CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
BARLOW, of Friday Street, in the City of London, Warehouseman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of' Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of November, in the
thirteenth year. of Her reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Alfred
Barlow, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I, the said Alfred Barlow, my exors, admors,
and assigns, and such others as 1, the said Alfred Barlow, my eñors, adiiors,
or assigns should at any time agree with, and no others, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN WEAVING," within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, Her Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, and in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, during
the term of fourteen years thence next ensuing; in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso requiring that I, the said Alfred Barlow, shall
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in
what, manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Alfred Barlow, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by this present Specification or instrument in writing,
reference being had to the several Drawings hereunto annexed, and in which
said several Drawings similar parts are marked and referred to by similar
letters or figures (that is to..say):-:
My said Invention consists of certain additions to or variations in the con-
struction of Jacquard or other similar apparatus used in connection with looms
for weaving figured patterns, the object of these improvements being to cause
such looms to work with greater expedition than heretofore. For the purpose
of obtaining this advantage, I make some parts of such apparatus double or
double acting, and in doing this I am also enabled to make some of the
working parts act as a counterpoise to some of the other parts.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, a Jacquard apparatus con-
structed with my improvements is shewn in several Figures detached from
the loom; and in Sheet II. a side view of the same apparatus is shewn on a
reduced scale applied to a power loom, the loom being shewn in section.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved arrangement of Jacquard appa-
ratus; Fig. 2 is a similar elevation of the same, but shewn partly in section
the better to exhibit its construction; Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken at
right angles to the former Figures; and Fig. 4 is a secțional plan taken at a
line above the horizontal needles. The several parts of the apparatus are
carried by the main framing a, a, which is bolted to a bottom plate b, pierced
with holes through which the stringing or cords for connecting the hooks of
the Jacquard apparatus with the harness of the loom pass freely. The driving
shaft c receives motion from the tappet shaft of the loom, and communicates
the same to the Jacquard apparatus. Two disc wheels d, d, are mounted
upon this shaft, and to each of those disc wheels three arms e, e*, and fare
jointed. The peculiar construction of these disc wheels will be seen most
clearly in the detached views shewn in Figs 5 and 5*. The pair of arms
e, e, are severally attached at their upper ends to a griff' g, and the other pair
of arms e, e, are attached in like manner to the griff g*. These griffs have
an alternating up and down motion given to them by means of the arms, the
one of them ascending as the other is descending, so that they may be enabled.
to cause the hooked wires hand h* alternately and simultaneously to rise and
fall, as required. The two pairs of vertical guide rods i, i, and i*, i*, are for
guiding the griffs g and g" in their upward and downward movements. The
two inner rods i, i, are made longer than the other pair, so that they may

page_text: also serve to guide the movements of the crosshead k to which the arms f, f
are attached. This Jacquard apparatus is provided with two card cylinders
or bars 7 and 1, each of which is mounted in an ordinary manner, one on
each side of the framing. These cylinders act upon two distinct sets of hori-
zontal needles y and z, which are mounted in the ordinary way, so as to cause
such of them as may be pressed by the cards to drive the hooks of the wires
h and h", with which they are in connection, out of the reach of the bars of
the ascending griff. The cards are so prepared and arranged that each cylin-
der will carry one half of the pattern, that is to say, one cylinder will have the
odd and the other the even numbers of the cards, as indicated by the numbers
1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 2, 4, 6, 8, at Figs. 1 and 2; and by these cylinders acting
alternately upon the horizontal needles, the successive changes in the shed
necessary to produce the desired pattern will be effected in like manner as in
the ordinary plan of working. The cylinders and l" are respectively mounted
in the rocking frames m and m*, which hang on pins carried by the brackets
n, n, at the upper end of the framing a, a. Attached to each of these frames
m, m, is an inclined piece o and o*, terminating at its lower end in a hock o'.
Each of these inclined pieces is acted upon by a friction roller p mounted in
a projecting arm fixed upon the griff at the side next such inclined piece, so
as to press outwards the franie to which such inclined piece is attached, and
thus draw the cards upon the card cylinders out of contact with the horizontal
needles. The catches q, q*, are jointed to the framing a, and lying imme-
diately over the rounds of the lantern of the card cylinders, their object being
to pull round their respective card cylinders in the ordinary way at every out-
ward movement of the rocking frames m, m, which carry those cylinders, and
thus to bring a fresh card into contact with the ends of the needles to be
operated upon. The stems of the several hooks h and h* are each provided
with an eye, and they are connected together in pairs by the stem of a sus-
pending wire or middle wire hook j or j* being passed through the eye of
each of two adjacent hooked wires h and h*, one of each pair of wire hooks is
acted upon by the griff g, and the other by the griff g*. To the lower ends
of the middle wire hooks, shewn at and, the stringing for working the
harness of the Icom is suspended. Each of these middle wires is provided
with two stop pieces and so placed that the eye of either of the pair of.
hooked wires h or h* coming in contact with one of the stop pieces will lift
the middle or suspending wire, and with it the part of the harness suspended
to it. The upper ends of the wires ; and slide in the moveable crosshead
k, which is suitably pierced for that purpose, and their ends being bent round
the wires will thus be prevented from escaping from the crosshead. The

