these cams are given, illustrative of their various forms and the positions which we are told they assume during the operation of the loom. The cam-wheel for working the Jacquard corresponds in every respect to that marked D' D', in Tompkins and Gilroy's loom, Fig. 205; the cams for working the headles, &c. are also the

same.

It will be observed that Mr. Bigelow, in summing up his claims, says, in reference to all these, that they do not constitute "a distinguishing or an essential feature" of his improvements, but remarks, that these consist "mainly in the mounting of the loom, and of tying up the harness, so as to admit of the employment of one, or more, moveable harness-boards, and of one, or more, leaves of headles, and of the Jacquard machine in the power loom." (See Gilroy's loom mountings or tie-ups, Examples Nos. 1 to 10.)

It appears somewhat strange to us, that this gentleman should fill three-fourths of his specification in describing these wheels and cams, and give so many different figures of them in his drawings; and after all this state, that they are not "essential" to the working of his loom. Now the truth is, without these, the loom would not be worth a stiver, because it could not produce the stuffs referred to in the specification at all, as any one may perceive by looking at the specification and drawings of this patent, lodged at Washington.

It has been already stated, that Mr. Bigelow claims "the employment of one or more leaves of headles, and of the Jacquard machine in the power loom;" which is funny enough. By reference to Figs. 203 and 204, it will be perceived that Tompkins and Gilroy's loom has eight leaves of headles, besides Jacquard machinery; and yet their patent is dated May 9th, 1835, whereas, Mr. Bigelow's is dated May, 1842; (see also Figs. 212, 213, and 214.)

Some men admire the heights of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the steep fall of rivers, the compass of the ocean, and the circuit of the stars, but as for us, we shall for the present content ourself with simply noticing a loom for weaving coach lace, Brussels carpeting, and other fabrics with looped surfaces invented by Thomas Thompson, a subject of Great Britain, and which invention has been SECURED by Letters Patent. By the aid of this loom, Mr. T. is enabled to manufacture coach lace at the cost of one penny farthing per yard, which formerly cost four pence half penny, exhibiting the astounding difference in favour of Mr. Thompson's machine, over every previous machine, of three pence farthing per yard. To this manufacture he has added the Brussels ne

carpet, velvet, &c., which we are assured is produced with the most surprising velocity. "It is truly astonishing to see the march of science."

Mr. Thompson's ingenious loom is described in the London Journal of Arts and Sciences, conjoined series No. CL. vol. XXIV, and may be procured on application to Messrs. Newton & Son 66 Chancery Lane, London.

As we intend to give a complete description of this machine, in our work on carpet weaving by power, no farther notice need be taken of it in this place.

Miles Berry, (of the firm of Newton and Berry, patent agents, 66 Chancery-lane, London,) obtained a patent in August, 1838, for certain improvements in looms for producing metallic tissues, and also improvements in such tissues, applicable to the making of buttons, epaulettes, tassels, and other purposes, for which gold and silver lace or braiding is commonly employed, and to the making of imitations of jewellery and other fancy articles.

These improvements consist, in weaving or producing ornamental metallic tissues or fabrics of wire applicable to various useful purposes, for which gold and silver lace is commonly used; as for instance, in the making of different articles of ornamental dress, epaulettes, bands, sashes, bindings, trimmings, tassels, buttons, and various other purposes where gold and silver lace is now applied, also to the covering of boxes, books, card cases, and covering or forming various imitations of jewellery, and other fancy articles; and consist in weaving, making, or forming, such ornamental metallic tissues, entirely of strands of wire, either of gold, silver, silver-gilt, copper-gilt or other metal, or mixtures of metal, which wires are woven into a tissue or fabric, having patterns or ornamental devices thereon, by any suitable figuring machinery, such ornamental metallic tissues being composed entirely of metal, in contradistinction to the ordinary gold and silver lace, and have all the variety of design or pattern, and brilliancy of appearance of the finest figured or brocaded silk, or other fabric, without their perishable qualities; and are capable of being cleaned by boiling or washing with water, or immersing in acid solution, and gilded or silvered or even soldered together after they have been woven,--which cannot be done with tissues having silk, cotton, or other threads, interwoven in the fabric.

The improvements in the looms for weaving such tissue or fabrics, being the application and adaptation of the well known Jacquard

mechanism or apparatus for acting upon the warp threads or wires, to produce the figure or design, together with suitable mechanism, whereby the same is made or rendered more applicable to the loom for this purpose; for when the Jacquard apparatus is applied in the ordinary manner (in hand looms) the abrupt or sudden action caused by the treadles through the Jacquard upon the warps, and also their great extent of opening or separating to allow the shuttle to pass, is liable to break the metallic strands, they not being so elastic or capable of yielding longitudinally as warps of silk or twisted fibrous material, and therefore a means of remedying this evil is adapted with the Jacquard to the loom; the rising motion of the head-board or top of the Jacquard apparatus, being first met by an elastic resistance, and then stayed at the proper distance by an adjustable stop-piece.

