IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF VARIOUS WEAVINGS IN BOBBIN NET OR TWIST LACE MACHINERY
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Crofts, of Lenton Terrace, Park Side,
... Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF VARIOUS WEAVINGS IN BOBBIN NET OR TWIST LACE MACHINERY."
Sealed the 5th March 1858, and dated the 10th September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Crofts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
September 1857.
I, WILLIAM CROFTS, of Lenton Terrace, Park Side, Nottingham, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF VARIOUS WEAVINGS IN BOBBIN NET OR TWIST LACE MACHINERY," to be
as follows:-
The improvements relate to the manufacture in bobbin net or twist lace
machinery of fabrics of the character produced in looms by warp and shuttle
alone, or interspersed with lace fabrics, plain or figured, and have for their
object, first, the so operating that various weft threads or weft threads of
different colored material or character may be employed, and any one for a
time be readily selected and laid in as weft, and then another, so as to produce
variations governed by jacquard or other pattern surface.
According to one system, the weft threads from bobbins or otherwise are
supported in position, so that that which for the time is to be laid in as weft
may by the jacquard or other pattern surface be taken by the catch or fork of

page_text: a finger or arm, or by a traversing carriage through the shed formed for it.
Or the weft may be carried by shuttles or such like holders operated from
rotary or other moving boxes or chambers.
Also, to the application of a lifting trough or series of supports to the weft
threads, as taken across the sheds, and before being tied in in combination 5
with lifting points or instruments to take the weft therefrom to the ordinary
points, the trough having suitable openings for the passage of the lifting points
or instruments.
Also, to the application to such weavings of additional warp threads, caused
to traverse or float over or past two, three, or more of the bobbin or warp 1
threads, to produce additional plain or ornamental effects.
Also, to causing the floating of some of the threads, to be afterwards
sheared or cropped to form pile.
In forming such fabrics in breadths, side by side, when pickers are employed
to throw the shuttle or weft holders, such pickers are, when the breadths are.
wide, caused to move within or across the open shed, or partly so, to save
space between the separate breadths.
;
Also, I form the shuttle race capable of tilting, so as to incline in either
direction, and thereby facilitate the passage of the shuttle or thread carrier:
or the race may be curved for the same purpose; and I employ stop motions
to stop the working of the machine when the shuttles or thread carriers do not
properly box or go clear of the shed.
Secondly, to the special adaptation of these improvements to that class of
bobbin net machinery which I call rotary inverted, that is, the work as pro-
duced descends in place of rising.
Also the improvements relate to operating the carriages in such inverted
machinery by means of catch bars.
The fabric produced according to my improvements in bobbin net or twist
lace machinery, (independently of the figure, ornament, or other effect pro-
duced therein,) may be either plain or of the character of crossed or twisted
weaving; and in its manufacture I employ mohair, alpaca, wool, worsted, silk,
cotton or linen, gold and silver, or other metallic thread as weft, and also as
warp, separately or combined; and the various bobbin and warp threads used
may be colored or parti-coloured, and there may be two or more warp threads
to each bobbin thread.
I also employ chenille as weft, and thick threads, to produce various effects
in combination with the general system.
In using stopping apparatus to stop the motions of the machine when weft
breaks or fails, I prefer that such come into operation before the weft is on the

page_text: points. And in manufacturing in bobbin net or twist lace machinery fabrics
of the character heretofore produced in ordinary shuttle looms, I produce the
same in breadths, side by side, or selvage to selvage, as well as in whole
widths..
The different warp and weft threads may be supplied from bobbins, spools,
or otherwise, and operated by independent instruments, and jacquard or other.
pattern surface, or other means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Crofts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
10th March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CROFTS, of Lenton Terrace, Park Side, Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Crofts, Her special licence that I, the said William Crofts,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Crofts, 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 MANU-
FACTURE OF VARIOUS WEAVINGS IN BOBBIN NET OR TWIST LACE MACHINERY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Crofts,
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 Crofts, 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 improvements relate to the manufacture in bobbin net or twist lace

