I 175 ] 174 



The great superiority of this loom over the common kind, is further 

 proved by the following facts: One man can make one hundred yards 

 of figured stuff in twenty-five days. Mr. Stephen Wilson, who intro- 

 duced this loom into England from France, in his examination before 

 the Committee of the British House of Commons, on the silk trade, 

 said, " here are a number of works that have been made with it, (pro- 

 ducing a shawl;) this shawl has one thousand two hundred cords. I 

 never knew of a loom of that number of cords in Spitalfields. Here 

 is another work (producing another shawl) of six hundred cords; tho 

 weaver does all himself. It is also adapted for damask, which is one 

 of the heaviest kinds of work. I always consider two yards and a 

 half a good day's work for a weaver; and I have had made from three 

 to four yards a day; .and this is shot with worsted, which requires a 

 stronger blow. Generally, they are drawn every four shoots; but this 

 is drawn every shoot, which makes it a more difficult work : this pat- 

 tern is three yards long, but it can be made of any length whatever. 

 I have now a pattern going on with 7,000 lashes. If I am not too 

 sanguine, my idea of this machinery is, that it is of as much conse- 

 quence to the silk manufacture of this country, (England) as Ark- 

 wright's machine was to cotton ; and that it will supersede a great 

 deal of the machinery now in use." 



Le Brunts Loom, 



Mr. Le Brun, of Lyons, has more recently invented a loom, with 

 objects similar to those effected by Mr. Jacquart's apparatus. It is 

 composed of five stages, and the mechanism, which is simple, allows 

 one man to weave five pieces at the same time. Borgnis, speaking of it, 

 says: "This apparatus is highly ingenious, easy of execution, and 

 ^eosts but little : it accomplishes fully the object of the inventor, with- 

 out increasing the trouble of the workman, who is enabled to dispense 

 with the aid of a draw-boy, as the machine performs his duty with the 

 greatest precision. The harmony of the work, of the several parts, 

 and the order of the design, are admirable."'* Borgnis gives an out- 

 line of a description of Jacquart's and Le Brun's looms; but the utter 

 zmpossibility of finding any who could translate the technical phrases 

 into English, prevented its insertion.! A manufacturer of figured 

 stuffs would be amply repaid by going to Paris to procure one of these 

 looms, models of which are deposited in the Conservatoire des Arts 

 etMetieres." 



English Patents. 



Philip Shell, of Kensington, for improvement in machinery for 

 drawing, roving, and spinning hemp, flax, and waste silkt — February. 

 1823. 



* Vol. 1. p. 265. 



i No dictionary contains the naimes of the numerous parts 



* Repertory of Patent Inventions, vol. 2d, p. 265; 1826 



