CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING BOBBIN NET LACE
Year: 1832

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENSON, of Worcester, Lace Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and in the third year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Henson, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Henson, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Henson, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING BOBBIN NET LACE;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William Henson, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Henson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon (that is to say):--
My Invention of Certain Improvements in Machinery for Manufacturing
Bobbin Net Lace consists in a novel arrangement of mechanism for making
bobbin net or twist lace, in which there is a combination of the contrivances
employed in those constructions or principles of machinery for making lace
denominated single tier and double tier. In my improved machine a single
tier of bobbins and carriages, which conduct the work threads, are by means
of fluted rollers made to vibrate to fro upon circular bolts without shogging
and a double tier of carriages and bobbins conducting the weft or traverse
threads are moved to and fro on other circular bolts or circular combs below
the former range of bolts, which. last-mentioned double tier of carriages are
actuated by driving bars, and are made to shogg for the purpose of effecting
the traverse.
i
In the accompanying Drawings, Figure 1. is a view of the back of the
improved machine, complete, and Figure 2.is a transverse section of the same
taken through. the machine, towards the left-hand end of the former. The
single tier of bobbins. and carriages, which conduct the warp threads are
represented at a, a, a, vibrating on the circular bolts b, b, the under parts of
these carriages being formed into teeth or indentations; which are acted upon
by two fluted rollers c, c... The lower or double tier of bobbins d, d, carrying
the weft or traverse threads, move on the circular bolts e, e, below, or on combs
placed in the same situation, the whole; number of bobbins d in the double
tier being equal to those of the single tier a. The rollers c, c, are driven by
a vibrating sector rack-f, f, the teeth of which take into pinions on the ends
of the rollers c, c, and hence, as the sector racks at each end of the machine
swing upon the pivots, the whole tier of bobbins. and carriages, a pass., to and
fro upon the range of circular bolts b, b, through the weft threads, the lower
or double tier of bobbins and carriages being at the same time moved to and
fro on the lower range of circular bolts e, e, by means of driving bars 9, 9.
actuated by the connecting, links h, h, and the rocking levers i, i. In place of
ordinary guides for directing the weft threads there are a series of bent

page_text: points j, j (more particularly described hereafter,.) and from between these
points or guides j, j, the threads proceed up to the face bar k between the
taking up. points 1, l, where net is formed, and which is progressively drawn
up and wound round the work beam or roller m. The situation of the
operative parts of the machine having been now pointed out, and which will be
generally understood by lace makers, I proceed to describe the mechanism
by which the same are actuated. The main shaft of the machine is seen at
n,'n, which 'is driven by a band and rigger as usual. Upon this shaft are
fixed the excentric wheels o, o, which are 'embraced by-the clips p, p; to the
upper part of each of these clips is attached a vertical rod 7, which rods are
connected by joints to the right-angled levers ir, r, and these levers at their
upper ends are also by joints connected through the links s, s, to the vibrating
sector 'racks f. f. Hence at every half-rotation of the shaft n and excentric o,
the sector rack f will make one swing, which will give sufficient rotary action
to the rollers c, c, to drive the tier, of bobbins and carriages a along the bolts
from back to front, and the other half rotation of the shaft and excentric will
in like manner cause, the sector rack to vibrate, and to drive the tier of
bobbins and carriages back again along the bolts, from front to back of the.
machine, three of which vibrations of these warp bobbins and carriages a are
necessary to the formation of every range of half meshes of the net. Upon
the main shaft 'n there are also affixed the toothed wheels t, t, taking into the
larger toothed wheels u, u, which are mounted, above upon short axles v at
each end of the machine. These short axles also. respectively carry a heart
wheel w, the periphery of which acts against two pins or rollers in the
rocking levers i, i, for the purpose of working those rocking levers and driving
bars
9; 9, and the double tier of bobbin carriages d; d, that conduct the weft
threads. As the diameters of the wheels u are three times that of the
wheels t; the heart w will perform one revolution only to 'three of the
excentric o. The form of the heart wheel is such that in two opposite parts
of its rotation it will pass through a twelfth of its circuit on a dead run, that
is, without moving the levers i, i, the carriages -d, d, at that time remaining
stationary in the middle of the machine, and the rocking levers i, i, standing
perpendicularly, as in Fig. 2; but during- the operating parts of each half
rotation of the heart wheels, the rocking levers are moved to the right or
left, and with them the driving bars 9, g, which pass' the double tier of
bobbins and carriages d, d, into the gates of one range of the bolts 'e,' and on
the heart wheel coming again to the dead run the bobbins and carriages are
brought back to their former stationary situations in the middle of the machine.
The half rotation of the heart wheel effects a similar movement of. the double

page_text: {
tier of bobbins and carriages d, d, driving them into the gates of the opposite
range of bolts e, and then bringing them back to their stationary position in
the middle, as before; the entire rotation of the heart wheel having produced
two vibrations of the double tier of weft bobbins. d, d, in the space of time
that six vibrations of the single, tier of warp bobbins, a have taken place,
which are the evolutions of the bobbins necessary to produce one range of
perfect meshes of the lace net. It is however, necessary to observe that during
the space of time these evolutions have been going on the lower tier of bolts e, e,
have each been shogged or slidden laterally to the right and left, the one set of
bolts during the formation of the first range of half meshes, the other set
during the formation of the second range of half meshes, for the purpose of
effecting the traverse of the carriages d, d, and producing the crossing of the
weft threads at the tops and bottoms of the meshes. The particular object of
causing the double tier of carriages d, d, to remain stationary in the middle of
the machine, at intervals, is that they may be forced asunder prior to the
shogging of the bolt bars, and kept separate during that operation, which
is effected by the occasional rising of a bevil-edged bar x, extending
along the middle of the machine, between the two driving bars 9, 9, and
supported at the ends in slotted brackets affixed to the swinging pieces, which
carry the driving bars. At the under parts of the legs of the bar x,
which slide up and down in the slotted brackets, there are anti-friction
rollers bearing upon the upper edges of the levers y at each end of
the machine, the under edges of these levers y being supported by the truck
rollers z, z, fixed in the side of the heart wheel w. When the two trunk
rollers z, z, stand in a perpendicular position, as in Fig. 2, the levers y are
raised, and consequented the bar a is lifted up as shewn, at which time the
bevelled edge of this bar forces the carriages d, d, apart, while one of the
circular bolt bars e is shogged or slidden a distance laterally equal to one gate
of the bolts; but as the heart wheel goes round the levers y descend and the
separating bara falls in the slotted brackets to its bearing. Immediately after
this the tier of carriages d are as before all driven from the range of bars last
shogged into the gates of the opposite range; the shogged bolt bar thus
emptied of its bobbins and carriages sliding back again to its dead stop, and
after this the double tier of carriages are as. before brought in their quiescent
situation in the middle of the machine, having by the shog of the bolt bar
been shifted laterally or traversed into other gates of the circular bolts, and
one half of the meshes of the net been completed. Now the bevel-
edged bar x rises again for the purpose of seperating the carriages, and
the shogging of the other range of bolts and the subsequent movements of the

