A NEW SPECIES OF LOOM WORK, WHEREBY FIGURES OR FLOWERS CAN BE PRODUCED, IN A MODE HITHERTO UNKNOWN, UPON ANY FABRIC OF CLOTH WHILE IN THE PROCESS OF WEAVING, WHETHER SUCH FABRIC BE LINEN, COTTON, WOOLLEN, SILK, OR ANY OF THEM INTERMIXED
Year: 1818

page_text: MILTON'S
SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MILTON, late of Paisley, in North Britain, but now of Ashton-under-Line, in the
County Palatine of Lancaster, Weaver, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Eleventh day of July, in the fifty-eighth year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Milton, His special licence that I, the said James Milton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Milton, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"A NEW SPECIES OF LOOM WORK, WHEREBY FIGURES OR FLOWERS CAN BE PRODUCED,
IN A MODE HITHERTO UNKNOWN, UPON ANY FABRIC OF CLOTH WHILE IN THE PROCESS
OF WEAVING, WHETHER SUCH FABRIC BE LINEN, COTTON, WOOLLEN, SILK, OR ANY
OF THEM INTERMIXED;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said James Milton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
recited Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Milton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed and executed, is described

page_text: and ascertained in the following explanation thereof, accompanied with the
patterns referred to in this Specification, and attached thereto for the purpose
of illustrating such explanation, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of certain improvements in loom figuring, by which
the manufacturer is enabled to produce upon the ground or fabric of muslin
or other cloth a bolder appearance in the figures or flowers, or other objects,
than can be produced by any other mode of harness or spot-weaving hitherto
known. I describe such improvements as follows:-
First, the warp threads to be employed in the formation of the figures
having been raised up, and the spotting or figuring, shot or pick, thrown in,
I retain such warp threads in a state of elevation while one, two, or more
shots or picks of ground weft are thrown in to form the ground cloth upon
those other warp threads not immediately required in making the figure; the
figuring warp threads being thus kept up during the weaving of the ground
shots no resistance is made by them to the weft being well struck up, although
the material used for spotting, or figuring should be of a quality coarser in
grist or circumference than any hitherto employed. The figuring warp threads
having been raised up, can be kept out of the reach of the weft by being
retained or placed in such a situation that the weft during the weaving of the
ground shots which may be thrown in between the spotting shots may pass
under them, videlicet, the figuring warp threads, or the figuring warp
threads may be sunk or placed in such a situation that the weft during
the weaving of the ground shots which may be thrown in between the
spotting shots inay pass above or over them, videlicet, the figuring warp
thrends. In the first case, the bold side of the figure will appear on the
upper surface of the cloth when in the loom; in the second case the bold side
of the figuro will appear on the under side of the cloth when in the loom. The
Patterns marked "No. 1," attached hereto, exhibit a specimen of figures
wrought according to the above description. The same change in the
operation of sinking and retaining the figuring warp threads in a state of
depression during the weaving of the ground shots, instead of raising them
and retaining them in a state of elevation, may be practised in the methods
secondly, thirdly, and fourthly, herein-after described.
Secondly, by another method of operation an entirely new effect is pro-
duced in the appearance of the figure. Supposing it is wished to form a figure
by the method now alluded to upon single threads, after the spotting shot or
pick is thrown in under the figuring thread, I either retain that thread in a
state of elevation, or if I allow it to fall I raise it again by another lash, and
also one of the threads next to it, and I retain them both in a state of elevation

page_text: and out of the reach of the fine weft, while one, two, or more ground shots or
picks are thrown in to form the ground cloth upon the remainder of the
warp threads of the web. The Pattern marked "No. 2," also attached hereto;
exhibits a specimen of figures wrought in this way upon single threads,
according to the variation just mentioned. From the coarseness of the
material which by my improvements may be employed as spotting, one, two,
three, four, or even more ground shots or picks may be thrown in betwixt
each spotting shot or pick, and the object still possess a bold appearance.
By these methods of operation upon the figuring warp threads, the following
effect will take place, videlicet, if you draw out the spotting from the cloth
the form of the figure will still remain, and will be distinctly visible upon the
cloth after it has been bleached.
Thirdly, by figuring upon dents, splits, or pairs of threads alternately
raised, and throwing in one, two, or more shots or picks of ground weft
between each spotting or figuring shot, though the figuring warp threads
should not be retained in a state of elevation during the weaving of the
ground shots, an effect will be given to the appearance of the figure unknown
in loom figuring previous to my Invention. The Pattern marked "No. 8,"
also attached hereto, exhibits a specimen of figures thus wrought. If the
spotting be drawn out in figures produced by the last method of operation, no
trace of the figure will remain except what is occasioned by the mere pressure
of the spotting against the weft.
Fourthly, to give another entirely new appearance to the figures of
flowers, &c., in loom work, throw in one, two, three, or more covers of spotting
with the same or any other spotting shuttle upon different figuring shades before
putting in the ground shots or picks; the figure having been thus formed, and
the cloth taken from the loom, I cut up the floating parts (on the surface of the
figure) of the different covers, and an appearance resembling the surface of velvet
remains. The Patterns marked "No. 4," also attached hereto, exhibit speci-
mens of figures wrought upon this improvement. In the second, third, and
fourth articles herein-before contained, the figures produced by the methods of
operation therein respectively described will appear on the upper surface of
the cloth in consequence of the figuring warp threads being raised and kept
in a state of elevation during the weaving of the ground shots; and the same
effect will be produced in all these instances on the under side of the cloth if
the figuring warp threads be sunk and kept in a state of depression during
the weaving of the ground shots.
It will be observed, from the foregoing statements, that the principle of my
Invention (as far as respects the methods of operation described in the first

