TROVEMENTO IN LOOMS FOR WRAYING ORNAMENTAL BARRICSAVING
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Strang, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Manufacturer, for the Invention of
TROVEMENTO IN LOOMS FOR WRAYING ORNAMENTAL BARRICS"
Sealed the 5th January 1872, and dated the 6th July 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Strang at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th July 1871.
I, WILLIAM STRANG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS," to be as
follows, that is to say:—
This Invention relates to improved ornamental fabrics similar to what
are known as leno curtains and figured gauzes, and it consists in pro-
ducing the figuring usual to such fabrics by loom mechanism modified
as herein-after described from a kind in use for weaving a "full gauze"
cloth without figuring.
The improvements are also applicable for weaving “half gauzes.”

page_text: In carrying out the Invention a rced heddle is used of the kind
employed for the plain gauze, and made with half-length splits with
eyes in their ends for every second warp thread; but this reed heddle
is inverted, so that the half-length splits may project upwards instead of
downwards, and is made considerably deeper than heretofore, so that
the alternate warp threads may be raised by the harness for the
figuring to form a shed clear above those warp threads which pass
through the eyes of the half-length splits. A reed is used to impart the
requisite cross movement to the loose warp threads instead of the bar
or comb with a row of short splits or pins as hitherto employed, as the
figuring action would take the threads out of their places between such
short splits.
The movements of the parts are produced by suitably shaped cams
and take place in the following order: -Assuming that a ground shot
has just been made with each looso warp thread down on the right side
of its companion thread, the reed heddle is depressed, a figuring shed is
formed by the harness, and the figuring weft is shot. The cross move-
ment is then given by the reed behind, and the heddle reed is raised
for a ground weft shot which is made with the loose warp threads
down on the left side of their respective companion threads. The
movements are then repeated, but with the cross movement alternately
to the right and left, so that the weft shots are made with the loose
warp threads alternately to the right and left of their companion
threads.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Strang in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th January 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
STRANG, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Manu-
facturer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Strang, Her special licence, that I,
the said William Strang, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or

page_text: such others as I, the said William Strang, 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, excrcise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
ORNAMENTAL FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Strang, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Strang, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improved ornamental fabrics similar to
what are known as leno curtains and figured gauzes, and it consists
in producing the figuring usual to such fabrics by loom mechanism
modified as hercin-after described from a kind in use for weaving a "full
gauze" cloth without figuring.
My improvements are also applicable for weaving "half gauzes."
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood, I hereunto append two Sheets of
explanatory Drawings to be hercin-after referred to, and representing
two modifications of my improved arrangements.
In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the
same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
Figures 1 and 2 on Sheet 1 of the Drawings are sectional elevations
at right angles to each other; and Figure 3 is a section parallel to
Figure 1, but nearer the further side of the loom.
Only such parts of the loom are shown as are considered necessary
for explaining my improvements, but it is to be understood that the

