A CERTAIN NEW OR IMPROVED ORNAMENTAL FABRIC
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
FORD STURGES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day. of
May, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Ford Sturges, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Richard Ford
Sturges, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Ford Sturges, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"A CERTAIN NEW OR IMPROVED ORNAMENTAL FABRIC;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Richard Ford Sturges, shall
cause a particular description of 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, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Richard Ford Sturges, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of a new or improved ornamental fabric constructed
of wire or metallic threads, or of a mixture of wire and other non-metallic
threads, the said wire or mixture being worked into an ornamental fabric by
any of the machinery used for the manufacture of lace, with the additions and
alterations herein-after particularly described, or such modifications of the
same as the particular machinery employed may render desirable. I some-
times use only one kind of wire, such as iron, copper, brass, gold, or silver,
for the manufacture of my new or improved ornamental fabric, and I some-
times use mixtures of wires of different metals or alloys of metals, such as
gold with silver, brass with iron, and so forth; and I sometimes manufacture
my new or improved fabric of some metal or metallic alloy suitable for gilding
or silvering, such as copper, brass, or German silver, and afterwards gild or
silver, or partially gild or silver, or both partially gild and silver the 'said fabric
by the voltaic or galvanic processes of gilding or silvering. The modifications
which I find it convenient to introduce into the lace machine for the purpose
of rendering it suitable for the manufacture of my new or ornamental fabric
are as follows:-
Figure 1 represents in front elevation, and Figure 2 in transverse vertical
section, a portion of a lace machine showing one of the said modifications.
a, a, are the "points ;" b, the " work bar;" the lace after it has been formed by
alternate working of the "points" represented, and the set of points working
opposite thereto, but not shown in the Drawing, is made to rise up vertically
in front of the said "work bar "6 as the said lace is removed from the vicinity
of the said "points."
In using metallic wires or threads there is a tendency in the fabric made
therefrom to be forced by the action of the points under the bottom of the
"workbar" b, and between it and the said "points" instead of rising vertically
in front of the said work bar; in order to counteract this tendency I introduce
a series of wires c, c, c, between the points a, a, (fastening the said wires at
their upper ends to the top of the workbar, as shewn in the Drawing and at
their lower ends to a fixed bar or beam,) so as to constitute, as it were, a plane,
which does not interfere with the action of the points, but which prevents the
fabric from being forced under the bottom of the said "work bar." Figure 3

page_text: "
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represents in side view, and Figure 4 a vertical section, the bobbin which I
prefer using in carrying my Invention into effect; it differs from the bobbin
ordinarily used in the lace machine only in the shape of the bottom of the groove.
I find that the wire leaves the said bobbin better when the bobbin has the V
shape represented than when the said groove is square at the bottom.
Figure 5 represents a plan of another of the modifications which I introduce
into the lace machine in order to render it more suitable to carry my Invention
into effect. d is the "catch bar" by which the "carriages" are withdrawn.
In the lace machine, as ordinarily constructed, the weight of the said "catch
bar" is sufficient to retain the carriages in the position required for the
production of lace during the pressing-up of the twist by the action of the
'points," but the rigidity of metallic wire causes the "carriages" and "catch
bar to be partially raised from the combs by the operation of the points in
pressing up the twist unless the said "catch bar" be held firmly during the
action of the "points." In order to hold the said "catch bar" in its place
during the action of the "points," I introduce a sliding bolt e into the lace
machine, the said bolt working in guides fixed on the "landing bar" or other
convenient part of the machine; and I make the said bolt to slide backwards
and forwards in the said guides so as to cause the catch f to be engaged with
and disengaged from the pin or stud g on the "catch bar" at the proper times,
that is to say, to engage with the said pin or stud and hold the catch bar in
its place during the action of the points in pressing up the twist, and to dis-
engage itself from the said pin or stud when the said "catch bar" and carriages
are to return; although only one catch f is shown in the Drawing, two or more
may be attached to the bolt e, and a corresponding number of the studs g on
the catch bar; the alternating motion of the bolt 7 may be effected by the
motion of a cam on the main shaft of the machine transmitted through a
series of levers to the said bolt, or in any other convenient manner.
In describing the modifications which I introduce into the lace machine
in order to carry my Invention into effect, I have thought it unnecessary to
describe and represent any other parts of the said machine than those which
I modify; and as I have designated the said parts by the names by which they
are commonly known, the said parts will be easily recognised and my modifi-
cations readily understood by those conversant with lace machinery; I some-
times pass the fabrics between rollers after they leave the lace machine in
order to give them firmness.
Haying now described the nature of my said Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise method of carrying my Invention into effect herein

page_text: described and represented in the accompanying Drawing, as the same may be
varied; but I claim as my Invention an ornamental fabric constructed of wire
or metallic threads, or of a mixture of wire and other non-metallic threads, the
said wire or mixture being worked into a fabric by lace machinery, whether
the said lace machinery be modified in the manner herein described and
represented in the accompanying Drawings, or otherwise.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Ford Sturges, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.