IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING AND PRINTING OR STAINING TEXTILE GOODS OR FABRICS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
WILLIAM SIEVIER, of Upper Holloway, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-first day of January, in the fourteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert William Sievier, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Robert William Sievier, my.exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Robert William Sievier, 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 mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, "
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark,
and Man, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WEAVING AND PRINTING OR
STAINING TEXTILE GOODS OR FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, obliging me, the said Robert William Sievier, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of

page_text: the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert William Sievier, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings. hereunto. annexed, and to. the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say):
:-
My improvements in weaving and printing or staining textile goods or
fabrics relate, first, to a novel arrangement of parts, whereby I'am enabled to
produce the surface of either looped or cut piled fabrics, such as velvets,
Brussels, or velvet pile carpets, or tapestry, from the weft or shoot instead of
from the warp, as is usually the case where a long looped fabric is made.
In carrying out my improvements I employ two warps, one I will call the
binder warp, and the other the back warp, as the latter is employed for
forming the back of the fabric. The looped surface is produced by causing
the weft to traverse across and be looped over a series of longitudinal wires
which are arranged parallel with the warp threads, and' may be made either
with plain ends when a terry or uncut loop is required, as in Brussels carpets
or terry velvet, or with a contrivance at the end for receiving the cutting
edges of a series of knives, or other suitable instruments, if a cut pile fabric is
intended to be produced. In order, however, that my improvements may be
clearly understood, I have shewn in the accompanying Drawings the best
means with which I am at present acquainted for carrying the same into
effect.
In Sheet I., Fig. 1, is a front elevation of the principal parts of a loom
constructed according to my improvements, and Fig. 2 is a vertical section,
shewing the construction and arrangement of the principal internal working
parts. a, a, a, a, is the framework of the loom; b, the binder, and 6, the back
warp beams; c is the breast or take-off beam, and c* the work roller; d, d, is
the lay sword; e, lay of the batten; and e*, e*, the shuttle boxes, which must
be made double if for the purpose of containing two shuttles, one to carry a
weft to make the body of the fabric, and the other to carry the woollen or silk
weft to form the surface of the fabric; or one shuttle may be used if the weft
for the body of the fabric and the surface are the same. The longitudinal
wires, over which the loops are made from the woollen or silken shoot or weft,
are seen at ffff; they are mounted at one end on a rod at the upper
extremity of the arm or lever g (see Figs. 2 and 2*); and if a cut pile is
required it will be found necessary, in order that the wires may be held in

page_text: their proper places, that the opposite ends also of these wires should be strung
on a thin rod; this, however, will not be necessary when a terry or uncut or
looped fabric, like Brussels carpet or terry velvet, is required. The binder
warp does not pass through headles or harness, but merely through loops or
mails in the strings h, h, which are connected at one end to the levers i, i,
above, and at the opposite or lower end to levers which are furnished with
springs to keep them steady and prevent them from jumping. The back
warp ፩* passes through and is worked by harness or headles in the usual
manner; the longitudinal wires f, f, are also passed through the mails of the
harness or headles *, whereby the wires are drawn up when required. It will
be understood that the back or body of the fabric is made in the usual manner,
by means of the warps 6 and 6, together with the linen or other wefts.
Previous to throwing the shuttle that contains the woollen, silk, or other weft,
which is intended to form the loop on the surface of the fabric, the binder
warb b must be drawn up in order to allow the surface or loop weft to pass
under the binder warp and over the top of the longitudinal wires f, f; in order
to form the loops from the woollen, silk, or other weft, the binder warp must
be then drawn down, but this must be done in a peculiar manner in order that
the weft may be gradually drawn off the shuttle as the loops are made, and
which is effected by the following mechanical arrangement of parts:-It has
been said that the strings h, h, which work the binder warp b, are attached to
the outer ends of the levers i, i, above; the tails or inner ends of these levers,
are acted upon by a cam drum j, j, which, at certain parts, is cut in steps, as
seen best at 1, 1, 1, in Fig. 1. As the drum j rotates, its larger circumference,
as at Fig. 2, will act against the tails of the levers i, i, and raise their outer
ends, as shewn by dots in Fig. 2, and by that means draw up the warp b, so as
to allow the shuttle to pass under the same; then the shuttle having been
thrown, the drum j, j, will be again made to rotate a considerable portion of a
revolution, and by means of the steps 1, 1, 1, the lever i, i, will be allowed to
descend one after the other, and each separate warp thread will, as it descends
between the horizontal wires f, f, draw from the shuttle a sufficient quantity of
weft to form the loops one after the other, but in very rapid succession; the
downward motion of the warp threads to form the. loops in this manner is
assisted materially by the springs and levers, to the lower ends of which the
strings h, h, are attached, as immediately the levers i, i, above are released by
the small diameter of the cam drum coming round, the levers below will be
forced down by their springs, and will draw down the warp threads b, and form
the loop by drawing the required quantity of weft off the shuttle. It should
be understood that the formation of the loops by the descent of the warp

