IMPROVEMENTS IN SMALL- WARE LOOMS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gadd, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Consulting Engineer, and John Moore, of the same
Place, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMALL-
WARE LOOMS."
Sealed the 25th April 1871, and dated the 28th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gadd and
John Moore at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 28th October 1870.
We, WILLIAM GADD, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Consulting Engineer, and JOHN MOORE, of the same Place, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SMALL-WARE LOомя," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to the looms employed in the weaving of small
wares such as tapes or ribbons wherein a number of seperate and distinct
webs of tape or ribbon are woven simultaneously in the same loom. In
such looms the whole of the shuttles corresponding in number with the
number of webs of tape or ribbon are acted upon simultaneously by the,

page_text: same picking apparatus, and the weft from all the said shuttles is beaten
up by the action of one sley as is well understood. Previously to our
said. Invention the said sley has moved to and fro in or nearly in a
horizontal direction, the fabrics being produced or woven in a horizontal
or nearly horizontal position as in the case of the looms employed in
the weaving of grey cloth and other piece goods.
When constructing a small-ware loom in manner according with our
said Invention we so arrange the various parts as that the sley shall
move in a diagonal direction, that is to say, the chord of the arc described
by the movement of the said sley shall be inclined to the horizontal
line at an angle, say, by way of example, of thirty or forty degrees, the
tapes or ribbons being produced or woven in a suitably corresponding
diagonal position. We have found that this inclination of the line of
motion of the said sley is better suited to the shuttles employed in looms
of the class to which our Invention relates than the aforesaid horizontal
or nearly horizontal movement, the principal result being that the
improved looms may be driven at a greater speed and with less friction
on the shuttle slides, giving greater durability and more safety to the
shuttles than the ordinary looms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Gadd and John Moore in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
GADD, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Consulting Engineer,
and JOHN MOORE, of the same Place, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said William Gadd and John Moore, Her special a
license that we, the said William Gadd and John Moore, our executors,
'administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Gadd
and John Moore, our executors, 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

page_text: make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SMALL-WARE LOOMS," upon the condition, amongst
others, that we, the said William Gadd and John Moore, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, (or the hand and seal of one
of us) should particularly 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 John Moore, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
Our Invention relates to the looms employed in the weaving of small-
wares such as tapes or ribbons wherein a number of separate and
distinct webs of tape or ribbon are woven simultaneously in the same
loom. In such looms the whole of the shuttles corresponding in number
with the number of webs of tape or ribbon are acted upon simultaneously
by the same picking apparatus, and the weft from all the said shuttles is
beaten up by the action of one "sley" as is well understood. Previously
to our said Invention the said sley has moved to and fro in or nearly
in a horizontal direction, the fabrics being produced or woven in a
hoizontal or nearly horizontal position, as in the case of the looms
employed in the weaving of grey cloth and other piece goods.
When constructing a small-ware loom in manner according with our
said Invention we so arrange the various parts as that the `sley shall
move in a diagonal direction, that is to say, the chord of the arc
described by the movement of the said sley shall be inclined to a
horizontal line..
In order that our said Invention may be fully understood I will in this
place refer to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, made for the most
part to a scale of about two and a half inches to one foot, and having
similar letters of reference marked upon corresponding parts: in the
various Figures.
Fig. 1 represents a cross section of a small-ware loom constructed
in manner according with our Invention, and Fig. 2 is a front view of a.
portion of the said loom.

page_text: be necessary to adopt other arrangements, as for example, when the loom
is to be adapted for weaving twilled fabrics. The warps c, c, are con-
tained in the reels n, n, and each reel is fitted with a brake lever o from
which is suspended a weight o' of sufficient gravity to prevent the rotation
of the said reel excepting when the lever o is raised. Each warp passes
from the reel over one of the pulleys or wharves p, as shewn more clearly
in Fig. 3, which is a view of a detached portion of the back of the loom
and the said warp passes partly around the pulley 9 mounted in the
frame q', over the other of the pulleys p, under the roller r, and upwards
in a slanting direction to the taking up roller 8. A weight q³ is suspended
from the frame q¹ and an eye on the said frame, or in the case of one of
the lower levers the lower end of the wire o² embraces a wire which is
connected with the lever o, the weight q² being adjusted to be equal to
the required tension of the warp. As the said weight is raised during
the weaving the said eye or the lower end of the wire o², as the case may
be, by coming into contact with the end of the lever o raises the said
lever, and by thus removing the brake from the reel n or by reducing
the effect of the brake thereon allows the said reel to rotate to some
extent, whereby a quantity of yarn is unwound from the said reel, the
frame q¹ falling sufficiently to " take up" the slack. These motions are
repeated at intervals and the "letting off" of the warp is thus made to
be "self acting." Each of the tapes or ribbons d, d, passes partly around
the taking up roller s, which is actuated by the "
taking up motion " u
through the change gearing u³, the said taking up motion being of an
ordinary description. The said tape or ribbon passes thence over the
short roller mounted on a stud fixed to the hand lever A, thence between

page_text: the gripping rollers v, v¹, from whence it falls into the box or receptacle v².
The rollers and v¹ are covered with cloth or other elastic material and
are made of a sufficient weight to cause the necessary adhesion between
the tape or ribbon and the rollers s and v. The roller is raised by
means of the hand lever at any time when the warp has to be "let
back." The roller v is caused to rotate with a slightly increased surface
speed as compared with the roller s in order to keep the tape or ribbon
in tight contact with the rollers & and t. The angle of inclination of the
warp when passing upwards from the breast beam or from the roller »
to the taking up roller may be varied, but we prefer that the said angle
shall be such as that each shuttle when moving through the shed shall
not incline to any great extent from a vertical position.
The position of the shuttle when in motion as aforesaid is represented
more clearly in Fig. 4, which is a detached view of a portion of Fig. 1,
drawn about one half of the full size. The said shuttle w slides on the
guides x, x, which enter grooves formed in the sides of the shuttle as is
usual. The shuttle drivers y are fixed to a rod or bar y¹, to which an
intermittent to-and-fro motion is imparted by two picking motions, one
of which is shewn at z in Fig. 2. It will be seen on inspection of Fig. 4
that the centre of gravity of the shuttle will fall within the base of
support or thereabouts, and the said shuttle will therefore work to and
fro upon the guides with less friction and greater ease and with less wear
of the said shuttle than when the shuttle hangs from the guides in a
horizontal or nearly horizontal direction, as in the ordinary looms. The
durability of the shuttles is thus greatly increased, and we have found
that the improved loom may be driven at a greater speed than the
ordinary loom. The aforesaid angle of inclination of the warp may be
made such as that the shuttles shall be vertical when in motion, but the
angle as represented in the Drawings is such as we have found to be
suitable.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, together with
our method of carrying the same into practical effect, I would have it to
be distinctly understood that we do not confine ourselves to the preciso
details as so described and as illustrated in the accompanying Drawings
but that we desire to claim as secured to us by the herein-before
mentioned Letters Patent,-
First. The making, vending, and using of looms of the description
herein-before indicated wherein the direction or path of motion. or chord

page_text: of the arc of motion of the "sley" is caused to be inclined with respect
to or to make an angle with a horizontal line; substantially as and for
the purpose or purposes as herein indicated and set forth...
And, lastly. The combination of the parts of a tape or small-ware loom
arranged and acting substantially as herein-before described and as
illustrated by the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof I, the said John Moore, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Signed and sealed by the
said John Moore, in the
presence of
EDWARD K. DUTTON,.
Agent to the Patentees;
3, Smithy Door;
Manchester:.
JOHN MOORE. (L.S.).