IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF TAPES OR 'LADDERS" FOR VENETIAN BLINDS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Carr, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PRODUCTION OF TAPES OR 'LADDERS" FOR VENETIAN BLINDS."
Şealed the 23rd July 1869, and dated the 25th January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Carr at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th January 1869.
I, JAMES CARR, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRODUCTION OF TAPES OR LADDERS' FOR VENETIAN
BLINDS," to be as follows:-
The tapes or "ladders" for venetian blinds are as is well known when
fitted up composed of two tapes extending along the blind and provided
O with short strips which unite them together and constitute loops for
supporting the laths.
According to the usual method of producing these "ladders" the
said short strips are attached to the tapes by sewing.

page_text: My Invention consists in forming the perfect "ladder" in one piece
by weaving the tapes and short strips together in a loom.
To accomplish this I use a jacquard or similar loom and furnish it
with four sets of warp, or with a warp or warps which may be divided as
is well known so as to form sheds for more than one web of cloth, and
the said sheds may therefore be made alternately, or in other order for
the two tapes and the connecting short strips. To supply these distinct
warps with weft I employ a rising box loom, and prefer that it shall be
furnished with four shuttles, one for each of the two tapes and one for
each of the short strips, although a smaller or larger number may be
used, and the arrangement of loom I propose to employ is that which
is known as the Marionette.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Carr in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 23rd July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CARR, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said James Carr, Her special
license that I, the said James Carr, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Carr, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 PRO-
DUCTION OF TAPES OR LADDERS' FOR VENETIAN BLINDS," upon the condition,
amongst others, that I, the said James Carr, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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

page_text: 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 Carr, 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 Drawings (that is to say) :-
The tapes or "ladders" for venetian blinds are as is well known
when fitted up composed of two tapes extending along the blind and
provided with short strips which unite them together and constitute
loops for supporting the laths.
According to the usual method of producing these ladders the said
short strips are attached to the tapes by sewing.
My Invention consists in forming the perfect ladder by weaving the
tapes and short strips together in a loom.
In carrying out my Invention I use a jacquard loom and furnish it
with four sets of warps, or warps which may be divided as is well known
so as to form sheds for more than one web of cloth, and to supply these
warps with weft I employ a rising box loom, and prefer that it shall be
furnished with four shuttles, one for each of the two tapes and one for
each of the short strips, although a smaller or larger number may be
used, and the arrangement of loom I now employ is that which is known
as the Marionette.
The machinery, however, may be of any arrangement used for
similar purposes, and the order of making the sheds varied as will be
evident to all competent weavers, I will however point out in the first
place and by the aid of diagrams the system upon which I proceed, and
will append the weavers' draft for producing the required result.
The diagram Fig. 1 represents a ladder in top view as it is woven in
the loom, and Fig. 2 is an edge view, the tapes being drawn apart for
facilitating the description.
The longitudinal tapes are shewn at a, b, the blue lines c represent
one set of short strips which constitute the loops, and the black lines d
the other set, and it is to be understood that for these four fabrics
a, b, c, d, there are four sets of warps and four shuttles regulated in their
movements by a jacquard loom; and I will now describe the method of
weaving a loop represented by the blue lines. Commencing at the

page_text: point 1 the warps a, a, are woven separately until the point 2 is reached,
and then a series of sheds are made by the latter (c) in combination
with the warp b, so that the two are woven together up to the point 3,
and the loop c therefore becomes in one piece with the tape b. After
this the warp c crosses to the warp a, as at 4, and being combined there-
with forms an attachment by the process of weaving, and this continues
until the point 5 is reached, after which the weaving of another short
strip or loop c begins and is continued as above described.
During the operations above described, the other set of strips or
loops d are being woven, but as the operation is precisely the same no
further description will be necessary.
Commencing again at the point 1, the whole of the four shuttles
arc weaving, but at the parts similar to that between 2 and 3 there are
only three pieces of fabric, and one shuttle, therefore, although the picking
takes place, is inoperative. As the threads have to pass from 3 to 4, and
at other similar positions, the two tapes a, b, become joined at these
points, and these threads are subsequently removed.
At Fig. 3 I append the jacquard weavers' draft for warp and weft, and
which will be found to produce the "ladders" as above described, the
jacquard cards I now employ having been prepared from it.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, 1 desire it
to be understood that I claim as secured to me under the above recited
Letters Patent, the production of tapes or "ladders." for venetian blinds
by weaving the whole in one piece.
In witness whercof, I, the said James Carr, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.