Improvements in the Manufacture of Lace.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Aug., 1899-Accepted, 30th Sept., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Lace.
I, AUGUST MATITSCH, of VI Millergasse 52, Vienna, Austria, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
-
The production of canvas-like crossing from carriage threads alone by means
of machines such as described in the Specifications of Letters Patent previously
granted to me and numbered 3987 and 16971 of 1897 and 20540 of 1898, pre-
sents in general no difficulty, but requires much time, as the carriage thread
forming the weft can be led only from comb slot to comb slot, so that a rela-
tively large number of operations is necessary for leading the weft forwards
and backwards across all the carriage-threads forming the warp into the initial
position.
Now this invention relates to a method for quickly producing canvas-like
crossing by means of machines of the kind herein before referred to.
This method consists in employing one of the threads that are passed through
the steel-bars or slide-bars (hereinafter called slide-bar threads) as a weft-thread
in such a manner that first all the carriages of the front (or back) comb are
moved one comb slot to the right (or left) hand in the same comb (first shifting);
secondly, the slide-bar weft-thread is passed across from right to left (or from
left to right) between the threads of the carriages of the front comb and those
of the carriages of the back comb (second shifting); thirdly, in two operations
all the carriages of the front comb pass into the back comb and vice versa (third
shifting), each carriage at the end of this third shifting being in the same comb
slot as at the commencement thereof; the consequence of these shiftings being
that whilst in the first shifting, in every case where there are, at the end thereof,
two carriages in the same comb slot, their threads make a crossing, which is
undone in the third shifting. The result of this mode of working is that the
number of operations is considerably less than in the case of the production of
canvas-like crossings with a carriage-thread as a weft-thread.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a side view of a pillow-lace machine,
one of whose slide-bars B has a slide-bar thread passed through it.
Figs. 2 to 70 inclusive illustrate the method of working.
As will be seen from Fig. 1 the machine is provided with three combs C1, C2, C3.
that serve for carrying and guiding the carriages A¹ A². The combs C' and C³
(the front and back combs) are laterally movable in the direction of their
length, but the comb C (the middle comb) is fixed. For the purpose of moving
the carriages from one comb into another the pushers P1, P2, P3 and the toothed
roller R2 are provided. In the space between the combs C and C2 there are
mounted the usual slide-bars or pattern-bars B (hereinafter called slide-bars),
through which are drawn the so called warp or slide-bar threads 9 of which
only one is shown in the drawing and only one is used, at least at a time, for
producing the canvas-like crossing. Each of these slide-bars B always remains

page_text: in the same vertical plane, but they are movable longitudinally-i.e., paralle!
to the combs, so that the slide-bar threads 9 can be placed between different
comb slots.
The mode of action of the machine when producing pillow-lace in the ordinary
way is already known, and does not therefore require to be described here.
In Fig. 68 there is shown the thread combination that is called in weaving an
ordinary simple canvas fabric, in which the threads 1 to 8 running parallel to
one another are the warp threads, and the thread crossing them all at right
angles, is the weft-thread. As is shown in the figure, the weft thread is passed
across the warp threads alternately from right to left and vice versa so that in
so doing it lies once under and once over each of them and forms with them
crossings to the right (at 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61, 71 and 8¹) and to the left (at 2, 3, 4,
5, 5b, 6, 7, and 8), alternately, a crossing being regarded, in accordance with
the Specification of Letters Patent No. 20540 of 1898, as to the right or to the
left according respectively as the thread that is behind at the crossing passes
onwards from the finished portion of the fabric to the left or as the thread that
is at the front passes onwards to the right. At the points where the weft thread
changes its direction, there are two crossings of the same kind (i.e., in the present
case at 5ª, 5b, and at 81 respectively. The same canvas-like crossings are also
produced in the manufacture of pillow-lace.
