IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
i.
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE."A communication
Sealed the 17th October 1865, and dated the 19th April 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th April 1:65.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE" to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is the manufacture by machinery of real lace in
contradistinction to that produced by machines now in use, which is only
imitation lace.
I proceed to describe the characteristic features of this improved machinery
omitting all description of the well-known parts of ordinary lace machinery.
Some of the threads for forming the fabric are carried on rollers at the lower
part of the machine, these threads pass up through perforated plates or guide
bars to other guide bars a little below the bobbin carriages, and which act
similarly to lace runners with lever looms. A warp roller and hooked bars
may be fitted. All these arrangements and their action being well known
need no explanation. The other threads are wound on bobbins in bobbin
[Price Sd.

page_text: carriages. The carriages slide on front and back curved rails. The bar
which carries the front rails is moveable and jacquarded lengthwise, and can
transport to the left or right at will to a greater or lesser extent, and several
times in succession in the same direction the carriages which have been
brought on the rails. The bar which carries the back rails is fixed, and the
carriages which travel thereon are worked by independent presser bars, and
by front and back lifting bars. There is one general front presser bar, it
sends back at one stroke all the carriages which have come to the front.
It
is jacquarded so as to act only according to the design to be produced. The
back presser bars are jacquarded, and are equal in number to the carriages,
they rest at back on a fixed bar, and towards the front on a moveable bar.
This latter bar has a vertical movement, the object of which is to allow the
fore ends of the presser bars to take hold of and retain on the back rails the
carriages which come from the front. The back presser bars when lowered
retain the carriages by a projection thereon, but when the jacquard has raised
one or several of the presser bars the end of those raised frees the projection
on the carriage; at the same time projections on the upper side of these
presser bars engage into a moveable bar above, which imparts to them a
forward movement to push the carriages corresponding to these presser bars
from the back rails to the front. The presser bars when not required to act
are held by a catch, which takes behind the fixed bar on which their back
ends rest, but when the jacquard has raised them these catches are disen-
gaged, and the movement can be produced. The movement of the back
presser bars is guided by a guide on the fixed bar last named, and by a tongue
on the front end of the presser bars, which enters into the rails corresponding
to the carriages. When the movable bar before mentioned as being above
the back presser bars begins to act it engages a hook on the upper side of
the presser bars behind a hooked bar near the movable bar, the object of
which hooked bar is to keep those presser bars raised which have been raised
by the jacquard, and to allow them to descend before the end of the operation.
When the back presser bars have terminated their forward movement they
are returned by the movable bar which acts on a projection on the upper side
of the presser bars. In the last part of this movement the hooked bar abuts
against a fixed part, and the movable bar continuing its backward movement
disengages the hooks of the presser bars from the hooked bar, and allows
the presser bars to fall to their first position. The cords which raise the back
presser bars pass through a guide on a bar near the back of the machine
connected to the movable bar, and movable with it. The object of the
lifting bars is to complete the operation commenced by the backer presserbars,

page_text: that is to say, to cause the carriages to pass the space between the back and
front rails. These lifting bars have an up-and-down motion which allows of
their taking the carriages and raising them while following the centre of the
rails. The carriages brought to the front are held there by a retaining bar,
which has a movement to allow the projections before mentioned on the
bobbin carriages to pass at the instant of their arrival. This movement is
jacquarded so as not to act when the front presser bar is to come into action.
The twists are raised by ordinary point bars acting alternately at every stroke
of the machine, according to the kind of lace it may be necessary to make
them act at every second or third stroke. According to the kind also, there
will one point by the front and back carriage, and in this case the thread from
the carriage will issue from the side to give more passage to the point, but for
fabrics strengthened or doubled in embroidery, as in those strengthened in
embroidery, and in warp,two points by carriage(deux pointes par chariot) will
be necessary to lift conveniently all the twists, and the thread in this case will
issue at the centre of its carriage, and will pass between two points. The
points are arranged so as to sink aud to take up the interlacements of the
threads while the bobbin carriages traverse the work, the length of the points
allows of this operation without stretching the threads of the carriages held at
each side on the rails. The points are worked as in lever looms, with this
difference that instead of having columns fixed on the point bars they are
connected thereto by joints, which allow by the aid of guides fixed at each
extremity of the point bar and by fixed pins, of their sinking conveniently for
the taking up. The fabric as it is made rises on a central bar, and is theu
wound on a cylinder above moved by a jacquarded regulator.
Having described the movements of the principal parts of this machine, I
At the commencement all the
proceed to explain the general working.
bobbin carriages are on the back rails, held by the fore ends of the back presser
bars. The jacquard raises those which are necessary according to the design,
and pushes the carriages corresponding to these bars, and when they are
sufficiently engaged on the front rails the front lifting bar takes hold of them
to complete their passage through the work, and bring them to the retaining
bar which receives them in its turn. At the same time that the carriages are
drawn by the front lifting bar, the back presser bars return to their first
position. As soon as the carriages have traversed the work, the inovable bar
which supports the frontrails transports to the left or to the right the carriages
which it has just received, while this bar is being displaced, the embroidery is
produced in the ordinary manner according to the required design. If at this
moment the jacquard has not acted to operate the front presser bar, fresh back

