IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING AND CRAPING HAIR POR THE MANUFACTURE OF CHIGNONS, WIGS, AND BUCH LIKE, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Alfred William Clarke and Roderic
Flower Donisthorpe, both of Leicester, in the County of Leicester,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING AND CRAPING HAIR
POR THE MANUFACTURE OF CHIGNONS, WIGS, AND BUCH LIKE, AND IN
MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE."
Sealed the 14th. July 1874, and dated the 13th May 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Alfred William
Clarke and Roderic Flower Donisthorpe at the Office of the Com-
missioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th May 1874.
We, THOMAS ALFRED WILLIAM CLARKE, and RODERIC FLOWER
DONISTHORPE, both of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING
AND CRAPING HAIR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CHIGNONS, WIGS, AND SUCH LIKE,
AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE," to be as follows:-
At the present time chignons, wigs, and other such like articles are
made up from tufts of hair woven into a kind of fringe, and this weaving
up of the tufts of hair is effected entirely by hand. The tufts are taken
one by one and one of their ends is inserted between two or more cords.

page_text: or wires and is by hand plaited or twisted up around them in a figure
of 8 pattern; by this means one end of each tuft is held by the cords
whilst the other end projects out and forms a fringe. Or the tufts are
in some cases held at the centre by the cords whilst both their ends
project from the cords and form fringes, or it may be that all the tuft is
plaited in so as to form a crape.
The main object of our present Invention is to expedite the weaving
up of tufts of hair in this manner. For this purpose the cords employed
are passed through eyes in levers or other apparatus, each acted upon
by a cam on a revolving shaft so as alternately to raise and lower the
cords in like manner to the warps of a loom. The tufts of hair which
are to be tied in by the cords are taken one by one and slipped into a
clip or clasp which forms as it were a shuttle for passing the end of the
tuft to and fro between the cords as they are alternately raised and
lowered. Motion is given to the clip by a rod or arm which is free to
turn on a pin joint somewhat in rear of the point at which the tufts are
tied in between the cords, and the arm is swung to and fro on this pin
joint as the cords are raised and lowered to pass the end of the tuft
between them, and as the end of the tuft is taken up by the cords it
slips through the clip which thus keeps a uniform tension upon it and
effects a firm tieing in of its end.
The cam shaft for working the warp levers has motion given to it
from a treadle, handle, pulley, or otherwise, and the oscillating shuttlo
also derives motion from the same. By this arrangement all that the
operator has to do is to insert the tuft at the required distance from one
of its ends into the clip and then to work the treadle or other driving
mechanism and the tieing in, weaving, or craping will be effected auto-
matically; much time will also be saved and a better article produced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Alfred William Clarke and Roderic
Flower Donisthorpe in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 13th
November 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WC, THOMAS
ALFRED WILLIAM CLARKE and RODERIC FLOWER DONISTHORPE, both
of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Thomas Alfred William Clarke anḍ
Roderic Flower Donisthorpe, Her special license that we, the said
Thomas Alfred William Clarke and Roderic Flower Donisthorpe, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Thomas Alfred William Clark and Roderic Flower Donisthorpe, our
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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN WEAVING AND CRAPING HAIR FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CHIGNONS,
WIGS, AND SUCH LIKE, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE USED FOR THIS PURPOSE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Thomas Alfred William
Clarke and Roderic Flower Donisthorpe, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 immediately.
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Alfred William Clarke,
on behalf of myself and the said Roderic Flower Donisthorpe, 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:-
At the present time fringes of hair such as are used for making up
into chignons and wigs and for other such like purposes are made from
tufts of hair woven or plaited by hand into a kind of fringe. The tufts
are taken one by one, and one of their ends is inserted between two or
more cords or wires and is by hand plaited or twisted up around them in
a figure of 8 pattern. By this means one end of each tuft is held by
thic cords whilst the other end projects out and forms a fringe, or the
tufts are in some cases lield at the centre by the cords whilst both their

