While the barbarian was about to proceed with a description of his mechanical monster, we issued our mighty mandate, calling upon our trusty scribe and penman, Deog, to appear before us, and to copy down verbatim the whole of the Oration, as delivered with fear and trembling in our royal presence, by the said heathen, whom at the same time we commanded to speak slow, that no errors of judgment might be made. We here give in our most excellent History, for the good of our well beloved subjects, the words as recorded.

O most noble Deioces! Great monarch of the Medes, whose laws change not! Much to be dreaded! May it please the King's most excellent majesty, I, an humble descendent of our great father Noah, have invented, arranged, and worked, after having experienced sixty-five years of sore toil and anxiety of mind in this vale of tears, a weaving engine to be driven by the power of compressed air, and which, O King, I now beg leave to explain.

May it please your Majesty,

My invention, with all its combinations, parts and appurtenances, is applicable, either separately, or conjointly, as the nature of the case may be, to the manufacture of all sorts of cloth, whether plain, tweeled, or figured. The arrangement which I propose to employ, consists in improvements on a weaving apparatus, invented in the days of Haran, the father of our unfortunate brother Lot, who once lived in Ur of the Chaldees,

and which loom or contrivance bore the title of 'Ghelen's vertical mat loom.' But it is unnecessary to enter into a description of it, as the looms constructed according to the present improvements have such different properties from the said Ghelen's, as to have very little in common therewith, excepting in the circumstance of the cloth, during its formation, extending in a vertical plane.

The main object of the present improvements is to enable me to weave four, or more webs at one operation; and yet my machine contains but one lay, with suitable contrivances for moving it, alternately, upwards and downwards.

And may it please the King,

Figure B, represents a vertical section of the creature, taken transversely through the lay, A, which is placed in a horizontal position, with two reeds B B, in it, one extending across the loom at the front, and the other at the back. Each of these reeds is adapted to weave two, or more pieces of cloth, from one of the warps, CC, each of which warps, by means of a division in the centre of its reed, and an extraordinary arrangement of the headles, is divided into

two, or more distinct sheds, through which shuttles are to be thrown, leaving a weft thread, or threads (as the case may be) in each of the sheds.

And, may it please the King,

The warps of these webs, are to be wound upon two rollers D D, placed at the bottom of the loom, and parallel to each other: the threads which proceed from them, are conducted upwards through the headles, which are extended horizontally, then into the reeds B B. The threads so proceeding from each warp roller, are now divided into two, or more series, for weaving distinct pieces of cloth; and for this purpose, the surface of the dents of each reed, is divided by means of a long narrow ruler, (which is secured across the dents) extending the entire length of the reed, so that the surface which the dents present, is divided into two, or more parallel shuttle races. There are in all four, or more of these races, for the passage of as many shuttles, which are to be thrown (with great precision) by a simultaneous motion, through the several sheds open for their reception. The warp threads, as they come from their respective rollers, are conducted up through these shuttle races. The headles

set.

E E, are tied across the loom from front to back, beneath the reeds, and every headle has two, or more eyes in it, at suitable distances apart, to receive as many threads of warp, one of them belonging to the front warp roller and front reed, and the other to the back Each headle operates upon two, or more of the webs, which are to be woven at once; and by working them, all the warps will be divided, and opened into sheds, at the same instant. The lay, with its reeds, remains stationary, at its lowest descending point, while the shuttles are passing through the sheds; but, immediately after they have made their exit, it begins to ascend, carrying up with it the weft threads. The sheds are all closed by a suitable action of the headles, while the lay is ascending, and when it reaches its highest position, the reeds knock up all the weft threads between the closed warp.

And, may it please the King,

The fabric as it is woven is drawn upwards, and wound round the cloth rollers F F, one at the back, and the other at the front of the loom, and corresponding to the warp rollers. The accessaries, and new improvements which are proposed to be applied to vertical air-looms, according to my invention, for the purpose of weaving four, or more webs at once, in the same machine, are as follows.