page_text: threads b, commences at that side of the loom from which the shuttle has just
been thrown. It will be seen, on referring to Fig. 1, that there is a similar
arrangement of steps made in the opposite side of the cam drum j, j, so that
the same action of the levers i, i, and warp threads b, b, may take place when
the shuttle is thrown in the opposite direction. Motion is communicated to
the cam drumj by means of the toothed wheel k, which gears into a pinion
or wheel, on the axis of the cam drum. On the shaft of the wheel k is a
ratchet wheel m, worked by ratchets on the double lever n, which is connected
by a rod o to one end of a lever p below; a click, pall, or catch n prevents
the ratchet wheel n from turning in the wrong direction. The lever,
P turns
upon a fulcrum at 3, and is furnished with a bowl or antifriction roller q,
which works in the groove of a cam wheel, shewn detached at Fig. 3.
On the tappet shaft r there is a toothed wheels, which is driven by another
toothed wheel t on the crank shaft. As the wheels has six times the number
of teeth of the other toothed wheel on the crank shaft, it follows that for every
rotation of the crank shaft the wheel s, and consequently the cam will make
one-sixth of a revolution. It will be seen, upon referring to Fig. 3, that the
bowl of the lever p will be slightly depressed, and consequently will, by
means of the rod o and double ratchet lever n, pull round (a short distance)
the ratchet wheel m, the wheel k, and pinion l, which has half the number of
teeth of the wheel k; the effect of this will be that the part 2 of the cam
drum will act against and depress the tails of the lever i, i, and bring them
into the position shewn by dots in Fig. 2, during which time the shuttle to
make the loop is thrown; owing to the peculiar form of the cam *, shewn in
Fig. 3, the lever p will have fallen, and the double ratchet lever n will have
assumed its original position, but as the crank or driving shaft continues to
revolve, the higher raised portion of the cam will come against the bowl q
of the lever p, and force the latter down a considerable distance, and by means
of the rod o and double ratchet lever n, the ratchet wheel m and the toothed
wheel k will be again caused to rotate, and pull the pinions and the cam
drum j, nearly half round, and by means of the steps 1, 1, 1, on the periphery
of the latter, the levers i, i, will be liberated one after the other in rapid
succession, and thereby allow the warp threads b, b, to descend between the
wires f, f, and form the loop in the manner already explained. In forming
two of the sheds, three being required to form each loop, it will be necessary
to raise the longitudinal wires f, f, with the back warp threads b*, in which
position they remain while the linen shoot is thrown twice under them. When
the wires f, f, are required to be raised, as just mentioned, it will be found
advisable to slacken them, so as to allow them to be lifted without straining or

