IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Orr, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Weaving Foreman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS."
Sealed the 22nd May 1857, and dated the 24th November 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Orr at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
November 1856.
I, JOHN ORR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Weaving
Foreman, do hereby declaro the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE FABRICS," to be as follows, that is to
say:
This Invention relates to the weaving and arranging "fur," "pile," or
"chenille "material, suitable for being afterwards longitudinally fastened to
the surface of another cloth by an adhesive paste, or for being sewed or
stitched thereto, or for being woven into another cloth by a second process
of weaving.
The novelty and superiority of this Invention relate more particularly in
the first part of the process to the first weaving and arranging the fur or
pile, and in the second process of connecting it to a compact cloth by means
of adhesive paste or glue. The plan pursued in the common process of
manufacture in weaving various colors of weft on a thinly set gauze warp,

page_text: as in ordinary or unfigured gauze weaving, each occupied dent of the reed
is being made to contain three threads, two of which are put into plain heddles,
whilst the third thread, called the "wheep," is put into what weavers call a
doup and standard, which enables the weaver to make the thread rise at
every shot, and alternately on the right and left sides of the two plain threads
already mentioned.
In putting the warp into the reed the weaver proceeds thus:-The first
three threads are drawn into one dent of the reed, and the succeeding three
threads into the following dent. A number of empty dents are then left,
and other two dents filled in the same manner as the first two; then the
same number of empty dents are again left, and so on till all the warp be
drawn into the heddles and reed.
The number of empty splits left between the filled ones regulates the length,
or as it is sometimes called the depth of the fur or pile, the cutting up taking
place in the centre of every empty space. Thus, if after filling two dents the
weaver leaves nine empty ones, the knives used in cutting up the cloth, as
hereafter to be mentioned, will act on that part of the weft that would have
been covered by the threads in the fifth dent of each space if it had been
filled: The little fringes on each side of the two gauze dents will together
amount to the same length as the space occupied by the nine empty dents.
Having arranged the gauze warp according to the foregoing plan, the various
colors of weft are woven in as follows:-Suppose the design or pattern wanted
to be produced upon a finished carpet, rug, or other article be a light colored
scroll figure on a dark ground, with the addition of a sprig composed of one
or more colors, the aforesaid pattern to occupy one square foot of surface.
A fac-simile of the pattern desired is painted on lined paper, having as many
lines to the inch as there will bo rows of fur to the inch on the finished fabric.
Before beginning to weave, the gauze weaver cuts off the first line, say, from
the right-hand side of the design paper, which strip of paper he passes through
an empty dent of his reed, so that it will be colateral with his warp. And
having been provided with weft of all the colors painted on lined or design
paper afore-mentioned, he proceeds to weave them exactly as they succeed
each other on the strip of paper mentioned as having been put through the
reed. When he has got to the end of the said strip of paper he will have
woven twelve inches of cloth. He moves it backwards on his warp twelve S
inches and goes over it as he did before. This prooess he repeats according
to the length of fur that is wanted to be prepared for the second process.
already mentioned. If thirty yards of fur be wanted, the weaver has to go
over the pattern strip already referred to ninety times.

page_text: The same plan has to be followed with the second strip cut from the right
side of the lined or designed paper, and so on with all the succeeding strips.
When finished, each strip will have been represented by colored wefts ninety
times or thirty yards of, gauze cloth.
Suppose six lines have been laid down on every inch of design or lined
paper, there will have been woven seventy-two pieces of gauze cloth, each
thirty yards long.
It will be a convenience in the after processes if the gauze weaver be
caused to leave about fifty inches of warp without weft at each end of each
of the thirty yard pieces of gauze cloth. This will supply what weavers call a
thrum for the second processes. Each piece of gauze cloth is now subjected
to the cutting machine, wherein a series of knives placed at intervals on a
cylinder are made to cut it up in strips, each knife operating on the weft
in the centre of the space formed by the empty dents of the reed, as afore-
mentioned. Attached to this cutting machine there is a grooved metal
cylinder, over which the strips are made to pass, and they (the strips) being
held at great tension are by these means folded up or collapsed, which has
the effect of bringing the two fringes together, and making each strip & single
fringe of fur or pile. The seventy-two pieces of gauze cloth already mentioned
will by the cutting machine have become changed to seventy-two bundles of
strips of fur or pile.
It may now be understood that by taking one strip from the bundle formed
by the piece of cloth woven according to the strip of design or lined paper
cut from the right side of the complete design or pattern, and one from the
next, and so on in regular succession to the left side, that these being made
straight and each kept in its place, they together will represent the scroll
pattern and sprig already referred to. Supposing the breadth of carpet cloth
wanted to be threo feet, it may be understood that this arrangement of strips
repeated three times will give the required breadth. It may also be under-
stood from the foregoing that the extent of pattern may be made more or less
than one square foot at pleasure.
If one square yard of pattern be desired, three times the quantity of strips,
or two hundred and sixteen, will be required on design paper, and cousequently
three times the amount of gauze cloth, namely, two hundred and sixteen
pieces (of, say, thirty yards) will require to be woven. On the supposition that
carpet cloth of a yard wide is desired, the next operation consists in straight-
ening and arranging the fur in the manner already referred to, by taking one
strip from each bundle in their proper order, as already referred to, so as to
form the pattern spoken of as being originally on design or line papor, it

