IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Shaw, of Hyson Green Works, Notting-
ham, Elastic Web Manufacturer, and James Connell, of Burton Street,
Nottingham, Designer and Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC AND OTHER FABRICS."
Sealed the 12th February 1867, and dated the 15th August 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said, William Shaw and James,
Connell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,"
on the 15th August 1866.
We, WILLIAM SHAW, of. Hyson Green Works, Nottingham, Elastic Web;
Manufacturer, and JAMES CONNELL, of Burton Street, Nottingham, Designer.
and Draughtsman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC AND OTHER FABRICS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of elastic.
and other fabrics. In weaving india-rubber fabrics suitable for braces and
similar articles it is now usual to employ two sets of warp threads, one of
which remains, constantly over the india-rubber and the other constantly,
under it, so that these warp threads with the weft form as it were two separate
fabrics, which are connected together in lines between the india-rubber threads
by other warp threads which may be called a binder or tie warp, and are

page_text: worked constantly into both fabrics. With this arrangement, if it is desired
to produce a pattern or figure on either face of the fabric, it is necessary to
employ additional figuring threads, either warp threads or weft threads.
Now according to our Invention we produce a pattern or figure or the
fabric without the use of any such additional threads. We employ as before
two sets of warp threads in addition to the binder or tie warp and the india-
rubber; these two sets of warp threads are of separate colors, or rather one
set is usually white and the other colored, so that were we to weave in the
ordinary way we should produce a fabric colored on one face, say the top, and
white on the other, say the bottom, but without a figure. We, however,
obtain a figure in the course of weaving by taking the white warp threads from
the bottom and making them for a time to weave with the weft at the top
and form part of the top fabric, whilst at the same time the colored threads go
down, and in the same way form part of the bottom fabric. In order that the
binder or tie warp may not disfigure the pattern thus produced we make the
threads composing it alternately white and colored, or to correspond with
the two sets of fabric warps. In this manner we produce a figure without the
use of extra threads, and all the threads in the fabric are at all times weaving,
never remaining idle in the centre of the fabric as a figuring 'warp does when
out of use.
By working in the manner above described a fabric with a figure on both
faces is obtained; if it is desired to conceal the pattern at the back of the
fabric it may be done by the use either of an additional warp or an additional
weft. We also produce non-elastic fabrics simply by omitting the india-rubber
warp or substituting a thick non-elastic warp for it.
Another description of elastic fabric is now commonly made for boot gussets
and other purposes in which the india-rubber is covered only by the weft
thread which passes from side to side of the fabric alterately, one shoot over
and another under the india-rubber warp, and these shoots of the weft thread
are tied down by a tie or binder warp'working between the india-rubber warps.
In order to produce a figure on an elastic fabric of this description we employ
two shuttles carrying wefts of different colors, and each shoot instead of passing
across, either entirely over or entirely under the india-rubber as heretofore,
passes under some of the india-rubber and over the remainder, and where the
first shuttle passes underneath the india-rubber the second shuttle with the
other color passes over it, and vice versâ, and so the figure is produced.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Shaw and James Connell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
SHAW, of Hyson Green Works, Nottingham, Elastic Web Manufacturer, and
JAMES CONNELL, of Burton Street, Nottingham, Designer and Draughtsman,
send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reigo, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto. us, the
said William Shaw and James Connell, Her special licence that we, the said
William Shaw and James Connell, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as we, the said William Shaw and James Connell, our 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC AND
OTHER FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William
Shaw and James Connell, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
.in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of
one of us or them, 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 James Connell, on behalf of myself
and the said William Shaw, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of elastic
and other fabrics. In weaving india-rubber fabrics suitable for braces and
similar articles it is now usual to employ two sets of warp threads, one of
which remains constantly over the india-rubber and the other constantly under
it, so that these warp threads with the weft form as it were two separate
fabrics, which are connected together in lines between the india-rubber threads
by other warp threads, which may be called a binder or tie warp, and are
worked constantly into both fabrics. With this arrangement, if it is desired

page_text: to produce a pattern or figure on either face of the fabric, it is necessary to
employ additional figuring threads, either warp threads or weft threads.
Now according to our Invention we produce a pattern or figure on the
fabric without the use of any such additional threads. We employ as before
two sets of warp threads in addition to the binder or tie warp and the india-
rubber; these two sets of warp threads are of separate colours, or rather one set
is usually white and the other colored, so that were we to weave in the
ordinary way we should produce a fabric colored on one face, say the top, and
white on the other, say, the bottom, but without a figure. We, however,
obtain a figure in the course of weaving by taking the white warp threads
from the bottom and making them for a time to weave with the weft at the
top and form part of the top fabric, whilst at the same time the colored threads
go down, and in the same way form part of the bottom fabric. In order that
the binder tie warp may not disfigure the pattern thus produced we make
the threads composing it alternately white and colored, or to correspond with
the two sets of fabric warps. In this manner we produce a figure without the
use of extra threads, and all the threads in the fabric are at all times weaving,
never remaining idle in the centre of the fabric as a figuring warp does when
out of use.
The following is the manner in which we prefer to proceed :-We employ
a loom, such as is ordinarily employed. in weaving brace webs and other
narrow fabrics. The india-rubber warp is wound on a beam by itself, and is
threaded through the eyes of a shaft or leaf of heddles, by which the whole
of the india-rubber warp can be lifted to the top of the shed when required.
The binder warp is also wound on a beam by itself, and is in a similar way
threaded through the eyes of a' shaft or leaf of heddles; by preference this
warp is not all of the same color, but the threads are arranged alternately,
first one color then another (or white), and so from side to side of the fabric ;
the colours correspond with those of the top and bottom warps respectively.
The ordinary warps both for the top and the bottom fabrics may be wound
upon a third beam, and they are threaded through the eyes of the jacquard
harness. The warps for the upper fabric are usually colored, and those of
the bottom fabric are commonly white. The shaft or leaf of heddles which
carries the india-rubber warp is lifted for each alternate pick, that is to say,
the india-rubber is in the top of the shed whenever the shuttle passes to lay
weft into the lower fabric, and it is in the bottom of the shed when the
shuttle passes to lay weft into the top fabric, hence the weft does not weave
or interlock with the india-rubber warp. The binder warp is by its shaft or
leaf of heddles lifted to the top of the shed when the shuttle passes to lay weft

page_text: into the top fabric, and it is in the bottom of the shed when the shuttle passes
to lay weft into the lower fabric, hence the binder warp weaves or interlocks
with the weft passing over the weft in the top fabric and under the weft in the
lower fabric; it thus serves to tie the upper and lower fabrics firmly together:
The colored warp or the warp of the upper fabric is so worked (except where
the figure is being produced) that one half of it, or every alternate thread, is
up when the shuttle passes to lay weft into the upper fabric; then for the
next shoot, which belongs to the lower fabric all the colored or top warp is
lifted, and for the succeeding shoot, which again belongs to the top fabric, one
half only of the colored or top warp is lifted, and that the half which at the
first shoot was down. The warp of the under fabric, usually a white warp, is
worked in the same way but reversed, that is to say, it is, all down whenever
a shoot of the upper fabric is laid in, and half down whenever a shoot of the
lower fabric is laid in.
So far, however, we have described only the production of a plain fabric,
with the back and front of different colors. The main feature of this part of
our Invention consists in producing a figure on such a fabric by taking some
of the warp threads of the upper fabric for a time into the lower fabric, whilst
the corresponding warp threads of the lower fabric are brought up into the
top fabric. This is effected in the following manner :-For the plain fabric
(as in substance has been already described) the cards of the jacquard are so
perforated that each colored or top warp thread is lifted for three picks, and
then left down for one pick, and so on, whilst each white or bottom warp is
left down for three picks and lifted for one pick. Now at the places in the
cards corresponding with the production of the figure, this arrangement is
reversed, and in each case the succession of perforations which ordinarily
would be made in the line or row of holes belonging to a colored or top warp
thread is, as it were, transferred to the line or row of holes belonging to the
corresponding white or bottem warp, whilst the said colored or top warp
thread receives in lieu thereof the succession of perforations which in
plain fabrics would belong to the said lower or white warp. It is not essential
that the warp threads of the bottom fabric should be white, but usually it
will be so.
It will be readily understood that in place of the top warp threads being
half up and half down when the shoot of the top fabric is laid in other pro-
portions may be adopted, for example, one-third may be up and two-thirds
down, and then the top fabric will he twilled; the same applies to the lower
fabric.
By working in the manner above described a fabric with a figure on both

page_text: faces is obtained; if it is desired to conceal the pattern at the back of the
fabric it may be done by the use either of an additional warp or an additional
weft, the most convenient way is by means of an additional warp. In this
case two white warps are used on the bottom fabric, and so long as plain
fabric is being produced they work double, that is, two threads work together
as one, but where figure has to be produced one of the threads goes to the top
fabric, whilst the other remains and works as before. In this case the top
warp does not in the figure come down into the bottom fabric, 'but it remains
with the india-rubber between the top and bottom fabrics. Thus it will be
seen that in this case the top warps leave off weaving in the figure; they 'still
differ, however, from figuring warps, such as heretofore employed in that at
times (that is to say, when the figure is not being produced,) they weave and
produce the cloth with the weft, whereas the figuring warps heretofore
employed never produce the cloth, but float over and under cloth produced by
other threads. We also produce non-elastic fabrics simply by omitting the
india-rubber warp or substituting a thick non-elastic warp for it.
: Another description of elastic fabric is now commonly made for boot gussets
and other purposes in which the india-rubber is covered only by the weft
thread which passes from side to side of the fabric alternately, one shoot over
and another under the india-rubber warp, and these shoots of the weft thread
are tied down by a tie or binder warp working between the india-rubber warps.
In order to produce a figure on an elastic fabric of this description we
employ two shuttles carrying wefts of different colors, and each shoot instead of
passing across either entirely over or entirely under the india-rubber, as here-
tofore, passes under some of the india-rubber and over the remainder, and
where the first shuttle passes underneath the india-rubber, the second shuttle
with the other color passes over it, and vice versa, and so the figure is
produced.
The following is the manner in which we prefer to proceed :-One beam
carries the india-rubber warp, which is passed through the eyes of a jacquard
harness, and the binder or tie warp is wound on a second beam and is worked
by two shafts or leaves of heddles. Two shuttles are used carrying different
colored wefts, and they are thrown alternately. During the weaving before
the first shuttle (it may carry any color, but say red) is thrown one-half of
the binder warp, or every alternate thread is lifted, and at the same time such
of the india-rubber warps are lifted as correspond with the parts of the pattern
where the red is not to appear on the top, then the shuttle having been
thrown these india-rubber threads are allowed to descend, and all the rest of
the india-rubber is lifted, the same binder warps being still up; then the second

page_text: shuttle (it may be any color, but call it blue) is thrown. Next a third shed is
opened with the positions of the shafts or leaves of heddles carrying the
binder warp reversed, and again the india-rubber warps are lifted at the parts
of the pattern where the red is not to appear on the top fabric, and the red
shuttle is passed across. Again the positions of the india-rubber warps aro
reversed and the blue shuttle is thrown, and so the work proceeds producing
an elastic gusset fabric with on one side a blue figure on a red ground, and on
the other a red figure on a blue ground.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Connell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JAMES CONNELL. (L.S.)