CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIGURE-WEAVING MACHINERY
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of the Patent Office, No. 166, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Gentleman, 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 Twenty-eighth day of December, in the seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, said
Richard Archibald Brooman, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my
exors, adiňors, 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 expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN FIGURE-WEAVING MACHINERY," communicated to me by a
foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, shall cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, communicated to me as aforesaid, and the manner of performing
the same, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following Speci-
fication thereof, reference being had to the Sheets of Drawings hereunto
annexed, marked A, B, and C, that is to say:-
The first of the said Invention consists in substituting for the cards ordinarily
used in figure-weaving machinery pieces of metallic wire cloth, upon which
the pattern or figure is produced in manner following:-The cloth is first
done all over with a thick varnish, which may be composed of one part
of soft soap, three parts of alcohol, two parts of glue, dissolved in a little
water, and one-half part of yellow ochre. The varnish is then picked out
with a bodkin from all those interstices of the wire cloth through which the
needles should pass in order to the production of the required pattern, when
the cloth exhibits the appearance represented in Figure 1, Sheet A, of the
Drawings hereunto annexed. When a length of cloth has been thus prepared,
it is tied by the two ends together, so as to form a sort of muffle, which is
applied in weaving in manner next herein-after described.
The second branch of the said Invention consists of the improvements
embodied in the figure-weaving machine or draw loom, represented in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, Figures 2 to 7, (Sheets A, B, and C,) both
inclusive. Figure 2, Sheet A, is a side view of the framework detached from
the rest of the machinery; Figure 3 is a front elevation of the loom; Figure 3*,
top view of the loom; Figure 4, a top view of the carriage detached from the
loom; Figures 5 and 6, side elevations of the carriage; and Figure 7, side
elevation of the loom. A, A, Figure 1, is a cast-iron framework in which the
carriage is supported; B is the frame which carries the needles, which are
placed at the same distance apart as the distances of the pattern wire cloth ;
C is a strong cast-iron bar, which carries the comb (griffe); E, E, are straps
by which the bar C is raised; E³, E³, pulley and cord, worked by means of a
treadle, by which the various parts of the loom are put in motion. At the
front of the frame A, A, there is placed on each side a vibrating lever, com-
posed of two parts, marked 1 and 2. The part 2 is jointed at one end to a
rod D and at the other to an arm 1, which last is attached to the carriage by
means of a mortice tenon 3; at the side at 3 there is a recess, into which the
tail of the hook E³ (Figures 5 and 6) enters, which serves to raise the latter
before moving the carriage. On each of the rods D, D, which are threaded
towards the top, there are two nuts D3, D3, and D³, D³, which may be fixed at
any point desired, one above and the other under the bar C; the nut D' serves,

page_text: .
to push back the rod when the bar C descends, and consequently to press..the
carriage against the needles by means of the vibrating lever.
The screw D³ is raised when the bar C is raised, and the rods D, D, being
consequently moved from bottom to top, bring back the carriage. The upper
nut serves, besides, by its position, to give any greater length to the raising of
the hooks which the nature of the work may require. At the bottom of the
rod D³ there is a projecting piece F, from which is suspended a weight, which
is connected by a thread to a hook of the harness. At the other end of this
piece F is a cleft a, into which the tail of the piece G enters.
of the parts F and G are given in Figure 2ª and Figure 2b.
Separate views
The piece G, which is also tennoned to the piece D, serves to catch and lift
up the tail of the click of the barrel (afterwards described), when the weight
suspended to F, being lifted up by a hook of the harness, brings the spring
into play. The piece G does not touch the tail of the click when the weight
is not raised. At the left-hand side of the framework are two cams 5 and 6,
which move together, and serve to hook and unhook the arms, which give
motion to the shaft (as afterwards described), by raising them up or letting
them fall by their own weight. H are double hooks, such as are common to
certain jacquard looms, which extend over the whole length of the machine;
I is a cross bar, placed under the hooks, to which is fixed a plate, pierced with
eye-holes, to correspond with the meshes of the wire cloth; J is a stop at the
back of the frame, coinciding also with that of the carriage; K is a notch
made in the framework A, A, to the slot J, and coinciding with the hook E³
of the carriage, as afterwards described. The carriage is represented separately
at Figure 4; it rests on the frame A, A, upon which it moves by means of four
rollers ffff, one at each corner of the carriage. It carries three rollers or
drums 8, 8, 8, connected together in one frame, and round which the wire
cloth, which supersedes the cards, is wound. On the back uprights of the
carriage is mounted the connected parts L, E, M, composed, first, of a stop L,
which coincides with that marked J in the framework A, A; second, of a
mortise tennon M, into which enters the mortise tennon 3 of the vibrating lever;
and third, of a hook E, which coincides with the notch K of the frame A, A.
The purpose of the hook E' is to retain the carriage in its place, where it is
pressed against the needles by the weight of the bar C, when that bar begins
to rise; in fact, the springs of the needles would cause the carriage to retro-
grade if it were not thus held fast. N is a shaft, resting in two bearings in the
front part of the carriage, and carrying two small toothed wheels g, g, one at
each end, the teeth of which, fifty in number, enter into the interstices of the
metallic cloth, and cause it to move round. This shaft is enclosed in a wooden

