IMPROVEMENTS IN HEALDS OR HEDDLES FOR WEAVING
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Brooke, Merchant, and Oswald Brooke,
Heald Manufacturer, both of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEALDS OR
HEDDLES FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 11th December 1868, and dated the 16th June 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Brooke and
Oswald Brooke at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 16th June 1868.
We, WILLIAM BROOKE, Merchant, and OSWALD BROOKE, Heald
Manufacturer, both of the City of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN HEALDS OR HEDDLES FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
Our improvements relate to a mode or to modes of constructing
healds in such manner that each eye for the warp threads will be
formed of metal so arranged that the flat sides of the metal eyes will
remain parallel or nearly so with the line of the warp threads, and
so connected or attached to the material by which they are suspended
and actuated that the edges of the metallic eyes will be prevented
from catching upon the adjoining warp threads when working.

page_text: Our Invention consists in forming each eye of a flat piece of metal
having a hole through it for the warp thread, and a centre slit at
each end branching into two hooks to which the cord or yarn is
looped, there being two loops to each end of each metallic eye, these
loops being knitted together at the heald rods, thus the eyes are
suspended with their flat sides at a right angle to the heald rods, the
looped connections preventing the ends of the metallic eyes from
coming in contact with or catching upon the adjoining warp threads.
The loops connected with the metal eyes may be formed of cotton or
other fibrous material, or of catgut or metal wire, and the metallic
eyes may be formed with hook slits from the side or in any other
suitable form, so that they can be suspended with their flat sides in
the line of the warp thread; india-rubber or other material may be
applied to the heald rods to give elasticity and keep the loops in
tension. When the eyes are actuated separately, as in jacquard weaving,
the loops connecting the metallic eye may pass through separate holes
in a guide board or through oblong slits arranged so that the flat
side of the metallic eye will be kept parallel to the line of the warp
thread.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Brooke and Oswald Brooke in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 15th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BROOKE, Merchant, and OSWALD BROOKE, Heald Manufacturer, both of
the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said William Brooke and Oswald Brooke, Her
special license that we, the said William Brooke and Oswald Brooke,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
William Brooke and Oswald Brooke, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from

page_text: time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Island, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEALDS OR
HEDDLES FOR WEAVING," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said William Brooke and Oswald Brooke, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 William Brooke and Oswald Brooke,
do hereby declare the nature of our 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 the accompanying Drawing (that
is to say):-
Our improvements relate to a mode of constructing healds in such
manner that each eye for the warp thread will be formed of metal so
arranged that the flat sides of the metal cyes will remain parallel or
nearly so with the line of the warp threads, and so connected or attached
to the material by which they are suspended and actuated that the ends
or edges of the metallic eyes will be prevented from catching upon the
adjoining warp threads when working.
Our Invention consists in forming each eye of a flat piece of metal
having a hole through it for the warp thread, and two small holes at
each end through which the suspending cord or yarn is passed forming
loops, there being two loops to each end of each metallic eye or "mail,'
these loops being knitted together at the heald rods, thus the flat eyes
or mails are suspended with their flat sides at a right angle to the heald
rods, the looped connections preventing the ends of the metallic eyes
from coming in contact with or catching upon the adjoining warp
threads. The loops connected with the metal eyes or "mails"
may be
formed of cotton or other fibrous material, or of catgut or metal wire;
india-rubber or other material may be applied to the heald rods to keep
the loops in tension if desired.
Fig. 1 is a front view of a part of a heald shewing the edges of the
mails, and Fig. 2 is an end view; Fig. 3 is a front view of a few mails

page_text: enlarged in thickness and wide apart better to show their construction.
a are the mails of flat metal; they have each a hole (6) for the warp
thread to pass through, and two holes (c) at each end for the suspending
loops (d) of the cord or yarn, which loops pass over the heald shafts (e).
The loops are secured to the "pitch band" (f) in the manner shown in
the Figures to be more particularly explained herein-after; but we do
not confine ourselves to this mode of securing or suspending the mails
so long as this is done by two loops of yarn or other material from each
end of each mail as shown.
Fig. 4 is a partial side view of a frame for making the healds. Two
stands may be erected in any convenient manner at such distance apart
as shall be equal to about the length of the heald shafts; one of these
stands is represented by (g). The upper end of each stand has a notch
in it which receives the end of a heald shaft (e) as shown; below the
heald shaft (e) there is a metal rod (1) stretched between each stand
at the proper distance below the heald shaft (e) according to the depth
of the healds, and upon this metal rod (1) are thread as many mails (a)
as are required to form the heald. From two bobbins (k) carried on
brackets secured to the stand (g) yarn or cord is drawn, and the end of one
of these cords is passed by means of a needle through one of the holes (c)
in each of the mails (a), and the other cord is passed in like manner
through the other hole (c) at the same end of the mail) as shown by the
double lines (d¹). In beginning to form the healds the ends of the cords
after passing through all the mails are secured to the "pitch band;" the
end of the cord or yarn which is to secure the loops is also fastened to
the pitch band, this yarn being wound in a "shuttle," which may be
similar to those used for "tatting" or "netting." The pitch band is
secured at one side and passes over a projection (f¹) at the other side
to lift it a little above the heald shaft (e) as shown, and a weight (ƒ³)
is suspended to its end to keep the band sufficiently tight, but leaving it
at liberty to be bound down to the shaft (e) as the knitting of the healds
proceed. The two cords or threads (d') are lifted into the position shown
in full lines (d*) in Fig. 4, one thread on one side and the other on
the other side of the shaft (e), then the shuttle containing the binding
thread is passed twice through the space marked (1), and thus twice
round the pitch band and is drawn tight, this secures the loops (d) and
the cords to the pitch band (f). The next mail on the rod (h) is slided
forward near to the mail last secured, so that the cords assume the

page_text: position shown in dotted line, when the next set of loops is formed as
shown in full line, the slack of the loop above the shaft (e) being taken
up in the act of drawing up the succeeding loop. After the loops for
one end of the mails have all been formed the heald shaft (e) and rod (h)
is reversed, the loops (d) first formed being then on the under side of the
rod (h). The knitting of the loops for the other ends of the mails is then
proceeded with as above described. Pieces of india-rubber (m) may be
inserted in grooves in the heald shafts (e), as shown in dotted line in
Figs. 1 and 2, passing from end to end of the shafts to give elasticity to
the loops if desired.
We have now particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the
mode of carrying it into effect, and claim as our Invention healds having
mails formed of flat pieces of metal suspended by loops of any suitable
material in the manner herein-before described and illustrated by the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Brooke and Oswald
Brooke, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twelfth day
of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight.