IMPROVE. MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING STAYS AND SIMILAR UNEVEN FABRICS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Heptonstall, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING STAYS AND SIMILAR UNEVEN FABRICS."
Sealed the 5th January 1867, and dated the 6th July 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Heptonstall at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th July 1866.
I, CHARLES HEPTONSTALL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING STAYS AND SIMILAR UNEVEN FABRICS,"
to be as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to the constructing of looms for weaving stays and
similar uneven fabrics in an improved manner, and so as to admit of being
driven by power more satisfactorily than heretofore.
In a loom embodying the present improvements the shedding of the warps
is effected by jacquard apparatus. The harness threads depend from vertical
wires hooked at their upper ends, and acted upon by a series of transverse
horizontal lifting bars. These lifting bars have hooks jointed to their ends,
to be acted upon by upper lifting bars disposed at right angles to the lower

page_text: transverse bars, and the upper bars are made to reciprocate vertically by links
and levers connecting them to a crank or eccentric pin on the crank shaft of
the loom. There are two jacquard barrels, one at the side acting on trans-
verse horizontal needles, to determine which of the lower lifting bars shall be
lifted at each stroke by the upper lifting bars, and the other at the back or
front, and acting on horizontal needles parallel to the warps, to determine
which of the vertical hooked wires shall be lifted by the lower lifting bars.
The barrel at the side may be termed the shed barrel, as it determines the
kind of shed, and consequently the kind or texture of the fabric produced,
whether it is a plain, twilled, satin, or fancy texture, and when the other
barrel is not working the lower lifting bars acted on by the shed barrel
operate just like ordinary leaves of heddles or healds. The action thus
indicated takes place when the regular even part of the fabric is being
woven, the shed barrel only being then in action. This shed barrel is made
capable of producing two or more kinds of shedding by being arranged to
shift longitudinally, so as to bring different parts of its surface opposite the
needles that it acts upon. The other barrel is for producing the uneven
gusset-like or bulging parts of the fabric, and may be termed the gusset
barrel. It aets negatively, that is, by throwing off some of the vertical
booked wires, and thus causing the formation of sheds by the shed barrel to
be confined to the parts to be bulged, and when such sheds are formed the
weft instead of being interwoven completely across the web is interwoven only
at the parts shed, and thus forms the required excess of cloth at those parts,
the shapes of which are of course determined by the configuration of the
gusset barrel on the well understood jacquard principle. The gusset barrel is
generally arranged to make one turn whilst forming a complete gusset, and at
the completion of each gusset it acts on a special needle connected by a cord
and pulley to a catch bar and catch, so as to allow a weighted lever to
descend, and by connecting links and levers hold the gusset barrel back out
of action. The plain or even shedding action then proceeds until the
weighted lever is again raised, and thereby throws the gusset barrel into
action. Gussets are required sometimes at one side of the fabric and some-
times at the other, and the gusset barrel has both ends perforated to form
gussets, whilst one end is always covered by a metal cylinder or shell that is
shifted away from the end at which the gusset is at any time required. When
the gusset is woven of a different texture to the rest the shedding barrel may
be shifted by the bar which puts the gusset barrel into and out of action, this
bar being situated conveniently for that purpose, and requiring only to have
one of its ends formed with an incline or catch to act on the shifting detail

page_text: of the shedding barrel. The shifts requiring to be made in the apparatus
when passing from an even part of the fabric to a gusset at one side, or to a
gusset at the other side may be effected by hand, or by self-acting mecha-
nism, such, for example, as the small jacquard barrel and pattern chain in
common use for shifting shuttle boxes in check looms.
The most important of the present improvements relate to the taking-up
details, the satisfactory taking up of the uneven fabric having hitherto
presented the greatest difficulty in these looms. By the present Invention
the taking-up is effected by means of two series of grooved rollers, situated
one below and the other above the cloth close to the fell. Each series of
rollers consists of a number of short rollers or sections arranged loosely on
one spindle, so that each section is free to turn independently of its neighbors.