page_text: ends project from the cords and form fringes; or it may be that all the
tuft is plaited in so as to form a crape.
The main object of our present Invention is to expedite the weaving
up of tufts of hair in this manner. For this purpose the cords employed
are passed through eyes in levers or other apparatus, each acted upon by
a cam on a revolving shaft so as alternately to raise and lower the cords
in like manner to the warps of a loom. The tufts of hair which are to
be tied in by the cords are taken one by one and slipped into a clip or
clasp which forms as it were a shuttle for passing the end of the tuft to
and fro between the cords, as they are alternately raised and lowered.
Motion is given to the clip by a rod or arm which is free to turn on a
pin joint somewhat in rear of the point at which the tufts are tied in
between the cords, and the arm is swung to and fro on this pin joint as
the cords are raised and lowered to pass the end of the tuft between
them, and as the end of tho tuft is taken up by the cords it slips through
the clip which thus keeps a uniform tension upon it and effects a firm
tieing in of its end.
The cam shaft for working the warp levers has motion given to it
from a treadle, crank, handle, pulley, or otherwise, and the oscillating
shuttle also derives motion from the same. By this arrangement all
that the operator has to do is to insert the tuft at the required distance
from one of its ends into the clip and then to work the treadle or other
driving mechanism, and the ticing in, weaving, or craping will be
effected automatically; much time will also be saved and a better article
produced.
Fringes manufactured as above described may be used for a great
variety of purposes.
In order that our Invention may be fully understood, we have shown
in the Drawings hereunto annexed a machine constructed in the manner
above described.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the machine; and Figure 2 an elevation in
section.
;
In these Figures a, a, are the cords or wires which form the warps.
Two warps only are shewn, but the machine may, if desired, be arranged
to work with a greater number of warps. b, b, are bobbins upon which
the warps are wound. From these bobbins the warps are twisted around

page_text: pins c so as to be held by them and pass downwards. and under a
weighted pulley d, and then over a guide pulley e and through eyes
formed in levers fby which they can be raised and lowered alternately.
As the warps are taken up in weaving the weighted pulley rises, and
when more warp is required the warps are released from the pins c and
the weighted pulleys allowed to descend and draw off a fresh supply of
warp from the bobbins b, the warps are then again secured to the pins c
and the operation of weaving is resumed.
-
up
The warp levers f turn. upon a fulcrum f¹ and have a rising and falling
motion given to them by means of cams g formed at the ends of a
cylinder upon the axis h. Upon the circumference of the cylinder is a
cam groove k for giving motion to the clip shuttle, as herein-after
described. The form of one of the cams g is shown by dotted lines in
Figure 2; the other cam g at the opposite end of the cylinder is similarly
formed, but its position is such that one warp lever shall be when
the other is down. The. axis is driven by a loose band 7 from the
driving shaft m. When the axis is to be driven a pulley n carried by
a lever n¹ is caused to descend and tighten the band; this is effected by
depressing a treadle o, from which passes a rod o¹ having a nut upon it
which bears upon the top of a projection from the lever; so long as the
rod o' is held down by the treadle the axis h continues to revolve, but
when the treadle no longer draws the rod downwards the lever n¹ is
raised by the spring o², thereby slackening the driving band and at tho
same time bringing a break on the end of the lever against the periphery
of a wheel on the axis hand at once arresting its motion. The several
parts above described are shewn in this position in the Drawings. p is
the clip shuttle in which the ends of the tufts to be worked in with the
warps are held. A sectional view of this shuttle is shewn separately at
Figure 3. The form of the shuttle in plan view is seen at Figure 1, it
has a lid pressed downwards by a spring p³, as seen in Figure 3. When
the lid is raised the end of a tuft is inserted into the shuttle and the lid
is allowed to close down on to it and hold it with sufficient strength to
carry it to and fro but yet allow it to be drawn out from the shuttle as
.it becomes worked in with the warps. The race q upon which the
6. shuttle rests is divided into two parts with a space between them through
which the warp threads pass, as shown in the plan view, Figure 1, an
end view of one of these parts of the race is also shewn at Figure 4.
The back end of the shuttle is of a curved form and has a hooked pro-

