IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gaetano Bonelli, of Milan, in the Kingdom of
Lombardy, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS."
Sealed the 24th July 1860, and dated the 15th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gaetano Bonelli at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
February 1860.
I, GAETANO BONELLI, of Milan, in the Kingdom of Lombardy, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
My Invention of improvements in machinery for weaving figured fabrics
relates to certain novel arrangements and construction of mechanism, whereby
I am enabled to dispense entirely with the ordinary pierced pattern cards of
the jacquard apparatus, and consequently I dispense with the operations of
reading and preparing these cards for the loom; and instead of perforated
pattern cards, I employ a thin sheet or band of metal, or some material coated
or covered with metal, and on this I trace or draw with insulating compound
or preparation, the pattern intended to be produced on the woven fabric; or
I cut out a metallic pattern, and fix it in any convenient manner on an
insulating surface. This metallic pattern sheet or band is placed on a roller
or cylinder, to which motion is from time to time communicated, as required,
[Price 8d.]

page_text: and as the weaving operation proceeds, so as to bring new parts of the pattern
in succession into contact with the other apparatus. Immediately above this
metallic pattern sheet or band are mounted in an insulating comb a number
of thin metal plates, each of which is separated from the other, and is con-
nected by means of covered electric wires with an electric or galvanic battery,
and also with an electro-magnet, composed of a bar of soft iron enveloped in a
coil of covered wire. In front of the frame carrying the electro-magnets is a
vibrating frame, in which are mounted a number of short horizontal iron bars,
called armatures, and corresponding in number to the metal plates, and to the
electro-magnets. These short horizontal bars are moveable horizontally in
their frame, and are provided with heads at both their ends; and they are
arranged in such a manner in their frame that there is an armature opposite
the end of every electro-magnet. The armature frame is provided in front
with a perforated plate, through the holes in which the armatures project
when not acted upon by the magnets. Opposite the front ends of the armà
tures are arranged the horizontal needles of the jacquard apparatus, and which
are usually acted upon by the perforated cards, which in this machine are
dispensed with, and their office of selecting the needles is performed by, the
perforated plate of the armature frame.
The operation of the several parts is as follows:-The series of thin metal
plates is let down on to the metallic pattern band, so that the points of the
plates may be made to touch its surface. Immediately one of these plates
comes in contact with the metal pattern the electric circuit is complete, and
the electro-magnets are magnetized by the battery, and when the armature
frame is brought up to the magnets, all the magnetized magnets will act on
the armatures, and hold them back, so that when the frame is moved forward
again the perforated plates of the armature frame will present a number of
open holes like the holes of a perforated jacquard card, and the end of the
jacquard needles will consequently enter therein and leave the hooked ends of
the jacquard harness in a position to be lifted when the "griff rises. Those
armatures on the contrary which have not been acted on by the magnets (in
consequence of the electric circuit not having been completed by the thin
plates not having come in contact with a metallic portion of the pattern), will
fill up or project from the holes in the perforated plate, and consequently will
act like the unperforated surface of the ordinary pattern cards, and will select
and push back the needles and wires of the jacquard, so that they will not be
lifted when the jacquard rises. The pattern warp having thus been pulled.up
by the griff of the jacquard, the shuttle is thrown; then the pattern warps are
let down again, and the metallic pattern sheet or band is caused to move

page_text: forward the distance required for another shoot of weft, and the same
operations are repeated.
The above arrangement of parts relates solely to looms for weaving figured
fabrics of one color. When it is desired to weave in various colors, those
parts of the pattern which are intended to be made of different colors must be
insulated so that the warp threads of one color only may be operated upon at
the same time. This object is effected by superposing successively, one above
the other, metallic patterns representing each a particular color. Each of
these metallic patterns is insulated from the contiguous ones by means of. a
layer of some insulating substance, such as varnish, and communicates with a
metallic band placed at the side of the metallic pattern sheet or band,.. and
running throughout its whole length. Every color of the pattern then has a
lateral metallic band, which represents it. One of the poles of the battery
communicates successively with each of the lateral metallic bands, and as they
are all insulated the circuit will not be complete except in those parts of the
pattern representing the color corresponding to the lateral metallic band with
which the pole of the battery is in contact. This done, only the proper warp
threads corresponding to a particular color will be lifted by the griff for the
passage of the shuttle. When one color has been selected, the pole of the
battery is changed to the metallic band corresponding to and communicating
with those parts of the pattern which represent another color, and so on in
succession until all the colors of the pattern have been selected. In some
cases, for the reduction of the pattern, I employ sheets crossed with lines by
means of a machine, which draws the lines in both directions of varying widths
at will.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Gaetano Bonelli, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GAETANO
BONELLI, of Milan, in the Kingdom of Lombardy, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Gaetano Bonelli, Her special license that I, the said
Gaetano Bonelli, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others

