IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TRIMMINGS AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Smith, of Nottingham, in the County of
Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF TRIMMINGS AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 18th December 1866, and.dated the 22nd June 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Smith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
June 1866.
I, WILLIAM SMITH, of Nottingham, in the County of Nottingham, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF TRIMMINGS AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in an improved manufacture of trimmings and in
machinery or apparatus to be employed therein. I produce ornamental
forms or devices of trimmings, which I apply and stitch upon velvet, ribbons,
lace, or other textile fabrics. To effect this I propose to pass the fabric to be
ornamented or figured over a heated cylinder or cylinders or other surface.
I employ a hollow tube or tubes, to the top of which is or are attached a wire
or wires; through this tube or tubes I bring as many threads as the pattern
desired may require; these threads are passed to the cylinder; I then cause
one or more revolving shuttles (according to the pattern required), each of
which carries one or more bobbins of gimp, silk, cotton, or other fibrous
material to revolve round the threads and wire or wires before named, and

page_text: as they revolve the material is drawn off the bobbins by the revolution of the
cylinder, and the pattern or device is thus formed; it is then laid upon the
velvet, ribbon, lace, or other fabric, which then passes under a roller, and
the ornamental device is attached and stitched upon the fabric forming the
body of the trimming. In some cases I employ a series of bars containing
upright pins or guides for controlling the threads in order to form different
patterns of trimmings in conjunction or not with the revolving shuttles.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
December 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SMITH, of Nottingham, in the County of Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Smith, Her special licence that I, the said William Smith,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Smith, exccutors, 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 TRIMMINGS AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Smith, my exe-
cutors 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 William Smith, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This Invention consists in an improved manufacture of trimmings and in

page_text: machinery or apparatus to be employed therein. I produce ornamental forms
or devices of trimmings, which I apply and stitch upon velvet, ribbons, lace,
or other textile fabrics. To effect this I propose to pass the fabric to be
ornamented or figured over a heated cylinder or cylinders or other surface.
I employ a hollow tube or tubes, to the top of which is or are attached a
wire or wires; through this tube or tubes I bring as many threads as the
pattern desired may require; these threads are passed to the cylinder; I then
cause one, two, or more revolving shuttles, according to the pattern required,
each of which carries one or more bobbins of gymp, silk, cotton, or other
fibrous material to revolve round the threads and wire or wires before named,
and as they revolve the material is drawn off the bobbins by the revolution
of the cylinder, and the pattern or device is thus formed; it is then by apparatus
formed for that purpose laid upon the velvet, ribbon, lace, or other fabric,
which then passes under a roller, and the ornamented device is attached and
stitched upon the fabric forming the body of the trimming. In some cases [
employ a series of bars containing upright pins or guides for controlling the
threads in order to form different patterns of trimmings in conjunction or
not with the revolving shuttles.
In order that my said Invention may be completely understood by those
conversant with the manufacture of trimmings I refer to the accompanying
Drawings, which exhibit the essential parts of the machine to which the Inven-
tion refers, omitting various portions which will be otherwise understood.
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of the central and upper part of the
machine containing the portions necessary to shew the needle action, and
Figure 2 is a plan view for the object of shewing the revolving shuttle motion
in connection with such needle action. Similar letters of reference denote
corresponding parts where such occur in each of the Figures respectively.
a is the table or base plate of the machine broken off at each end, and
merely extending far enough to contain the parts shewn; this table is to
be supported on standards or on a bench as most convenient; the table being
extended to the right hand of the Drawing serves to contain in bearings the
driving shaft and pulley or handle together with cogged wheels and excentrics
for actuating the needle arm and other parts herein-after referred to; at the
side of and parallel to the driving shaft a sliding rod is set in bearings and
extends to the rear of the machine for the purpose of actuating a clutch to
start or stop the motion. 6 is the pillar supporting the rocking needle arm c,
which is connected to the vertical slide d by the pivot d'; the slide has
attached to it the horizontal needle holder e, which may contain any desired
number of needles f; the needle arm is oscillated by means of the connecting