page_text: loom, which is a power loom, is fitted up with the usual jacquard or
other equivalent figuring apparatus as employed in weaving leno curtains
or similar fabrics.
warp
In carrying out my Invention I use a reed heddle 1, shown in cross
section in Figure 4, of the kind employed for the plain gauze, and
made with half-length splits with eyes in their ends for every second
warp thread; but this reed heddle is inverted so that the half-length
splits may project upwards instead of downwards, and is made consider-
threads may
ably deeper than heretofore, so that the alternate
be
raised by the harness for the figuring to form a shed clear above those
warp threads which pass through the cycs of the half-length splits.
This reed heddle is represented as arranged to move vertically, being
guided at each end on a vertical rod 2 fixed to a bracket 3 which is
bolted to the side frame 4 of the loom. The reed heddle 1 is jointed
to and moved by a pair of rods 5 (only one of which is shown), and
each rod is jointed to a lever 6, which is connected by a strap 7 to a
boss on a rocking shaft 8. This rocking shaft 8, which may be the
one in connection with the picking motion, is actuated by appliances
indicated in Figure 3. A pinion on the crank shaft 9 drives a spur
wheel 10 of twice its size, and this spur wheel runs on a stud pin,
and carries an eccentric pin from which a rod 11 proceeds to a lever 12,
having on its end a toothed segment 13 which gears with a toothed
boss 14 on the rocking shaft 8. The warp threads which pass through
the eyes of the half-length splits of the reed heddle 1, and which are
indicated by a blue line in Figure 1, pass under a horizontal bar 15
before reaching the reed heddle, and this bar 15 moves up and down
with the reed heddle being held by two rods 16 jointed to the levers 6,
and passing up through guide plates 17 fixed on the brackets 3. A
recd 18 is used to impart the requisite cross movement to the loose
warp threads, which are indicated by a red line in Figure 1, instead of
the bar or comb with a row of short splits or pins, as hitherto employed,
as the figuring action would take the threads out of their places between
such short splits. This reed 18, which is placed between the reed heddle
and the harness, has the end supposed to be broken away in Figure 2,
connected by a spring to the side frame of the loom, whilst its other end
is connected by a rod 19 to a bell-crank lever 20 carried by a bracket 21.
A rod 22 connects the other end of the bell-crank lever 20 to a
lever 23 centred on a bracket at the back of the loom, and acted on
by a cam 24, which is on a shaft 25 driven from the crank shaft 9 by

page_text: spur gearing, indicated by red circles in Figure 1, which make it revolve
at one-fourth of the speed of the crank shaft. A spring 26 keeps the
lever 23 in contact with the cam 24, whilst the reed 18 is returned
towards the right hand by its spring after each movement towards the
left hand.
The movements of the several parts take place in the following
order: Assuming that a ground shot has just been made with the
parts in the positions in which they are shown in the Drawings, and
with each loose warp thread down on the right side of its companion
thread, the reed heddle 1 is next depressed; a figuring shed is formed
by the harness acting on the loose threads, and the figuring weft is
shot. The cross movement is then given to the reed 18 behind, and the
heddle reed 1 is raised again for a ground weft shot, which is made with
the loose warp threads down on the left sides of their respective com-
panion threads. The movements are then repeated, but with the cross
movement of the rced 18 alternately to the right and left, so that the
weft shots are made with the loose warp threads alternately to the right
and left of their companion threads.
Figures 5 and 6, on Sheet 2 of the Drawings, are secțional elevations
at right angles to each other showing a slightly modified arrangement
for carrying out my Invention. In this case the reed heddle 1, although
connected by rods 5 to a lever 6 below, is moved by two overhead
levers, of which one, 27, is shown in Figure 6, the other receiving its
motion from this one in a manner commonly adopted with overhead
heddle levers. The lever 27 is connected by a rod 28 to the lever 23,
which was used to actuate the cross moving reed 18 in the modification
previously hercin-before described, whilst the cross moving reed 18 is
moved by a cord 29 passing over a guide pulley to a lever 30, which
lever is actuated by a cam 31 driven at half the speed of the cam 24,
and the shape and action of which will be easily understood from
Figure 5.
The reed heddle 1 is described and shown as moving on straight
vertical guides 2, but it may be arranged to be moved on curved guides
or in an equivalent manner to reduce to a minimum the working of the
threads through the eyes of the half-length splits. For the cross motion.
reed 18 there may be substituted a comb with teeth or splits of sufficient
length to allow of the warp threads being raised by the harness without
getting out of the spaces; the reed is preferable, however, as the

page_text: i.
necessary length would render the teeth of a comb weak and liable to
derangement.
If a common heddle is substituted for the harness to act on those
warp threads which do not pass through the eyes of the half-length splits
of the reed heddle 1, and a single shuttle be used, the result will be a
"half gauze "unfigured ornamental fabric.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself.
to the precise details herein described and delineated; but that what
I believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The adapting of gauze weaving mechanism to looms for weaving
'ornamental fabrics, substantially in the improved manner herein-before
described.
J
2. The applying of the reed 18 or its equivalent as herein-before
described so as to impart the cross motion to the threads without their
being affected by their independent vertical motion.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Strang, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM STRANG. (L.S.)