which drives a series of wheels and pinions ;-these communicate motion to a wheel, fastened on the end of the cloth roller, which is thus caused to revolve. One of the wheels, and one of the pinions are provided with a catch box, to which is attached a spring lever by which they may be thrown in or out of gear as occasion requires.

At every succeeding fold of cloth added to the roller it will gradually push the short side arm of the crank lever back, by pressing against the saddle; by this means, the lever will be turned partly round, and its long arm will cause the endless band to traverse towards the pointed end of the drum on the counter shaft, by which means the last mentioned drum will be caused to revolve more slowly; therefore, slower motion will be communicated to the cloth roller, by the wheels and pinions, but the cloth (says the patentee) will be wound on with the same degree of speed as at first, owing to the increased diameter of the cloth beam.

In order to insure steadiness of action, when applying this invention to the taking-up of the cloth, having a large number of picks to the inch, the patentee adopts the following arrangement of parts:

From the back of the saddle, a flat bar of iron extends, and is formed into a rack;-this bar travels in an eye, attached to the centre of a bar, one end of which is fastened to the breast beam of the loom, and the other end extends out, and forms a support for an upright axle. To the upper part of this axle, is fastened a small spur wheel, which is worked by the rack before mentioned; and to the lower part of this axle, is fastened a large spur wheel, which works a rack, provided with a pair of prongs;-these prongs act on

the endless bands.

The saddle is kept in contact with the cloth roller, by means of a spring, and the other parts remain the same as before; the motion of the cloth roller being varied by the traversing of the endless bands. The following is the mode of applying this contrivance to a hand loom :

The saddle, upright crank lever, and its arms, as well as the pinions and wheels which turn the cloth roller, are the same as in the first instance, with the exception of the catch box and spring lever, which are removed for the reason hereafter explained.

The drum, which was before on the tappet shaft, is now fastened on a crank shaft, having two cranks, and is steadied in its revolutions by a fly wheel, at one or both ends. This shaft is turned by two crank arms, extending from the lay to the crank, and it communicates motion, by means of an endless band (and two stout

Irishmen) to the other drum, which is fastened on a counter shaft, the endless band being caused to traverse by the long arm of the lever, in the manner above described.

The patentee says, in concluding his specification, that "when the lay ceases its vibrations the whole must stop; therefore, the catch box and spring lever, for throwing the wheels and pinions out of gear, in order to stop the cloth roller, are useless;" to which we respond, yaw! yaw!! yaw!!! That the machinery of a common power loom should continue its regular evolutions after the lay ceases to vibrate, is, indeed a mysterious affair; and is well worthy the attention of the learned. The looms represented at Figs. 161, 162, 163 and 164 will accomplish the object of this patent with much greater precision and simplicity; to which Figs. the reader is referred.

The cone drums, applied to looms for taking up the cloth in the way claimed by Mr. Welch, is an old German idea, and is not worth a stiver.

Thomas Mellowdew, of Walshaw Cottage, Oldham, Lancaster, mechanic, obtained a patent in May, 1838, for improvements in looms; which improvements consist in certain machinery to be attached to looms for weaving various kinds of cloth; and set in motion by the pull, strain, or jerk given to the warp threads by the blow of the reed in beating up the weft; and which produces by its action a regular, corresponding, and sufficient delivery from the warp-beam, and taking up of the cloth on the clothroller so long as there is weft-thread added; but which delivery and taking up cease, in case of the breaking or non-delivery of the weft, or shortly afterwards, in consequence of the reed on being at such times struck up, meeting with a diminished resistance, inadequate to cause a sufficient pull, strain, or jerk upon the warp threads, to produce the effect required, although the general evolutions of the loom continue.

We need not here recapitulate the immense long yarn given by the patentee, as explanatory of his invention, as all that it effects may be accomplished by the loom represented in Fig. 171, by that shown at Figs. 165, 166, 167 and 168, or by that at Fig. 169: either of which looms is far superior (both as regards working and simplicity of construction) to Mr. Mellowdew's, as any manufacturer pretending to a knowledge of such subjects will at once perceive. In summing up his specification, Mr. Mellowdew says, "what I claim as my invention, is the causing the pull or strain upon, or jerk of the warp-threads, occasioned by the blow of the

reed in beating up the weft when sufficient resistance has been presented to it by the supply of the weft from the shuttle to produce, by means of a vibrating carrying roller, (whip-roller) supported on vibrating levers, and acted upon by the jerk of the warp with the other machinery herein described, when attached to looms for weaving various kinds of cloth, a regular corresponding, and sufficient delivery of yarn from the warp-beam, and taking up of cloth on the cloth roller, so long as the proportionate filling up of the weft continues, but which delivery and taking up will cease in case of the breaking or non-delivery of the weft, or shortly afterwards, in consequence of the reed, on being struck up, meeting with a diminished and inadequate resistance, and, therefore, causing a diminished pull, strain, or jerk." All this, as we before observed, may be effected with the modification of Mr. Stone's loom, shown at Fig. 171; and which modification was made the subject of a patent in the United States, as formerly stated, 23d November, 1837, about six months prior to the date of Mr. Mellowdew's patent.

