A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS OR LOOM FOR WEAVING
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Gordon de Luna Byron, of New York,
in the United States of America, but at present of 89, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS OR LOOM FOR WEAVING."-A communication
from abroad by George Merrill, of New York, in the United States
of America.
Sealed the 21st April 1874, and dated the 27th October 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Gordon de Luna
Byron at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th October 1873.
I, GEORGE GORDON DE LUNA BYRON, of New York, in the United
States of America, but at present of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS OR LOOM FOR WEAVING," (a communication
to me from abroad by George Merrill, of New York, in the United States
of America) to be follows :—

page_text: and it consists in a combination of devices for holding and delivering
the warp threads in a peculiar manner, with travelling arms for laying
the weft threads in place, and sliding hooks or needles for interlocking
the warp and weft threads; and it further consists in a novel arrange-
ment of parts for supporting and operating the arms and for holding
and presenting the threads.

page_text: ends of the two spools I pass a cord having its ends connected by a
spiral spring so as to produce sufficient friction on the spools to keep the
required tension on the threads. The warp threads are passed from the
spools, one through each of the holes, and down between the respective
needles and out through the interior of the body. The ring being larger
than the body the threads pass therefrom inwardly at an inclination, and
for the purpose of changing this inclination the ring is made adjustable
vertically. By raising the ring the threads are caused to pass down at
nearer a vertical direction than when it is lowered. To the outside of
the cam ring I attach a spindle to carry the spool containing the outer
weft thread or filling; and I also attach to the ring an upright arm
having at its upper end a short tube which as the ring revolves is carried
around the upper edge of the body outside of the warp threads. The
outer weft thread is passed from spool around a friction rod or stem and
through the tube of arm, so that as the arm is carried around it lays the
thread along on the upper edge of the body outside of the warp threads.
I mount a depending shaft on top of frame, which extends down into
the open central portion or space in the body. This shaft I provide with
a bevil pinion, and connect said pinion by intermediate shafts provided
with bevel gear, with a pinion on the driving shaft, so that when the
latter is turned it not only rotates the cam ring, but the shaft also. The
gearing I proportion so that the ring and the shaft turn at the same rate
of speed, or in other words in equal time. Down through the centre of
shaft and out through one side of the same shaft I make a hole, and to
the lower end of the shaft I attach an arm extending out over the
needles, and with its end turned down outside of the same, so that as
the shaft revolves the arm is carried around over the needles. One arm
I locate a little behind the other arm, so that when the shaft and the
cam ring revolve both arms are carried around past the needles; one arm
immediately after the other arm, both outside of the needles, but one
outside and the other inside of the warp threads. On one arm I place
an eye or thread guide, and through the outer end of the other arm I
form a small hole for the passage of the thread. On the body I mount
a spindle to receive a bobbin, on which I wind the inside weft thread
which is to lock the others together. The thread I pass through a guide
on the frame and then through the hollow shaft and out through
the eye and inward through the hole in the end of arm. As the arm
revolves it lays the thread around outside of the needles between them
and the warn threads.

page_text: The cam groove before mentioned for operating the needles is so
formed and arranged that it depresses the needles in advance of arm and
holds them down while it is passing, then raises them so that their upper
ends are above the thread issuing from arm as it passes, and then
depresses them to their lowest point for an instant, and finally raises
them to their original position, where they remain until the arms again
approach.
The machine being constructed and arranged to work as described the
operation of producing the fabric is as follows:-One arm lays the
outside weft threads around on top of the body against the outside of the
warp threads and above the needles, which are drawn down. The needles
then rise outside of the weft thread until their ends are inside of the
warp threads. While the needles are in this position the other arm lays
the inside weft or locking thread between the needles and the warp
threads inside of the latter. The two weft threads are thus laid on
opposite sides of the warp threads. The needles next descend, and
taking hold of the inside weft thread form loops therein, and draw loops
out between the warp threads over the outside weft thread just laid, and
through loops previously formed in the preceding inside weft thread,"
which first loops remain on the needles until the second ones are drawn
through them as described. At the next revolution of the arms an
outside weft is laid over the loops on the needles against the warp.
threads, and then an inside weft thread laid in place, caught and looped'
by the needles, and the loops drawn over the outside weft just laid, and
through the loops formed in the inside weft thread at the previous revo-
lution, and so on repeatedly.
The fineness of the fabric produced depends, aside from the size of the
threads, upon the size of the needles and their distance from each other.
The tightness of the loops depends upon the distance to which the
needles descend; and for the purpose of regulating this movement the
body of the cam ring may be made adjustable vertically in any suitable
manner so that the distance between the upper edge of the body and the
needle points when the latter are depressed can be regulated at will.
Any suitable take-up device may be applied to the machine for the
purpose of winding up the fabric as it is produced and of keeping the
proper tension on the warp threads.
Two or more pairs of the arms with their attendant bobbins and spools
may be applied to one machine, so that at each revolution two or more

