IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS AND IN. APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Merrylees at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th June 1872.
I, JAMES MERRYLEES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING ORNAMENTAL FABRICS AND IN. APPARATUS
THEREFOR," to be as follows, that is to say :-
'
•
This Invention has principally for its object to facilitate the economical
production by power of certain kinds of ornamental fabrics hitherto not
(it is believed) satisfactorily produced except in the hand loom. Zebra
dresses and Paisley shawls are examples of the class of fabrics referred
to, which are also known as "covered work," and in which fabrics a run
of two or more differently colored weft shots go to make up each weft
line on the surface, the different wefts being made to appear by the
action of a harness operated by jacquard or other pattern mechanism.
The Invention is applicable to either the single-faced or double-faced
varieties of these fabrics.
In weaving such goods the best result is obtained by what is known
as "shot-about" weaving, in which the shuttles are all thrown to one

page_text: CALL O againy we
both sides. The application of shifting shuttles on both sides renders a
power-loom inconveniently complicated and liable to derangement, but
with a shifting box on one side only an inferior result is obtainable
(either in the hand or power loom) by weaving "two shots about," in
which case each separate shuttle is thrown twice or across and back
again before another shuttle is thrown.
1
By the present Invention the "shot about" fabric is producible in a
power loom arranged for two shots about, that is to say, with a shifting
shuttle box on one side only of the loom. The object is attained by
weaving the fabric in a folded or two-ply form, that is, so that two
thicknesses of the fabric are produced together in the loom. These plies
or thicknesses may be united at both sides or at one side only, being in
the latter case capable of being afterwards opened out into a fabric of a
width which is double the breadth occupied in the loom, such opened
fabric having perfect selvedges at both sides. The warps are shed or
raised in such order as to cause each weft to be interwoven into one ply
of the fabric when being sent across in one direction, and so as to be
interwoven into the other ply when returning. This action of the warps
is obtainable by suitably perforating the jacquard cards, and if separate
cards are cut for the lower fabric they must be cut so as to raise all the
warps of the upper fabric in addition to the warps raised for the lower
fabric. To make quite sure of the two fabrics not being improperly
united by accidental threads a rod or rods may be worked by the pattern
mechanism or otherwise to raise the upper warps or to keep down the
lower warps as required; or heddles or other known equivalent appli-
ances may be used for the same purpose. The cards may be cut so that
one half the holes appertain to the upper warps and the other half
to the lower warps. The number of cards may however be reduced
one half and the breadth of the pattern doubled by making the whole
of each card act first on one set of warps and then on the other. To
obtain the result last referred to each horizontal wire is made with two
eyes, and there are two sets of vertical wires or tails and two lift boards
or branders, one of which last is raised for the upper fabric and the
other for the lower fabric. The respective branders and wires or equi-
valent parts can be arranged to form the pattern surface on whichever
side of each ply or fabric it is desired by placing them so as to act
negatively. or positively as regards the lifting action, as is well under-

page_text: stood. In some cases a pair of subsidiary tails may be arranged in
connection with each vertical tail, these subsidiary tails being formed
with hooks and with the hooks of each pair facing each other, and they
engage with the principal tails accordingly as a horizontal movement
of a frame or hole through which they pass puts one or other of cach
pair into a position to do so. This arrangement may be used alone or
in combination with the two branders, and in the latter case cach
hole of the card will be made to act on two threads of the upper warps
and also on two threads of the lower warps, again doubling the breadth
of the pattern.