page_text: rod
9, shewn broken off, but which is actuated by an excentric on the
driving shaft as is easily understood. h, h, are two standards fixed to the
plate a; these serve to support the horizontal sliding bars i, i, which receive
a reciprocating motion by the lugs 2, 1, 1, the oscillating lever j, and the
connecting rod k, shewn broken off, but which is actuated by an excentric
motion in connection with the driving shaft; these bars actuate the wires l,
the part of which is pierced with holes for the guidance of threads of any
color required, and enables them to be shifted to and fro in connection with
the action of the needles; any desired number of bars may be employed
according to the pattern required, and they may be worked by cams or by the
jacquard motion actuated from the driving shaft. m is a bar which contains
the upright guide wires m', through or between which threads are brought
from bobbins or reels at the side of the machine. n is the supporting plate
for the work; this plate is perforated with slots n' for the passage of the
needles, and behind this plate and supported in vertical slotted guides o, o,
the roller o¹, shewn broken off longitudinally, resting on the large under roller
o, which is supported in bearings or brackets underneath the table of the
machine; through these rollers the work passes and becomes pressed flat
thereby. p is the under thread feeding bar, receiving its threads from bobbins
means of the
suitably placed; this bar also receives a to-and-fro motion
rod pin connection also with an excentric motion actuated by the driving
shaft, and p² is the sliding or adjustable guage for the purpose of bringing the
fabric to be embroidered or the work to be manufactured exactly under the
needles; the right hand rod på slides along the horizontal bars to suit the
width of the fabric and needles employed, and the entire guide runs on a slot in
the plate and is secured by set screws as desired. The threads feeding bar p
may be single, or more than one may be used, actuated by cams or by the
jacquard motion from the main shaft to shift the threads from one needle
to another as may be required to form different patterns, when by no
fabric being employed as a groundwork to be ornamented the machine will
form its own fabric or net in connection with the revolving or reciprocating
shuttles hereafter described. By the use of the bars in connection with the
needles I produce a fabric or network with or without a foundation as required.
g is a hollow shaft running through the bearing q' and actuated by the bevel
pinions, 93, the transverse shaft 98 in the bearing g', such shaft being in
turn operated by a similar pair of bevils, one of which is on the driving shaft,
as will easily be understood; r, r, are projections from the stationary head r',
which serve to hold the horizontal guide wires 7, 7, which lie across the
supporting plate for the work; I also in some cases use threads passing through

page_text: the hollow shaft alongside the guide wires and entering the work and forming
part thereof, or I dispense with the guide wires and use the thread or threads
alone to act as guides and to form part of the work; s, &, are the revolving
arms or shuttle action having eyes in their extremities through which the
cords s', s, are made to pass from the bobbins s2, s, set in projecting bearings
83, 3, on the revolving disc s'; t is a forked arm set on the end of the stem t¹,
which passes completely back and through the hollow shaft g and through a
square bearing in the nut q; it is then bent to a right angle and connected
to the rod go, which in turn is secured by a pin joint to the face of the bevel
pinion g, whereby it advances and recedes at each revolution of the disc,
bobbins, and shuttle arms; the two. forks pass under the guide rods and
ultimately enclose them in rings at the ends of the forks, whereby as the
shuttle arms revolve the guide rods are covered with the cords from the
bobbins, which cord is acted upon by the system of needles and threads
already described, and continually forced or pushed backwards by the sliding
forks, and thus a trimming or ornament is formed on velvet, ribbon, or any
other fabric, or a network or fabric and ornament without any groundwork,
all depending upon the number and arrangement of threads employed.
Although I have only shewn two bobbins any other number may be employed
in connection with a suitable number of shuttle arms, and moreover, instead of
causing the disc and bobbins, and shuttle arms to revolve, I also in some cases
give them a reciprocating motion, say about a quarter or half turn each way
by dispensing with the bevel gear motion and substituting an excentric motion;
this method is useful when manufacturing a fabric without a groundwork.
Where I require greater elaborating of work I can form either a chain stitch,
or a lock stitch will answer for a net groundwork to be ornamented, but by
varying the needle to go through cloth a lock stitch can easily be produced.
With regard to the pressing rollers I may observe that the top roller is set
loose in the vertical grooves and merely acts as a pressing roller, but the shaft
of the large under roller extends under the machine to the under part of
the driving shaft, and has attached to it a ratchet wheel which is actuated
by an excentric and pall from the driving shaft, or by a curvilinear disc or
any other well known equivalent mechanical action, in order to turn the roller
a fractional part of a revolution at each operation of the needles in combination
with the revolving shuttles, and thus to take off the work as fast as completed,
in some cases I employ a second system of revolving shuttles, bobbins, and
discs set on the same shaft, such second set being larger than the set described,
and their shuttle arms enclosing or surrounding the first set; I may then
employ two more guide wires or threads, one on each side of the first set, on

page_text: the table or rest, or one guide, or even dispense with guides, and thereby I
form a fabric of different colors by means of serving each system of shuttles
with different colors.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark in combination that I
do not limit myself to the precise details and configuration of parts which I
have described and partly shewn, as the same may evidently be varied or
modified without in any degree departing from the principles of which my
Invention is based; but what I claim and desire to be secured to me by the
herein in part recited Letters Patent is, the method of manufacturing orna-
mented trimmings either on fabrics or net fabrics, or velvet, ribbon, or other
fabric, or of manufacturing the same or other devices or ornaments without
the use of fabric or net as a groundwork, by means of a combination of one
to any number of needles, forming either a chain stitch or a lock stitch is
required, and actuated by a needle arm or arms in conjunction with any
desired number of revolving or reciprocating arms or shuttles and bobbins,
and series of thread bars, threads, and guides, substantially in the manner
herein specified and partly shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Smith, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
WILLIAM SMITH. (L.S.)