IMPROVEMENTS IN LACE MACHINERY, AND IN PILED FABRICS MADE FROM SUCH MACHINERY
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Livesey, of New Lenton, in the
County of Nottingham, Draughtsman, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LACE MACHINERY, AND IN PILED FABRICS MADE
FROM SUCH MACHINERY."
Sealed the 19th March 1853, and dated the 22nd December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Livesey at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd December 1852.
I, JOHN LIVESEY, of New Lenton, in the County of Nottingham,
Draughtsman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN LACE MACHINERY, AND IN PILED FABRICS MADE FROM
SUCH MACHINERY," to be as follows:-
First, in adding to lace machinery apparatus arranged for
supplying carriages with full bobbins to take the place of carriages
the bobbins of which have been emptyed in work, the empty
bobbins and carriages being traversed out at the selvage, and the

page_text: full ones being traversed in; thus enabling the fabrics being produced
to be made of any desired length.
Second, in an improved form and action given to the knives or
cutters, so as to bring a greater length of cutting edge than has
heretofore been practised, to act on the pile when cutting pile
fabrics made on lace machinery, being an improvement on the form
and action of the knives or cutters, for which (along with other
Inventions) a Patend was granted to me, September the 18th 1851.
Third, in making pile fabrics (on lace machinery) resembling
chenille, by suitable arrangements of warp threads in combination
with the improved cutters last described, and the pile forming
instruments, a Patent for the use of which in lace machinery was
granted to me, September the 18th 1851; and a second Patent for
improvements on such pile forming instruments (along with other
Inventions) was granted to me, jointly with Samuel Nichols and
Edward Wroughton, August the 19th 1852.
Fourth, in the manufacture of piled fabrics on lace machinery
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said John Livesey in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 22nd June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN LIVESEY, of New Lenton, in the County of Nottingham,
Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of December,
in the year of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
two, in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Heir heirs,
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Livesey,
Her special licence that I, the said. John Livesey, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Livesey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times

page_text: thereafter during the terin 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 LACE MACHINERY, AND IN
PILED FABRICS MADE FROM SUCH MACHINERY," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Livesey, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Livesey, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):
My Invention consists first, in adding to lace machinery apparatus
arranged for supplying carriages with full bobbins to take the
place of carriages the bobbins of which have become empty in
work, the empty bobbins and carriages being traversed out at the
selvages, and the full ones traversed in; thus enabling the fabrics
produced to be made of any desired length. I will explain this part
of my Invention as worked, when adapted to a double tier single
locker machine. In this exemplification of my Invention, I leave at
the right hand end of the machine a space without warp threads of
ten inches, so that the carriages in this portion pass backwards and
forwards without producing any fabric. This space will require to
be more or less according to circumstances, such as the nature of
the fabric, the width of the machine, and the thickness of the
material used, as will be apparent when the Invention is fully
explained; but before describing the Drawing, in order to make this
part of my Invention clear, I observe that the working of the
apparatus is somewhat similar to the split driving bar, covering
bar, and pecker bar used in quilling machinery, for the purpose of
turning again the carriages at the selvidge of each breadth, and

page_text: retaining the whipper carriage to lace the breadths together. The
blade A, Figure 2, answers the purpose of a pecker; the moveable
blade B, Figure 3, that of a covering bar; the cranked driving bar
C, Figure 3, that of a split driving bar, but acting on the carriages
in the 10 spare inches, instead of on a single carriage. And instead
of retaining the wipper carriage in the same combs, for the purpose
of lacing the breadths together, I retain carriages in the 10 inches
to prevent them from traversing, only when it is desired to bring
the empty bobbins out of the fabric, and replace them by full ones.
Figure 3, is a top view, and Figure 4, a section of the right hand
end of the front driving bar; C, is a part of the front driving bar
cranked, as shewn, for the purpose of admitting so much as one tier
of carriages as is opposite the same, into this cranked portion, and so
prevent the carriages therein from traversing; B, is a movable
plate attached to the driving bar C, by the 3 links 61, 62, 63, and
moving on the pins 64, b; C2, is a rod jointed to the link b', through
which the plate B, is capable of being acted upon by the Jacquard
or other pattern surface, to bring it into the position shewn in the
Drawing; C, is a spring attached at one end to the bar C, and to
the link b³, at the other end. By means of this spring the movable
plate B, is held in the position shewn by the dotted lines, when not
acted upon by the Jacquard. Figure 2, is a front view of the
apparatus (shewn also in Figure 1), which I use instead of the
pecker bar herein-before referred to, for holding the carriages in the
cranked part of the driving bar C, when the plate B, is in the
position shewn in the dotted lines. A, is a moveable locker plate
attached to bolts a¹, a¹, connected together by the bar a, and
moving in bearings a², a², which are fastened to brackets a³, a³, as
shewn; a, is a bell cranked lever acted upon by the Jacquard, to
raise the locker plate when required. The working of this apparatus
is as follows: The back comb or bolt bar is caused to shog or move
with each motion of the machine, and the front comb bar to stand
still; and when both tiers of carriages are in the front comb bar,
the back comb bar moves to the right hand; when one tier is in the
front, and one tier in the back, it moves to the left hand; when

page_text: both tiers are in the back, it moves to the right hand; and when the
carriages are returning, and one tier is in the front, and one tier in
the back, it moves to the left hand; thus taking. 4 motions of the
machine to complete the action, when the bobbins will hold sufficient
thread to traverse across the fabric and back 8 times. Then I proceed
as follows:-The spring C¹, is left to draw the blade B, into the
position shewn by the dotted lines in Figure 3, for twenty-eight
motions; and the locker blade A, Figure 2, is raised to retain
the carriages on the 1st, 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th, and 21st, of the before
mentioned 28 motions, the first motion being when both tiers of
carriages are in the front; the blade B, is then acted upon by the
Jacquard to bring it flush with the front edge of the driving bar C,
Figure 3; and at the same time the blade A, Figure 2, is allowed
to remain down 4 motions, making altogether thirty-two motions;
and by repeating this process every thirty-two motions, the bobbins
as they become empty will be traversed out of the fabric. The whole
number of carriages in that portion of the machine making the
fabric, must in the case just exemplified be the multiple of 8, for
the purpose of traversing the whole out in succession with the one
carriage extra, which is necessary for the traversing. If every 10th
or 12th carriage is to be traversed out, then the whole number of
carriages in the fabric should be a multiple of 10 or 12, and so on
with the one extra as before. As soon as the whole of the carriages
in the 10 spare inches are traversed into the machine, and their
place supplied by the same number traversed out, the bobbins of
these carriages so traversed out will be, when the machine is
regularly at work (if properly calculated) nearly empty, and the
machine must then be stopped, and the empty bobbins be removed,
their place being supplied by full ones. On placing the bobbins in
their position in the 10 spare inches, the ends of the threads should
be placed over a hook or other suitable contrivance, to prevent them
becoming entangled amongst the carriages. These threads will be
drawn into the work as the carriages traverse in the fabric. A knife
may be attached to the front comb bar, so as to cut off the thread
of each bobbin as it is traversed out of the work, or the whole of

page_text: the threads may be cut when the machine is stopped to remove the
empty carriages.
Having explained the working of this apparatus as applied to a
double tier single locker machine, and as used when the bobbins
traverse across the fabric and back 8 tines, it is not necessary for
me to further explain its application, when the carriages are
required to traverse more or less than 8 times, or when other kinds
of machines are used, as any intelligent workman will be able from
the foregoing description to adapt the Invention to suit the required
circumstances.
I claim, in respect to this first part of my Invention, the addition
to lace machinery of apparatus arranged for supplying carriages
with full bobbins to be traversed into the fabric, to take the place
of carriages the bobbins of which have become empty, and have
been traversed out of the fabric.
Secondly, my Invention consists in an improved form and action
given to the knives or cutters, so as to bring a greater length of
cutting edge to act upon the pile when cutting pile fabrics made on
lace machinery, than has heretofore been practised, being an im-
provement in the form and action of the knives or cutters, for which,
along with other Inventions, a Patent was granted to me, 18th
September 1851. In Sheet 1, Figure 1, of the aforesaid Patent,
the bar D³, carrying the knives, is shewn working on a fixed axle
D10, and with only one motion, and, consequently, one and the same
part of the knife edge, is alone brought into action. In my improved
arrangement, shewn in Fig. 1, the bar D³, carrying the knives D',
are caused to have two motions, thus enabling me to bring as much
of the knife edge as is desired into action. This action is produced
by the motion of the two levers L1, L2; the lever L', is moved up
and down by the crank M, and the lever L2, is forced outward and
falls in again by the action of the cam, which is to be cut so as to
bring the arm R, in contact with the stop pin R³. The object of
this pin being to stop the blades entering too far into the slit or
groove in the pile forming instruments, when these are strong
enough, the best method of working the cutters will be to bring the