page_text: machinery of fabrics of the character produced in looms by warp and shuttle
alone, or interspersed with lace fabrics, plain or figured, and have for their
object the so operating that various weft threads or weft threads of different
colored material or character may be employed, and any one for a time be
readily selected and laid in as weft and then another, so as to produce variations,
governed by jacquard or other pattern surface.
According to one system, the weft threads from bobbins or otherwise are
supported in position, so that that which for the time is to be laid in as weft
may, by the jacquard or other pattern surface, be taken by the catch or fork
of a finger or arm or by a traversing carriage through the shed formed for it.
Or the weft may be carried by shuttles or such like holders, operated from
rotary or other moving boxes or chambers.
Also, to the application of a lifting trough or series of supports to the weft
threads, as taken across the sheds, and before being tied in in combination
with lifting points or instruments to take the weft therefrom to the ordinary
points, the trough having suitable openings for the passage of the lifting points
or instruments.
Also, to the application to such weavings of additional warp threads, caused
to traverse or float over or past two, three, or more of the bobbin or warp
threads, to produce additional plain or ornamental effects..
Also, to causing the floating of some of the threads, to be afterwards sheared
or cropped to form pile.
In forming such fabrics in breadths, side by side, when pickers are employed
to throw the shuttle or weft holders, such pickers are, when the breadths are
wide, caused to move within or across the open shed, or partly-so, to save
space between the separate breadths.
Also I form the shuttle race capable of tilting, so as to incline in either
direction, and thereby facilitate the passage of the shuttle or thread carrier;
or the race may be curved for the same purpose. And I'employ stop motions,
to stop the working of the machine when the shuttles or thread carriers do
not properly box or go clear of the shed.
Also, the improvements relate to operating the carriages in such inverted
machinery by means of catch bars.
But that the nature of these improvements may be readily understood, I will
proceed, aided by the accompanying Drawing, more fully to explain the means
pursued by me'; and I would here state that I have not thought it necessary
to show entire portions of lace machinery, but only such of them as will serve
to connect the improvements therewith.
:

page_text: Figure 1 (Drawings A) shows a section of some of the working parts of a
lace machine, of the character usually called "inverted," on account of the
warp beams being at the upper part of the frame, and the work as produced
being carried downwards. a, a, are the combs or bolts, and a', a', the comb.
bars; b, the work bar, and c, the work roller; d are guide bars, the number.
of which may be varied, as is well understood; e, e, e, e, are a series of weft
threads, which may be of different colors or of different materials, as may be
desired, to produce various ornamental effects of the character of warp and.
shuttle weaving, combined with the production of various descriptions of lace:
These weft threads c, e, e, e, are each supplied from a bobbin, or spool, or other-
wise, as may be found most convenient, and each is passed through a separate-
eye formed in the end of an instrument f, in order that any one of them may
for a time be placed in position to be carried across the frame and laid in as-
weft, and then another, according to the selection determined upon.. The
instruments are carried by a frame f¹, and they are capable of independent
endway motion therein, so as to bring the selected weft thread e into position
to be taken by the carriage g when any one of them is operated for that
purpose by the lever arm h, whilst they are constantly borne in a direction
towards that arm by springs f², one end of each of which is attached to a hook
f3 projecting from each instrument f, whilst the other end of each of them is
attached to a hook carried by one of the supporting guides f, which support
and guide those instruments f in their endway motion. According to the
arrangement which I have employed, the carriage 9 always comes to one
position to receive thread and takes the thread from whichever of the instru-
ments is for the time opposite thereto, and at such time moved endways by
the lever arm h, and this lever arm h simply moves to and fro, as indicated by
the dotted lines, a distance sufficient to move the instrument f which for the
time is opposite to it up to the carriage g. In order therefore to change the
selection of the instruments f, the frame f¹ is capable of motion in the V'guides
formed as shown in the fixed framing f³, and this motion to the frame f' is
obtained by suitable connections operated by jacquard or other pattern surface,
capable of effecting the desired motions to the frame f¹, so as to bring any one
of the instruments f with one end thereof and the thread carried thereby cor-
rectly to the carriage 9, and the other end thereof opposite the levér h, or so
as to take them all clear of such lever h when no laying in of such thread is
desired. But as such motions are well understood, being generally adopted in
effecting the traverse motions to guide bars and other parts of bobbin net or

