AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED IN THE PROCESS OF SINGEING LACE AND OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1823

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JARVIS BOOT,
of Nottingham, in the County of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,
the Thirteenth day of December, One thousand eight hundred and twenty-
three, in the fourth year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Jarvis
Boot, my exors, admors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege, and authority, that I, the said Jarvis Boot, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS TO BE USED
IN THE PROCESS OF SINGEING LACE AND OTHER PURPOSES;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said Jarvis Boot, shall not
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my.
hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more.
fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, 1, the said
Jarvis Boot, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention doth
consist in an apparatus for keeping spirits at a low temperature when burned
in a lamp for the purpose of singeing lace, as also in a new wick for the con-
ducting medium for spirits when burned for this purpose. And in further
compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Jarvis Boot, do hereby describe
the manner in which I perform my said Invention by the following description
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jarvis Boot, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention doth
consist in an apparatus for keeping spirits at a low temperature when burned
in a lamp for the purpose of singeing lace, as also in a new wick for the con-
ducting medium for spirits when burned for this purpose. And in further
compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Jarvis Boot, do hereby describe
the manner in which I perform my said Invention by the following description
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed (that is to say) :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1, A, A, is a double reservoir, one enclosed within the other, the outer
one contains cold water, and is connected with the condenser B by the tube c,
which supplies it with cold water as it becomes necessary; were it not for this
precaution, when the fire began to operate, the spirits would soon be all in a
flame, and become wholly unmanageable. The smaller reservoir, shewn by
dots, contains the spirits, and by means of the tube g supplies the lamp which
consists of the vertical tubes a, a, a, a, a, a, a, and the two horizontal pipes 9, 9.
The liquor in the reservoir is forced up the perpendicular tubes a, a, a, a, a, A, A.
into the upper horizontal pipe by its incumbent pressure in the reservoir, and
when full, the stop cock q is turned to prevent excess. In the upper part of
this horizontal pipe an opening is made from one end to the other, into which
the wick tubes are inserted; this opening for the insertion of the wick tubes
is about the thirty-second part of an inch wide. These wicks are composed of
asbestos, spread within tubes, made of very thin silver plate, and about one
inch wide, and when charged with the asbestos they will go easily into the
opening prepared for them, and the pipe being filled with them a flame the
whole length of the pipe may instantly be produced, as is represented in Fig. 2.
The two cocks d, e, are fixed in the bottom pipe q, to draw off the spirits when
necessary; and f is a tube with a stop cock to draw off the water from the con-
denser; b, b, are two openings by which the reservoirs of the lamp and the.con-
denser are supplied; h is an opening to shew when the lamp is full, and to
admit the escape of any rarified air which the heat of the flame may produce;
B is the condenser in which the lamp is entirely enclosed, except the upper
part of the pipe q, where the opening is made to admit the tubes containing
the asbestos wick. It may be of any size so that it do but contain a sufficient
quantity of cold water to keep the spirits in the lamp cool. The lamp and the
condenser should be both wholly made of copper.
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the machine ready for working, taken on
the front side. The frame consists of two upright pieces of wood E, E, .set

page_text: upon feet; into these upright pieces are fixed two cross bars, one at the top F
and the other at the bottom, not seen in the Drawing, being covered with boards
which make a kind of table to receive the lace or other fabric operated upon
as it descends from the rollers. To this frame are fixed the rollers C, D;
covered with fustian or any similar cloth with a strong nap upon it, so that
when the lace, net, or other fabric, as aforesaid, is passed between the rollers,
the roughness of the fustian may carry the piece regularly forward, and thereby
prevent accidents; the screws r, r. pass through eyes let into the upright
posts E, E, betwixt the top and the upper roller, and their ends reach down
and press upon the centres of the upper- roller, and by that means force it
down upon the bottom roller D, which causes the lace, net, or other fabric to
be held fast and drawn through progressively without remaining too long
exposed to the action of the flame; o is a windlass, by which the rollers are
moved; G is a solid piece of wood, on which the lamp stands, and to which it
is screwed, as shewn at k, k; m, m, are two projections to support the quid and
roller n, which assists in keeping the piece of lace or net or other goods at a
regular distance from the flame while passing over it during the operation;
p is a horizontal brush stationed upon iron supporters, fastened to the upright
posts E, E; these supporters are in the form of an L, and both ends being slit,
the brush may be very conveniently raised or depressed, or shifted nearer or
more distant from the flame, as circumstances may require. It is placed under
the piece of lace, or net, or other goods, &c. and comes in immediate contact
with it as it passes betwixt the rollers C, D, and is intended to brush off or to
intercept any loose threads which may adhere to the piece while under the
process of singeing. When the machine. is working, a person stands in front
of it, and by taking hold of both edges of the piece of lace, or net, or other
fabric, &c. and the rollers C, D, being turned round by the windlass o, he
guides it through them and prevents its getting into folds, that every part may
be equally acted upon by the flame. When the piece to be singed is wide it will
require two persons, one at each edge, to put a piece of lace or net, &c.
betwixt the rollers C, D; the lower one must be shifted out of the frame at one
end, and which can be readily done when the screws 7, r, have been turned
back; the piece can then be introduced without any difficulty, and by the same
means can be withdrawn and be replaced by another. The roller must then
be returned into its former position, and the screws to theirs.
end the brush p must be unscrewed, and the piece of lace, or
fabric, &c. when taken from or put upon the machine, must
under the brush and under the piece of wood G on which the lamp stands,
and under the roller n; but as neither of these require any lastening at this
At the same
net, or other
be conveyed

page_text: end only a support to rest upon, they can be raised sufficiently without any
difficulty.
Fig. 3 is a single wick tube charged with asbestos, and contains a number
of small holes through the silver plate of which it is made; these holes afford
greater facility to the spirits to pass into the wick, and then ascend and feed
the flame.
Now whereas for the better understanding of my improvements I have
described the whole of the machinery used with the horizontal condenser
spirit lamp, though to the whole of it I do not claim exclusive right and
privilege. But the wick tube charged with asbestos, and the spirit condenser
as applied to the purpose aforesaid, being to the best of my knowledge and
belief entirely new and never before used in these kingdoms, I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe
this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve
or disguise with the proviso in my said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jarvis Boots, have hereunto set my hand
and seal. this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand