IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ORNAMENTING OR EMBOSSING LACE OR OTHER FABRICS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Wroughton and Thomas Holmes, both of
the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturers,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ORNAMENTING
OR EMBOSSING LACE OR OTHER FABRICS."
Sealed the 7th February 1861, and dated the 14th August 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Wroughton and
Thomas Holmes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,' with
their Petition, on the 14th August 1860.
EDWARD WROUGHTON and THOMAS HOLMES, both of the Town and
County of the Town of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturers, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
ORNAMENTING OR EMBOSSING LACE OR OTHER FABRICS," to be as follows :—
Our Invention of improvements in bobbin net machinery for ornamenting
or embossing lace or other fabrics, consists in the application or employment
of wheels, cylinder bars, and levers, together with certain instruments of
various descriptions, some of which said instruments are cast into what are
called leads" these "leads" are attached to bars which form a kind of
comb or sinker bars, into which we place one description of the instruments
before named, which we will term sinkers, and which are connected with a
wire or rod. These comb or sinker bars have upward and downward motion,

page_text: a propelling bar acting upon the sinkers, thereby imparting a required motion
unto them; the same bar may be moved backward and forward as required.
We have another instrument which is cast into leads, and is attached to a
bar, thus forming a peculiar kind of sley, through which the ends of the
sinkers pass. This sley has a groove in it, in which is placed the edge of a
propelling bar upon which the sinkers move, their action imparting to them
a required motion; this bar, if required, may be moved backward and forward
by the operation of wheels and levers:
There are other instruments employed in our said Invention which may be
termed jacks; these jacks work in a comb or jack bar, and also in an
ordinary sley, the sinkers being attached to the jacks. By this arrangement
they somewhat resemble in appearance the jacks and sinkers in a stocking
frame, and in their action and movements in some respects are of a similar
character. These sinkers have an upward and downward and backward and
forward motion imparted to them by the operation of the jacks in conjunction
with-the propelling bars,-as may be-required.
We may here state, that when the jacks and sinkers are put to work the
comb bars or sinker bars are removed or taken from the machine. The jacks
may be also actuated by a jacquard, and in such manner, as to be selected
as required, or they may, be actuated by other suitable mechanical con-
trivance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Wroughton and Thomas Holmes in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th February 1861."
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,, we, EDWARD
WROUGHTON and THOMAS HOLMES, both of the Town, and, County of the
Town. of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturers, send greeting. .
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day, of August, in the, year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth. year of. Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Edward Wroughton and Thomas Holmes, Her special licence, that we,
the said Edward Wroughton and Thomas Holmes, our executors,: 'adminis-,
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Edward Wroughton and
Thomas Holmes, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should; at ;any:
timė agree with, and no others, from time to time and, at all times there-:

page_text: after, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ORNAMENTING OR EMBOSSING LACE OR OTHER FABRICS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Edward Wroughton
and Thomas Holmes, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us or them, 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. Edward Wroughton, and. Thomas
Holmes, 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, reference being had to
the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon,
that is to say:
Our Invention of improvements in bobbin net machinery for ornamenting
or embossing lace or other fabrics, consists in the application or employment
of wheels, cylinder bars, and levers, together with certain instruments of
various descriptions, some of which said instruments are cast into what are
called "leads; "these "leads" are attached to bars which form a kind of
comb or sinker bars, into which we place one description of the instruments
before-named, which we term sinkers, and which are connected with a wire or
rod.. These comb or sinker bars have an upward and downward motion, a
propelling bar acting upon the sinkers, thereby imparting a required motion
unto them; the same bar. may be moved backward and forward, as required.
We have another instrument which is cast into leads, and is attached to a
bar, thus forming a peculiar kind of sley through which the, ends of the
sinkers pass. This sley has a groove in it in which is placed the edge of a
propelling bar, upon which the sinkers move, their action imparting to them
the required motion; this bar may, if required, be moved backward and
forward by the operation of wheels and levers.
There are other instruments employed in our said Invention which may be
terined jacks; these jacks work in a comb or jack bar, and also in an ordinary
sley, the sinkers being attached to the jacks. By this arrangement they some-
what resemble in appearance the jacks and sinkers in a stocking frame, and
in their action and movements are in some respects of a similar character.
These sinkers have an upward and downward and backward and forward

