CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PLANT, of Beswick, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourteenth day of August, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant, unto me, the said
John Plant, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Plant, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such other
as I, the said John Plant, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TEXTILE
FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said
John Plant, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in' what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar, months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference 'being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Plant, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the sanie is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereto annexed, and the following
explanation thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to that description of woven fabrics commonly known
as "cut cords," and consists in a method of producing a peculiar character of
colored patterns therein by the process of weaving. The improvement is
effected through the agency of two or more shuttles, carrying weft of different
colors, the particular. use of each of which in. relation to the shedding of the
warp for forming the cord, constitutes the principle of my Invention. In
weaving ordinary fabrics of this description the weft thread (as is well known)
is floated over certain of the warp threads, each floating forming a rib of loose
threads. The boundaries of. these ribs do not, however, usually extend in a
perfectly even line in the direction of the warp, although apparently so, for
the floatings are so arranged that those of one pick do not lie exactly behind
those of the preceding pick, the said floating being (in the direction of the
breadth of the warp) alternately wider and narrower; hence it arises that the
points from which the floating threads start, or as it were take root from
the back of the cloth, range in distinct parallel lines in each rib or cord; and it
is by constantly causing the weft thread which starts from or is bound to
points upon one of these parallel lines, and that which starts from or is bound
"to points upon the other, to consist of a particular color, that I produce patterns
upon the cut fabric, such patterns having the general character of stripes,
'extending more or less in the direction of the length of the warp threads.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood I have appended to
this my Specification certain illustrative diagrams, which I will now proceed
to describe. The diagram, Fig. 1, shews the section, as far as regards the
'warp threads and floating weft, of an ordinary cord fabric upon an exaggerated
scale. 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., &c., represent the warp threads, and the blue and red
lines two picks of floating weft for forming the cord, these threads are sepa-
rated in the Drawing more than they would really be so as to distinguish their
interweaving. The formation of the back is not shewn in the Figure in order
to avoid confusion, such portion forming no part of my Invention, and being
woven by any of the usual methods. It will be perceived by the above
diagram that the floating represented by the red line passes alternately over
eight and six warp threads, that denoted by the blue color, and which is the
succeeding pick, being carried through the warp in a similar manner with the
exception that the larger floatings are behind the shorter of the red series and

page_text: vice versa, and this alternate disposition is preserved throughout the weaving
of the piece. In order to effect the production of a pattern according to my
Invention, I use a loan of any ordinary construction capable of working with
two or more shuttles. I will suppose for the present with two only, and I so
regulate the motions of these by means of the usual endless chain or other
means, that for a succession of picks the same shedding of the warp shall.
receive weft from the same shuttle. Thus in the diagram, Fig. 1, a shuttle.
with red weft shall first be thrown interlacing the warp threads, as shewn in
the Figure; then another shed being opened, a blue thread shuttle shall carry
the weft as represented, then a repetition of the red with the same shedding:
as before, and so on for as many in succession as the length of the stripes
require, the usual weaving for forming the back of the fabric being pursued
at the same time as in ordinary cords, the fabric thus woven, when viewed on-
its face.previously to being cut, will bear the appearance represented at Fig. 2,:
the larger floatings being driven over the shorter by the beating-up motion of.
the loom. This diagram is drawn upon a reduced scale to the preceding Fig.,.
shewing a greater number of cords than are exhibited in Fig. 1. The fabric.
thus formed is to be cut in the usual manner at the points A, A, A, Fig. 1,
by which operation the floating weft threads will turn upon their binding warp
threads 2, 3, 10, 11, &c., into the position shewn in the diagram Figure 3, in
which e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, &c., represent the portions of threads marked with
corresponding letters in Fig. 1. Thus it will be perceived that there are four
lines, two of blue and two of red, distinct from each other, and as there have.
been a succession of picks of these colors, each color being bound or taking
its root from the same warp thread or threads, it follows that each floating
thread when cut will range behind those shown at e, f, g, h, &c., according to
its color, and thus form four ranks distinct from each other, constituting a
series of stripes along each cord in the direction of the length of the warp, as
shewn in Fig. 4, which is a face view of a piece of finished cord manufactured
according to my improvements, the bright colors being used as more suitable
to the purpose of explaining the Invention by Drawings. The lines of cut
thread e, f, g, h, &c., are represented in Fig. 3 as if there were a space
between them, this however arises from the parts being necessarily
shewn out of proportion; in the manufactured fabric, the stripes will be
close to each other. In Fig. 4 the dark lines a, a, a, represent the divi-
sions between the cords, that is, the back of the cloth. In the Figures
referred to I have supposed the shuttles to be so governed that stripes
are produced the whole length of the piece of goods, such arrangement,.
however, may be varied according to particular patterns required, for; if

