Improvements in Lace-making Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Lace-making Machines.
1, AUGUST MATITSCH, of VI Millergasse No. 52, Vienna, Austria, Gentleman,
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 :—
This invention relates to a machine for making pillow lace from the bobbin-
threads alone, without the aid of warp-threads. In this machine the place of the
needles, the pillow, and the pattern of lace necessary in making pillow-lace by
hand is entirely taken by suitable mechanism, and the finished work can be taken
off and wound up at any desired times, so that all requirements for the production
of genuine pillow-lace are satisfied.
It is consequently possible with this machine, as distinguished from known
machines for making pillow-lace:-
(1) To place any desired bobbin-threads out of operation for as long and as
often, as desired, so that during this time they cannot share in any way in the
production of the crossings, twists, braidings, and weavings (hereinafter generally
termed twists for the sake of shortness) that form the lace;
(2) To twist any desired bobbin-threads together and consequently to make the
lace with them alone, without the aid of warp-threads;
(3) To arrange the twists in order in any desired sequence;
(4) To employ each thread in exactly the same manner as in making pillow-lace
by band, and to pass it gradually from one edge of the lace to the other; if this is
required by the construction of the lace, whereby it is possible to produce
indivisible grounds;
(5) To hold the finished twists at any desired point for any desired length of
time; and
(6) To wind-up the finished lace, if desired, only after the completion of an
entire pattern.
For the purpose of enabling a large number of strips to be made at one and
the same time, it is further necessary that, in a manner similar to that of
existing bobbin net and like machines for making net-lace, in all the strips that
are made simultaneously, the threads occupying the same places therein make
the same twists, so that the twists of the first, second, and every succeeding
thread of one strip will also be made by all the first, second, and succeeding
threads of the other strips i.e., all the threads of a series will execute the same
movements.
A pillow lace machine that fulfils all these requirements in a perfect manner,
is represented in side elevation in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings.
Figs. 2, 3, and 4 serve to illustrate the method of working of the machine.
In this machine the bobbin threads, which alone are employed to form the lace,
are mounted in carriages which are moved in combs by means of long toothed
wheels hereinafter referred to as rollers in a manner similar to that employed in the
so-called roller-machines.
By means of pickers such as are employed in machines for making bobbin-net in
strips, and with the aid of the catch bars employed in the well known Levers lace-
machines, all the carriages, which are shifted by the pickers, can be simultaneously
arrested.

page_text: The pickers are actuated by means of jacquards and as the former are arranged
independently of one another, any desired carriages can be held back as often and
as long as desired in accordance with the pattern of the Jacquard cards.
On the release of the carriages, they pass into a third comb arranged between
the two combs, and the longitudinal movement of the said third comb causes the
lateral movement of the bobbin threads according to the construction of the ground
of the lace.
After the completion of the twists formed by the action of the carriages,
the said twists are held by means of needles until new twists are added thereto,
whereupon the needles are withdrawn from the first mentioned twists which
are no longer subject to alteration of their form and position relative to one
another.
The movements of the needles, which are independent of one another, are also
caused by means of jacquards, so that any desired movement and position can be
given to the needles according to the pattern card. On the completion of a
figure the lace is wound upon the. lace-beam also by the action of a jacquard, so
that it can be effected at any desired times and to any desired extent.
As shown in Fig. 1, there are employed for receiving and guiding the
carriages A1 and A2, three combs a front comb C¹, a middle comb C³, and a
back comb C3, which are arranged in the same arc of a circle in such a manner
that a vertical line drawn from the centre m of the said circle will fall into the
centre of the vacant space between the front and middle combs.
In this intermediate space and immediately under the combs C¹ and C³ there
are arranged the thick thread or warp bars B with their bearings, which are
not essential to the machine, but are of advantage for certain purposes, namely
for guiding the lacing-threads that connect together the several strips of lace,
the threads that serve.for holding the purls, especially in making guipure lace, and
the pattern or thick threads which form the outline of the figures.
The front comb C' is adapted to be rotated outwardly about its centre m (as in
Levers machines) and thus facilitates the drawing of the threads into the thick-
thread bars.. The middle comb C is capable of being moved horizontally
lengthwise in the same manner as in bobbiu-net machines by means of laterally
arranged levers and cams. The back comb C is situated directly behind the
middle.comb without touching the same and is fixed.
Under each of the combs C¹ and C² there is arranged as in roller-machines, a
toothed roller R' or R. These rollers engage in toothed arcs on the carriages A¹ A²,
and thereby move these in the comb-slots from one comb into the other. As the
corresponding slots in all three combs are situated respectively in the same vertical
plane, the carriages can be moved through all the three combs.
The carriages A' and A' differ from those employed in roller-machines in that
their side edges are prolonged to the point of intersection: The points thus
formed where the bobbin threads pass out to form the twists, are situated directly
under the centre m of the.circle..
For each comb-slot there are provided two pickers P1 and P2, which prevent the
carriages held by them from passing out of the front or the back comb into the
middle comb. For this purpose. they are guided with their upper free ends in
the comb-slots of C1 and C2 respectively, whilst their lower ends are mounted
loosely on fixed axles d! and d which. are fixed by means of bearings to the
corresponding.comb-bars c¹ and.c³.
In that way the pickers of these machines differ from those of ordinary bobbin-
net machines, in which the pickers are fixed to the two axles and are all turned up
together when the latter are rotated.
Before the pickers are rotated, the carriages are situated in the front and middle
combs and outside the rollers R1 and R2, and are prevented from slipping down by
bearing against the teeth of these rollers.
When the pickers are turned outwards they engage with the carriage-racks and
rotate the carriages outwardly so that the latter pass out of contact with the

page_text: rollers and therefore cannot be moved into the middle comb by the said rollers
during their subsequent rotation.
The connexion of the pickers with the slides of the two jacquards that operate
them, is effected by coupling to the pickers, (in a manner analogous to that of the
spring thread-bars in Levers machines) steel bars B' B³, of which all those, whose
pickers occupy the same position in the strips of lace, are connected to a separate
bar sor, which is held parallel to the longitudinal direction of the machine by
means of rods h¹ or h³, which are themselves capable of horizontal movement in
fixed guides F' and F. The back ends of the levers h² are mounted on
bolts ZZ, which carry rollers and are guided thereby in vertical slots in levers H¹
and H2 respectively, to which are movably attached in a similar manner the steel
bars B and B that are connected to the slides of the jacquards.
Since, as stated at the beginning, the similar threads in all the strips of the
lace, make the same movements, and consequently also the carriages situated in
the same positions must both commence and cease to move simultaneously, the said
carriages must therefore always be kept back simultaneously in the combs by
means of the pickers. In consequence of the above described connexion, it is
possible to restrict the numbers of the slides of the jacquards to so many as are
necessary for the pickers of one strip, because both the pickers and the
levers HH2 are rotatable independently of one another on their axles d¹ d²
and a¹ a² respectively and each bar s or connects all those pickers that assume
the same position.
The jacquards are the known fine-bar jacquards, which serve in Levers
machines for moving the rods for the warp threads.
As soon as they are put into operation, wherever the wire is not raised by the
pattern-card, the corresponding slide is pushed backwards. This shifting is
transferred by the said rods and levers to the pickers P' P2, which are turned
outwards in order to hold the carriages back until the rollers R¹ R² have
completed their inward rotation.
Two longitudinal bars M' and M2, which can be moved against the pickers,.
bring the turned-back pickers into their original position, whereby the carriages
are liberated and, in consequence of their weight, slide down in the combs, till
they are arrested by the rollers.
The carriages of the front row are located, before the engagement of the pickers,
entirely in the front comb; the carriages of the back row, on the contrary, are
located, at the moment of the engagement of the pickers, simultaneously in the
middle and back combs. As, now, the back pickers come into engagement with
the carriages only when the latter are in the middle comb, their outward rotation
cannot push the carriages completely back into the back comb.
