IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Crofts, of Derby Terrace, Notting-
ham Park, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Crofts at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st April 1853.
I, WILLIAM CROFTS, of Derby Terrace, Nottingham Park, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WEAVING" to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of a new combination of machinery for
weaving fabrics, such as have heretofore been manufactured by looms
working with warps and shuttles.
The warp threads or yarns are carried by guide bars, which have
a motion to and from each other, and also end-way motions, in
order that when the guide bars approach each other they may open
an angular shed for the passage of a shuttle; and that, when the guide

page_text: bars are separated, they may open a shed in the other direction, when
the shuttle may be again thrown across, or guide threads may be
thrown in to such shed.
When making plain fabrics only two guide bars are required; but
when making figured fabrics, several guide bars, or independent guides,
are employed; and they are caused, by jacquard or pattern surfaces,
to bring in their warp threads, or keep them out of the fabric, accord-
ing to the requirement of the pattern.
The work or fabric is by preference beaten and taken by points, as
in lace machines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Crofts, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 1st October 1853."
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM CROFTS, of Derby Terrace, Nottingham Park, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Crofts, Her special licence that I;
the said William Crofts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Crofts, 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 terin 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 for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Crofts,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Crofts, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of a new combination of machinery for
weaving fabrics, such as have heretofore been manufactured by looms
working with warps and shuttles. The warp threads or yarns are
carried by guide bars, which have a motion to and from each other,
and also endway motions, in order that when the guide bars approach
each other they may open an angular shed for the passage of a
shuttle; and that, when the guide bars are separated, they may open
a shed in the other direction, when the shuttle may be again thrown
across, or guide threads may be thrown into such shed. When making
plain fabrics only, two guide bars are required; but when making
figured fabrics, several guide bars, or independent guides, are employed;
and they are caused, by jacquard or pattern surfaces, to bring in their
warp threads, or keep them out of the fabric, according to the require-
ment of the pattern. The work or fabric is by preference beaten, and
taken by points, as in lace machines.
Having thus stated the nature of the Invention, I will, in order that
my Invention may be more fully understood and readily carried into effect,
proceed to describe the means pursued by me in performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, shows a vertical section; Figure 2, an end view; and
Figure 3, part of a front view of a machine, showing the parts arranged
for weaving plain fabrics, by the crossing of two sets of warp threads,
which open a shed for the passage of a weft thread and shuttle over
the guides; and, when the two sets of warp threads have changed
positions, another shed is opened for the passage of a weft thread,
carried by a guide, which is caused to travel from selvage to selvage.
And I would here remark, that several weft guides may be employed,
so as to produce several widths of fabric; at the same time, the guides
and points may be left out, where the selvages, or partial selvages, of
the several widths are produced by the to and fro movement of the

page_text: weft guide threads. The drawings show the machine in the position
the parts would assume when the guide bars have moved outwards,
and a weft guide thread has been passed from left to right. a, b, are
the front and back guide bars, which carry the guides a', ', through
which the warp threads are conducted to the work roller from the
warp beam a², 63, which are carried by arms fixed to the guide bars, as
shewn. The guide bars a, b, have a to and fro movement given to
them by a cam c, fixed on the cam shaft d, which receives motion in
any convenient manner from a steam engine, or other motive power.
The cam c, in its revolution acts on the truck or roller, carried by the
lever arm c¹, fixed on the spindle bar c, to which is affixed the lever
arms c³, one at each end of the machine; the lever arms c³, are con
nected by links c', to arms e, affixed to the back guide bar b.. c, is a
lever arm, fixed on the spindle bar c³, which is connected by a pin joint
to the lever arm c, fixed on the spindle bar c, on which are affixed
lever arms c, connected by links c, to arms c, to which the front
guide bar a, is affixed; and by this means a to and fro movement will
be given to the guide bars a, and b, so as to move the warp threads
carried by the guides from front to back, and from back to front, to
form sheds, from time to time, for the passage of a shuttle or of a weft
guide thread. In this arrangement the shed for the passage of the
shuttle is formed by the movement of the guide bars a, b, towards each
other, by which the back guides carry their warp threads between the
spaces of the front guides, as shown at Figure 4, on a larger scale;
and at Figure 4*, the guides of the bar a, are of such length as at all
times to remain between the warp threads of the bar b, in order that
when the guide bars recede from each other, a shed may be opened,
and a shuttle rase formed by the prolonged ends of the guides a, for
the passage of the shuttle in the opposite direction. The shed for the
passage of the weft guide thread is formed by the outward movement
of the guide bars a, b, from each other, to the position shewn in
Figure 1, and in Figure 5, on a larger scale. In this arrangement
the shuttle is thrown across from selvage to selvage by lever arms e,
fixed to cranked levers e', moving on axis e; at each end of the
machine the upper ends of the lever arms e, are connected to drivers,

