Improvements in the Manufacture of Chenille Fabrics.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Chenille Fabrics.
I, JOHN LYLE, Junior, of the firm of John Lyle & Company, Carpet Manufacturers,
of 10 Fordneuk Street, Glasgow, Lanarkshire do hereby declare the nature of my
invention to be as follows:-
This invention comprises certain improvements in the manufacture or weaving of
rugs, mats, carpets, curtain cloth, or similar fabrics of chenille weft or material,
whereby a different pattern is produced on each side of the fabric, in contra distinction
to having the same pattern formed on the opposite sides as heretofore; which improve-
ments also make these new or improved double pattern fabrics stronger and more
durable than they have been as heretofore manufactured.
According to my Invention the chenille fabric is woven in the usual way employed
in making double sided carpets or curtains, but by my improvements the two patterns
to be woven are so designed and produced on the chenille weft, that a shot of each
pattern of the weft, is woven alternately and continuously, with the result that when
the chenille comes to be "set," and completely woven, the design or pattern on the
face of the web is entirely distinct from that on the back or under side of the web,
thus producing the effect of two patterns on one piece of cloth. Or the pattern may
be produced on the chenille weft, so as to be woven as usual separately, and two
shuttles used in the setting, one for each pattern weft. The one shuttle in this case is
then used only for the face of the web, and the other only for the underside, each
being used alternately, with the result as before stated that two distinct patterns are
produced on the one cloth, which is the essential novel feature of my invention,
whether used with the following improvements or not. By a further improvement in
"setting" and weaving the chenille, there are two warps used, the ordinary shedding
catch
and
warp, a strong warp between these termed the "dead" warp which lies flat and
acts as a back for the chenille, and round which the chenille is passed alternately top

page_text: and bottom as before described by the first arrangement. This warp keeps the two
separate patterns from mixing with each other so that each is kept and woven by the
catch warp, on its own side. After the chenille weft is thrown across the web, the
"dead" warp may by a further improvement be separated or shed and have a shot
of thick jute or other material alternately inserted and woven between it, which gives
a strong stuffing or body to the fabric when this is desired, as for rugs and mats, at
the same time not appearing on the surface owing to its being placed in the centre
of the "dead" warp.
The other ordinary "catcher" warp is used to bind the chenille and the other
central yarns between the body ways together, thus making this new fabric stronger
and thicker in addition to having the two distinct patterns on opposite sides as close
and compact as when having the same pattern on one or both sides only.
Dated this 1st day of September 1886
I, JOHN LYLE, Junior, of the firm of John Lyle & Company, Carpet Manufacturers,
of 10 Fordneuk Street, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, do hereby declare the nature of my
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed; to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement in writing, reference
being had to the accompanying sheet of drawings, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention comprises certain improvements in the manufacture or weaving
of rugs, mats, carpets, curtain cloths, or similar fabrics, of chenille weft or material;
whereby a different pattern is produced on each side of the fabric, in contradistinction
to having the same pattern formed on the opposite sides as heretofore, with one line
or shot of the chenille weft showing the same pattern on both sides; which improve-
ments also make these new or improved double pattern fabrics stronger and more
durable than they have been as heretofore manufactured.

