IMPROVEMENTS IN LACE MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Doughty, of No. 66, Welbeck Terrace,
Mansfield Road, Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN LACE MACHINES."
Sealed the 9th August 1870, and dated the 7th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Doughty at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th June 1870.
I, EDWIN DOUGHTY, of No. 66, Welbeck Terrace, Mansfield Road,
Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LACE MACHINES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lace machines. In
lace machines in which catch bars are used to actuate the bobbins and
carriages I give motion to such catch bars by means of elliptical or
eccentric tooth wheels. On an axis rotating at a uniform speed (it
may be the main axis of the machine), I mount an elliptical or eccentric
tooth wheel, and this wheel I cause to gear with two other similar
wheels, one at the front, and the other at the back of it. These wheels

page_text: have crank pins upon them, which by connecting rods are linked with
the rocking or vibrating frames or bars which carry the catch bars.
The front elliptical or eccentric wheel in this way gives motion to the
front catch bar, and vice versa. The elliptical or eccentric wheels are so
set that as the bobbins and carriages pass the centre, where they are
released by one catch bar and taken by the other, the catch bars are
both travelling at the same speed, and then the catch bar which takes
the bobbins or carriages accelerates its pace and goes to the end of its
outward motion, whilst the other catch bar continues its course more
slowly. The motion of the two catch bars is reversed at the same
moment, and the bar which is then moving inwards with the bobbins
and carriages still travels more rapidly than the other catch bar until
the bobbins and carriages arrive at the centre, when, as before, they are
released by the one catch har and taken by the other which in turn
then travels more rapidly than the catch bar which has released the 1
bobbins and carriages.
In their motion inwards towards the centre of the machine the catch
bars stop some distance before arriving at the centre, so as not to come
in contact with
warp
threads.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edwin Doughty in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 7th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
DOUGHTY, of No. 66, Welbeck Terrace, Mansfield Road, Nottingham,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, 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 Edwin Doughty, Her special licence that I, the
said Edwin Doughty, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edwin Doughty, 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,

page_text: 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 LACE MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edwin Doughty,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Edwin Doughty, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in lace machines.
In lace machines in which catch bars are used to actuate the bobbins
and carriages I give motion to such catch bars by means of elliptical or
eccentric tooth wheels. On an axis rotating at a uniform speed (it may
be the main axis of the machine) I mount an elliptical or eccentric tooth
wheel, and this wheel I cause to gear with two other similar wheels, one
at the front and the other at the back of it. These wheels have crank
pins upon them which by connecting rods are linked with the rocking
or vibrating frames or bars which carry the catch bars.
The front elliptical or eccentric wheel in this way gives motion to the
front catch bar, and vice versa. The elliptical or eccentric wheels are
so set that as the bobbins and carriages pass the centre where they
are released by one catch bar and taken by the other, the catch bars
are both travelling at the same speed, and then the catch bar which
takes the bobbins or carriages accelerates its pace and goes to the end of
its outward motion, whilst the other catch bar continues its course more
slowly. The motion of the two catch bars is reversed at the same
moment, and the bar which is then moving inwards with the bobbins
and carriages still travels more rapidly than the other catch bar until
the bobbins and carriages arrive at the centre, when, as before, they are
released by the one catch bar and taken by the other, which in turn
then travels more rapidly than the catch bar which has released the
bobbins and carriages. In their motion inwards towards the centre of

page_text: the machine the catch bars stop some distance before arriving at the
centre, so as not to come in contact with warp threads.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing here-
unto annexed.
The Drawing shews a transverse section of so much of a face machine
as is necessary to the clear explanation of my Invention. a is the main
axis of the machine, or it may be in some machines an axis driven at
the same speed as the main axis. 6 is an elliptical wheel on the axis a
driving two other elliptical wheels c and d, and so giving motion to
them; then the wheels c and d are thus caused to rotate continuously
but at variable speeds. 9, g, are connecting rods passing from crank
pins on the wheels c and d to the rockers h, h, which turn on axes i at
either end of the machine. k, k, are axes carried by the rockers and
receiving the feet of the catch bars 1, 1. m represents one of the series
of bobbins. n is the work bar, and o the roller on which the work is
wound. p, p, are the warp threads. The catch bars are caused to take
and release the bobbins by ordinary mechanism. There are other con-
necting rods corresponding with the rods g at the other end of the
machine, so that the rockers are controlled at both ends. These con-
necting rods pass to other cranks on other wheels c & d.
The details shewn in the Drawing may be varied, but I claim as my
Invention the method of driving the catch bars of lace machines at a
varying speed by means of elliptical or eccentric wheels, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Doughty, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Third day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
EDWIN DOUGHTY. (L.S.)