C H A I N W O R K. 



Tambour- 

 ing. 



Patent 



[.unl'our 

 l.uh:iK\ 



Pi ATE 



CXXXVI. 



Fit.. 1. 



beings to the exercise of fair industry, in objects 

 which promised to be of great hi-ndi', both to them- 

 selves anil to the public in general, he might indeed have 

 iii ne some good to society. The immediate use of 

 the machine, it is his present object to describe, and 

 this may perhaps prove more likely to attract the at- 

 tention or his reader. 



Patent Tambour Machine. 



The first idea of this machine arose from a casual 

 conversation with a gentleman, at that period exten- 

 sively engaged in the muslin manufacture, and fond 

 of mechanical pursuits. Some study convinced the 

 inventor, that the construction of a machine, which, 

 by bringing into action a great number of needles at 

 the same time, would shorten the process by manual 

 labour, and might be rendered actually efficient, was 

 perfectly practicable. The diversification of pattern 

 seemed to constitute the whole difficulty, and the 

 application of Sir Isaac Newton's principle of two 

 forces acting at right angles to each other, presented 

 a facility of overcoming this obstacle, which encou- 

 raged him to proceed. To apply this principle in 

 the various ways which might effect his purpose, did 

 not occur for a long time afterwards, and his first idea 

 was confined to the construction of a machine, which 

 might be put in motion by a person who should exer- 

 cise his discretion in shaping the pattern, whilst he 

 should be enabled to perform all the other operations 

 by the pressure of his feet. It seemed more easy to 

 move the cloth than the needles, and for this reason 

 the cloth frame was made to shift in both directions; 

 at the same time he received a suggestion, that a per- 

 pendicular position might admit of many conveniences 

 of which a horizontal one could not be made suscep- 

 tible ; and satisfied of the justice of the remark, he 

 immediately adopted it. After some consideration, 

 a machine was constructed under his direction, and 

 afterwards a second, which he casually superintend- 

 ed, being at that time engaged in other pursuits. 

 After two years, he formed a connection, by which 

 his whole study and time were to be devoted to the 

 completion and practical application of his invention. 

 Six of the machines were set to work in this way, 

 after which he was sent to London by the company, 

 in order to procure the patent, and comply with that 

 proviso common to all patents, which requires a spe- 

 cification of the invention to be enrolled in the Court 

 of Chancery within thirty days of the sealing of the 

 patent. At this period, the idea of rendering the 

 machine automatic had barely presented itself to him, 

 and consequently the last part of the specification 

 which dcbcribes the possibility of applying mechani- 

 cal power, is stated as merely prospective. Upon 

 his return, he extended and applied this principle so 

 long a* the work was under his direction. The re- 

 sults of that experience, and what has since occur- 

 red to him, will be found in the description which 

 follow*. 



In Plate CXXXVI. are represented four elevations 

 of this machine, according to the latest improve- 

 ments made upon it. Fig. 1. is a transverse eleva- 

 tion, viewed in front, or at that part where the per- 

 son who has the care and superintendance of it is 

 supposed to be placed. At A A A, are three up 

 right p . ; sts, being exactly one half of what are used, 

 those behind corresponding in every respect with 



those iu front. At B is a hori/ontal croet.rail, of Timbour- 

 which one is before and two hrhii.d. The frame in ' ' ''_ 

 which the cloth IB stretched appears at C, the low- ~^f 

 er beam and under part being concealed by the beam 

 D, but correspondent in every particular with the 

 upper part, which is visible. At E is the middle 

 , which in that work contained 54 needles, 

 each being placed at the distance of one inch asun- 

 der, and designed to tambour a piece of muslin 

 6-4ths wide, one whole row being wrought at the 

 same time. The cloth frame is suspended, so that 

 it will move freely, and without the exertion of much 

 power, either upwards or downwards ; and with 

 equal facility from right to left, and vice verm. To 

 ensure this, the roller G is placed above ; and in or- 

 der that both sides of the cloth frame may rise and 

 sink equally, cords are attached to each end, which, 

 after passing a sufficient number of times round the 

 roller G, descend upon the opposite side, where the 

 weight of the frame is nearly, but not quite, counter- 

 poised by the weights LL. 



The tension of the cloth is preserved by ratchet 

 wheels and catches to either roller, precisely as in a 

 common tambouring tent ; and in order that it may be 

 stretched laterally as well as vertically, at each side 

 was a piece of iron filled with wire hooks, which took 

 hold of the selvage of the cloth, and which operated 

 exactly like those frames for drying cloth, used at 

 bleach fields, and called by the name of stcnters. In 

 the double framing at the right hand, that part of 

 the machinery which forms the pattern is contained, 

 and this consists of four wheels fixed upon the same 

 axis, which was a bar of iron one inch square. Of 

 these wheels, three were 18 inches in diameter, and 

 one 26 inches. The wheel nearest to the front of 

 the machine is a ratchet, and merely regulates the 

 motion of the others. It was customary to form two 

 flowers by one revolution of the axis, because when 

 the flowers were similar, every second row was re- 

 versed, and when dissimilar, every alternate row was 

 of the same form. In the first case, the ratchet- 

 wheel formed a flower by half a revolution ; in the 

 second, the number of teeth corresponded to the num- 

 ber of loops or stitches in the respective flowers. 

 The next wheel in order communicated the horizon- 

 tal motion to the frame in which the cloth was sus- 

 pended ; the third wheel gave the perpendicular mo- 

 tion ; and the fourth, or 26 inch wheel, gave a rota- 

 tory motion to the needles upon their own axes. 

 The second and third wheels, of course, were those 

 immediately employed in the formation of patterns ; 

 and it may be proper in this place to give some ac- 

 count of the principle by which they were fitted for 

 this purpose, as it is by far the most curious and least 

 understood part of the whole machinery. 



The principle upon which this motion is construct- 

 ed, and which is susceptible of infii.ite variety, de- 

 pends upon the two following corollaries to the third 

 law of motion, as given in Sir Isaac Newton's Prin- 

 cijria, and extracted from Mr Motte's translation, 

 edition 1803, pages 15, 16. 



" Cor. 1 . A body by two forces conjoined will de- 

 scribe the diagonal of a parallelogram in the same 

 time that it would descnbe the sides of these forces 

 apart. 



' Cor. 2. And hence is explained the composition 

 of any one direct force out of any two oblique forces j 