page_text: being of great importance that each strip of fur should be colaterally correct
in relation to all the others.
It has been found advantageous in the first weaving to have a straight
line drawn across the design or lined paper containing the pattern to be
worked from by the gauze weaver, besides weaving in the colors as they occur
on each strip of paper. When he comes to this line or guide mark ho will
put in one shot of weft differing from all the other colors, which shot is called
the guide line. In arranging the fur, as already referred to, previous to being
wound on a beam, it has to be seen that these guide marks shall be placed
side by side, thus making sure that the relative parts of the pattern will bo
in their proper places. When this has been accomplished, namely, having
the guide marks all in a line, it has been found necessary to fix them in a
clasp composed of two pieces of wood with a surface of wire card teeth. The
two pieces being firmly screwed together acquire a sufficient hold of the fur
to prevent the guide lines from getting out of their places, or getting awry
whilst the fur is being wound on to the beam. The fur has to be clasped at
intervals of a few yards until the entire length be wound on to the beam.
Another important matter to be attended to in the beaming process is to
prevent twists from getting on to the individual strips of fur. This is accom-
plished by stripping with the hand, and by causing it to pass over a grooved
cylinder, similar to that beforo mentioned in connection with the cutting
machine. When the entire length of the fur has thus been wound on to the
beam free from twists, and with the guide marks all in their proper places,
the fur may be considered ready for the second process of being attached to a
compact cloth. The chief difference between the already described process of
gauze weaving and fur arranging, and that about to be explained as the now
system, consists in this, that whereas the warp threads in the old or already
known system are operated upon by heddles, only the warp threads in the new
process are operated upon by a harness and jacquard machine or other figuro
working apparatus, and the gauze cloth produced will be a figured cloth, and
will contain and show, although not in correct proportions at the first stage,
the samo pattern or design that is wanted to be produced on the finished pilo
cloth, whether for carpeting or any other purpose. By the old process the
ganze cloth is striped across with variously colored wefts, as afore-mentioned,
whereas in the presently proposed plan the gauze cloth is a figured fabric,
containing and showing the pattern or design wanted to be produced on the
finished pile fabric, whether for carpets, rugs, or any other article usually
made in pilo fabrics. In some cases it will be advantageous to work the gauze
as a single cloth, with a ground weft & figure or spotting wefts introduced

