AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRIC
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Andrew Leslie Franklin, of the City of Coventry,
in the County of Warwick, Elastic Web Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRIC."
Sealed the 22nd November 1872, and dated the 24th September 1872.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Andrew Leslie Franklin,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th September 1872.
I, ANDREW LESLIÐ FRANKLIN, of the City of Coventry, in the County
of Warwick, Elastic Web Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "As Improved ManuPACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRIC," to
be as follows :—
The object of this Invention is to produce a strong and enduring elastic
fabric with a cut pile face suitable for the side springs of boots, and
analogous uses, and that without cutting any of the warp threads
which go to form the fabric. This result we obtain by the use of
chenille or cut pile shoot as a face weft thread in the manner to be now
explained; we provide in the loom back and face warp threads and warp

page_text: binder threads (but it is not essential to use a back warp in order to
produce a cut pile fabric by this Invention) and the india-rubber strands
we weave into the fabric in the ordinary way; after any given number
shoots made with the ordinary weft thread or threads we open a shed for
the reception of the chenille by lifting the face warp, we then introduce the
chenille weft and tie it down by means of the face warp threads so as to
completely cover the india-rubber strands, and we secure the chenille by
the next following shoot of the ordinary weft thread; while making the
intervening shoots with the ordinary weft thread the face warp may
either work in with the india-rubber strands as an ordinary "gut” or
stuffing" warp, or be dropped through to the back of the fabric; in
this manner we are enabled to produce on the fabric a velvety face
which will effectually protect the india-rubber strands, and will itself
bear considerable friction without injury.
66
This Invention includes the use of any cut pile shoot not being
chenille in the manufacture of clastic fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Andrew Leslie Franklin in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th March 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANDREW
LESLIE FRANKLIN, of the City of Coventry, in the County of Warwick,
Elastic Web Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Andrew Leslie Franklin, Her special
licence that 1, the said Andrew Leslie Franklin, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Andrew Leslie
Franklin, 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

page_text: for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC FABRIC," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Andrew Leslie Franklin, 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 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 Andrew Leslie Franklin, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :—
The object of this Invention is to produce a strong and enduring
elastic fabric with a cut pile face, suitable for the side springs of
boots and analogous uses, and that without cutting any of the warp
threads which go to form the fabric. This result I attain by the
use of chenille or cut pile shoot as a face weft thread in the manner
to be now explained; I provide in the loom back and face warp
threads and warp binder. threads (but it is not essential to use a back
warp in order to produce a cut pile fabric by this Invention) and the
india-rubber strands I weave into the fabric in the ordinary way, after
any given number of shoots made with the ordinary weft thread or
threads, I open a shed for the reception of the chenille by lifting the
face warp, I then introduce the chenille weft and tie it down by
means of the face warp threads so as to completely cover the india-
rubber strands, and secure the chenille by the next following shoot of
the ordinary, weft thread; while making the intervening shoots with
the ordinary weft thread the face warp may either work in with the
india-rubber strands as an ordinary "gut" or "stuffing
warp, or be
dropped through to the back of the fabric; in this manner I am
enabled to produce on the fabric a velvety face which will effectually
protect the india-rubber strands, and will itself bear considerable friction
without injury.
"
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn by a series of diagrams
the mode of manufacturing this improved elastic fabric in a jacquard
loom which is the kind of loom I prefer to employ; in these diagrams it

page_text: will be seen that the shed is composed of three kinds of warps a, b, and
c; a being the india-rubber strands, 6 the chenille binder, and c the
ordinary binders.
Fig. 1 shews the new fabric in longitudinal section drawn on an
enlarged scale, and Fig 2 is a plan view of the same.
Fig. 3 shews a shed formed by lifting the ordinary binder c, the
rubber strand a and chenille binder & being down, this shed is made to
receive the shoot 1. which serves to secure the chenille binder. The
second shed, shewn at Fig. 4, is formed by lifting the rubber and
chenille binder and leaving the ordinary binder down, this shed receiving
shoot 2 that secures the binder c at the back of the fabric; the third
shed, Fig. 5, is made by lifting the binder c and leaving a and b down;
the shuttle is then passed through this shed when it leaves the tie weft
free; the fourth shed, Fig. 6, is a repetition of the second, it being open
to receive the shoot 4 which secures the binder c at the back of the :
fabric; the fifth shed, Fig. 7, is made by lifting the chenille binder b,
the rubber a and binder c being down; through this shed the chenille
weft 5 is passed by means of a shuttle similar to that used for the tie
shoots; when the chenille has been laid in this shed it is secured by the
tie shoot 1 which is a recommencement of the operation just described.
In this way an elastic velvet pile fabric of very superior quality is
produced which requires only shrinking and brushing to give it a close
velvet pile face. In weaving this fabric it is necessary to provide that
the take up shall not follow every weft shoot, but that it shall be inter-
mitted between shoots 4 and 5, the object of this intermission of the
winding of the fabric on to the take uproller is to ensure that the chenille
shoot 5 shall overlie the shoot 4, and thereby prevent any irregularity in
the ordinary weft shoots, the mode of obtaining this intermission of the
take up motion will readily suggest itself to any competent mechanic.
One arrangement which I have found effective for the purpose is
shewn at Fig. 8, where the take up motion is supposed to be derived
from the jacquard apparatus acting through the crank levers and
rod A, A, upon a sliding bar B which carries a pawle C that works into
the teeth of a ratchet wheel D; a worm E on the axle of this ratchet
wheel takes into a worm wheel F on the axle of a roller G; on this
roller bears the take up roller H which is driven by friction of contact
therewith; at every forward motion of the bar B produced by the action

page_text: of jacquard apparatus and the crank levers, an axial motion will be
imparted to the take up roller, but by making the jacquard apparatus
intermit this action at every fourth shoot the fabric will remain quiescent
so as to ensure the chenille shoot 5 overlying the shoot 4.
When manufacturing the now fabric in an ordinary loom I make a
somewhat different distribution of sheds, this is shewn in diagrams 9, 10,
11, and 12, the leashes containing the chenille binder threads are lifted
by cords from the same "rocking pole" or "tumbler" as the rubber
threads during the first three shoots; for the fourth shoot (see Fig. 12)
the chenille binder threads are lifted from another "rocking pole" or
'tumbler," so as to be sufficiently raised above the rubber threads to
admit of the passage of the shuttle containing the chenille 5 between
the rubber threads and the chenille binder threads at the same time as
the shuttle containing the ordinary tie thread 4 passes between the rubber
and the ordinary binder threads.
"
The shuttle containing the chenille is made to pass through the warp
threads every fourth shoot only by means of a finger board (acting"
on the thumb bits of the marionette) worked from a quarter cam. I
would remark that any suitable cut pile shoot other than chenille may
if desired be used in the manufacture of my improved elastic fabric.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "An Improved
Manufacture of Elastic Fabric" and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above
in part recited Letters Patent I claim, forming a pile face on elastic
fabrics by the use of chenille or its equivalent in the manner and for the
purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Andrew Leslie Franklin, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of
March, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and
seventy-three.