page_text: According to one mode and means of carrying out my invention the chenille weft is
woven in the usual way employed in making double sided carpets or curtains, but by
my improvements the two patterns to be woven are so designed and produced on the
chenille weft, that a shot of each pattern of the weft, is woven across the top of the
warp, and then returned across the under side of the warp alternately and continuously;
with the result that when the chenille comes to be "set" and completely woven, the
design or pattern on the one face (or upper side) of the web is entirely distinct from
that on the back face or under side of the web, thus producing the effect of two
patterns on one piece of cloth. And a new feature or improvement of the invention
consists in the weaving or preparing of the chenille weft or its strands suitable for
being so shed and woven as to produce the pattern on both sides, by having each
alternate shot of the one pattern made to follow each alternate shot of the other
pattern. Or otherwise the pattern may be produced on the chenille weft, so as to be
woven as usual separately, but with two shuttles used in the setting, that is one shuttle
for the pattern weft on the upper face and one shuttle for the pattern weft on the
under face. Each shuttle would thus be used for each alternate shed and shot of weft
when there is no body warp, the one shot under the other; or when a body warp is
used in the centre, then a shot of each shuttle would be thrown across each shed of
the catch warp above and below the body or dead warp and weft hid in the centre
of the fabric, with the result, as before stated, that two distinct patterns are produced
on the one cloth by this method as well as by the first method hereinbefore described,
which is the essential novel feature of my invention, namely, making a different
pattern with the chenille on the opposite sides of the fabric either with one or with
two shuttles whether used with the following improvements or not.
By a further improvement in "setting" and weaving the chenille, there are two
warps used, the ordinary shedding "catch warp" and a strong body warp between
these, termed the "dead" warp, which may have a body weft woven in with it, both
of which lie flat and act as a back or strengthening body to the fabric hid in the
middle for supporting the chenille pattern weft outside. Round or over the said body
warp the chenille is passed alternately on top and bottom to show and form the outside
and patterns, as before described, by the first arrangement; or otherwise, alternately
with the two shuttles and pattern chenille wefts, one for each pattern weft and opposite
or upper and lower sides of the fabric. This central or "dead" body warp keeps the
two separate chenille pattern wefts from mixing with each other, so that each pattern
is kept and woven close and distinct by the catch warp, on the opposite sides of the
fabric.
After the chenille weft is thrown across the web on opposite sides as stated, the
dead warp may, by a further improvement, be separated or shed and have a shot
of thick jute or other material alternately inserted and woven between it as a combined
body warp, and weft, which gives a strong stuffing or body to the fabric when this is
desired, as for rugs and mats, at the same time not appearing on the surface owing
to its being placed in the centre of the dead or body warp and pattern weft.
The other ordinary "catch" warp is used to bind the chenille and the other central
weft or thick yarn between the body-warp together; thus making this new fabric
stronger and thicker in addition to having the two distinct patterns on opposite sides
as close and compact as when woven in the ordinary manner with the same pattern
on one or both sides only, with the same chenille weft.
In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention relates, to
manufacture chenille fabrics, in accordance with the improvements of my invention,
I have hereunto appended an explanatory sheet of Drawings, in which the same
reference letters are used to indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where
shown.

page_text: the pattern chenille weft a, a, shown as woven both on the upper and lower sides
of the latter B, interlaced and bound thereto by the former A; while after each
double shot of the chenille a an alternate shot of body weft b is woven within the
centre of the body warp B.
Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 show diagram sectional elevations of the edge of the cloth at
the fell F, where the weft is beat up, and of the four leaves of heddles A1, A2, and
B1, B2, shown as in the four different shed positions required, with their respective
warps A and B open, for throwing the shuttles and wefts a and b through, for weaving
the fabric in accordance with this invention, as has been stated and will hereinafter
be more fully explained.
In these Figures the catch warp A (which is always spun strong and fine for
binding the chenille outside without being visible) is represented by sharp lines;
while the dead or body warp B, (which is made of a coarser spun material for giving
strength and thickness to the fabric and the chenille, and dead weft b, hid within it)
is represented by thick black lines. The chenille weft a, a, is indicated by open white
circles or lines, while the body weft b, b, is represented by black circles or lines.