In a pillow-lace machine as described in the aforesaid specification the pro-
duction of these canvas-like crossings from carriage-threads alone does not offer
any difficulty, but it requires a great expenditure of time (as will be hereinafter
shewn) since the carriage-thread forming the weft can be passed through only
from one comb slot to the next one, a comb slot being regarded as constituted
by one of the slots of the fixed middle comb and the continuations thereof in
the front and back combs when the latter are in their normal position. If the
crossings shown in Fig. 68 had to be produced in this manner, 24 sets of move-
ments, each set constituting a single changing operation, would be required to
move the thread 9 from a to a², as will be seen by examining Figs. 7 to 24
inclusive.
Figs. 4, 5 and 6 show the end positions of the carriages whose threads were
crossed in the three sets of movements represented by Figs. 3 to 19 inclusive
of the Specification of Letters Patent No. 20540 of 1898. The numbers of the
carriages that do not exchange positions during these movements, are omitted
for the sake of clearness. By comparing Figs. 4, 5 and 6 of the accompanying
drawings with Figs. 3, 9, and 15 of the Specification of Letters Patent No. 20540
of 1898 which show the initial positions, it will be clearly seen what carriages
have exchanged positions.
In the accompanying Figs. 7 to 24 inclusive, are analogously shown the succes-
sive final positions that would occur in leading a carriage 9 through from a¹
to a in the manner required by Fig. 68.
Fig. 7 shows the initial position. By reference to Fig. 68 it will be seen that
the first crossing takes place at 1' with the threads 9 and 8. This occurs in
Operation No. 1, of which Fig. 8 shows the final position (crossing to the
right).
Operation No. 2 permits therefore crossings to the left, the carriage 9, makes
a crossing to the left with 7 at 2 (Fig. 68), and Fig. 9 shows the final position
of this operation.
Operation No. 3 permits also only crossings to the left, but as the next cross-
ing of the thread 9 with the thread 6 according to Fig. 68 must take place at 21
to the right, there occurs no crossing during the operation, there is thereforc
a pause.
Operation No. 4. The carriage 9 crosses with 6 to the right at 2. Fig. 10
shows the final position.
Operation No. 5. The carriage 9 crosses with 5 at 3 (Fig. 68) to the left.
Fig. 11 shows the final position.

page_text: Operation No. 6, permits only crossing to the left. There occurs therefore
again a pause for the same reason as in operation No. 3.
Operation No. 7. Crossing to the right of the thread 9 with 4 at 31.
Fig. 12
shows the final position.
Operation No. 8. Crossing to the left of the thread 9 with 3 at 4.
shows the final position.
Fig. 13
Operation No. 9. Crossing to the left. Pause.
Operation No. 10. Crossing to the right of the thread 9 with 2 at 4'.
Fig. 11
shows the final position.
Operation No. 11. Crossing to the left of the thread 9 with 1 at 5".
shows the final position.
Fig. 15
Operation No. 12. Crossing to the left of the thread 9
with 1 at 5.
Fig. 16
shows the final position.
Operation No. 13. Crossing to the right of the thread 9
with 2 at 5¹.
Fig. 17
shows the final position.
Operation No. 14. Crossing to the left of the thread 9 with 3 at 6.
shows the final position.
Fig. 18
Operation No. 15. Crossing to the left. Pause.
Operation No. 16. Crossing to the right of the thread 9 with 4 at 6.
Fig. 19
shows the final position.
Operation No. 17. Crossing to the left of the thread 9 with 5 at 7.
shows the final position.
Fig. 20
Operation No. 18. Crossing to the left. Pause.
Operation No. 19. Crossing to the right of the thread 9 with 6 at 71.
Fig. 21
shows the final position.
Operation No. 20. Crossing to the left of the thread 9 with 7 at 8.
shows the final position.
Fig. 22
Operation No. 21. Crossing to the left. Pause.
Operation No. 22. Crossing to the right of the thread 9 with 8 at 8¹.
shows the final position.
Fig. 23
The carriages 1 to 9 are now, as shown in Fig. 24, which contains the num-
bers of all the carriages, exactly in the same positions as at the beginning (see
Fig. 7) the next crossing however, which is analogous to that at 1', can be
executed only in operation No. 25, as in operations No. 23 and No. 24 only cross-
ings to the left are possible. The passing through of the carriage from a¹ to a²
therefore really requires 24 operations.