page_text: design and operation of this moveable crosshead / will be pointed out here-
after. In Fig. 2, and are two spring pressers which act upon their respec-
tive lanterns at the ends of the card cylinders, and keep them in their proper
position, but spring back or yield so as to allow the cylinders to be turned by
the catches q and q*. The ends of all the middle wire hooks, when in their
lowest position, rest upon the crosshead /.
The apparatus which I have just described is shewn in Fig. 6, Sheet II., as
mounted on the top framing of a loom, and it receives motion from the loom
in the following manner:-A (Fig. 6) is a shaft mounted on the main framing
of the loom and receiving rotary motion by means of gearing from the crank
shaft B. This shaft A carries two eccentrics C, C, provided with metal straps
to which two vertical rods C, C*, are respectively attached. The rods are
retained in their vertical position by being jointed to the rocking arms D, D,
which are supported by a stud in the top framing. To the upper ends of the
rods C*, C*, the ends of a cord E, which is coiled round a pulley F, on the
shaft c of the Jacquard apparatus, is attached. At every rotation, therefore,
of the excentric shaft A, a reciprocating rotary motion will be communicated
to the shaft c, and thereby to the disc wheels d. This motion will, through
the medium of one pair of the arms e, e* (Figs. 1 and 2, Sheet I.), carry up
one of the griffs g or g* to its highest position, and simultaneously draw down
the other to its lowest position, communicating at the same time correspond-
ing movements to such of the hooked wires as may have taken hold of the
bars of the griffs. During this change of position of the griffs the friction
roller of the ascending griff (say, the griff 9*, Fig. 1) will, in passing over
the incline o* of the frame m*, force out that frame, together with its card
cylinder, and by a round in the lantern of the card cylinder coming in
contact with the catch *, that cylinder will be turned a quarter of a revo-
lution, whereby a fresh card will be placed so as to be ready to be presented
to the ends of the horizontal needles. At the same time the other griffg, with
its friction roller, will descend, and allow the frame m to fall inwards, and
bring a card into contact with the ends of such of the needles as it may be
intended to operate upon. Those needles, the ends of which are opposite the
spaces in the card, will remain quiescent; but the other needles will be forced
inwards by the pressure of the card. Such of the needles as remain quiescent.
will allow the hooked wires with which they are respectively connected to
retain the proper position for taking hold of the bars of the griff g upon its
ascent, and so be lifted by it, while those needles y, which are driven in
will force back the hooked ends of the wires h, and cause them to miss
the cross bars of the ascending griff in the ordinary way. By the upward

page_text: movement of the wires h, their eyes will be brought into contact with
one of the stop pieces of their respective middle or suspending wires
j, and made to lift these wires, and consequently also the harness and
warp 'threads with which the wires j are connected, and by these means the
desired open shed will be formed for the passage of the shuttle. When it is
requisite in the formation of a pattern that any of these raised threads should
again be raised in forming the next succeeding opening of the shed, the card
cylinder, which acts upon the set of needles (which needles are connected
with the hooked wires h), will present a card suitably pierce to miss the
particular needles which govern the motions of the hooked wires h* in con-
nection with those central wires which lifted the threads in question. These
hooked wires will therefore retain the proper position for taking hold
of the bars of the griff g*, and being again lifted when the next succeeding
alternating motion of the griffs causes the descent of the griff g and the
ascent of the griff *. Those middle wires which are again to be lifted in
forming the next succeeding shed will descend to about half the distance they
had been previously raised, and then the eyes of their respective hooked wires
h*, which are being carried up by the griff g*, will come in contact with one
of the stop pieces upon each of such middle wires, and will cause them again
to ascend and carry up their respective threads as before; but when the
threads which at the last formation of the shed were above are required to be
depressed for the formation of the next shed, the wires h*, which form pairs
with those wires.h which were raised for the last shed, are acted upon by their
card cylinder through their respective needles, and made to escape contact
with the bars of their ascending griff, and thus the wires ; which suspend such
warp threads, together with their respective warp threads, will be free to fall
to their lowest position. It will thus be understood that the movement of
each warp thread is actuated, as heretofore, by a single wire, but that such
wire is capable, by means of the two hooked wires connected with it, of being
raised by either of the two griffs. These griffs have alternating motions or
simultaneous motions in contrary directions given to them, so that the raising
and lowering of the various parts of the harness to form the shed may go on
simultaneously, and the shed may be thus formed with greater expedition than
heretofore.
I will now explain the use of the crosshead k, and the mode in which it
acts. Its object is to prevent the formation of a double shed which is cal-
culated (when the pattern is woven on the lower face of the fabric, and at a
time when but a small number of warp threads is depressed) to throw too
great a beam strain upon those warp threads, and render them liable to