page_text: which slide within the shuttle boxes f; the cranked levers e', are con-
nected by links e, to levers e', carried by the stud pin affixed to the
framing of the machine, the other ends of the levers c', having pro-
jections, which rest against the surfaces of the cams e, which, in
their revolution, cause the projections on the levers e', to fall suddenly
by the action of the springs ex, from one surface to another, and
thereby impart a quick movement to the levers e', to drive the shuttle
through the shed formed above the guides a; the upper surface of the
guides a, forming a race for the shuttle to travel upon, which is fur-
nished with friction rollers, when found desirable, as shown separately
at Figure 6. g, is a bar moving on axes carried by the end framings
of the machine on the bar g; the carriage of the weft thread guide
travels freely by means of the friction rollers, and will be more clearly
understood on examining Figure 7, which shows a separate view of the
carriage and guide: it is caused to travel quickly from selvage to
selvage by a driver g*, connected to the upper end of the lever g',
which receives motion from a cam g, fixed on the cam shaft, which
acts upon levers in like manner to the apparatus for actuating the
lever e, and shuttle just described. And I would here remark that I
do not intend to confine myself to the mechanical arrangements
shown and described for actuating the shuttles and weft guides, as other
arrangements used with looms of all ordinary construction would
be alike applicable to my improvements in weaving. h, is a point
bar for beating up the weft, and is of the ordinary construction
used in lace machines. In this arrangement only one point bar is
shown, but two may be employed, as shown in several of the diagrams
to be hereafter described. The point bar h, is moved to and fro, and
raised and lowered, by cams acting on levers in the ordinary manner,
and will be readily understood on examining the drawings. To the
inside of the end framings, near the selvage threads, I suspend upon a
pin a small lever i, one end being forked, as shown at Figure 12,
the other end having a catch formed upon it; the forked end of the
lever projects, so as to enter between several of the points on the point
bar, set wider for that purpose, in order that when the point bar or
beater fails to take a weft thread the forked part of the lever i, may

page_text: pass between the points, and cause the catch at the other end of the lever
to remain in a position to be acted upon by the sliding bar j, so as to act
on a break, or to throw off the driving band in a similar manner to the
weft stoppers employed in ordinary looms. I, is a rod, which at its upper
end carries a bent wire, as shown at Figure 5; the rod k, is guided in
brackets on the end framing, and is moved up and down by being con-
nected at its lower end to the leker k', which receives motion from the
cam k³, acting on a truck or roller carried by the arm k. When a weft
thread has been laid across by a weft guide or shuttle, the bar g, is
caused to move on its axis towards the back of the machine, so as to
place its thread in a position to be taken by the bent wire on the rod k,
which in its upward movement raises the weft thread into a position to
be taken by the point bar h; and when the weft guide moves again on
its axis towards the front of the machine, a fixed projection on the
under side of the guide bar a, in its inward movement, receives the
guide weft thread around it at the time the said guide is moving to the
opposite selvage; and when the projection on the guide bar moves out-
wards the weft thread is retained by a fixed wire. In order to arrest the
action of the machine, in case the shuttle fails to enter the shuttle box,
I cause a sliding bar *, to move up and down, and enter below the
shuttle boxes; this sliding bar is connected to a lever arm l, fixed on
the spindle bar l'; and 1, is another lever arm on the spindle bar 7,
which receives motion from a cam on the cam shaft d; this cam has a
recess formed in it, into which a projection on the lever 1, enters when
the sliding bar is allowed to enter the shuttle box, and so acts on a
break or throws off the driving band to stop the machine; but when
the shuttle in the shuttle box arrests the upward movement of the
sliding bar the projection on the lever 1, is retained out of the recess
in the cam, until another rise on the cam presents itself to withdraw
the sliding bar from the shuttle box. When it is desired to produce
cross weaving, endway movement must be given by suitably cut wheels
to one or both of the guide bars a, b, at the time they recede from each
other, so as to bring the guide threads opposite different spaces of the
guides, according to the character of the cross weaving to be produced.
I will now describe the manner in which figured fabrics may be pro-

page_text: duced by employing several additional guide bars in combination with
the arrangement of parts just described. Figure 8, shows a section of
so much of a machine as will enable me to describe this part of my
improvements. The parts which correspond with those in the arrange-
ment previously described being marked with the same letters of
reference, it will not be necessary to repeat the same. 1, 2, 3, are
additional guide bars, but other numbers may be employed, which carry
suitable ornamenting guides, as shown; and they are caused to insert
their guide threads from time to time, as required by the action of the
cam m, fixed on the cam shaft d. The cam m, gives motion to the lever
m', to the upper end of which drivers m², are connected by a pin joint,
the other ends of the drivers being connected by links to cranked levers,
which are acted upon from time to time by jacquard apparatus, or other
suitable pattern surfaces, to raise the projections m³, on the drivers out
of action with the additional guide bars, which have endway move-
ments communicated thereto, when out of the fabric, by suitable cuts
of wheels, chains, or by droppers in connection with jacquard apparatus,
as commonly used in lace machinery, according to the pattern or figure
to be produced; and where such additional guide threads do not act to
produce ornamental work, they float on the surface of the fabric, and
may be afterwards cut away. In Figure 5, several additional guide
bars are shown below the guide bars a, b, wliich are so arranged as to
be capable of laying in ornamental guide threads between the threads
of the guide bars a, and b; and they receive endway motions for this
purpose by suitable cuts of wheels, chains, or jacquard apparatus, as is
well understood, and in this arrangement are capable of moving on
axes in the end framings of the machine, so as to be removed from
time to time out of the way for the passage of the weft threads; but at
Figures 9, and 10, the parts are so arranged as to obviate the necessity
of tilting the additional guide bars on their axes, which will be readily
understood on examining these Figures. Figure 11, shows another
arrangement, where the ornamenting threads are carried by independent
guides n, n, each guide capable of being acted upon by jacquard or
other pattern surface. And I would remark that in place of the endway
motion being given to the guides carrying the warp threads, there may

page_text: be inclined stump points used to cause the traversing of threads, and in
place of beating up by points a reed may be used. I wind up the work
in the ordinary manner of lace machinery; but this may be varied; and
when wefts of different colors are required to be inserted, I cause the
shuttle boxes containing a series of shuttles to move to and fro by
suitable pattern surfaces, so as to bring the particular shuttle to be
inserted opposite to the shed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I inake no
claim to any of the parts of the machinery or apparatus separately,
nor do I confine myself to the details herein described; neither do I
claim the use of guides generally as a means of carrying warp threads
when weaving fabrics by throwing in weft threads by the aid of shuttles
or guides, various arrangements of machinery having before been
resorted to for using guides for such purposes. But what I claim are
the combinations herein described, whereby guides used for carrying
and actuating warp threads are made capable of moving towards, from,
and past each other, in such manner as to act as shuttle races, and also
admit of weft threads being introduced by a shuttle when an angular
shed is made, and by a shuttle or by guides when the guides carrying
the warp threads are moved away from each other, so as to leave an
opening into the shed; also whereby the guides carrying the warp
threads are rendered independent, so as to be actuated by jacquard
or pattern surfaces in such manner as at different times to produce
different effects by their threads in the weaving of a piece of fabric.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Crofts, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this First day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
WILLIAM CROFTS. (L.S.)
Witness, J. G. TONGUE.,