page_text: twist Jace machinery, I have not thought it necessary to enter into a detailed
description of the same here.
The carrier g by which the selected weft is taken across the machine is
formed by a projection from a carriage 9', which, in order to save time in
working, is caused to traverse in a direction from end to end of the machine
'whilst the carriages are passing either from the back to the front combs, or
from the front to the back combs, and then back. This movement may be
obtained by an arrangement of levers such as described in the Specification of
a recent Patent granted to me, bearing date the 14th day of May 1856, for
operating weft thread carriers, or otherwise the levers or links actuated by
such levers, operating (by preference) alternately upon the studs g², g², of the
carriage g', in such manner as to admit of a dwell at the end of each traverse.
In order to the selected thread being taken by the carrier g, that carrier.is
provided with pins g³, g³, g', between which such thread is conducted by the
end of an instrument f, as explained, and then in the motion of the carrier
gendways across the machine the thread is held from coming out from
between these pins 9 by means of the bar i, which extends from near the
frame f¹to beyond the traverse of the carrier g. When the carrier 9 has per-
formed its extreme traverse to the selvage opposite that from which it has
taken its thread, a carrier instrument takes into the thread to operate in like
manner to the instrument 1, in the Specification before referred to, and by
taking on to that thread draws it down into a position to be taken by the points,
and when they have taken it into position to be tied in by the work, a holding
instrument enters to retain that end of the thread correctly during the traverse
back again of the carrier g, in manner such as was described in the Specifica-
tion of the former Patent referred to; and when the carrier g is again back at
the end from which it started and past that end of the bar i, the thread which
had been taken by the carrier g may slip from between the pins g', g, g, being
no longer held therein by the bar i, and then either the same thread or any
other of the series actuated by an instrument f may at the next operation be
brought into position, to be taken at the next traverse of the carrier g, or if
no such weft is desired at the next operation, then all of the instruments f
will be kept out of the way of being operated by the lever h.
The other Figures of these Drawings A shew other views of these parts and
some of the parts in detail.
I would here state, that although I have only shewn four threads e, e, this
number may be varied; and whilst I have shown the form of thread carrier
for conducting the selected thread across the machine, and the means of sup-
plying the same, which I have found to answer well, I would have it under-

page_text: stood that I do not confine myself to these particular arrangements so long as.
a thread carrier is employed suitable to receive a selected thread and conduct it
transversely across the frame for the purpose explained, and the carrier employed
is capable of being supplied by any of a series of threads to be alike conducted,
and the selection of such threads is governed by jacquard or other suitable
pattern surface.
Figure 1, Drawings B, shows another adaptation of parts, whereby a series
of different weft threads may be employed, each capable of independent selec-
tion, as desired. The same letters indicate like parts of the ordinary lace
machine as in that just described. In this case the several weft threads are
conducted across the machine by instruments or carriers j, somewhat of the
character of shuttles, and each of the shuttles ; is in order to lay a thread taken
from a compartment or box, and then returned again thereto after laying
thread, transversely of the fabric. But according to the arrangement shewn
such shuttles do not carry their own supply of thread, they only serve as con;
ductors, and the respective threads are supplied from suitable bobbins or spools,
as in the arrangement just described, but each thread carrier or shuttle always
takes the same thread..
Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 of these Drawings show separate views of one of
these shuttles ; separately, and it will be seen that they are formed with
parts jj, by which they are capable of embracing the parts kl, k¹, of the
series of chambers k, as also of sliding on the fixed bar l, which extends from
opposite these shuttle chambers k to the opposite end of the machine, or a
distance equal to the. traverse required. .And. in order to the required selection
of shuttle j the boxes k are affixed to a carriage.k, which is capable of sliding
in the stationary V guides ³, by which each of the shuttles ; may, as required,
be brought opposite the end of the bar 1. The sliding of any of the shuttles.j
from the boxes k, and along the bar l, and back again, is effected by the
instrument m, which, by means of the hooked projection m', is capable of
embracing the projection of any of the shuttles to move them in either
direction. This instrument m is moved along the bar in either direction by
means of a finger n, which operates between the pins m²; and is moved by
levers or otherwise, in order to its having the desired traverse, and the distance
between the pins m³, being considerably more than the width of the finger n,
(and which distance may be varied;) gives time for a dwell at each end of the
traverse. After each delivery of a shuttle back into one of the compartments
of the box k, the locker blade o operates upon the projection from the
carrier j to take such shuttle clear of the carrier m, and admit of the traverse
of the shuttle box, in order that, if desired, a fresh. one of them may be.

