CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS FOR WEAVING, AND ALSO A NEW DESCRIPTION OF FABRIC TO BE PRODUCED OR WOVEN THEBEIN
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
THORP and THOMAS MEAKIN, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Silk
Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twentieth day of November, in the second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
William Thorp and Thomas Meakin, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said William Thorp and Thomas Meakin,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as we, the said
William Thorp and Thomas Meakin, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, should agree with, and no others, from time to time
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, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN LOOMS
FOR WEAVING, AND ALSO A NEW DESCRIPTION OF FABRIC TO BE PRODUCED OR WOVEN
THEBEIN;" in which Letters Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said
William Thorp and Thomas Meakin, shall cause a particular description of
the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be enrolled in Her 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
William Thorp and Thomas Meakin, do hereby declare that the nature of
our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is

page_text: particularly described and ascertained in and described by the Drawings
hereto annexed, and the following explanation thereof, that is to say:-
Our Invention of improvements in looms for weaving, and also of a new
description of fabric to be produced or woven therein, consists in the peculiar
arrangement and order of working certain ordinary parts of looms in general,
so that a new description of cloth shall be produced or woven by such
arrangement.
.
Our new description or manufacture of cloth or fabric is more particularly
adapted to that class of woven silk goods called "satin," the ordinary quality of
which has one face highly finished and glossy, owing to the brilliancy of the
warp threads being thrown up on one side or surface, and having the back of
the goods of course presenting a dull unfinished appearance, owing to the
absence of the warp threads to the sight
Now, by an improvement in the arrangement and order of working the
ordinary loom, in which such or similar goods are woven, and also by
introducing a double set of warp threads, we are enabled to produce a novel
description and quality of goods, having a perfect and distinct face or finished
surface on each side of the fabric, and are enabled also to present two entirely
separate colors of goods, one upon each side or surface of the piece, and
without having the slightest difference in the appearance, finish, or brilliancy
upon either side; thus, as it were, producing a double cloth, having two perfect
sides or surfaces, and bound or held together by one shute or weft. The
manner in which such produce or manufacture is to be woven is entirely
.dependent upon the peculiar order or succession of working the treadles, in
order to divide a "shed," the two different colored warps in such a manner,
that a certain number of threads shall always be "floating" to cover the weft
on each side, and also a certain number of threads shall only arise and fall at
suitable intervals to bind the "pick."
As such peculiar operation and improvement is likely to be interesting or
perfectly intelligible only to competent and practical weavers, we have attached
to these Presents certain Diagrams, and explained the same in such a manner
as will enable persons conversant with the ordinary process of weaving to
produce our new manufactures in almost endless variety.
It may be necessary to add that the word "draft" written upon the various
Figures in the Drawing annexed, signifies the order in which the warp threads
are entered through the headles or healds, and that the word "treading
signifies the order in which the weaver in hand looms, or tappets in power
looms, works over the treadles in order to open the proper sheds. The warp
threads are to be prepared and wound upon the beam as usual, but in case the

page_text: cloth required is to have two distinct colors, that is, one upon each side or
surface, then the warps must of course be of the colors of the intended satin,
and each color wound upon the warp beam alternate side by side, as
represented by the red and blue lines in all the Diagrams, which shew the
draft or arrangement of the warp threads. The marks or crosses thus × ×
placed upon the threads indicate the manner in which the threads of the warp
rise and sink to receive the weft or shute, in order to produce the style of
cloth or fabric required, the black cross being the rising, and the red cross the
sinking thread, as the case may be. The black lines (in all the Figures)
represent the treadles connected to the "shafts" or rails carrying the harness
or healds, and the Figures marked upon such black lines indicate the order of
the treading in which the weaver works. The Figures upon the warp threads
are for the convenience of reference, and will perfectly illustrate the effect of
the peculiar and unequal rising and sinking of the warp threads, in order to
produce the new double faced cloth. As for example, with reference to
Figure 1 in the Drawings, which represents to the order of the working to
produce a perfect "5-shaft satin," with an equal face or surface upon each
side, and of two separate and distinct colors, the weft or shute in all cases
being put in at every shedding of the warps as usual. Thus, as in Diagram
Figure 1, the following table shews the order of the working.
"
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"
"
The second
The third
The fourth
"
"
"
"
The first treadle rises the warp threads,arked 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, and sinks 2,3,5,7,9.
2, 4, 5, 8, 10, and sinks 1, 3, 6, 7, 9.
2, 4, 6, 8, 9, and sinks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10.
2, 3, 6, 8, 10, and sinks 1, 4, 5, 7, 9.
2, 4, 6, 7, 10, and sinks 1, 3, 5, 8, 9.
The fifth
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"
"
"
"
Figure 2 shews the order of working the loom to produce a perfect "7-shaft"
satin" with an equal surface on each side; Figure 3 shews the order of
working to produce a perfect "8-shaft satin" with an equal surface on each
side; Figure 4 shews the order of working to produce a perfect satin upon
one side or surface, and an ordinary "tabby" cloth upon the other side;
Figure 5 shews the order of working to produce a perfect satin upon one side
and a single twill upon the other; Figure 6 shews the order of working to
produce a perfect satin upon one side and a double twill upon the other;
Figure 7 shews the order of working to produce a perfect satin upon one side
and a plush or velvet upon the other, in which Eigure it will be seen that the
numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, are the satin warp threads, and numbers
1, 5, 9, 13, constitute the ground of the velvet or plush, while the numbers
3, 6, 9, 12, in the treading are its pile sheds, in which wires are to be inserted
with grooves ploughed upon one edge, as in ordinary velvet weaving. Now,

page_text: it will thus be evident by a careful inspection of these Diagrams that there is
always a sufficient number of warp threads floating above and below the weft
thread as it enters the sheds to cover the two binding threads, so that thus
each color for the warps will be kept upon distinct sides of the piece, and that
every pick or shute that crosses takes a shaft from cach color to bind the pick
or shute.
Having now particularly described our Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into practical effect, we desire it to be
understood, that we are not confined to hand loom weaving, as power looms
may also be similarly arranged in the order of working the tappets and
'threadles, and thereby enabled to effect precisely the same result. Nor aro
we confined to the produce of any description or variety, or fabric, either plain
or figured, or composed of silk, flax, cotton, wool, or any mixture of such, or
any other fibrous materials capable of being thus woven; but we claim as our
Invention, the above described improvement in looms for weaving, and thereby
producing an entirely novel description of cloth or. fabric having two equally
perfect and finished sides or surfaces, either of similar or distinct colours,
qualities, or materials, having represented and described the working of silk
sto: produce satin goods merely for the sake of illustration.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Thorp and Thomas Meakin,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Ninth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.