IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF LACE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin, of Exeter, Devon,
Lace Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF LACE."
Sealed the 14th August 1866, and dated the 26th February 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charlotte Elizabeth
Treadwin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition,.
on the 26th February 1866.
I, CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH TREADWIN, of Exeter, Devon, Lace Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF LACE," to be as follows, that is to say :-
These improvements consist in the modification and application of the
process known by the name of "pillow weaving" (such as is employed in' the
manufacture of Honiton lace) to the manufacture of certain kinds of lace
which have hitherto been sewn or produced by needlework, the peculiar
characteristic of the kinds of lace to the manufacture of which these improve
ments are intended to be applied being that a foundation or stiffening thread
or threads forming the outline or other prominent features of the pattern to
be worked has to be covered by another thread or threads, as in the antique
laces known by the several names of point d'Alençon, point de Venise, and in '

page_text: some kinds of Brussels lace; and it is in the means by which I cover the said
foundation or stiffening threads that my improvements differ from the method
hitherto used to produce that effect.
Heretofore the said foundation threads have been sewn round or covered
with other threads by means of the needle, which is a mode at once tedious
and requiring an amount of practised skill to accomplish (without soiling the
threads or disturbing the beauty of the pattern) at all times difficult to pro-
cure; but in the process I now apply to the purpose the foundation thread or
threads are covered by others, which are carried on reels or bobbins, by hand,
as in ordinary pillow weaving, and wound or woven around the said foundation
threads, so that the covering threads are not handled by the worker, and the
lace is consequently not soiled in the making, while the rigidity of the pillow
on which the lace is worked prevents that distortion of the pattern which is so
difficult to guard against. in needle-made lace; added to which, the well-known
peculiarities of pillow weaving are such as to render it of easy acquirement,
and thereby materially facilitate the production of the particular kind of lace
herein-before specified."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th August 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLOTTE
ELIZABETH TREADWIN, of Exeter, Devon, Lace Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin, Her special licence that I, the said Charlotte
Elizabeth Treadwin, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin, 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, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN KINDS OF LACE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that 1, the said Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin, my

page_text: 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 Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
These improvements consist in the modification and application of the
process known by the name of "pillow weaving" (such as is employed in the
manufacture of Honiton lace) to the manufacture of certain kinds of lace
which have hitherto been sewn or produced by needlework, the peculiar
characteristic of the kinds of lace to the manufacture of which these improve-
ments are intended to be applied being that a foundation or stiffening thread
or threads forming the outline or other prominent features of the pattern to
be worked has to be covered by another thread or threads, as in the antique
laces known by the several names of point d'Alençon, point de Venise, and in
some kinds of Brussels lace; and it is in the means by which I cover the said
foundation or stiffening threads that my improvements differ from the method
hitherto used to produce that effect.
Heretofore the said foundation threads have been sewn round or covered
with other threads by means of the needle, which is a mode at once tedious
and requiring an amount of practised skill to accomplish (without soiling the
threads or disturbing the beauty of the pattern) at all times difficult to pro-
cure; but in the process I now apply to the purpose the foundation threads
are covered by others which are carried on reels or bobbins as in ordinary
pillow weaving, and wound or woven around the said foundation threads, so
that the covering threads are not handled by the worker, and the lace is con-
sequently not soiled in the making, while the rigidity of the pillow on which
the lace is worked prevents that distortion of the pattern which is so difficult
to guard against in needle-made lace; added to which the well-known pecu-
liarities of pillow weaving are such as to render it of easy acquirement, and
thereby materially facilitate the production of the particular kind of lace
herein-before specified.
I therefore claim as my Invention the application of the ordinary pillow-
weaving process, or any mere modification of the same, to the manufacture of

page_text: the particular kind or kinds of lace herein-before described as having been
heretofore produced by needlework.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charlotte Elizabeth Treadwin, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
(L.B.) CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH TREADWIN.
GEORGE THOMAS LENTON,
Cathedral Yard,
Exeter.