IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE AND OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Redgate, of Sneinton, in the County of
Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, James Thornton, of the Town of Not-
tingham, Mechanic, and Edwin Ellis, of Sneinton, in the said County
of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Redgate, James
Thornton, and Edwin Ellis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 14th December 1854.
We, JAMES REDGATE, of Sneinton, in the County of Nottingham, Lace
Manufacturer, JAMES THORNTON, of the Town of Nottingham, Mechanic, and
EDWIN ELLIS, of Sneinton, in the said County of Nottingham, Lace Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE AND OTHER FABRICS" to be as
follows:-
pro-
This Invention consists of improvements in bobbin net or twist lace
machinery, whereby such machinery is simplified and, the speed of
duction increased. Heretofore for the most part bobbin net or twist lace
machines have been arranged to work by the bobbin carriages being caused
to swing through and through between the warp threads, the work being
alternately taken up at the back and front of the machine by means of back
and front point bars, and the object of these improvements is to dispense with

page_text: the use of back and front point bars, and to cause the crossings, twistings, and
intersections of the bobbin and warp threads to be moved up by the move-
ment or action of the carriages in passing through between the warp threads.
For this purpose, the carriage heads, and the combs or bolts in which they
move, are so constructed and combined that the upper parts or heads of the
carriages shall come to the point from which the arc of the combs or bolts
is struck, and consequently, in passing through between the warp threads,
the carriages will cause the intersections, twistings, and crossings of the
threads to be driven up to the previous work without the aid of back and
front taking-up points. In place of causing
In place of causing the carriages to perform the
whole swing to and fro from front to back, it is preferred that the warp threads
should, as well as the carriages, have a swinging motion in a direction from
front to back of the machine in an opposite direction to the bobbin threads,
and thus to perform the whole length of motion between them; or the machine
may be made with the warp threads to remain free from a swinging motion,
and the whole length of swing requisite performed by the carriages.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Redgate, James Thornton, and Edwin Ellis in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
REDGATE, of Sneinton, in the County of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer,
JAMES THORNTON, of the Town of Nottingham, Mechanic, and EDWIN ELLIS,
of Sneinton, in the said County of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth 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 James Redgate, James Thornton, and Edwin Ellis, Her special licence
that we, the said James Redgate, James Thornton, and Edwin Ellis, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James
Redgate, James Thornton, and Edwin Ellis, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter 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 Inven-

page_text: tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE AND
OTHER FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said James
Redgate, James Thornton, and Edwin Ellis, 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 we, the said James Redgate and Edwin Ellis, on
behalf of ourselves and the said James Thornton, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, 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:-
This Invention consists of improvements in bobbin net or twist lace
machinery, whereby such machinery is simplified and the speed of production
increased. Heretofore for the most part bobbin net or twist lace machines,
have been arranged to work by the bobbin carriages being caused to swing
through and through between the warp threads, the work being alternately
taken up at the back and front of the machine by means of back and front
point bars, and the object of these improvements is to dispense with the use
of back and front point bars, and to cause the crossings, twistings, and inter-
sections of the bobbin and warp threads to be moved up by the movement or
action of the carriages in passing through between the warp threads. For
this purpose, the carriage heads, and the combs or bolts in which they move, are
so constructed and combined that the upper parts or heads of the carriages
shall come to the point from which the arc of the combs or bolts is struck, and
consequently, in passing through between the warp threads, the carriages will
cause the intersections, twistings, and crossings of the threads to be driven up
to the previous work without the aid of back and front taking-up points.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, we would state that the
machinery may be arranged so that the whole swing required to pass the
carriages through between the warp threads may be partly performed by a
swinging motion given to the warp threads, and partly by movement given to
the carriages. The Drawings, however, show the swinging movement to be
wholly performed by the carriages.