page_text: as I, the said Gaetano Bonelli, 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 law-
fully 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 MACHINERY FOR WEAVING FIGURED FABRICS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Gaetano Bonelli, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 Gaetano Bonelli, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of improvements in machinery for weaving figured fabrics
relates to a novel construction and arrangement of mechanism whereby I am
enabled to dispense with the use of jacquard cards, and of all the apparatus or
operations required for the reading and preparing of these cards from an
original pattern or design. For this purpose instead of these cards a single
plate of the same dimensions as one of these cards is employed.
This plate
has openings or perforations made in it corresponding in number to the
horizontal needles of the jacquard apparatus. These openings or perforations
are stopped or closed when required by means of small iron rods, which are
drawn forward at suitable times by means of electro-magnets, but when these
small rods are not drawn by the electro-magnets the openings or perforations
in the plate will be left open. The insulated wires of the coils of the electro-
magnets are connected respectively to one of a series of thin metallic plates
which come in contact with the pattern, the said pattern being for that purpose
painted or drawn upon a flexible metallic sheet with an insulating varnish, or
the design may be composed of a sheet metal pattern fixed upon an insulating
layer or surface. In order to prevent induction I wind the insulated wire of
the coils of neighbouring electro-magnets in opposite directions, and arrange
the magnets in such a manner that the positive pole of one magnet shall be
next to the negative pole of its neighbour.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a diagram, representing in side
elevation the principal working parts of the apparatus connected together in

page_text: working order. A is the perforated plate which performs the office of the
jacquard cards; the small horizontal rods b are armatures of the electro-magnets
C, and are mounted in the traversing frame 1, f. The rods bare severally pro-
vided with a small head or button d, and are arranged exactly in front of or
opposite to the horizontal needles e of the jacquard apparatus. These rods b
with their heads are capable of passing freely through the perforations in the
plate A (see Figures 2 and 2, which are partial sectional views of this part of
the apparatus drawn upon a larger scale). On the plate A being slightly
lowered, which movement takes place at certain periods (as shewn at Fig. 2"),
the heads of the small rods or armatures b, or a portion of them, will be
prevented from passing through the perforations in the plate, and those which
are outside the plate will, by covering the adjacent openings, cause the plate
at such covered parts to act in the same manner as a plain card. The arma-
tures bare supported horizontally in the framing f, f, which allows of their
moving in the direction of their axes. At each shoot of the weft the frame:f
moves backwards and forwards, carrying with it the plate A, and presents the
extremities of the rods or armatures b to the adjacent poles of their respective
electro-magnets C, Fig. 1; at the same time small springs suitably, arranged
for the purpose ensure contact between the armatures and the electro-magnets.
On the frame f, f, moving back with the plate A towards the needles e of the
jacquard, those electro-magnets which are magnetized by the electric or
magnetic current, will attract and hold their armatures or rods b, the heads of
which will then be caused to pass inside the plate A (see Figs. 2 and 2"); the
electro-magnets which are not magnetized allowing their armatures to remain
outside the plate. At this moment the plate A will be slightly depressed, (as
shewn at Fig. 2), in order to prevent the heads of the armatures.b which
have remained outside from passing through the perforations, against the edges
of which they will then be caused to bear and act upon the horizontal needles ó
of the jacquard apparatus. On the contrary the heads of the armatures, or
rods b which have passed inside the plate A, will leave the corresponding
perforations in the plate free or open, and the jacquard needles oppositento
these perforations will enter therein and will not be acted upon.
Good gav
(see the
The electro-magnets are brought into the circuit in the following :manner!:
One of the ends of the wire coils of each of the electro-magnets
plan view Fig. 3) communicates with a common wire c, which ends nt one: of
the poles of the battery c or magnetic apparatus. The other end of the wire
of the coil of each electro-magnet is attached to a metallic plate in, there is the
same number of metallic plates m as there are magnets and armatures ab, and
all these plates m are brought to a point at their lower extremitys The plates