The two spindles of the rollers are held in brackets cast on or bolted to the
breast beam. The upper rollers are by preference smaller than the lower
ones, and the upper ones serve simply to hold down the fabric upon the lower
ones, whilst the latter are driven by means of levers and pawls. Each lever
is by preference fitted with two or more pawls, so as to take up half a tooth
or less at each stroke, and there are as many holding pawls as taking-up
pawls, the holding pawls being centred on a stationary adjustable spindle.
The pawls may be made to act by springs or weights. The pawl levers are
centred on the spindle of the lower grooved rollers, and they project down-
wards, having hooks jointed to their lower ends. The hooks are severally
connected by cords to the vertical hooked wires of the jacquard apparatus, so
that they are raised when and only when the corresponding parts of the warps
are being shed and cloth is being formed at corresponding parts. The hooks
that are raised are caught by a horizontally reciprocating bar, and and the corre-.
sponding take-up levers are actuated, and the corresponding sections of the.
rollers are turned, and those sections only, so that the bulging or extra cloth
formed at any one part is taken up as it is formed, and the fell of the cloth is
kept as nearly straight as possible. The reciprocating take-up bar may be
worked by eccentrics or cranks on the low shaft of the loom, or on a shaft driven
at a speed calculated to effect the take-up strokes at any required intervals;
or this bar may be made to reciprocate stroke for stroke with the lathe, or at
every second stroke of the lathe, and a barrel turned by pawls or books may
be added to regulate the take-up, such barrel lying over the hooks, and being
shaped to prevent their rising and engaging with the reciprocating bar, except at
the required intervals. To admit of the unequal take-up of the warps they
are drawn off a number of separate bobbins, as is well understood. A
frictional drag appliance is adapted to each bobbin, in order that the several

page_text: sections of the warps may each have the proper tension. Each bobbin iş
placed loosely on a spindle between two smooth plates, a fixed one and a
movable one. The movable plate has an arm fixed to it, which is weighted,
whilst a blade spring is applied externally with a nut that can be screwed on
the spindle in order to adjust the nip of the plates on the bobbin. As the
warps are drawn off the bobbin the weighted plate arm rises up with increasing
leverage, until it overcomes the friction of the plates, when it descends, but
without relaxing the frictional drag on the warps, and the tension of these is
thereby kept as nearly uniform as possible.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Heptonstall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
5th January 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, СHARLES
HEPTONSTALL, of Clasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Heptonstall, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Heptonstall, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Charles Heptonstall, 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 STAYS AND SIMILAR UNEVEN FABRICS,'
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Heptonstall, 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 per-
formed, 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 Heptonstall, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, that
is to say:
My said Invention relates to the constructing of looms for weaving stays
and similar uneven fabrics in an improved manner, and so as to admit of
being driven by power more satisfactorily than heretofore. And in order that
my said Invention, and the manner of performing the same, may be properly
understood I have hereunto appended two Sheets of explanatory Drawings
to be hereinafter referred to, and representing such parts as are considered
necessary of a power loom constructed with my improvements for weaving
stays.
Figure 1, on Sheet 1 of the Drawings, is a front elevation of the loom
with some parts removed and some in section, and Figure 2, on Sheet 2, is a
view at right angles to Figure 1, also with parts removed and parts in section.
Figure 3, Sheet 2, is a back elevation of parts of the jacquard apparatus
above the loom; and Figures 4 and 5, Sheet 1, are horizontal and vertical
sections of certain details not well seen in the other views. A few details
that are sufficiently shown in one Figure are omitted in other Figures wherein
they might obstruct the view of other parts. In the improved loom the
shedding of the warps is effected by jacquard apparatus, which derives its
movements from the first motion or crank shaft 1, there being jointed on a
crank pin on the fly wheel of that shaft a rod 2, connected to a lever 3
above, and this lever being connected at its inner end to a lifter 4. The
harness threads 5 (of which only a few are shown in the Drawing) depend
from vertical wires 6, hooked at their upper ends, and acted upon by a
series of transverse horizontal lifting bars 7; these lifting bars 7 have
hooks 8 jointed to their ends to be acted upon by upper lifting bars 9
disposed at right angles to the lower transverse bars 7, and fixed to the
under side of the main lifter 4. There are two jacquard barrels, one 10
at the side, acting on transverse horizontal needles 11, and the other 12
at the back, and acting on horizontal needles 18 parallel to the warps.