page_text: brought opposite the bar l, or that they may be moved, so that all may be
missed at the next traverse of the instrument m. The motion to the
carriage will be effected by jacquard or pattern surface, operating in
manner such as referred to, and as is well understood in obtaining varying
motions to guide bars and other parts of lace machinery, as already men-
tioned. I would here remark, that although I have shewn and described
the independent shuttles or thread carriers to be simply conductors of their
respective threads, the supply of which comes from separate bobbins or
spools, these independent shuttles or thread carriers may each be provided
with its own bobbin or other source of supply; and the form of these shuttles
may also be varied, as may also that of the race or guide for them; and, in
place of their being actuated for their traverse by means of the character
shown, they may be thrown or driven across by pickers or such like driving
means; also, in place of the series of boxes or chambers for the shuttles
sliding, to bring the selected one opposite the race, they may be arranged to
rotate on an axis in like manner to what shuttle boxes are now arranged to
rotate on axes in looms for ordinary weaving by warp and weft, and the
selection for the required shuttle obtained by jacquard or pattern surface;
and although I have shewn the shuttle boxes or receivers at one end of the
race only, there may be suitable receivers for the shuttles at each end of the
traverse of the shuttle, in order that a change of shuttle may be effected after
each traverse.
.
:
In carrying out these improvements, I prefer to employ as means for
conducting the weft thread, when laid into position for being readily taken
by the points, instruments such as described for that purpose in my former
Patent referred to, but I do not confine myself thereto; and the shuttles or
like acting instruments may, if desired, be provided with guides or carriers
capable of holding the thread in the position desired.
The next part of the improvements relates more immediately to improve-
ments in operating weft threads, described in the said former Specification.
These improvements are shewn by Drawings C; Figure 1 of which shows a
section of some of the working parts of a bobbin net or twist lace machine;
Figure 2, a front view of some of the parts constituting the improvements,
whilst other of these Drawings show other views of various parts, in order to
"their being more clearly understood. is a thread guide or carrier (one of
which is shewn separately at Figures 3, 4, and 5) for conducting weft thread
transversely across the work in like manner to such carrier i, described in
'such former Specification; but in the present instance such weft thread is
laid by the carrier i on the supporting trough or bar l, which is formed to

page_text: give continuous or extended support to such thread, and conduct it up into
a position to be taken by the points k. The thread carrier i is caused to
traverse upon the bar , and has the requisite traverse motion given to it by
a link operated by levers, such as described in the said former Specification,
or by other suitable means. The guide bar i, trough l, and parts acting
therewith to operate the weft thread are shown to be connected together, in
order to their having given to them simultaneously at one time a lifting and
then a lowering motion. These parts are shewn in their highest position in
Figure 1, and their lowest position in Figure 6, and the object of their having
motion given them, so as to assume these two positions, is that the traverse
of the thread may be effected during the passage of the carriages from one to
the other set of combs, and that the thread may, when the carriages are either
in the back or front combs, be raised, so as to be readily taken by the points k,
to be delivered by them to the ordinary points. The weft thread is supplied
from a bobbin or spool, and the slack thereof taken up in manner such as
described in the former Specification, or by other suitable means. The red
line Z in these Figures shows such weft thread, and, except in Figure 6, the
carrier is supposed to have just travelled to the extreme right, by which it
has taken the thread under the stop m at the left-hand selvage, and laid it on
the top of the bar 7; and that the thread when thus laid may not slip off the
bar 7, that bar is provided with a series of guards and 1, thereby forming a
sort of trough. The guards are fixtures on one side of the barl; the
guards are carried by and form, in fact, part of springs, by which they
are capable of being withdrawn from the bar 1, in order to admit of the
passage of the carrier i within them. This carrier i is formed with lifters ³,
which in the passage thereof along the bar 7 operate to lift the springs ³, and
consequently the guards, until it has passed. The thread having been thus
laid on the bar 7 when the parts were in their lowest position, as indicated by.
Figure 6, those parts have (as indicated by Figures 1 and 2) now been
raised, and the points k are just entering the openings or slits in the bar 1,
in order to take the thread therefrom, and lift it up towards the ordinary
points, in doing which the finger m¹ carried by the bar k¹ will act upon the the
projection m² on the spring m³, to which the stop m is affixed, and by pushing
that forward release the thread therefrom. But as the thread thus suddenly
released would have a tendency to slip off the points k, there is provided at
each selvage an extra point z, affixed to a spring a¹, which has a tendency to
keep its point z overlapping, and forming, as it were, a pair of pincers with
one of the points k at each selvage; but there is a projection to the stein of
each point, which, as the points k come to take the newly laid weft thread,

