IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING PILE FABRICS WHEN WIRES ARE USED
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Nickels, of the Albany Road, in the
County of Surrey, and James Hobson, of Leicester, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING PILE FABRICS WHEN WIRES ARE USED."
Sealed the 29th May 1855, and dated the 3rd April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Nickels and
James Hobson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 3rd April 1855.
We, CHRISTOPHER NICKELS, of the Albany Road, in the County of Surrey,
and JAMES HOBSON, of Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING PILE FABRICS WHEN WIRES ARE USED" to
be as follows:-
In the manufacture of pile fabrics, particularly when several warps are used,
as in carpet weaving, considerable strength and skill is required in the weaver.
Now, the first part of our Invention consists of constructing looms for weaving
such fabrics in such manner that strength and skill are less required by the
person attending a loom than are requisite in hand looms. For this purpose, in
place of the person attending the loom acting on the treadles by his feet to give
motion to the warps by jacquard and other apparatus, and by his hands to
throw in and beat up
the weft, the workman is relieved from these parts of the
work, and he has simply to put in and take out the wires; hence, by reason of
his duties being comparatively light, he can weave with greater speed, though

page_text: are used.
ne possesses much less skill and strength than another weaver. A winch
handle is applied and put in motion by a labourer, which gives motion to an
axis, on which there are cams or tappets, which give motion to the treadles
to the jacquard apparatus and harness of the loom, also to the apparatus for
throwing in and beating up of the weft, and also to the "take-up." But
in these improvements two shuttles are used, which are simultaneously
thrown across in opposite directions in two separate sheds from two shuttle
boxes, one above the other, but divided one from the other. These improve-
ments are peculiarly applicable to the old form of hand carpet looms at
present in use, which now require strong and well-skilled weavers to work
them.
Secondly, our improvements apply to looms where several narrow piled
fabrics are made side by side in the same loom, and where two wires are used
for making the pile of each fabric. In this case two shuttles are employed
for each fabric, which have toothed racks formed thereto, and they are put in
motion in opposite directions by pinions or toothed wheels.
There is a
standing warp, tie warps, and a pile or terry warp, which is actuated by
jacquard apparatus. The two wires for each fabric woven at the same time
are carried by two bars, and the wires are attached to arms fixed to such bars,
the wires being attached through an elastic medium capable of giving way
to the beat-up. The motions are given to the several parts by cams on a
rotating axis. The wires used in both our improvements may have cutting
edges formed at one of their ends in order to cut their way out, as has hereto-
fore been practised; or in wide fabrics grooved wires may be used when cut pile
is to be made.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Christopher Nickels and James Hobson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 3rd October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHRISTOPHER
NICKELS, of the Albany Road, in the County of Surrey, and JAMES HOBSON, S
of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said s

page_text: Christopher Nickels and James Hobson, Her special licence that we, the
said Christopher Nickels and James Hobson, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Christopher Nickels and James
Hobson, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
5 with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term 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 PILE
FABRICS WHEN WIRES ARE USED," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Christopher Nickels and James Hobson, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, should
particularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Christopher Nickels and James
Hobson, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
In the manufacture of pile fabrics, particularly when several warps are used,
as in carpet weaving, considerable strength and skill is required in the weaver.
Now, the first part of our Invention consists of constructing looms for weaving
such fabrics in such manner that strength and skill are less required by the
person attending a loom than are requisite in hand looms. For this purpose,
in place of the person attending the loom acting on the treadles by his feet to
give motion to the warps by jacquard and other apparatus, and by his hands
to throw in and beat up the weft, the workman is relieved from these parts
of the work, and he has simply to put in and take out the wires; hence, by
reason of his duties being comparatively light, he can weave with greater speed,
though he possesses much less skill and strength than another weaver.
winch handle is applied and put in motion by a labourer, which gives motion
to an axis, on which there are cams or tappets, which give motion to the
treadles to the jacquard apparatus and harness of the loom, also to the apparatus
for throwing in and beating up of the weft, and also to the "take-up." But
in these improvements two shuttles are used, which are simultaneously thrown
across in opposite directions in two separate sheds from two shuttle boxes, one
above the other, but divided one from the other. These improvements are
peculiarly applicable to the old form of hand carpet looms at present in use,
which now require strong and well-skilled weavers to work them.
A

