AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE APPARATUS AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR MAKING LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Billyeald, of Ison Green, in the
Parish of Lenton, in the County of Nottingham, and of Albert
Street, in the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Lace
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE
APPARATUS AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR MAKING LOOPED
FABRICS."
Sealed the 9th March 1855, and dated the 1st January 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Billyeald at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 1st January 1858.
I, THOMAS BILLYEALD, of Ison Green, in the Parish of Lenton, in the
County of Nottingham, and of Albert Street, in the Town and County
of the Town of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE APPARATUS
AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR MAKING LOOPED FABRICS" to be as.
follows:-

page_text: The needle and presser heretofore generally used in the manufacture
of looped fabrics are well understood; in lieu of these I employ a hook
somewhat resembling the ordinary crochet needle, and a lifter, the
point of which lies in the eye of the hook; the lifter, being raised up
and carried forward, delivers the work upon or over the head of the
hook. The arrangement and working of the above apparatus will be
readily understood by persons conversant with the apparatus hitherto
employed in the manufacture of looped fabrics.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Billyeald in the.Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 1st July 1853.1
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE-PRESENTS-SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS BILLYEALD, of Ison Green, in the Parish of Lenton, in the
County of Nottingham, and of Albert Street, in the Town and County
the Town of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, send greeting.
"WHEREAS Her' most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said. Thomas Billyeald, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Billyeald, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Billyeald, my 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 Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE APPARATUS AND ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS FOR MAKING
LOOPED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I the
said Thomas Billyeald, 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

page_text: 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 Billyeald, 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):
In the manufacture of various descriptions of looped fabrics there
are employed what are called "needles," whose outer ends, called the
"barbs," are turned back upon the stems, where there are recesses or
eyes into which the points of the barbs are pressed at certain times
during the working. The loops are formed by the thread or threads
employed to produce the work, being first laid or lapped over these
needles, and then brought forward within the barbs; and supposing
work to have been already produced, the points of the needles are
pressed into their eyes, and that work is brought forward and knocked
over the ends of the needles on to the loops just formed; all which is
well understood by persons acquainted with the classes of manufacture
in which these instruments are used.
Needles of this description, owing to the delicacy required in the
formation of the barbs and the continuous pressure upon them, are
constantly breaking, which in working occasions considerable incon-
venience and delay; one object of this Invention is to remedy this, by
the adoption in place of such the ordinary needle of an instrument
with a short hook, and supplemental instrument to act in connection
therewith, upon which the work rests whilst the laying or lapping takes
place close up to the hook, the length of loops being regulated as
heretofore when ordinary needles are used by "sinkers." The bringing
forward of the work for the knocking over then takes place by the
coming forward of the sinkers as heretofore, and the additional instru-
ments upon which the work has been resting now have movement
given them to conduct the work over the tops of the small hooks and
on to the new loops.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Machinery for the manufacture of looped fabrics where such instru-
ments are used, as already stated, being of various kinds, and their
modes of working being well understood, I have not thought it necessary
'to enter into any details of the working of the parts further than may
serve to slow a mode of using the improved instruments, as a workman
will readily make such variations as circumstances may indicate to
adapt the improvements to the different classes of machinery whero
needles are employed in the manufacture of looped fabrics.
Figure 1, shows one of the improved needles on an enlarged scale;
Figure 2, one of the supplementary instruments to act therewith; and
Figure 3, a section of parts of a warp frame with the instruments a,
and b, (Figure 1, and Figure 2,) applied, and also other the ordinary
instruments used therewith.
Figure 3, shows the sinkers over the arch, and the guides under the
ncedles ready to lap, the work being on the instruments a, b. The
guides next pass up in the ordinary way, as shown by Figure 4. The
guides then pass down, as shown by Figure 5, and the laps are on the
instruments a; the machine then draws out the guides; the sinkers
come forward, and gradually risc.
The instruments b, also move forward with the sinkers until they are
in position to conduct the work over the hooks, and the sinkers then
(the parts being in position shewn by Figure 6,) knock over the work
and go over the arch, during which time the instruments b, are caused
to fall back into the eyes of the instruments a, as shewn by Figure 7,
ready to receive the last loops when the sinkers carry the work back.
This being done, the parts again assume the position indicated by
Figure 3.
It-will thus be seen that by the application of instruments a, b, in place
of the ordinary needle, I am enabled to dispense with the use of the presser,
and by dispensing with the needle beard to make the instrument a,
much shorter than when beards are used. I am also, and as a conse-
quence, enabled to use instruments of a much finer gauge to produce
much finer work than heretofore; and instruments a, b, may also be
made of greater strength than where barbed needles are used, and

page_text: suitable for the weaving by looping of much coarser material, and also
of wire.
It will readily be understood that although I have only shown my
Improvements as applied to an ordinary warp frame, they are applicable
to other machines where barbed needles are used to produce looped
fabrics, as in stocking frames. The laying on of the thread when my
improvements are applied, and the formation of the loops, being effected
as heretofore, and the knocking over being effected as explained in
respect of its application to warp frames.
Having thus described the nature of my said Improvements, I would
have it understood that I do not confine myself to the precise forms
hereby shown and described. But what I claim is, instruments (a, b,)
constructed, arranged, and worked as above described, in substitution
of the ordinary barbed needles employed in the manufacture of looped
fabrics.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Billyeald, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three..
0 Witness,
WILLIAM BROOKES,
73, Chancery Lane.
THOS BILLYEALD. (L.s.)