IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benoît Bonnet, of Rue des Couronnes, Belleville,
near Paris, in the Empire of France, Lace Manufacturer, for the Inven;
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING."
Sealed the 21st December 1855, and dated the 26th June-1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benoît Bonnet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
June 1855.
I, BENOÎT BONNET, of Rue des Couronnes, Belleville, near Paris, in the
5. Empire of France, Lace Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING" to be as follows:-
In the manufacture of woven fabrics in certain descriptions of the looms,
the threads which form the warp of the piece are usually kept in tension by
weights made of lead, iron, or glass, suspended from eyes through which the
O warp threads pass. These weights, and, the strings and other appendages
connected therewith, add materially to the weight and complication of the
whole machine, and are also liable to derangement.
The object of the present Invention is to dispense with the use of these
weights and their appendages; and, in order to give the necessary tension to
5 the warp threads, I propose to employ in lieu thereof vulcanized india-rubber

page_text: cords or strings, which will act as springs, and the elastic force or tension of
which will of course depend upon the thickness of the material employed, and
may be regulated at pleasure, so that the requisite tension on the warp threads
may be given with facility.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Benoit Bonnet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd
December 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENOIT
BONNET, of Rue des Couronnes, Belleville, near Paris, in the Empire of
France, Lace Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Benoit Bonnet, Her especial license that I, the said Benoit Bonnet,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Benoit
Bonnet, 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
WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Benoit
Bonnet, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Benoit Bonnet, 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
and accompanying Drawing (that is to say) :-
In the manufacture of woven fabrics in certain descriptions of looms, weights
of lead or other heavy material are attached to the harness or healds through
which the warp threads are passed. These weights add materially to the
complication of the machine, and are liable to derangement from their
unsteady motion.

page_text: The object of this Invention is to dispense with them; and in order to gain
the necessary tension, I employ in lieu thereof india-rubber cords or strings,
which will act as springs. The method of employing this material may be
varied to a considerable extent, but in the accompanying Drawing I have
shewn a plan which has been found to answer the purpose. The harness or
healds through which the warp threads pass, and by which the shed is made,
are shewn at a, mounted in the jacquard loom after any ordinary manner.
These are attached to a series of looped threads of vulcanized india-rubber b,
the lower ends of which pass through an adjustable board c, fixed to the frame-
work of the loom, and they are there confined by threads or wires d passing
through the loops. Upon the harness being moved by the jacquard, the india-
rubber strands give way to provide for the shedding of the warp, and their
elasticity will restore them to their former position just as the weights usually
employed effect the same object. For the sake of clearness I have shewn the
harness wider apart than is usually employed, but it may of course be of any
degree of fineness, and the strength of the india-rubber will be in proportion
to the work to be done.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which. the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that I claim, as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters Patent,
the application of india-rubber for the purposes above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benoit Bonnet, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
BENOIT BONNET. (L.S.)