IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF TWIST LACE, MADE IN TWIST LACE MACHINES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Simpson, of Calais, in the Empire of France,
Lace Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF TWIST LACE, MADE IN TWIST LACE MACHINES."
Sealed the 4th April 1862, and dated the 8th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Simpson, at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
October 1861.
I, WILLIAM SIMPSON, of Calais, in the Empire of France, Lace Manu-
5 facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TWIST LACE, MADE IN TWIST LACE MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of twist
lace made in twist lace machines. For these purposes ordinary twist lace
machines are used, I prefer to employ eleven point machines, though machines
of a larger or less number of points may be used in carrying out my Invention
when worked in the manner similar to that hereafter described in respect
to elevent point machines. Whatever be the number of points of the
machine, the meshes of the lace are produced therein, when carrying out my
Invention, of a coarser gauge than would be produced supposing all the
carriage threads to be used in making the meshes or groundwork of the
lace. One peculiarity of my Invention consists in this, that in my improved
mode of ornamenting twist lace in twist lace machines, I employ the whole
complement of carriages of the machine, although the lace produced therefrom

page_text: is of a lower gauge than the nominal gauge of the machine from which the
lace is produced, part of the carriage threads with their warp threads being
employed not to make the meshes constituting the ground of the fabric, but
as draw threads, temporarily to form and hold purls in openwork of the
lace. This I accomplish by selecting a certain number of carriages from the
machines' complement of carriages, the selected carriages by my improved mode
of ornamenting lace being used for the special purposes. In working to produce
twist lace in machines arranged to work according to my Invention the
meshes constituting the groundwork of the lace are produced by the comple-
ment of carriage and warp threads, less the selected carriage and warp threads
above mentioned, and such reduced complement of threads are caused to work
or mesh with each other in the ordinary manner and so as to produce open and
ornamental work in the midst of and surrounded by meshes, I by preference
cause every third carriage to be selected with its warp threads, so as together
with a purling thread or threads to make purls in the openings or ornamental
parts in the midst of the meshes or ground. The purls are produced internal
of such openings in such manner that the loops converge toward the middle of
the hole or opening, which is done by causing the purling threads to link with
the pillars or parts of surrounding meshes and such purling threads also link with
the selected carriage threads and those selected carriage threads link with their
warp threads so as to form and hold the loops of the purling threads in the
interior of the openings. And when the centres of openings made in the
midst of meshes are filled by finings or other work, then such purling threads
by the aid of the selected carriage threads and their warp threads cause the
purling threads to form purls on such central work so that the loops of
purls radiate from such central work, the selected carriage threads and their
warp threads being in all cases withdrawn or removed from the loops of
the purls after the lace is made. When in making parts of the ground of
lace there is desired to be a quantity of meshes where there are no holes or
openwork in the midst of such meshes, and where it is desired that such
meshes where there are no openings should be of a like coarse gauge with
the meshes which are contiguous to or surround open and purled work as
above explained, then the selected carriage threads and their warp threads
will be omitted at such parts, as in consequence of there being no openings
to be purled in the midst of such meshes, there will be no requirement for
the selected carriage threads or for their warp threads.
Another peculiarity of my Invention consists in the employment of extra
warp threads, which for distinction I call extra weaving warp threads, and
the number of such extra warp threads depends in each case on the width

page_text: of weaving which it is desired to make, together with such extra weaving
warp threads. I employ one (or it may in some cases be more than one
extra warp thread) to act as a weft thread with such extra weaving warp.
threads, and I cause these extra weaving warp threads to be capable of tra-
versing in a direction from right to left and from left to right, and so as to
produce their weaving in any part across the width of the lace which is being
made, and these extra weaving warp threads and the weft thread are caused
to weave either alone when they are away from the ordinary warp and
bobbin threads of the fabric or together with the ordinary threads when
such extra weaving warp threads are passing from point to point amongst
the ordinary warp and bobbin threads, at which times the ordinary warp
and bobbin threads are (in conjunction with the extra warp threads acting
as a weft) caused to weft or weave with the extra weaving warp threads
and these extra weaving warp threads may be used in combination with
or separate from the mode of working or producing internal loops or purls.
as above described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Simpson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th
April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SIMPSON, of Calais, in the Empire of France, Lace Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October; in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Simpson, Her special licence that I, the said William Simpson;
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Simpson, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF TWIST LACE, MADE IN TWIST LACE MA-
CHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Simpson,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or