page_text: break. By the employment of the crosshead & these warps are carried up,
together with those which are to form the upper part of the shed, and meeting
with the descending threads which were in the upper part of the last shed,
are brought down with them, and thus the strain on the warp is properly
distributed. On referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3 this action of the crosshead k
will be understood. The armsf,f, which communicate motion from the shaft
c to the crosshead, have a vertical throw (it will be seen) of half the distance
of that of the arms e and e*, which actuate the griffs, and thereby, through
the wires h, h, and j, lift the warp threads. The middle wires j, when at
their lowest position, rest with their heads upon the cross bar. When, there-
fore, by the rotation of the shaft c, the arms e*, e, are carried up, and made
to lift the griff g, together with the wires that bring up the warps to form the
upper part of the shed, the arm fwill raise the crosshead, and with it all
the wires j,j, which are not carried up by the griff g*. By the time that
the warp threads which the descent of the griffy (caused by the throw of its
arms e, e) has brought down assume their lowest position, the throw of the
arms ff, will have brought down the crosshead & to its former position, and
with it the wires j, j*, and their warp threads which it carried up. As, how-
ever, there is no objection in ordinary figure weaving to the formation of-a
double shed, the crosshead k may in some cases be made stationary, as shewn
in Sheet III., Figs. 7 and 8, of the Drawings.
The Figs. 7 and 8 shew a mode of constructing the apparatus in a manner
somewhat different from that which I have just described. Fig. 7 is a side
elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation of the same, taken
in the line Q, Q, of Fig. 7; and Fig. 9 is a sectional plan taken in the line
W, W, of Fig. 7. The same letters as those used in describing the Figures
in Sheet I. refer to corresponding parts in these Figures, and therefore no
further description will be necessary. In these Figures I have shewn a
means of ensuring that the corresponding portions of the two cards, which, by
their alternate action on the two sets of needles, complete the portions of the
pattern to which they refer shall always be presented to the needles in relative
succession; so that; if the weaver has occasion to put back one card cylinder,
he shall of necessity move the other in a corresponding degree. This I effect
by fixing a pulleys on corresponding ends of the axles of each of the cylinders,
suitably formed to receive the links of an endless chain t, and passing this
-chain in a state of tension over both pullies. When, therefore, one cylinder
is drawn round, a corresponding motion will be communicated to the other
A catch lever u is jointed to the framing, and is capable of taking into the
rounds of the lantern of the card cylinder. It is connected by a link to the

page_text: catch lever, which in this instance is extended at * to carry a pendentstring
v. The object of this arrangement is to enable the weaver to throw back the
pattern, and this movement he may readily effect by pulling the string, and
thereby elevating the catch lever u, which, by coming in contact with a round
of the lantern as the card cylinder is performing its outward movement, will
draw that cylinder round in the reverse direction. In order to admit of the
easy removal of any one of the wires in case they should require repair, I find
it convenient to provide the hooked wires h, h*, with forks instead of eyes for
lifting the central wires, which arrangement gives the weaver a facility of
detaching one wire from the apparatus without disturbing the remainder.
This modification in the construction of the wires h, h*, is shewn upon an
enlarged scale at Fig. 10, which represents one pair of these wires with their
middle wirej; and the mode of constructing the forks is shewn detached and
on an enlarged scale at Fig. 11.
2
In such looms as are furnished with barrels instead of cards in order to
effect figured pattern weaving, my Invention may be applied in a manner
similar to that which I have described with respect to Jacquard apparatus.
For this purpose a barrel may be mounted in each of the rocking frames m
and m in lieu of the card cylinders, and the projections upon barrels made:
for producing the pattern will act upon the horizontal needles in like manner
as has already been described. In such cases one half of the pattern must of
course be marked upon one barrel, and the other half upon the other barrel,
in like manner as herein-before described with respect to the two sets of cards
herein-before mentioned; and the catches q and q, for turning the barrels,
must be so placed as to cause each of the barrels, upon every movement of
the rocking frame on which it is mounted, to turn such part or division of a
revolution as may contain a portion of the pattern. So also, in cases where
endless bands or chains having tappets or projections for making the pattern
are intended to be used, they may be placed upon rollers in the rocking frames,
m and m* and used in like manner as the barrels already mentioned; and,
instead of actuating every thread by means of a separate wire, heddles may
be used and attached to the suspending wires, in like manner as the stringing
of the harness; and this may be useful in cases where the changes in the
formation of the shed necessary for producing a pattern shall not be
numerous.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that I claim as of my
Invention,
Firstly, the mode of constructing such Jacquard and similar apparatus,

page_text: asaforesaid, with double-counterpoised griffs, and apparatus for simultaneously
raising and lowering different portions of the suspending wires of such
apparatus as aforesaid, in manner herein-before described.
Secondly, the mode of applying two barrels, bands, chains, or sets of cards,
in manner herein-before described, to such Jacquard or similar apparatus as
aforesaid. And,
Thirdly, the mode of constructing and combining hooked and suspending
wires of Jacquard or similar apparatus, in manner herein-before described, for
the purpose of giving motion to the harness or the heddles of looms in manner
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I; the said Alfred Barlow, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand sight hounded and