IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MAN
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gadd, Consulting Engineer, of 122, Portland
Road, Nottingham, and Louis Baillon, Lace Manufacturer, of St. Mary's
Gate, Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
Sealed the 17th September 1867, and dated the 29th March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gadd and Louis
Baillon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 29th March 1867.
We, WILLIAM GADD, Consulting Engineer, of 122, Portland Road,
Nottingham, and LOUIS BAILLON, Lace Manufacturer, of St. Mary's Gate,
Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BOOT ELASTIC WEB AND OTHER FABRICS," to
be as follows:-
The object of the Invention is to produce these fabrics upon a lace machine
instead of a loom, thus obtaining greater speed and a greater number of
fabrics woven at the same time and in the same space.
The means employed are as follows:-The warp of india-rubber and when
requisite the warp of other material are placed at the lower part of an ordinary
lace machine, and carried upwards in a vertical direction, or nearly so, as is
usually done in the lace machine, and these warp threads, which are the warp
threads proper of the lace machine, are considered as the half of the warp as

page_text: compared with the loom, the other half being formed by threads from the bobbins
and carriages of the lace machine. At the front and back of the warp threads
proper rods are stretched longitudinally, upon which slide weft carriers; these
weft carriers are held at their proper distances, and have motion given to them
by means of a longitudinal bar to which they are all connected, and which
bar is actuated by cam or other motion at one or both ends of the machine.
These weft carriers project upwards above the tops of the carriages so as to
lay the weft on above the points when such descend to receive it, so that as
the carriages are up in the front of the warps proper the front weft carriers
are made to pass through the shed or angle thus formed, and in like
manner when the carriages are up in the back the weft carriers behind the
warps proper are made to pass through the other shed or angle thus formed.
The points and carriages between the various breadths are taken out to allow
the weft to pass fairly and tightly round the last carriage and point and also
to admit of room for the weft carriers when the carriages are passing through
the centre of the machine. The end carriages of each breadth can have a
thin wire attached extending a short distance into the work produced so as
to keep a regular selvage and keep the breadth to the fullest width. The
reels or cops of weft thread are placed on the weft carriers and travel therewith;
tension may be put upon the weft in the usual manner. In connection with
each of the weft carriers and attached to another longitudinal bar running near
to the first mentioned are weft detectors, between the forks of which and a
grid placed upon the first-mentioned bar or the weft carriers attached the
weft thread passes; thus if any one of the weft threads fail or are broken the
end of the weft detector falls and catches in a notch or pin in the longitudinal
bar, say No. 1, which at its next motion will then draw with it the longitudinal
bar, say No. 2, which is at one end connected to the spring handle, and by
that means throws off the strap from the fast to the loose pulley, and thus
stops the machine; or the weft detectors may be placed upon No. 1 bar and
act upon pins or notches in No. 2.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Gadd and Louis Baillon in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
GADD, Consulting Engineer, of 122, Portland Road, Nottingham, and Louis
BAILLON, Lace Manufacturer, of St. Mary's Gate, Nottingham, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said William Gadd and Louis Baillon, Her special licence that we, the said
William Gadd and Louis Baillon, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said William Gadd and Louis Baillon, our 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 BOOT ELASTIC WEB
AND OTHER FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said William Gadd and Louis Baillon, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 William Gadd, on behalf of myself
and the said Louis Baillon, 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 :-
The object of the Invention is to produce boot elastic web and other fabrics
upon a lace machine instead of a loom, thus obtaining greater speed and a
greater number of fabrics woven at the same time.
The means employed are as follows:-The warp of india-rubber, and when
requisite the warp of other material, are placed at the lower part of an
ordinary lace machine and carried upwards in a vertical direction, or nearly so,
as is usually done in the lace machine, and these warp threads which are the
warp threads proper of the lace machine are considered as the half of the warp
as compared with the loom, the other half being formed by threads from the
bobbins and carriages of the lace machine. At the front and back of the
warp threads proper rods are stretched longitudinally, upon which slide weft
carriers; these weft carriers are held at their proper distances, and have
motion given to them by means of a longitudinal bar, to which they are all
connected, and which bar is actuated by cam or other motion at one or both
ends of the machine. These weft carriers project upwards above the tops of

