IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING OR MARKING THE PATTERN CARDS USED IN WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Cook, of Manchester, in the County of Lan-
caster, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
PUNCHING OR MARKING THE PATTERN CARDS USED IN WEAVING FIGURED
FABRICS."
Sealed the 17th January 1862, and dated the 24th July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Cook at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
July 1861.
I, HENRY COOK, of Manchester. in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
PUNCHING OR MARKING THE PATTERN CARDS USED IN WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention of improved apparatus for punching or marking the pattern
cards used in jacquard looms, for weaving figured fabrics, relates to a novci
mode of transferring or "reading" the pattern from the paper design to the
endless chain of perforated cards or paper. This operation is sometimes
termed the "mise en cartes," and is a troublesome, lengthy, and costly operation,
and requires considerable skill.
According to my Invention, however, the "mise en cartes" may be effected
Price 8d.1

page_text: by any ordinary workman, by the aid of an apparatus somewhat analogous in
character to that used in the electric loom (invented by Signor Bonelli of
Milan) for selecting the warp threads by which the pattern is produced in
figured fabrics, and the arrangement of the operating part of the apparatus.
so as to arrange and prepare them for punching or perforating the pattern
cards or paper is effected by means of electro-magnets. The pattern used
by me is prepared on metallic paper with insulating ink or composition, as in
Signor Bonelli's electric loom. The ends of this metallic pattern or design are
united so as to form an endless band, and by passing this metallic pattern under
or in contact with the points of a metallic comb (which forms part of the
arrangement of electric apparatus), the electric circuit will be completed.
Whenever an exposed part of the metallic pattern sheet comes in contact with
the metal points of the comb above referred to, each of these points or teeth
communicates with an electro-magnet, which is excited whenever the circuit
is complete, and such of these electro-magnets as are excited will attract and
draw back corresponding punches or points which are mounted horizontally
in a box in front of them. A locking plate is then brought down, and locks
or secures those punches or points which project from the box owing to not
having been drawn back by their respective electro-magnets. The card or
paper to be perforated is then brought up against the punches, and upon due
pressure being given, the cards or paper will be perforated ready for use; or,
instead of being punched or perforated, the cards or paper may be simply marked
by substituting short rods with flat heads capable of receiving ink or marking
composition. The cards or paper having been marked at those places where the
perforations are required, will be subsequently punched at another operation. If
it be desired to make many sets of the same perforated pattern cards or paper for
use in as many different looms, the required number of cards or pieces of paper
may be punched all alike before the position of the metallic pattern is changed.
The prepared pattern or design may then be moved forward and another line
of the pattern brought opposite to the points of the comb, and the same
operations repeated throughout the whole of the pattern, until the whole has
been transferred to the pattern cards or paper that is to be used in the jacquard
looms in the usual manner.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Leiters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Cook in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th
January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
Cook, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Henry Cook, Her special license that I, the said Henry
Cook, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Henry Cook, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR PUNCHING OR MARKING THE PATTERN CARDS USED
IN WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Henry Cook, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
scal, 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 Henry Cook, 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 statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus for transferring
the pattern from the paper design to the cards or paper intended to be
prepared for operating upon the jacquard apparatus employed in figure
weaving. This operation, which is troublesome, lengthy, and costly, and
requires considerable skill as at present carried on, I propose to simplify, and
My improved
thereby enable it to be effected by any ordinary workman.
apparatus for effecting this object is analogous in character to that used
in the electric loom (invented by Signor Bonelli, of Milan) for selecting
the warp threads by which the pattern is produced in figured weaving,
the arrangement of the operating parts or punches for perforating the

page_text: pattern cards or paper being obtained through the instrumentality of electro-
magnets.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 is a
longitudinal sectional elevation, of so much of the mechanism which I employ
for punching pattern cards as will serve to explain the nature and operation
of my Invention. This arrangement is designed for transferring patterns
composed of one, two, or three colors: but it will be readily understood that
patterns containing any given number of colors may with facility be trans-
ferred by means of a machine constructed on the same principle as that shewn
in the Drawing, but with an increased number of operating parts corresponding
to the increased requirements of the machine.
A, A, A, are the pattern rollers-composed-of-copper or other good-electric
conductor mounted upon a common shaft B, which has its bearings in the
framing C. Upon these rollers the patterns for the several colors are
respectively laid, and each is in due succession employed to adjust the
punches ready for operating upon the card or paper intended to be pierced.
The pattern which is used is (when more than one color is contained in the
pattern) divided-up in the manner -well understood by--color-printers, and
each portion is prepared on metallic paper with non-conducting ink or com-
position, as in Signor Bonelli's electric loom. The ends of this metallic
pattern or design 1 unite so as to form therewith an endless band A*; these
bands I place upon their respective rollers A, and ensure in any convenient
manner their being held in close contact with the upper portion of the
periphery of their respective rollers. An intermittent axial motion is imparted
to these rollers for the purpose of passing the metallic pattern bands under or
in contact with the points of a metallic comb D, which is intended to act as a
circuit breaker, and thereby to convey currents of electricity to and cut them
off from a series of electro-magnets, by the immediate action of which the
punches for piercing the pattern cards or paper are arranged for action. For
this purpose the comb is composed of metallic teeth or strips of metal (with
blunt bearing surfaces on their under sides), clamped between bars, and insulated
from each other.
The machine shewn in the Drawing contains three of such insulated
combs D,, one for each pattern roller. The combs are mounted loosely on a
shaft E, so as to be capable of receiving a slight rocking motion to allow of
the teeth of the combs being raised as required free of their respective pattern
bands. F, F, is a series of electro-magnets arranged in four parallel rows in
a suitable frame G, and connected severally by a wire to a corresponding tooth
of the several combs D. In rear of this frame G is a frame H fitted with

