AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE HARNESS USED FOR WEAVING
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Pierre Benoit Chapuis, of 3, Place des Repentirs
Guilliotiere, Lyons, France, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE HARNESS USED FOR WEAVING."-Partly a communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Pierre Benoit Chapuis at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th October 1854.
I, PIERRE BENOIT CHAPUIS, of 3, Place des Repentirs Guilliotiere, Lyons,
France, do hereby declare the nature of. the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE HARNESS USED FOR WEAVING " to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object so to form harness for weaving purposes
that the same leaf or set of harness may be used at different times with the
same number of warp for weaving different widths of fabrics, and consists of
combining the parts of a set of harness by weaving them together at top and
bottom, and in such manner as to be run on to the top and bottom cords; by
which means, a leaf or set of harness may at one time be used at its greatest
width, and at other times at reduced widths, by puckering up the woven parts
of the harness on the top and bottom cords. In each case a different reed is
used, according to the width of fabric.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Pierre Benoit Chapuis in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th April 1855:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PIERRE
BENOIT CHAPUIS, of 3, Place des Repentirs Guilliotiere; Lyons; France, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Pierre Benoit Chapui, Her special licence that I, the said Pierre
Benoit Chapuis, my executors; administrators; and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Pierre Benoit Chapuis, 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, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE HARNESS USED FOR WEAVING," partly a com-
munication, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Pierre Benoit
Chapuis, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Pierre Benoit Chapuis, 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):
This Invention has for its object so to form harness for weaving purposes
that the same leaf or set of harness may be used at different times with the
same number of warp for weaving different widths of fabrics, and consists of
combining the parts of a set of harness by weaving them together at top and
bottom, and in such manner as to be run on to the top and bottom cords; by
which means, a leaf or set of harness may at one time be used at its greatest
width, and at other times at reduced widths, by puckering up the woven parts
of the harness on the top and bottom cords. In each case a different reed is
used, according to the width of fabric..

page_text: 1
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a front view ofarloom arranged for weaving harness;; Figure 2
is a plan; and Figure 3 is a side view. In these Figures only. so much of the
loom is shewn 'as is required for explaining the manner in which the harness is
woven. a, a, are bobbins or rollers on which the warp: threads a are wound;
b,.b, are cords proceeding from the jacquard apparatus, which open the different
sheds in the warp, as is well understood by weavers; c is the work beam on
which the harness is rolled as it is woven; d, dare shuttles carrying the weft,
which is of the description of thread usually used in the construction of harness;
e andel are the two shuttle races, in which the shuttles are propelled by the pickers
ffffg,g, are oscillating shuttle boxes, having each three compartments,
1, 2, and 3. Connected with the compartments 2 are pickers h, h, linked to
the picker ff.. Motion is given to the pickers by cords i, i, which are attached
at one end to the pickers, and at the other end to the wheel k, which is worked
by a treadle in the ordinary manner, or by other, convenient means. I, I, are
the battens; m is a lever, which is worked backwards and forwards at intervals
by the jacquard apparatus or otherwise, and which works the shuttle boxes 9,9;
n, n, are two vertical rods, to assist in forming the eyes of the harness, as will
be hereafter explained; they slide in suitable guides, and are worked up and
down by the jacquard apparatus 0, 0, are horizontal rods of iron; they turn on
axes at one end, and are moved up and down at the other end by jacquard.
These bars are for the purpose of keeping the harness threads distended. "The
weaving is conducted in the following manner :-First, a short length of
tubular fabric is woven on each warp by passing the shuttles backwards and
forwards through their respective warps, which are suitably separated into
sheds by the jacquard apparatus, as will be well understood by weavers.
During this operation, the shuttles work. simultaneously, one in front of the
other, and at each shoot they each pass from one of the outside shuttle boxes
through the warp, through one of the compartments of the first moveable
shuttle box g, and into the compartment 2 of the second, and from these back
again to their first positions; and I would here remark that in all the sub-
sequent motions, whenever the shuttles pass through the warps, the warps are
divided by the jacquard, so as to form a tubular fabric. When a short length
of the tubular fabric, has been woven, 'and when both shuttles are in the com-
partments 2 of the boxes g, the position of the shuttle boxes is reversed by the
jacquard, or otherwise, and the shuttle which was most distant from the work
ぜ

page_text: becomes the nearest; they are then shot back, and they thus loop their threads
together, and the position of the loop is determined by one of the rods n, round
which the threads lap. Just before the shuttles return, after forming the loop,
the horizontal bars are raised by the jacquard, or otherwise, so that the
shuttles may pass under them; 'then the bar's o drop, and at the next motion
the shuttles pass over them, to again enter the compartments 2 of the moveable
shuttle boxes. At the same time that the warp was separated by the jacquard
for this last shoot, the rod n, round which the weft has been already lapped, is
raised out of the loop, and the other rod n is lowered. The shuttle boxes are
now moved back again to their first positions, and the shuttles are shot back,
passing through their respective warps under the bars o, and again loop their
threads, but not in the same place as before, because the rod n has been
changed, as before mentioned. One perfect eye has now been formed, and the
subsequent ones are formed by repeating the motions already described.
When the
Figure 4 shows on a large scale a portion of the finished harness, by which
the manner in which the eyes are formed will be clearly seen.
harness is in use, cords are passed through the tubes a², a², and it will be seen
that the harness may be placed on these cords in an extended or contracted
state, according to the degree of fineness of the fabric to be woven; thus the
same harness will weave fabrics containing a different number of warp threads
to the inch.
Having thus described the nature of my improved harness, and the best
manner with which I am acquainted of constructing the same, I would have it
understood that I do not confine myself to the exact arrangement of harness
shewn and described; but what I claim is, the so arranging the harness of
looms that it may be extended and contracted, as described, to render it
suitable for weaving fabrics containing different numbers of warp threads to
the inch.
In witness whereof, I, the said Pierre Benoit Chapuis, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
D. AUG. COROUT.
PIERRE BENOIT CHAPUIS. (L.S.)