IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS OF LOOMS FOR PRODUCING A CERTAIN CLASS OF FANCY FABRICS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Carter Ramsden at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th July 1868.
I, JOHN CARTER RAMSDEN, of Bradford, in the County of York,
Reed Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANISM OR APPARATUS OF LOOMS FOR PRODUCING A
CERTAIN CLASS OF FANCY FABRICS," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention relates to a peculiar and novel method
of forming the "shed" required in weaving that class of goods in which
spots or figures of either a different color or material to the ground weft
are inserted, and thereby I am enabled to weave a figure containing plain
cloth within the outlines without losing a ground pick, and this I
accomplish somewhat as follows:-I employ both healds or heddles and
a common jacquard apparatus, and so arrange them that when the
jacquard is in operation the warp threads are free to work up and down
in the healds without any strain being placed thereon, and when the
healds are in operation the warp threads are free to move up and down
in the harness likewise without any strain. The healds are used for
forming the shed for the ground shuttle, and the harness is used for

page_text: forming the shed for the extra material contained in the figure. The
method of working is somewhat as follows:-Behind the harness of a
common jacquard I fix the healds which are "knit" as fine again în
the set as the ordinary healds used for weaving plain cloth; these healds
contain no eyes or mails, the top and bottom of each heald are simply
looped together; one thread of warp is placed through the top half of the
backmost heald and through the bottom half of the next heald; the next
thread of warp is placed through the top half of the next heald and the
bottom half of the front heald, and so on through the warp. Two of the
healds are used for lifting the top part of the ground shed, and the other
two for depressing the lower part. By means of gearing and tappets I
cause the two healds, through the lower part of which the warp passes, to
be raised into such position that when the jacquard is in operation the
threads lifted by the jacquard are free to move without strain to the back
rods. The harness of the jacquard contains neither eyes nor mails, but
is simply looped like the healds before described, therefore it will be
obvious that when the warp is lifted by the healds it is free to move
upwards through the harness without any strain being put thereon. In
forming the shed for the figure the jacquard is at or about full lift when
the reed recedes from the cloth; the shuttles, needles, or bobbins are
then inserted, and the jacquard closes its shed as the ground shed formed
by the healds is opened, thereby the material used for producing the
figure is inserted without the loss of a pick.
The second part of my Invention relates to a method for inserting the
extra material required for forming the figure; and for some classes of
goods, such as are woven very thin, and where any fringe at the back of
the piece would show through, this method is an improvement over the
needles, as shown and described by me in the Specification and Drawings
of Letters Patent granted to me, and bearing date the Fourteenth day of
January 1868 (No. 125). On the front of the loom I place a bar, which
is free to move backwards and forwards in front of the batten; to this
bar I fix as many circular grooves as are required. In each groove I
place a shuttle which is curved to the circle in which it works; a recess
is cut out of the front of each circular groove, and when the reed recedes
from the cloth the bar to which these circular grooves are attached is
caused to move toward the warp. That portion of the warp which is
opposite to the recesses cut out of the circular grooves is then operated
upon by the jacquard and a shed formed, through which the shuttles are

page_text: made to pass; these shuttles are operated upon by arms, which arms are
brought into action by means of pins or racks, or some mechanical
equivalent actuated by means of cams or tappets in a similar manner to
the method described by me in the Letters Patent herein-before referred
to for actuating the needles, or in other suitable manner.