page_text: cylinder O, O, the back of which serves as a point of support for the suspension
of the framework of the three rollers. In front, the cylinder O is flush with
the small wheels g, g; it is perforated throughout its length with small holes,
for the reception of those needles which have not been pushed back. The same
cylinder O, O, serves as a point of support for the wire cloth when it is pressed
against the needles. Leather rollers 10, 10, are mounted on the cylinder O, O,
and help to keep the wire cloth on the teeth of the wheels g, g. On the right-
side end of the shaft are two ratchet wheels 11 and 12, with the teeth inclined
in opposite directions, so that they may operate either forwards or backwards.
These wheels are provided with spring clicks, which are placed one at the top
and the other at the bottom, and fixed to the framework of the carriage. Each
click has at its interior extremity a small bolt or pin. From the outside of each
of these wheels (in the one case at the top and the other at the bottom) pro-
jects an arm, which moves free of the shaft N, and carries a click, also armed
with a spring bolt. At the end of this arm there is a pin, which takes into the
clefts of the cams 5 and 6, attached to the framework A, A, and there remains
fixed. These arms are the movers of the shaft, and cause the ratchet wheels
to move one tooth every time the carriage is drawn back. In the space
between the two ratchet wheels 11 and 12 there is a step frame (piece brisée),
composed of three pieces, 13, 14, and 15, which are secured by their ends to
the framework of the carriage. The part 13 terminates in a tail, on which
rests a spring 16, which raises the step frame, as also the clicks at top, the
pivots of which rest upon it. At the outer end or foot of this frame there
is a hook 17, from which is suspended a weight, which serves to lower
at once the whole of the three pieces 13, 14, 15, and consequently to bring
down the upper and raise up the lower clicks. When the upper clicks
are raised, a backward movement of the machine is produced; when, on the
contrary, the lower ones are raised, the motion is forwards. The weight which
acts on the hook 17 is connected by a cord with a hook of the draw loom, by
means of which it is raised when the pattern has arrived at its termination, and
with it the upper clicks, which sets free the barrel, the construction and use
of which are next to be described.
At the left side of the shaft N there are two wheels 18 and 19. The
whe1 (18) has twenty-five teeth, which takes into a chain Q (a-la-Vaucauson),
which serves to lift the spring of the barrel, which being set free brings
back the pattern wire cloth roll to its commencement. The wheel (19),
placed at the back to the wheel (18), is of a greater diameter than the latter,
and has but one tooth, or, more properly speaking, a stop, which serves to stop
the pattern roll at the commencement of the pattern when it is brought back

page_text: by the detent of the spring of the barrel. A spring (20) presses against the
chain Q, and keeps it in a constant state of tension. A wheel (21) of fifty
teeth carries a pinion (22) of twenty-five teeth, and a wheel (23) with a single
tooth, all the three turning together on the same axis. Opposite the wheel (23)
there is another wheel (24), of four hundred teeth, cut ratchet-wise, that is,
fixed on a drum R, which turns on a fixed axis; a spring within the drum R
is fixed by one end to the fixed axis, and by the other to the inside of the
drum R, so as to be governed by the rotation of the latter. A large spring
click (25) serves to retain and set free the wheel (24), as required. The tail
of this click is prolonged as far as the front of the carriage, and is in a line
with the piece G, which rises when the adjoining rod D rises, and the weight
suspended from the tail F is raised by the corresponding hook of the draw
loom. When the weight is not raised, the rod D rises without the piece G
touching the tail of the catch (25). To the wheel (24) of the drum R is fixed
a sort of damper (26), which being pressed down upon the wheel (23) puts it
in or out of gear at pleasure, according as the design to be executed may
require. On the other face of the wheel (24) is a placed a stop (27), which
catches against a stud (28), which partakes of any movement given to the
lever (29) to which it is attached by an arm (30).
With the pinion (22) there is geared a wheel (31) of one hundred teeth,
which carries another pinion (32) of twenty-five teeth. In the solid face of
the wheel (33) there is a tail or circular groove, which serves as a channel for
a pin attached to one arm of the lever (29), the other arm of which terminates
in a fork, which embraces the wheel (19) on the shaft N. By this means,
when the lower arm of the lever (29) is raised by the pin which moves in the
groove of the wheel (33), the upper arm, which was previously detached by
a spring from the wheel (19), presses upon it and strikes against the stop of
the latter, and the stud (28), which is also raised by the lever (29), with which
it is connected, bears at the same time against the stop (27) of the wheel of
the drum R. When the shaft has resumed its first position, the lower end of
the lever (29) which has been raised falls back, the upper end of the lever (29)
is detached from the wheel (19) on the shaft N, which then turns freely, and
consequently the stop (27) of the drum R presses under the stud (28) without
touching it.
Matters proceed in this manner until the needles destined to produce the
repeat of the design from the first shed raise of new hooks with the corre-
sponding weights, and by this means set the barrel free to produce the repeat
of the design.
And having now described the nature of the Invention (communicated to