IMPROVEMENTS IN HEALDS AND HEALD FRAMES FOR WEAVING. AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAID HEALDS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Denton Abel, of No. 20, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEALDS AND HEALD
FRAMES FOR WEAVING. AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAID
HEALDS." A communication from abroad by Auguste Glattard,
of No. 23, Boulevard de Strasbourg, Paris, in the Empire of
France, Machinist.
Sealed the 27th August 1869, and dated the 15th March 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Denton Abel
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th March 1869.
I, CHARLES DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEALDS
AND HEALD FRAMES FOR WEAVING, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE SAID HEALDS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing healds of thin metal bands
tapering in thickness from near the middle of their length towards each
[Prie Ed.]

page_text: end. At the middle they are flattened in a direction at right angles to
their width, and are there formed with an eye, through which the warp
thread is passed. They are formed with hooks at their ends, and are
connected to the top and bottom staves of the frame by means of helical
springs or coiled wires, into the loops of which they are hooked, and
which are carried upon rods or bars passing through loops fixed to the
staves.
For manufacturing these healds a continuous metal wire or rod is
flattened down by passing through rolls, so formed with recesses and
grooves of gradually decreasing depth as to produce enlargements on the
metal band at equal distances apart, corresponding to the lengths of the
healds, and to produce the requisite before described tapering thickness
of the parts between the enlargements. The continuous band is then
trimmed and polished, and the eyes are punched in the enlargements,
which are held in a die or between jaws during this process to prevent
their being spread out too much. The band is then cut into lengths
corresponding to those of the healds to be produced, and the ends are
bent round to form the hooks before mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Denton Abel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DENTON ABEL, of No. 20, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Denton Abel, Her
special licence that I, the said Charles Denton Abel, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Denton
Abel, 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,

page_text: 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 HEALDS AND HEALD FRAMES FOR WEAVING, AND IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF THE SAID HEALDS," (a communication to me from abroad
by Auguste Glattard, of No. 23, Boulevard de Strasbourg, Paris, in the
Empire of France, Machinist, upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Charles Denton Abel, 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 Charles Denton Abel, do hereby
declare the nature 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, reference being had to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in constructing healds of thin metal bands
tapering in thickness from near the middle of their length towards each
end. At the middle they are flattened in a direction at right angles to
their width, and are there formed with an eye, through which the warp
thread is passed. They are formed with hooks at their ends, and are
connected to the top and bottom staves of the frame by means of helical
springs or coiled wires, into the loops of which they are hooked, and
which are carried upon rods or bars passing through loops fixed to the
staves.
For manufacturing these healds a continuous metal wire or rod is
flattened down by passing through rolls, so formed with recesses and
grooves of gradually decreasing depth as to produce enlargements on the
metal band at equal distances apart corresponding to the lengths of
the healds, and to produce the requisite before described tapering thick-
ness of the parts between the enlargements. The continuous band is then
trimmed and polished, and the eyes are punched in the enlargements
either by hand or otherwise, the enlargements being held in a die or
between jaws during this process to prevent their being spread out too
much. The band is then cut into lengths corresponding with those of

page_text: the healds to be produced, and the ends are bent round to form the hooks
before mentioned.
The arrangement and mode of manufacturing the before described
improved healds will be readily understood by reference to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings.
The cylindrical metal wire a, Figure 1, is subjected to the various
operations above described, whereby it is formed into a blade or band of
the form shewn in front and side elevations at Figures 2 and 3. This
blade or band, which is of one piece, has in the middle of its length an
enlargement b in the direction of its thickness, from which it tapers
down in thickness toward each end c, c, which ends are bent round in
opposite directions to form hooks, as shewn. The enlargement b is
pierced at the side of the band, so as to form an oblong hole or eye e,
while on the face of the band it is of less thickness than the adjoining
flat portions of the band, as indicated at Figure 2. These blades or
bands are mounted upon beams or bars of metal or woody, g, (as shewn
in the side and front views of the heald at Figures 4 and 5), by means
of the helical wires or springs h, h, and the metal rods j, j. For this
purpose they are first hooked on to the coils of the springs; the screw
rings k, l, are then fixed in the beams gin such positions as to compress
or extend the springs according to the pitch required for the blades; after
which the rods j are passed through both the coils of the springs and the
rings k, and are secured by means of the screw rings / passing through
eyes in the ends of the rods, and screwed into the beams g. By this
arrangement it is very easy to remove a broken or faulty blade by simply
unhooking the same without interfering with the others; in addition,
the elasticity of the helical spring allows of a very exact adjustment of
the distance or pitch of the blades of the heald by means of the screw
rings k, according to the number and closeness of the warp threads
required in the fabric.
By this Invention a much more durable heald is produced than
those of present construction, having the further advantage of being
very flexible, and allowing of the passage of the hand of the operator
for mending broken threads or other purposes.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, what I claim is,-
First. The construction and use in healds of a metallic blade or

page_text: band having a pierced enlargement, and tapering in thickness towards
the ends, which are bent so as to form hooks, substantially as
described.
Second. The before-described method of manufacturing such blades in
a continuous, manner from a cylindrical rod or wire, by passing the same
through suitably formed rolls, and then punching the hole in the
enlargements of the rolled blades.
Third. Mounting such blades in the heald by means of helical
springs, through which pass rods secured to the beams of the heald by
means of screw rings or other appliances, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Denton Abel, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
CHAS. D. ABEL. (L.S.)