IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF JOINED BLOND, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sibert, of No. 9, Carter Gate, Nottingham,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF JOINED
BLOND, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sibert at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th November 1863.
I, JOHN SIBERT, of No. 9, Carter Gate, Nottingham, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF JOINED
BLOND, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of joined
blond, and in the machinery employed therein. For these purposes blond-like
edges are produced to breadths or quillings of lace by means of threads, which,
being coated or saturated with gum, starch, or other suitable cement, are, as
they come to and are passed in contact with the lace, caused to take a zig-zag
or undulating direction according to the device or ornamental design which it
may be desired to produce to the edges of the lace. The arrangement of the
mechanism for producing this manufacture of joined blond may be varied so
long as the arrangement is such that the ornamenting threads are bent out of
the straight line, and are caused to assume a bent and ornamental form as
they come to and are pressed on to the edges of the lace. The arrangement
of the machinery preferred is as follows;-The quilling or breadth of lace is,

page_text: guided to and from the surface of a heated roller, such as has before been used
when fixing blond edgings, and also when fixing straight threads near the
edge of a quilling or breadth of lace, and to such or other suitable heated
surface I apply apparatus for causing the thread or threads which are to forni
the ornamental or bloud-like edge or head to be deflected or bent out of the
straight line, and to cause it or them to take the forms of the desired orna-
mental device. The thread or threads used for producing the ornamental
edge are caused to pass through a trough or vessel containing the cement, and
it or they is or are caused to be wiped by a sponge or otherwise as heretofore.
The breadth or quilling of lace is caused to move progressively through the
machine as heretofore, and as the ornamenting thread or threads come near
the part of the heated surface where the ornamental bends of the thread or
threads are caused to adhere to the lace, such thread or threads is or are
deflected or bent out of the straight lines into the ornamental. device or
pattern desired, and in this bent state each thread is caused to be passed on
to the lace, and is by the heated surface fixed on to the lace. Each thread so
used as an ornamenting thread is caused to pass on one side of a series of pins
or projections, which when in action are above the heated surface, and by
means of pushers or instruments acting between the pins or projections, each
ornamenting thread is pushed or moved between the projections so as to cause
the thread to assume a zig-zag or undulating form according to the device in
which the pins or projections and the pushers or instruments which act on
the thread are arranged, and then the ornamenting thread is pressed on to the
lace and the heated surface, by this means the ornamenting threads when dry,
and adhering to the lace, will retain the ornamental device into which they
have been brought by the pins or projections and the pushers or instruments.
After the ornamenting thread has been laid and pressed on the lace, and has
been fixed thereon, the pins or projections, and the pushers or other form of
instruments are caused to retire out of the way where the ornamented lace
leaves the heated surface, and then again to come into position at the parts
where the unornamented lace requires to have ornamental devices applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Sibert in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 24th May
1864.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Sibert, Her special licence, that I, the said John Sibert,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Sibert, 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 JOINED BLOND, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Sibert, my 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 John Sibert, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of joined
blond, and in the machinery employed therein. For these purposes blond-like
edges are produced to breadths or quillings of lace, by means of threads, which,
being coated or saturated with gum, starch, or other suitable cement, as they
come to and are pressed in contact with the lace, caused to take a zig-zag or
undulating direction, according to the device or ornamental design which it may
be desired to produce to the edges of the lace. The quilling or breadth of lace
is guided over the surface of a heated roller, such as has before been used when
fixing straight threads near the edge of a quilling or breadth of lace. The
thread or threads used for producing the ornamental edge are caused to pass
through a trough or vessel containing the cement, and it or they is or are
5 caused to be wiped by a sponge or otherwise, as heretofore, when attaching
straight threads, and are then caused to pass on one side of a series of pins or
projections which protrude above the heated surface, and by means of pushers
or instruments acting between the pins or projections each ornamenting thread
is pushed or moved between the projections so as to cause the thread to assume