The employment of a slide-bar thread as a through weft-thread appears at
first sight impossible, for this requires that at each passing through of the slide-
bar (weft) one half of the carriages (of which in the machine there are two in
each of the comb slots) that are occupied be in front of and the other half behind,
the slide-bars. Furthermore, after each passing through of the slide-bar thread
it is necessary that the carriages exchange positions-i.e., the carriages of the
front row must become carriages of the back row, and vice versa. But each
such exchange of positions causes, as may be seen from the Figs. 9 to 14 inclu-
sive of the Specification of Letters Patent No. 20540 of 1898, a crossing of the
threads of those carriages that mutually exchange positions; consequently if
the threads were moved as just mentioned there would be obtained instead of
the desired canvas, a fabric such as shown in Fig. 69.
Now according to this invention, the movements of the machine are such that
after three successive changes of position of the carriages, all the movements
of the combs are repeated, and further that during the third shiftings (each
consisting of two exchanges of position) the crossings are undone inasmuch as
of each two carriages whose threads cross each other in consequence of the
exchange of position, a carriage that is in the front row or in the back row at
the commencement of the exchanging operation has been brought from the left-
hand side or from the right-hand side respectively into the comb slot from
which it is to exchange positions with the other carriage of the two. The

page_text: machine permits of the movement of the carriages to the right or to the left in
the same comb-i.e. in the same row.
If the carriages are brought by lateral movement before each exchange of
position in such a manner into the comb slots in which this exchange of posi-
tion is to take place that they arrive therein from the direction just mentioned
it is possible to make the canvas much more quickly while using the slide-bar
thread as weft.
Fig. 70 shows the method by which the canvas is produced. The dotted lines
in Figs. 68, 69, and 70 represent the comb teeth, the threads 1 to 8 are carriage
threads and 9 is the slide-bar thread.
At the beginning of the work the pairs of carriages 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6,
7 and 8 stand each in the same conib slot-i.c. 1, 3, 5, 7 are in the back row
and 2, 4, 6, 8 in the front row. In the comb slot 6 there is no carriage in the
front row.
By omitting this carriage, the carriages to the right and to the left
of those that make canvas, are enabled to work simultaneously with the latter
in the production of the lace, as it is only in consequence of this omission that
the movements of the former carriages are independent of the movements of
the canvas-making carriages.
In the drawings, the threads of the rear carriages of the several pairs of car-
riages are shown as turned through 90° into the plane of the figure so to make
both threads of each pair visible, the front carriage-thread being shown as on
the right-hand side of the back one.
In Fig. 70 all the thread movements are shown exactly as they occur in the
machine, so that the crossings are also shown and always in such a manner
that at each crossing point the thread that in the actual crossing is at the front,
is shown as the upper of the two. This figure therefore gives a completely
correct view of the thread movements.
At the beginning the slide bar thread 9 is on the right of the carriage thread S.
The passing of the slide bar thread 9 through from a¹ to a² as required by Fig. 70,
needs only 6 operations instead of the 24 operations that are necessary when 9
is a carriage thread.
Figs. 25 to 60 inclusive show for these operations the positions and move-
ments of the carriages and combs and Figs. 64, 65 and 66 show analogously to
Figs. 4, 5, and 6 the final positions of the carriages exchanged during these
operations and also of the slide-bar thread.
At the commencement of the first operation the carriage must be omitted in
the comb slot of the front comb so that the lateral movement of the carriages 2,
4, 6, 8 can have no effect on the position & movement of any carriages that
there may be to the right of 8.
OPERATION No. 1 CROSSING TO THE RIGHT.
The front carriages are each moved one comb slot to the right. How this
occurs may be seen from Figs. 25 to 30 inclusive.
In order that the slide-bar thread 9 may not cross with the threads that pass
from the front comb into the middle comb, all the slide bars B must make move-
ments exactly like those of the front comb and must make them simultaneously
therewith.
