CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING, STARCHING, CLEANING, AND DRYING LACE OR NET, KNOWN BY THE TRADE BY THE TERM OF GETTING-UP LACE OR NET
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, OVID
TOPHAM, of Whitecross Street, Saint Luke's, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, 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 Sixteenth day of December, in the sixth year of His reign,
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Ovid Topham, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Ovid Topham, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Ovid Topham, my exors, adññiors, 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 DRESSING, STARCHING, CLEANING,
AND DRYING LACE OR NET, KNOWN BY THE TRADE BY THE TERM OF GETTING-UP
LACE OR NET;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging
me, the said Ovid Topham, 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 said 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: Figure 1 represents a side elevation, and Figure 2 a plan of a starching
machine, and pin or rack frame for getting up lace or net, furnished with my
aforesaid improvements,. The parts marked A are framework to support the
machinery; B is the roller on which the net about to be starched is rolled;
C is the box or vat of starch; D, the dipping roller, to carry the net into the
starch; E, F, the squeezing rollers, to get rid of the superfluous starch, these
rollers are of wood or metal, covered with flannel or other woollen substance,
the bearing of the bottom roller being fixed, the upper bearing sliding in a
groove and being kept down by a lever weight, as shewn at G; II is a crank
handle, by which motion is given to the pinion I, which works into the wheel J.
The wheel J gives motion to the roller E, and thence to the wheel K, which is
on the end of it, and takes into a similar wheel on the upper roller F; the
wheel K, by means of the intermediate wheel L, turns the wheel M; and here
we come to my first improvement, for to the shaft of this wheel M is attached
a pulley N, carrying a leather or metal strap or band, fitted with the brass pins
(copper, steel, or any suitable metal may be used), which form the pin or rack
frame. This band, it will be observed, passes round the pulley N at one end
of the machine, thence along the frame, and round a similar pulley O at the
other end of the machine, and forms an endless band; there is, of course, one
of these bands at each side of the machine. P, Q, are shafts, perfectly true,
on which the pullies N, O, and clutches R, S, are made to slide freely. T, T,
joints to narrow the frame at one end, so that the lace may gradually widen till
it comes to the joints, and then run parallel along the frame. U, a pin slide, to
support the lace across the frame, and made to slide to different widths, being

page_text: fastened to and carried forwards at the same speed as the endless band by a line
or catgut, working over pullies V, W, on the shafts P, Q. On the shaft P is
fixed a pulley X, and by means of a band from this pulley motion is given to
two pullies Y, Y, and from them to the rollers Z, Z, which I call clearing
rollers, and are made of wood or metal covered with flannel, and serve to
remove all superfluous starch, and assist in giving a surface to the lace in this
machine; these rollers may be lengthened so as to admit of the lace being
stretched out a full width as it passes between them, instead of being allowed
to pass through as rope or in a twist. a, a, the ordinary steam pipes, fixed
underneath, to dry the net or lace as it passes along the frame.
I will now proceed to describe my second improvement, which is as follows:-
b is a toothed wheel on the end of the shaft Q, taking into a connecting wheel c,
which gives motion to the toothed wheel d, fixed on the end of a heated roller e,
above this heated roller is the paper roller f, with an adjusting screw g, to give
whatever pressure may be required to obtain the necessary dress or surface;
h is the stripping roller to raise the lace or net off the pins, and is turned by a
band from the pulley on the shaft Q; the red line denotes the lace, which, after
having been raised from the pins, passes between the heated roller and the
paper roller, and is finally received upon the winding-off roller k, at the opposite
end of the machine. By means of the crank handle H, the whole machinery is
set in motion.
Figure 3 is a seperate view of the racks and pinion, by which the frame is
widened or narrowed in the ordinary way to the width of the work.
Figure 4 is a separate view of the end of the pin slide, showing the screw
by which it is attached to the gut band which moves it.
Figure 5 is a separate view of the pulley for carrying the endless band, with
its sliding clutch, and the pulley for carrying the gut which moves the pin slide.
Figure 6 is a separate view of the fork or prong which takes the clutch.
Figure 7, another view of the clutch and fork, shewing the leg of the frame
and the roller on which the leg travels.
Now, whereas I claim as my Invention the following improvements (that
is to say):-
:~
First, setting the pins of what is usually called the rack frame, in starching
machines, on endless bands, as herein-before described, and causing the pin slide
to move from one end to the other of the machine with the said bands.
Secondly, the application of the clearing rollers, as herein-before described.
And, lastly, the addition to a starching machine, for getting up lace or net,
of the paper roller and heated cylinder, to complete the dress, as herein-before
described.

