CELESTIAL PHENOMENA FOR MAY, 1842.

THE

London

JOURNAL AND REPERTORY

OF

Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures.

CONJOINED SERIES.

No. CXXVI.

Recent Patents.

TO ROBERT WILLIAM SIEVIER, of Henrietta-street, Cavendish-square, in the county of Middlesex, Gent., for certain improvements in looms for weaving, and in the mode or method of producing figured goods or fabrics. -[Sealed 6th August, 1838.]

THIS invention applies, firstly, to figuring looms generally, but more particularly to those looms in which several pieces or breadths of narrow work are produced at one time; and secondly, to a novel mode of producing raised figures on woven goods or fabrics, without the aid of tags or wires, which are usually employed in the weaving of coach-lace, velvets, and other articles, having the pattern or surface raised above the ground of the fabric.

As respects the loom, the particular features of novelty are, raising and depressing the breast-beam and warp, and raising and depressing the batten or slay and shuttles, either separately or together. These improvements are 2 Q

VOL. XX.

applicable solely to such looms as are furnished with two or more shuttle-races in one batten, situated one above another, in which the shuttles act, carrying different weft threads, intended to be woven into one warp. By these movements of the breast-beam and warp-threads, or of the batten and shuttles, the warp may be brought at pleasure into operation with one or other of the rows or tiers of shuttles, and their weft-threads, as required, to produce the pattern upon the fabric; the rising or falling movement of the warpthreads, when the batten remains as in common, (that is, without rising or falling,) causing them to take the weft or shoot from either of the rows or tiers of shuttles, which may thus be brought into action with them; or when the batten and the rows or tiers of shuttles are made to move upwards and downwards, (the warp-threads remaining and acting in the common way,) the warp-threads receive the weft from that particular row or series of shuttles brought into operation with them, according to the colour or pattern desired; that is to say, in the first case, the warpthreads move up or down to take the weft or shoot of the particular row or series of shuttles as required for the pattern; and in the second case, the batten and shuttles move up or down, so that the particular row or tier of shuttles may give its shoot or weft to the warp-threads, as required for the design; or both of these movements may be brought into operation in one loom, if desired.

As respects the fabric to be woven, the novelty consists in raising up in ribs the figure, previously woven flat, upon the surface of the goods, by causing the fabric to be shrunken.-This is done by allowing the pattern parts of the warp to float or lay over two or more shoots of the weft, the warp having strands of India-rubber introduced among its threads. The fabric so produced, will, in the first instance, have the figure lying flat upon its surface,

but by the application of heat, the India-rubber strands will contract and cause the warp-threads to be drawn up or puckered, so as to bring up the pattern upon the surface into ribs, having exactly the character of a fabric in which the pattern or figure is produced by weaving over tags or wires.

In Plate XIII., fig. 1, is a front elevation of a powerloom, constructed and arranged for making several breadths of webbing, with the first improvement adapted thereto, there being only two rows or tiers of shuttles shewn, in order that the movements of the mechanism may be more easily understood. In this arrangement, the warp-threads and breast-beam have the rising and falling motion given to them, the batten and shuttles acting according to their usual movements. Fig. 2, is an elevation of the right-hand end of the loom; fig. 3, is a transverse vertical section of the same; fig. 4, is a front view; and fig. 5, a section of a portion of the batten, on an enlarged scale, shewing the two rows or tiers of shuttles.

In the former figures a, a, is the ordinary frame-work of the loom; B, the harness for opening and closing the warps, passing in the usual way through the comber-board D, from the Jacquard placed at the top of the loom. The Jacquard, forming no part of these improvements, is not shewn in the drawings; E, is the batten, with the reed and shuttles suspended by the swords or pendulous levers F, in the usual manner, and is moved to and fro to beat up the weft, by the connecting rods and cranks G, on the main shaft H. The row or series of shuttles I, I, carries one weft; K, is the other row, carrying the other weft-threads. These shuttles have the usual motions in the races given to them to throw the shoot, by means of the long racks м, and pinions c, which take into other racks formed on the shuttles. The racks м, are set in motion by the cords and

levers N, and o, which are alternately raised and depressed by the tappets or cams P, on the shaft q,-the to-and-fro movement being thereby communicated to the shuttles; there being in this arrangement a pair of tappets P, and levers N, O, to each row of shuttles.

The shaft of the tappet-cams must revolve at a speed suited to that of the crank-shaft H, in order that a movement of the shuttles may be given between each beat of the batten. With two rows of shuttles there would be four levers and tappets; consequently the shafts Q, and н, would be geared to each other, so as to perform four revolutions to one. R, is one of the warp-bobbins, and s, another warp; T, the warp, for the selvage or edges of the piece. All these warps are kept in tension in the usual way. v, is the cam for working the Jacquard, mounted on the main shaft, and acts upon an anti-friction roller on the lever w. One end of this lever turns on a pin attached to the frame-work, and the other is connected by the rod x, to the Jacquard.

The cam and lever are shewn by dots in fig. 3, to prevent their hiding other parts of the loom. The warps from the bobbins s, and T, are passed over the beam a, and the other warp over the smaller beam b. The beam a, is mounted on arms, projecting from the frame-work, capable of turning in bearings, and carries the small beam b, by arms projecting therefrom. To the beam a, is securely attached one end of the long levers c, c, their other ends carrying the breast-beam d, and tension work-beam e, over which the woven fabric f,f, is passed to the work-rollers u, u*; the warps and breast-beam are raised and lowered, at the periods desired, by the following means:

Upon the shaft Q, is mounted the double cam or tappet g, which acts upon the anti-friction roller of the lever h, the end of which is connected by a rod i, to the weighted lever-arm k, of the rocking-beam 7. Other arms m, m,