page_text: annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front view, and Figure 2 is an end view of a machine con-
structed accorded to my Invention. a, a, are two standards, carrying in suitable
bearings the axes of the metal cylinder b. These axes are hollow, to facilitate
the heating of the cylinder, which is conveniently done by placing a gas burner
within it, the gas pipe passing into the cylinder at the hollow axis. b¹, b', are
holes in the ends of the cylinder to admit air freely to the flame on one side, b².
The cylinder is made of larger diameter, and it has a number of radial slits or
notches 63 cut in it; these receive the pushers or instruments c, which I call
sinkers, as their action is in some respects similar to that of the sinkers of a
stocking frame. One of the instruments c is shown separately at Figures 3;
its construction is herein-after described. d is a fixed ring which surrounds the
enlarged end of the cylinder b; it serves to prevent the sinkers c falling out of
their notches as in the course of the revolution of the cylinder they pass
underneath the axis. The cylinder can either be turned by means of a handle
applied to one of its axes, or it may be driven by a pulley and band. The ring
d has fixed to it the inclines e and f; the incline e acts on the ends of the
sinkers as they pass it during the revolution of the cylinder, and pushes them
forwards or towards the smaller part of the cylinder, and the incline f on the
other side of the ring, by acting similarly on the shoulders c¹ of the sinkers,
drives them backwards. 9 is a guide bar, over which the breadth of lace to
receive the blond-like edging is passed; it has holes bored in it, through which
guide pins g', g', are passed, to assist the workman in guiding the fabric
through the machine. h, h, are pins fixed all round the cylinder b, and the
ends of the sinkers c, when they are moved forwards, pass between these pins.
h¹ is a bracket formed in one piece with the guide bar g and carrying the thread
guide i; this is set so that its inner end comes nearly in contact with the
cylinder b. The thread guide has at its end an eye through which the thread
& passes; this thread before it comes to the eye is drawn through thick gum

page_text: or similar cement, and the excess is removed by a sponge, or in other con-
venient manner. The thread is cemented and kept at a suitable tension. The
thread after it passes the eye of the thread guide goes on to the cylinder 6 and
lays close up to the pins / thereon, and then when it comes to the point where
the sinkers c are pushed forward it is taken by them, the notch c* at the end of
each sinker taking the thread and pushing it between the pins h, and the loops
thus made project over the edge of the width of lace which is fed on to the
cylinder, so as to be close, or nearly close, to the pins h. As the cylinder
revolves, the sinkers with the loops of thread are brought up to the presser
wheel; this runs over the tops of the pressers &², and causes them to knock
the loops off the sinkers and press them on to the edge of the fabric on the
cylinder b. These pressers c³ are clearly seen in Figure 3. They are each
hinged to their presser at c³. They are up in the position shewn in full lines
when the sinkers take the thread, and the presser wheel 7 moves them down
into the position shown by the red lines, and so clears the loops from the
sinkers. m is a wheel to which the fabric is next carried by the revolution of
the cylinder; it runs on the edge of the lace and over the ornamenting thread,
and ensures the firm attachment of the one to the other; thus the blond-like
edging is fixed on the thread retaining the curves given to it by the pins and
the sinkers. Lastly, the fabric in a finished state is drawn off the cylinder
either by hand or by a roller revolving at the same surface speed as the cylin-
der. Sometimes in place of a single ornamenting thread I employ in a similar
manner two threads of different colors worked together. Also I sometimes
use in combination with a thread laid on in a zig-zag course, a thread or threads
laid on in a straight course, as heretofore. The pattern also may be consider-
ably varied by changing the pins h and employing others of different shapes or
sizes, and by changing the sinkers and varying their forms, the number em-
ployed, and the distances to which they are protruded. If the lace is dressed
with a very stiff dressing, it is not essential to gum or apply adhesive material
to the thread, it may simply be moistened; but I prefer to apply gum, or
similar cement. The pins are fixed in segmental plates screwed on the
cylinder, so that they are readily changed and other plates and pins sub-
stituted.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would remark that threads have before been applied in
zig-zag or curved lines to the surfaces of fabrics, but the threads have always
been applied to the interior or centre part of the fabric, and not so as to over-
hang the edge, whereas my Invention refers only to the application of threads
in zig-zag or curved lines, so as to overhang the edge of the lace, and so make

page_text: joined blond. Heretofore also when cementing threads to fabrics in zig-zag
or curved lines, the cement has been applied to the fabric, and not to the
threads, as is practiced by me, and the application of cement or moisture to
the surface of lace is liable materially to injure its appearance.
The machinery herein-before described may be considerably varied without
departing from my Invention, so long as sinkers are employed, which in suc-
cession take loops of the ornamenting thread or threads down between pins or
stops, and then, after such loops have been attached by the cement to the fabric,
retire and leave them.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sibert, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JOHN SIBERT. (L.S.)