CERTAIN ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS ON HIS MACHINE FOR WEAVING
Year: 1788

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, EDMUND
CARTWRIGHT, of Doncaster, in the County of York, sends greeting.
WHEREAS the King's most Excellent Majesty, by His Letters Patent under
the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the Twelfth day of November,-
in the twenty-ninth year of His reign, gave and granted unto the said
Edmund Cartwright, his executors, administrators, and assigns, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that he, the said Edmund
Cartwright, his exors, adñiors, and assigns, by himself or themselves, or by
his or their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as he,
the said Edmund Cartwright, his exors, aduiors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term of years therein and herein-after expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend his "CERTAIN ADDITIONAL
IMPROVEMENTS ON HIS MACHINE FOR WEAVING," within that part of Great
Britain called England, the Dominion of, Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, in such manner as to him, the said Edmund Cartwright, his
exors, admors, and assigns, or any of them, should in their discretion seem
meet, and that the said Edmund Cartwright, his exors, admors, and assigns,
should and lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity,
and advantage, from time to time and at all times hereafter accruing or

page_text: arising by reason of the said Invention, for and during the term of years
therein and herein-after mentioned, to have and to hold, exercise, and enjoy
the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages herein-before mentioned
to be granted unto the said Edmund Cartwright, his exors, adñiors, and
assigns, for, during, and unto the full end and term of fourteen years from the
date of the said Letters Patent next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be
compleat and ended, according to the Statute in that case made and provided;
His Majesty in such Letter Patent thereby strictly commanding all and every
person or persons, bodies politic and corporate, and all other His Majestie's sub-
jects whatsoever, of what estate, quality, degree, name, and condition soever,
they being within that part of His Majestie's said Kingdom of Great Britain
called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
that neither they or any of them at any time during the continuance of the
said term of fourteen years thereby granted, either directly or indirectly, do
make, use, or put in practice the said Invention, or any part of the same, so
attained unto the said Edmund Cartwright as aforesaid, nor in anywise
counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same, nor make or cause to be made
any addition thereto or substraction from the same, whereby to pretend
himself or themselves the inventor or inventors, devisor or devisors thereof,
without the licence, consent, or agreement of the said Edmund Cartwright,
his exors, admiors, or assigns, in writing under his or their hands and seals first
had and obtained in that belialf, upon such pains or penalties as can or may
be justly inflicted on such offender or offenders for their contempt of His
Majestie's Royal command, and further to be answerable to the said Edmund
Cartwright, his exors, amors, and assigns, according to law, for his or their
damages occasioned thereby; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso that if the said Edmund Cartwright, his exors, adñiors, or assigns, or
any other person or persons which shall or may, at any time thereafter
during the continuance of the said grant, have or claim any right, title, or
interest in law, or in equity, of, in, or to the power, privilege, and authority
of the sole use and benefit of the said Invention, should make any transfer or
assignment, or any pretended transfer or assignment, of the said liberty or
privilege, or any share or shares of the benefit or profits thereof, to or for any
number of persons exceeding the number five; and also, that if the said
Edmund Cartwright should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under his hand and seal, and cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majestie's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month next and immediately after the date of the said Royal Letters Patent,

page_text: that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever
thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become void; anything
therein contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund Cartwright, in pursuance of
and in compliance with the said proviso in the said recited Royal Letters
Patent contained, do by this present Instrument declare that the nature of
my said additional Improvements on his Machine for Weaving, and the manner
which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained in the Plan
hereunto annexed, and which is explained and referred to in the letters,;
figures, and words following, that is to say:-
Figure 1. A, the lathe or frame which carries the reed-gliding upon the
side railes of the loom. B, the crank which moves the lathe, having a wheel
upon its axis which receives its motion from C, a wheel upon the principal
axis. Note. When the reed is required to give a sharp stroke upon the cloth,
or when it is required to give as much time as possible for the shuttle to pass,
the crank is moved by excentrical wheels, as in Figure 2. Suppose D, the
driving wheel, and E, the wheel which carries the crank round.
If the axis
of each respective wheel be placed out of the centres at a, a, the short radius
of the wheel D, acting against the long radius of the wheel E, the; wheel E
will move slower than the wheel D; when the long radius of the wheel D
acts against the short radius of the wheel E, the wheel E will move faster
than the wheel D; consequently if the motion of the wheel D be
equable, the motion of the wheel E will be regularly accelerated and
regularly retarded, and consequently when the cranks of the axis of the
wheel E is made to coincide with the short radius of the wheel, the stroke
of the reed will be sharp, and the reed's motion will be proportionably
slow as it goes back, so that there will be more time for the shuttle to
pass. Note also, if the axis of the crank be required to revolve twice for,
one resolution of the wheel it receives its motion from, the same movement as
above described may be produced by an oval wheel whose greatest. diameter
shall be double the diameter of the excentrical wheel, provided the sum of its
largest semidiameter and the sum of the shortest radius of the excentrical
wheel taken together be equal to the sum of its shortest semidiameter and
the longest radius of the excentrical wheel taken together. F, a ratchet wheel
upon
the yarn beam, which is held fast by a catch while the blow is given to
the cloth. G, the catch, occasionally relieved by a cog upon any convenient
axis to let the cloth wind up. H, a break or grasper to hold the yarn beam
steady while the cloth winds up, which is made to embrace the yarn beam
more or less by means of a weight or screw or spring I. The hook or stop placed

page_text: on any convenient part of the lathe, either before, or behind, or underneath,
or above, also at either end, or in any other part. (For the manner it is acted
upon by the shuttle, see the Specification of a former Patent, granted August
the First, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, Figure 1, letters k, l,
m, n, o, p, q.) K, the catch that connects the wheel from the mill with the
wheel upon the principal axis. If the shuttle be not at home when the lathe
strikes, the hook or stop (as explained in the above-mentioned Specification)
forces off the catch and disunites the wheels, and consequently stops the
machine. Note.-When the hook or stop is placed anywhere but at the end,
the construction must be as in Figure 3, and the hook or stop must act upon
the catch that connects the wheel from the mill and the wheel upon the prin-
cipal axis by means of a lever. L, the picker string drawing round the back of
the picker.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Cartwright, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of November, in the twenty-
ninth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, of
Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, &,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and eighty-
ht