IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BRACES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Nixon, of Nuneaton, in the County of
Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF BRACES."
Scaled the 7th July 1868, and dated the 8th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Nixon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th February 1868.
I, JOHN NIXON, of Nuneaton, in the County of Warwick, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BRACES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved method of manufacturing braces
for suspending articles of dress. As is well known braces are so formed
by various means as to be narrower at the ends than at the part which
rests upon the person, and my Invention consists in so forming a brace
The
from warp and weft by the well known process of weaving.
narrower parts of the fabric being produced during the process of
weaving by bringing the warp threads nearer together, the amount of
weft taken up at the narrower part of the fabric being shorter, and tying
the warp threads closer together, so forming a closer and more compact

page_text: fabric at the narrower than at the wider parts suitable for receiving a
buckle, or having a button hole formed therein. For the purpose of
regulating the distance or a set of the warp threads as above named I
prefer to employ a sley or "reed" having radiating dents, such dents
having a comparatively wide set at one end and a comparatively narrow
set at at the other, and the sley or "reed" is raised or lowered by suitable
mechanism and at proper intervals, so as to cause it to regulate the
distance between the warp threads and so cause the fabric to be narrower
or wider as may be required to form a brace in the manner above
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Nixon in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NIXON, of Nuncaton, in the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-first year of Ier reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Nixon, Her special licence
that I, the said John Nixon, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said John Nixon, my exccutors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agrec 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MANUFACTURE OF BRACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said John Nixon, my executors or administrators, by
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describo 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 Scal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Nixon, 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 :-
My Invention relates to an improved method of manufacturing braces
for suspending articles of dress. As is well-known braces are so formed
by various means as to be narrower at the ends than at the part which
rests upon the person, and my Invention consists in so forming a brace
from warp and weft by the well-known process of weaving. The
narrower parts of the fabric are produced during the process of weaving
by bringing the warp threads nearer together the amount of weft
taken up at the narrower part of the fabric being shorter and tying
the warp threads closer together, so forming a closer and more compact
fabric at the narrower than at the wider parts suitable for receiving a
buckle or having a button hole formed therein. For the purpose of
regulating the distance or "set" of the warp threads as above named
I prefer to employ a sley or "reed" having radiating dents, such dents
having a comparatively wide set at one end and a comparatively narrow
set at the other, and the sley or "read" is raised or lowered by
suitable mechanism and at proper intervals so as to cause it to regulate
the distance between the warp threads and so cause the fabric to be
narrower or wider as may be required to form a brace in the manner
above described.
Figure 1 of the Drawing hereunto annexed shows a front view, and
Figure 2 a vertical section of the "batten" of a hand loom with a reed
having radiating dents arranged therein for the purpose of manu-
facturing a woven brace wider at one part and narrower at another as
previously described according to my improvements. a, a, is the frame
of the "batten," and bis the reed with radiating dents as shown. The
reed 6 is secured in a frame b' so arranged as to slide up and down in
the frame a of the "batten c is a screw furnished with a handle at c¹
and working in a nut c³ secured in the framing of the "batten." The
end of the screw c turns in the upper part of the frame 6' and is arranged
with a neck and collar as shewn, by means of which upon the screw
c being turned by the handles c³, the frame 6' and reed b are raised or
lowered so as to cause the warp threads to approach towards or recede
from one another at the point where the weft is beaten up as it is
desired to form the wider or narrower parts of the brace as previously

page_text: described. When commencing and finishing the weaving of a brace, I
introduce two weft. threads from opposite sides for several picks so as
to form a finish to the ends of the brace when the ends of the weft
threads are tied together.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the best means
I am acquainted with for carrying the same into operation I would
have it understood that though I have shewn and described the
application of a reed with radiating dents to the batten of a hand loom,
a reed of this description may without departing from the nature of my
Invention be applied to the batten of a power loom and raised and
lowered from time to time as required by self-acting mechanism which
would be readily applied by a competent mechanic acquainted with
the construction of power looms, and other means may be employed
without departing from the nature of my Invention for narrowing or
widening the distance between the warp threads when manufacturing
woven braces according to my Invention as herein described, but what
I claim is, the manufacture of braces by the operation of weaving when
such braces are formed narrow at the ends than at the part which rests
upon the person by tying the warp threads nearer together at the
narrower than the wider parts substantially as herein shewn and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Nixon, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Fifth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane,
W.C.
JOHN NIXON. (L.S.)