CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SMALLWARES
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSHUA
PROCTER WESTHEAD, of Manchester, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of May, in the first year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joshua Procter Westhead, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Joshua Procter Westhead, my exors, admors, and assigns, or -
such others as I, the said Joshua, Procter Westhead, my exors, adiñors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF SMALLWARES;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a.
proviso that I, the said Joshua Procter Westhead, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Joshua
Procter Westhead, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
of "Certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Smallwares," and the manner

page_text: in which the same is to be performed and caried into effect, is described and
clearly shown by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following description
thereof, the same letters of reference and figures marked thereon indicating
the same parts throughout:-
"My Certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Smallwares" consists in
the adaptation and application of certain machinery or apparatus to smallware
looms of the ordinary construction, by means of which I obtain the following
advantages-The regular taking up of the tapo or cloth as it is woven, a
greater facility of varying the vibration of the lay together, with the saving of
room required for a range of looms to stand in. The improvements by which
theso advantages are obtained, and of which my Invention consists are effected
in the following manner, as will be more clearly seen by reference to the
annexed Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents and end viow, and Fig. 2 a
front view of part of a smallware loom, in which views many of the ordinary
parts of the loom are omitted, and only such parts delineated as are required
to shew the position in which my improvements are applied. The course of
the cloth or tape in progress of manufacture is shewn by the red line and
arrows, which point the direction in which it passes through the loom, and that
part of my improvements by which the tapo or cloth is regularly taken up or
disposed of when woven will be seen by reference to Fig. 1, where A represents
a ratchet wheel revolving freely on a fixed axis, which is attached to the
framing, as shewn in the Drawing. This wheel A is driven in the direction of
the bent arrow on its periphery by a click or dog marked a, which click or dog
is supported on the stud B, on which it vibrates, and is held firmly to the wheel
A by the weight of a tail piece seen beneath. The stud B is connected to the
weighted lever C, which moves in a perpendicular direction on its centro c.
D, D, represents a connecting rod attached at its upper extremity to a short
arm E projecting from the top of the lay, and at its lower extremity to the lever
C, so that at every vibration of the lay the lever C, and click or dog a, are also
vibrated in a perpendicular direction, whereby the dog or click a, having
gathered a tooth in the ratchet A, forces it forward in the direction of the bent
arrow already named. On the same stud or centre which supports the ratchet
A, and connected with tho ratchet A, is placed a bevel wheel F, as seen moro
clearly in the plan of this part of my improvements at Fig. 3. "This bevel
wheel geers into another bevil G, which is fixed on a small shaft
carrying the screw or worm H, which takes into and drives the worm wheel I,
as best seen at Fig. 2. In this Figure 2 it will be seen that the shaft i, i, on
which the worm wheel I is placed, is carried along the front of the loom, and
consists of a succession of fluted rollers, over which the several ends of cloth or

page_text: tape pass after leaving the breast beam of the loom marked K; over each of these
fluted rollers is placed a pressing roller marked m, which is held to the fluted
rollers by means of the levers marked L, and weights marked M, as seen in
Figs. 1 and 2, so that the tapes or cloth, compressed between the fluted rollers
and pressing rollers m, are regularly drawn forward at every vibration of the
lay by means of the movements already described. The speed of the taking
up movement is regulated by the relative sizes of the bevils T and G, which
can be changed so as to suit the exact delivery of the tape or cloth as it is
woven. It must also be remarked, that when the tape or cloth has passed
through the breast beam K, it is carried under and over two rods marked o, o,
Fig, 2, and in section at Fig. 1, for the purpose of increasing the friction and
holding the tape firm, so that it is completely stationary while weaving, except
at the period when the lay returns to strike the weft home, which is exactly
the same period at which the dog or click a forces forward the ratchett A, and
thereby takes up the exact amount of tape or cloth which the last strike of
the beam or lay is completing.
My next improvement, by which I am enabled to save room in placing a
range of looms, and to vary the traverse of the lathe with greater facility,
consists in the arrangement of two circular plates or cheeses, as they are called
by workmen, placed at the opposite ends of the driving shaft, as seen at P, P,
Fig. 2, and the fixing of the driving pulley on the same shaft between them;
which arrangement enables me to place any required number of looms close
together, and thereby save the room hitherto required for the driving pulley on
the outside of the framing, an advantage which cannot be gained in small-
ware looms, hitherto constructed either with two cranks or with a crank and
cheese. The traverse of the lathe is varied and made to correspond in the
two cheeses, by varying the position of the studs marked N, best seen in Figs.
1 and 2, which is not only done with great facility, but is much more readily
replaced, when required to be renewed, than in smallware looms hitherto con-
structed, in which it is well known to workmen that any repairs of the
tranks, for which I substitute the two cheeses P P, or even the making such
cranks to correspond accurately at first, is attended with considerable difficulty.
Having now described my Invention of "Certain Improvements in the
Manufacture of Smallwares," I shall conclude by stating that I do not claim
as of my Invention any distinct or well known portion or part of such appa-
ratus, as herein-before described, but I do claim that arrangement of parts,
herein-before described, as applied to smallware looms, for the purpose of taking
up the tape or cloth when woven by means of the fluted rollers on the shaft
marked i, i, in connexion with the ratchet A, and other various movements

page_text: and parts receiving motion from the vibration of the lathe or other convenient
motion of the loom. And I further claim as of my Invention the substitution
of two plates or cheeses, instead of two cranks, or a crank and cheese, for the
purpose of gaining room and facilitating any required variation in the traverso
of the lay, as herein-before described, all of which being to the best of my
knowledge and belief new, as applied to smallware looms, and never before
used in this country, I do hereby declare this to be my Specification of tho
same.
JOSHUA PROCTER (L.B.) WESTHEAD.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the within-
named Joshua Procter Westhead, (being
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Nineteenth day of November, in
the year of our Lord 1831, the aforesaid Joshua Procter Westhead camo
before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped accord-
ing to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled tho Twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.