page_text: Secondly, our improvements apply to looms where several narrow piled
fabrics are made side by side in the same loom, and where two wires are used
for making the pile of each fabric. In this case two shuttles are employed
for each fabric, which have toothed racks formed thereto, and they are put in
motion in opposite directions by pinions or toothed wheels. There is a standing
warp, tie warps, and a pile or terry warp, which is actuated by jacquard
apparatus. The two wires for each fabric woven at the same time are carried
by two bars, and the wires are attached to arms fixed to such bars, the wires
being attached through an elastic medium capable of giving way to the beat-
up. The motions are given to the several parts by cams on a rotating axis.
The wires used in both our improvements may have cutting edges formed
at one of their ends in order to cut their way out, as has heretofore been
practised; or in wide fabrics grooved wires may be used when cut pile is to
be made.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we will proceed to describe
the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section, Figure 2 a side view, and Figure 3 a
plan, partly in section, of a hand loom (suitable for weaving terry and cut pile
carpets by the aid of wires), having our improvements applied thereto. The
nature and working of hand looms for the manufacture of pile fabrics of this
description being well understood, it will not be necessary to give a minute
description of all the parts of this loom, which separately are not new; a work-
man acquainted with this class of machinery, aided by the Drawings and
description, will readily understand the working of the parts which are in
combination with our improvements. The loom shewn is arranged to work
with several warps, in which two sheds are opened, one above the other, for the
passage of two shuttles simultaneously in opposite directions, as was described
in the Specification of a Patent granted to the said Christopher Nichols and
Benjamin Burrows on the Thirtieth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-two. The pile warp is placed on separate bobbins, as shewn,
and the yarns or threads which are to form the pile according to pattern are
raised from time to time in proper order by jacquard apparatus, as is well
understood. The linen warps are on three beams. One of the warps is a
central stationary warp; the other two warps work alternately in forming the
upper and lower sheds. Motion is communicated to the series of treadles in
the following manner, in order to give motion to the heddles (for opening
the sheds), to the jacquard apparatus, to the picking apparatus; also for pro-

page_text: tions.
a is an axis supported in bearings
on the side framings, as shewn. a' is a winch handle fixed on the axis a to
give motion thereto. a² is a toothed pinion fixed on the axis a, which takes
into and drives the toothed wheel b', fixed on the crank shaft or axis b, on
which are fixed the cam surfaces b², 6, which give motion to levers b', ',
connected together by links 6 and by links 67 to the back of the batten, by
which a to and fro motion is imparted thereto; and the cam surfaces 62, , are
so formed that the batten is caused to dwell or remain back for some time
after the weft threads are thrown across, in order to afford time for the workman
to introduce a wire into a shed formed for that purpose in the pile warp.
68 is a toothed wheel fixed on the crank shaft or axis b, which takes into and
drives the toothed wheel c¹ fixed on the cam shaft or axis c, on which are fixed
the series of cams (shown separately full size) which act on the series of
treadles to produce the requisite motions to the several parts, as is well under-
stood and clearly indicated by the Drawings. a³, a³, are the cams or tappets
fixed on the shaft or axis a, which give motion to the treadles a', which actuate
the pickers, and the treadles a' are thrown out of action by means of cams a
and levers a', which by forks move the trucks a sideways, and prevents the
cams a³ acting on the treadles at until again required; or in place of having
the picking cams on the shaft or axis a, they may be placed on the crank
shaft or axis b, and the shifting apparatus may be dispensed with, the cams
acting once for each revolution of the axis b.
We will now describe the second part of our improvements.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS B.
Figure 4 shows a vertical section, Figure 5 shows part of an end view,
and Figures 6, 7, and 8 show separate views, of some of the parts on a larger
scale of a loom suitable for weaving several narrow piled fabrics side by side
according to our Invention; the other Drawings show the several cams, full
size, the nature of each of which is written thereon.
The pile or terry warp threads are carried by separate bobbins, and are
actuated by jacquard apparatus, as is well understood. The central standing
warp and the tie warps are carried by bobbins or rollers, and are conducted
over other rollers and weighted, as shewn. The cams which actuate the
harness are arranged to open two sheds in the warp, one above the other, for
the passage of two shuttles in opposite directions through such sheds. The
shuttles have racks formed thereon, and there are toothed pinions carried by
the batten, the teeth of which take into the racks formed in the shuttles, and
the pinions receive motion by means of toothed racks which slide to and fr

page_text: ires are used.
such racks being acted upon by picking levers at each end of
the loom when the shuttles are to be moved across through the sheds. The
arrangement of the racks and pinions for actuating the shuttles will be better
understood on examining Figure 8, which shows a section and part of a front
view of the batten. a, b, are two bars, which slide in guides, as shewn. The
bars a, b, have arms a', 6', affixed thereto, which carry sliding pieces a², 62, to
which the wires are attached, by which arrangement the wires are free to move
to and fro with the sliding pieces, and can thus adjust themselves to the beat-up
of the lay or batten. The bars a, b, are caused to move to and fro and endways,
in order to insert and withdraw the wires at proper intervals in the following
manner: c, d, are cams fixed on the cam shaft or axis, which act on trucks
carried by the levers c', d¹, which are connected by links c², d², to the levers
c³, d³, the upper ends of which pass through slots formed in the bars a, b, and
thus cause them to move to and fro. e, f, are cams, one at each end of the
loom, fixed on the cam shaft or axis, which act on trucks carried by the levers
e', f¹, which are connected by cords or chains e, f, passing over pulleys to
one end of each of the bars a, b, the other ends of the bars being attached
to springs which constantly draw them in the opposite direction to which they
are acted upon.
9
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, we would have it
understood that we make no claim to any of the mechanical parts separately,
nor do we confine ourselves to the precise details herein shewn and described
but what we claim is,―
First, the combination herein described with reference to the Drawings A.
And, secondly, we claim the combination herein described with reference to
Drawings B.
In witness whereof, we, the said Christopher Nickels and James Hobson,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Second day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
CHRISTOPHER NICKELS.
JAMES HOBSON.
MIND
(L.S.)
(L.S.)
13
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE.
CHRISTOPHER NICKELS.
JAMES HOBSON.