AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Thomas, of Belfast, in the Kingdom
of Ireland, Power-Loom Factory Manager, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Thomas at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th September 1853.
I, EDWARD THOMAS, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING "
to be as follows:-
The beam or roller for taking up the cloth from the front of the reed
in the power loom as it is woven has hitherto been made of wood, and
covered with emery, pounded glass, or sand. In weaving by power
there requires to be one tooth of the motion wheel taken up for each

page_text: shot of weft thrown across the warp, but as linen yarn requires to be
much more heavily paced in the process of weaving than cotton, the
beam now in use has been found too weak and smooth to take up
the linen cloth with regularity, and this has hitherto been an insur-
mountable difficulty to the proper weaving of linen by power. To
obviate this inconvenience I propose to employ, in lieu of the emery
roller, a metallic or other roller formed with teeth or ribs upon its
periphery, the action of which will be (as it slowly rotates) to take up
the cloth without permitting it to slip, and thereby to keep the warps at
a proper tension.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Thomas in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EDWARD THOMAS, of Belfast, in the Kingdom of Ireland, Power Loom
Factory Manager, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Thomas, Her special
licence that I; the said Edward Thomas, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Thomas, my ex-
ecutors, 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 Invention for AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOOMS FOR WEAVING," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Thomas, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly

page_text: 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 Edward Thomas, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement (that is to say):
This Invention relates to an improvement in the means of taking up
linen cloth as it is woven, and thereby of holding the warps to the
required uniform tension.
The beam or roller for taking up the cloth from the front of the reed
in the power loom as it is woven has hitherto been made of wood and
covered with emery, pounded glass, or sand, and this has been found
equal to the ensuring of a positive take up motion in loomis employed
for weaving cotton cloth. When weaving by power there requires to
be one tooth of the motion wheel taken up for tach shoot of weft
thrown a cross the warp, but as linen yarn requires to be much more
heavily paced in the process of weaving than cotton, the beam now in
use has been found too weak and smooth to take up the linen cloth
with regularity, and this has hitherto been an insurmountable difficulty
to the proper weaving of linen by power. To obviate this inconvenience
I propose to apply to looms used for weaving linen cloth, in lieu of
the emery roller, a metallic or other roller furnished throughout its
periphery (or that part of its periphery which is presented to the cloth)
with teeth or ribs formed, by preference, by grooving the roller with a
cutting tool longitudinally, spirally, or otherwise. By this means I an
enabled to present to the cloth a surface calculated to ensure friction
of contact sufficient (as the roller slowly rotates) to produce a positive
take up notion, and by preventing the slip before mentioned keep the
warps at a proper tension during the weaving operation.
Having now described my Invention of "An Improvement in the
Construction of Looms for Weaving," I wish it to be understood that
under the above in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the application

page_text: to looms of a take up roller provided on its periphery with teeth or ribs
for the purpose above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomas, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifteenth (say 15th) day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-four.
Witness,
THOMAS KENNEDY,
of Belfast,
Ireland.
EDWARD THOMAS. (L.s.)