page_text: drawing them out of their proper position; for this purpose the lever g is
mounted on a fulcrum, and is furnished at its lower end with a bowl or
antifriction roller 9", which acts in a groove in a cam u, on the same shaft as
the cam ; the cam u, which is shewn detached at Fig. 4, forces forward
about a quarter of an inch the upper end of the lever g, at the precise moment
that the shed is being formed, and by this slight movement of the lever, g
the
wires can be raised with the warp threads without the liability of their being
strained. In order to cut the loops formed over the wires f, f, and thereby
produce a cut pile fabric, the outer ends of the wires are furnished with a
groove 5, as shewn in the enlarged detached views Figures 5, 6, and 7. The
knives or cutting instruments consist simply of plain discs of thin steel v, with
sharp edges; these discs are mounted on a shaft w, and they are separated
from each other by washers, as shewn in the Drawing. The edges of the discs
enter and work in the grooves 5 of the wires f, and are maintained therein by
raised sides, as shewn best in Figures 5 and 7.
The cutting operation is effected in the following manner-A pin x (see
Fig. 2) attached to the sword arm is made, at every beat up, to strike a spring
lever y, at the lower end of which there is a pall or click, which takes into and
drives a ratchet wheel z, on the shaft w of the cutting discs, the edges of
which are in contact with the loops of the fabric, and as the discs at every
stroke of the batten are caused to rotate a short distance, the loop will be cut
as the fabric is drawn forward by the taking up motion.
In Fig. 8 I have shewn a convenient method of sharpening the discs v. This
operation is effected by means of a series of steel discs 7, with roughened sides
like the face of a file; these discs 7 are mounted on a spindle, and are held
stationary while the cutting knives are made to rotate against the sides of the
discs with considerable rapidity.
A diagram of the tie to form the fabric is shewn at Fig. 9 and will be easily
understood by any practical weaver. To form the first shed No. 1 in the
diagram the binder warp b is drawn up, and the woollen or silk weft to form
the loops is thrown; then the binder warp goes down, and the back warp b*
and the wires f, f, are raised at the same time, and the linen or cotton shoot
is then thrown; the back warp then goes down (the wires remaining up) and
the binder warp is raised and the linen shoot thrown back again. To effect
these movements two cams similar to Fig. 10 and one similar to Fig. 11 will
be required. I would observe that the tie may be varied and similar results
obtained; I therefore do not intend to confine myself to this tie, nor do I
claim it as forming any part of 1 my Invention.
The second part of my Invention relates to an improved arrangement of

page_text: In Sheet II. of
the Drawings, I have shewn my improved printing or staining apparatus, as
applied for printing or staining warps, but a similar arrangement of apparatus
may be employed for printing or staining a cloth or fabric, such as that pro-
duced in the loom above described, or any other textile cloth. Fig. 1, Sheet II.,
is a plan view of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of
the same.
a, a, a, a are four beams upon which the warps to be printed or
stained are wound, but any other convenient number of warps, more or less,
may be operated upon simultaneously; but I prefer that not more than six
warps should be stained at the same time.
apparatus for printing or staining textile goods or fabrics.
The warp threads as they are uncoiled from the beams pass through reeds
b, b, b, b, to separate them and space them out properly, and from these reeds
they pass under a frame d, d, on which are placed four or more perforated
plates c, hereafter more particularly described. The threads of the four warp
beams a, a, a, a, suitably combined, are conducted through a reed e, situated
near one end of of a printing table f. The perforated plates care shewn on
an enlarged scale in Sheet III.; they are by preference made of thin metal,
such as copper or brass, but thin sheets of gutta percha or other impervious
material may be employed. These plates or sheets are secured by nails or
pins to a wooden framing, as shewn in the Drawing, and. certain portions of
them are perforated or cut away according to the pattern intended to be
produced. In the Drawing at Fig. 2, Sheet II., I have shewn only four plates,
and these will be found sufficient for most patterns. In the first plate all
those parts which correspond to the first or light tints of all colors are cut in
it, so that when it is brought on to the table f, as shewn at Fig. 2, and secured
in its proper position on the top of the warp threads by means of the register
pins g, g, the attendant will have nothing to do but to take a brush with the
proper color in it and dab it on to the perforations. It should be understood,
that by means of this one plate the lightest shade of every color is first trans-
ferred or stained on the warp threads, as shewn at Fig. 3, Sheet III., the
attendant being supplied with a number of pots of different colors for this
purpose, the pattern being also placed before the attendant or operator, as at
, Fig. 2, in order to guide him.
parts corresponding to the next darkest tints, and the warps or fabric having
been stained with all the first tints, the first plate is removed from the table
and replaced in its frame d, d, and the second plate is brought on to the table
in its place, and the second tints are transferred in a similar manner to the
warp threads or fabric, so as to produce the appearance shewn in Fig. 4,
Sheet III. The third and fourth plates are used in the same manner, and being
The second plate will be perforated at all

