AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF PREPARING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF WARPS FOR THE LOOMS
Year: 1837

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
POTTER,. of Ancoats, in Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Cotton
Spinner and Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I did, by Petition, represent unto Her most Excellent Majesty
Queen Victoria that I had invented "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE PROCESS OF PREPARING CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF WARPS FOR THE LOOMS,"
and Her said Majesty, being willing to encourage all useful inventions, did
issue Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Ninth day of November, in the first year of Her
reign, whereby Her said Majesty did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Potter, Her special licence that I,
the said John Potter, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Potter, my exors; admors," 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 and Wales and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and
all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad; my said Invention; in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said
John Potter, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the saine to be enrolled in Iler
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at largé áppear.
:

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John
Potter, do hereby declare my Invention of an Improvement or Improvements
in the Process of Preparing certain Descriptions of Warps for the Loom, to
consist, firstly, in certain variations in the construction of the ordinary dressing
machine, by which I am enabled to dress warps which have previously
undergone the process of sizing, and thereby producing a warp more capable
of enduring the subsequent friction in the process of weaving in the loom;
and, secondly, in the construction and arrangement of a new machine for
the purpose of producing a warp of greater length, and thereby obviating the
necessity of joining or twisting in the warp so frequently as is the case when a
warp of the usual length is used. And the manner in which this improvement
or these improvements is or are carried into effect will be seen by reference to
the annexed Drawings, and the following description thereof. The scale to
which the Drawings are made is marked thereon, and the same letters and
figures of reference indicate the same parts throughout.
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a dressing machine, to
which part of my improvements are applied, and Figure 2 is a plan of
the same.
In operating with this machine it is usual to place the yarn on
six or eight beams, from which it is drawn off, and combined in the process
of dressing to form the warp; but in the process on which I proceed the
whole warp in a ball (as taken from the drying house of the sizing machine)
is placed at the point A, and the end of the warp in a sized state is carried
over the rest or guide B, and between the pressing rollers C and D, thence
round the stud E, and back again under the roller D, through the pressing
rollers C and D, and over the upper surface of the roller C; from this point
it is carried forward over the rollers F, G, and H, till it arrives at the
horizontal position, where it is traversed, in the direction of the arrow, through
the wraith H', suspended from above so as to yield from any impediment
which may arise in the warp, and forward between the stiffening rollers
at I, whence it proceeds between the brushes K, and is taken up on the
warping beam of the loom as in the ordinary dressing machine. M is the
driving pulley of the machine, and motion is imparted to the various parts in
the ordinary manner. Now, it is well known to weavers and persons con-
versant with the preparation of warps for the loom, that, the adhesion of the
various threads of a sized warp such as I use in this machine would cause
great difficulty in passing it through this machine with any degree of regularity.
To obviate this difficulty, and separate every thread, I pass two rods L, L
through the openings of the lease, which has been secured at the warping
machine, as best seen at Figure 1. These rods L, L, are attached to the

page_text: shaft or rod M', see Figure 2, through which they receive an alternating
motion from the arm N, which is vibrated by the connecting rod O, driven
from an excentric on the face plate P, as seen at Figure 1, where the varying
position of the rods L will be seen dividing the threads or ends of the warp
5 in its progress towards the rollers at I.
In Figures 3 and 4 the process of opening or separating each thread of
the warp is effected by the two blades Q, Q, which move on centres at their
respective extremities, and are vibrated by the arms N, N, as in the Figures 1
and 2. In the machine represented at Figure 8 and 4 the warp is differently
supplied than in the machine shewn at Figures 1 and 2, the whole of the
warp in a sized state being placed on the beam R, in the ordinary manner
practised with sized warps, and held back by the friction strap and weight R'
and R³, which gives off the warp at a proper tension as the dressing proceeds.
The vibrations of the rods L, L, and blades Q, Q, in these machines depend
5 on the revolution of the eccentric, which I generally drive at two hundred
and ten revolutions per minute; but though I have found this speed to answer,
it may be varied according to the nature of the work in the machine.
Sheet 2: Figure 5 represents an elevation, Figure 6 a plan, and Figure 7
a side view of a machine for forming the warp on a beam previous to the
sizing process. In this machine S represents a cone drum, which is driven
by means of a strap, the velocity varying according to the diameter on which
this strap is placed. On the extremity of the shaft on which the cone S is
placed is attached the spur wheel T, which drives the spur wheel U, placed
on the end of a shaft V, carrying a succession of small beams W divided
by flanges; on to the beams W the warp is received from the heck X,
as seen at Figure 5, and regularly distributed by means of a small
wraith X', which is traversed by a small worm and worm wheel, as seen
at Figure 6, and in side view at Figure 7, where the direction of the yarn
tinted red will be seen passing over the guide roller X³, and under the
1. roller, X³, and thence to the beam W, at the same time that it is compressed
into a hard state by the cylinder Y, which acts as a pressing roller during the
operation. This pressing roller Y, along with the arms in which it is sup-
ported, move freely on the rod Z,.so that as soon as the first small beam W
is full, the operator raises the presser Y, and passes it forward to the next,
and so on till the whole series of the beams W are filled, and equally pressed,
at the same time securing a lease in the yarn of each beam, as already alluded
to for the action of the rods L, L, or Q, Q, in the dressing machine. It will
be also remarked, that the heck ✗ is moved in the frame in which it is sup-
ported, so as at all times to correspond with the position of the presser Y, when

