IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE AND NET
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, E.C., Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE AND NET."-
A communication from Messieurs A. Grivel, jun., and J. F. V. Mouilleron,
both residing in Paris.
Sealed the 14th May 1859, and dated the 17th November 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th November 1858.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, E.C., Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE AND
NET," (a communication from Messieurs A. Grivel, jun'., and J. F. V. Mouilleron,
both residing in Paris,) to be as follows:→
The object of this Invention is to produce an apparatus which shall be
capable of being applied to the manufacture of Brussels, Valenciennes, Mechlin,
and all other descriptions of lace and of net without any other change of form
or mode of operation than that of varying the sizes of the parts according to
the degrees of fineness required in the finished fabric, the said apparatus being
adapted to be worked either manually, or by steam, or other power. The
improved apparatus is constructed in the following manner :-
A principal shaft or axle, placed horizontally, carries a bevil wheel which
gears into another attached to a collar with a projection or cam upon it, by
which projection a Maltese cross is made to move round a vertical axle. This
axle carries a pinion, which through two toothed wheels transmits motion to

page_text: other pinions of the same size as itself. These pinions communicate motion
to vertical spindles furnished with pinions, which again drive a number of
vertical spindles pivoted in a plate at their lower ends, and carrying at their
upper ends crosses or pinions with eight limbs or teeth each. The principal
shaft also communicates motion to two discs placed outside the frame of the
apparatus, and formed with an excentric groove, into which pulleys or rollers
carried at the extremities of two arms enter. The excentric grooved discs
cause these arms to oscillate about centres, and to the other extremities
of these arms are connected rods which impart the required motions to a
jacquard apparatus, hexagonal in section, and furnished with Maltese crosses,
from which it derives rotary motion when necessary, the crosses being them-
selves driven by an arrangement of chains and pinions extending from the
principal shaft. The hooks which the jacquard has prepared to be acted upon
communicate through bell-crank levers and steel bands or wires a semi-rotary
motion to certain rods or guides, and this, in conjunction with the rotary
motion of the spindles aforesaid, causes the bobbins to move about the
octagonal crosses or pinions. Pins are placed in the rods or guides, and by
encountering projections on the rods or guides prevent irregularity of motion
in the bobbins. The bobbin carrier is composed of a tube with a counterpoise
to keep up a proper tension on the threads. The hooks or platines not only
work the rods or guides, but also through a second series of bell-crank levers
give motion to shuttles carrying racks on their lower sides, into which revolving
pinions take in such manner that the shuttles are worked only when the
hooks or platines are not repulsed by the jacquard. For producing plain net
a cylinder furnished with a regulating screw may be used instead of the
jacquard. The combs are worked by two shafts carrying cranks, to which
connecting rods leading to the comb carriers are pinned. The rising of the
combs is produced by springs, and their descent by a click or lever. The lace
or net as it is made passes up between two rollers and is wound upon a
third.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, E.C., s
Patent Agent, send greeting...

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LACE
AND NET," (a communication from Mess". A. Grivel, jun"., and J.
F. V. Mouilleron, both residing in Paris), upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to produce an apparatus which shall be-
capable of being applied to the manufacture of Brussels, Valenciennes, Mechlin,
and all other descriptions of lace and of net without any other change of form
or mode of operation than that of varying the sizes of the parts according to
the degrees of fineness required in the finished fabric, the said apparatus being
adapted to be worked either manually, or by steam, or other power. The
improved apparatus is constructed in the following manner;-
A principal shaft or axle, placed horizontally, carries a bevil wheel which
gears into another attached to a collar with a projection or cam upon it, by
which projection a Maltese cross is made to move round a vertical axle. This
axle carries a pinion, which through two toothed wheels transmits motion to
other pinions of the same size as itself. These pinions communicate motion
to vertical spindles furnished with pinions, which again drive a number of