page_text: 4
is acted upon by a stationary finger 23 to lift them for an instant, and then, in
the further progress of these parts, the projections slip off the fingers 25,
when those points fall on and aid in retaining the thread thus laid, till in the
crossing of the bobbin threads through the warp threads it becomes thereby
held, to facilitate the removal of the points k before such transverse thread is
taken by the ordinary points. In the receding of the points k. those points
descend slightly, by which this weft or transverse thread will more readily slip
off them, and such thread will now be held by the stop m at the right-hand
selvage during the descent of the parts for the next traverse of the carrier
from the right to the left hand selvage, when, the parts being alike at. each
selvage, similar operations will again take place; x and y are other springs
which aid to keep the weft thread in position.
In giving motion to the thread carrier it is important that there be a
pause thereto at each end of its traverse, the better to give time whilst the
bar and parts acting therewith rise and again descend, and such pauses
are also desirable when using the other arrangements.
It will be evident to a competent workman acquainted with this class of
machinery that the systems of thread carriers and the methods of supplying
them, before referred to, are applicable also to this as well as other classes of
lace machinery, such modifications being applied only to suit the different
form of machine; and that in place of the shuttle or thread carrier being
caused to rise with the bar i to raise the thread into position to be taken by
the extra points, the bar and parts necessary to conduct the thread may
alone rise, in which case the portion of that bar between the ends will be
separated from those ends where the shuttle or thread carrier rests after each
laying of thread.
When producing weavings of the character explained by the use of threads
laid transversely or in a direction from selvage to selvage of the fabric in the
manner of weft in ordinary loom weaving, I, according to another part of my
improvements, sometimes employ additional warp threads in equal or addi-
tional numbers to the ordinary warp threads, and supplied from independent
bobbins or spools, by which I am enabled to obtain various additional plain
or ornamental effects. In using such additional threads I cause them to
traverse or float over or past two, three, or more of the bobbin or ordinary
warp threads in such manner as to produce additional thickening or more
close weaving at such parts of the character employed in the production of
curtains and such like goods in lace machinery, or I cause such threads for
a time to float on and be tied to the surface, and then when the desired
amount of ornament or figuring has thereby been effected to the extent