It should be here remarked, that solid gold and silver, and gilt wire, has been heretofore applied in the making of gold and silver lace; but it has only been used as weft threads, interwoven with warps, consisting of threads of silk or fibrous material, such warps being covered, or nearly so, by the picks of metal weft, and having a small or finer binding warp thread of silk or fibrous material to secure such metal weft in parts where it floats over several threads to produce the figure or design on the face of the fabric; and such combination of metal, and silk or fibrous material, has heretofore, only been woven in an ordinary figuring loom without the Jacquard apparatus; such lace has all the disadvantages of the common gold and silver lace, composed entirely of silk or fibrous material, both warp and weft being covered by a thin coating of metal wound or coiled around them. It should also be observed, that a description of metallic tissue has heretofore been woven in ordinary looms of the simplest construction, that is, without the means of producing figures or designs: but this has been done only in broad-pieces of plain fabric, the warp and weft regularly interweaving with one another at each pick of the weft or change of the pattern or figure; which woven wire work or fabric is applicable to the making of window-blinds, paper strainers, sieves, screens, fire guards, and other purposes, where the same may be used.

In order to apply this invention with good effect, and produce the ornamental tissues with the best advantage, the metallic strands or wire should be carefully annealed by heating the same, and allowing it to cool gradually, in order to destroy the brittleness caused in the drawing of the wire, and to render it as pliant as possible, so that the metallic strands may work well with the Jacquard appara

tus. The following means or method of effecting this object should be pursued:

The wire is first wound upon hollow metal bobbins; into the hollow part or centre of these bobbins are to be placed red hot pieces of metal, whereby the wire will be heated on the bobbins, and then allowed gradually to get cold. In order to preserve the polish of the wire, and not to injure its colour, the bobbins should be of different metals, according to the different metal wire to be operated upon; for instance, when copper wire is to be used, the bobbin should be formed of copper; if the wire is silver, or silver gilt, or copper gilt, the bobbin should be formed of silver, and if the wire is gold, the bobbins should of course also be of gold. This process of annealing, as well as the means employed, may be varied according to circumstances, and the kind of metal to be operated upon; or the wire or metallic strands may be annealed in any other convenient way; but the above described process prevents the wire being injured by heat, and gives it all the pliancy desired.

First, begin by warping the annealed metallic strands or wires, by six at a time, on the ordinary warping mill, each wire being supplied from a bobbin, placed on a creel in the same manner as in the ordinary method of warping cotton, silk, or other threads, (see Figs. 3, 4 and 5.) These metallic strands are to be fastened, by packs of 25 together, on the warp beam of the loom, taking care they are all equally distended. When this is done, the beam is to be turned round, and all the warp threads wound evenly thereon. It is requisite, at each revolution of the roller, to place a strip of cardboard, or piece of stiff paper or other material, upon the metallic strands, wound upon the beam, in order to prevent them from getting entangled one with the other; or a continuous sheet of cardboard, paper, or cloth, may be wound on with the strands for this purpose. This precaution is very necessary, as otherwise the threads would bind one with another, and prevent them unwinding or drawing off regularly, during the operation of weaving, and thereby become broken. A sufficient length of the metallic warp must be left unwound, to allow of their being passed through the headles and the reed: this is done in the same way as with cotton or silk warps: the workman, however, must be careful not to let any of the strands escape; for, if he does so, the wire springing back would coil up on itself, and loop into a kind of knot,-and consequently

* None but workmen of the best character are employed in this manufacture, strict honesty being indispensable.

be injured. When this is the case, the injured wire must be replaced by another, to be taken from an extra spool or bobbin placed at the back of the loom; and every time a metallic strand breaks, during the weaving of the tissue, it must be replaced by a fresh one, taken from an extra bobbin, and the part of the broken strand remaining on the warp beam conducted out of the way by passing it over a small pulley, and kept, by means of a weight attached to it, from intermixing with the other or perfect threads. When all the threads are passed through the headles and the reed, they are to be collected, in packs of 25, and fastened to the cloth roller, the strands being distended equally thereon. These preliminary operations being performed, the loom is ready for working.

The shuttle employed is similar to that used in the weaving of silk, and is supplied with a bobbin containing the metallic weft strands. The shuttle should, however, be rather heavy, as instead of governing the delivery of the weft, it would then be governed by it, and would spring back and cause injury to the work. The first few courses of the shuttle serve to regulate the position of the threads, as in ordinary weaving, and for that purpose any kind of weft may be used instead of metallic wires.

The operation of weaving is effected in precisely the same way as when working with silk or other material: care should, however, be taken that the weft strands of wire be finer than those of the warp.

Tissues, composed of copper wire, may be woven in their natural colour, and afterwards gilded or silvered; or this may be done previous to the weaving, as thought desirable.

Silver tissue requires much less care in the course of fabrication than wire gilt or silvered, as with the latter, care must be taken not to injure the surface; the tissue, as it is woven, should be covered with a cloth.

These metallic tissues may be applied to a great variety of articles and purposes, and, by their being composed entirely of metal, may be cut into any number of parts or forms, and attached to each other, or to other metal pieces, by soldering, or by the usual mode of joining various articles of jewellery and fancy work. They may be used for the top parts and binding of epaulettes, where gold and silver lace is now employed; for covering the heads of tassels; covering buttons; and various fancy articles; and when woven in narrow breadths, after the manner of gold and silver lace, galloons, or binding, they may be used for hat and other bands, bindings and trimmings for various purposes.