page_text: pairs of weft threads will be laid in place. When this is dono the cam
groove will of course be shaped to correspond so as to operate the needles
for the different arms simultaneously.
When more than one pair of arms are used I propose to place the
bobbins of the inner weft thread on a plate secured to shaft for the
purpose so as to prevent the threads from becoming entangled.
By placing in the machine a ring of such size as to present the warp
threads in a vertical position in line with the needles, and using two or
more cams and pairs of arms arranged to move the warp threads in and
out sufficiently to pass by the ends of the needles, and lay the straight
and the locking weft threads alternately on each side of the warp threads,
I can produce a fabric alike on both sides.
In order to produce a flat sheet of cloth it is only necessary that the
machine should have its needles arranged in a plane instead of a, circle,
in which case of course the cam that operates them, together with the
thread carriers, will be arranged to move to and fro at right angles to
the warp threads, the parts having a reciprocating instead of a continuous
rotary motion. The modification necessary to accomplish this result will
be obvious to mechanics skilled in the construction of such machines,
and therefore need not be specially described.
The great advantage of a machine constructed on this plan is that by.
thus combining the reciprocating needles with a warp frame arranged to
deliver its threads as described the needles in their movements pass
between the warp threads, and are in such a position that the weft and
locking threads can be laid in position by a simple carrier, and the whole
operating of uniting and locking together the threads is performed by
the needles alone without the use of any other devices, the needles and
the mechanism that operates them being the same as is in general use in
knitting machines.
30 SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Gordon de Luna Byron in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 27th April 1874.

page_text: America, but at present of 89, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Gordon de Luna Byron, Her
special licence that I, the said George Gordon de Luna Byron, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Gordon de Luna Byron, 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 term therein expressed,
should and lawfully. might make, usc, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS OR
LOOM FOR WEAVING," a communication to me from abroad by George
Merrill, of New York, in the United States of America, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Gordon de Luna
Byron, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing,
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Gordon de Luna Byron, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings forming a part of this Specification, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to a machine of novel construction for manu-
facturing improved textile fabrics composed of warp and weft threads,
and it consists in a combination of devices for holding and delivering
the warp threads in a peculiar manner with travelling arms for laying
the weft threads in place and sliding hooks or needles for interlocking
the
warp and weft threads; and it further consists in a novel arrange-
ment of parts for supporting and operating the arms and for holding
and presenting the threads.