page_text: m are arranged in a line and parallel to each other between the teeth of an
insulating comb n, n. At a certain period of the operation the lower pointed'
extremities of these plates m bear or rest upon the pattern sheet P, which is
mounted upon a cylinder Q, below and according to whether the plate m
(taking the operation of one plate as an example of the whole series) touches
the pattern upon a metallic or insulated portion of its surface, the electro-
magnet C corresponding to that particular plate will be magnetized or not, and
consequently the corresponding armature b will act or not upon the horizontal
jacquard needle e lying opposite thereto.. The second pole of the battery or
magnetic apparatus communicates with the metallic pattern sheet, by means
of the metallic plates m* (Fig. 3) which bear upon the metallic edges or
bands of the pattern.
33
The circuit breaker B forms an important part of the apparatus. Its office
is to break the electric.circuit temporarily, and at a particular moment, every
time it is necessary to bring the plates m into contact with the metallic sur-
The object of
face of the pattern P, or to remove them from such contact.
this temporary, rupture of the electric circuit is to prevent the evolution of an
electric spark between the plates m and the pattern P, whereby the latter
This circuit breaker B is brought into action by
Sle
would be liable to injury.
R
the motion of the traversing frame f, f, and serves to make and break the
circuit at the proper time. It will be seen that the circuit breaker consists of
two spring. plates B and B*, one placed above the other, but a short distance
The electric current must pass through the plates B and 13* to com-
apart.
plete the circuit; but this cannot take place until the two plates are brought
together. To effect this latter object the plate B is provided with an inclined
plane, against which a small roller o carried by the traversing frame / is brought
when the frame moves towards the magnets, and thus the spring plate B
being forced into contact with the under plate B*, the circuit is completed.
291050011
The operations and motions of the several parts are, however, so timed that
the plates m are brought into contact with the metallic pattern P before the
Abo
circuit is completed with the apparatus B, B*. The armatures or rods b
having been selected, according as the plates m may or may not be in contact
with an exposed metallic part of the pattern, the frame and plate A are
carried forward and caused to operate upon those horizontal needles of the jac-
quard, which are opposite the protruding ends of the armatures, and by thrusting
aside out, of, the reach of the griff certain of the hooked wires q, the proper
5391204415
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threads only of the warp will be drawn up by the harness q*, when the griff r
9 2 913
60 291
rises in the usual manner. The movement forward of the frame f. which is by
preference, effected by the rise of the griff, as shewn at Fig. 1, will carry away

page_text: the roller o from the inclined plane of the spring plate B, and thus break
contact and break the electric circuit. The plates m may then be lifted off
from the metallic pattern without the risk of producing an electric spark.. On
the return of the frame 1, the plate A will rise to free the armatures (it being
caused to traverse over an inclined plane), and the readjustment of the arma
tures preparatory to forming the next shed will be effected by, the electro-
magnets. The apparatus or mechanism for actuating the cylinder Q, which
carries the metallic pattern must be so arranged as to admit of changing the
speed and direction of motion of this cylinder with facility, so that, any variety
of pattern and fabrics of any fineness may be woven in the same loom without
difficulty. The pattern may then be easily changed and woven of various
sizes, as may be desired. Patterns consisting of one color may be produced in
two ways; first, by metallizing the pattern upon a sheet, and, second,,. by
tracing the pattern with some insulating composition upon a metallized sheet.
The above arrangement of parts relates solely to looms for weaving figured
fabrics of one color. When it is desired to weave in various colors, those parts
of the pattern which are intended to be made of different colors must be insu-
lated, so that the warp threads of one color only may be operated upon at the
same time. This object is effected by superposing successively, one above thé
other, metallic patterns representing each a particular color. Each of these
metallic patterns is insulated from the contiguous ones by means of a layer of
some insulating substance, such as varnish, and communicates with a metallic
band placed at the side of the metallic pattern sheet or band, and running
throughout its whole length, every color of the pattern then has a lateral
metallic band which represents it. One of the poles of the battery commu-
nicates successively with each of the lateral metallic bands, and as they are all
insulated the circuit will not be complete, except in those parts of the pattern
representing the color corresponding to the lateral metallic band with which
the pole of the battery is in contact. This done, only the proper warp threads
corresponding to a particular color will be lifted by the griff for the passage of
the shuttle. When one color has been selected the pole of the battery is
changed to the metallic band corresponding to and communicating with those
parts of the pattern which represent another color, and so on in succession,
until all the colors of the pattern have been selected. In some cases for the re-
duction of the pattern I employ sheets crossed with lines by means of a machine,
which draws the lines in both directions of varying widths at will; or the
pattern may be composed of moveable types set up in the same way as print-
ing types. The metallization of the pattern may be effected by the galvano-
plastic or electro-deposition process.

page_text: Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for
Weaving Figured Fabrics," and having explained the manner of carrying the
same in to effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent,
as aforesaid,
-01
"First, the mechanical contrivance, herein set forth, for selecting and holding
back and retaining in a working position the armatures for the purpose abové
explained. And note, it is important that the apparatus herein set forth, or
some equivalent contrivance should be used for making and breaking the
electric circuit, so that no electric spark may be evolved when the plates m
are brought into contact with or withdrawn from the metallic pattern P. I
also deem important the mode, herein-before described, of forming the coils
of the electro-magnets and of arranging the latter, so as to prevent induction.
Secondly, I claim the means, herein set forth, for producing patterns in
divers' colors.
vishtey
Pic
In witness. whereof, I, the said Gaetano Bonelli, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Mani an
.
14.
Witness,..
ey FRED. WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane,
London.
ING. GAETANO BONELLI. (L.S.)