IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Bryan Baker, of Sherwood Street, Notting-
ham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
LACE."
Sealed the 11th June 1861, and dated the 20th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Bryan Baker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th December 1860.
I, FRANCIS BRYAN BAKER, of Sherwood Street, Nottingham, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OP LACE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of lace.
Heretofore, in the manufacture of silk and other laces by machinery, it has
been usual after taking the laces from the machines to extend them in frames,
and to apply dressing or stiffening materials thereto, by which means, in con-
sequence of the dressing being applied to the floss or thick ornamenting parts of
the silk used in silk laces, and to the thick ornamenting threads of cotton and
other laces, much of the lightness and lustre thereof have been destroyed.
Now my Invention consists in applying the dressing or stiffening materials
to the silk and other threads used for making the ground of the laces, leaving
the floss or thick ornamenting parts of the silk of silk laces, and the thick
ornamenting threads used in other laces in their bright or lustrous state, and
in these conditions I work the silks into silk laces, and the other threads into

page_text: other laces in lace machines, then after removing the laces from the machines
they are as heretofore extended in frames, but in place of applying dressing
materials thereto, they are simply steamed to moisten the dressing or stiffening
in the silk or thread, of which the ground is composed, and then allowed to
dry and set, by which the brightness and lustre of the floss or thick ornamenting
parts of the silk of silk laces, and of the ornamenting threads of other laces
are retained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Bryan Baker in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ERANCIS
BRYAN BAKER, of Sherwood Street, Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Francis Bryan Baker, Her special licence that I, the said Francis Bryan Baker,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
Bryan Baker, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF LACE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Francis Bryan Baker, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Bryan Baker, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be-per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of lace.
Heretofore, in the manufacture of silk and other laces by machinery, it has been

page_text: usual after taking the laces from the machines to extend them in frames, and
to apply dressing or stiffening materials thereto, by which means, in consequence
of the dressing being applied to the floss or thick ornamenting parts of the silk
used in silk laces, and to the thick ornamenting threads of cotton and other
laces, much of the brightness and lustre thereof have been destroyed.
Now my Invention consists in applying the dressing or stiffening materials
to the silk and other threads used for making the ground of the laces, leaving
the floss or thick ornamenting parts of the silk of silk laces, and the thick
ornamenting threads used in other laces in their bright or lustrous state, and
in these conditions I work the silks into silk laces, and the other threads into
other laces in lace machines, then after removing the laces from the machines,
they are, as heretofore, extended in frames; but in place of applying dressing
materials thereto, they are simply steamed to moisten the dressing or stiffening
in the silk or thread of which the ground is composed, and then allowed to dry
and set, by which the brightness and lustre of the floss or thick ornamenting
parts of the silks of silk laces, and of the ornamenting threads of other laces
are retained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Bryan Baker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
FRANCIS BRYAN BAKER. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
above-named Francis
Baker, in the presence of
Bryan
HENRY E. HUNT, Solicitor,
Nottingham.