Improvements in Lace Machines.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 26th July, 1886.
Complete Left, 26th Apr., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 27th May, 1887.
Improvements in Lace Machines.
I JOHN JARDINE of Raleigh Street in the Town and County of the Town of
Nottingham, Lace Machine Builder, do hereby declare the nature of said invention to
be as follows:-
My invention consists of improvements in lace machines which improvements are
obtained by giving to the combs employed in such machines a now form and by
constructing the comb bars to suit this form, whereby I obtain a new and desirable
result that is a comb bar and its combs so constructed that of the two most common
evils encountered daily in the working of a lace machine namely wrong-gating and
butting or tupping of the carriages, one is lessened and the other rendered almost
impossible.
In order to explain how much difference in the working of a lace machine a small
alteration in the form and position of the comb bars and in the form of the combs
may make I will first describe some of the conditions under which lace machines are
worked.
A lace machine making very fine laces elaborately figured must carry between the
two comb bars of the machine a number of warp threads, these threads to form
"bars "
the pattern are carried by perforated thin steel ribbons or
stretched
longitudinally from one end of the machine to the other which ribbons or bars are
moved according to the requirements of the pattern to the right or left by Jacquard
apparatus.
In order to economise space these ribbons or "bars" are made of such thin steel
that in some cases 310 of them would not measure more than one inch in thickness
when packed together.
The limit to the number of these ribbons or "bars" that a machine can work with
advantage, that is safety, depends upon the width between the combs that a carriage
of a given gauge can cross from the groove of one comb and safely enter into the
corresponding and opposite groove in the other comb.
But the number of "bars" that the "well" will contain depends upon the width
between the edges of the comb bars.
The result is that in order to get as many "bars" at work as possible for the
purpose of producing very elaborate patterns the "well" or space between the comb

page_text: bars is made as wide as it is possible to work the machine without wrong-gating and
this is carried to such an extent that it often happens that a difference in width of
of an inch will make all the difference between the machine working in continual
danger of wrong-gating and working safely and well.
Now in an ordinary machine with combs and comb bars as usual, with a well say
two inches wide the edges of each comb bar would project of an inch from the
combs so that the "well" would be two inches wide but the space between the combs
would be 2 inches but the machine cannot as before stated work with a "well" wider
than the carriage can safely cross.
Now with the ordinary shaped comb and comb bar the distance between the edges
of the comb bars must be substantially less than the distance between the combs, for
if the ordinary projecting part of the comb bar be removed so as to make the distance
between the edges of the comb bars and the distance between those parts of the
combs where the carriages enter in crossing from one comb to the other equal, then
two difficulties are encountered.
The first difficulty is that of butting or tupping. Any derangement of the machine
which lowers the entry point of the carriage below the circle of the machine and such
derangements are common, would cause the carriage to butt against the comb bar,
instead of being guided up an incline into the combs.
The next difficulty brought about by removing the ordinary projecting portion of
the comb bar is that the carriage in passing through the warp threads would carry
into the warp combs any loose threads it might encounter in its passage into the
combs, and as in a new and well fitted inside of a machine there would not be room
enough in the groove or space between the combs for any loose thread in addition to
the carriage, the surface of both comb and carriage would be abraded and the machine
inside permanently damaged which is a very common occurrence.
Now by my invention all these evils are avoided, I form the combs with a portion
on the inner edge descending below the circle and inclined thereto so as to enable the
comb bar (which is made to fit) to be made with a sufficiently long and acute angle to
properly guide the combs into the circle and this inclined part is according to my
invention covered by the comb instead of projecting outside of it. I am enabled by
this improved construction of the combs and comb bars to make the distance between
the combs less than 1 of an inch more than that between the combs bars, so that in a
"well" two inches wide the space between the combs would be only 21 inches
thereby obtaining a gain as compared with the old form of such parts of 1 of an inch
in space for "bars."
By these means the combs could be of an inch closer than heretofore thereby
obtaining increased safety with the "well" as wide as before, or the combs could be
the same distance apart as heretofore and the "well" of an inch wider thereby
obtaining increased space for the "bars" with the same amount of safety as heretofore.
When it is borne in mind that to bring the combs of an inch nearer together often
makes a machine work safely that was unsafe before, then it will be seen that
one of the two common evils I seek to lessen, namely wrong-gating is successfully
dealt with.
The other common evil that of butting or tupping is rendered almost impossible as
by my invention I am enabled to make a much more acute and long angle on the
comb bar than can be made in the ordinary way, by which means the carriage will be
safely guided into the comb even if its entry part were to drop of an inch below
the circle of the machine.

page_text: Improvements in Lace Machines.
I, JOHN JARDINE of Raleigh Street, in the Town and County of the Town of
Nottingham, Lace Machine Builder, 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 :-
My invention consists of improvements in lace machines, which improvements are
obtained by giving to the combs employed in such machines a new form and by
constructing the comb bars to suit this form, whereby I obtain a new and desirable
result, that is a comb bar and its combs so constructed that of the two most common
evils encountered daily in the working of a lace machine namely wrong-gating and
butting or tupping of the carriages one is lessened and the other rendered almost
impossible.
In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 represents a cross section of the combs
and comb bars of a lace machine as heretofore generally constructed and Figure 2
represents the same as constructed according to my invention.
In order to explain how much difference in the working of a lace machine a small
alteration in the form and position of the comb bars and in the form of the combs
may make, I will first describe some of the conditions under which lace machines are
worked.
A lace machine making very fine laces elaborately figured must carry between the
two comb bars 66 of the machine a number of warp threads, these threads to form
the pattern are carried by perforated thin steel ribbons or guide bars" stretched
longitudinally from one end of the machine to the other, which ribbons or "guide
bars" are moved, according to the requirements of the pattern, to the right or left by
Jacquard apparatus.
In order to economise space these ribbons or "guide bars" are made of such thin
steel that in some cases 310 of them would not measure more than one inch in
thickness when packed together.
The limit to the number of these ribbons or "guide bars" that a machine can work
with advantage, that is safety, depends upon the width between the combs a. a. that a
carriage c of a given gauge can cross from the groove of one comb a and safely entor
into the corresponding and opposite groove in the other comb a.
But the number of "guide bars" that the "well" will contain depends upon the
width between the edges of the comb bars b.
The result is that in order to get as many "guide bars" at work as possible for the
purpose of producing very elaborate patterns the "well" or space between the comb
bars is made as wide as it is possible to work the machine without wrong-gating and
this is carried to such an extent, that it often happens that a difference in width of
Te of an inch will make all the difference between the machine working in continual
danger of wrong-gating and working safely and well.
"
Now as shown at Figure 1 in an ordinary machine with combs a and comb-bars b
as usual, with a
well," say
two inches wide, the edges of each comb bar b would
project of an inch from the comb so that the "well" would be two inches wide,
but the space between the combs would be two and a quarter inches but the
machine cannot as before stated work with a well" wider than the carriage c can
safely cross.

page_text: Now with the ordinary shaped comb a and comb bar the distance between the
edges of the comb bars must be substantially less than the distance between
the combs a for if the ordinary projecting part b¹ of the comb bar & be removed, so as
to make the distance between the edges of the comb bars and the distance between
those parts of the combs a where the carriages enter in crossing from one comb to the
other, equal, then two difficulties are encountered.
The first difficulty is that of butting or tupping. Any derangement of the machine
which lowers the entry point c¹ of the carriage below the circle d of the machine, and
such derangements are common, would cause the carriage c to butt against the
comb-bar instead of being guided up an incline 6 into the combs a.
The next difficulty brought about by removing the ordinary projecting portion of
the comb-bar is that the carriage c in passing through the warp threads would carry
into the combs a any loose threads it might encounter in its passage into the combs a
and as in a new and well fitted inside of a machine there would not be room enough
in the groove or space between the combs a for any loose thread in addition to the
carriage c, the surface of both comb a and carriage c would be abraded and the
machine inside permanently damaged which is a very common occurrence.
Now by my invention as represented at Figure 2, all these evils are avoided, I form
the comb a with a portion a¹ on the inner edge descending below the circle and
inclined thereto so as to enable the comb bar (which is made to fit) to be made
with a sufficiently long and acute angle or incline 62 to properly guide the carriages c
into the circle and this inclined part 63 is according to my invention covered by the
comb a instead of projecting outside of it; I am enabled by this improved
construction of the combs a and comb-bars to make the distance between the
combs a less than of an inch more than that between the comb-bars b so that in a
"well" two inches wide the space between the combs a would be only 21 inches
thereby obtaining again as compared with the old form of such parts of of an inch
in space
for " guide bars."
By these means the combs a could be of an inch closer than heretofore thereby
obtaining increased safety with the "well as wido as before or the combs a could bo
the same distance apart as heretofore and the "well" of an inch wider, thereby
obtaining increased space for the "guide bars" with the same amount of safety as
heretofore.
When it is borne in mind that to bring the combs of an inch nearer together
often makes a machine work safely, that was unsafe before, then it will be seen that
one of the two common ovils I seek to lessen namely wrong-gating is successfully
dealt with.
The other common evil, that of butting or tupping is rendered almost impossible as
by my invention I am enabled to make a much more acute and long angle or
incline on the comb bar b than can be made in the ordinary way by which means
the carriage e will be safely guided into the comb a even if its entry part c¹ were to
drop of an inch below the circle d of the machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
The improved construction of comb a and comb bar 6 substantially as hercin shown
and described, and for the purpose stated.