IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Barcroft, of Waterfoot, in the County
of Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION
OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 24th April 1874, and dated the 4th March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Barcroft at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th March 1874.
I, THOMAS BARCROFT, of Waterfoot, in the County of Lancaster, do
5 hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
- THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:--
"
This Invention consists principally in the use of three metal rollers
placed beneath the breast beam of a loom, one being a guide roller and
the others a pair of pressing or calendering rollers, through which the

page_text: cloth passes in its way to the taking-up roller, and whereby the warp
much better covered, and the general appearance and feel of the cloth
is greatly improved. The rollers are not driven, but are so mounted as
to revolve freely by the " pull" of the cloth merely. The upper
pressing or calendering roller being a solid metal roller of about two and
a half inches in diameter, resting upon the cloth by its own weight, and
supported by the under roller which revolves in bearings at each end.
The apparatus is thus entirely self-acting, does not interfere with the
ordinary arrangement of the loom, and can be easily applied to any class
of loom now in use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Barcroft in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BARCROFT, of Waterfoot, in the County of Lancaster, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Barcroft, Her
special licence, that I, tho said Thomas Barcroft, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Barcroft,
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,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Barcroft, 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

page_text: 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 Thomas Barcroft, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the samé
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to
say):
This Invention consists principally in the use of three metal rollers
placed beneath the breast beam, one being a guide roller and the others
a pair of pressing calendering rollers through which the cloth passes in
its way to the taking-up roller, and whereby the warp is much better
covered, and the general appearance and feel of the cloth is greatly
improved. The rollers are not driven, but are so mounted as to revolve
freely by the "pull" of the cloth merely. The upper pressing or
calendering roller being a solid metal roller of about two and a half
inches in diameter, resting upon the cloth by its own weight, and sup-
ported by the under roller, which revolves in bearings at each end fixed
to the breast beam. The apparatus is thus entirely self-acting, does not
interfere with the ordinary arrangement of the loom, and can be easily
applied to any class of loom now in use.
In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 is a vertical section of an ordinary.
power loom showing the application of my Invention thereto, and Fig. 2
is a front elevation of the breast beam and rollers.
a, a, is part of the side framing of the loom; b, b, the yarn beam;
c, c, the healds; d, d, the breast beam; e, e, the taking-up roller; and
e*, e*, the cloth roller. Under the breast beam d, d, are mounted the
three rollers f. f, g, g, and h, h, the roller f,f, being merely a guide
roller, and the rollers g, g, and h, h, calendering rollers. The upper one,
g, g, has its journals supported in slots at each end, and rests with its
entire weight upon the cloth as it passes over the lower roller h, h.
These rollers, as before stated, are not driven, but merely revolve by the
"pull" of the cloth as it is taken up, and thus impart a very much
improved appearance and "feel" to the cloth.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that

page_text: I claim as my Invention, the application and use beneath the breast
beam of a loom (or thereabouts) of a guide roller and two calendering
rollers, substantially in the manner and for the purposes above more par-
ticularly set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Barcroft, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four..