CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Benyon, of Swinton, near the City of Man-
chester, Manager, and John Warburton Bridge Bowden, of the same
Place, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Sealed the 3rd May 1859, and dated the 13th November 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Benyon and John
Warburton Bridge Bowden at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 13th November 1858.
We, JOHN BENYON, of Swinton, near the City of Manchester, Manager, and
JOHN WARBURTON BRIDGE BOWDEN, of the same Place, Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOOMS FOR WEAVING," to be as follows:-
Our Invention is applicable to the shedding motion or the machinery for
raising and lowering the healds.
It has hitherto been customary to open and close the shed by means of
bottom and top jacks or by tappets and top rollers, connected above and below
to the healds. Now our Invention consists in working the healds from below
by means of bottom jacks or tappet levers of the usual construction, which are

page_text: connected by rods to the lower side of the healds; the healds are secured in
rigid frames, guided at the sides, or in any other convenient manner; by this
means the healds are raised and lowered by the bottom jacks or tappet levers,
thereby dispensing with the top jacks and roller shafts usually employed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Benyon and John Warburton Bridge Bowden in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
BENYON, of Swinton, near the City of Manchester, Manager, and JOHN
WARBURTON BRIDGE BOWDEN, of the same Place, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said John Benyon and John Warburton Bridge Bowden, Her special
licence that we, the said John Benyon and John Warburton Bridge Bowden,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
John Benyon and John Warburton Bridge Bowden, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Benyon and John War-
burton Bridge Bowden, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of our or 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Benyon and John Warburton
Bridge Bowden, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-

page_text: Our invention is applicable to the shedding motion of looms or the
machinery for raising and lowering the healds.
It has hitherto been customary to open and close the shed by means of
bottom and top jacks or by tappets and top rollers, connected above and below
to the healds. Now our Invention consists in working the healds from below
by means of bottom jacks or tappet levers of the usual construction, which are
connected by rods to the lower side of the healds; the healds are secured in
rigid frames, guided at the sides or in any other convenient manner; by this
means the healds are raised and lowered by the bottom jacks or tappet levers
only, thereby dispensing with the top jacks and roller shafts usually employed.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood, and readily
carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, which represents one mode of constructing our improvements.
Figure 1 is an end elevation of the principal parts of a loom to which our
improvements are applied; Figure 2 is a front view, and Figure 3 a plan of
part of the same. In these views a is the crank shaft; b, the tappets ; c, the
treadles, connected to the bottom jacks d by the links e. The foregoing, and
all the other parts requisite to complete the loom which are not more par-
ticularly referred to hereafter, are made in the usual manner.
The frames of the healds or heddles f are made rigid, that is to say, the top
and bottom rails f¹ and f* are connected by wires f³, and the bottom rail f of
each heddle is connected by a rigid forked rod f4 to one of the bottom jacks d.
The heddles are guided at each side of the loom in the slot pieces g, which are
fixed to the adjustable rods h passing through brackets i bolted to the frame
sides. By this arrangement, when the loom is at work the heddles are raised
and lowered to form the shed and the top jacks; or the roller shaft, with the
framing required for supporting them, are dispensed with, thereby greatly
reducing the height of the loom, and economising space, material, and labour
in its construction. Another great advantage is, that by removing the top
jacks or roller shafts, the light in the room or shed is not obstructed, as in
looms of the usual construction.
In the accompanying Drawing we have shewn three pairs of heddles, each
pair working in one slot of the guides g; but it will be apparent that the
number of heddles and slots can be increased or diminished according to the
requirements of the fabric to be woven.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the details given, as the same may be considerably modified

page_text: without departing from the peculiar character of the Invention; but what we
do claim is, the working the heddles of loons by the lower jacks or levers, and
in dispensing with the top jacks or roller shafts usually employed.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Benyon and John Warburton
Bridge Bowden, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Ninth day
of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty nine
J. BENYON.
(L.B.)
JOHN W. B. BOWDEN. (L.S.)
J. BENYON.
(L.B.)
JOHN W. B. BOWDEN. (L.S.)