IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING HEALDS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Ward, Gold Plate and Thread Manufacturer,
and James Gaskell, Machine Maker, both of Blackburn, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR MAKING HEALDS."
Sealed the 22nd August 1861, and dated the 23rd February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Ward and James
Gaskell at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 23rd February 1861.
We, GEORGE WARD, Gold Plate and Thread Manufacturer, and JAMES
GASKELL, Machine Maker, both of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING HEALDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to an improved mode of threading or leasing the
eyes of the healds. Instead of knitting on a moveable bar or leasing rod,
we knit on a short tube, and transfer the eye of the heald as it is formed on
to a stationary bar or leasing rod. The leasing band attached to the bar
is held in a slanting direction so as to enable the topping bobbin to pass

page_text: underneath and form the coupling. A band passes through the tube tied
to a backing band or rig cord in order to cause the traverse of the healds on
the bar, there being a space between the tube and bar which enables the
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Ward and James Gaskell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
WARD, Gold Plate and Thread Manufacturer, and JAMES GASKELL, Machine
Maker, both of Blackburn, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said George Ward and James Gaskell, Her special licence that. we,
the' said George Ward and James Gaskell, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Ward and James Gaskell,
our 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, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR MAKING HEALDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
George Ward and James Gaskell, 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 George Ward and James Gaskell,
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 (that is to say) :-
This Invention relates to an improved mode of threading or leasing the
eyes of the healds. Instead of knitting on a moveable bar or leasing rod,

page_text: we knit on a short tube, and transfer the eye of the heald as it is formed on
to a stationary bar or leasing rod. The leasing band attached to the bar
is held in a slanting direction so as to enable the topping bobbin to pass
underneath and form the coupling. A band passes through the tube tied
to a backing band or rig cord in order to cause the traverse of the healds on
the bar, there being a space between the tube and bar which enables the
coupling to fall down and permit the eye alone to pass on to the bar.
This Invention will be clearly understood by referring to the figures and
letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2
are front and end elevations of one arrangement of machinery or apparatus
for making healds, having our improvements applied to it, and Fig. 3 is a
front elevation representing a modification of our improvements.
Instead of knitting on a moveable bar or leasing rod as hitherto adopted,
we knit on a short tube a, and transfer by the ordinary pusher b, the eyes
of the heald on to a stationary bar or leasing rod c, having at one end a hook,
so that it can be connected to and supported by the leasing band d, which
is fixed or held to the framework in a slanting direction so as to enable
the topping bobbin e to pass underneath and form the coupling. A band f
is passed through the tube and tied to one of the backing-bands or rig-cords g,
in order to cause the traverse of the heald on the bar c, there being a space
between the tube a and bar c which enables the coupling to fall down and
permit the eye alone to pass on to the bar c.
In Fig. 3 we represent a modification of our improvements. Instead of
holding the hooked end of the stationary bar or leasing rod by the leasing
band, we bend the said rod upwards at or about the same angle as the band,
and connect it to the framework of the machine, by which means a single
rod performs the same functions as the rod and band, the short tube a
being grooved at the end to admit a portion of the said rod as at e; and
when required a bowl or tappet h is placed upon the long arm i of the
open wheel for the purpose of slightly raising the rod and thereby easing the
couplings when the pusher is pushing them off.
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 in any arrangement of machinery or apparatus for making
healds, we claim, the employment of a short tube for knitting on the
eyes of the heald, in connection with the stationary bar or leasing rod to
which the healds are transferred as they are formed, the bar being held up
by the leasing band or bent up and attached to the framework, as such

page_text: improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Ward and James Gaskell, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Nineteenth day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
one.
GEORGE WARD. (L.S.)
JAMES GASKELL. (L.S.)