case may be) in its forward movement engages with the hooked end of
the forked lever, and carries a lever. w or w' forward with it, and as each of the.
lever u and u¹ are connected with the levers x, x¹, by a pin in each of the
levers a, a, passing through a slot in the levers u, u', which levers are fixed
on the axis x2, when either of the levers u or u¹ are carried forwárd, motion:
will be communicated to the axis a², the lever a³ will be disengaged from the
lever a fixed on the axis a, upon which axis is fixed the lever arm 6, which
acts on the throwing off lever a, there being a spring as which has a tendency
at all times to draw the lever arm towards the front of the loom, and also
to retain the levers a³, a, together. The throwing off lever is fixed on the
axis a, upon which are fixed the lever arms ao, all, which give motion respec→
tively to the throwing out fork 12 and break a¹³. y, z, are guides fixed 'to:
the breast beam, which serve to conduct the weft thread correctly towards the
forked instruments t, t¹.

page_text: I-would state, in respect to this part of my Invention; that I do not claim the
use of weft stoppers to both sides of powerlooms in general; but whati It
claim is, the use. of weft stoppers on both sides: of a power loom when
wěáving mohair, velvet, and silk vélvét.
1 ... 85
I will now describe another of my improvements in looms for weaving
terry and cut pile, fabrics, which..has for its object the stopping of the
loom when the apparatus for withdrawing and inserting the wires fails-to
actt correctly and this part of my improvements consists in applying a wire
stop motion in conjunction with the. said weft stop motion, to stop the
loom in the absence of a wire being withdrawn. . The wire carrier thas
applied to it an instrument or catch, which, if not supported,descends
and comes in the way of alever or, instrument, and. is thus, the means:
of stopping the loom; but if the carrier takes a wire correctly, the
loom goes on weaving. (1) is a lever, which receives motion from the
cam. (2), fixed on the cani shaft orfaxis. 6; the lever: (1) is connected by a
link (3) to the lever or instrument (4), the upper end' of which receives
the end of the wire, and conducts it into a position to be again inserted into
the shed. The lower end of the lever or instrument (4) is connected by a pin
joint to a lever (5), which receives (motion from a cam (6) to raise and lower
the forked lever or instrument (4). (7) is a lever connected to the lever (4)
by pins (8) passing through slots formed in the bar (7), which is bent at right
angles at its upper end, so as to rest' on the wire and be lifted by it, when the
wire is lifted by the forked end of the instrument (4), the bar or rod 7' resting
at other times on the bracket or support (9) fixed to the framing, and when
a wire fails to be taken by the forked-lever or instrument: (4) to be conducted
and again inserted into the open shed, the bar or rod (7) will not be lifted, so
that when the parts (4) and (7) are moved towards the shed, the projection
(10) on the rod (7) will come in contact with the projection (11) on the lever
(a), by which the levers a, a, will be disengaged and the loom will be stopped,
as before described in respect to the weft stop motion. In the arrangement of
apparatus for inserting the wire, described in my former Patent, the wire holder,
after carrying the wire, into the shed held it there for a short time until the
warp'threads had crossed, so as to hold it and prevent its being withdrawn by
the return movement of the wire holder. In the present arrangement, where
very few wires are used; I find it desirable to cause an instrument (12) to
pass into the eye formed in the head of the wire to hold it in the shed, whilst
the wire holder goes back to receive another wire; the instrument (12) is con-
nected to the lever (13) which is actuated by the cam (14) on the cam shaft
or axis b.
:

page_text: I would state, in respect to this part of my Invention, that what I claim
is, the combination of apparatus for stopping a power loom when a wire is
not introduced with the use of an apparatus on both sides of a power loom
for stopping the same when a weft is not introduced. But I do not claim the
use of either of the two weft stoppers or the application of the wire stopper
when not used in combination, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Collier, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
GEORGE COLLIER. (L.S.)
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE.