CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING ELASTIC BRAID
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JONATHAN
BELL senior, of Abbey Street, Bethnal Green Road, in the County of Middle-
sex, Trimming Manufacturer, and THOMAS Ross, late of Seabright Street,
Bethnal Green Road aforesaid, but now of West Ham, in the County of
Essex, Trimming Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Jonathan Bell senior and Thomas Ross, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said Jonathan Bell senior and
Thomas Ross, our executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others as
we, the said Jonathan Bell senior and Thomas Ross, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING ELASTIC BRAID;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging us, the said Jonathan Bell
senior and Thomas Ross, by an instrument in writing under our hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunder had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Ross, on behalf of myself and of the said Jonathan Bell senior, do
hereby declare that the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say)
The clastic braid here alluded to is made from several strands of caoutchouc
or indian rubber, placed side by side in the positions of warp threads, which
are covered and woven or laced together by the traversing and intervention of
a series of weft threads, or cords of silk, or other suitable material, conducted
from a series of bobbins, the constructions and operations of the machinery
for performing which are well known to braid makers. Our improvements
in the machinery for manufacturing such elastic braid consist in the novel
construction and arrangement of those parts of a braiding machine which carry
the strands of indian rubber intended to be coated or covered and interwoven
with the cords or threads of silk or other material. In the old braid-making
machines the bobbins carrying the strands of indian rubber have been usually
placed in the lower part of the framework, and beneath the driving mechanism,
in horizontal positions; and the strands of indian rubber have been conducted
up through hollow tubes from their bobbins through a considerable space to
meet the threads or cords of the covering bobbins above, which rendered the
strands of indian rubber very liable to break in their progress, and very diffi-
cult to mend; and the lower bobbins being in a great measure out of the
sight of the workman, frequently caused the operation to be continued with
one of the strands of indian rubber broken, and consequently the work pro-
duced to be defective. By our improved arrangement the bobbins which give
out the strands of indian rubber are placed in perpendicular positions above
the bobbins which carry the covering threads, and are thereby immediately
under the observation of the workman, and conveniently situated to allow of
mending a strand in the event of its breaking, and removing the bobbins
when required.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 represents an elevation, partly in
section, of a braid-making machine, with our improvements adapted thereto;
Fig. 2 is a horizontal view of the same, partly in section, the part A, A, repre-
senting the mechanism as seen above the level of the plate A, A, in Fig. 1,
and the part B, B, a section taken a little below the said plate, shewing the

page_text: spindles and the plate B, B, in the said first Figure. Two of the bobbins
which carry the strands of indian rubber upon our improved plan are drawn
detached upon an enlarged scale in vertical positions, with their appendages, and
partly in section at Figs. 3 and 4. a is a solid stem or spindle firmly fixed into
the lower plate C of the machine upon which the spindle, the barrel, or tube b
is made to revolve, by the ordinary and well-known means or mechanism, for
the purpose of giving the zigzag travelling movements to the series of bobbins
and guides which carry the silk or other material for the weft threads, and cause
those threads to be wound or plaited round the strands of indian rubber above.
These operations of the mechanism we need not describe, as they are well
known, and form no feature of our improvements, and the parts are correctly
shewn in Figs. 1 and 2. At the upper part of the stationary spindle a, a guide
arm c is fixed, and upon the spindle, which is there reduced in its diameter,
the bobbin d, containing the strand of indian rubber, is mounted so as to
allow of its turning loosely as the strand e is drawn therefrom through the
openings in the guide c by the common movements of the machinery. In
order to produce sufficient friction between the bobbin and the spindle to
keep the strand of indian rubber always at a proper state of tension, we cut a
recess in the upper part of the spindle, and insert a bent spring f, as shewn in
the section, Fig. 3, and also in the horizontal section of the bobbin and spindle
at Fig. 3*. But this amount of friction might be obtained by various other
means, as by a weight, represented at g in the same Figure, placed loosely over
the top of the spindle, and bearing upon the upper flange of the bobbin. Other
means might also be resorted to for the purpose of partially holding or
creating friction between the bobbin and the spindle, which is essential, in
order to keep the strand of indian rubber in tension. It is an important
feature in our improved machinery to keep the india rubber bobbins above
and free from the threads of the covering bobbins; and in order that the
delivery of the threads from the covering bobbins may be brought nearly to
the same level as the delivery of the strands of indian rubber, the spindles of
the covering bobbins are elongated in the form of a pipe or hollow guide
rod k, having an eye at the top through which the weft thread passes to the
plait bar I, as shewn in Fig. 1.
Lastly, we desire it to be understood, that though we have shewn in the
accompanying Drawing the various parts of a braid-making machine for the
better illustration of our improvements, yet we do not intend to claim such
machine as of our Invention any farther than in the arrangement of the
indian rubber bobbins above the covering bobbins, and the means of giving
tension to the delivery of the indian rubber strands, by the adaptation of a

page_text: friction, spring, or weight acting against the bobbin, and the adaptation to the
spindles of the covering bobbins of elevated guide arms or tubes, as shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Ross, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
IV. IVICHARDS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-seventh day of
April, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Ross came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year above
written.