IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING EMBOSSED OR FIGURED FABRICS IN COLOURS
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Archibald Broomán at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th August 1860.-A communication from abroad by Edme Germain
Bossuat, of Paris.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING EMBOSSED OR FIGURED
FABRICS IN COLOURS," (communicated to me from abroad by Edme Germain
Bossuat, of Paris,) to be as follows:-
This. Invention relates to tambour frames and such like machines, and
particularly to the box which carries the threads (boîte plongeante), and to its
appendages. This box in its ordinary form extends a little beyond the breadth
of the fabric manufactured, and is formed with plain sides on the interior, and
with a number of equal and equally spaced teeth or angular projections on its
lower side externally. Between these teeth the box is divided by a series of
divisions or slits, which extend entirely across the box and rise nearly to the-
top thereof, leaving only an undivided rim or upper portion. The box is
furnished with a lid or cover, from which depend numerous leaves or plates,
which are properly adjusted as to; number and position with the vertical slits
aforesaid. This cover has imparted to it a reciprocating motion, by means of
which the said plates are alternately moved from one slit to the adjacent one-

page_text: .
and back again. The embroidering or figuring threads are carried in small
tubes lying across the bottom of the box, one to each tooth, which tubes are
easily moved to and fro by and with the plates, without passing into the slits
of the box, through which, however, the threads from the tubes are led to the
fabric. The warp threads upon which the box is placed are alternately
raised and depressed in the slits in the box, the thread tubes and threads being
suitably passed to and fro through the warp spaces, by means of the cover and its
dependent plates in such manner as to produce the pattern required. Each of
the threads (that is, the thread from each tube) forms a flower or other orna-
ment simultaneously with the others, so that as many flowers can be produced
in the breadth of the fabric as there are teeth in the box, less one; but the
flowers are all of one colour, because the threads are all of the same colour.
If flowers of two colours are to be produced, two differently colored threads
are placed in two consecutive tubes over two consecutive teeth; the box is
then operated for the first colour and withdrawn; the warp threads which
ought to cover the second colour are then raised, and the thread worked as
before; but obviously the number of flowers thus produced equals only-half
the number of teeth. Three, four, or more colours may be worked similarly,
but with corresponding reductions in the number of flowers produced.
The Inventor states that this system of weaving has hitherto only been
employed for the production of embroidery; that is, for making the thread of
the weft float over certain spaces of the fabric, but he proposes in the present
Invention to apply it to the production of various other figured fabrics in which
the warp and weft threads cross and interlace each other after the manner of
the threads employed in the weaving of shalloons, satins, cloths of various
-kinds, and so forth. For this purpose, in place of raising all the threads, as
in the embroidering process, he raises the half, third, or other part only,
according to the fabric required, and thus obtains a new result, which is
particularly well adapted for the manufacture of fabrics resembling Indian
shawls and other costly fabrics.
In order to adapt the apparatus to this purpose, the Inventor modifies the
form of the box in several ways. In the first place he provides for employing
any desired number of thread tubes to each tooth, and adopts means for
preventing the several threads of each tooth from mingling together, and thus
rendering the execution of the work impossible. This is the first part of his
Invention. He sometimes prefers to prevent the mingling of the threads by
forming a division or slit along the front of the box, extending from one
vertical slit to another throughout the length of the box, so that the threads
may pass successively, and not together, into the vertical slit. In the next

page_text: place he adopts a device or devices for preventing the small tubes from
choking the vertical slits, and from rolling together when the box is not exactly
adjusted. This he sometimes prefers to accomplish by forming slightly curved
depressions, in which the several tubes lie when required to be at rest. He
further, in some cases, removes the front of the box below the rim or upper
portion before mentioned, to prevent the warp threads from entering the hori-
zontal instead of the vertical slits, and so obstructing the work. Finally, he
adopts a contrivance for confining the thread tubes to their places without
interfering with their rolling motions. This he prefers to do by forming.
upon their back ends rings or discs which run in grooves in the back of
the box.
The Inventor does not limit himself to the precise modifications herein
described, as they may be replaced in some instances by equivalent
modifications.