page_text: The machine is designed to take the place of the complicated and
expensive looms now employed, and to produce a fabric superior to that
formed on a loom.
In machines constructed according to this Invention the weft throad
carriers may have either a continuous rotary motion so as to produce
the fabric in a tubular form so that it requires to be cut open, or a
reciprocating motion so as to produce the fabric in the form of a flat
sheet like an ordinary loom; but in the Drawings I have represented a
machine of the rotary form.
Figure 1 is a top plan view of the machine; Figure 2 is a side elevation
of the same partially in section; Figure 3 is a development of the cam
for operating the needles or looping hooks; and Figure 4 a view of the
fabric produced by the machine.
.
1.
In constructing this machine I first provide an upright tubular body A.
and mount it rigidly on a suitable frame or supports. This body I
surround by a series of vertically sliding needles B mounted closely
together in grooves therein, the upper ends of the needles being hooked
and their lower ends bent outward, or provided with projections, as
shewn. Around the body A so as to turn freely I mount a ring C,
having in its inner face a cam groove a, in which the lower ends of the
needles fit, as shown in Figure 2, so that as the ring is turned around the
groove moves the needles up and down. The groove is made straight
for the greater portion of its length so that only a small number of the
needles are in motion at once, the needles being moved in succession as
the ring is turned around. Around the lower side of the ring C I form
bevel cog teeth b, and on one side of the body I form an arm e, and
mount in said arm a driving shaft D provided with a pinion & gearing
into teeth b, as shewn in Figure 2, so that when the shaft is turned the
pinion revolves the ring C. To the body A. I secure a frame E extending
up outside of the ring C and across above the body, as shewn in Figs. 1
and 2, and in the upper part of this frame I mount a large horizontal
ring F having small holes e made through it at equal distances apart, as
many in number as there are needles B. On top of the frame I mount
a cross bar e¹ provided at opposite ends with two spindles to receive two
spools H, on which latter the warp threads are wound, one half of the
threads on each spool. Around the end of each spool I form a groove,
and around the grooved ends of the two spools I pass a cord having its

page_text: end connected by a spiral spring f, as shown in Figure 1, so as to produco
sufficient friction on the spools to keep the required tension on the
threads. The warp threads are passed from the spools H; one though
each of the holes e and down between the respective needles and out
through the interior of the body A. The ring being larger than the
body the threads pass therefrom inwardly at an inclination as shown, and
for the purpose of changing this inclination the ring is made adjustable
vertically. By raising the ring the threads are caused to pass down at
nearer a vertical direction than when it is lowered. To the outside of
the cam ring C I attach a spindle / to carry the spool I containing the
outer weft thread or filling; and I also attach to the ring an upright
arm J having at its upper end a short tube i which as the ring revolves
is carried around the upper edge of the body A outside of the warp
threads. The outer weft thread is passed from spool I around a friction
rod or stemt and through the tube of arm J, so that as the arm is
carried around it lays the thread along on the upper edge of the body A
outside of the warp threads. In the top of frame Ę I mount a depending
shaft K, which extends down into the open central portion or space in
the body A. This shaft I provide with a bevel pinion k, and connect said
pinion by intermediate shafts / and m, provided with bevel gear, with a
pinion o on the driving shaft D, so that when the latter is turned it not
only rotates the cam ring C, but the shaft K also. The gearing I pro-
portion so that the ring and the shaft turn at the same rate of speed, or
in other words in equal time. Down through the centre of shaft K and
out through one side of the same I make a hole p, and to the lower end
of the shaft I attach an arm L extending out over the needles, and with
its end turned down outside of the same, as shewn in Figures 1 and 2,
so that as the shaft revolves the arm is carried around over the needles.
The arm L I locate a little behind the arm J, so that when the shaft and
the cam ring revolve both arms are carried around past the needles, the
arm J first and the arm L immediately following, both outside of the
needles, but the former outside and the latter inside of the warp threads.
On the arm L I place an eye or thread guide r, and through the outer
end of the arm I form a small hole for the passage of the thread. On
the body A. I mount a spindle to receive a bobbin M, on which I wind
the inside weft thread which is to lock the others together. The thread
I pass through a guide s on the frame, and then down through the
hollow shaft K. and out through the eye ?, and inward through the hole
in the end of arm L, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. As the arm revolves