page_text: And such my Invention being to the best of my knowledge and belief
entirely new and never before used within that part of IIis said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, IIis said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby declare this
to be my Specification of the same; and that I do verily believe this my said
Specification doth comply in all respects fully and without reserve or disguiso
with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent con-
tained; wherefore I hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and privilege to
my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ovid Topham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
OVID (L.B.) TOPHAM.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of June, in the
year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Ovid Topham came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

page_text: In the Matter of a Patent granted to Ovid Topham, of Whitecross
Street, Saint Luke's, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DRESSING, STARCHING, CLEANING, AND
DRYING LACE OR NET, KNOWN BY THE TRADE BY THE TERM OF GETTING-
UP LACE OR NET," and bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth
day of December, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
DISCLAIMER entered by John Francis Bottom, of Snenton, in the County
of Nottingham, and Maria Hudson, of the same place, Lace Dressers,
and Assignees of the said Patent under and by virtue of a Deed of
Assignment made between the said Ovid Topham of the one part, and
the said John Francis Bottom and Maria Hudson of the other part, and
bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-six.
WE, the said John Francis Bottom and Maria Hudson, do hereby declare that
since the date of the said Deed of Assignment we have been advised that it is
doubtful whether the heated cylinder or rolled marked e in the Specification of the
said Letters Patent, or some modification thereof, may not have been practised
in England before the date of the said Letters Patent; and for this reason,
we, the said John Francis Bottom and Maria Hudson, do hereby disclaim the
following parts of the said Specification, that is to say :-
In that part of the said Specification which states in what the nature of the
said Invention consists, under the head of Invention, we disclaim the words
"and heated cylinder," and substitute for them the words "as herein-after
described;" and in the claiming clauso, towards the concluding part of the said
Specification, we disclaim, under the last head of claim, the words "and heated
cylinder," and substitute for them the word and letter "marked f." And in
order to render the meaning of the said Specification, more obvious, in that
part of it which describes the rollers Z, Z, after the words "clearing rollers
and," we add the words "constitute my second improvement. These clearing
rollers;" and a few lines further on in the said Specification, after the words

page_text: "I will now proceed to describe my" we strike out the word "second," which
is an error, and substitute for it the words "third and last."
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Twenty-eighth day of March, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
seven
To the Clerk of the Patents of England.
This is to certify, That the within-named John Francis Bottom and Maria
Hudson have applied to me for leave to enter with you the within-written
Disclaimer and Memorandums of Alterations of part of the Title and of the
Specification of a certain Invention for which Letters Patent were duly
granted to Ovid Topham, of Whitecross Street, Saint Luke's, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for "Certain Improvements in Dressing, Starching,
Cleaning, and Drying Lace or Net, known by the Trade by the Term of
Getting-up Lace or Net;" under the Great Seal of Great Seal, bearing date the
Sixteenth day of December 1835, and the Specification of which was enrolled
on the 14th day of June 1836, and on considering of the said application,
them to advertize the said Disclaimer and Alterations in the
London Gazette, and in the Times and Morning Chronicle Newspapers, and
such Advertizem have been made in the said Gazette on the 21st day of
March, and in the Times and Morning Chronicle on the 22nd of March, and
also in the Nottingham Journal on the 24th day of March 1837; and no
objection having been made to the said application, I have accordingly granted
to the said John Francis Bottom and Maria Hudson to file their said
Disclaimer and Alterations, pursuant to the Statute passed in the 6th year of
the reign of His present Majesty, entitled An Act to amend the Law touching
Letters Patent for Inventions.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eleventh day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1837, the aforesaid John Francis Bottom and Maria Hudson
came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Disclaimer aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in
form above written. And also the Disclaimer aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and thirty-coron