The barrel 10 at the side determines which of the lower lifting bars 7 shall
be lifted at each stroke by the upper lifting bars 9, the transverse needles
11 being for that purpose formed with eyes which encircle the hooks 8.
This barrel 10 may be termed the shed barrel as it determines the kind
of shed, and consequently the kind or texture of the fabric produced, whether
it is a plain, twilled, satin, or fancy texture, and when the other barrel
12 is not working the lower lifting bars 7, acted on by the shed barrel
10, operate just like ordinary leaves of heddles or healds on the whole of the
warps. This action takes place when the regular even part of the fabric

page_text: is being woven, the shed barrel 10 only being then in action; this shed
barrel 10 is made capable of producing two (or it might be more) kinds of
shedding, by being arranged to shift longitudinally so as to bring different
parts of its surface opposite the needles that it is to act upon. There is only
a single row of needles 11 for the barrel 10 to act on, and the surface of
the barrel is formed with the successive rows of perforations required by the
desired succession of sheds, but these perforations are not shown in the
Drawings. The needles 13 of the other barrel 12 are formed with eyes
each needle 13 acting on all the
encircling the vertical harness wires
wires 6 in the same fore-and-aft plane with it. The barrel 12 is for pro-
ducing the uneven, gusset-like, or bulging parts of the fabric, and may be
termed the gusset barrel; it acts negatively, that is, by throwing off some
of the vertical hooked wires 6 so as not to be raised by the lower lifting
bars 7, and thus causing the formation of the sheds by the shed barrel to be
confined to the parts to be bulged; and when such sheds are formed the
weft instead of being interwoven completely across the web is interwoven
only at the parts shed, and thus forms the required excess of cloth at those
parts, the shapes of which are of course determined by the configuration of
the gusset barrel 12 on the well understood jacquard principle. The gusset
barrel 12 is arranged to make one turn whilst forming a complete gusset,
and at the completion of each gusset it acts on a special needle 14 (Figures
4 and 5) connected by a cord and pulley to a catch bar 15 and spring
catch 16 (Figure 1) so as by drawing away the catch to allow a weighted
lever 17 to descend, and by connecting links or cords and levers hold the
gusset barrel 12 out of action. The plain or equal shedding action then
proceeds until the weighted lever 17 is again raised and throws the gusset
barrel 12 into action. When the weighted lever 17 is raised the catch
16 is not free to get under it, but another catch on the other side, and con-
nected by a spring to the catch 16 gets under it and is afterwards pushed
away by the catch 16 when it enters under. The weighted lever 17 also
when rising acts by means of an inclined piece attached to its side on the
catch bar 15 putting this bar in a position to cause the shifting round of
the detail 38, hereinafter described as effecting the longitudinal adjustment
of the shedding barrel 10. The barrels 10, 12, are turned step by step by
means of arrangements similar to those in common jacquard apparatus.
The swinging frame 18, carrying the shedding barrel 10, is fitted with
a curved groove piece acted on by a pulley 19 on a bracket fixed to the
main lifter 4, and the swinging frame of the gusset barrel 12 has a simila
curved groove piece acted on by a pulley on a lifting slide 20 (Figures

page_text: This lever 21 is connected L
and 3) actuated by a lever 21 above.
weighted lever 17 so that when this last descends it raises the lifting slide
Gussets
20, and thereby holds the gusset barrel 12 back out of action.
are required sometimes at one side of the fabric and sometimes at the other,
and the gusset barrel 12 has both ends perforated to form gussets, whilst
one end is always covered by a metal cylinder or shell 22 (Figure 3) which is
shifted away from the end at which the gusset is at any time required, being
connected by rods 23 to cranked levers 24, which last are connected by
cords to levers 25, having their front ends acted upon by certain special
vertical wires 26 with their corresponding transverse horizontal needles 11.
The successive shifts requiring to be made in the apparatus when passing
froin an even part of the fabric to a gusset at one side, or to a gusset at the
other side, and vice versa, may be effected by hand or by self-acting
mechanism, such for example as the small jacquard barrel and pattern chain
in common use for shifting shuttle boxes in check looms; or a simple
pattern wheel or disc 27, such as is shown in Figures 1 and 2, may be used.
This pattern wheel is set on a stud at the side of the jacquard apparatus,
and being formed with ratchet teeth on its edge is shifted at intervals by a
catch 28, carried by a lever connected to another lever 29 above. The last-
mentioned lever 29 has a wire jointed to its other end, which is acted on by
a pin on the end of the shedding barrel 10, and the pattern wheel 27 is in
consequence moved forward one tooth for every complete turn of the shedding
barrel 10. The pattern wheel 27 acts on three horizontal needles indicated
in end view in Figure, 2, and these needles act on the special vertical wires 26
connected to the levers 25 below. Springs which are not shown press the
needles against the pattern wheel 27 (just as springs press the other needles
towards the barrels 10, 12, in the ordinary way,) and indentations are
formed in the face of the wheel for the needles to enter; these indentations
being formed with inclines which force the needles back when the wheel
moves round. When a needle enters an indentation it moves the corresponding
vertical wire 26 into a position to be caught by a special lifting bar 30
on the main lifter 4 and thus causes the corresponding lever 25 or 31 to
be actuated. One of the vertical wires 26 is connected to a lever 31, con-
nected to the lever 21 at the back, that actuates the gusset barrel 12.
Another of the special wires 26 acts through one of the levers 25 on a
lever 32, connected to the weighted lever 17, so as to raise up this lever at
the commencement of a gusset. When the gusset is woven of a different
texture to the rest the shedding barrel 10 may be shifted by the bar 15,
which puts the gusset barrel 12 out of action by releasing the weighted

page_text: lever 17, this bar 15 being situated conveniently for that purpose and
requiring only to have one of its ends formed with an incline or catch to act
on the shifting detail of the shedding barrel 10. This shifting detail which
is best seen in Figures 4 and 5 is a small cam piece 33 set on a pin on
the inside face of the pin wheel 34, by means of which the barrel is turned.
The acting part of the barrel 10 is arranged to shift longitudinally on its
spindle, being pressed by a spring towards the pin wheel 34, and a pin on
its end is acted on by the suitably formed surfaces of the cam piece 33 to
shift the barrel as required. When the catch bar 15 is drawn or pushed
into its acting position by the cord of the special needle 14, or by the rising
of the weighted lever 17, it has to remain in that position until the
swinging of the barrel inwards causes it to act on the cam piece 38, and it
is held by a catch piece on the back of a lever a provided for the purpose, and
which is again lifted by the contact of the barrel with its end so as to allow
the catch bar 15 to be drawn back by a spring which is not shown. Instead
of the successive shedding actions being determined by the barrels 10 and
12, combined with the action of the pattern wheel 27, small barrels may
be used along with suitable endless chains of jacquard cards.
The most important of my present improvements relate to the taking-up
details, the satisfactory taking up of the uneven fabric having hitherto
presented the greatest difficulty in these looms. By my present Invention
the taking up is effected by means of two series of grooved rollers 35, 36,
situated one below and the other above the cloth close to the fell. Each
series of rollers consists of a number of short rollers or sections arranged
loosely on one spindle, so that each section is free to turn independently of
its neighbors. The two spindles of the rollers 35, 86, are held in brackets
cast on or bolted to the breast beam 37. The upper rollers 36 are smaller
than the lower ones 35, and serve simply to hold down the fabric upon the
lower ones, whilst the latter are driven by means of levers 38, and pawls 39.
Each lever 38 is by preference fitted with two or more pawls, so as to take
up half a tooth or less at each stroke, and there are as many holding pawls
40 as taking-up pawls 39, the holding pawls being centred on a stationary
spindle, whilst the levers 38 are centred on the same spindle as the sectional
take-up rollers 35. The pawls 39, 40, may be arranged to act by springs
as shown, or by weights. The levers 38 have hooks 41 jointed to their
lower ends, which hooks are severally connected by cords to the vertical
hooked wires 6 of the jacquard apparatus above, so that they are raised
when and only when the corresponding parts of the warps are being shed and
cloth is being formed at corresponding parts. The hooks 41 that are raised

page_text: are caught by a horizontally reciprocating bar 42, and the corresponding
levers 38 are actuated and the corresponding sections of the rollers 35 are
turned, and those sections only so that the bulging or extra cloth formed at
any one part is taken up as it is formed, and the fell of the cloth is thereby
kept as nearly straight as possible. The reciprocating take-up bar 42 may
be worked by eccentrics or cranks on the low shaft 43 of the loom or on
a shaft 44 driven at a speed calculated to effect the take-up strokes at any
required intervals. A bar 45 is arranged in connection with the reciprocating
bar 42 to push forward any of the levers that may have been drawn
inwards, and they are prevented from moving too far inwards by a stationary
bar 46 in front of them. If preferred the take-up hooks 41 may be
severally connected by cords to special vertical wires of the jacquard
apparatus with their special needles, and the jacquard barrels or cards may
have corresponding special perforations, so that the take-up actions may be
adjusted quite independently of the shedding actions. To admit of the
unequal take-up the warps 47 are drawn off a number of separate bobbins
48 (Figure 2) as is well understood. These warp bobbins are sot on studs
on a suitable framing 49 behind the loom. In the example delineated they
are supposed to be arranged in six nearly vertical rows (three being hid by
the three shown) and in different vertical planes. The rows nearest to the
loom are the widest apart, the middle rows being nearer together, and the
hindmost rows the nearest together, so that the warps from the middle rows
of bobbins pass between the front rows of bobbins, whilst those from the
hindmost rows pass also between the middle rows. A frictional drag or
tensional appliance is adapted to each bobbin 48, but is delineated as
applied to only one of them to save labor on the Drawing, and a section of
that bobbin with its drag appliance is delineated immediately above it.
Each bobbin is placed loosely on a tubular spindle between two smooth plates
or surfaces, one fixed on the spindle and a movable one 50 applied against
the outer face of the bobbin. The movable plate 50 has an arm 51 fixed
to it, which is weighted, whilst a blade spring 52 is applied externally
with a nut that can be screwed on the tubular spindle in order to adjust the
nip of the plates on the bobbin; the tubular spindle is free to turn on the
fixed stud; as the warps are drawn off the bobbin the weighted arm 51
rises up with increasing leverage until it overcomes the friction of the plates,
when it descends, but without relaxing the frictional drag on the warps, and
the tension of these is thereby kept nearly uniform, the weighted arm acting
beneficially in causing the slack that occurs on the inward movement of the
lathe to be taken back.

page_text: My improvements have been herein-before described as applied to a power
loom, but some of them are obviously equally applicable to hand looms.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, generally the combining
together of the parts of looms for weaving stays and similar uneven fabrics
substantially in the improved manner herein-before described, and especially
the arrangements for taking up the fabric and those for applying tension
separately to the several portions of the warps.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Heptonstall, have hereunto set
hand and seal, this Third day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
my
Witnesses,
J. B. GIBSON,
Manufacturer,
ED. HUNT,
Glasgow.
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
CHARLES HEPTONSTALL. (L.S.)