page_text: desired, I cause such additional threads to lap around the bobbin threads till
a repetition of the figuring or ornamentation is again required; but in some
cases these additional threads continue over the whole surface by traversing
alternately over and then around the several bobbin threads.
When such additional threads are caused to float upon the surface of the
fabric, I sometimes cause them afterwards to be sheared or cropped, by which
the figure or ornament produced will be of the character of pile; but in such
case care must be taken that the threads: to be cut or cropped are well twisted
on to or around the bobbin threads, so as to prevent their becoming loose
when thus cut.
When operating the weft threads by any of the systems herein explained
the motions to the parts may be arranged that such weft may be caused to
effect its traverse during the rest of the carriages either in the front or back
combs. And the traversing of such threads may be effected on either or both
sides of the warp threads. It has heretofore been proposed to employ shuttles
of the character of those used in ordinary weaving looms, and actuated by
pickers in connection with bobbin net or twist lace machinery, for the purpose
of thereby throwing in weft threads into the lace fabric produced; but in such
case the shuttle boxes were extended considerably at each selvage of the
fabric, as is the case in ordinary looms, for the purpose of giving space
for the operation of the pickers, and there is a great disadvantage in such
arrangement by the loss of space thereby occasioned.
Now, another part of these improvements consists, when employing shuttles
or such like instruments actuated by pickers to lay in weft in bobbin net or
twist lace fabrics, in shortening the boxes or receivers for the shuttles to a
length simply sufficient for such shuttles, and bringing them close to the
selvages of the fabric, the pickers in actuating them being caused to move
within or across the open shed or partly so, by which space is saved, which is
of especial advantage when several of such breadths are being produced at
the same time, side by side, that is, selvage to selvage.
According to another part of these improvements, when using shuttles to
carry weft in connection with bobbin net or twist lace machinery, I hang the
shuttle race or guide on a centre of motion or otherwise, with a capability of
tilting alternately towards each end, and those parts of the shuttle race where
the shuttles rest (or the shuttle chamber or receivers, when several shuttles are
used) are controlled to rise and fall with the race or guide, and the motion to
such shuttle race or guide is governed so that the shuttle may in its traverse
always have to descend whichever end it may be thrown from, by which the
force of gravitation is at all times brought to aid the momentum obtained in

page_text: carrying the shuttle from one box or receiver to the other at each throw of
the shuttle; or in place of the tilting motion to the shuttle race. or guide the
shuttle race or guide may be of a curved form rising in the centre, by which
like results will be obtained.
When employing shuttles or thread carriers operated by pickers or means
to which they are not connected during the whole of their traverse, I apply
stopping apparatus to stop the motions of the machine in case the shuttle or
thread carrier does not properly box or clear the shed. For this purpose
there are arms or levers from an axis, to which a constant motion is given to
bring these arms on to or against the shuttle or thread carrier when it is in
its place after each pick, and which in the absence of shuttle or thread carrier
at either end will act upon throwing-off tackle to change the strap from the
fast to the loose pullies.
It will be seen that these improvements, whilst adapted to bobbin net or
twist lace machinery generally, are especially so to that class commonly called
rotary inverted," that is, where the work as produced descends in place of
rising. And I prefer to operate the carriages in the class of bobbin net or
twist lace machinery commonly called "rotary inverted" by means of catch
bars, on account of the saving of room effected as well as the simplicity of
such motions, and the operating of the carriages by catch bars in such
invented machinery constitute another feature of these improvements. I
have shown the carriages to be so actuated in Figure 1, Drawings A and B,
being the catch bars; but as the motions to catch bars are well understood
by persons familiar with bobbin net or twist lace machinery, I have not
thought it necessary to describe here such motions. The Drawings also show
the modification necessary in the form of the carriages consequent upon the
use of such catch bars.
The fabric produced according to my improvements in bobbin net or twist
lace machinery (independently of the figure, ornament, or other effect pro-
duced therein) may be either plain or of the character of crossed or twisted
weaving, and in its manufacture I employ mohair, alpaca, wool, worsted, silk,
cotton, or linen, gold and silver, or other metallic thread as weft, and also as
warp separately or combined, and the various bobbin and warp threads used
may be colored or parti-coloured, and there may be two or more warp threads
to each bobbin thread. I also employ chenille as weft and thick threads to
produce various effects in combination with the general system.
In using stopping apparatus to stop the motions of the machine when weft
breaks or fails, I prefer that such come into operation before the weft is on
the points; and in manufacturing in bobbin net or twist lace machinery fabrics

page_text: of the character heretofore produced in ordinary shuttle looms, I produce the
same in breadths, side by side, or selvage to selvage, as well as in whole
widths.
The different warp and weft threads may be supplied from bobbins, spools,
or otherwise, and operated by independent instruments and jacquard or other
pattern surface, or other means.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the details shown and described (as these may be varied);
so long as the peculiar characteristic of any part of the improvements be
retained substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Crofts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
WILLIAM BROOKES, Patent Agent,
73, Chancery Lane, London.
W. CROFTS. (LS.)