page_text: cutting blades into action during their downward motion; but if
very fine instruments are used, the cutters must then be brought
into action during the time that the knives or cutters are moving
upwards, as such fine instrument would give way too much to allow
of cutting in the other direction. The knives D7, are made of round
steel wire of the shape shewn, being flattened in the part on which
the blade is to be formed; one knife to each instrument on which
the pile is to be cut. They are laid in tricks cut in the bar D³, and
are fastened in their places by caps in a similar manner to that
employed in fastening the needles in the circular knitting frame.
The knife bar D³, is carried by the brackets d, which are attached
to arms R, suspended from the vibrating shaft S. The top part of
the lever L', is attached by a joint d³, to the bracket d, and the top
part of the lever L2, is connected by a link V, to the arm R¹, which
arm is fastened to the vibrating shaft S. The blade D7, is curved
on the cutting edge to a curve forming a circle from the centre of
the axle of the bracket d*, and the pile forming instrument P, shewn
separately on an enlarged scale. Figure 5, has two projecting
pieces P¹, forming a guide for the knives to work in; thus, on the
cam and crank being put in motion, an horizontal as well as a
vertical action will be given to the knives.
I claim, in respect to this second part of my Invention, the use in
twist lace machinery of separate knives to each pile forming instru-
ment, combined with the improved form and action given to the
same in work as described.
Thirdly, my Invention consists in the manufacture of fabrics
made from bobbin net or twist lace machinery, having pile surface
and traversed grounds. As the making of pile fabrics from bobbin
net machinery on what is understood by straight down net, or on
the loop net principle, and also by employing warp and weft for the
ground of such fabrics, and also the making of traverse grounds for
ornamenting lace, and in the production of other fabrics, is now
well known, it will not be necessary for me to describe the methods
employed for these purposes, only so far as it will enable me to
explain my present Invention-namely, the production of pile fabrics

page_text: way,
from lace machinery having traverse grounds. The pile fabrics
hitherto made from this class of machinery had not the necessary
fineness of ground when weft threads were used for making good
velvets, and other fine pile fabrics, and the ground, in consequence
of the nature of the loop when no weft is used, is liable to fold in
lines where the loops are joined, and thus detriorate the fabric; and
also on the breaking of the tying thread, a slit or hole will be pro-
duced. Now, by the employment of this third part of my Inven-
tion, I avoid these objections, as I can, by using a number of warp
threads to each carriage, make a pile fabric with a fine ground, and
at the same time by traversing make the ground firm each and
so avoid the lines before referred to; and also by the addition of the
apparatus for supplying bobbins as before described, I can make the
fabric of any desired length. For the purpose of exemplifying this
part of
my Invention, I will describe it as applied to a double tier
single locker machine, and with the aid of the cuts of wheels shewn,
and by arranging the guide bars in the position described, will
explain how I proceed to produce pile fabrics, cut or uncut, with
traverse grounds. (When uncut pile fabrics are to be made, the pile
forming instrument must be used of a suitable form for this
purpose.) I shog the comb bars in the same motions as explained
under the second head of my Invention, which causes the carriages
to traverse from selvage to selvage, and interweave with the ground
threads. In Figure 1, the guide bars are shewn in the position they
occupy in the machine. No. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 10, marked red,
guide the threads which form the ground of the fabric, together
with the bobbin threads; No. 3, and 8 (colored blue) guide the
pile threads which are in front of the pile forming instrument P.
These threads move across two carriages, and tie into the ground of
the fabric; N°.. 3, ties in between the ground threads 1, and 5, and
2, and 4; No. 8, between 6, and 10, and 7, and 9; thus forming
two rows of pile .to. cach carriage, with a wickered and traversed
ground. The table Figure 6, shews the motions of the guide bars
necessary for producing the fabric.
I do not confine myself to a single locker machine, as my

page_text: Invention may be readily adapted to other descriptions of bobbin
net machinery; neither do I confine myself to making the pile from
the warp alone; but
I claim, in reference to this last part of my Invention, the
manufacture of fabrics from bobbin net or twist lace machinery,
with pile surfaces and traverse grounds.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Livesey, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
JOHN LIVESEY. (L.S.)