page_text: 2"
jection upon it. The back of the race is formed to a corresponding
curve and is also suitably formed to hook over the back of the shuttle
To move the shuttle to and fro a forked driver is used turning upon a
centre at and receiving a to-and-fro motion by the cam groove k.
The forks of the driver are not both in contact simultaneously with the
shuttle in order that when one arm of the fork has moved the shuttle to
one extremity of its travel a partial backward movement may be given
to the fork so as to move this arm out of the way of the warps and allow
the small reed or sley to beat up before again moving the shuttle. 8 is
'the small reed or sley for beating up, it is carried by a sliding rod 7 and
is worked to and fro by a lever actuated by a cam №² on the cam shaft h,
as seen in Figure 1. The work as it is produced is taken up by a pair
of rollers s, the lower one of which has upon its axis a ratchet wheel s¹,
into the teeth of which spring ratchets or pawls s² engage; these pawls
aro mounted in a block carried by an arm pivotting upon the axis of the
wheel. The block has a to-and-fro motion given to it by a connecting
(rod 8, the end of which embraces an eccentric pint on the end of the
shaft h. The pin is carried by a slide on the boss of the pulley wheel,
and can by moving this slide be set more or less eccentric to the shaft so
as to cause the work to be taken up at a slower or quicker rate. The
slide can be moved to and fro by a lever u turning at one end on a
centre at u¹, and at its other end capable of being sprung into one or
other of the holes u² formed in the side of the pulley. v is a friction
clip embracing the ratchet wheel to prevent its moving either backwards
or too far. The fringe as it passes from between the take-up rollers & is
led over a guide pulley and wound around a roller w which is turned by
a weighted cord, as shewn at Figure 1. When the weight has run down
it can be wound up by turning the crank handle w¹, the part of the
roller on to which it is wound being free to turn in this direction
without moving the part of the roller upon which the fringe is wound';
when the cord has thus been wound up it again acts by means of the
spring pawl and ratchet to turn the roller w and wind up the work on
to it.
2
In order to facilitate the insertion of a tuft of hair into the clip
shuttle, this shuttle when at rest on one side of the race comes below
the end of a lever x. To open the shuttle the treadle is moved by the
heel to raise the rod o¹, a nut upon the rod then turns the lever and
causes the end of the shorter arm to act upon the rear end of the lid and

page_text: turn the lid upwards. Two threads are used for one of the warps. The
attendant inserts the end of a tuft between these threads and into the
clip shuttle, and allows the lid of the shuttle to close upon it and to
hold it; the other end of the tuft is laid under the spring y, by which it
is retained during the time that the other end is being worked up into
the warp. The attendant then depresses the treadle to set free the
shaft hand drive it. The shuttle is thus passed two, three, or more
times between the warps, as is desired, and if a portion of the end of the
tuft still remains held by the clip shuttle it may be drawn out from it by
the attendant and placed under the spring y. If it is desired that this
end shall be on the same side as the fringe the attendant then stops
the machine, again opens the shuttle, inserts the end of a fresh tuft into
it and again sets the machine in motion when the same operation is
repeated.
We would state that although in the machine shewn by Drawings
annexed the warp' threads are raised and lowered by means of levers,
other mechanism may be employed for this purpose.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that we claim,-
1. The combined arrangement of machinery for weaving hair, sub-
stantially as herein-before described.
2. The employment of a clip shuttle or clip holder to hold one end of
a tuft of mohair or other hair and pass it to and fro between two or
more warp threads to tie it in therewith, substantially as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Alfred William Clarke,
have hereunto set my hand and scal, this Thirteenth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-four.