CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MA- CHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING LACE, COMMONLY CALLED BOBBIN NET LACE
Year: 1833

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENSON, of the City of Worcester, Lace Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Fourteenth day of March, in the third year of His reign,
and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Henson, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Henson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Henson, my executors, administrators, 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, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MA-
CHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING LACE, COMMONLY CALLED BOBBIN NET LACE;" in
which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said William
Henson, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, may more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Henson, do hereby declare that the nature of my 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 Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):-
My present Improvements in Machinery. for Manufacturing Lace com-
monly called Bobbin Net Lace consist of the following general features,―
First, the adaptation of a mechanical contrivance to circular bolt or comb
machine driven by fluted bars or rollers, by means of which the bobbin
carriages are moved with varying speeds in different parts of their vibratory
course, for the purpose of enabling one tier of carriages to overtake the other
tier, the improvement causing the vibrating arcs of the bobbins and carriages
to be less than in the usual construction of fluted roller machines, also
allowing the bobbins and carriages of an ordinary driver and locker machine,
either upon the circular bolt or circular comb principle, to be actuated by
fluted bars or rollers, and consequently the bobbins and carriages to work with
greater speed.
Secondly, a mode of making breadths or narrow strips of lace upon fluted
roller machines by the employment of any required number, of toothed rims
or wheels, mounted upon and coincident with, the surface of the fluted rollers,
which wheels at intervals are confined, allowing the roller as an axis to revolve
within them for the purpose of traversing the carriages at the selvages of each
breadth.
Thirdly, in a mode of whipping or lacing the selvages of the breadths
together by a series of extra bobbins and carriages moving upon circular bolts
or combs placed below, which bobbins and carriages carry the whipping
threads round insulated guides of the warp threads.. The first two features of
my present Invention apply to that description of machinery commonly called
"Fluted Bar or Fluted Roller Machinery," and for which description of ma-
chines I,.the said William Henson, in conjunction with one William Jackson,
of Worcester, first obtained. His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent, dated the
Eleventh day of January, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-five.. These
fluted bars or fluted rollers have hitherto been generally, applied to machines
constructed upon
the principle of the circular comb machines,, which are of
the class called double tier machinery; that is, in which the bobbins,and
carriages are passed through the warp threads in two rows or tiers, one, row,
or tier after the other, the bobbin threads of each row or tier being made to

page_text: traverse across the piece of net diagonally in opposite directions. By thus
crossing one another they form the tops and bottoms of the hexagonal meshes
of the lace or net. The carriages of the bobbins move in circular combs, and
are passed between the warp threads alternately, from back to front and front
to back, by means of two pairs of fluted bars or fluted rollers, the flutes or pro-
jections being formed like the teeth of pinions. These fluted bars or rollers are
placed beneath the circular combs in such a position that the teeth or projections
on the rollers take into the spaces between corresponding teeth formed on the
under side of the carriages, which teeth project downwards through the combs
into the spaces between the projections of the rollers. Two of these fluted
rollers are situated beneath the inner ends of each set of circular combs that is
nearest to the warp threads, and the other fluted rollers are placed beneath the
reverse ends of the two sets of combs. The fluted rollers turn on bearings
at each end, and are made to revolve alternately backwards and forwards
simultaneously, by means of a sector rack (suspended from a pin as its centre),
which rack takes into toothed pinions fixed on the ends of the fluted rollers. The
toothed sector or rack has an oscillating or pendulus motion communicated to
it by levers and cams, cranks and connecting rods, or any other contrivance
by which the sector may be made to swing backwards and forwards, and
during such motion (its teeth being in gear with the teeth of the pinions on
the ends of the fluted rollers) cause the rollers to revolve alternately back-
wards and forwards with a simultaneous and equal motion, the projections or
teeth on the rollers acting at the same time on the teeth of the bottom of the
carriages, thereby moving the carriages alternately backwards and forwards
in the combs, one tier after the other, and passing them through and between
the warp threads from one set of combs to the other, and then back again.
The racking of the warp threads is effected at the time when one tier or row of
carriages is situated in the front set of combs, and the other row or tier of
carriages is in the back set of combs, and in the act of following the first tier,
the racking being performed without any pause or cessation of the motion of
the carriages. These fluted bar or fluted roller machines being well known to
lace makers, it is not necessary for me further to describe the same; but I will
proceed to point out in what part my improvements are applicable. In fluted
bar machinery, as it is commonly worked, the two tiers or rows' of carriages
5 must be kept at a proper distance asunder, so as to leave a sufficient space
between them to admit of the racking of the warp threads, which, as above
stated, takes place at the time when one tier of carriages have passed through
the warp threads in the course of their backward and forward motion in the
circular combs and the other tier are in the act of following them; and, as

page_text: the fluted bar or rollers have a simultaneous motion and communicate the
same to the bobbins and carriages, the same space must necessarily be kept
between the two tiers or rows of carriages in all their different positions.
The object of the first feature of my improvement is to cause each tier or
row of bobbins and carriages, after passing first through the warp threads,
to slacken their motion, and move no further in the combs than is necessary;
the second tier or row following the first tier with a continuous speed until
they have overtaken them, by which means there is no space left between the
two tiers when they are both in one set of combs, there being no necessity
for such space after the racking of the warp threads has taken place. And
also in adapting the fluted rollers or bars to that description of machines
called the "Circular Bolt Machines," so that the bobbins and carriages may be
worked in the circular bolts by means of the said fluted bars or rollers instead
of the drivers and fetchers commonly used in this description of machines.
And, as this first part of my improvements apply only to the working of the
carriages in either the circular combs or circular bolts of the machines, I
shall proceed to describe the Figures in the accompanying Drawing belonging
to the same.
These objects I attain by the application of cranks or arms
fixed upon the ends of the inner fluted rollers, which cranks or arms work
the two outer fluted rollers by means of links connecting the crank arms to
other cranks upon the ends of the outer fluted rollers, instead of the sector
rack working pinions upon the ends of the outer rollers as in common, the
relative position of the cranks one to the other determining the speed at
which the outer roller shall turn at different parts of its motion.
In Sheets 1 and 2, Figure 1 is a vertical section taken through a machine
on the circular bolt principle, shewing the fluted rollers adapted to it, and
the two tiers or rows of bobbin and carriages A, B, one in each set of bolts,
the warp threads being in the act of racking. Figure 2 is another' section
taken through the machine, shewing the sector rack and the pinions upon
the ends of the bearings of the inner fluted rollers with the cranks and links 3
connected to them, and in the position they would be when the bobbins
and carriages are in the situation shewn in Figure 1, the end of the main
framework or standard being removed to shew the parts. a is the sector rack
receiving its motion from any of the known contrivances as before stated.
b, b, are two pinions fixed upon the ends of the bearings of the two inner 3
fluted rollers c, c. Upon these pinions b, b, are fixed the two crank pins d, d,
which are connected by the links e, e, to two other cranks f, f, each fixed upon
the ends of the two outer fluted rollers g, g. These cranks d and fare so
placed one towards the other that as the foremost tier or row of bobbins

page_text: and carriages A pass through the warp threads and are delivered to the
outer fluted rollers from the inner ones, the outer rollers begin to move
somewhat slower than the second or following tier, and are moved no further
in the bolts than are necessary, thereby allowing the second tier of bobbins
and carriages to overtake them, as shewn in the section Figure 2, the
second tier being moved forward by the rack and pinions in a continuous
motion; and as the rack and pinion, in their reverse motion, drive the bobbins
and carriages back again through the warp threads, the same action takes
place, the last tier or row of bobbins and carriages B then becoming the
foremost, and the other tier or row of bobbins and carriages A overtake the
row B, as shewn in Figure 4, and so on. This contrivance must be so well
understood by all lace machine makers and competent mechanics, that it will
not be necessary for me further to describe its application to the working of.
the bobbins and carriages; but in order that the foremost tier or row of
bobbins and carriages may be taken from the inner fluted rollers with greater
certainty and a better motion than can be obtained from the outer fluted
rollers (which must be of small diameter). I have shewn in Sheets 3 and 4,
several views of a machine in which Figure 5, a section of a machine where
the outer fluted roller or bar is shewn as a small segment of a fluted bar or
roller of greater dimension, which will better answer the purpose of a fetcher
or locker as commonly used in the circular bolt or circular comb machines.
The same letters of reference are used in Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8, to denote
the same parts as in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, and these Figures being similar
views of the machine it will not be necessary for me again to describe them ;
but it will be seen, in reference to Figure 6, that the crank arms f are made
longer than those shewn in Figure 2, in order to accommodate them to the
increased radius of the fluted fetcher bars g, g.
The second feature of my present improvements, videlicit, that of making
breadths or narrow strips of lace upon fluted roller machines, is effected by the
employment of toothed rims or wheels, which are mounted upon the inner fluted
rollers, and turn upon them as their axles. These toothed rims or wheels are
placed upon the fluted rollers in any number and distance apart according to
the different breadths or strips of lace intended to be made in the machine,
and are placed in such situations that they stand under the gates (or spaces
between the circular bolts or combs) in which those bobbins and carriage
that in succession form the selvage bobbins and carriages are situated. The
toothed rims are placed in this situation for the purpose of traversing the
selvage carriages, and act precisely in the same manner and with the same
effect as the small toothed rims or wheels which are placed at the ends of the

page_text: inner. rollers in the common fluted bar or fluted roller machines, constructed
to make bobbin net lace in the piece, that is, one breadth the whole width of
the machine. At the situations where these toothed rims or wheels are to be
placed the teeth or flutes of the rollers are removed by turning a small groove
in the roller, of the width of the toothed rim or wheel as shewn in Figure 1,
Sheet 5, which is a view of a portion of a fluted bar or roller drawn
in the full size. Figure is a similar view, with the tooth rims or
wheels put in their proper situations. Figure 3 is a section taken through
the roller, shewing one of the rims attached, and Figure 4 is a represen-
tation of one of the toothed rims or wheels detached. Figure 5 is an
edge view of the same, and Figure 6 is another view of the toothed rim
when opened for the purpose of placing them in the grooves. It will be
seen that these toothed rims or wheels consist of two parts, a and b,
and are connected together by a hinge joint at c, which allows of the toothed
rim being opened for the purpose of applying it to the fluted rollers. This is
effected by placing them in the grooves d, d, d, Figure 1, as shewn at e, e, e,
in Figure 2, and uniting the ends or joints by the small screw at f, in
Figures 3 and 4. By this means the rims will be secured in their places and
allowed to turn upon the cylindrical part of the roller. At the bottom of the
groove g, g, are springs which press with such force upon the surface of the
cylindrical part of the roller as to cause sufficient friction to prevent the
toothed rims slipping round when acting in conjunction with the teeth or flutes
of the roller in moving the bobbins and carriages backwards and forwards
in their circular combs or bolts; but at the same time it will allow the toothed
rims to be retained and kept stationary, when they are stopped in the machine
with the selvage bobbins and carriages, at the time the traversing of the same
takes place, the rollers continuing to turn without them until they begin to
revolve the reverse way. It will be evident to all lace-makers that these
toothed rims must be stopped from turning at the time the selvage bobbins
and carriages have arrived from the opposite gates (or spaces between the
combs or bolts), and are in the proper situation to be traversed. This may be
done in several different ways in the machine, either by using a bar placed
under the combs or bolts extending the length of the machine, with tappets
or stops placed upon it at proper situations, which tappets or stops may be
raised up at the proper intervals so as to come in contact with the teeth of
the bobbin carriages by cams and levers, cranks and connecting rods, or in
any other convenient manner. The different modes of working the tappets for
stopping the toothed rims will be evident to all lace machine makers; but in
order to render the effect of this part of my Invention better understood, I

