IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING LACE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Mason, of Basford, Nottingham, Lace
Dresser, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING
LACE."
Sealed the 6th November 1860, and dated the 3rd September 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Mason at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
September 1860.
I, CHARLES MASON, of Basford, Nottingham, Lace Dresser, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
DRESSING LACE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for dressing
lace. For these purposes the lace to be dressed is first placed on frames, as
heretofore, and the fluid starch or dressing fluid is then applied by means
of a roller, to the surface of which a constant supply of starch or dressing is
applied. The roller with its supply vessel or trough is mounted on the end
of a handle or rod, of a length suitable for enabling the roller to be passed to
and fro across from side to side of the frame, the roller resting on the lace.
It is preferred that the roller should be hollow and perforated with numerous
small holes, and that it should be coated or covered with woollen cloth, or felt,.
or other suitable fabric. From end to end of this roller there is a perforated

page_text: interior tube into which the starch or dressing is supplied through two hollow
axes fixed to the under part of a trough or vessel suitable for containing
a supply of starch or dressing fluid. The flow of starch or dressing fluid
is regulated by cocks or valves near where the hollow axes are connected
with the trough or vessel containing the starch or dressing fluid. It is not
however essential that the starch or dressing fluid should be supplied to the
interior of the roller, as a supply may be otherwise constantly applied to the
outer surface of the roller.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Mason in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd March 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MASON, of Basford, Nottingham, Lace Dresser, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Charles Mason, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Mason, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Charles Mason, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRESSING LACE," upon the condition (amongst others).
that I, the said Charles Mason, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment '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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Mason, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-

page_text: This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for dressing
lace. For these purposes the lace to be dressed is first placed on frames, as
heretofore, and the fluid starch or dressing fluid is then applied by means of a
roller, to the surface of which a constant supply of starch or dressing is applied,
The roller, with its supply vessel or trough, is mounted on the end of a handle
or rod of a length suitable for enabling the roller to be passed to and fro across
from side to side of the frame, the roller resting on the lace. It is preferred
that the roller should be hollow and perforated with numerous small holes,
and that it should be coated or covered with woollen cloth or felt, or other
suitable fabric. From end to end of this roller, there is a. perforated interior
tube into which the starch or dressing is supplied through two hollow axes
fixed to the under part of a trough or vessel suitable for containing a supply
of starch or dressing fluid. The flow of starch or dressing fluid is regulated
by cocks or valves near where the hollow axes are connected with the trough
or vessel containing the starch or dressing fluid. It is not, however, essential
that the starch or dressing fluid should be supplied to the interior of the
roller, as a supply may be otherwise constantly applied to the outer surface
of the roller.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed more fully
to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a front view of the apparatus partly in section; Figure 2,
a plan thereof, and Figure 3, a side elevation thereof. a is a handle of a
suitable length 6; is the supply vessel to contain the starch or dressing fluid;
c. c, are supply pipes leading from the supply vessel into the inner perforated
tube d, which revolves on the ends of the supply pipes. The flow of the
dressing fluid is regulated by cock c², c¹. The inner perforated tube is preferred
to increase in diameter from the ends to the middle as is shown, and the holes
are arranged around it in a spiral form; e is the perforated roller over which
is placed woollen cloth or felt through which the dressing fluid passes to the
lace. The inner tube is fixed to the interior of the roller, and the two rotate
together on the ends of the supply pipes which act as axes for the roller. It
is preferred that the roller should be hollow, and that it should be supplied
with dressing fluid by the interior tube, but if desired the roller might be solid,
and be supplied with the dressing fluid on the upper surface, and the same
spread evenly thereon before it comes to the lace. The arrangement, however,
abovo described and shown in the Drawing is believed to be the best.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
combined apparatus herein-described..
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Mason have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES MASON. (L.S.)