Looking at the plan, Figure 1, it will be seen that there are two strands or ends,
numbered 1 and 2, of the catch warp A, ranged at the selvage and between each
double strand of the body warp B which is also divided into two parts, marked 3 and 4,
right across the whole web. Referring further to Figures 3 to 6, it will be under-
stood that the half of all the catch warp A, marked 1, across the web, is so led
forward to the reed C and the eyes of its heddle leaf A¹ as to be shed down or up by
it, and in the same manner, that the other half of the catch warp A, marked 2, is
correspondingly and conversely raised or lowered by the heddle leaf A2, and so mounted
to each other in the loom that as the one heddle is drawn down by its treadle the other
is raised, and that when not so moved they assume their normal central level position
with their warp A in horizontal line or plane, as the heddles B1 and B2, and their body
warp B, marked 3 and 4, are shown in this normal position in Figures 3 and 5; but
which are mounted in a like manner to shed their respective halves 3 and 4 of the
body warp B when their treadles are depressed, as indicated in their two shed positions
in Figures 4 and 6.
In Figure 2 a number of the shots of the pattern weft a, a, and of the alternate
body weft b at the fell F, are shown as very loose or not fully beat up by the reed and
lathe, for the purpose of showing the interlacing of the warps A and B more clearly
over the wefts a and b ; and two shots of the pattern chenille weft a, a, are shown as
thrown over each other outside the body warp B, followed alternately by a single shot
of the body weft. 6 in the centre of the warp B.
or
Referring to Figures 3 to 6, the weaving or shedding and throwing of the weft a
and b, according to my improvements, proceeds all as follows; first, in the case in
which the two patterns, for the opposite or upper and lower sides of the fabric, are
prepared alternately on the chenille weft in long lengths to be wound on one shuttle
"throw stick," so that when this weft is passed alternately in one direction on the
upper side of the fabric and back on the under side, a different pattern on these sides
will be the result. The chenille weft a, a in this case, would have the 1st, 3rd, and
successive divisions of its length made so as to form the pattern for one side of the
fabric, and all the intermediate or even numbers, as 2, 4, and so on, of the divisions
or parts made to form the pattern for the other side, each division being equal in
length to the width of the fabric to be woven. Thus then, referring to Figure 3,
one half of the catch warp A (marked 1) would be shed down by the heddle leaf A¹
and the other half (marked 2) shed up by the leaf A2, when the first shot of the
chenille weft a would then be passed through the upper sheds (say from right to
left) and back again from left to right through the lower sheds, both respectively
above and below the body warp B, and as shown dotted in at a¹, a', in this Figure;
and which are then beaten up by the lathe and reed C to the fell F, as shown at a, a,
in Figure 4. When a new shed is formed by depressing the heddle leaf B₁ and its
half (3) of the body warp B, and raising the other half (4) by the heddle B2 (in
addition to the first shed A, A, shown in Figure 3) and then throwing a shot of the

page_text: heavy body weft 6 from right to left in the centre shed s2 at 6', which is then beat up
to the fell F, as shown at 6 in Figure 5. Another or second shed of the catch
warp A is then formed as shown in this Figure, by raising the heddle A¹ and
depressing that A2; when the chenille shuttle and weft a are again thrown first from
the right side through the upper shed s³, and back through the lower sheds above
and below the body warp B at a, a', and then set to suit the pattern and beat up to
the fell F, as indicated at a, a in Figure 6; when the heddles B1 and B2 are again
shed as shown in this Figure 6, and a second shot of body weft 6' thrown or returned
from the left side through the centre shed s* (that is, in the reverse manner to the shot
shown in Figure 4) and beat up to the fell F which would then complete the cycle of
the movements of the shedding and shuttling; all to be repeated throughout the
weaving of the whole web, as just described sequentially in reference to Figures 4
to 6; that is, when both patterns are prepared in one line of weft to be woven
thus on both sides of the fabric in one shuttle.