page_text: and second articles) consists in elevating or depressing the figuring warp
threads while one, two, or more shots of ground weft are thrown in to form
the ground cloth upon those other warp threads not immediately employed in
making the figures. It is not, however, absolutely necessary to produce the
appearance described in the fourth article herein-before contained, either to
raise or depress the figuring warp threads while the shots of ground weft
are thrown in, as the appearance alluded to can be produced without having
recourse to that method of operation. I declare that my Invention is not
confined to the weaving of figures of flowers or other objects by means of
harnesses alone, but also extends to the weaving of figures by means of
spot-leaved or shaft-leaved mountings, or any other mountings. By my
methods of figuring tweels, brocades, flushes, and every other variety of
ornamental figuring connected with tweeling, brocading, and flushing can be
introduced upon the figures intended to be delineated.
Fifthly, I use either rove or slab cotton in the room and place of spotting
yarn in making all kinds of figures, flowers, or other objects, particularly
where the ground or fabric is muslin; and in the various Patterns hereunto
attached it will be observed they are so used when first received from the
factory of the cotton spinner, they are in so soft a state as to be incapable of
being used in this state for any purpose in weaving; but by the simple process
of being steeped or boiled in water they acquire a consistence and strength
which admit of their being applied with advantage in the weaving of figures
not only on my methods, but if of a quality sufficiently fine in grist or circum-
ference, also upon the old plans of weaving figures, or flowers, or other objects.
A specimen both of the rove and slab cotton used by me for the purposes
of loom figuring are also attached hereto. Though I prefer cotton rove or slab
as a figuring material upon my methods, yet any another material in common
use may also be employed. I declare, however, that as the first person who ever
did employ cotton rove and slab for the purpose of weaving figures upon cloth,
and as comprehended in the said Royal Letters Patent granted to me, I hereby
claim the use of them as solely my Invention; and I not only claim the use
of them as connected with the methods of figuring herein-before described, but
also if employed as figuring materials upon any other method of loom figuring.
The advantages of using cotton rove and slab in forming figures upon cloth
are, first, that they give to the figure which they are employed to form a
beauty and a lustre never displayed before in the cotton manufacture.
Secondly, the clippings are returned to the cotton spinner, who converts them
again into rove or slab, or twists them into yarns by the clipping,-1 mean
those parts of the figuring material which remain loose upon the cloth after

page_text: the figure has been embodied, and which are afterwards clipped off by the
scissors. I have tried the experiment of dying the rove cotton and slab with
success, and they can be introduced with advantage in a coloured state to form
figures of flowers, or other objects.
Sixthly, the descriptions herein-before given principally apply to, and the
several Patterns hereunto attached exhibit, my Invention where the ground or
fabric of the cloth is of cotton; the same methods, if adopted where the ground
or fabric of the cloth is of linen, woollen, silk, or any other material used in
the loom, either separately or intermixed with each other, or with cotton, will
produce precisely the same effects either upon the upper surface or the under
side of the cloth, according to the mode of operation selected by the weaver or
manufacturer. I therefore consider it unnecessary to repeat the descriptions,
but I declare generally that the foregoing statements are equally applicable to
all the cases where the fabric of the cloth is of linen, cotton, woollen, silk, or
any of them intermixed.
Lastly, I have not given any detailed description of the machinery necessary
to produce the figures of flowers or other objects upon the methods or prin-
ciples herein-before described, because the machinery employed by me does
not differ from that now in common use.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-
second day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and eighteen.
JAREL
The rove cotton.
The slab cotton.*
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of August,
in the fifty-eighth year of the reign of His Majesty King George the Third,
the said James Milton came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-
Inrolled the Fourth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and
eighteen.
* Specimens of the woven fabric and the cotton are attached to the Roll.