AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAIDING OR PLAITING MACHINERY
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Frederick Spittle, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Machinist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAIDING OR PLAITING MACHINERY"
Scaled the 12th December 1856, and dated the 2nd July 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Frederick Spittle
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd July 1856.
I, WILLIAM FREDERICK SPITTLE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN IM-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAIDING OR PLAITING MACHINERY," to be as
follows:-
The object of my Invention is to prevent the wearing into grooves of those
parts of braiding or plaiting machinery against which the thread being plaited.
or braided rubs, and which wearing into grooves occasions the frequent
breaking of the thread, and, consequently, imperfections in the braid or plait.
My Invention consists in making those parts of the spindles, and other por-
tions of the braiding or plaiting machinery through which the thread to
be plaited or braided passes, of glass or china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous
substance. By making the said parts of vitreous or semi-vitreous matter the
thread passes over them with little friction, there is little tendency to wear
in the said parts, and the thread passing over or through them is in little risk
of being broken. In carrying my Invention into effect, I sometimes make the

page_text: said parts of braiding or plaiting machinery wholly of vitreous or semi-vitreous
substance, or I line the said parts with linings of the said substance. My
Invention may be applied to all those parts through which the thread passes,
or only to such of them as the thread in passing through or over presses
against.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Frederick Spittle in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st January 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FREDERICK SPITTLE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Machinist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Frederick Spittle, Her special licence that I, the said William
Frederick Spittle, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Frederick Spittle, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BRAIDING OR PLAITING
MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Williani
Frederick Spittle, 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 William Frederick Spittle, 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 my said Invention is to prevent the wearing into grooves
of those parts of braiding or plaiting machinery against which the thread being
braided or plaited rubs; the wearing of grooves in the said parts occasions the

page_text: breaking of the thread, and consequently occasions imperfections in the braid
or plait.
My Invention consists in making those parts of the spindles, and other
portions of braiding or plaiting machinery through or upon which the thread to
be braided or plaited passes, of glass, china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous
substance.
In order that my Invention may the better be understood I have represented
in the accompanying Drawing the spindle of a braiding or plaiting machine
constructed according to my Invention.
:
Figure 1 represents, in side view, Figure 2, in edge view, and Figure 3,-in
section, the spindle of a braiding or plaiting machine constructed according to
my Invention. The several surfaces upon which the thread a bears in its
passage from the reel 6 to the point c are made of glass, china, or other
vitreous or semi-vitreous substance; the several parts constructed of glass,
china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous substance are marked d in the several
Figures. As the spindle represented is an ordinary spindle, excepting in the
application of the parts d thereto, I do not consider it necessary to describe the
construction of the same. I prefer to affix the pieces d of glass, china, or other
vitreous or semi-vitreous substance in their places by means of shellac or other
cement; where, however, there is no tendency, from the position of the part
made of glass, china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous substance, to fall from
its place, as at the top of the spindle, the pieces of glass, china, or other
vitreous or semi-vitreous substance may be dropped in their places, and need not
be fixed by cement. I sometimes carry my Invention into effect by making
the spindle in the ordinary way, and enamelling the parts over which the
thread passes by the ordinary or any suitable enamelling process.
Although I have only represented the application of my Invention to the
common spindle of braiding or plaiting machines, yet my Invention is ap-
plicable to spindles of braiding or plaiting machines of every construction, as
well as to other parts of the said braiding or plaiting machines.
By making those parts of braiding or plaiting machinery over which the
thread passes of glass, china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous substance there
is little friction between the thread and the said parts, and little tendency to
wear in the said parts, and the thread passing over or through them is in little
risk of being broken. Where the parts of the braiding or plaiting machinery
over which the thread passes are small, I prefer to make the said parts wholly
of glass, china, or other vitreous or semi-vitreous substance; but when the said
parts are large I prefer to line or coat the said parts with glass, china, or other
vitreous or semi-vitreous substance, or enamel them as herein-before described..

page_text: Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in braiding or
plaiting machinery herein-before described, and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing, that is to say, constructing or covering those portions of the spindles
or other parts of the braiding or plaiting machinery, against which the thread
being braided or plaited rubs, of glass, enamel, china, or other vitreous or
semi-vitreous substance.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Frederick Spittle, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM FREDERICK SPITTLE. (L.S.)
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.