In order to effect this, there is provided a toothed bar L, which is essentially
like the lockers of the so-called locker-machines and consists of a longitudinal
bar that is carried by an arm L', which is placed on a stud D and can be raised
and lowered from an axle D' by means of an arm L². As soon as the axle D¹
is rotated in the sense of the hands of a watch, the locker L engages in the
toothed arcs of the carriages A2: this happens after the carriages not held by the
back pickers have been moved into the middle comb by the rollers and have been
carried forward by the front pickers. After the locker has entered the toothed
arcs, the pickers pass out of the latter and return into their original position. The
arm L' is now rotated outwards about the stud D, whereby the locker carries the
carriages completely into the back comb and holds them last in the same till the
locker is taken out and the carriages are thereby again liberated and return into
their original position.
The jacquards that operate the pickers come into action before the carriages are
transferred to the middle comb. When the carriages have entered the middle
comb, the latter is shifted, in accordance with the construction of the lace-ground,
by the laterally applied cams. As every picker independently of the others holds
the corresponding carriage back in the front or back comb and every picker can be

page_text: operated in any desired manner by the jacquard, it follows that any desired
carriages can be held back in these two combs as often as desired and as long as
desired. Since, however, in order to produce a twist, it is necessary to transfer
the corresponding carriages from one comb into the other, no twist can be formed
by the corresponding bobbin threads whilst the carriages are so held back.
It is clear from this that any desired bobbin-threads can be kept out of operation
or be crossed as often or as long as desired. The arranging of the twists in order
can, however, take place in any desired sequence, as illustrated by Fig. 2 of the
drawing, which represents a strip of lace produced by machine and having
longitudinal edges a a and b b.
Whereas, in fact, in the machines hitherto known, all twists falling in the same
horizontal transverse line, e.g. 1-1, are produced simultaneously, because all the
carriages are simultaneously operative and therefore work in rows, this
simultaneous production of the twists in the same horizontal line is in no way
necessary in the present machine; nor is it any more necessary that a twist row be
completed before another row can be begun. Moreover, as in hand pillow-lace
making, all twists falling in the diagonal 2-2 can be produced one after another,
afterwards those of the diagonal 3-3' and so on. Furthermore, it is not necessary
to keep to a definite direction, so that, for example, first all the twists of the
space can be completed, then those of the space 11 then those of the space III,
and so on.
In connexion with this, moreover, there is obtained over the making of pillow-
lace by hand, the advantage that instead of one strip several such are prepared
simultaneously and in each of these strips several twists can be made at once.
If the kind of the lace to be produced renders it necessary, each thread can, just
as in making pillow-lace by hand, be employed in exactly the same way and be
carried gradually from one edge of the lace to the other, as shown by Fig. 3, which
represents a "turchon "ground, the production of which cannot be effected with
any of the known lace machines.
The carriages may be caused to enter the middle comb, and the latter shifted in
any desired order or manner according to the lace-ground to be produced.
The machine can thus be arranged
(1) That any desired bobbin-threads of each or either row will cross one another
separately and it may be, any desired carriages will pass on in the same comb from
right to left or vice versa according to the shifting of the middle comb;
(2) That simultaneously any desired bobbin-threads of the front row will cross
with any desired bobbin-thread of the back row and any desired carriages pass from
the front row into the back row and vice versa.
Therefore, any desired bobbin threads whatever can cross with one another and
be shifted in the comb-slots at any desired times and in any desired direction, so
that by means of this machine all lace-grounds and laces can be made that are
produced by haud.
Besides the correct production of the twists, it is necessary for the beautiful
appearance of lace also that the twists be brought into the correct position in
relation to one another and be held fast therein until they are prevented from
changing form and position in the pattern by the making of new twists in succession
thereto.
For this purpose there are employed needles N1, N2, N3 which are equal in
number to the comb slots and which are arranged so as to be capable of moving
forwards and backwards and up and down separately from one another in two
guides E and E and independently in vertical planes. These needles can be
moved laterally only in union with their guides and by moving the latter, so that,
therefore, the needles are compelled to penetrate together always at the same place
above the carriages.
