Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-11-02

To Nottingham, England, goes the
credit for having placed window cur
alns within the reach of the masses
AS Il matter Of fact, Nottingham is
the home of the English lace indus
try, has been adopted as an appropriate
liIes in the fact that Nottingham, being
the only connection between the two
entirely Innocent in the premises and
name to be given to the output of
our cotton lace manufactures What
Nottingham is to England and Calais
ana Candre to France, Brooklyn stands
10 the United States-the home or
mead center of the lace industry.
The pioneer in this industry in this
country was A. @. Jennings of Brook
lyn, who in 1867 opened modest mill
III New York city, which in a very few
years proved inadequate to the de
mandS of his growing business. In 1871
he decided to locate in his native city,
says the Brooklyn Eagle, and the plant
has been increased from time to time
Till now there are seven large build
in@s covering the site on Hall street
and Park avenue, giving employment to
about 1000 men and women Mr.. Jen-
nings is the inventor Of several ma
chimes that have been revolutionary in
their operation, the most notable of
winch IS u knitting machine, capable
or l4O revolutions q minute and on
which the finest silk vailing is made
TO follow a thread of silk from its
%
paration to be worked up into delicate
Lace by the marvelously ingenious ma
chinery, is an exceedingly interesting
occupation. The silk is received in this
country in bales shipped from Italy.
emma and Japan. 1t is in skeins in
the raw state, either greenish white or
yellow III color. The finest silk comes
from Italy. The thread is like a hair
and is as long as the Skein The first
operation is to throw it, or in other
words bring as many threads together
rs may be required in very fine or
heavier fabrics. When the thread is
Of the desired thickness it is boiled
to remove the gum which is natural to
1t, and when dry it is wound on snoOls
holding several thousand yards each
This IS done by machines of from
sixty to ninety sQo0lS each.
The spoo,s are then put on a Jack,
Q" frames of pins, on which they re-
yolve ana from which the silk is fed
on drum or warping mill through
brass plates more or less perfora ted
with holes. according to the number
of threads to be placed in the warp.
An ingenious device registers the yards
rs they run on the drum, so that when
the desired length has been wound the
machine is stopped. The warps vary
in width according to the work in
which they are to be used. The next
operation is to run the WaTps on the
warp beams. These beams are steel
rollers of various thicknesses and in
width running as high as 154 inches
Transferring the warp from the drum
to the beam is 4 repetition of the oper-
alton from the spool to the drum. To
every machine there is a main warp
which forms the ground wC1k of the
pattern; supplemented by several auXil-
larry Warps of various size threads with
Which the pattern is perfected. The
main warp may be several thousand
yards long, while the auxiliary warps
are shorter and are replaced from time
to time. When the skein is wound on
the spools part of it goes on in another
direction, where the silk is run from
the spoolS on to bobbinS. The bObbins
are the instruments that in lace-malinG
form the design of the pattern by
twisting around the warp threads. AT
this stage the machine is armed with
the material ready to be worked up
And this is the point at which art
enters A corps of draughtsmen are
employed making new designs and
laying out the work. The design being
tx ceptable, a draughtsman's pattern
is drawn to scale, one copy Of which
goes to the operator on the machine
who threads it accordingly by running
the threads from the warp beams
which set at the bottom of the machine
through a sley cloth and perforated
steel bars and fastened on the roller
at the top.
This operation IS of the most exact
ing character and the greatest care
must be exercised, as the misplacins
of single thread will bring disaster t.
the most elaborate and CAREFUL!
worked out design. Each thread i;
handled separately and many hours
are required to thread a machine o
154 inches in width Within tina
space the pattern is repeated rs man.
times as the width will allow, so tina
yvbnr, tho fa1,r.ia iS turned ont Of th
machine as many as thirty strips ma.
be found. Another copy of tn
draughtSman's pattern is sent to III
Jacquard puncher, or what may b
called a piano machine, where the pal
tern is punched on heavy caribbean
on the same principle as the musi
rolls of an orcheStriOn, but with th
difference that each piece of car
(about 1-2x1S inches) contains tn
design of a single movement of tn
lace machine. If there are 300 stitche
in a pattern there will be three hui
dred of these cards strung togethe
The machine being threaded the card
are adjusted to the Jacquard attacl
ment, without which lace might bette
be made by hand. The design caro-
operate choppers in the attachmel
bars, through which the threads pas
and weave the pattern, each NOV
ment being complete and perfect. G
a machine 154 inches in width as mar
as 10000 threads are used. The d
scription OF the working of one IN
chine covers all. When the desire
length has been rim off it GOES to III