IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRINTING OF LACE FABRICS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Frederick Carey, of the Town of Nottingham, in
the County of the same Town, Lace Manufacturer, for an Invention of
T
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Frederick Carey at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th May 1880.
ROBERT FREDERICK CAREY, of the Town of Nottingham, in the County of the
same Town, Lace Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRINTING OF LACE
FABRICS."
The object of the present Invention is to improve the manufacture of lace
curtains, for which I obtained Letters Patent bearing date February 4th, 1880,
No. 502. In the Provisional Specification of that Patent I described the
manufacture of curtains with bands or surfaces of plain cloth to receive printed
patterns in colors which enriched the curtain and gave it a new and peculiar
character. A drawback however to this new manufacture was that one face only
of the curtain had a presentable appearance.
I now propose to ensure that the printed pattern applied to the curtain shall be
alike or perfect both at back and front.
To this end it may be desirable slightly to modify the character of the plain
work, and instead of throwing the warp threads to one face of the fabric to
distribute them equally between the two faces. I also prepare printing surfaces
which are a counterpart the one of the other, and I impress in color upon the
opposite sides of the fabric the pattern carried by these printing surfaces, so
arranging the pattern and its counterpart that the one imprint will underlie the
other. I may use printing blocks, or plates, or cylindrical printing surfaces for
impressing the fabric with the pattern, and these flat or cylindrical surfaces may
act singly or in pairs to give the impress. The latter arrangement will expedite
the process of printing.
It will be understood that the number of the printing surfaces will depend as
heretofore upon the number of colors composing the pattern. The colors which I
employ will be thickened by a starch or other suitable soluble medium, and the
well known processes for fixing and brightening the colors will be employed.
In lace curtains manufactured according to this Invention the only difference
between the two faces will be that the worked and the printed patterns will shew
in reverse on the opposite sides.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Robert Frederick Carey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th November 1880.
ROBERT FREDERICK CAREY, of the Town of Nottingham, in the County of the
same Town, Lace Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PRINTING OF LACE
FABRICS."
The object of the present Invention is to improve the manufacture of lace
curtains, for which I obtained Letters Patent bearing date February Fourth, One
thousand eight hundred and eighty, No. 502.
In the Specification of that Patent I described the manufacture of curtains with
bands or surfaces of plain cloth to receive printed patterns in colors which enriched
the curtain and gave it a new and peculiar character.
A drawback however to this new manufacture was that one face only of the curtain
had a presentable appearance. I now propose to ensure that the printed pattern
applied to the curtain shall be alike or perfect both atback and front.
To this end it is desirable slightly to modify the character of the plain work,
instead of throwing the warp threads to one face of the fabric to distribute them
equally between the two faces. I also prepare printing surfaces which are a
counterpart the one of the other, and I impress in colour upon the opposite sides of
the fabric the pattern carried by these printing surfaces, so arranging the pattern
and its counterpart that the one imprint will underlie the other.
It will be understood that I may use printing blocks, or plates, or cylindrical
printing surfaces for impressing the fabric with the pattern, and these flat or
cylindrical surfaces may act singly or in pairs to give the impress. The latter
arrangement will expedite the process of printing. The number of the printing
surfaces will depend as heretofore upon the number of colors composing the pattern.
The colors which I employ will be thickened by a starch or other suitable soluble
medium, and the well known processes for fixing and brightening the colors will
be employed.
In lace curtains manufactured according to this Invention the only difference
between the two faces will be that the worked and the printed patterns will shew
in reverse on the opposite sides.
When printing by hand I use blocks, and print first on the surfaces and then on
the back of the curtain, or vice versa. In order however to expedite the process
of printing I prefer to employ machinery which will enable me to give the impress
on opposite sides of the fabric simultaneously and with two or more pairs of blocks
set side by side.
In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn an arrangement of mechanism for
effecting this compound operation in a manner which will ensure accuracy of
register and rapidity of execution.
Fig. 1 is a transverse section of the machine, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section
shewing so much of the machine as will serve to explain the arrangement for
working a succession of printing blocks which will each be furnished with a
different color for completing the design or pattern.
In these Figures a, a*, are pairs of printing blocks, the upper blocks being a
counterpart of the lower blocks or carrying the same portion of the device in
reverse positions, so that when the two blocks come together on opposite sides of
the fabric to make the impress all the corresponding parts of the device on the
two blocks will come into coincidence. The blocks are fitted adjustably to sliding
plattens A, which work in vertical guides formed in the side frames B. In these
frames are mounted transverse shafts C, which carry each two pairs of cams c, c¹³,

page_text: the cams c serving to move the plattens into action, and the cams c¹ to withdraw
the plattens from the fabric. The plattens are fitted with standards A', which
carry at their opposite sides bowles for receiving the pressure of the rotating
cams c, c. The blocks a, a*, which are adjustable on these plattens, are inked or
colored from their respective pads d, which are carried by horizontal sliding
frames D that slide in guides Di, supported by the side frame B and a standard B.
The pad frames are connected together rigidly in pairs, so that they may move
simultaneously, and the pads are charged with color by inking or color rollers E,
which have their bearings in the sides of a color box that is hinged to the girders D¹.
The color boxes for each pad are furnished with antifriction bowles which run over
cam sufaces provided on the pad frames, and the color rollers are thus allowed to
impart at the proper moment the color to the pads, the boxes for the lower pads
being held up by springs in contact with the cam surfaces. The sliding motion
imparted to the pad frames is obtained from a cam D2 mounted on a longitudinal
shaft D. This cam acts upon a rock lever D* connected by a link with the pad
frames.
The fabric to be printed ia secured to a tenter frame, such as that shewn at
Fig. 12, which slides in longitudinal guides F made in the side frames B. The
traverse of this frame through the machine may be by hand or by mechanism, as
may be thought most desirable.
When the fabric is brought up between the first pair or line of printing blocks
a, a*, these blocks will be in the position shewn at the right hand of Fig. 2, and
while the blocks are in this position their inking pads will be shot forward.
The next movement will be the advancing of the blocks into contact with their
respective pads; this will be done by the action of the cams c upon the plattens.
The continued rotation of these cams will then remove the blocks from contact with
the pads, and the pad frames will be withdrawn to the position shewn at Fig. 1.
The rotation of the cams c being now continued the blocks will be advanced
simultaneously to the opposite sides of the curtain or other lace fabric, and be
caused to impress upon the fabric the color which they have just received.
If the machine is fitted with successive pairs of printing blocks, as indicated at
Fig. 2, which blocks will carry the complement of the device formed on the others,
then the fabric may be passed forward to the second pair or set of blocks to be
printed with a second color, and so on in succession, if the pattern is made up of
more than two colors. I prefer that these printings should be separate instead
of simultaneous, as greater accuracy of register may be thereby attained.
The motion for driving the cam shafts is obtained from a main driving shaft G,
which gears by bevil wheels with the longitudinal cam shaft D³ and by spur
wheels with the lower cam shaft C, and the motion for driving the upper cam
shaft C is transmitted by bevil gearing.
As the machine will require constant starting it will be requisite to provide the
attendant with means for locking the driving pulley to the shaft G for each impress.
The manner of effecting this being well known it will be unnecessary to explain it
in detail.
The Drawing shews a sliding clutch worked by a hand lever for locking the
pulley and a spring for unlocking it. The unlocking will take place automatically
after each revolution of the driving shaft is completed, which is equivalent to one
impress of the pattern block.
A Dotched disc G₁, carried by the driving shaft, serves to hold the clutch in
position until its notch comes opposite the bowle of a sliding bar G* connected
with the clutch and with a coiled spring G³. The pull of this spring will then
draw the sliding bar end wise, and with it the clutch, thus releasing the pulley and
stopping the action of the machine.
Having thus set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in the
Printing of Lace Fabrics," and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters

page_text: Patent I claim, the printing of lace fabrics on their opposite sides with the same
device by counterpart printing surfaces, in the manner and for the purpose above
set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Frederick Carey, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty seventh day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
K. F. CAREY. (L.S.)