1st. In order to avoid stopping the motion of the loom when one or more of the weft threads break, or become exhausted, a few spare

shuttles are to be lodged in suitable receptacles, which are so arranged, that the mere breaking of a weft thread, will cause a change of shuttle instantaneously, (by the substitution of a spare one in its stead.) The method by which I accomplish the operation is this:

On a weft thread breaking or becoming exhausted, the corresponding shuttle will be jerked out of the lay, into a sluice, made through the back side of the machine, and from thence conducted to the catcher,' at the lower end of the weaving room, or at some other convenient place, (as the case may be) where it is refitted with a new cop or quill, put into what is generally designated 'Nahor's air fly,' in which is a cylinder containing a moderate quantity of compressed air. On the shuttle being entered at the top of the fly, (exactly in the same way that bullets are dropped into 'Perkin's steam gun') it descends into the return conductor, where the end of a rod, not unlike the suction-rod of one of your Majesty's garden pumps, is brought to bear against it; but, that the point of the shuttle may not be injured by the sudden action of the propeller, the latter is hollowed out to fit the end of the shuttle, to about two-thirds of the nib's length, and the shoulder thus formed will prevent any little mishap of that nature, which might otherwise occur. The shuttle being thus made ready, the cop tender (bobbin winder) tips the 'let off,' whereupon that shuttle speeds its way to replace some one of its fellows, that has become exhausted, and thus a uniform system of operation is constantly kept up.

And, may it please the King,

That if by neglect of the cop tender, the receptacles be not provided with spare shuttles, nevertheless the loom will stop of its own accord the arrangement by which this is effected is as follows:

The shuttle, Fig. C, is provided with a spring dent 1, the end of which, nearest the cop 2, is made heavier than the other, and is kept raised by the tension of the weft thread, when unbroken; which thread passes over the pin 3, through an opening (or eye) at the end of the detent, and over the studs 4 and 5, then through a hole at the lightest end, passing under the pin 6, and out at the eye 7. Thus, on the breaking or failure of the weft thread, the weightier end of the detent, being no longer upheld, will lie on the bottom of the shuttle elevating the other end, which on entering the box or cell, forces back a projection that protrudes through an opening in the picker: and this projection on being forced back,

acts upon a series of levers, which cause the cells containing this shuttle and its fellows, to move towards the right hand side of the loom, their places being filled by the two adjoining cells, containing spare shuttles. This operation is repeated on the breaking, or failure, of a weft thread, as many times, as there are pairs of spare shuttles provided (say eleven times;) but, if by the neglect of the tender, in not replenishing the cells with spare shuttles, (as I before stated,) the whole number has been exhausted, and another change is yet required, then, the safety regulator will, by means of a lever, draw out the connecting pins from the lay arms, on the main driving shaft, which pins keep this shaft attached to the working parts of the loom, and as soon as this is accomplished motion will be suspended.

2d. And, may it please the King,

The arrangement of the headles or what is called the mounting of the loom, is so contrived as to be suitable for weaving four, or more webs of plain cloth at once; but it admits of introducing a greater number of headles, than the two which are requisite for plain weaving; and, in fact, the mechanism by which they are worked (with a slight variation) admits of weaving any kind of tweeled cloth, by means of any convenient number of headles. 3d. And may it please the King,

The loom is also provided with substitutes for temples, for the purpose of keeping the webs of cloth properly extended, during the operation of weaving: they are a sort of pincers JJ, of which there are four, or more pairs, two, or more, at each side of the loom. After the shuttles are thrown, while the sheds of the warp are closing, and the lay is moving up towards the cloth, the jaws of all the pincers are closed by the wedge-like piece H, attached to the rod I, which moves the lay up and down. This piece H causes the two rollers shown by the dots, to recede from each other, and to close the pincers upon the selvages. The moment the picks of weft are knocked up by the reeds, the lay descends, the pincers advance towards each other, and their jaws are again opened, ready to grasp their several selvages as before.

4th. And, may it please the King,

The warp rollers DD, are loaded with only small retaining weights, (applied as in said Ghelen's loom) in order that the friction thereby produced may occasion but a slight resistance to the rotation of the rollers, as the warp is drawn off by the gradual formation of the cloth. A ratchet wheel is fixed upon one end of each warp roller, and two clicks are so connected with the machinery,