page_text: suitably perforated for the third and fourth or finishing tints, they will give
the appearance shewn at Figures 5 and 6, Sheet III. By this means it will be
seen, that the warp or fabric may be stained with any number of colours, of
which there may be four shades in the pattern, but a greater number of shades
may be produced if required by merely employing additional plates c, c. For
the convenience of moving these plates from the frame d, d, their side frames
are furnished with small rollers or wheels, which run on the tables d* of the
frame d, d, are also adapted to the upper side of the frames of the plates c, c,
for the purpose of receiving hooks at the ends of the cords h, h, whereby the
plates are raised or lowered on to the printing table; this operation being
facilitated by the winch and barrel i. The warp or fabric when printed or
stained with all the colours required to complete the pattern is drawn forward
from off the printing table and is passed through a drying box j, which is
heated by steam or hot water. By this means that part of the warp or fabric
which has just been printed is dried, while a new portion is being operated
upon at the printing table. In order to fix or set the colours the warp or
fabric is passed forward into another box or chest k, which is supplied with
steam, in which it will remain while the operation of printing or staining
another portion of the fabric is going on. In order as far as possible to pre-
vent the escape of steam from the box k, the openings through which the
warp or fabric passes into or out of the box k are closed by plates or doors,
which are furnished at their edges with some soft inaterial, such as list or felt,
whereby they may be packed, when squeezed tight by means of the screws
x, x, (see the enlarged view, Fig. 3*); and every time the warp or fabric is
required to be moved forward the doors or plates must be removed by unscrew-
ing the fastenings a, a.
From this steam chamber the warp or fabric passes
over a roller and descends to a well or chamber in the floor beneath, where
it may be collected ready for the next or washing operation. This operation
is carried on in the 'tank or well m, which is supplied with clean fresh water
by a pipe n. A number of washers or beaters are placed in the washing tank
m for the purpose of washing out and removing all the gum, paste, and super-
fluous colour or other matters that have been used in the printing or staining
operation. The construction, use, and operation of these beaters or washers
being well known I have not thought it necessary to shew them in the
Drawing or give any detailed description of them.
In order to remove the dirty water from the tank 'm, and keep up a con-
tinuous supply of fresh water, the fresh water is made to run in through the
pipe n, and the dirty water is drawn off from the bottom by means of the
pipe o.

page_text: From the washing tank the warp or fabric passes between a pair of pinching
rollers t, whereby the superabundant moisture is squeezed out before the cleansed
warp or fabric is allowed to pass into the drying box p, which is heated by
steam or hot water in a similar manner to the box j, above mentioned. When
the warps are printed or stained, and they are quite dried by the heat in the
box p, each warp is passed through a reed v, for the purpose of separating it
from the other warps, and each is then wound on to its respective beam 9, 7, 7, 9,
and is ready for weaving into a cloth or fabric. Rotary motion is communi-
cated to these beams by friction bands or pullies, or in any other convenient
manner; the movements of all the parts of the apparatus are, of course,
simultaneous. When a woven fabric, instead of four or more warps, is to be
operated upon, the beams or rollers a, a, and the reeds b, b, and e, at the com-
mencement, and also the reeds v and beams q, q, are dispensed with, the
woven fabric being unwound from one roller at the beginning of the apparatus
and wound on to another at the end.
Having described my various improvements, and the best means with which
I am at present acquainted for carrying the same into effect, I would observe, in
conclusion, that in order that my improvements may be more clearly understood,
I have found it necessary to describe various mechanical contrivances and
arrangements that have been long known and in use for similar purposes;
I do not, however, intend to claim such parts as of my Invention, nor do I
intend to confine myself rigidly to the precise arrangement or construction of
parts herein shewn and described, as they may doubtless be varied without
departing from the nature and object of my present improvements; but that
which I consider to be new, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is-
First, forming the looped surface of a looped fabric, such as Brussels
carpeting, terry velvets, and other similar goods or fabrics from the weft by
means of longitudinal wires or other equivalent means in combination with
warp threads, which, by being made to descend one after the other in rapid
succession instead of simultaneously, as is usually the case with warp threads,
will thereby draw off from the quill or bobbin in the shuttle a sufficient
quantity of weft or shoot to form the loops one after the other over the
longitudinal wires.
Second, I claim the method herein shewn and described, or any mere modi-
fication thereof, for cutting the loops when a cut pile fabric is required.
Third, I claim the general arrangement of the machinery or apparatus
shewn and described in reference to Sheet II., and also the mode of printing or
staining warps cr fabrics, as described. I claim particularly the use of plates

page_text: perforated to correspond with the different shades of the pattern, as shewn
and described, and whereby the operation of printing or staining warps or
fabrics is much facilitated.
In witness whereof I, the said Robert William Sievier, have hereunto
set my hand and seal this Seventeenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Robert William Sievier came before
our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.