IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE IN TWIST LACE MACHINES."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis William Brooksbank, of Nottingham,
Lace Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF LACE IN TWIST LACE MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis William Brooks-
bank at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 13th April 1870.
I, FRANCIS WILLIAM BROOKSBANK, of Nottingham, Lace Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE IN TWIST LACE MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture
of lace in twist lace machines.
In forming the net or groundwork of lace, such for example as
Valencienne net, I make the joints or connections between the pillars by
drawing the bobbin thread in one pillar, across the bobbin thread in the
other pillar by means of the warp threads of the pillars. The warp
threads cross or traverse from pillar to pillar at the joint or connection

page_text: and they there interlock with the bobbin threads in such manner as to
retain them in the position into which they have been drawn. I prefer
to arrange the threads in such manner that either of the warp threads
passing through the joint or connection and making the tie will be found
to pass on one side (say the front) of the bobbin with which it has been
working, then on the other side (say the back) of the bobbin of the
other pillar, and again in front of the first bobbin and behind the bobbin
of the other pillar. With this last-mentioned bobbin it for a time
remains and forms a portion of the pillar.
Although I have mentioned but one bobbin and one warp thread in
cach pillar it will be understood that often more threads will be used,
and at the joints or connections of the net such additional threads will
be so worked as not to interfere with the formation of the joints or
connections in the manner described.
Thus, according to another part of my Invention, should the pattern
upon the net be of such a nature as to require for its formation a
greater number of bobbin threads than there would be if each pillar
had but one bobbin thread, I use three bobbins to make a pair of pillars
and the extra bobbin thread is made to pass from pillar to pillar, that is
to say, after passing down one side of a mesh of the net it is caused to
pass down the opposite side of the next mesh, and so on, so long as plain
net is being produced. By causing the additional bobbin thread thus
to traverse from pillar to pillar, any increase of thickness which it
may produce will be prevented from striking the eye as it would wear
it to work straight down the lace.
In some descriptions of lace, Valencienne edgings, for example, it is
frequently required to produco a band of plain weaving, consisting of a
number of straight threads wefted with bobbin threads and to twist such
wefting threads together at the edge of the band and between it and
another narrower band. In effecting this, in place of employing warp ;
threads exclusively as the longitudinal threads of the bands, I according to
my Invention employ a bobbin as the edge thread of the narrow band, and
the twisting of the bobbin wefting threads is produced between this edge
thread and a longitudinal warp thread forming the edge thread of the
other adjacent band. The twist between the bands is put upon the
wefting bobbin threads by an extra warp thread (it may be a draw
thread, or it may form part of the fabric), which laps itself around the
wefting bobbins, and then in straightening above the points of the machine.

page_text: twists the bobbin threads and pulls them past the longitudinal bobbin
thread in the narrow band. The narrow band will usually contain but
two straight threads, the bobbin and a warp thread, but this weaving
may be made wider if desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis William Brooksbank in the Great Seal
Patent Office on tho 12th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
WILLIAM BROOKSBANK, of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Francis William Brooksbank, Her special
licence that I, the said Francis William Brooksbank, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
William Brooksbank, my exccutors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE IN TWIST LACE
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Francis William Brooksbank, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 I, the said Francis William Brooksbank, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture
of lace in twist lace machines.
In forming the net or groundwork of lace, such for example as
Valenciennes net, I make the joints or connections between the pillars
by drawing the bobbin thread in one pillar across the bobbin thread
in the other pillar by means of the warp threads of the pillars. The
warp threads cross or traverse from pillar to pillar at the joint or con-
nection, and they there interlock with the bobbin threads, in such
manner as to retain them in the position into which they have been
drawn.
The diagrams 1 and 1 show in its simplest form this method of
forming the junction of the pillars of net or groundwork of lace,
there being but one bobbin thread and one warp thread in each
pillar.
In diagram 1 the bobbin threads are represented by straight red lines,
and the way in which by the action of the warp bars and the motion of
the carriages the warp threads are lapped around the bobbin threads
is indicated by the blue lines; diagram 1 shows the same threads with
the warp threads drawn tight as the work forms, as it rises above the
points of the machine. As is here shewn I prefer to arrange the threads
in such manner that either of the warp threads passing through the
joint or connection and making the tie will be found to pass on one side
(say the front) of the bobbin with which it has been working, then on
the other side (say the back) of the bobbin of the other pillar, and again
in front of the first bobbin and behind the bobbin of the other pillar,
with this last-mentioned bobbin is for a time remains and forms a
portion of the pillar.
Although I have mentioned but one bobbin and one warp thread in
each pillar, it will be understood that often more threads will be used
and at the joints or connections of the net such additional threads will
be so worked as not to interfere with the formation of the joints or con-
nections in the manner described.
Thus according to another part of my Invention should the pattern
upon the net be of such a nature as to require for its formation a
greater number of bobbin threads than there would be if cach pillar had
but one bobbin thread, I use three bobbins to make a pair of pillars,
and the extra bobbin thread is made to pass from pillar to pillar, that

page_text: is to say, after passing down one side of a mesh of the net it is caused to
pass down the opposite side of the next mesh, and so on, so long as
plain net is being produced.
Diagrams 2 and 2ª illustrate this arrangement. The red lines indicate
bobblin threads, and the waved red lines in diagram 2ª are the additional
bobbin threads. The blue and black lines indicate the warp threads.
By causing the additional bobbin thread thus to traverse from pillar to
pillar any increase of thickness which it may produce will be prevented
from striking the eye as it would were it to work straight down the
lace.
Diagrams 3 and 3ª show two warp threads in cach pillar plaiting with
the bobbin threads.
In some descriptions of lace Valenciennes edgings, for example, it is
frequently required to produce a band of plain weaving, consisting of a
number of straight threads wefted with bobbin threads, and to twist such
wefting threads together at the edge of the band and between it and
another narrower band. In effecting this, in place of employing warp
threads exclusively as the longitudinal threads of the bands, I according
to my Invention employ a bobbin as the edge thread of the narrow
band, and the twisting of the bobbin wefting threads is produced
between this edge thread and a longitudinal warp thread forming the
clge thread of the other adjacent band. The twist between the bands
is put upon the wefting bobbin threads by an extra warp thread (it may
be a draw thread, or it may form part of the fabric,) which laps itself
around the wefting bobbins, and then in straightening above the points
of the machine twists the bobbin threads and pulls them past the lon-
gitudinal bobbin thread in the narrow band. The narrow band will
usually contain but two straight threads, the bobbin and a warp thread,
but this weaving may be made wider if desired.
The diagrams 4 and 4* show the manner in which I employ a warp
thread, not forming a part of the bands of weaving, to put twist upon the
bobbin wefting threads and to pull them across the edge bobbin in
the narrow band. In diagram 4 the bobbin threads are indicated by
straight red lines, and the lappings of the warp threads are shown around
them. In diagram 4ª the bobbin threads are represented in the positions
they assume in the work when the warp threads straighten themselves;
a and b are the bobbin threads with which the bands of weaving are
wefted; c is the edge bobbin of the narrow weaving, and d is a bobbin,

page_text: il may be a draw thread or a thread in the back edge of a breadth of
lace, to give a firm attachment to the warp thread which pulls the
wefting bobbins across the edge bobbin and twists them. This warp
thread is numbered 1, and it is a draw thread or a thread which is
removed in finishing the lace after it leaves the machine. No. 2 is a
warp thread, usually a thread forming a permanent part of the fabric
which retains the wefting bobbin threads on the right-hand side of
the bands of weaving. The thread numbered 3 is the warp thread of
the narrow band, and those numbered 4 to 13 are the warp threads
in the wider band. The numbers indicate also the positions in which 1
the warp threads stand in the machine counting from back to front as
is usual.
Diagrams 5 and 5° show a slight modification in the method of lapping
the warp thread No. 1 around the wefting bobbins and connecting it
with the bobbin thread d.
]
Diagrams G and G show a further variation, by which a complete
twist in place of a half twist is obtained on the wefting bobbins between
the bands of weaving. Sometimes, as is represented in diagrams 7 and
7*, I employ an extra warp thread to twist the wefting bobbin threads
when all the longitudinal threads of the two bands of weaving are warp 5
threads, an edge bobbin thread not being employed. As before, the
bobbin threads are shown in red lines, a and b being the weſting bobbins,
and c the bobbin on which the warp thread No. 4 catches, which twists
the wefting bobbin threads and retains them on the left-hand side of
the weaving. No. 1 is a warp thread supporting the bobbin c. Nos.
2, 3, 5, and 6 are warp threads and are the longitudinal threads of
the two bands of weaving. No. 7 is a warp thread retaining the wefting
bobbin threads on the right-hand side of the bands of weaving. This
thread may form a part of the work or it may be a draw thread.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner 3
of performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim, making
the junction between the pillars of net or groundwork of lace by
drawing a bobbin thread in one pillar across a bobbin thread in the other
pillar by means of the warp threads of the pillars, and so interlocking
the threads that the warp threads prevent the return of the bobbin 3
threads, substantially as described.
I also claim, when making the junctions of the pillars by drawing one
bobbin thread over another, the use of bobbin threads in excess of the

page_text: number of pillars and causing such additional bobbin threads to work
alternately in two adjacent pillars, substantially as described.
I also claim, when making weavings in two bands with the wefting
bobbin threads twisted between the bands, the use of a bobbin thread
to form one of the longitudinal threads of the weaving and the edge
thread of one of the bands, substantially as described.
I also claim, when making weavings in two bands with the wefting
bobbin threads twisted between the bands, the use of an extra warp
thread (or a warp thread which does not form a part of weaving) to
twist the wefting bobbin threads between the two bands, substantially
as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis William Brooksbank, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this 10th day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.