page_text: rods I, 1, 1. placed parallel to each other, and capable of sliding freely in the
holes made in the frame to receive them. These rods are arranged in a line
with their respective electro-magnets, and at such distance therefrom as to be
well within their attractive influence, so that when currents of electricity are
circulating within the coils of the electro-magnets, or any of them, the rods in
a line with these magnets will be drawn into contact therewith. Around
these rods are coiled springs K, which, so soon as the current is broken, and
the attraction of the magnets, or any of them destroyed, will serve to carry
back the attracted rods I to their normal position. Fitted to the frame His
a locking plate L. (shewn detached at Fig. 3), which is pierced with holes to
allow of the rods projecting through it. This plate is so attached to the
frame H as to allow of its receiving a slight traverse motion from a cam M,
or its equivalent, operated by a hand lever N, the object being to lock all the
projecting rods, and hold them firmly in their normal position, so that they may
resist the pressure put upon them during the punching operation. The rods I
are notched, as shewn in the detached view, Fig. 4, to allow of the edges of the
holes of the locking plate dropping therein, and thereby locking the rods in
their normal position.
The cards to be pierced are formed into an endless band O. and laid over a
flat-sided roller or lantern P, which is mounted in a swinging frame, and is
intended to receive, by means of a pedal action or equivalent contrivance
common to jacquard looms, a to-and-fro motion for the purpose of bringing
the cards into contact with and pressing them against the rods or punches I.
The periphery of this roller P is pierced with holes corresponding to the ends
of the rods or punches I, to enable the punches to pierce the cards presented
to them. The axial motion of the roller or lantern P may be effected in the
same manner as the lantern of the ordinary jacquard apparatus. Supposing
now a pattern of three colors intended to be transferred to cards or paper
to have been drawn out in squares in three parts upon metallic paper bands,
(that is, paper prepared to form a good conductor of electricity) by means of
a non-conducting ink or varnish, and the three parts 1, 2, 3, to be placed upon
their respective rollers, and in their proper relative positions, and two out of
three combs being thrown out of contact with their pattern bands by means
of the cam shaft Q, a current of electricity from an adjacent battery will pass
to the rollers A, thence through the paper to those teeth of the comb which
are in contact with the uncoated portions of the metallic paper, and so by the
coupling wires to the magnets F. The rods or punches I being now all
unlocked by the holes of the locking plate being in coincidence with the holes
in the frame H, the magnets will be free to draw all those punches which

page_text: correspond to the teeth which overlie the uncovered squares of the metallic
paper band with which those teeth are in contact, and leave projecting only
those punches which represent the covered squares of the line of pattern
presented to the comb teeth. The selection of the punches being thus made,
the locking plate is made to act upon the punches, and secure them in the
desired position; the card or paper to be pierced is now to be pressed against
the punches, and a series of holes is simultaneously punched through the
fabric. The roller or lantern P is now moved away from the punches; the
locking plate is shifted to disengage it from the punches, and by means of
the cam shaft Q, the second set of comb teeth is brought down on to its
pattern, and the first set raised out of contact with its portion of the compound
pattern. An electric current is-again sent through the apparatus, and with
the like effect, a different group of punches being this time selected by the
magnets, and holes corresponding to the uncovered squares in the second
portion of the pattern being punched in the next succeeding card. When the
first line of each portion of the pattern has been thus read off and transferred
to the cards, an axial motion of the pattern rollers will bring the next line of
the pattern under the comb teeth, when a like-action-will take place to that
described, and thus the whole of the pattern will in due course be brought
up and made to regulate the action of the punching apparatus, which will
reproduce the pattern upon the band of cards or paper.
I would remark that, instead of being punched or perforated, the cards or
paper may be simply marked by the above-described apparatus by substituting
for the punches short rods with flat heads capable of receiving ink or marking
composition. The cards or paper thus marked may be subsequently punched
at another, and, if desired, by the ordinary punching operation. If it be
desired to make many sets of the same perforated pattern cards or paper for use
in as many different looms, the required number of cards or pieces of paper may
be punched all alike before the position of the metallic pattern is changed.
The prepared pattern or design may then be inoved forward, and another line
of the pattern brought opposite to the points of the comb, and the same
operations repeated throughout the whole of the pattern, until the whole has
been transferred to the pattern cards or paper that is to be used in the jacquard
looms in the usual manner.
Having now set forth the nature of my.Invention of "Improved Apparatus
for Punching or Marking the Pattern Cards used in Weaving Figured Fabrics,"
and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it
to be understood that I do not claim the principle of reading off patterns by
the agency of electro-magnetism; but what I claim, under the above in part

page_text: recited Letters Patent, is the improved. arrangement of apparatus above
described for transferring patterns to cards to be used in the weaving of figured
fabrics.
In witness whereof, the said Henry Cook, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-fourth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight. hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
HENRY COOK. (L.S.)