page_text: it lays the thread around outside of the needles between them and tho
warp threads, as shewn in Figure 2.
The cam groove before mentioned for operating the needles is so
formed and arranged that it depresses the needles in advance of arm J.
and holds them down while it is passing, then raises them so that their
upper ends are above the thread issuing from arm L as it passes, and
then depresses them to their lowest point for an instant, and finally
raises them to their original position, where they remain until the arms.
again approach.
The machine being constructed and arranged to work as described tho.
operation of producing the fabric is as follows:-The arm J lays the
outside weft thread X around on top of the body A against the outside
of the warp threads Y and above the needles which are drawn down.
The needles then rise outside of the weft thread X until their ends are
inside of the warp threads Y, as shown in Figure 2. While the needles
are in this position the arm L lays the inside weft or locking thread Z
between the needles and the warp threads inside of the latter. The two
weft threads X and Z are thus laid on opposite sides of the warp threads.
The needles next descend, and taking hold of the inside weft thread Z
form loops therein, and draw loops out between the warp threads over
the outside weft thread X just laid, and through loops previously formed
in the preceding inside weft thread, which first loops remain on the
needles until the second ones are drawn through them, as described. At
the next revolution of the arms an outside weft is laid over the loops on
the needles against the warp threads, and then an inside weft thread Z
laid in place, caught and looped by the needles, and the loops drawn
over the outside weft just laid, and through the loops formed in the
inside weft thread at the previous revolution, and so on repeatedly.
In this manner a fabric constructed as in Figure 4 is produced consist->
ing of straight warp, threads Y and weft threads X and Z laid alternately
outside and inside of the warp threads, the outside weft threads remaining
straight, while each inside weft thread is looped and loops passed
between the warp threads over the outside weft so as to hold it in place,
and then over or around the loops of the next inside weft thread.
;
The fineness of the fabric produced depends, aside from the.size of.
the threads, upon the size of the needles and their distance from cach
other. The tightness of the loops depends upon the distance to which.
.'

page_text: the needles descend; and for the purpose of regulating this movement
the body or the cam ring may be made adjustable vertically in any
suitable manner, so that the distance between the upper edge of the
body and the needle points when the latter are depressed can be regu-
lated at will.
Any suitable take-up device may be applied to the machine for the
purpose of winding up the fabric as it is produced and of keeping the
proper tension on the warp threads.
Two or more pairs of the arms J, L, with their attendant bobbins and
spools may be applied to one machine so that at each revolution two or
more pairs of weft threads will be laid in place. When this is done the
cam groove will of course be shaped to correspond so as to operate the
needles for the different arms simultaneously.
When more than one pair of arms are used I propose to place the
bobbins of the inner weft thread on a plate secured to shaft K for the 1
purpose so as to prevent the threads from becoming entangled.
By placing in the machine a ring of such size as to present the warp
threads in a vertical position in line with the needles, and using two or
more cams and pairs of arms J, L, arranged to move the warp threads
in and out sufficiently to pass by the ends of the needles, and lay the 2
straight and the locking weft threads alternately on each side of the
warp threads, I can produce a fabric alike on both sides.
In order to produce a flat sheet of cloth it is only necessary that the
machine should have its needles arranged in a plane instead of a circle,
in which case of course the cam that operates them, together with the 2
thread carriers J and L, will be arranged to move to and fro at right
angles to the warp threads, the parts having a reciprocating instead of a
continuous rotary motion. The modification necessary to accomplish
this result will be obvious to mechanics skilled in the construction of
such machines, and therefore need not be specially described.
The great advantage of a machine constructed on this plan is that by
thus combining the reciprocating needles with a warp frame arranged to
deliver its threads as described the needles in their movements pass
between the warp threads, and are in such a position that the weft and
locking threads can be laid in position by a simple carrier, and the whole 3
operation of uniting and locking together the threads is performed by

page_text: the needles alone without the use of any other devices, the needles and
the mechanism that operates them being the same as is in general use in
knitting machines.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim is,―
First. In combination with a series of reciprocating needles arranged
to operate as described, the frame F or its equivalent arranged to guide
and deliver a series of wrap threads at an angle to the line of recipro-
cation of said needles between the needles, substantially as set forth.
Second. Such frame or guide F when made adjustable in relation to
the needles, whereby the angle at which the warp threads are presented
to the needles, may be varied as set forth.
Third. In combination with a series of reciprocating needles and a
warp frame or guide arranged to deliver its threads at an angle to the
line of reciprocation of said needles a weft thread carrier J or its
equivalent, said parts being arranged to operate in connection with cach
other, substantially as described.
Fourth. The combination of a series of reciprocating needles, a warp
frame or guide F, arranged to deliver its threads at an angle to the line
of reciprocation of said needles, and a weft thread guide J with a locking
thread guide L, the said devices being arranged to operate in relation to
cach other, substantially as herein described.
Fifth. The tubular shaft K, in combination with the thread carrier L,
arranged to move within the circle of needles and deliver the thread in
front of the needles, as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Gordon de Luna Byron,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of
April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-four.