page_text: vertical spindles pivoted in a plate at their lower ends, and carrying at their
upper ends crosses or pinions with eight limbs or teeth each. The principal
shaft also communicates motion to two discs placed outside the frame of the
apparatus, and formed with an eccentric groove, into which pulleys or rollers
carried at the extremities of two arms enter. The eccentric grooved discs
cause these arms to oscillate about centres, and to the other extremities of
these arms are connected rods which impart the required motions to a jacquard
apparatus hexagonal in section, and furnished with Maltese crosses, from which
it derives rotary motion when necessary, the crosses being themselves driven by
an arrangement of chains and pinions extending from the principal shaft.
The hooks which the jacquard has prepared to be acted upon communicate
through bell-crank levers and steel bands or wires a semi-rotary motion to
certain rods or guides, and this, in conjunction with the rotary motion of the
spindles aforesaid, causes the bobbins to move about the octagonal crosses or
pinions. Pins are placed in the rods or guides, and by encountering pro-
jections on the rods or guides prevent irregularity of motion in the bobbins.
The bobbin carrier is composed of a tube with a counterpoise to keep up a
proper tension on the threads. The hooks or platines not only work the rods
or guides, but also through a second series of bell-crank levers give motion to
shuttles carrying racks on their lower sides, into which revolving pinions take
in such manner that the shuttles are worked only when the hooks or platines
are not repulsed by the jacquard. For producing plain net a cylinder
furnished with a regulating screw may be used instead of the jacquard. The
combs are worked by two shafts carrying cranks, to which connecting rods
leading to the comb carriers are pinned. The rising of the combs is produced
by springs, and their descent by a click or lever. The lace or net as it is
made passes up between two rollers, and is wound upon a third.
Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 1, of the accompanying Drawings, represent in
section and side elevation a machine constructed according to this Invention;
Figure 3, Sheet 2, is a front view of the same; and Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
and 10 are views of the details; Figures 11 and 12 are views of a cylinder
which is employed to replace the jacquard when the machine is used for the
manufacture of plain net; Figures 13 and 14 are detached views of the pro-
jections that are placed on the cylinder to work the sinkers or depressers;
Figures 15 and 16 are a front and side view respectively of the regulators
which are fitted to the machine when it is employed for netting; and
Figures 17, 18, 19, and 20 are sections taken at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and
10 of the regulators. A is the frame of the machine; 6 is the main or driving
shaft, to which motion is communicated through the handle a, or by keying to

page_text: the shaft fixed and loose pulleys not shewn in the Drawings, and communi-
cating motion thereto through a steam engine or other prime mover. The
shaft has keyed to it a bevil wheel c (Figure 3), gearing into a similar
horizontal wheel d placed on a collar or support e. This wheel d has a pro-
jection formed on or attached to it, which at each revolution of the wheel c
causes the Maltese cross f to move one tooth. The axle to which the Maltese
cross is keyed also carries a pinion 9, which gears into two toothed wheels h, h,
and transmits motion to two other pinions i, i, of the same diameter as the
pinion g. These pinions i, i, communicate a rotary motion to the spindles k,
the upper parts of which are furnished with pinions l. These pinions / gear
into other pinions m on the spindles n, so that by this means a rotary motion
is communicated to all the bobbin-carrying spindles. These spindles n, which are
seen in Figure 1, work at their lower part in the plate o, pass through two other
plates p, q, and terminate in eight-sided or eight-toothed pinions or crosses s²,
as seen in plan at Figure 4, Sheet 2. The rotary motion of the shaft 6 commu-
nicates a similar motion to two dises r arranged one on each side of the frame;
these discs have formed in them an eccentric groove s, in which rollers
attached to the arms y, t, work. The arm y in following the eccentric groove
oscillates, as will be perceived, around the point u, and communicates a to-and-
fro motion to the rods v, in order to cause the jacquard a to advance and retire
successively. This jacquard, which is hexagonal in section, having a number
of holes formed in it, is mounted on a shaft, the extremity of which carries the
Maltese cross a¹, and is intended to impart to the jacquard the required rotary
motion. It is necessary that this last motion should be combined with the to-
and-fro motion, in order that the new patterns or designs be presented
successively. For this purpose there is a pinion 6 keyed to the shaft b, round
which a chain c¹ passes, as it does also around another pinion 6. This pinion
bis fixed on the shaft of a toothed wheel e³, gearing into a second wheel f', the
axle of which carries the pinion d', transmitting by a chain g¹ the necessary
rotary motion to the collar h³, which governs the Maltese cross a¹. By this
arrangement the jacquard presents the pattern successively to the needles i¹.
Some of the needles enter the holes in the jacquard, whilst the others which
do not correspond to the holes in the jacquard are pushed away, and cause the
sinkers ¹ to oscillate around the axle n'. At this point the regulator /', which
is fixed to the rod m', descends as far as the comb o¹, and causes pressure to be
placed on the sinkers ¹. The descent of the rod m² is produced by the
eccentric discs and levers r and t. The sinkers which are not pushed away,
and on which the regulator has acted (being held at their upper part by
wires or threads hanging from bell-crank levers q') are drawn from left to

page_text: right. The arm of the bell-crank lever which is not attached to the sinkers
communicates by means of small rods or bands of steel r' with the regulators s¹,
one of which is shewn full size at Figures 7 and 8, Sheet 2. The drawing
motion which is exercised on these bands of steel, shewn at Figures 9 and 10,
Sheet 2, communicate to each regulator a partial rotary motion combined
with the rotation of the spindles k, and cause the thread carriers t¹ to revolve
in one direction or the other around the octagonal pinions, Figure 4, Sheet 2,
according to the nature of the design. u', u', are guides placed near the
upper part of each regulator. These guides meet corresponding projections
made on the spindles to prevent them from oscillating. The thread carriers
shewn at Figures 5 and 6, Sheet 2, are composed of a cylindrical tube, on
which the bobbin v¹ is placed, and in which there is a counterweight a¹. The
thread shewn in red or dotted lines passes through an eye formed on the upper
part of the counterweight, and from thence to the combs y¹; this counterweight
is intended to give the necessary tension to the thread. The sinkers or
depressers not only work the regulators, but they also act on a second series of
bell-crank levers y", which drive the shuttles ¹, also furnished with thread.
These shuttles are furnished with racks at their lower part, and are worked by
toothed pinions a², which have an alternate rotary motion imparted to them in
order to cause the shuttles to advance and recede. This motion can be
produced by any suitable means.
For the netting machine or the manufacture of such work as shewn at
Figures 12, 13, 14*, the jacquard is replaced by a wooden cylinder (1),
pierced with holes (2), in which nuts or projections (3), Figures 13 and 14,
are placed. When the cylinder is put in motion the projections enter the
sinkers or depressers at (4), and cause them to oscillate in such manner as to
produce the working of the regulators. These regulators are formed of an
axis (6), Figures 15 and 16, in which the spindle (7) is placed, held to the
axis by the screw (8); the head of this screw has a hole formed in it, into
which the projection (9) fixed to the frame (10) takes. If the lower part of
the spindle be attached by a thread to the sinker or depresser, each time that
the sinker is pushed away by the projections on the cylinder, the spindle will
make a partial revolution, and transmit a similar motion to the frame (10),
which in its turn drives the needles. The regulators are brought back to their
normal position by a helical spring (12).
The manner in which the combs are driven is as follows:-The shaft 62 has
cranks formed at its extremities, which are attached through c to the
comb carriers d², which slide in projecting grooves in a plate fixed to the
frame. It will be understood that the rotary motion of the shaft 6 regulates

page_text: the advance and backward movement of the combs, but as it is necessary that
these combs should present themselves alternately one above the other, the
helical springs regulate the ascent, whilst their descent is determined by a
click or claw, which acts as an abutment during the second motion. Above
the combs there are two cylinders d", between which the finished fabric passes,
and is rolled from thence on to a beam e³.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the general arrangement of machinery for the manufacture of
lace and net, herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Second, the employment and combination of two sets of spindles, one set
for regulating the motion of the thread carriers, and the other set for imparting
motion thereto, as herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
Third, the employment of a Maltese cross or crosses for regulating the
motion of the jacquard and the spindles, as herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
And, fourth, the employment of a cylinder in place of the jacquard when the
network is plain, constructed and operating in the manner herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
R. A. BROOMAN. (L.B.)