page_text: 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 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 Simpson, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of twist
lace made in twist lace machines. For these purposes ordinary twist lace
machines are used. I prefer to employ eleven point machines, though machines
of a larger or less number of points may be used in carrying out my Invention
when worked in the manner similar to that hereafter described in respect to
eleven point machines. Whatever be the number of points of the machine,
the meshes of the lace are produced therein, when carrying out my Invention,
of a coarser guage than would be produced supposing all the carriage threads
to be used in making the meshes or groundwork of the lace.
One peculiarity of my Invention consists in this, that in my improved mode of
ornamenting twist lace in twist lace machines, I employ the whole complement
of carriages of the machine, although the lace produced therefrom is of a lower
guage than the nominal guage of the machine from which the lace is produced,
part of the carriage threads with their warp threads being employed, not to
make the meshes constituting the ground of the fabric, but as draw threads,
temporarily to form and hold purls in openwork of the lace. This I accomplish
by selecting a certain number of carriages from the machines' complement of
carriages, the selected carriages by my improved mode of ornamenting lace
being used for the special purposes. In working to produced twist lace in
machines arranged to work according to my Invention, the meshes constituting
the groundwork of the lace are produced by the complement of carriage and
warp threads less the selected carriage and warp threads above mentioned, and
such reduced complement of threads are caused to work or mesh with each
other in the ordinary manner, and so as to produce open and ornamental work
in the midst of and surrounded by meshes. I, by preference, cause every third
carriage to be selected with its warp threads, so as together with a purling
thread or threads to make purls in the openings or ornamental parts in the
midst of the meshes or ground. The purls are produced internal of such
openings in such manner that the loops converge towards the middle of the
hole or opening, which is done by causing the purling threads to link with the

page_text: pillars or parts of surrounding meshes, and such purling threads also link with
the selected carriage threads, and those selected carriage threads link with
their warp threads, so as to form and hold the loops of the purling threads in
the interior of the openings. And when the centres of openings made in the
midst of meshes are filled by finings or other work, then such purling threads,
by the aid of the selected carriage threads, and their warp threads cause the
purling threads to form purls on such central work, so that the loops of purls
radiate from such central work; the selected carriage threads and their warp
threads being in all cases withdrawn or removed from the loops of the purls
after the lace is made. When in making parts of the ground of lace, there is
desired to be a quantity of meshes where there are no holes or openwork in
the midst of such meshes, and where it is desired that such meshes where there
are no openings should be of a like coarse guage with the meshes which are
contiguous to or surround open and purled work, as above explained, then
the selected carriage threads and their warp threads will be omitted at such
parts, as in consequence of there being no openings to be purled in the midst
of such meshes, there will be no requirement for the selected carriage threads
or for their warp threads.
Another peculiarity of my Invention consists in the employment of extra
warp threads, which for distinction I call extra weaving warp threads, and
the number of such extra warp threads depends in each case on the width
of weaving which it is desired to make. Together with such extra weaving
warp thread I employ one (or it may in some cases be more than one) extra
warp thread to act as a weft thread with such extra weaving warp threads,
and I cause these extra weaving warp threads to be capable of traversing in a
direction from right to left and from left to right, and so as to produce their
weaving in any part across the width of the lace which is being made, and these
extra weaving warp threads, and the weft thread are caused to weave either
alone, when they are away from the ordinary warp and bobbin threads of the
fabric, or together with the ordinary threads when such extra weaving warp
threads are passing from point to point amongst the ordinary warp and bobbin
threads, at which time the ordinary warp and bobbin threads are (in conjunc-
tion with the extra warp threads acting as a weft) caused to weft or weave with
the extra weaving warp threads, and these extra weaving warp threads may be
used in combination with or separate from the mode of working or producing
internal loops or purls above described.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
I prefer to use an eleven point twist lace machine, and to select every third

page_text: carriage, the threads of which, when used, are employed as lacing threads, as
herein-after explained. The other two-thirds of the carriage threads are used
with their complement of warp threads (consisting of one or more warp threads
to each carriage) in producing the lace fabrics, and their warp threads are
shogged so as to work with their carriage threads as if the selected carriages
were not present. By these means the fabrics of lace produced will be of a
coarser gauge than would be produced in an eleven point twist lace machine,
in consequence of the absence in such fabric of the selected carriage threads
and their warp threads; and the peculiarity of this part of the Invention con-
sists in this, that where the lace fabric which is being produced in the machine
has long holes therein at regulated intervāls, then one of the selected carriage
threads is used to lace internal purls produced in each of such holes by means
of two warp purling threads carried by two separate bars; and a third warp
thread (from another bar) is also used with this selected carriage, hence it is
to be understood that when the thread of a selected carriage is to be used it
has as its complement three warp threads on separate bars, two of which are
used as purling threads, and the other as a draw thread, and in working the
two purling warp threads are caused to shog and link in with the ground
threads, which are producing the meshes on either side of the hole, so as to
form internal purls, as is well understood, such purls being received by the
selected bobbin thread which works with the third warp or draw thread, so as
to retain the purls securely as they are produced. If a patch of fining or
weaving in the midst of the lace fabric has a hole on either side of it, then such
holes are purled internally, as above described, by two selected carriage threads
acting with their purlings and draw threads, as above explained.
The second part of my Invention, like the first part thereof, is preferred
to be carried out by an eleven point twist lace machine, every third carriage
being selected as before, but in this case there are no purling warp threads
used therewith, but there are extra warp threads to produce weavings, the
object being to imitate lace commonly known as "Maltese lace," by producing
a kind of weaving to resemble the bands or belts of clothwork so characteristic
in "Maltese lace."
It is preferred, if a narrow band is to be produced, to employ in making it
eight extra warp threads on eight separate bars to constitute the warp or
longitudinal threads of such band, and one extra warp thread, as the weft
thread of such band, also two extra warp threads on separate bars to act as
lacing threads. The bars of these lacing threads come in front of the
ordinary warp bars, and it is preferred that the bars of the eight extra warp
threads should also be in front of the warp bars used for producing the lace