It will be understood that this mode of weaving a different pattern on the opposite
sides of chenille cloth may also be effected by using two different pattern chenille
wefts a and shuttles for each pattern. The one shuttle and weft to be shot only
through the upper sheds s, and the other through the lower sheds s¹, both from
right to left, and back from left to right at each of these alternate sheds of the
catch warp A respectively, as indicated at Figures 3 and 5. In this way of producing
two patterns on opposite sides of the fabric, each chenille weft a, a, is only undulated
to-and-fro on the upper and lower sides respectively of the fabric and body warp and
weft B, 6; that is, in contradistinction to undulating the single chenille weft a and
shuttle over and under the body warp and weft B, 6 at the selvages, as described in
the first case; and as is done from right to left in all common weaving with one weft
and shuttle. In either of these cases the chenille weft a would be caught at the
selvages by the crossing catch warp shaft A, or by passing over the body warp B
at one or both sides when that is used and left beyond the catch warp, as for the
single chenille weft fabric.
.
It will thus be seen that the improvements substantially consist in weaving chenille
weft of two different patterns, and in so undulating and weaving it on both the upper
and under side of the fabric as to produce a different pattern on its opposite sides, as
described, and preferably with both a body warp B and weft b hid in the centre;
although it will also be understood by the practical weaver that this double pattern
chenille fabric may be woven all in this improved manner without the use of the body
weft b, and also without the body warp B, although both of these are preferred where
a thick or strong chenille fabric is desired. When a light elastic_or
limp chenille
fabric is desired, the whole of the warp might be made the same as the catch warp A,
and have a shot of the chenille weft a thrown alternately across the upper and lower
face or sides of the fabric to produce the two patterns, and it might be either with or
without an intermediate shot of any thick weft b thrown into a central shed between
the chenille weft a, a, to fill up the spaces between each double shot of the pattern
chenille weft a, a, and keep these all on the upper and lower surfaces, with one fourth
or one half of the whole catch warp A, A', shed above and below the chenille to grip
and retain it on the outside surfaces over the central shots of the body weft b caught
by the central sheds of warp A2, A2, as shown in rather thicker lines than those A¹,
in open edge view of a few shots in Figures 7 and 8, or it might be caught by half
the warp A', A2 above and below, with the body weft shot 6 thrown in the same shed
with the chenille weft, or without the body weft altogether; all in an equivalent
manner to that described in reference to Figures 3 to 6, but substituting a catch
warp A² the same as A', for B, shown in Figures 1 and 2. All in contradistinction
to the present mode of weaving chenille fabrics with the same pattern on both sides
woven in the centre of the fabric with one chenille weft shown through on both sides,
and generally with a body weft thrown in the same shed to separate the chenille weft
and strengthen the fabric, but really not shown on the surface when the chenille is
long in the fibre to cover it. Or otherwise, with the chenille pattern only woven on

page_text: one side of the fabric, and a body warp on the other to give strength to the whole;
these being the two ways of weaving chenille fabrics heretofore.
When weaving rugs and such like short patterns in the web, an inch or so of the
web might be woven in a usual manner between each chenille pattern piece with any
common weft without the use of the central body weft b, for cutting the pieces
separate and binding the fringes or other borders to, as is done in chenille rug weaving
at present, and as indicated at D..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. Chenille fabrics having different or dissimilar patterns woven
on their
opposite sides or faces with the chenille, substantially as herein set forth.
Second. In the manufacture of chenille fabrics, the combination of two patterns of
chenille weft on the opposite outer sides, with a body warp and weft hid between
them, and catch warp outside, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
Third. The mode herein described of producing different or dissimilar patterns on
the opposite sides or faces of a chenille fabric by disposing or picking and weaving the
chenille weft on the upper and under sides of the body-warp by one or by two shuttles
within a shed of a proportion of the catch warp binding the chenille weft outside to
the body warp, substantially as set forth.
Fourth. In the manufacture of chenille fabrics, the having of two different patterns
formed of chenille weft on opposite sides bound by an outer catch warp to a central
portion of the catch warp and an alternate pick of body weft, all hid within the
pattern chenille on the two outer sides substantially as set forth.
Fifth. Chenille weft made with two patterns, having each alternate shot of the one
pattern made to follow each alternate shot of the other pattern, for the manufacture
of chenille fabrics, substantially as herein set forth.