page_text: placed on any of the various beams W in the process of filling. Returning to
the cone shaft which carries the wheel T, will be seen a small worm a, driving
a worm wheel on the upright shaft b, which is also provided with a worm
This shaft c carries
driving a worm wheel on the horizontal recording shaft c.
two circular desks d and e, the position of which will be seen at Figure 6,
and the forms of which are shewn in different colours at Figure 5. The first
of these disks d is provided with the small lever f, which rests upon it during
the winding process of the cone S, and the speed of the disk d is so calculated
as to make one revolution during the winding on or filling one of the beams W
with warp; but when that is effected a notch or gap in the disk d allows the
lever to fall by means of the weight f¹, which tightening a strap break on the
pulley g, placed on the cone shaft, arrests the revolution, and thereby distributes
an equal quantity of warp on the various beams W, as they are filled in succes-
sion. The second disk e is provided with a series of notches or gaps of varying
amount, and supports a similar lever h, which acts on the marking lever
by means of a spring k, placed on the perpendicular rod by which the weight
m is supported. The extremity of the opposite arm of the lever i passes
under the edge of the warp, and is provided with fibrous material, saturated
with marking ink, which marks the warp every time the lever h is allowed
to fall into one of the notches in the disk e, into which it is forced by the
weight m at the same time that the marking lever i, having made the mark,
is replaced in its former position on a stud or rest by the action of the spiral
spring o, the mark on the warp indicating a uniform and equal amount placed
on the beam W. The distance of the notches on the disk e are calculated
to compensate for the increasing diameter of the warp on the beam W during
the filling process. The varying taking up of the warp on to these beams W,
according to their increased circumference, is compensated for by traversing
the driving strap to a larger diameter of the cone S, and the velocity must
depend on the nature of the work and the judgment of the operator. By
tracing the action of this warping machine it will be obvious that the beam
W may be multiplied to any convenient extent, and consequently the length
of the warp, which necessarily effects a great saving in joining or twisting in,
as practised in the ordinary warp; and further, that the di-tribution of the
warp on to the ten small beams W, which holds an equal quantity, enables
me to draw off the whole at the sizing machine at the same time, so that the
contents of the ten small beams W form a complete or perfect warp. The
speed of this machine, as already stated, depends on the circumference of the
cone on which the driving strap is placed, and this is governed by the
operator.

page_text: Having now described the nature of my Improvement or Improvements
in the Process of Preparing certain Descriptions of Warps for the Loom, I
wish it to be understood that I do not claim any of the well-known parts in
the machine described at Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, or any of the separate parts
in the machine described at Figures 5, 6, and 7; but what I do claim as my
Invention is,
Firstly, the dressing of sized warps for the loom by machinery constructed
so as to open or seperate the threads or ends of such warps, as set forth and
described at the letters L, L, and Q, Q, in the foregoing description, or by any
similar mechanical arrangement; and,
Secondly, I claim the combination and arrangement of the warping machine,
as set forth and described at Figures 5, 6, & 7, the properties of which
machine depend on the joint action of the heck X, together with the divided
beams W, the recording shaft c, and presser Y, or any two or more of the
said parts.
And such my various Improvement or Improvements in the Process
of Preparing certain Descriptions of Warps for the Loom being, to the best
of my knowledge, [new, and never before practised, I hereby deliver this as
my true and faithful Specification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Potter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.