We might here give accounts of some 50 or 60 other contrivances which have been made the subjects of patents in Great Britain, France, Belgium and America, for several years past, for governing the delivery of the warp and the taking up of the cloth in common power looms; but none of which contrivances are at all equal in point of practical utility or simplicity to those shown at Figs. 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170 and 171. For weaving delicate textures, such as gauze, light silk stuffs, &c. positive take up motions (in connexion with a motion to stop the loom when the weft thread breaks or becomes expended on the cop or bobbin) must be used instead of the vibrating reed; we shall, therefore, close this part of our subject by referring the reader to Section Twelfth.

49

SECTION ELEVENTH.

FANCY WEAVING.

"The wise and prudent conquer difficulties
By daring to attempt them. Sloth and folly
Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and danger,

And make the impossibility they fear."-RowE.

By the term fancy weaving we mean the weaving of those small patterns which are produced in looms mounted with leaves of headles; and of which we have already given sufficient explanation in Sections Second and Third.

For a complete description of the method of weaving figured patterns of unlimited extent, by power, see next Section. In the present section we shall confine our remarks to those looms for weaving fancy textures which we consider to be of most practical utility, with such other information as has a direct bearing on the subject; and, in the outset, it may, perhaps, not be amiss to offer a few observations on fancy textures in general.

The smaller mountings, with leaves of headles, produce but a very limited variety of patterns, commonly a small diamond or lozenge figure, with a dot or speck in the centre, which gives it the resemblance of an eye: hence these figures are generally denominated bird-eye patterns. When the mountings, however, extend to eight leaves and upwards, they admit of considerable diversity in flushing, tweeling, and plain texture, deviating from the formal figures of the bird-eye, and which now assume the appearance of what is called lined work.

The draught of lined work patterns may be considerably diversified by dividing the leaves into two equal portions, and drawing a few sets of the diamond draught on each portion, alternately. This arrangement throws the group of small figures produced by each set of leaves, into alternate squares, somewhat resembling the damboard pattern, shown at Fig. 36, Section Second. It is customary, however, to introduce an odd leaf into these mountings, immediately between the divisions, which serves as a point leaf to both sets.

Any number of concentric figures may be formed, by repeating

the draught several times over the leaves in one direction, and returning in the contrary direction as often: so that should the draught diverge from the centre of the cloth toward each selvage, and the treading continue to the same extent, the pattern would be one great figure, composed of concentric squares, whose dimensions and variety would depend on the number of leaves, and the arrangement of the raising cords.

Tweeled and plain textures.-For patterns of this kind, the mountings will consist of one set of plain, and one set of tweeling leaves, and the raising and sinking cords of the plain mounting are tied alternately on the tweeling treadles. It must be observed, however, that in all mountings which have an odd number of tweeling leaves, double the number of treadles are requisite, in order to make the plain sheds alternate without interruption.

All tweeled stripes, which have an even number of tweeling leaves, are woven with one set of tweeling treadles, as the sheds of the plain parts can then be made alternate without any interruption.

Where the pattern will permit, the greater portion of the tweeling leaves should be sunk, and therefore, the weft will appear to most advantage on the upper side of the cloth while in the loom. Besides this advantage, the strain on the machinery will not be near so great, in raising the smaller portion of leaves.

Sometimes the draught of a tweeled stripe is made in the diamond form, and the pattern produced is commonly called a dart stripe, or herring bone.

When a web is to be tweeled across, in order to form checks or the borders of handkerchiefs, the same number of leaves must be employed for the ground that are requisite for the tweeled stripe. Thus, to convert a four leafed tweel stripe into a check, the common mounting of four leaves, will produce a similar tweel across the web. But should the stripe be woven in a six or eight leafed tweel mounting, the plain parts must also be drawn on six or eight leaves, and each leaf is corded so as to rise and sink alternately in the plain parts, but to produce the tweel in the check. Hence it will appear, that a stripe with an odd number of tweeling leaves will not admit of a similar tweel for the crossing or check, as the ground leaves must always be divided into equal portions in weaving the plain parts.

Any tweel of an even number of leaves may be converted into stripes and checks; and if the stripe be formed into a dart, or herring bone, the plain may be woven by a single over and over