IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS IN WARP MACHINERY
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wilkins, of Leicester, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS IN WARP
MACHINERY."
Sealed the 6th July 1865, and dated the 13th January 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wilkins at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
·January 1865.
I, WILLIAM WILKINS, of Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS IN
WARP MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of looped
fabrics in warp machinery. For these purposes, in order to obtain peculiar
effects in the looped fabrics produced in ordinary warp machinery, each fabric
according to my Invention is composed of two or more textures, substances,
or thicknesses of fabric, which are in parallel stripes of greater or less widths,
according to the effects desired to be produced. The yarns or threads are
usually wound on two beams, on one of which the thinner warp threads are.
wound, and on the other beam the thicker warp threads are wound, but where

page_text: more than two differences of texture in a fabric is desired then more beanis
may be employed. The warp threads used in producing the different stripes
or widths of fabric may be varied in color according to the character of
ornamentation desired to be obtained. All the warp threads are. similarly
looped and worked on the needles, consequently the whole fabric consists of
like looping, although by using different thickness or substance of warp
threads opposite any desired number of needles and thinner warp threads
opposite any desired number of the neighboring needles, and also by diversi-
fying the colors of the warp threads used, very peculiar effects will be produced
to the observer, and the fabrics will to the eye appear as if the work produced
by the thicker warp threads were superimposed on the parts of the fabric pro-
duced by the thinner warp threads, and this characteristic is heightened by
having warp threads of different color at the edges of the stripes or portions
of work produced by the thicker warp threads than what are used in the
other part of the thicker work; and the looping of the warp threads is such
that the work produced by the thicker threads may be made to appear as if
narrow or wide braids had been sewn on to a previously made ground fabric,
and by using the same tie or looping to both the thicker and the thinner warp
threads the stripes of thicker work will assume a vandyked or scolloped edged
work on the ground fabric, the deepness of vandykes or scollops depending on
the number of times the same looping is repeated in one direction before a
change is made in order that the looping may be produced in the reverse
order. The order of looping the warp threads may be varied, but in all cases
only a single bar of guides is required to be used for the thicker and thinner
warp threads, all being as before stated worked on their needles in the same
manner and producing ordinary vandyke looped fabrics, varied however by
reason of the employment of thicker and thinner warp threads in sets
according as it is desired to make the work produced in narrower or wider
stripes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 30
by the said William Wilkins in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WILKINS, of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 35
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Wilkins, Her special licence that I, the said William
Wilkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Wilkins, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS IN WARP MACHINERY," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said, William Wilkins, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of 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 I, the said William Wilkins, 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 improvements in the manufacture of looped
fabrics in warp machinery. For these purposes, in order to obtain peculiar
effects in the looped fabrics produced in ordinary warp machinery, each fabric
according to my Invention is composed of two or more textures, substances,
or thicknesses of fabric, which are in parallel stripes of greater or less widths,
according to the effects desired to be produced. The yarns or threads are
usually wound on two beams, on one of which the thinner warp threads are
wound, and on the other beam the thicker warp threads are wound, but where
more than two differences of texture in a fabric is desired then more beams
may be employed. The warp threads used in producing the different stripes
or widths of fabric may be varied in color according to the character of orna-
mentation desired to be obtained. All the warp threads are similarly looped
and worked on the needles, consequently the whole fabric consists of like
looping, although by using different thickness or substance of warp threads.
opposite any desired number of needles and thinner warp threads opposite any
desired number of the neighboring needles, and also by diversifying the colors
of the warp threads used, very peculiar effects will be produced to the observer,
and the fabrics will to the eye appear as if the work produced by the thicker

page_text: warp threads were superimposed on the parts of the fabric produced by the
thinner warp threads, and this characteristic is heightened by having warp
threads of different color at the edges of the stripes or portions of work pro-
duced by the thicker warp threads than what are used in the other part of the
thicker work; and the looping of the warp threads is such that the work
produced by the thicker threads may be made to appear as if narrow or wide
braids had been sewn on to a previously made ground fabric, and by using the
same tie or looping to both the thicker and the thinner warp threads the
stripes of thicker work will assume a vandyked or scolloped edged work on
the ground fabric. The deepness of vandykes or scollops depending on the
number of times the sanie looping is repeated in one direction before a change
is made in order that the looping may be produced in the reverse order. The
order of looping the warp threads may be varied, but in all cases only a single
bar of guides is required to be used for the thicker and thinner warp threads,
all being as before stated worked on their needles in the same manner. and
producing ordinary vandyke looped fabrics, varied however by reason of the
employment of thicker and thinner warp threads in sets according as it is
desired to make the work produced in narrower or wider stripes."
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to described the manner of performing the same.
In making each fabric there will in all cases be stripes of fabric produced by
two different thicknesses of threads or yarns in sets side by side, and connected
together into one fabric: These stripes may be of the same width one with the
other or they may be of different widths according to the design or device of
fabric desired to be produced. Generally the body of the fabric will for the most
part be of the thinner threads or yarns, whilst the width or widths of the thicker
parts of the fabric will be comparatively narrow, by which the thinner fabric will
appear to have formed thereon one or more stripes of the thicker fabric which
will appear as a braid or braids, but which thicker widths of fabric will in
fact be the same in texture or looping with the thinner parts of the fabric,
differing only in the thickness of the threads or yarus used in producing the
two parts of a fabric. Ordinarily the thicker threads or yarns are about double
the thickness of the thinner threads or yarns, but this may be varied. It is not
however essential that the stripes or widths of the thicker and thinner fabrics
should be continuous from end to end of a fabric, as by causing the guide bar
to shog a distance equal to the width of the narrow stripes of which a fabric
may be composed, the thicker fabric may be made to appear to be super-
imposed on the thinner fabric in small devices of varied forms. By using
different colors of threads or yarns for the thicker and for the thinner portions

page_text: of a fabric respectively the effects may be greatly diversified, and these effects
may be still more heightened in some cases by using different colored yarns or
threads in the thicker or thinner portions of the fabric, or in both. The power
to produce diversity of effects may in some cases be increased by using more
than two thicknesses of yarns or threads in sets, but generally fabrics produced
according to my Invention' will consist in the use of only two thicknesses of
yarns or threads arranged in sets which respectively produce stripes of thin
fabric and stripes of thick fabric side by side; the rélations of the widths of the
stripes of the thinner fabric to each other and to the stripes of the thicker
fabric produced therewith depends on design, and may be varied to any desired
extent. The tie or order of looping of all the threads of a fabric is the same, but
if desired extra threads may be introduced for special objects as has before been
the case in other warp fabrics. The tie or order of looping may be varied; I
however prefer the following. Supposing the fabric is to be composed of
stripes of thin fabric and stripes of thick fabric, and that the guide bar
is arranged to shog a distance equal to three spaces, the working will be as
follows: When the sinker bar is back "the machine" is run in and the
guides receive an upward movement through between the needles, the guide
bar is moved one space to the left hand, and the guides descend between the
needles; "the machine" is run back, the sinker bar rises and comes forward,
the guide bar moves two spaces to the left hand, the sinker bar descends and
goes back, and at the same time "the machine" is run in; the guide bar is
moved one space to the right hand, the guides rise through between the
needles, the guide bar is then moved one space to the right hand, the guides
descend through between the needles, "the machine" is run out; the guide
bar rests one space of its wheel, the sinker bar comes forward and rises, while
the presser bar comes down and the loops are knocked over the heads of the
needles; the sinker bar descends and goes back, "the machine" is run in,
the guide bar is moved one space to the right hand. This course may be
repeated as many times as desired, and is to be repeated when vandyked edges
to the stripes is desired to be produced; but if a change is to take place in
the next course, then in place of the guide bar being moved one space to the
right hand it will be moved two spaces to the left hand, and the guides will
rise through between the needles; the guide bar is then moved one space to
the right hand, the guides descend between the needles, "the machine" is
run back, the sinker bar rises and comes forward, the guide bar is moved two
spaces to the right hand, the sinker bar descends and goes back, "the
machine" is run in; the guide bar is moved one space to the left hand, the
guides rise up between the needles and move one space to the left hand, then

page_text: descend between the needles; "the machine" is run back, the sinker bar
rises and comes forward, while the presser acts on the beards of the needles,
and the work is knocked over; the guide bar rests for one space of its wheel;
the sinker bar descends and is moved back, "the machine" is run in, and
the guide bar is moved one space to the left hand. This course like the other
may be repeated again and again, but if a change is to be next made, then in
place of the guide bar being moved one space to the left hand it will be
moved two spaces to the right hand. If the two courses above described be
alternately produced in constant succession, the stripes of thin and of the thick
fabric, such stripes would have straight edges, but if a series of each of these
two courses be alternately produced the edges will be vandyked to an extent
depending on the number of each course made in succession. If in place
of moving the guide bar two spaces to the left hand when about to change
from the first-mentioned course to the second-mentioned course, and if in
place of moving the guide bar two spaces to the right hand when about to
change from the second-mentioned course to the first-mentioned course, the
guide bar be moved over a greater number of spaces, the effects of such
changes from one course to the other will materially vary the effects produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilkins, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Tenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
WILLIAM WILKINS. (L.S.)