IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING LACE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Sibert, of Nottingham, Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRESSING LACE."
Sealed the 16th January 1872, and dated the 14th August 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Sibert at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th August 1871.
I, JOHN SIBERT, of Nottingham, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
DRESSING LACE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvement in machinery for
dressing lace.
In dressing lace it is usual to stretch it on rails supported on standards,
and the standards on one side are fitted with screws taking into nuts,
and arranged in such manner that by turning the screws the standards
are caused to traverse along guides away from the other or opposite
standards, and so the fabric becomes stretched, the selvages of the
fabric being held upon pins in the rails on the top of the standards.

page_text: When the operation is complete the standards have to be moved back
by turning the screws in the contrary direction, and much time is thus
lost.
According to my Invention I use half nuts, and I connect them with
levers, by which I am able at pleasure to move them away from the
screws, and the standards are thus set free, so that they can be pushed
rapidly back to their original positions. In place of the screw and nut
a worm and worm rack may be used, the worms being connected with
levers, by which they can be disengaged from the racks. Pinions
also may be similarly employed. The pinion is lifted by means of a
lever out of gear with the pack, and the standard in this way being
freed from its connection with its rack can be readily slidden in along.
its guides.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Sihert in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th February 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
SIBERT, of Nottingham, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John Sibert, Her special license 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 MACHINERY FOR
DRESSING LACE," 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 a

page_text: 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 performed, 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 machinery for
dressing lace.
In dressing lace it is usual to stretch it on rails supported on standards
and the standards on one side are fitted with screws taking into nuts
and arranged in such manner that by turning the screws the standards
are caused to traverse along guides away from the other or opposite
standards, and so the fabric becomes stretched, the selvages of the fabric
being held upon pins in the rails on the top of the standards. When
the operation is complete the standards have to be moved back by
turning the screws in the contrary direction, and much time is thus
lost.
According to my Invention I arrange the expanding gear in such
manner that it may be disconnected to permit of the oparation of
running in the standards being more rapidly and directly performed
I use half nuts and I connect them with levers, by which I am able at
pleasure to move them away from the screws, and the standards are thus
set free so that they can be pushed rapidly back to their original positions.
In place of the screw and nut a worm and worm rack may be used, the
worms being connected with levers by which they can be disengaged
from the racks. Pinions also may be similarly employed. The pinion
is lifted by means of a lever out of gear with the rack, and the standard
in this way being freed from its connection with its rack can be readily
slidden in along its guides.
The arrangement which I prefer to employ in carrying my Invention
into effect is the screw and nut, and this arrangement is represented in
the Drawings hereunto annexed.

page_text: it will be understood that similar standards are arranged side by side
along the dressing room for a distance equal to the length of the longest
piece it is desired to dress.
The
A, A, are two iron rails fixed down to the floor of the room, and B is
a standard of ordinary construction; it is seen in front view at Figure 3.
This standard is rendered fast in any desired position on the rails A. by
pins inserted into holes in the rails; Figure 4 is a front view of the
standard C. The base a of this standard is made fast to the rails A in a
convenient position by pins inserted into the rails A in the same way
as the standard B is secured; these arrangements of the rails and pins
are usual and well understood; b is a fixture upon the base a, this piece
has guides formed upon it in which the bar c is able to slide. This
bar is fixed to the standard C, which is also supported by four small
rollers d, d, which run in grooves in the sides of the base a.
standard C has a bearing upon it in which the screw e is held and is
able to turn; f is a crank for working the screw, the spur wheels seen
in the Drawing are interposed between the handle and the screw to bring
the handle to a convenient height. The screw e passes through the
piece or fixture 6 on the base a, and the same piece carries the guides
the half nut g, which by means of the weighted lever h can be raised up
into gear with the screw or lowered down away from it. The standards
as the Drawings show and as is usual support rails with pins on them
to receive the selvages of the lace to be dressed. In the use of the
apparatus one selvage of the piece of lace to be dressed is laid on
the pins on the standard B and the other on the similar pins of the
standard C, and by turning the screw e (the lever h being in the position
which the Drawings show) the piece is stretched to the width to which
it is desired to bring it. This measurement is indicated on a scale
marked upon the bar c. To remove the piece from the dressing frame
the lever handles h are thrown over and the uprights d being then free
from the expanding gear are pushed inwards by the direct thrust of the
workman or operative upon them.
The above described arrangement is that which I prefer, but as before
mentioned, and as will be readily understood without further description,
the expanding gear may be modified, but in all cases it is to be capable
of being disconnected in the way which I have described so as to admit
of the operation of running in the standard being rapidly performed.

page_text: What I claim is, the construction of machinery for dressing lace in
such manner that the expanding gear may be disconnected at pleasure,
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Sibert, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.