page_text: motion imparted to them by the operation of the jacks in conjunction with the
propelling bar, as may be required.
We may here state, that when the jacks and sinkers are put to work the
comb bars or sinker bars are-removed or taken from the machine. .The jacks
may also be actuated by a jacquard, and in such manner as to be selected as
required, or they may be actuated by other suitable mechanical contrivance..
The manner in which the Invention may be performed is fully explained
in the following description, and in the accompanying Drawings.
'
In the Drawings we have shewn comb bars and a back point bar like those
of an ordinary lace machine, with the work passing up in front as usual,
and in order to enable us to explain our Invention, we.first proceed to indicate
the parts and arrangements thereof shewn in the Drawings, and then describe
the working of the same. *
In Figures 1, 2, Sheet 1, and Figures 3, 4, Sheet 2, C represents a facing
bar, with a projection or inclined plane C¹ at top; D', Figures 1, 2, and 3;
represents a bar, to-which-the-instruments or sley Dare secured, they being
cast into leads, thus forming a description of comb lead, with divisions as in
ordinary comb leads. The shape of these instruments is also shewn separately.on
Sheet 2, Figure 6, being a front view of D³, shewing a sinker in a space, and
Figure 7 an end view of the same; E and E are sinker bars or comb bars,
the ends of these bars slide up and down in bearings (which are not shewn)
having slots in them, which keep the bars steady in the position in which they
are placed by the levers M¹; E³ and E are comb leads fastened thereto; the
bars E and Es are moved up and down by the levers M³, or links and levers!
by means of wheels or chain wheels, not shewn; E³, E, Figures 1 and 2,.are
sinkers, E being attached to the combs E and E³ attached to the combs E
by means of a wire Es passing through the combs and sinkers; a front view of
which is shewn at Figure 8. These sinkers are worked with two bars E¹ and
E³, as shewn, so that each alternate sinker may be placed in or out of action,
as desired. More bars may be used if required..
'
A sinker E
**E, Sheet 2, is' another form of the same kind of instrument.
is shewn separately at Figure 9, Sheet 2, for more easily explaining the.
working of them. The sinkers E, E, and E, are guided by the combs D³,
and pass between the points cast in the leads B; F¹ is a propelling bar, with
the front edge curved, as shewn. This bar is moved backwards and forwards
as required, by means of levers acted upon by notched wheels or chain wheels
(not shewn); Fare levers, worked as above, turning on axles F fastened to
the bar D'; G is a jack bar; Gare jacks; G³ are combs; G* instruments or
sinkers jointed to the jackš..

page_text: .
G2, Figure 4, Sheet 2, shews another arrangement for working either of
the instruments E5, E6, E7, or G. In this arrangement H¹ is the propelling
bar, and differs from the bar F¹ by having a groove H³ cut in it. The
sinkers E have projecting hooks H³, which are acted upon by the propelling bar
II. This bar first pushes the sinkers E' forward, they are then lifted out of
the groove by a comb bar or by an arrangement of a jacquard; on being
lowered the projecting hooks H' fall into the groove H³, and are carried back
on the receding of the propelling bar.
.
: Figure 5, Sheet 2, shews another arrangement of the instruments or sinkers.
In this arrangement the sinkers or instruments K³ are cut short, as shewn, and
cast into leads, and fastened to the bar K'; K³ are levers fastened to the bar
K', and worked by wheels or chain wheels; K are brackets secured to the
bar E by axles, on which the levers K³ turn. We have not deemed it
necessary to shew the shaft carrying the wheels or chain wheels, by means of
which the comb bars and propelling bar are moved, the method of moving
such bars being well understood.
'
The method of working our said Invention for producing ornamental work
on lace or other fabrics by means of the sinkers or instruments and machinery
described in reference to the Drawings, is as follows:-In Figures 1 and 2
the comb bars E¹ and sinkers E' are shewn both up and down. When the
sinkers are down they are backwards and out of the threads, so that lace
or other fabrics can then be made on the machines in the same manner as if
the sinkers were entirely and altogether away. If it is now desired to put
ornamental work on the fabric, the comb bar E and sinkers E are raised by
means of wheels (not shewn) and the sinkers E are at the same time pushed
forward by the action of the inclined plane E" (on the back of the sinkers
shewn, separately at Figure 9, Sheet 2) sliding on the propelling bar F; this
brings the neb E of the sinkers through the threads and in front of the
facing bar. The threads for ornamenting the fabric are. passed over the front
of the nebs backwards and forwards, and as they are at the same time fastened
to the body of the fabric by the bobbin and warp threads, a loop will be formed
projecting beyond. the fabric and ornamenting the same. The length of these.
loops will depend upon the distance the nebs project from the surface of the
groundwork of the fabric. When it is desired to make the loops longer than
the size the nebs would produce when working in the position shewn, the pro-
pelling bar F¹ is moved forward by wheels.(not shewn), and this causing the
nebs to project further in front of the work makes longer, loops; thus longer
or shorter loops can be made as desired. When it is required that the orna-
mental loops shall cease to be made either for the purpose of putting in thick

page_text: threads,' ordinary weavings, loopings, or crossing the warp threads, or for
any other purpose, the comb bar and sinkers are lowered, and at the same
time the sinkers fall back through the action of the inclined plane E on the
front of the sinkers, sliding on the facing bar C. It will thus be seen that
the loops may be made continuously or stopped off. at pleasure, as the sinkers
can be lowered and raised when required.
When it is desired to form patterns of irregular shape so that the ornamen-
tal loops may be inserted at pleasure, in any part of the fabric, we use
the arrangement of sinkers and jacks, shewn at Figure 3, Sheet 2. In
this case the sinkers G', are worked by independent jacks G³, of 'sufficient
weight, at the jacquard end, to bring the sinkers up, instead of by comb
bars, as before described; and bere the jacquard arrangements are such as
to select the jacks, which in being lifted up by the jacquard lifter, moves
the sinkers down and back, where they are held by a locker bar in the
position they require to stand in when out of work, at every motion of the
lifter the locker bar sets the jacks held by it so far at liberty that those which
are not selected by the jacquard, are brought into action for producing
ornamental loops, the lifter at the same time taking up any jacks selected
to be thrown out of work; thus it will be seen that by this arrangement any
one of the sinkers can have ornamental loops formed over it, or be thrown
out of work as may be desired. There being nothing new in this arrange-
"ment of the jacquard, in itself, it is unnecessary for us further to describe the
working of it. Figure 4 shews an altered shape of the sinkers and propelling
bar, which may be used instead of the sinkers, and propelling bar; described
in reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3. If this arrangement is used in connection
with a jacquard, for the purpose of putting ornamental loops on in any part of
the work, the propelling bar will require to move backward and forward, so
that the sinkers may be lowered into the groove H³, or lifted out of the
groove at each time the jacquard acts on the sinkers, to raise or lower
them; the propelling' bar moves backward immediately the selected sinkers.
are acted upon, so that the 'sinkers not required to produce the ornamental
loops may be out of the way of the threads whilst being taken up by the points,
and then move forward directly the points are up, so that any of the jacks
may be selected; Figure 5 shews another arrangement of the instruments or
sinkers; here the comb bar E³, lever K³, sinker bar K¹, are connected
together, so that when the comb bar E³, goes down, the sinker bar K' also
goes down, the lever K³ moving at the same time the sinker bar backwards,
taking the sinkers out of the threads, when any lace or other fabric can then
be made on the machines, as herein.-before described. If ornamental loops

page_text: are required to be put in the work, the levers K³ move the sinker bar K¹
forwards, the comb bar E' at the same time moves upwards, thus bringing the
sinker nebs in front of the facing bar so that the ornamenting threads may
pass over them to produce the embossing or ornamental loops, as herein-before
described.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise details so long as the peculiar character of
our Invention be retained, but what we claim for the purpose of ornamenting
or embossing lace or other fabrics is,―
First, the use or employment of sinkers or instruments, guided at the back
of the facing bar by combs, or by sinkers or other instruments cast into leads
or otherwise made firm, which said sinkers or instruments have some pro-
jecting part thereof which passes from behind the threads to the front of the
facing bar, and back again when required, so that loops forming ornamenting
loops on the work may be thrown over such projections as described.
Secondly, the arrangement and combination of jacks and sinkers, as herein-
before described.
Thirdly, the use or employment of the propelling bars, as herein-before
described.
Fourthly, the use or employment of a sley or comb leads, as hereinr-before
described, and for the purpose described as shewn at D³, and separately at
Figures 6 and 7.
And, fifthly, the general arrangement and combination of inachinery con-
structed in the manner herein-before described and exemplified in the ac-
companying Drawings.
In witness whereof we, the said Edward Wroughton and Thomas Holmes,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirteenth day of February
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
GEO. JOHN ROBINSON,
Patent Agent,
Nottingham.
EDWARD WROUGHTON. (L.S.)
THOMAS HOLMES.
(L.S.)