page_text: so as to form a pattern; & in other cases it will be more advantageous to
work the gauze on the principle of a two-plied damask, either with or without
additional spotting wefts, according to the nature of the pattern. In working
the two-ply fabric, the principle or mode of moving the warp threads and
wefts is similar to that which applies to the weaving that well-known cloth
called two-plied Kidderminster carpeting, with this difference, that in the
fabric now proposed each ply is a gauze cloth of the same texture as that
already described as belonging to the old process. Let it be supposed that a light
colored scroll pattern on a dark ground, with an additional sprig composed of
one or more colors, is wanted to be produced, and that it will occupy one square
foot of surface. This it will be seen is a renewed supposition of the pattern
treated of. When describing the already known process, the foregoing is one
of the kind of patterns that will be advantageously managed by the two-ply
damask system of weaving. In this case the weaver will draw into his
harness heddles and reed double double the quantity of threads put in, in the
already practised system, namely, he will put six threads in every used dent of
his reed. The three threads to the right side of each dent may be said to
belong to the under cloth.
The pattern or design on lined paper (referred to in the previous descrip-
tion) is transferred from the lined paper to millboards (if a jacquard machine
be the one used), in such a manner that, by the ordinary process of weaving,
the light colored weft will form the scroll figure in the upper cloth and the
ground in the under cloth; and in like manner the dark colored weft forms
the ground in the upper cloth and the scroll figure in the under cloth, and the
additional sprigs, composed of one or more colors, are woven into the upper
and under cloths at intervals accordingly as they have been painted on lined
paper, and thence transferred to millboards or other pattern setting apparatus.
The gauze weaver in commencing to weave first weaves a few inches of the
cloths, making the upper and under entirely apart from each other, that is to
say, they will be separate cloths from side to side.
The weaver then winds on his beam about fifty inches of warp without a
shot, this will be found useful in separating the two cloths in the cutting
machine, in a manner hereafter to be mentioned. The weaver then proceeds
to weave, say thirty yards of what may be called two-ply gauze damask cloth
with additional weft for sprigs, which cloth will shew the scroll figure and
sprig on each surface. The weft or wefts to form sprigs may be either
worked by a common shuttle or shuttles thrown across the web in the usual
manner, and caught into the warp where sprigs are to be formed, or they

page_text: (the spotting wefts) may be worked by what weavers term circle or sewing
machines.
At the end of the thirty yards afore-mentioned the weaver again winds on
his beam about fifty inches of unwoven warp, and finishes the piece of cloth
by again weaving, say, three inches of two separate cloths, to be useful as
before mentioned. The foregoing having been accomplished, tho piece of cloth
is ready for cutting into strips by the cutting or ripping machine already mon-
tioned in the description of the old process. It may be understood from the fore-
going details, that when the double or two-ply gauze cloth is cut up into strips,
those that belonged to and previously formed tho upper cloth becomo detached
from those which formed the under cloth, and as they pass from beneath the
knives of the cutting machine each system or series of strips may be wound
on a beam by itself; the effect of which will be that the beam which receives
the strips belonging to the upper cloth will contain a series of fur stripes,
showing a pattern with a light colored scroll figure on a dark ground, whereas
the beam which receives the strips belonging to the under cloth will shew dark
colored scrolls on a light ground.
The sprigs already spoken off will be colored the same on each beam,
but differently placed if the pattern to be produced be different from the one
hitherto treated of, and of such a naturo that single cloth weaving will be the
more advantageous mode. In this case the quantity of warp will be the same
as is used in the old process, but subject to the harness movement and figure
mode of working. The piece after being finished is cut up in a manner
similar to that used in the old process; but being wound on to a beam as it is
being cut up, such beam will contain, like those afore-mentioned, a series of
strips, containing a pattern moro or less extensive, according to the number of
strips woven in the breadth of gauze cloth. In preparing fur or pile for car-
petting by the old process with a pattern of the ordinary size, the manufacturer
cannot economically make less fur than will be sufficient to form several
hundred yards of carpet cloth, by reason of the great number of pieces of
gauze cloth necessary to form a complete pattern. By the new process a
short length, say, of twenty or thirty yards, can be conveniently and economi-
cally made, by reason of the complete pattern being contained in one piece of
gauze cloth, thus saving the manufacturer the risk of a large and bad stock.
Another considerable drawback to the old system arises from the constant use
of the strip of painted paper by the guaze weaver, to enable him to stripe his
cloth correctly, and as the several pieces necessary to form the completo
pattern will be usually worked by different weavers, who cannot be expected to

page_text: measure all alike, the result will be a degree of confusion in the after arrange-
ment of the fur for the second process.
In the new system no strip of paper or measuring is required, as the
jacquard machine will cause the colored wefts to go into their proper places
with unerring exactitude. Another serious drawback in the old system is felt
when stretching and arranging the furs.
For a pattern twelve inches across it is necessary to take a strip of fur from
a considerable number, say, seventy-two different bundles (as formerly men-
tioned), which seventy-two strips of fur have to be stretched to their full
length of, say, thirty yards.
Each strip must be in its proper place in relation to the pattern; each strip
has also to be made free from twists, and then all of the strips have to be
fixed in clasps with the guide marks in a line, which clasping and setting has
to be renewed at intervals.of, say, three or four yards, as the fur is being
wound on a beam to be ready for the second process. All this selecting,
stretching, arranging, setting, clasping, and beaming of fur is done away with
in the new process, on account of the pattern or section of the pattern being
complete in one piece of gauze cloth, which in the cutting machine get wound
on to a beam in a completely arranged state, and altogether ready for the
second process, namely, fixing it to a compact cloth by an adhesive paste, or
by sewing or stitching it thereto, or for being woven into another cloth by a
second process of weaving.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Orr in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 22nd May
1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
OBR, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Weaving Foreman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reigh, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Orr, Her special license that I, the said John Orr, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Orr, my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein

page_text: expressed, should and lawfully might mako, use, exorcise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILE
FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, tho said John Orr, by
an instrument in writing under my baud and seal, should particularly describo
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 John Orr, do hereby declaro the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to bo performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement in
writing, that is to say :-
My Invention relates to certain improvements in weaving and manufacturing
piled fabrics; and in order that the same may be properly understood, I shall
now proceed to particularly describo certain modifications under which my
improvements may be judiciously carried out in practice. In the old or
ordinary system or mode of weaving "fur," "pile," or "chenillo." it is manu-
factured in a "plain loom," or one furnished with ordinary gauzo heddles and a
single shuttle lathe. In my Invention, however, the "fur," "pile," or "chenille"
is woven in that description of loom technically known among weavers and
manufacturers as a "harness loom," in which the pattern or figure in the
fabric is produced by a jacquard machine or other equivalent figure working
apparatus. In this modification the lathe or lay is constructed with two or more
shuttle boxes and shuttles, by means of which wefts of different colours may be
thrown through the shed, and thereby give a greater variety of colour to the
woven fabric, according to the requirements of the pattern. The mechanical
arrangement, by means of which the threads composing the warp are raised or
depressed to form the shed, is similar to that ordinarily used in weaving figured
gauze, which consists of a compound arrangement of heddles and harness.
Thus, by means of my improvements, the warp threads are operated upon or
actuated by means of "barness" or "jacquard" machinery, and the gauze cloth
thereby produced is a figured fabric, corresponding in pattern to the predeter-
mined design for which the "harness" and jacquard apparatus has been
arranged. These improved fabrics may be woven in various ways, for example,
one description Biay be manufactured as a single cloth, having a ground weft
and figure or spotting wefts thrown in, so as to produce the desired pattern or
design.
Another modification in producing these improved fabrics consists in weaving

page_text: the gauze according to the system or mode pursued in the manufacture of two-
plied damask. In arranging the loom for the production of fabrics according
to this mode, provision may be made, if necessary, for throwing in spotting
wefts as the exigencies of the predetermined pattern or design may require.
In weaving the two-ply fabrics, the system or mode of actuating the warp
threads is similar to that observed in weaving the fabric technically known as
two-ply Kidderminster carpeting, except that in my improvements each ply is a
gauze cloth, resembling the texture of that produced in the ordinary process of
weaving pile fabrics of the description herein-before referred to; differing also
in this, that warp threads of the two plies of cloth do not pass from one ply
to the other, such exchange being confined to the different coloured wefts.
If, for example, a two-coloured pattern of the class known as damascene is
wanted to be produced, the most advantageous way of doing it will be the two-
ply method of, weaving, and the mode of procedure will be as follows:-The
weaver will draw into his harness heddles and reed doublo the number of
threads that would have been necessary in the single ply system of weaving,
one half of which will be used in the formation of the upper ply of cloth, and
the other half in the formation of the under ply of cloth. The design or
pattern having been transferred from the lined paper to the pattern cards
or other figure setting mechanism in the usual manner; it will be so arranged
that each shed through which the shuttles are made to pass will be formed
partly of an opening in the warp threads belonging to the upper ply, and partly
of an opening in the warp threads belonging to the under ply, which openings
will be so disposed that the colour of weft which forms the ground of the
pattern in the upper ply of cloth will form the figure in the lower or under ply
cloth; and in like manner the other colour of weft will form the figure in tho
upper ply and the ground in the under ply. The piece of double cloth, when
woven, will be found to show the same pattern on its upper and on its under
surfaces so far as regards outline, but each surface will be a reverse of the other
in regard to the position of the colours. It will also be found that the cloth
so woven is really a two-plyed cloth, interlaced or held together by the wefts at
those parts of the pattern where they pass from the one ply to the other. In
addition to and in connection with the damascene pattern now treated of,
additional figures, composed of one or of several colours, may be introduced by
the ordinary figure setting mechanism, and the use of what are called spotting
wefts. These wefts may be woven into the fabrics, either by means of ordinary
shuttles thrown across the shed in the usual manner, or by means of the
mechanical arrangement technically known among weavers as "circle"
sewing macbines. When the predetermined length of cloth has been woven,
or