page_text: some of the parts on a full size scale; Figure 3 shows a magnified view of a
piece of the lace made by the machine with the instruments represented at
Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
a is the main shaft or driving axis, which receives motion by a band and
pulley in the usual manner; on the shaft a are formed or affixed cranks b,
which are connected by rods e, with arms c, c, affixed to the rocking shaft d.
There are other arms f, f, affixed to the rocking shaft d, which by means of
the connecting links or rods g, g, communicate motion to the axes h, h, of the
pusher bars i, i, thereby causing the axes h, h, to travel up and down in the
curved guides j, j, attached to the framing. k, k, are other connecting links,
attached at their upper ends to the arms f, f, at f', f', their lower ends being
connected at ',, to the bent arms 1, 1, which connect the pusher bars i, i,
with their axes h, h. The carriages m, m, are thus caused to swing to and fro
in their combs or bolts n, n, once for every revolution of the shaft a. o is a
guide bar, with guides o' through which the warp threads p pass.
One guide
bar only is shown in the Drawing, and is suitable for making plain work, as
represented at Figure 3, but when it is desired to make lace of an ornamental
character other guide bars will be inserted at q, q. It will be seen that in the
carriages made use of according to our Invention, the heads extend above the
bobbins up to the point A, where the work is made, and from where the arc of
the combs n, n, and carriages m, m, is struck, so that by the bobbins and
carriages m, m, swinging through between the warp threads P, the crossings
and twistings of the bobbin and warp threads will be driven up, by which
arrangement the ordinary back and front point bars are dispensed with.
r, r, are guides or supports for the upper portions of the carriages; they are
attached to the bars s, s, carried by the arms t, t, attached to the axes u, u.
On the main shaft or axis a are affixed cams v, w. The cam v, by acting on
the truck v', gives motion to the lever v², which is attached to one of the
axes of the arms t of the carriage guides r, and it is by these means that
motion is given to one set of the carriage guides r. The other set of carriage
guides receives motion from the cam w, which acts on the truck w¹ of the
lever w², which works on an axis w*. The lever w³ is at its upper end
connected to the lever w' by means of the connecting rod or link w³. The
lever wis connected to the other of the axes u, and thus, by the arms t
affixed to that axis, is motion given to the other set of carriage guides r.
There is a spring x attached to the lever v³, and its other end is attached
to the lever w², by means of which the trucks v', w', are constantly kept up to
the cams v and w. By these simple means the carriages are caused to swing
to and fro through between the warp threads, which are to be shogged in

page_text: the ordinary manner according to the description of lace which is for the time
being to be made in the machine, and such shogging of the guide bar or
bars is to be by any of the ordinary well-known means employed in other lace
machines. The work also as it is produced is to be constantly wound on to
the work roller, as heretofore. The simple act of the swinging or passing of
the carriages through between the warp threads causes the meshes to be
completed without the aid of taking-up points, by which the working of lace
machinery is greatly simplified. We would remark that the extent of the
swing of the carriages may be reduced, and the speed of the machine to some
extent quickened, by causing the warps and their guides and combs to swing
in the opposite direction to that in which the carriages are moving. When a
lace machine is so arranged, it will be desirable to have two fixed lace bars in
place of one, as is now shown, in order to confine the lace which is above the
point A swinging above the fixed lace bars. We would, however, state that
our further experience induces us to think that the whole of the "swing"
is most conveniently given to the carriages, the warp threads having no part
of the "swing" given to them, and we have so described the machinery.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that we make no claim
to any of the mechanical parts separately, nor do we confine ourselves to the
details shewn and described, so long as the carriages and parts of lace
machinery are constructed and arranged in such manner that the crossings,
twistings, and intersections of the bobbin threads with the warp threads are
acted on by the carriages in such manner as to complete the work without the
necessity of taking-up points.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Redgate and Edwin Ellis, on
behalf of ourselves and the said James Thornton, have hereunto set our
hands and seals, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
FRED, HARRIS.
JAMES REDGATE. (L.S.)
EDWIN ELLIS.
(LS.)