Improvements in and connected with the Manufacture of Elastic Fabrics.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Aug., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 28th June, 1894-Accepted, 4th Aug., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with the Manufacture of Elastic
Fabrics.
I LUKE TURNER of Deacon Street Leicester in the County of Leicester,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The object of this invention is to produce an ornamental figuring having the
character of embroidery, on the face of elastic fabrics, and to provide means for
producing the same during the operation of weaving.
The invention consists in the application of elastic braid, tape, compound or
plain twine or cords, &c., to the face of the fabric, uniting them thereto by shoots
of weft, or by binding threads.
When carrying out my invention in connection with the well known class of
compound fabrics composed of narrow elastic fabric and an ordinary woven web of
greater width simultaneously produced, and tied together by the weft thread of the
face fabric, I take a narrow flat elastic braid of that kind in which it is usual
to incorporate, during the braiding operation, one or more elastic strands in the
centre of the width of the braid. This elastic braid I mount in the loom and
harness (holding it at tension as usual), so as to cause it to be situated in or near
the middle of the width of the narrow fabric to be woven. In forming the sheds,
I raise and lower this braid by means of the heald or jacquard, as though it were
a warp, and retain it in its highest or lowest position any desired number of
successive shoots, so as to incorporate or tie it at any desired interval to the body
of the fabric, by shooting the weft thread used in weaving the cloth portion of
the compound fabric over the elastic braid as a floating thread. On the removal
of the fabric from the loom, the contraction of the woven cloth face will gather
up into fine pleatings with frilled edges.
The flat elastic braid, where not attached to the face of the fabric by floats of
weft, will be free to resume its normal width, and expand laterally on both sides
of the central elastic strand, forming a winged ornament, apparently unattached,
or embroidered on the face of the fabric.
To ensure the necessary regularity in the pattern or ornament, it is essential
that the braid shall be held, during the weaving, in the same plane as the set of
warps with which it is for the time associated.
For this purpose, 'I remove certain of the dents from the reed of the loom, to
allow of the passage of the braid through the reed in the required position, and I
provide the harness of the loom with suitable mails, so that the braid may be
retained and manipulated in that position.
Modifications in the form of the ornamentation will be effected by the employment
of woven tape, round or twisted cords, &c., the flat tapes giving the appearance of
terry loops, and the round bands or cords, by being tied at suitable intervals, the
appearance of knots or beads on the face of the woven fabric.
Dated this 28th day of August 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COME LEIE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with the Manufacture of Elastic
Fabrics.
I LUKE TURNER of Deacon Street, Leicester in the County of Leicester,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention relates more particularly to what are known as narrow elastic
fabrics, the object of the invention being to improve the face of the fabric, by
producing thereon, during the operation of weaving, an ornamental figuring
having the character of embroidery; and the invention consists in combining, in
a particular manner, with the narrow fabric, an elastic braid or tape, compound or
plain, twined or corded.
In carrying out the invention, say, in connection with the well known class of
compound fabric consisting of an ordinary narrow elastic fabric and an ordinary
woven face web of greater width simultaneously produced, I take a narrow elastic
braid of special manufacture, as hereafter described, and use it as though it were a
warp thread.
The braid (which is to be held at tension, as is usual in the manufacture of
elastic fabrics, I mount in the loom and harness, so that it may be operated by
healds or jacquard, and retained in its highest or lowest position any desired number
of shoots. The braid will thus be left free, or tied to the fabric by a floating weft
thread for any desired intervals and when the fabric is allowed to contract the
untied braid will according to the nature of the braid, spread out laterally, and have
the appearance of wings, or have some other ornamental appearance, apparently
unattached to, or embroidered on, the face of the fabric.
In the accompanying drawings, I have shown at Fig. 1, Sheet I, this compound
"braided" fabric while in the course of manufacture; that is to say, the elastic
fabrics are distended. Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same, and Fig. 3 shows the
appearance of one form of the fabric, when taken out of the loom, and allowed to
contract to the normal state of the elastic strands.
A represents the ordinary narrow elastic fabric. B is the ordinary woven face
fabric of greater width than A, and C represents the braid. D represents the
floating weft threads which tie the braid C to the face fabric B.
In the loom for weaving the compound fabric, I prefer to employ two shuttles
one provided with suitable weft for the ordinary narrow elastic fabric or back, and
the other with silk or other weft for the ordinary face or cloth fabric, and the
production of both these fabrics is to be effected in the usual manner.
The tying together of two fabrics may be effected by lifting a selection of the
warps of the lower fabric into the upper shed, at suitable intervals, so that the face
shoot may pass under them, or in any other well understood manner.
To ensure the necessary regularity in the pattern or ornament, it is essential
that the braid shall be held, during the weaving, in the same plane as the set of
warps with which it is, for the time, associated. For this purpose, I remove certain
of the dents from the reed of the loom, to allow of the passage of the braid through
the reed in the required position, and I provide the harness of the loom with
suitable mails, that the braid may be retained and manipulated in that position.
I tie the braid warp on the face of the silk or other cloth fabric by a succession
of shoots of the silk or other weft, of any desired number, and then, in similar
manner, leave the braid warp loose from the fabric for any desired number of
shoots, to be regulated by the pattern, before again tying it down to the fabric.
Fig. 4, Sheet II, shows in diagram form two sheds. The braid a is shown in
the upper-shed, that is to say, raised, and it is retained in that position while the

page_text: ordinary warps are manipulated in the usual order for the passage of the weft
thread by the healds or jacquard during the desired number of shoots that it may
be intended the braid shall lie loose upon the fabric. Fig. 5 shows the two sheds
that are next formed, showing the braid a lowered for the passage of the shuttle
carrying the silk or face weft over it. The braid is retained in that position the
desired number of shoots, to tie it down to the cloth fabric, the face warps on
either side of the braid being meanwhile manipulated in the usual order to produce
ordinary woven fabric.
b represents the ordinary warp threads; c the elastic strands; and d the shuttles.
The special braid which I use for the purposes of my invention, may be of any
width, and produced in the ordinary braiding machine, but it must not contain a
rubber thread in each tube, that is to say, suppose the braid to be of a width
ordinarily requiring four "strands," I would use only one, or perhaps two, rubber
threads, which may be placed centrally of the width of the braid, as shown in the
enlarged view, Fig. 6, Sheet II, in which case, the appearance will be that shown
at Fig. 3, Sheet I. Or the rubber threads may be placed at or near one edge, as
shown in the enlarged view, Fig. 7, Sheet II, in which case a frill-like appearance
on one side will be given, as shown at Fig. 8; or the rubber threads may be one at
either edge of the braid, as at Fig. 9, a fulling, or knotted appearance, being given
as shown at Fig. 10.
Instead of a braided fabric, I may use a woven elastic fabric, the number of
rubber threads being limited as described with reference to the braided fabric.
The number of the rubber threads, and their position in the braided or woven
fabric, may, however, be otherwise varied, according to fancy, and in each case a
different appearance will be given.
In order to prevent the elastic braid or fabric drawing out of its place when the
fabric is stretched, as it may do, owing to the greater elasticity of a silk elastic
braid than the narrow cotton elastic fabric, I find it essential to cover the rubber
threads with cotton, before they are made up in the fabric. This cotton covering
may consist of simply a helically wound cotton thread, or it may be braided. In
this way, I practically reduce the elasticity of the silk braid to that of the woven
fabric to which it is attached, and the disturbance of the position of the braid in
the fabric is prevented.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The production of an ornamental compound elastic fabric, as shown and
described, and consisting of adopting in place of an ordinary warp thread, an elastic
braid or loom fabric, which is tied to the main fabric by a certain number of
successive shoots of a weft thread, and is allowed to remain loose for a certain
number of shoots, as set forth.
2. In the production of an ornamental compound elastic fabric, the use, in the
place of a warp thread, of an elastic braid or loom fabric produced in the manner
herein described.
3. The ornamental compound elastic fabric substantially as herein shown and
described.
Dated this 28th day of June 1894.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.