IMPROVEMENTS IN REEDS USED IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Robinson and John Robinson, of the
Globe Works, Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, and William
Smith, of Oswaldtwistle, in the same County, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN REEDS USED IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Robinson,
John Robinson, and William Smith at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 22nd February 1866:
Wė, MATTHEW ROBINSON and JOHN ROBINSON, of the Globe Works,
Accrington, in the County of Lancaster, and WILLIAM SMITH, of
Oswaldtwistle, in the same County, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REEDS USED IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING,"
to be as follows:-
We make the dents of the reed from a continuous wire by bending it
either by hand or power similar to the ordinary expanding and contracting
combs or reeds. We then thread each end of the dents into a spiral spring
or springs, and pass straight horizontal wires or rods through the springs
for preventing the dents from coming out of the springs, and afterwards
place the ends of the dents with their springs and wires in metal tubes,
each having a groove for the dents to pass through, and to both ends of
the tubes we fix broad dents for keeping the tubes and reed together.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Matthew Robinson, John Robinson, and William
Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, MATTHEW
ROBINSON and JOHN ROBINSON, of the Globe Works, Accrington, in the
County of Lancaster, and WILLIAM SMITH, of Oswaldtwistle, in the same
County, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand éight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said Matthew Robinson, and John Robinson, and William Smith;
Her special license, that we, the said Matthew Robinson, and John Robin-
son, and William Smith, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Matthew Robinson, and John Robinson, and
William Smith, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN REEDS USED IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Matthew Robinson, and John Robinson, and
William Smith, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, 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 we, the said Matthew Robinson, and John
Robinson, and William Smith, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Figures on the accompanying. Sheet
of Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon (that is
to say)
We make the dents of the reed from a continuous wire by bending it
either by hand or power similar to the ordinary expanding and contracting

page_text: reeds or combs.
We then thread each end of the dents into one or more
spiral springs instead of pitch bands, and pass straight horizontal wires or
rods of partly circular section through the springs for preventing the dents
from coming out of the springs, and afterwards place the ends of the dents
with their springs and wires in metal tubes, each having flanges forming a
groove for the dents to pass through, and to both ends of the tubes we
fix broad dents for keeping the tubes and reed together, and we apply
this system of threading the ends of the dents into spiral springs to reeds
in which the dents are formed of separate pieces of wire.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figs. 1 and 2 are front and end
views of one end of one of our improved reeds complete, in which the
dents are formed of a continuous wire, and both ends of the dents
threaded into two spiral springs. Figs. 3 and 4 are front and end views of
part of the reed without the tubes. Figs. 5 and 6 are front and end views
of part of a reed in which the dents are formed of separate pieces of wire
having both of their ends threaded into two springs; and Figs. 7, 8, 9, and
10 are views of parts of another reed in which both ends of the dents are
threaded into three springs. In the several Figures a represents the dents
of the reed; b, the spiral springs; c, the rods for preventing the dents
from coming out of the springs; d, the tubes for containing the ends of
the dents, springs, and rods; and e, the broad dents fixed to the tubes for
keeping the reed together. When two springs are used at each end of
the dents we thread the front of the dents into one spring and the back
into the other, and place the rods c in the interior of the springs at the
front and back of the dents. When three springs are used at each end of
the dents we thread the front or back edges of the dents into one spring
and the opposite edges into the other two springs, and place rods c in the
interior of. the springs at the front and back of the dents. It is evident
that these. modes may be varied when desired, for the front or back
edges of the dents may be threaded into all the springs on the same side,
and when the dents are made of separate pieces of wire, as in Figs. 5, 6,
7, 8, 9, and 10, we place angular rods i, Fig. 9, on the outside or top
and bottom of the springs to prevent the springs from coming off the dents..
When making the reed, Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, having dents formed from a
continuous wire the dents a are threaded in the springs b, and the rods
c are passed through the springs and their ends bent over the ends of
the springs; the dents are then passed through the grooves in the tubes
d, the ends of the dents with the springs and rods entering the interiors
of the tubes, and when the broad dents e are screwed or rivetted to the

page_text: tubes the reed is complete. For making the reeds having dents formed
from separate pieces of wire the operations are precisely similar to those
described for the continuous wire, with the exception of placing the rods i,
Fig. 9, on the outside of the springs for preventing the springs from
coming off the dents. Our improved system of threading the dents into
spiral springs and placing the ends of the dents in flanged grooves formed
in metal tubes enables the dents to yield and move sideways in the grooves,
and thus prevent the dents from being strained or set if struck by the
shuttle, or from any other accident.
Having now described the nature and particulars of our said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be
understood that we claim in reeds used in loonis for weaving,-
First, the dents of the reed formed from a continuous wire bent either
by hand or power.
Secondly, the spiral springs at the ends of the continuous dents and
at the ends of the dents formed of separate pieces of wire, and also the
wires or rods for keeping the dents and springs together.
And, thirdly, the flanges of the metal tubes containing the ends of the
dents, springs, and rods, and also the broad dents at the ends of the reed
fixed to the tubes for keeping the reed together, as all such improvements
are herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Robinson and William Smith,
for and on behalf of ourselves and the said Matthew Robinson,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighteenth day of
August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named John Robinson and
William Smith in the presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN ROBINSON. (L.S.)
WILLIAM SMITH. (L.S.)