page_text: or ground fabric, and that the warp bar which carries the extra warp weft
thread should be in front of the other extra warp bars, but these extra warp
bars can be placed behind the other warp bars with like result, only the
times of moving will be different on account of their different positions. The
extra or weaving warp bars I number in their order, as they are nearest to
the main or ground bars, that is, in a direction from back to front. Two
selected carriages are used, and it is in the space between them that the band
of weaving is produced. This space comprises four gates, since from one
selected carriage to another there are two ground carriages intervening to
produce with their warp threads the ground of the fabric. The extra warp
bars are numbered respectively from 1 to 8, and they are worked in two halves,
the odd numbers Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, being in one half, and the even numbers
Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, in the other half. No. 1 bar, as before mentioned, is nearest
the ordinary warp bars which are at the back. At starting the two warp lacing
threads are to the left hand of their respective selected carriages, the extra
warp threads, Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, are on the left hand side of the left hand selected
carriage, and such warp threads range one behind the other. The extra
warp weft thread is in the same position as the other extra warps; the
carriages are in the back combs. The warp bars, Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, have their
threads ranging one behind the other, and they are placed in any position to
the left hand of the right hand selected carriage. The carriages are now
brought into the front combs, the left hand lacing thread is moved to the right
hand selected carriage of the left hand to take the thread of that selected
carriage as the machine closes. The carriages are again taken into the back
combs, and the extra warp threads, Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, are now shogged two gates
towards the right hand. The warp weft thread at this motion is shogged
towards the right hand four gates, which will place it on the right hand side of
the right hand selected carriage, when the left hand lacing thread is moved to
the left hand of the left hand selected carriage. The carriages are now
brought into the front combs; the right hand lacing thread is moved one gate
to the right hand, to place it on the right band side of the right hand selected
carriage. The carriages now close, and are again taken into the back combs,
the right hand lacing thread is moved one gate to the left hand. At this
motion the extra warp threads, Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, which have not before been
moved from the position first mentioned are now brought into operation, and
are moved towards the left hand two gates, and so as to place them to the left
hand side of the left hand selected carriage. The warp weft thread at this
motion is moved four gates to the left hand, that is, from one selected carriage
to another. The carriages are again brought into the front combs and the

page_text: left hand lacing thread is moved toward the right hand to take the thread of
the left hand selected carriage. The carriages are again moved into the back
combs, and the extra warp threads, Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, are moved two gates to
the right hand, and are thus brought to the position first given them between
the two selected carriages. The warp weft thread is at this motion moved four
gates to the right hand in order to link with the thread of the right hand
selected carriage preparatory to the warp weft thread commencing its
operations with the extra warps, Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7. The extra warp threads are
now again in the positions from which I commenced the description and the
movements above described will be repeated in order to produce a continued
woven narrow band.
During these operations the ordinary carriage threads and their warp threads
are caused to produce the ground fabric. The narrow weaving thus produced
may be connected from time to time as desired, by causing the eight extra
warp threads and their warp weft thread to pass through a pillar in the
ground fabric.
It has been stated that every third carriage is selected, but in the above
description the threads of only two of the selected carriages have been used,
but as it is desirable that the narrow band of weaving should not in all cases
pass straight down the ground fabric, but across the same in curved lines, this
is accomplished by causing the eight extra warp threads and their warp weft
thread, together with the two warp lacing threads, when they have for a time
worked as above explained in the space between two selected carriages, then
to work in the space between one of these and the next selected carriage to
right or left hand of the two between which the narrow weaving has been
previously produced.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to the
machinery herein described, but what I claim is, the manufacture of lace fabrics
in twist lace machines, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Simpson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
WILLIAM SIMPSON. (L.s.)