CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Ratcliffe, of Colne, in the County of
Lancaster, Manager, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Scaled the 2nd December 1862, and dated tho 8th October 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Ratcliffe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th October 1862.
I, THOMAS RATCLIFFE, of Colne, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to such looms as are employed for weaving "lenos"
or other similar fabrics, and consists, first, in an arrangement of apparatus for
effecting certain movements of the healds. In weaving "leno" two or more
sets of healds are required, one behind the other, and the Invention consists in
the employment and use of cone pulleys above and below the healds and
attached thereto, and so arranged that when the front healds are raised the
back healds are lowered in a line with the warp, which is effected by suspending
the cone pulleys of the back bealds from the pulleys of the front by means of
straps, so that as the strap coils and uncoils upon the pulleys the healds will
be raised or lowered. By this means the springs to draw down the healds, as
hitherto employed, are dispensed with, except the one attached to the loose
heald, which is made to serve for the back healds by attaching them together
by a wire or cord.
A second part of the Invention consists in a simple arrangement of levers,
actuated by a cam on the tappet shaft, to regulate the letting off of the warp,
the cam effecting the temporary yielding of the warp.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Ratcliffe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th April 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RATCLIFFE, of Colne, in the County of Lancaster, Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Ratcliffe, Her special license, that I, the said Thomas Ratcliffe,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Ratcliffe, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Ratcliffe, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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 Thomas Rateliffe, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My Invention relates to such looms as are employed for weaving lenos
or other similar fabrics, and consists, first, in an arrangement of apparatus for
effecting certain movements of the healds. In weaving leno two or more
.sets of healds are required, one behind the other, and the Invention consists in
the employment and use of cone pulleys above and below the healds and
attached thereto, and so arranged that when the front healds are raised the
back healds are lowered in a line with the warp, which is effected by suspending
the cone pulleys of the back healds from the pulleys of the back by means of
straps, so that as the strap coils and uncoils upon the pulleys the bealds will
be raised or lowered. By this means the springs to draw down the healds, as
hitherto employed, aro dispensed with, except the one attached to the loose

page_text: heald, which is worked by the middle heald by attaching them together with
a cord.
A second part of the Invention consists in a simple arrangement of levers.
actuated by a cam on the tappet shaft to regulate the lifting off of the warp,
the can effecting the temporary yielding of the warp. I also employ, instead of
the cones before mentioned, quadrants or segments arranged on the principle
of cones, that is having one end larger than the other, these segments are
fixed upon the lifting shaft for actuating the bealds to which they are attached
the greater diameter of the cone or segment lifting the front heald, and the
smaller or less diameter of the cone or segment lifting the back healds by
means of a compensating or faller shaft, suspended therefrom, so that in the
rise or fall of such back shaft it shall partially revolve thereby keeping the
warps which such healds actuate in a line or level during the action of the
front heald, their combined action upon the warps being as follows:-The first
or front heald is supplied at its lower extremity with an extra or loose heald,
such heald being attached by means of a cord to the top of the intermediate
or middle heald so that when the back healds are down, and the shed is
the cord attaching the loose portion of the front heald to the intermediate,
becomes slack, thereby allowing the warp of such healds to twist or fold previous
to the passage of the "shuttle," such operation taking place alternately as the
healds rise and fall.
open
In order that the Invention may be better understood, and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings made upon a scale of
about two inches to the foot similar letters of reference being marked upon
corresponding parts in both Figures.
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a loom with my improvements shewing the
arrangement of quadrants which I prefer to the use of cone pulleys, but which
are similar in effect the method of attaching the first to the middle heald is
also shewn attached, and Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same.
A, A, is the framing of an ordinary cotton loom, B the warp beam, and C
the dead or bearer beam, and C¹ the yielding rods; a is the ordinary lifting shaft
for the healds supplied with the arrangement of cones or segmented levers, the
first or large segment b lifting the front healds, and the smaller segment c
lifting the back healds through the medium of the faller shaft & suspended
therefrom, which partially rotates and winds the strap e' on its periphery to
maintain the level of the two healds during the action of the front heald, the
healds being attached to such suspended shaft by means of the straps e, the
front heald is supplied with an extra or loose heald f attached by means of the
cord g to the top of the intermediate or middle heald at the point h, and is

page_text: employed for the purpose of lifting such loose heald; the combin'd action of the
healds at such time giving a twist or fold to the warp previous to the operation
of picking, such arrangement of mechanism dispensing with the weights and
springs now employed in leno looms, thereby effecting greater facility in the
weaving of lenos.
A second part of my Invention relates to an improved action upon the warp,
whereby a direct action from the tappet shaft is applied to the yarn for regu-
lating its tension in passing from the warp beam to the healds; i is a cam
secured upon the tappet shaft k, such cam giving motion through the lever and
connecting rod t, to the bar or rod c¹ over which one half the warp passes, so
that as the rod c¹ is caused to rise and fall by the action of the cam i it regu-
lates the tension of the warp. In conclusion I would remark that the above
arrangement of apparatus is applicable to looms for weaving lenos in ordinary
cotton looms, but are also applicable to looms termed "Bradford looms," but if
so applied the cones herein-before mentioned, or the arrangements of segments
must be inverted actuating the healds from beneath.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention together with the
method of carrying the same into practical effect, I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I claim the employment and use of the cone pulleys or
segmented levers for actuating the healds, whereby I am enabled to effect a
direct attachment between the front and middle heald, which I also claim.
Secondly, I claim regulating the tension in the "letting off" of the warp
by an arrangement of levers or equivalent apparatus actuated by means
of a cam; and, lastly, I claim'the method and means of maintaining the
level of the back healds when the front heald rises or falls as herein-before
described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings attached.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Ratcliffe, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
THOMAS RATCLIFFE. (L.S.)