IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS OF LOOKS FOR PRODUCING PILE FABRICS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Carter Ramsden at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th August 1871.
I, JOHN CARTER RAMSDEN, of Halifax, in the County of York, Silk
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS OF LOOKS FOR PRODUCING PILE
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
By this Invention I am enabled to make the loops which form the
pile without the introduction of the wires which are now usually
employed, and by means of which all kinds of pile fabrics can be
produced. In weaving this class of goods it is usual to have two warps,
namely, a body warp and a pile warp; two or more picks of weſt are
woven into the body warp, and then a wire is inserted to form the pile.
In carpets and other, strong goods these wires are inserted and with.
drawn by suitable self-acting mechanism; but in velvets and other
goods where the pile is very fine the wires must necessarily be very
small in diameter, consequently they are inserted by hand, which is a
very slow process.
In my improvements I disnence entirely with the use of these wires

page_text: and determine the size of the pile or loop by the thickness of the material
I use in substitution thereof.
The mode in which I carry my Invention into effect is as follows :—
I take a common shuttle loom, and employ two warps as is usual,
namely, a body warp and a pile warp, assuming I am about to weave a ||
cloth which requires two picks for the body or back, and one for the
pile, in this case the picking shaft is caused to make one revolution
while the crank shaft which works the batten makes three; or in other
words the batten or reed beats up the weft three times while the picking
shaft revolves once. On this shaft I place two discs or plates, one for 1
each picking stick. On each of these discs I fix a nose or picking
tappet, so placed that they will work alternately; it will be obvious in
this arrangement there will be one beat up of the weft and one crossing
of the shed without any picking of the shuttle, this is for the purpose of
allowing the insertion of a double thread for the purpose of forming the 1
pile, this double thread is put in by a needle or weft insertor which can
be made either to work in bearings fixed to some convenient part of the
loom or can be attached to the batten or lathe, and can be made to enter
and leave the shed at the proper time by suitable self-acting mechanism,
or can be operated upon by one of the pickers of the loom; it will be a
understood that each time the needle or weft insertor enters its shed it
there deposits a double pick of weft, which is prevented returning by
another needle or pin which lays hold of it.
The peculiar advantages to be obtained by using the double pick for
forming the loop instead of wires are manifold, increased production, and 2
those goods in which a very fine loop is required, such as velvets, can be
as efficiently produced by a power loom as is now done by hand at a
much increased speed and decreased cost. Another peculiar advantage
consists in being able to use the same thread several times. After a
sufficient quantity has been woven, to insure that the pile warp is 3
properly tied down beyond the possibility of slipping, the double thread
can be pulled out of the pile either by hand or self-acting mechanism,.
such as rollers, and wound on to a bobbin ready for using again, or it
can be left in until the piece is woven and then pulled out.