page_text: the fabric is then ready for the cutting machine, by means of which the
two-ply cloth is separated into two distinct sets of fur strips. The cloth which
formed the upper ply will consist of a set of fur strips, showing a light coloured
pattern on a dark ground. On the contrary, the cloth forming tho under ply
will present a dark coloured pattern on a light ground. Thus these improved
fabrics may be woven either in a single ply cloth, in which caso the various
coloured wefts are woven in the cloth or caused to float over the surface,
according to the nature of the pattern or design to be produced; or they may
be woven similar to a three-ply damask cloth, in which arrangement the wefts
are made to pass through the sheds forming the upper, middle, or lower plies
of cloth, as required. In order to obtain a greater variety of colours in the
finished fabric the fur cloth may be woven in different portions or sections of
the pattern, which may bo afterwards united to form the complete design.
For example, if tho finished fabric is to form a rug in which the border is to be
in one series of colours it would bo advantageous to weave the border at one
operation and the centre portion at another. This system or mode of weaving
different portions of fabrics, and subsequently combining differently coloured
or variously designed parts into one fabric, is also applicable to the manufacture
of various descriptions of piled goods.
Another modification to which my improvements may be applied is the
production of "fur," "pile," or "chenille," suitable for tho manufacture of
fabrics in which the figures forming the pattern or design aro thrown up
in relief from the ground of the fabric. For example, in the class of fabrics
used for waistcoatings, there is one description of such material in which a
velvet figure stands in relief upon a satin ground. In weaving "fur" or "pile"
suitable for the manufacture of this description of piled fabrics, the weft must
be floated over or under the warp at those parts of the pattern that are to be
below the level of the "fur" or "pile" in the finished fabric. The subsequent
operations of cutting the strips of "fur" or "pile" in a suitable machine, and
finally fastening them to a length of cloth or foundation fabric, having been
referred to in the former part of this Specification, it is unnecessary to enter
into further details relative thereto, except to say that although the number of
threads used in the formation of each strip of "fur" is usually six, yet it
is sometimes advantageous to use only four threads, and sometimes only two
threads in the formation of each strip of "fur," "pile," or chenille. It may
also be noticed, that although it is usual to cross the wheep thread at every shot,
yet it is sometimes an advantage to cross it only at alternate shots, or even at
intervals of several shots. Such minor details, however, will be regulated by
the nature of the fibre for which the fur is being prepared, that is, having

page_text: reference to its desired bulk or solidity. By means of my improvements a
very important advantage is gained by the manufacturer, inasmuch as he is
enabled by this system of weaving to manufacture a single piece of a fabric
either for experimental or commercial purposes, whilst by the ordinary mode
not less than 50 times the quantity could be made with economy. The other
advantages of its being less circuitous, while at the same time it is more simple
and accurate than the old system, hath been made to appear.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict
myself to the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to
describe or refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without
deviating from the principles or main features of my Invention; but what
I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the system or mode of weaving or manufacturing and arranging
"fur," "pile," or "chenille" material by means of harness and jacquard
machinery, or other figure working or producing apparatus, as herein-before
described.
Second, the system or mode of weaving by harness and jacquard machinery,
or other figure working or producing apparatus, figured fabrics in one, two, or
three plies, suitable for being subsequently cut up into strips and cemented,
woven, or otherwise secured to a foundation fabric, as herein-before described.
Third, the system or mode of weaving by harness and jacquard machinery,
or other figure working or producing apparatus, figured fabrics shewing floral,
or other devices or patterns, and which fabrics shall be suitable for being.
subsequently combined by re-weaving or otherwise, to form a predetermined
pattern, composed of various colours or standing up in relief above the level of
the groundwork of the foundation fabric.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Orr, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of May, One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-seven.