page_text: have shewn in Sheets 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, several diagrams of the different
positions of the bobbins and carriages in their backward and forward motions
in their circulars combs or bolts, and also the toothed rims or wheels with their
stops, all of which are drawn upon a larger scale, the better to shew the parts,
and progressively numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Figure 1 is a plan view of the
two sets of combs or bolts, with the two rows or tiers of bobbins and carriages
in the situation they are when the racking of the warp threads takes place.
Figure 2 is an end view of the same. A may be called the front set of combs
or bolts; B, the back set. C may be called the front tier of bobbins and
carriages, and D the back or following tier. E, E, are the bobbins and
carriages under which the toothed rims or wheels F are placed, and which are
now in the situation of selvage bobbins and carriages, and are arrested in their
motion by the stops G, which are brought up against one of the teeth on the
end of the carriages E. As soon as the tooth rims F have brought them into
the front set of combs or bolts A, as shewn in Figure 2, then both the fluted
bars and the combs or bolts A are shogged, by the usual movements of the
machine, the width of one comb or bolt in the direction of the arrow; that is,
into the position of Figures 3 and 5, where it will be seen that the bobbins and
carriages E now stand opposite the empty gates or spaces in the back set of
bolts B; that is, those over the toothed rims F and the stops or tappets G.
This shogging of the front set of bolts being performed instantaneously the
front set of bobbins and carriages continue to move forward, leaving the
bobbins and carriages E behind them, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, the fluted
rollers continuing to revolve, but the toothed rims F are kept stationary by the
stops G pressing against the teeth of the carriages E, while the cylindrical
part of the fluted roller turns round within the toothed rim, as seen particu-
larly in Figure 4; at the same time the back tier of bobbins and carriages D,
moving in their continuous motion, will be brought into the front set of bolt,
and range alongside of the bobbins and carriages E, as shewn in the next
Figures 5 and 6, when the stops G in the front set of bolts will immediately
drop down and release the toothed rims and the bobbins and carriages E, and
they will then be free to move in conjunction with the fluted rollers and the
bobbins and carriages E, which will now be ready to pass in company with the
tier of bobbins and carriages D into the back set of bolts B, previous to
which the front set of bolts will again be shogged; and the tier of carriages D
having now become the foremost in their motion through the combs or bolts
(into the back set of bolts B), the bobbins and carriages E ranging into the
spaces or gates opposite the back stops G, as shewn in Figures 9 and 10. The
front set of combs with their fluted rollers are then shogged-back again into

page_text: their former petition, when the tier of bobbins and carriages D will stand in
the situations shewn in Figures 9 and 10, and with them the bobbins and
carriages E. At this time the back set of stops or tappets G will be raised
and come against the end of the carriages E, as shewn in Figure 10, the
fluted rollers continuing to revolve. The two tiers of carriages C and D will
move forward in the back set of combs until they come into the position shewn
in Figures 11 and 12; after which the tier of bobbin and carriages C, with
those marked E, will be returned into the front set of combs, and then that
set of combs with its fluted rollers will be shogged back again, when they
will then stand in the position shewn in Diagram No. 1, Figure 1 and 2; that
is, both tiers of bobbins and carriages will then be ready to go through the
same motions as above described; the only difference being that there will be
another set of bobbins and carriages removed from the tier B to take the
place of the set marked E, they being no longer selvage bobbins and carriages,
but will continue working in common with the others until they, by the (suc-
cessive changes of the machine) arrive at the situation of selvage bobbins
and carriages on the other edge of the breadth of net. In describing these
Diagrams I have not mentioned the warp threads or their proper motions
during the movements of the bobbins and carriages, as that is well understood
by lace makers, and would only confuse the description of the motions of the
bobbins and carriages, to which the toothed. rims or wheels upon the fluted
rollers only refer.
The third part of my present improvement has for its effect, the whipping
or lacing the selvages or edges of narrow breadths of lace together, by passing
extra bobbins and carriages, carrying the whipping thread round guides of the
selvage warp threads, which guides are separated from the common warp
threads, but range with them in rows throughout the machine. The
intention of this part of my improvemets will be better understood by
referring to the Specification of my former Patent, granted by His present
most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth, which Letters Patent
bear date the Twenty-sixth day of December, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-two, the Specification of which was duly enrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery on or about the Twenty-sixth day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three. In that Specification, I
described a double-headed guide for the two selvage threads from the
warp roller, with a revolving single guide passing round it to carry the
whipping threads for connecting or lacing the breadths together. In my
present improvements I employ the extra bobbins and carriages moving
in circular combs or bolts, and around the selvage warp guides instead

