IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE OR IMITATION LACE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Ferguson, junior, of Paris, 40, Rue des
Jeuneurs, Lace Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINE OR IMITATION LACE."
Sealed the 22nd July 1864, and dated the 2nd February 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Ferguson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd February 1864.
I, SAMUEL FERGUSON, junior, of Paris, 40, Rue des Jeuneurs, Lace Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINE OR IMITATION LACE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machine or imitation
lace. Machine or imitation lace as at present commonly made is composed of
a net ground with "finings," or parts of a closer texture formed therein at
intervals; these "finings" are sometimes surrounded with or outlined by a
thick thread. Hitherto, however, the finings have been produced of one or
two thicknesses only. Now according to my Invention I produce finings of
three, four, or more thicknesses, in such manner as to obtain a shaded
appearance, and a greater variety of effect. A lace with three, four, and five
effects may be produced by working the lace closer, and by varying the
number of twists in the different parts of the finings, the net ground being
employed in other parts.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Ferguson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st August 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
FERGUSON, junior, of Paris, 40, Rue des Jeuneurs, Lace Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of February,, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Samuel Ferguson, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Ferguson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Samuel Ferguson, 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 "In-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINE OR IMITATION LACE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Ferguson, 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 Samuel Ferguson, 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 machine or imitation
lace. Machine or imitation lace as at present commonly made is composed
of a net ground with "finings," or parts of a closer texture formed therein at
intervals; these "finings" are sometimes surrounded with or outlined by a
thick thread. Hitherto, however, the "finings" have been produced of one
or two thicknesses only. Now according to my Invention I produce "finings
of three, four, or more thicknesses, in such manner as to obtain a shaded
appearance and a greater variety of effect. A lace with three, four, and five
effects may be produced by working the lace closer, and by varying the
number of twists in the different parts of the "finings," the net ground
"

page_text: being employed in other parts as one shade, but in this case it requires a net
ground more open, which I obtain by taking off the twists of the lace. I also
produce these same effects of shaded lace by working the lace in its natural
gauge, and by putting extra twists on the finings by means of extra motions,
more or less according to the effect I wish to produce.
I therefore claim these two ways of producing three, four, or more thick-
nesses of finings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Ferguson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
SAMUEL FERGUSON, JUN. (LS.)