page_text: the carriages so as to lay the weft on above the points when such descend to
receive it, so that as the carriages are up in the front of the warps proper the
front weft carriers are made to pass through the shed or angle thus formed,
and in like manner when the carriages are up in the back the weft carriers
behind the warps proper are made to pass through the other shed or angle
thus formed. The points and carriages between the various breadths are
taken out to allow the weft to pass fairly and tightly round the last carriage
and point and also to admit of room for the weft carriers when the carriages
are passing through the centre of the machine. The end carriages of each
breadth can have a thin wire attached extending a short distance into the
work produced, so as to keep a regular selvage and keep the breadth to the
fullest width. The reels or cops of weft thread are placed on the weft carriers
and travel therewith; tension may be put upon the weft in the usual manner.
In connection with each of the weft carriers and attached to another longi-
tudinal bar running near to the first-mentioned are weft detectors, between
the forks of which, and a grid placed upon the first-mentioned bar or the weft
carriers attached, the weft thread passes; thus if any one of the weft threads
fail or are broken the end of the weft detector falls and catches in a notch or
pin in the longitudinal bar, say No. 1, which at its next motion will then
draw with it the longitudinal bar, say No. 2, which is at one end connected
to the spring handle, and by that means throws off the strap from the fast to
the loose pulley, and thus stops the machine, or the weft detectors may be
placed upon No. 1 bar and act upon pins or notches in No. 2.
But that the Invention may be fully understood we will, by the aid of the
accompanying Drawing proceed to describe means pursued by us in carrying
the same into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a front view, and Figure 2 a transverse section of parts
applied to a lace machine adapted to carry the Invention into effect. In both
Figures the same letters indicate corresponding parts wherever they occur.
a is one of a series of bobbins capable of travelling, as operated in the
ordinary way in combs carried by comb bars, which we have not thought it
necessary to indicate; 6 shows where the work is taken up by the "points;" c
is the bobbin thread from each bobbin. These threads in carrying out our
Invention form one half or part of the shed of warp, whilst the threads of
india-rubber indicated by the lines d form the other half or part of the shed

page_text: ducted so as to bear on one side of the bar e and against the opposite side of
the bar fup between stumps 9 carried by the stump bar g¹ to the fabric; or
in place of these stumps perforated or other guides may be used as guides for
these threads d, according to the character of the machine for the time in use.
h, h, are weft carriers for the purpose of laying into the sheds formed by the
threads c and h the weft threads h¹, h¹, which are supplied from bobbins h?,
each of which is supported so as to turn upon a pin carried by each of
the thread carriers h, and in order to regulate the tension or drag upon the
threads h¹ there is applied between each finger nut h' and a washer h³ pressing
on the bobbin h a spiral spring he, the amount of pressure exerted on the
bobbin being variable by turning the finger nut h* in one direction or the
other; the means of regulating the tension on the bobbin h² may, however,
be varied. The weft carriers h, h, are formed at their upper parts tubular
or with a hole through them for the passage of the weft threads, whilst at
h' and h³ they are formed partly to embrace and to slide on the stationary
bars i, i, such bars i, i, being fixed to brackets from the main framing of
the machine. There will be a pair of these thread carriers, one front and
one back; to each breadth of fabric being produced in the machine, and they
will be each capable of traversing through sheds formed for them alternately
by the traverse of the bobbin warp threads c from one to the other side of
the india-rubber warp threads d. The weft thread guides h on one side of
the machine may be connected to a bar h, whilst those at the opposite side
of the machine may be connected to another bar h¹, and these two bars will
be caused to traverse alternately as the sheds are opened for them by the
traverse of the bobbin warp threads into the front or back combs by means
of cam or other pattern surface. In order to stop the motions of the machine
when any of the weft threads h¹ break as stated each thread h¹ as it passes
from its bobbin h² to the carrier h passes first through an eye 11 carried by its
bar ho or 20, thence under several pins or projections 12 standing out from
the bars he and h¹. These bars h° and 10 also carry a series of levers j,
each of which turns upon a fixed stud j", whilst one end of it is provided
with a series of pins or projections capable of coming into position between
the pins 12, and so as to rest on the under side of each thread h¹ as it passes
under pins 12, as shown, but when such thread breaks or fails the pins or
projections from ceasing to have support will rise between the pins or pro-
jections 12, and the opposite or hooked end of the lever ; will by its
greater weight or by slight spring pressure applied to it descend into position
to take on to a stud or projection k from a bar, to cause that bar in the
further motion of the bar h or h¹ to release a spring lever, and thereby or

page_text: by other suitable arrangement to shift the driving strap off the fast on to the
loose driving pulley; 1, 1, are gusset threads which are passed through holes
in a bar actuated by lace or other suitable pattern wheels.
Having thus described our Invention, and means which we adopt in
carrying the same into effect, we would have it understood that we do not
confine ourselves to the precise details shown and described, as the same may
be varied without departing from the peculiar character of the Invention;
but what we claim is, the adaptation or combination of means and mode
of operating for the manufacture of boot elastic web and other fabric, sub-
stantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gadd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
WITAM CADnn
CADD. (..)
WILLIAM CADD.