page_text: double tier of bobbins, as described, takes place for the completion of the range
of meshes in the net. I have now to describe the form, object, and movements
of the bent points j, j, which, as before stated, act as guides for conducting the
threads from the double tier of bobbins d, d, up to the face bar k, and taking-
up points 1; 1, for the better illustration of which these guide points are drawn
at their full size in Figs. 3, 4, and 5. These guide points are formed of steel
wires flatted on their sides and bent over in an angle near their ends; they
are placed side by side in rows twice the number in a given space to that of
the circular bolts below, which points are fastened into leads in the ordinary
way of setting guides and points for lace machinery. Fig. 3 represents one
of the leads holding a series of the bent points, as it would appear on its inner
side; and Fig. 4 is an edge view of the same. a are the points, 6 the lead
into which they are fixed, and c a flat plate of brass screwed in front for the
purpose of supporting the threads and preventing them from catching against
the ends of the bolts, which covering of the stems leaves only the bent ends of
the points open. These leads of course, it will be understood, are screwed to
the guide bars, as at j; j, Fig. 2, extending the whole length of the working
part of the machine, both at back and front. Fig. 5 is a section of the two
rows of guide points affixed to the guide bars and standing in the same position
as in the machine, d, d, representing the two series of weft threads passing up-
wards from the double tier of bobbin carriages, as shewn in Fig. 2. The threads
of the respective series of bobbins in the double tier, it will be seen, stand
back in the spaces between the guide points on each side, which is their situa-
tion at the time that the double tier of carriages are seperated in the middle
of the machine, and when the heart wheel is passing the dead run,- as
described, at which time one of the sets of guide points jshoggs laterally..to
the extent of two gates in the same direction, and to the same extent of space
as the corresponding tier of bobbins and carriages d, and range of circular
bolts e, immediately below, which is for the purpose of traversing the weft.
threads. The points now take up and form the range of meshes at the face
bár k, and when the whole of the double tier of bobbins. and carriages d, d,
have been driven into the gates of one range of circular bolts e, (as described;
having passed the threads over from one set of the guide points into the pre-
viously unoccupied spaces between the points of the opposite range,) then the
empty range of guide points shoggs back again to its stop in the same way as
the corresponding bolt bar below, and that range of guide points which now
hold all the weft threads shogg also in the same direction, but only the distance
of one gate, the double tier of carriages passing as before into their quiescent

page_text: situations in the middle, which movements of the weft enables the threads of
the single tier of warp bobbins, by their successive vibrations, to lap round the
weft threads and produce the twist..
..Having now described the construction of my improved machine, and the
principal movements of the operative parts, which-will be understood by lace
makers, I do not consider it necessary to go into a further detail of the parts
and movements, excepting in reference to the forms of the cams or rack wheels
commonly called the "Dawson's Wheels," which are placed at the end of the
machine, acting against the ends of the: bars which carry the guides j, j, and
the bars which carry the bolts or combs e, e, of the double tier of bobbins
and carriages d, d.. The forms of these wheels are set out in diagrams at
Figs. 6, A being the wheel for working, the front circular 'comb bar of the
double tier; B, that of the back circular comb bar; C, of the wheel for working
the front guide bar; D, that for the back guide bar. These wheels are all
fixed upon a transverse horizontal shaft at the end of the machine, and
the points of contact of all these wheels which are in operation, at the time
that the heart wheel is passing its dead run are marked upon each wheel by
a star (1*).
:
Lastly, I desire it to be understood that my claim of Invention under the
present Patent consists,―
2.1
First, in the construction and adaptation of a double tier of bobbins and
carriages-in.a lace-making machine, constructed upon the single tier principle,
the one set of bobbins and carriages conducting the warp threads; the other
the weft threads; or the adaptation of an extra' tier of bobbins and carriages
to any construction of machinery for making lace, whereby the warp threads
and weft threads are both worked by moveable bobbins and carriages.
"
Secondly, in the working of a. single tier of bobbins and carriages solely by
a pair of fluted rollers or rotary bars, with leaves for the purpose of producing
the variations of the bobbins and carriages from one range of gates to the
other range without interruption.
Thirdly, in the adaptation of bent pointed guides or fine toothed racks for
directing, dividing, and traversing the threads. And,
Fourthly, in the employment of a longitudinal bar or bevelled edge for
separating the double tier of bobbins and carriages, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henson, have 'hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-three.
W. (L.S.) HENSON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of June, in
the third year of the reign of His present Majesty King William the Fourth,
the said William Henson came before our said Lord the King in His
Chancery, and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Instrument aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-sixth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-three