This is an invention patented during 1881 by James Irving, manager for Richardson, Tee, Rycroft, & Co., linen manufacturers, of Barnsley, and which is intended to obviate the necessity hitherto existing of having to change the set of cards in use when weaving goods having end borders or figured centres, or both. The common plan would be to use a sufficient number of cards to work the desig,n right through, but as the use of a great number of cards can be dispensed with by employing one set for the centre figure or border or both, and another set for the ground and end border, and making the change when required, this plan is generally in usc. The great drawback to it has been the cost of making the changes, weavers (men) being paid 1-2d. for each occasion. This generally- amounts to 3s.-5s. per loom per week, an important addition to the cost of weaving. Where women weavers are employed, it has been necessary to employ a man or two for the purpose of making the changes for them ; but as many of these requirements arise at the same rnoment, much additional time is lost in waiting. In whichever way the changes are made on these plans, 10-15 per cent. of the working hours of tbe week are lost. As fabrics which require these changes are numerous in all the textile industries, Irving has conferred a service on the trade generally by this invention.
In his first plan, to the ordinary jacquard with which the loom is furnished, he adds a supple mentary apparatus of the same kind, which is provided with all the requisites as in the first case, but is smaller. The conjoint apparatus stripped of all unnecessary detail is shown in Fig. 1473. The first jacquard is represented at a and the second at b. The connection between the two sets is secured by the harness descending frona b, and joining the harness of the first jacquard at h. In the figure, it is assumed that the fabric in process of manufacture is a. rectangular drugget, or other article having a central design, which is indicated by d, a plain or ornamental ground e, side borders f, and cross or end borders not shown in Fig. 1473. The lines marked g h i indicate the mails, of which, to preserve clearness, a few only are introduced. The mails g lift the warp threads, which enter into the formation of the borders, being attached to the hooks of the set of needles at k, which are operated by a set of border-pattern cards, shown on the cylinder below them. The mails it lift the threads that enter into the composition of the central figure, and are connected with a set of needles at /, and also by the additional harness to the needles in the second apparatus. The mails i operate the threads that compose the ground which are not woven either into the side borders or the central figure. These are connected with a set of needles at m by means of the harness indicated by dotted lines. Above the needles /, a plate o is suspended, which can be lowered when required between the needles / and the cards upon the cylinder r, it being of such dimensions that when thus interposed aud subjected to the action of tbe cylinder-batten, it pushes in the whole of the set of needles it covers, thus neutralizing the action of the cards, and throviing the hooks out of contact with the griffe, as long as may be required. This interposition is easily bmught about when the weaving of the fabrie has progressed t,o the point where the formation of the central desig,n has to commence. Thus blocked, the mails would remain inoperative, and the warp threada would not be woven into the fabric, were it not for their connection by the linea of the second art of harness with the supplementary jacquard b. As soon, therefore, as the central figure has to commence, the weaver stops his loom, interposes the block-plate o, on the first jacquard, throwing the set of needles / out of operation, and briogs the npparatus b into gear by moving a sliding elutch which engages it with the boss of a lover from which it receives motion.
This brings into action the second set of cards which are perforated to produce the central figure instead of the general ground. When the design is completed, the second apparatus is thrown out of gear, tho bloek-plate o is drawn up, and the set of needles 1 are permitted to resume their action. These changes are effected in a moment or two with perfect ease by any weaver, whether male or female.
The inventor provides for the needles /being put out of gear in a variety of ways, as well as the above. The invention is also applicable to the production of more than one design upon one set of cards, and, in fact, in most ca.ses where the design cannot be produced by one set. Any required number, or the whole of the mails may be connected with the second cylinder, and they may also be connected with the needles, either the whole or any number thereof, on what is knovra as the " five-end system "; or two or any number of needles may be connected with one needle. The above arrangement is all on the single-end system.
The manner in which the inventor prefers to produce the end or cross border is illustrated by Figs.1474, 1475,1476. Fig. 1474 represents a eard-cylinder, and Fig. 1475 shows the arrangement of the needles to suit the cylinder. The vertical rows of needles s are spaced at twice the distance apart as compared with the rows of holes t in the cylinder, and there may be twice as many holes in each face of the cylinder as there are needles. In Fig. 1474, a portion of a card is shown in position upon the eylinder on the part marked u. The card is punctured with two sets of holes, the rows of one set alternating with the rows of the other, one set being shown by crosses and the other by dots, One of these sets of holes would produce the plain ground, or ground-patteria, and the other the cross or end border, referred to before. When the changes are required to be made, the cylinder can be moved laterally, in the direction of its axis, by suitable appliances; one means of doing this is shown in Fig. 1476, where it is seen that a gudgeon of the cylinder is provided with a collar, working in a slot in the link of an excentric r, which can be rotated to a sufficient extent in either direction by means of the cross lever w, whereon cords are attached for the purpose of bringing it within easy reach of the weaver. By pulling one cord, the cylinder movee in one direction; whilst by means of the other, it is brought back. A lateral movement of the cylinder to the extent of half the distance between the vertical rows of needles puts one pattern out and the other into action. In this manner, if desirable, more than two sets of patterns may be produced' from one set of cards : thus one set of holes may produce the end borders ; a second, the side borders and ground ; and Ft third, the side borders, ground, and central design, thus dispensing altogether with the supplementary jacquard and its furnishings. From various causes, such as the failure of the automatic stop-motion to arrest the movement of the loom when the weft thread has broken, or from the necessity through the occurrence of a fault to unweave a portion of the cloth, the card gets out of proper relationship with the parts of the pattern last woven, in which case it is necessary to reverse its movement with facility and ease. Fig. 1476 shows a means whereby this may be readily done. There are two levers x y, the first being a presser-lever, and the second a catch. Both arc furnished with cords at their free ends, by pulling which they can be lifted clear of the cylinder, which can then be turned in either direction with ease and rapidity by means of the endless band z, passing over the grooved pulley on the axis of the cylinder.