AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS BY TWIST LACE MACHINERY."
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Whytock, of Edinburgh, and Thomas
Preston, of Nottingham, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS BY TWIST LACE MACHINERY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Whytock and
Thomas Preston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 20th December 1854.
We, RICHARD WHYTOCK, of Edinburgh, and THOMAS PRESTON, of
Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IM-
PROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS BY TWIST LACE MACHINERY" to be
as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to produce peculiar fabrics by twist lace
machinery, and consists of employing two sets of warp threads and bobbin
threads, which latter act as tie threads. One set of warps is for the back
and the other set of warps is for the front of the fabric. The back warp may
be of single threads, or several may be used for or represent one back warp.
The front warps are used (when pattern is to be produced), printed or prepared
in party colors, or a front warp may be of one or more colored yarn. The
bobbin carriages are caused to swing through and through between the warp
threads, in order to tie the front warps over the back warps, and the machinery

page_text: is so worked, and the warps so weighted and used up, that the back warps of
a fabric retain their parallelism in the length of the fabric; the front warp,
on the contrary, is worked up faster, and the front warps, though parallel one
with the other before being worked into the fabric, are in the fabric laid and
tied transversely over the back warps, so that each front warp is bent into
zig-zags; and the bends of the same thread are laid transversely over the
back warps, and the bends of a thread are laid parallel to each other, and are
so tied into the fabric by the bobbin threads.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Whytock and Thomas Preston in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, RICHARD
WHYTOCK, of Edinburgh, and THOMAS PRESTON, of 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 fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Richard Whytock and Thomas Preston, Her special licence that
we, the said Richard Whytock and Thomas Preston, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Richard Whytock and
Thomas Preston, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS BY TWIST LACE MACHINERY," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Richard Whytock and Thomas
Preston, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us, 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 Thomas Preston, on behalf of myself and
the said Richard Whytock, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to produce peculiar fabrics by twist lace
machinery, and consists of employing two sets of warp threads and bobbin
threads, which latter act as tie threads. One set of warps is for the back and
the other set of warps is for the front of the fabric. The back warp may be
of single threads, or several may be used for or represent one back warp.
The front warps are used (when pattern is to be produced), printed or prepared
in party colors, or a front warp may be of one or more colored yarn. The
bobbin carriages are caused to swing through and through between the warp
threads, in order to tie the front warps over the back warps, and the machinery
is so worked, and the warps so weighted and used up, that the back warps of
a fabric retain their parallelism in the length of the fabric; the front warp,
on the contrary, is worked up faster, and the front warps, though parallel one
with the other before being worked into the fabric, are in the fabric laid and
tied transversely over the back warps, so that each front warp is bent into
zig-zags; and the bends of the same thread are laid transversely over the
back warps, and the bends of a thread are laid parallel to each other, and are
so tied into the fabric by the bobbin threads.
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention, we will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
The twist lace machines used in carrying out our Invention are of the ordi-
nary construction, and our improvement in working such machines is with a
view to produce in such machines an improved and peculiar manufacture of
fabrics, principally by employing yarns which are party-colored, according to
pattern, such as have heretofore been used, and are well known when weaving
fabrics by other systems of weaving, though yarns of one color may be em-
ployed when plain fabrics are desired, according to our improvement. The
means of printing or rendering yarns party-colored according to pattern are
well known, and, separately, is not claimed as our Invention. In arranging
a twist lace machine suitable for making fabrics according to our Invention, a
front warp and a back warp are used, but they are to be weighted differently,
one warp being used up in the fabric faster than the other. The back warp is
kept straight down, whilst the front warps in being worked up into a fabric
are caused to cross the back warp to and fro, and are tied across the back
warps by the bobbin or carriage threads, and therefore in preparing or printing
the front warp with party colors according to pattern, allowance must be made
for this crossing to and fro over the back warps, as has heretofore been the
case when the yarns have had to be woven over wires, as is well understood.

page_text: The front and back warps are respectively actuated by passing through guides
of a front guide bar and a back guide bar. The front guide bar is arranged
to be slogged to and fro to the extent of two gaits or spaces of the combs
or bolts of the machine: The back guide bar is arranged to be shogged or
moved to and fro one gait or space of the bolts or combs of the machine; we
prefer to employ a single tier machine, but others may be used, and the car-
riages are simply caused to swing from back to front and from frent to back
in the same gaits or spaces between their combs or bolts.
There are as many warp threads or yarns in both the back and front guide
bars as there are carriage threads; this, however, may be varied. The front
guide bar is to be caused to move two gaits to the right hand when the
carriages are in the front combs or bolts, and the front guide bar is to be caused
to move two gaits to the left when the carriages are in the back combs or bolts.
The back guide bar is to be moved one gait to the left when the carriages
are in the front combs or bolts, and the back guide bar is to be caused to be
moved one gait to the right when the carriages are in the back combs or bolts.
The taking-up of the work is by back and front point bars, each having as
many points as there are bobbin carriages, and they are caused to take up
alternately, the front points taking up when the carriages are swinging from
back to front, and the back points taking up when the carriages are swinging
from front to back.
may
The front points in taking up enter on the right-hand sides of the front
warps, and are then shogged towards the left, in order to enter on the left of
the back warps; the points then go up. The back points in taking up enter
at the right-hand side of the back warps, and are then shogged towards the
left, so as to enter on the left-hand side of the front warps; they then go up.
Both the front and back points enter as near the heads of the carriages as
be. By these means a very peculiar fabric will be produced, consisting of
the straight down warp threads at back, and the horizontal or zig-zag parallel
bends of the front warp threads, tied to the back warp threads by the passing
of the bobbin threads. In making these fabrics, we find it desirable to have
the bobbin threads or yarns and the front warp yarns with the ordinary twist,
and the back warp yarns with the reverse twist. If desired, a third warp
may be used at the back to cover the back, in like manner to what the front
warp covers the front of the fabric; in which case this back covering warp
should be shogged to a like extent with the front warp, but constantly in the
opposite direction. If desired, each of the straight down warp threads may
be composed of several yarns or threads, to obtain a corded' appearance on the
front of the fabric. And further, if desired, filling yarns may be introduced

page_text: between the straight down back warp threads, in which case guides (with one
or more eyes or holes, according as it may be desired to introduce one or more
yarns between each neighbouring pair of straight down back warp threads),
would be introduced on a stationary guide bar, which guides would be arranged
opposite the ends of the bolts or combs.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the details; but what we claim is, the manufacture by twist lace
machines of the peculiar fabrics herein described, consisting of two warps and
one set of bobbin threads, one warp being straight down in the fabrics, and the
other warp held thereto in zig-zag parallel bends by the bobbin threads, as
herein explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Preston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
THOMAS PRESTON. (L.S.)