page_text: presser bars will take fresh bobbin carriages to the front, and the same opera-
tions are repeated. It will be readily understood that the front presser bar
being jacquarded, the carriages may be returned at will, also that the back
presser bars can never act at the same time as the front presser bar.
If on
the contary the jacquard decides that the front presser bar is to work, in its
movement it moves the carriages until they can be received by the back
lifting bar, which completes their passage through the work, and causes them
to be taken by the fore ends of the back presser bars which retain them. The
points on the point bars take the twists in the ordinary manner, that is to
say, at the moment when the top of the bobbin carriages passes the work.
By these combinations all the threads without exception can be interwoven,
and their freedom of action is sufficient to produce the identical movements
and passages executed by lace workers.
I now proceed to describe the means I adopt for jacquarding the different
movements herein-before enumerated, the movable bar which supports the
front rails carries at its right end two weft hoxes (boites de trameurs) between
which are two cross beams or pumps commanded at the centre by a shaft
carrying two similar cams, which oblige one or other of them to be moved. At
the commencement the box at the leftis full, and that at the right empty. The
wefts (trameurs) of the same quality are connected to each other by a lever,
so that if a weft is caused to fall into one weft box, the corresponding weft
will be raised in the other, and the bar will move from the thickness of the
displaced weft. When the movement of the bar has terminated it remains at
rest on the cams while the bobbin carriages pass from one rail to another.
The movement of the jacquarded front presser bar is obtained by a combi-
nation of levers; the first lever is vertical or nearly so, and is worked at every
stroke of the machine by means of a cam on the crank shaft, and of a spring
which keeps a roller on the lever against this cam. This lever is connected
by a horizontal lever to another vertical or nearly vertical lever, acted on by
a second spring for returning the front presser bar each time it acis. This
lever in its turn is connected with the front presser bar. The horizontal lever
is worked by the jacquard. When this lever is raised a preparatory move-
ment of the cam puts a hook on the rear end of this lever in contact with a
pin on the second named vertical lever and the cam, then producing itseffective
movement, the presser bar acts on the bobbin carriages. The presser bar
is afterwards returned by the second spring just mentioned, which keeps
the roller against the cam during its effective movement. Then a second
descent produces the disengagement of the hook on the horizontal lever, and
this lever falls. When the jacquard does not act, the horizontal lever rests

page_text: on the pin on the vertical lever without meeting it. The preparatory rise and
fall of the cam are necessary to avoid shocks. The retaining bar is likewise
jacquarded by a lever. If this lever be drawn by the jacquard it seizes the
end of the axis of a roller on another lever connected with the retaining bar,
prevents the roller following its cam, and compels the retaining bar to remain
lowered, which allows the front presser bar to return the bobbin carriages.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 19th October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Richard Archibald Broomau, Her special licence that I,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 MACHINERY
FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE," (communicated to me from abroad by Désiré
Sival and Léon Sival, both of St. Pierre-les-Calais, France), upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Broomau, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the