After the passage of the carriages from the middle comb to the front comb,
the slide-bar with the thread 9 is moved so that it arrives on the left of the
carriage 1, after passing the carriages 2, 4, 6, 8 in front of it and 1, 3, 5, 7, behind
it. Since the front carriages have been brought from the left into the comb
slots 3 to 6, the crossings made to the left in the two succeeding operations
No. 2 and No. 3 (Figs. 31 to 42) are not permanent, but are undone immediately
in consequence of the tension of the threads, so that only changes of position
of the carriages occur, as may be seen by examining Figs. 61, 62, 63 and 64.
In consequence of the fact that the carriage 1 alone remains behind in the

page_text: comb slot in question during the movement of the carriages to the right, this
change of position of the carriages has no influence on any carriages that there
may be on the left hand of it as regards their position and movement; they can
therefore be worked simultaneously.
OPERATION No. 4 CROSSING TO THE RIGHT.
During this movement the carriages 2, 4, 6, 8 now in the back row are each
moved one comb slot to the left so that the carriages 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6,
7 and 8 respectively are now again together, but in a position the reverse of the
initial one ie., 2 behind 1, 4 behind 3, 6 behind 5, and S behind 7. The move-
ment to the left therefore in nowise interferes with the movement of any car-
riages that there may be to the left of 1 and 2. These movements are indi-
cated by Figs. 43 to 48 inclusive. When the passage of the carriages one comb
slot to the left is completed, the slide-bar thread is again moved to the right
of the carriage 8, passing behind the carriages 1, 3, 5, 7 and in front of the
carriages 2, 4, 6, 8,-.e., with the carriages in the positions the reverse of those
occupied by them in operation No. 1.
From operation No. 5 there result again merely exchanges of position of
carriages, for the crossings to the left that are therein produced are again not
permanent, as the carriages of the back now have arrived from the right in
the comb slots in which they now exchange places. The movements of these
operations will be seen by examining Figs. 49 to 60 inclusive. The carriages
are again exactly as at the beginning, as a comparison of Fig. 67 with Fig. 25
will shew.
By guiding the threads 9 in the herein before described manner for producing
canvas it is given exactly the appearance represented in Fig. 68, as a com-
parison of this figure with Fig. 70 will shew, if one imagine the threads in the
latter to be straightened by their tensioning devices. To pass the thread 9
once across the carriage threads from right to left and from there back again
to the initial position requires 6 operations, whilst four times as many move-
ments are necessary if these canvas-like crossings are produced with a carriage
thread as weft. It has still to be mentioned that, as far as the number of
changes of position of the carriage threads is concerned, it is quite immaterial
in the method of producing canvas herein before described how many threads
the weft has to be passed across, If, on the other hand, the weft is a carriage
thread, the number of changes of position increases with the number of the
threads across which the carriage-thread has to be passed; thus for instance.
for passing the weft to and fro across 14 threads 42 operations would be required
if the weft thread were a carriage thread, whilst if a slide-bar thread be used as
a weft-thread the number of operations required will be only 6.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
1. A method of quickly producing a canvas-like thread-crossing by means of
a machine for the production of pillow-lace according to the Specifications of
Letters Patent No. 3987 and No. 16971 of 1897 and No. 20540 of 1898, consisting
in employing one of the threads that are passed through the steel-bars or slide-
bars as a weft-thread in such a manner that first, all the carriages of the front
(or back) comb are moved one comb slot to the right (or left) hand in the same
comb (first shifting); secondly, the slide-bar weft thread is passed across from
right to left (or from left to right) between the threads of the carriages of the
front comb and those of the carriages of the back comb (second shifting);
thirdly, in two operations all the carriages of the front comb pass into the back
comb and vice versa (third shifting), each carriage at the end of this third shift-
ing being in the same comb slot as at the commencement thereof; the conse-
quence of these shiftings, being that whilst in the first shifting, in every case

page_text: where there are, at the end thereof, two carriages in the same comb slot, their
threads make a crossing, which is undone in the third shifting.
2. The production of fabric with canvas-crossing in lace-making machines
substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and illustrated in Figs. 1,
25 to 68 inclusive, and 70 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 16th day of August 1899.
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.