IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING RIBBONS AND ORNAMENTED FABRICS
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SMITH, of Coventry, Pattern Drawer, Reader, and Card Stamper, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Smith, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said James Smith, my exors, adññors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Smith, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING RIBBONS AND
ORNAMENTED FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
that I, the said James Smith, shall cause a particular description of the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Smith, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention relates, first, to improvements in weaving ribbons and other
ornamented narrow fabrics woven in similar looms, wherein several ribbons or
narrow fabrics are produced side by side by separate shuttles, and consists in a
mode of applying apparatus to what are called ribbon looms, in order to
introduce ornamenting threads in pattern on the several fabrics produced side
by side in the same loom. And,
Secondly, my Invention relates to a mode of applying certain instruments to
looms when introducing ornamenting threads in fabrics produced in looms.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed, in the
various Figures of which the same letters of reference indicate similar parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The construction of ribbon looms for weaving several ribbons or other
ornamented narrow fabrics side by side in the same loom being well under-
stood, it will not be necessary to enter into a description thereof, and I have
only shewn so much of the parts of a ribbon loom as will enable me to explain
the nature of my Invention.
Figure 1 represents a front view of a portion of the batten of a ribbon loom;
Figure 2 is an end view thereof; and the other Drawing represents some of
the parts separately, full size. The batten a, a, is of the ordinary construction,
and works with several shuttles, as heretofore, each shuttle making one width
of ribbon or other narrow fabric. b is one of the shuttles.
Figure 1 shews so much of the batten as would in working produce four
widths of ribbon requiring four shuttles to work opposite the spaces a¹, a², a³, a¹;
and it will be seen that part of the front of the batten is removed in order to
show the position of the bars which work the ornamenting threads. c, d, e, are
what I call ornamenting bars, and, if desired, more may be used and worked
to introduce ornamenting threads of various colors into the several separate
ribbons or narrow fabrics produced in the loom, as hereafter explained. On
the ornamenting bars c, d, e, there are affixed guides or needles f, f, each
having an eye through it to receive an ornamenting thread, each of such
threads being on a separate bobbin, which is slightly weighted to keep the

page_text: threads sufficiently tight in working. These bobbins are placed at the back of
the loom on axes, and the ornamenting threads used for each fabric are at one
side threof, and pass through guides 9, and then through their respective
guides or needles f, and are made fast to the breastpiece with the warp, and
the ornamenting threads are at one side of the harness which work the warp
threads. The guides or needles f which carry the ornamenting threads being
affixed to the ornamenting bars c, d, e, are, according to my Invention, to be
made capable of certain movements hereafter explained, in order to introduce
the ornamenting threads into their particular one of the various fabrics pro-
duced at the same time in the loom, and to have such ornamenting threads
tied in by the weft thread of the respective fabric. And part of my Invention
relates to the particular manner of working these guides or needles f, when
combined with a loom capable of making several ribbons or other ornamented
narrow fabrics in the same loom.
Another part of my Invention relates to a means of combining certain
instruments used for giving motion to the ornamenting bars c, d, e, for intro-
ducing ornamenting threads when the loom is made suitable for weaving only
one fabric or several fabrics. The ornamenting bars are raised so as to
remove the needles or guides f from between the warp threads at the time the
batten beats up the work, and the bars c, d, e, are lowered when the batten
goes back, so that the ornamenting threads will form part of the lower portion
of the shed through which the shuttle of each fabric passes, consequently, the
ornamenting threads will be tied down on the surface of the fabric by the weft
thread, and according as the ornamenting threads are moved or varied when
they are out of the warp by suitable pattern surfaces, so will be the effect or
pattern produced by the ornamenting threads floating over the warp of the
fabric; and this rising and falling of the bars c, d, e, I accomplish in the
following manner-h is a frame having as many narrow spaces as there are
bars c, d, e, and these spaces act as guides for the longitudinal movements of
the ornamenting bars c, d, e, the frame h consisting of several flat plates sepa-
rating the bars c, d, e, as is clearly shewn in the Drawing. This frame is
guided in its upward and downward movements by the lower end thereof sliding
in a hole formed in the lower bar of the batten; and it should be understood
that although only one frame h is shewn, there is another towards the right-hand
end of the batten, in order to support and lift and lower the other ends of the
bars c, d, e. The frames h have cords i which pass upwards and round pulleys j,
and are then made fast to a bar in the front of the loom, which is not shewn
in the Drawing. By this arrangement, as the batten swings forward to beat
up the weft of each ribbon or fabric, the bars c, d, e, which are down, will be

