CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING LACE COMMONLY CALLED BOBBIN NET
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM,
SUMNER, of Hose, in the County of Leicester, Lace Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of February, in the first year of His reign, did,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Sumner, His especial licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said William Sumner, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Sumner, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
MAKING LACE COMMONLY CALLED BOBBIN NET;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso that I, the said William Sumner, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Sumner, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon;
that is to say :-
My Improvements in Machinery for Making Lace commonly called Bobbin
Net consist in the construction of certain novel pieces of mechanism, and
their adaptation to that particular kind of machinery for making lace known
by the name of the Lever's machine. The object of these improvements is to
enable the Lever's machine to make that peculiar sort of lace which is deno-
minated in the trade fancy net or bullet holing, arranged in various patterns.
These improvements may be described under three general heads. First,
a mode of shogging or shifting laterally at intervals certain portions of the
combs by means of an indented wheel acting against a sliding bar on which
these shifting portions of the combs are mounted; secondly, a mode of shifting
or shogging laterally certain of the pushers at intervals corresponding with the
movements of the combs above mentioned, in order to bring the said pushers
into or out of action at those times; and, thirdly, the adaptation of a tappet
or cam wheel to shog or shift the point bar in accordance with the other
movements. The operation of some of these parts very closely resembles the
ordinary mode of forming selvages between the narrow strips of lace called
breadths, when made in a Lever's machine, except that instead of the long
spaces between the selvages, which are connected together by a zigzag thread,
the movements of the machinery about to be described cause the threads to
traverse, and occasionally to close the spaces forming the open parts of the net
into circular holes. The movements of the bobbins to produce the breadths or
series of narrow strips in one sheet, with distinct selvages on each strip, aro
called turnagains (a term and operation well understood by lacemakers in
general).
In the Drawings hereto annexed, Figure 1 is an elevation of a machine for
making lace constructed on the Lever's principle. The general appearance of
the front of the machine is here shewn, though some of its minor parts are
omitted, and the improvements are exhibited in the situations in which they
are to be placed in the machine. a, a, is the warp roller; b, b, the work
roller; c, c, the front point bar; d, d, the front pusher bar, on the top of
which lies an auxiliary pusher bar e, c. On this bar c, c, are mounted a series
of extra pushers.to be occasionally brought into operation, as will be explained
hereafter fff, is the bar carrying the extra combs to effect the turnagains.

page_text: 9, 9, is a rod affixed to the turnagain comb bar, the outer extremity of which is
acted upon by a horizontal wheel h having indentations in its periphery. This
wheel his mounted upon a perpendicular shaft carrying also a cog wheel i.. This
cog wheel, and consequently the shaft and the wheel h, is driven by a pinion
upon the shaft j, which shaft is the axle of the Dawson's wheels. This shaft j is
to be actuated by a click as usual. The extra comb barf is kept stationary
as long as the outer extremity of the rod g works against the circular part of
the periphery of the wheel h; but, as that wheel revolves, whenever one of the
recesses or indentations in its periphery comes opposite to the outer extremity
of the rod g, the rod is allowed to slide to the right, and will then be drawn
outwards a short distance by the force of a helical spring, by which movement
of the bar f the extra combs are shogged or shifted one gate to the right hand;
and on the circular part of the wheel coming round, and acting again upon
the end of the rod g, the bar is then shogged or shifted to the left back into
its former situation. The auxilliary pusher bar e is kept stationary by means
of a projecting arm k, fixed to that bar, carrying a tooth at its upper end, the
point of which tooth acts against the periphery of a small wheel l, and is drawn
up to its bearing by a helical spring attached at one end to the bar c, and at
the other end to the stationary frame. This wheel is mounted in a carriage
fixed to the front pusher bar, and has certain indentations or recesses cut in
its periphery, and the wheel being made to revolve, whenever one of these
recesses comes opposite to the tooth l the bar e is allowed to slide to the left,
and being drawn by the helical spring shoggs or shifts the extra pushers at
that time so as to bring them to act upon those bobbin carriages which have,
by the shifting of the bar f, been brought into the previously vacant spaces at
the turnagains. The small wheel is made to turn upon its axis by the
following means:-Upon an axle mounted in a carriage fixed upon the front
pusher bar, alongside of the wheel l, is a small ratchet wheel m, in the under
side of which ratchet two pins are fixed. These pins, when the ratchet goes
round, successively take into the teeth of another small ratchet wheel n, upon
the axle of 1, and consequently every rotation of the wheel m drives the
ratchet n two teeth, and also the wheel part of a rotation. A catch o fixed
to the front comb bar stands up sufficiently high to meet the teeth of the
ratchet wheel m every time that the pusher bar d which carries these wheels
s raised, consequently, by the opening and closing of the machine in the
ordinary course of working, at every stroke of the handes the ratchet wheel m
s made to strike against the catch o, which drives it one tooth, and thus, after
a certain number of successive beats of the machine, the wheel 7, being driven
ound one of its recesses, comes opposite to the tooth k, and allows the extra

page_text: pusher bar c to shog or shift in the manner already described. As it is
necessary to keep back the frout pusher bar d, and prevent the pushers going
in among the carriages when the carriages in the fancy bar f have to shog at
the turnagains, I have introduced a small wheel p, with two notches in its
edge, against the circular part of the periphery of which wheel a tooth q is
intended to act. This tooth q extends inwards from an arm fixed to the
front pusher bar, and consequently the pusher bar is, while the tooth bares
against the circular part of this wheel p, kept back until one of its notches
comes opposite the tooth. The wheel p is driven round by a stationary
click r, taking into the teeth of a small ratchet wheel s, fixed on the same
axle as p. The stationary click is fixed by an arm to the standard of
the machine, and the ratchet s and wheel p are mounted upon the front landing
bar, hence, every time that the machine opeus, that is, the front bars risc, the
click r drives the ratchet s one tooth, and one of the notches of the wheels p is
thereby brought at the proper times opposite the tooth q, and the pushers then
go in and act upon the carriages as usual.
Figure 2 is a section taken perpendicularly through the machine in a
transverse direction in which the situation of the extra pusher bars e, e, arc
shewn, with the wheels and n and tooth kc, which are the same in con-
struction and situation at the back of the machine as I have described in
reference to the front. In order to shog one of the point bars, and bring it
into corresponding action with the movements of the combs and pushers
already described, for the purpose of forming the bullet hole, a small cam or
tappet wheel is mounted in a carriage attached to the back point bar shaft,
towards the left end of the machine, which cam or tappet as it revolves acts
against a tooth u at the end of the sliding joint of the back point bar, and
shogs it to the right once in every rotation, the bar being brought back again
by a helical spring. This cam or tappet wheel v is driven round by a ratchet
wheel upon its axle striking against a stationary click w, attached to the frame,
which ratchet is driven one tooth every time that the back point bar descends
for to take up the half mesh. When I wish to produce an arrangement of
the bullet holes in the net in zigzag directions, or in any other form across the
net deviating from straight perpendicular ranges, I attach a horizontal
wheel to the upper part of the perpendicular shaft which carries the wheels
hand; the periphery of this wheel x I cut into indentations for the purpose
of working the bolt y, which is connected to and drives the comb bar as in
ordinary machines, but by means of the indentations in the periphery of this
wheel the comb bar is occasionally traversed, to arrange the pattern or
direction of the bullet holes. I will here observe, that as it is impracticable in

page_text: this my Specification to contemplate every variety of pattern or arrangement
of bullet holing which might be made in lace upon this improved machine, so
it is unnecessary to point out all the variations in the indentations which the
shogging wheels would require to produce such different patterns, as any
competent lace maker will perceive in what manner and order to make the
indentations and elevations on the peripheries of the several wheels h, l,p, v,
and x, and what number of teeth to give to the several driving toothed or
ratchet wheels, which will depend upon the size of the pattern.
Having described the construction of my improvements, and the manner of
their adaptation to a Lever's machine, I lastly desire it to be observed that I do
not intend to confine myself to the precise situations, dimensions, or forms of
the new parts as exhibited in the Drawings, knowing that they may be
slightly varied, and still retain the same operative effects; but I rest my claim
of Invention to the employment of auxiliary pusher bars, and to the shogging
of the said bars, and also the shogging of the extra comb bar and point bar, by
means of cams or wheels, with indentations, for the purpose of shifting the
situations of the carriages at the turnagains, and causing them to change their
traverse occasionally, and not continually, as in making breadths, and thereby,
with the assistance of shogging the point bar, to form that description of fancy
or ornamental net having circular interstices called bullet holing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Sumner, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of August, in the year of our Lord One
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of August, in the
second year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the said
William Sumner came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Third day of August, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
one.