page_text: following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say-
The object of this Invention is the manufacture by machinery of real lace
in contradistinction to that produced by machines now in use which is only
imitation lace.
. I proceed to describe, with reference to the annexed Drawings, the cha-
racteristic features of this improved machinery, omitting all description of the
well known parts of ordinary lace machinery.
Figure 1 is a general elevation of the machine; Figure 2 is a separate
view of some of the parts detached; Figure 3 is a transverse section of the
machine.
Some of the threads for forming the fabric are carried on rollers A, A, at
the lower part of the machine; these threads pass up through perforated
plates or guide bars B to other guide bars C a little below the bobbin car-
riages, and which act similarly to lace runners of lever looms. A warp roller
and hooked bars may be fitted. All these arrangements and their action
being well known need no explanation. The other threads are wound on
bobbins Din bobbin carriages E; the carriages slide on front and back
curved rails F, F. The bar C which carries the front rails F is moveable
and jacquarded lengthwise, and is enabled to transport to the left or right at
will to a greater or lesser extent, and several times in succession in the same
direction, the carriages which have been brought on the rails. The bar G¹
which carries the back rails F' is fixed, and the carriages which travel thereon
are worked by independent presser bars and by front and back lifting bars
H, 11'. There is one general front presser bar I; it sends back at one strokeall
the carriages which have come to the front; it is jacquarded so as to act only
according to the design to be produced. The back presser bars are jacquarded,
and are equal in number to the carriages; they rest at back on a fixed bar K,
and towards the front on a movable bar L. This latter bar has a vertical
movement, the object of which is to allow the fore ends of the presser bars to
take hold of and retain on the back rails the carriages which come from the
frout. The back presser bars when lowered retain the carriages by a pro-
jection N thereon, but when the jacquard has raised one or several of the
presser bars, the ends of those raised frees the projection on the carriage; at
the same time projections on the upper side of these presser bars engage into a
movable bar O, above which imparts to them a forward movement to push
the carriages corresponding to these presser bars from the back rails to the
front. The presser bars when not required to act are held by a catch P,
which takes behind the fixed bar K, on which their back ends rest, but when

page_text: the jacquard has raised them these catches are disengaged, and the move-
ment can be produced. The movement of the back presser bars is guided by
a guide Q on the bar K and by a tongue R on the front end of the presser
bars which enters into the rails corresponding to the carriages. When the
movable bar O begins to act it engages a hook S on the upper side of the
presser bars behind a hooked bar T, the object of which is to keep those
presser bars raised which have been raised by the jacquard, and to allow them
to descend before the end of the operation. When the back presser bars
have terminated their forward movement theyare returned by the bar O, which
acts on a projection V on the upper side of the presser bars. In the last part
of this movement the hooked bar T abuts against a fixed part, and the bar O
continuing its backward movement disengages the hooks S of the presser
bars from the bar T, and allows the presser bars to fall to their first position.
The cords which raise the back presser bars pass through a guide B on a
bar X connected to the bar O, and movable with it. The object of the lifting
bars H, H', is to complete the operation commenced by the back presser bars,
that is to say, to cause the carriages to pass the space between the back and'
front rails. These lifting bars have an up-and-down motion, which allows of
their taking the carriages and raising them while following the centre of the
rails; the carriages brought to the front are held there by a retaining bar Y,
which has a movement to allow the projections N on the bobbin carriages to
pass at the instant of their arrival; this movement is jacquarded go as not to
act when the front presser bar I is to come into action. The twists are raised
by ordinary point bars Z, Z,acting alternately at every stroke of the machine.
According to the kind of lace it may be necessary to make them act at every
second or third stroke; according to the kind, also, there will be a point for
every carriage at front and back,and in this case the thread from the carriage
issues from the side to give more passage to the point; but for fabrics
strengthened or doubled in embroideryas in those strengthenediuembroidery
and in warp, two points for every carriage (deux pointes par chariot) will be
necessary to lift conveniently all the twists, and the thread in this case will
issue at the centre of its carriage, and will pass between two points. The
points are arranged so as to sink and to take up the interlacements of the
threads while the bobbin carriages traverse the work, the length of the points
allows of this operation without stretching the threads of the carriages held at
each side on the rails. The points are worked as in lever looms, with this
difference, that instead of having columnus fixed on the point bars they are
connected thereto by joints a, a', which allow, by the aid of guides b, b',fixed
at each extremity of the point bar and by fixed pins c, c', of their sinking con-

page_text: veniently for the taking up. The fabric as it is made rises on a central
bar d, and is then wound on a cylinder e above, moved by a jacquarded
regulator.
Having described the movements of the principal parts of this machine, I
proceed to explain the general working. At the commencement all the
bobbin carriages are on the back rails F' held by the fore ends M of the back
presser bars. The jacquard raises those which are necessary according to
the design, and pushes the carriages corresponding to these bars, and when
they are sufficiently engaged on the front rails F, the front lifting bar H
takes hold of them to complete their passage through the work, and bring
them to the retaining bar Y, which receives them in its turn. At the same
time that the carriages are drawn by the front lifting bar H the back presser
bars return to their first position. As soon as the carriages have traversed
the work the movable bar G which supports the front rails transports to the
left or to the right the carriages which it has just received; while this bar is
being displaced the embroidery is produced in the ordinary manner according
to the required design. If at this moment the jacquard has not acted to
operate the front presser bar I, fresh back presser bars will take fresh bobbin
carriages to the front, and the same operations are repeated.
It will be readily understood that the front presser bar I being jacquarded
the carriages may be returned at will, also that the back presser bars can
never act at the same time as the front presser bar. If, on the contrary, the
jacquard decides that the front presser bar I is to work, in its movement it
moves the carriages until they can be received by the back lifting bar H,
which completes their passage through the work, and causes them to be taken
by the fore ends of the back presser bars which retain them. The points on
the point bars take the twists in the ordinary manner, that is to say, at the
moment when the top of the bobbin carriages passes the work; by these com-
binations all the threads without exception can be interwoven, and their
freedom of action is sufficient to produce the identical movements and passages
executed by hand lace workers.
I now proceed to describe the means I adopt for jacquarding the different
movements herein-before enumerated. The bar G which supports the front
rails carries at its right end (see Figure 2) two boxes, boits des traineurs,f,f
between which are two cross beams g, g, commanded at the centre by a
shaft h, carrying two similar cams which keep them apart. At the commence-
ment the box at the left is full and that at the right empty; the wefts
(traineurs) of the same value are connected to each other by a lever, so that
if a weft is caused to fall into one box f, the corresponding weft will be raised

page_text: in the other, and the bar will move the thickness of the displaced weft.
When the movement of the bar has terminated it remains at rest on the cams
while the bobbin carriages pass from one rail to another. The movement of
the jacquarded front presser bar I is obtained by a combination of levers
k, l, n, o, p.; the first lever k, l, is vertical or nearly so, and is worked at
every stroke of the machine by means of a cam on the crank shaft m, and of a
spring which keeps a roller on the lever against this cam. This lever is con-
nected by a horizontal lever l, p, to another vertical or nearly vertical
lever n, o, acted on by a second spring for returning the front presser bar
each time it acts; this lever in its turn is connected with the front presser
bar; the horizontal lever l, p, is worked by the jacquard. When this lever is
raised a preparatory movement of the cam puts a hook p on the rear end of
this lever in contact with a pin q on the second nained vertical lever, and the
cam then producing its effective movement the presser bar acts on the
bobbin carriages. The presser bar is afterwards returned by the second
spring just mentioned, which keeps the roller against the cam during its
effective movement; then a second descent produces the disengagement of
the hoop p, and the lever 1, p, falls to the point o. When the jacquard does
not act the lever l,p, rests at 9; the preparatory rise and fall of the cam are
necessary to avoid shocks. The retaining bar Y is likewise jacquarded by a
lever r, 8; if this lever be drawn by the jacquard it seizes the end of the
axis of a roller t on another lever connected with the retaining bar prevents
the roller following its cam, and compels the retaining bar to remain lowered,
which allows the front presser bar I to return the bobbin carriages.
The characteristic features of this Invention are the arrangement and action
of the different parts, the working of the back presser bars, and the method of
raising the twists.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing
machinery for the manufacture of lace, substantially as herein-before described
and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.