page_text: raised, so as to cause the needles or guides to come above the warp, and.
allow of their positions being changed, and the swinging back of the batten
will cause such of the bars c, d, e, which are not otherwise supported, to be
lowered, the guides or needles f carrying their ornamenting threads to the
lower part of the shed, so that the shuttle will carry the weft over them.
The bars c, d, e, are also to be so arranged as to allow of having a separate upward
movement one from the other, so that the ornamenting thread of any of the
bars c, d, e, may be raised and kept out of work for any length of time; and
this I accomplish by the spaces in the frames h allowing of the bars to be
kept raised by any suitable means. c, d, e, are cords, there being similar
ones towards the other end of each ornamenting bar; and these cords pass
over pulleys, and are connected together, and are to be raised and kept raised
for any length of time, according to the pattern to be worked; and if the
pattern is extensive and require varied changes, I prefer to operate on
these cords by Jacquard apparatus, as is well understood when working
threads for other purposes in weaving; I have therefore not thought it
necessary to show the same in the Drawing; or the cords for lifting the
ornamenting bars may be worked by other means. The pattern or portion
of a pattern which each ornamenting thread (carried by a guide or needle f)
will produce, will depend on the varied longitudinal movements communicated
to the ornamenting bars c; d, e, and these movements may be accomplished by
any suitable pattern surface allowing of the movements above described. To
the ornamenting bars k are projecting studs or pins, affixed to each bar c, d, e,
and I, 1, are a series of sliding bars, one to each ornamenting bar. These
bars slide and are guided in a flame m, affixed to one end of the batten;
and these bars I have each a stem n affixed thereto, with a connecting rod o
screwed through its lower end, so as to allow of adjustment; these screw
connecting rod having each an eye, through which one of the pins or studs
passes freely, thus allowing the bars c, d, e, to which the studs or pins k are
On
affixed, rising and falling, as is indicated by red dotted lines in Figure 1.
each of the bars is affixed a stud p, carrying a friction wheel, which works
in a groove cut or formed in the barrel or cylinder q, which turns on axes or
necks at q', as is shewn. The barrel q has a friction band r, as is shewn, to retain
it from turning excepting when forced round by the driver acting in the teeth
of the ratchet wheel. The grooves for governing the pattern are to be cut or
formed around the barrel or cylinder according to the pattern- desired to be
obtained, and of a width according to the distances, the ornamenting threads
are to be moved across the warp threads of the fabric at particular parts of the
patterns.
s is a lever carrying a driver s' constantly pressed towards the

page_text: ratchet teeth, and it is prevented moving too bigh by the cords, and motion
is communicated to the lever s, so as to allow it to descend at the time when
the treadle for working the Jacquard apparatus is trod down, in the following
manner-t is a lever which is to be moved upward at its right-hand end by
the act of treading down the treadle of the Jacquard apparatus or otherwise.
This lever will give motion to the lever, which will raise the cord u, which is
attached to the spring w, the lower end of which is made fast to the framing,
as is shewn, and a cord x is affixed to the upper end of the spring w and to
the levers, such cord a passing over a pulley x¹; hence, when the cord u is
raised the lever s will be allowed to descend, and when the foot is removed
from the treadle the spring w will raise the lever s, and move the barrel or
cylinder partly round, and thus bring up another part of the pattern grooves of
the cylinder to govern the positions of the needles or guides f. The bars are
worked in the following manner :-y, y, are levers moving on an axis affixel
to one of the swords of the batten; these levers are respectively connected to
the levers by means of links or connecting rods by pin joints, as shewn.
(1), (2), are cords affixed to each of the levers y, which are guided by
pulleys,, to the Jacquard apparatus, there being a spring (3) to each cord (1),
(2), as is shewn; hence, the movement of the cards of the Jacquard acting
on the instruments connected to the cords need not be exact, as the springs will
allow for any slight irregularity of the width of the groove in the pattern
cylinder. The Jacquard apparatus is to be so worked that when the bars are
to be moved as far as their respective grooves will allow them to go towards
the right-hand, the cord (1) of the particular bar is to be raised, and
the cord (2) of the same bar to be slacked, and the reverse is to be the action
when any of the bars are to be moved as far as they will go in the opposite
direction.
Having thus explained the nature of my Invention, as applied in combination
with a loom for weaving several ribbons or other ornamented narrow fabrics
at the same time, I would wish it to be understood, that I do not confine
myself to the precise arrangement shown, as the parts may be varied so long
as ornamenting bars with needles or guides fare combined with a batten of
a loom, making several ribbons or narrow ornamented fabrics at the same
time, such ornamenting bars having the requisite up and down and longi-
tudinal movements communicated to them.
And in respect to the second part of my Invention, I would remark, that it
will be evident that when ornamenting bars are applied to any description of
loom, whether to weave one ornamented fabric or more than one ornamented
fabrics at the same time, that the same may be acted on by the bars 7, and the

page_text: parts n, o, and k, for working the ornamenting bars, and be found more useful
(when actuated by suitable pattern surfaces) than any other arrangement for
working such description of ornamenting bars.
In conclusion, I would wish it to be understood, that I do not claim any
of the parts separately, and the construction of the looms to which my
improvements may be applied may be varied. But what I claim is,-
First, the mode of ornamenting ribbons or other ornamented fabrics where
several are made side by side in the same loom at one time, by combining in
such loom ornamenting bars c, d, e, with suitable guides or needles, and
apparatus for giving motion thereto. And,
Secondly, I claim the mode of combining the sliding bars 7 with ornamenting
bars by means of the parts n, o, and k, as above described.
And I also claim the governing or controlling the movements of the orna-
menting bars c, d, e, by means of Jacquard apparatus.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and forty thro
Enrolled the Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-three.