page_text: of the revolving guide of the whipping thread; these extra bobbins and car-
riages having precisely the same effect.
о
Figure 1, Sheet 11, is a detached side view; and Figure 2 is an edge view
(both drawn full size) of the stationary guides for the selvage warp threads.
In this instance the guide is made of a single blade standing across the hole
bored through its lower end, and through which the threads pass, one on
each side of it, up to the guide hole at the top; and although single headed,
it acts as a double-headed guide, the two threads passing out through the
same hole, but on different sides. This guide has slight grooves formed
up the sides for the purpose of protecting the threads, and is shewn mounted
in its separate bar in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 3 is a partial section of a lace machine, shewing the ordinary warp
guides and the salvage warp guides with the extra bobbins and carriages,
mounted nearly as they would appear when in operation. Figure 4 is a side
view of the same. a, a, are the selvage warp guides, each carrying two
threads. 6 is the bar on which they are mounted at the proper distances
apart, according to the width of the breadths of lace. c, c, are the bobbins
and carriages carrying the whipping threads; the top parts of the carriages are
elongated into the guides d, for the whipping threads. These bobbins and
carriages are shewn detached in the front and side views, Figures 6 and 7.
The whipping bobbins and carriages are moved in the circular combs or
bolts e, e, by means of the small toothed pinions f, f, which may be mounted
upon a long bar and be made to revolve alternately backwards and forwards
by a sector rack or in any other convenient manner. Figures 8 and 9,
are detached plan views of the circular bolts or combs belonging to the
whipping bobbins and carriages. Figure 8 shews the bobbin and carriage c,
and the warp guide a in the position shewn in Figures 3 and 4. It will
be seen, by reference to Figures 7 and 8, that the warp guides protrude
upwards through an enlarged part of the space between the circular bolts or
combs; this enlargement is for the purpose of allowing the warp guides a, a,
to move from one side of the space to the other, when it is shogged with
its bar b, for the purpose of allowing the whipping bobbins and carriages to
pass backwards and forwards on both of its sides. When the bobbins and
carriages c, with the guides a, are in the position of Figure 7, the next
movement will be to cause the bobbin and carriages to move into the situation
shewn in Figure 8, when the guide a will be shogged into the other side of the
enlargement of the slot, and the bobbin and carriage c return to their former
situation, as in Figure 7, thereby winding and twisting the whipping threads

page_text: around the selvage warp threads, and connecting the breadths as before
described.
Figure 10 is a partial section through a machine, shewing the manner of
applying the improvements to one description of lace machine, the same
letters being used in this Figure to denote the different parts as in the other
Figures 3 and 4. 9, 9, are parellel guides placed near the top part of the
guides a and a, for the purpose of preventing these guides from getting out
of their proper situations, as regards the different threads. The bars of the
bolts or combs e, e, should have a proper shogging motion communicated to
them, when the other parts of the machine are shogged in its different
operations.
•
Having now described the nature of my said improvement, and the manner
in which the same are to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I do not mean or intend to claim as my Invention any of the parts which
are old or have before been used for the same purpose. But I do claim as my
Invention,
First, the application to fluted bar or fluted roller machinery, the cranks
and connecting links for working the outer fluted rollers or fluted bars, or
fetchers and lockers, in the manner above described.
Secondly, I claim as my Invention, the making of narrow breadth of lace
in fluted bar or fluted roller machinery, by the agency and application of the
toothed rims or toothed wheels (above particularly described) to the said fluted
bars or fluted rollers, for the purpose of effecting the traversing of the selvage
bobbins and carriages as above particularly described, without confining myself
to any particular mode of stopping those bobbins and carriages which occa-
sionally form the "selvage, bobbins, and carriages;" but I do not claim as my
Invention, the application of those tooth rims or wheels to fluted bar or fluted
roller machines, which make only one breadth of lace in the whole width
of the machine. And,
Lastly, I claim as my Invention, the mode of whipping or lacing together
the selvages of breadths of lace by means of the extra bobbins and car-
riages moving upon circular bolts or combs, and carrying the whipping
threads round insulated guides of the two selvage warp threads, or round the
selvage bobbin threads and warp threads together or separate.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.
W (L.S.) HENSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourteenth day of September,
in the fourth year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said William Henson came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
5 contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of September, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-three.