page_text: desired, short stripes may be formed according to my Invention, and
intervening plain or ornamental weaving introduced; for instance, suppose
it is desired to produce the pattern shewn in the face view, Fig. 5,
the portions from m to n are the same as already described in relation to
Fig. 4 at the points indicated by those letters, however another shuttle is to be.
brought into action so as to throw a black thread for several picks of floating,
thus forming a series of cross bars, between which are stripes in the direction
of the length of the warp threads according to my Invention. In like manner
speckled effects produced by granderelle threads or other known means may
intervene, and yet the effect, produced by the stripes along the cords be
preserved. Fig. 6 represents the section upon an exaggerated scale of the
warp and floating thread of a "thick set cord." In this case, in order to
produce the effect of longitudinal striping, I proceed as before described,
appropriating constantly a certain shuttle to each shedding of the warp. The
fabric when cut at A, A, will assume the disposition. shewn at Fig. 7, and
thus form two turned-up points o, p, which, as they are continued by the same
shuttles for the same sheddings, constitute stripes as before. In this case,
however, but two stripes are formed in each cord as represented at Fig. 8.
This modification of my Invention may of course, like the first described, be
mingled with patterns. produced by "granderelle" threads or other means,
and for the sake of example I have shewn another pattern in the face view,
Fig. 9.
Here it will be observed that the stripes continue from the point
sto t, after which a shuttle containing (I will suppose) granderelle thread is
used for a succession of picks, thus forming a speckled portion of the fabrics
at right angles to the stripes produced according to my improvements.
Fig. 10 is a diagram representing upon an exaggerated scale a section of
another mode of shedding the warp to produce a cord fabric, the red and blue
lines indicate as previously, the floating threads which are to be interwoven,
as before described, so as constantly to belong to the same shedding of the
warp; this fabric when cut at the points A, A, A, will form the cord as
represented at Fig. 11, the portions of red weft turning upon the warp thread
u, u, so as to unite in the centre, and the blue turning upon v, v, into the
positions shewn. Thus it will be observed that this method of producing cords
effects three stripes, corresponding to the positions w, x, y, and these may be
continued throughout the length of the piece or interspersed with plain or
ornamental parts as explained in reference to the other Figures.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not lay
claim to the sole use of two or more shuttles for weaving cord fabrics, as I am

page_text: aware that they have before been employed for that purpose; such apparatus bas
never, however, to the best of my knowledge and belief, been used with a view
of obtaining a pattern as above described. I would on the other hand observe
that, although for the better elucidation of my Invention I have explained
certain methods of shedding the warp and shewn particular patterns, I do
not confine myself thereto nor to the machinery by which the same may be
effected. I would also observe that my Invention may be applied to cords
manufactured of cotton, silk, wool, or other fibrous materials suitable for the
purpose, that which I claim as secured to me under the above in part recited
Letters Patent being (as applied to the manufacture of that description of
fabrics called "cords") the employment of two or more shuttles so regulated
in their order of throwing the weft as to produce when cut and raised a colored
stripe or stripes upon the cords in the direction of their length whether such
stripes extend continuously over the piece of goods or are interspersed with
other patterns.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Plant, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.