The needles are made in the form of bent levers and are connected by means of
their pivots x', a³ of which the former carries the needles N¹ and the latter carries

page_text: the needles Ns to bars T¹, T³ respectively which can be moved in guides e el
horizontally towards and away from the combs.
Since the needles that occupy like positions in all the strips always have like
movements, the said needles are connected together in the same manner as the
pickers, and for this purpose each of the bars T¹ T3 is connected to a steel bar b³
and the several bars 63 are then each connected by means of a cross bar s³, a rod h³,
and an arm H³ to a steel bar B³. The bars B³ are again connected to the slides of
one of the jacquards that serve to move the needles. One jacquard serves to
draw back the needles that hold the twists, so that they come out of contact with
the threads, and as this drawing back always takes place to the same extent, a
fine-bar jacquard is sufficient.
The second jacquard, which serves to lift the needles is designed to produce a
varying height of lift, because the same needle must lift the twists to a varying
height according as this is necessitated by the joining to twists that are already
held tight. Consequently a spring dropper jacquard of the kind used in Levers
machines for operating the warp top or thick-thread bars, may be employed with
advantage. The height of lift is determined by the number and thickness of the
droppers employed for the several lifts. The said height can therefore be varied
as desired at any desired times. Consequently, after the completion of a twist,
the latter can be lifted to any desired height in a vertical direction by means of
the needle which is inserted under it and immediately above the carriages forming the
said twist.
Fig. 1 shows the needle N' inserted and in its highest position; whilst the
needle N' has also been inserted but is in a lower position; and the needle N³,
which has been completely drawn out of the threads and been brought into its
lowest position, is just beginning its forward movement for the purpose of being
inserted afresh.
When the slide of the jacquard is drawn back, then the needles connected
thereto also move back, and the upwardly projecting arms of the bent levers strike
against a longitudinal bar M³, whereby they are turned down, so that the
needles assume the lowest position when they arrive at the end of their backward
movement.
The needles that are drawn out, are then brought forward whilst in their low
position, for the purpose of being inserted under the twists which have been com-
pleted and fixed, into the newly made twists. This is effected by means of a second
longitudinal bar M which is capable of moving horizontally in relation to the
combs, and which presses in its forward movement upon those bars T3 which are
drawn back at the time but which longitudinal bar M₁ is moved into the rearward.
position before every drawing. out of the needles.
When the needles have been completely pushed forwards, so that their points
project forwards beyond the bobbin-threads, then the needles are lifted accordingly.
The needles situated at the same place are, for this reason, severally connected by
means of bars and levers 64, 6º, 6º, st, so, so, ho, ho, ho, H, H³, H, and B4, B5, B6, to
a box of the spring dropper jacquard. As long as the boxes remain in the same
position, the needles will keep the twists in the same position. Their movement is
produced, like the drawing back of the slides (in the fine-bar jacquard), by means
of the pattern-card, so that therefore the movement and position of the needles can
be varied at will, in contra-distinction to the usual lace-machines, in which one of
the two needle-bars remains inserted only until the next row of twists has been
formed, and the needles of the second needle-bar begin to lift this newly formed
row of twists.
Thus, whereas in all such machines, twisting can only be done in rows at a time,
and each row of twists thereby produced is lifted by the needles immediately after
completion, so that in consequence of the equal lift or stroke of both needle-bars
all the twists are lifted to the same height and are held for the same length of time;
the manner of operation in completing the lace in the present improved machine is

page_text: as follows when, as shown in Fig. 4, all the twists a, b, c, d, falling successively one
after another into the diagonal 1-1' are first made and then in the same manner
the twists aº, 2º, cº, do falling into the diagonal 2-2. First the needle belonging
to the twist a, is inserted under the latter and lifts it into the position (a) shown,
and holds it in that position. After the formation of the twist & the corresponding
needle is inserted and lifts it into the position (6), and holds it there.
When the
following twist a is to be added underneath the twist a, the needle which holds the
twist a, is withdrawn and is at once moved to pass under the newly formed twist aº.
The latter is then lifted until it assumes the position (a°) shown.
When the needle is drawn away from the twist a, the latter is already held by
the adjacent finished twists and cannot therefore get out of its place.
The needle-mechanism above described thus brings the twists exactly to the
place which is determined by the pattern and thus acts as a substitute for the card
or parchment used in making pillow-lace by hand; it is also a substitute for the
needles and the pillow of the hand pillow-lace worker, because the twists are held
in the places determined by the design until, by the addition of further adjacent
twists, it is rendered impossible for the finished twists to get out of shape and
place.
Whereas in lace-making machines of the kind heretofore employed, working in
rows at a time, each row of twists is lifted at once and to the same height each
time, so that the finished goods must be wound upon the lace-beam at once and
uniformly, this is effected in the improved machine only after an entire pattern has
been completed.
As shown in Fig. 1, the lace is passed over a guide bar G, is then caught by the
pegs of a winding-up beam H, and is then passed on to the lace-beam W, which is..
driven by means of friction by the winding-up beam.
The latter has imparted to it, instead of a continuously progressive rotation, a
variable rotation which is determined in each case by the time necessary for the
completion of the pattern and by the amount of the winding-up of the lace, and
which is produced by means of the spring dropped jacquard that causes the
up-and-down movement of the needles and of a special winding apparatus actuated
by the jacquard just mentioned.
This apparatus comprises a ratchet-wheel r fixed to the winding up beam H, and
a toothed wheel which is loose on the beam H. The wheel r¹ engages in a rack
which is guided horizontally by rollers g and a guide f, and is connected in a
manner similar to that of the needles, with a box of the spring dropper jacquard
by means of a bar a lever H7 and a bar B'. Upon the toothed wheel r there is
mounted a pawl k¹, which engages in the ratchet wheel and causes step-by-step
rotation of the latter in one direction, whilst the return rotation of the same is
prevented by a pawl k.
The drawing-back of the rack by the jacquard produces a common rotation of
the two wheels and in the direction of the arrow, and the winding-up beam is
rotated in the same direction. When the operation of the jacquard ceases, a spring
connected to the rack returns the lever-mechanism into its initial position, the
wheel is rotated in the direction opposite to that of the arrow, and the ratchet-
wheel remains at rest, because on the one hand, the pawl k slips over it, and on
the other hand the pawl k does not permit the ratchet wheel to move in that
direction. Therefore the winding-up of the finished lace is only done when the
box provided for the winding mechanism is moved by the pattern card of the
jacquard. The size of the piece of lace wound up depends on the movement of
the box determined by the spring droppers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. A machine for making pillow-lace having three combs C1, C2, C3 which are
-arranged in the same circular arc, of which the middle one is capable of being

page_text: shifted longitudinally, and in which combs are movable the carriages A' A², which
are moved out of one comb into another by rollers R1, R2, are held back in the
combs by pickers P1, P2, moved independently of one another by a jacquard, and
are raised entirely into the back comb by a locker L, so that the production of the
twists can be effected by means of the bobbin-threads only, which are fed by the
carriages, without the aid of warp or beam threads, and, in consequence of
the arbitrary movement of the pickers by the jacquard, any desired bobbin-threads.
can be put out of operation as long and as often as desired and crossed with one
another as desired, the twists can be placed into order in any desired sequence, and
each thread can be employed in the same way and gradually led from one edge of
the lace to the other.
2. In a machine according to the preceding claim, the arrangement of
needles N1, N2, N3, which are movable independently of one another and which, in
consequence of their connexion with two jacquards, can be given an arbitrary
movement and position in relation to the twists, so that the finished twists can be
held fast in any desired places and as long as desired and therefore any alteration.
in their form and position in the pattern prevented.
3. In a machine according to Claim 1, a device for winding-up the finished lace
applied to the winding-up beam H, comprising the ratchet-gear rrl 2, and operated
by the jacquard that causes the up-and-down movement of the needles in such a
manner that the winding-up beam is rotated at the desired times and as long as
desired.
4. My improved lace-making machine constructed, arranged, and operating
substantially as herein before described with reference to and illustrated by Fig. 1.
of the accompanying drawings.
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant..