IMPROVEMENTS IN FABRICS PRODUCED BY LACE MACHINERY
Year: 1842

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, CHRISTOPHER
NICKELS, of York Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surry, Gentleman, and
CALEB BEDELLS, of Leicester, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fifteenth day of September, in the sixth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said Chris-
topher Nickels and Caleb Bedells, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege
and authority, that we, the said Christopher Nickels and Caleb Bedells, our
exors, adñors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Christopher Nickels
and Caleb Bedells, our exors, admors, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FABRICS PRODUCED BY LACE MACHINERY;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that we, the said Christopher Nickels
and Caleb Bedells, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Christopher Nickels and Caleb Bedells, do hereby declare that the nature of
our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that
is to say:-
Our Invention relates to manufacturing those descriptions of fabrics which
are produced by lace machinery, wherein a series of threads placed side by
side in the form of a warp are, by suitable apparatus, caused to be looped
together on needles, thereby producing various descriptions of looped fabrics;
and our Invention consists of means of manufacturing such descriptions of
warp fabrics by applying threads or yarns of cotton, silk, or other suitable
fibres, which have been first printed with ornamental patterns or devices,
whereby looped warp fabrics made in lace machines may be made of a more
elegant description than when such fabrics are made with yarns or threads,
each such thread or yarn being of the same color from end to end.
And our Invention also relates to the application of printed yarns or threads
in the lace fabrics manufactured by twist lace machines: The printing of
yarns or threads for fabrics made with warp and shuttle is well known and
extensively practised, and therefore does not need any description in this our
Specification, if forming no part of our Invention; but the same is to be
performed by suitable blocks or other means; as heretofore practised, care
being however observed that the pattern is so lengthened; as hereafter
pointed out, that when on a warp which is to be looped together to form the
fabric; that the pattern, when the fabric is produced by looping-together such
warp; shall not be out of shape; but, as hereafter explained; the patterns on
the printed threads or yarns which are to be used as inlaid thread will not
require to be.elongated; as they will retain the same figure; or nearly so, in the
fabric as when printed on the yarns or threads; and a like lengthening of the
devices or patterns will be-requisite when printing threads or yarns for making
fabrics in twist lace machinery.
The first improvement consists in using warp threads with printed-patterns
thereon, which are to produce fabrics by being looped together.
The second part of the Invention consists of using warp threads which are
to run longitudinally of the fabrics made, but such printed warp threads are not
caused to be looped on the needles, but are threads simply laid into the looped
fabrics produced by other warp threads; such fabrics being made of an open
character, will show the ornamental printed patterns on the inlaid warp
threads through the same.

page_text: The third part of the Invention.consists of inlaying threads or yarns which
have been previously printed with ornamental patterns transversely of looped
fabrics produced in warp lace machines.
The fourth part of our Invention consists in manufacturing looped warp
fabrics, by causing threads 'or. yarns, each of one color, to be inlaid, either
longitudinally or. transversely, into looped warp fabrics made with threads or
yarns previously printed with ornamental patterns.
And the fifth part of. our Invention consists of the application of printed
yarns or threads as warp.or. bobbin threads when making fabrics in twist lace
machines.
The manufacture: of looped fabrics produced by looping warp threads into
each other on needles, and the variety of more or less open and close work
which may be produced, and the extent of pattern which may be obtained by
the varied order in. which the looping of the different warp threads into each
other.is caused to take place, being well understood, it will not be necessary to
enter into a description of the working of such lace machinery. It is also
well known that of late years.threads of india-rubber as well as of spun fibres
have been introduced longitudinally, and also, transversely into looped fabrics,
made by looping warp threads into each other in lace machines, and in some
cases such inlaid threads have been of a different color to those of which the
looped fabrics have been made, into which they have been introduced in the
progress of the manufacture; but manufacturers of looped warp. fabrics have
never been brought into the market wherein the warp threads which are
looped together have been previously printed with ornamental patterns, nor
have looped warp fabrics of unprinted yarn. or. thread, with inlaid printed
threads, either. longitudinally or transversely, ever been introduced into the
market;.nor. have looped warp fabrics, made with yarn or thread previously
printed with ornamental patterns, and having inlaid threads either in a trans-
verse or a longitudinal direction, ever been introduced into the market.
It is well known that in manufacturing looped warp fabrics in lace machines
that the length of warp used for producing a given length of fabric will depend
on the length of the loops, and on the more or less open character of the work
produced on a given guage of needles; hence, in printing warps of thread or
yarn which are to be looped into each other to form fabrics, the patterns or
designs must be of such increased length as will cause the designs or patterns
to assume their correct outlines and figures when they are worked up into a
fabric. This additional length of the pattern or design to be produced in a
fabric prevails to some extent when weaving fabrics with warp and shuttle,
where the warps used are previously printed; but this lengthening of the
°

page_text: figures, or designs, or patterns on warps which are to be formed into fabrics
by looping them into each other, will require that the designs printed on the
warps should be more elongated than when to be used for weaving with warp
and shuttle, and this additional length will depend on the particular guage of
needles used, and the character of texture of the fabric to be produced; but
the workman knowing the quantity or length of warp required for producing
a given length of fabric of a particular texture of fabric on a certain guage
of needles, he will direct the ornamental pattern or design to be printed of a
proportionably greater length, according as the length of warp used up in
producing a given length of fabric of the particular texture is known to be
greater than the length of fabric produced therefrom. And when making looped
warp fabrics which have looped pile on one surface, as is sometimes the case,
the elongation of the design will require to be still greater than when making
the ordinary looped warp fabrics; but when using threads or yarns which have
been previously printed for the purpose of being laid out, looped warp fabrics, in
the progress of their manufacture in a longitudinal direction or in a transverse
direction, in general, the figures, designs, or patterns may be printed of the size
which it is desired they should appear in the fabrics in which they are to be
inlaid; for patterns in such cases will be very slightly distorted or altered, for
the printed threads or yarns will be very little bended out of a straight line. *
.
The means resorted to for introducing threads longitudinally and transversely
into looped warp fabrics forming no part of our Invention, and as the same
has before been commonly practised by others, it will not be necessary to enter
into any description thereof in this our Specification. It will be evident from
the description of our Invention above given, that the fabrics which may be
produced according thereto may be varied to a very great extent, producing
novel and beautiful effects, according to the descriptions of yarns or threads
used, whether of silk, cotton, or of other suitable fibrous material, and depend-
ing on the colors, and on the patterns or designs employed. The workman in
carrying out our Invention will observe great care in introducing the printed
warps into his machine, in order that the pattern may not be distorted; and
we recommend that where the warp has been prepared previous to printing,
by having weft threads thrown in at intervals to keep the warp threads
correctly, that those threads should be withdrawn after the printed warp has
been introduced into a lace machine, and only from time to time, just previously
to the parts of the warp being used up as it comes off the warp roller; and
when there is to be a printed warp used in conjunction with another warp
which is not printed, whether such printed warp is to form the looped fabric
or only to constitute the longitudinal inlaid threads, such printed warp is to be

page_text: any
warped on to a separate warp roller, as it is well known that the warped
threads which are to be looped into each other are longer than those which are
inlaid longitudinally of the fabric without looping, hence the necessity for
separate warp rollers. The workman, having introduced his warp into the
machine, proceeds to work in the ordinary manner, and he will produce very
elegant fabrics with ornamental patterns or designs, presenting a peculiar
character, differing from all fabrics heretofore made, and although it would be
impossible to describe all the variety of fabrics which may be produced when
using printed warps as the inlaid threads, it may be desirable so give an
instance of the peculiar characters of fabrics which may be produced; thus,
supposing the texture of the looped fabric were an open lace work of of
the variety of patterns which this class of machinery is capable of making, and
of one color, or in stripes of various colors, and. that the inlaid printed warp
were of a different color, in such a case the fabric would offer the appearance
of a tracery of lace over a printed fabric, and this would also be the case when
the inlaid threads are in a transverse direction; whilst, on the other hand, when
the inlaid threads are not printed, and printed threads are employed as looping
threads, then the fabrics produced would offer the appearance of printed lace
fabrics over a ground of other fabric. And thus, by varying the colors of the
warps used, great varieties of effects may be obtained, or the color.of ground
of the printed warp, and the color of the unprinted warp may be of the same
color. In some cases we introduce strands of india-rubber thread, either
covered or uncovered, in a longitudinal or transverse direction, and in such
parts of the fabrics so produced, in the same manner as india-rubber has
heretofore been introduced into looped warp fabrics, when it is desired to
give elasticity to parts of such fabrics; but we make no claim to so introducing
india-rubber in looped warp fabrics, the same being already patented, and
secured under Patents granted to Henry Dunington, of Nottingham, and to
Moses Poole, of Lincoln's Inn, London. In producing fabrics according to
our Invention in twist lace machines, the printed threads or yarns may be
either used for warp or for bobbin threads, care being observed to print the
patterns or designs so much longer than what they are to be when manu-
factured into a fabric, as the length of thread used up in either case is greater
than the length of the fabric produced thereby; when used as warp threads the
5 additional length of the design or pattern will not be considerable, whilst the
threads used for bobbin threads will require the patterns or designs to be
considerably longer. In using printed threads as warp threads, much care
must be observed in introducing the warp into a machine, that the pattern
should not be distorted; and when using printed threads as bobbin threads,

page_text: much attention should be paid to the, winding the threads on to the bobbins,
and to see that each of the springs of the bobbins' may offer as nearly :as
possible the same pressure, in order that each thread may be used up as: fast
as the others; and although it will be generally too expensive to obtain a
design of any degree of; intricacy when the the:bobbins transverse, yet when
the threads are printed at regular intervals with different colors in the travers-
ing and twisting with the warp:threads a very peculiar effect will be obtained;
and we vary the colors of the warp .threads in order to vary the effect of the
different colors. printed at intervals on the bobbin thread. In making what
are called straight down. nets, that is, where the bobbins do not transverse from
selvage to selvage, the bobbin. threads. may be printed with more elaborate
patters; and when there is more or less close or ornamental patterns of. cloth-
work, the printed patterns of the bobbin threads will be brought out with more
or less distinctness.
.
...Having, thus described.the nature of our Invention, and the best means we
are acquainted with for performing. the same, we would wish it to be under-
stood that what we claim iis,-
First, the mode of manufacturing looped warp fabrics.in lace machines by
applying warps of yarn or thread previously printed with ornamental patterns
or. designs..
...Secondly, we claim, the mode of manufacturing looped warp fabrics in lace
machines, by applying-longitudinal warp threads or yarns, previously printed
with ornamental patterns or designs, ás.inlaid threads or yarns.
Thirdly, we claim the mode of manufacturing looped. warp fabrics in lace
machines, by introducing threads "or. yarns, previously printed with ornamental
patterns or devices. thereon, transversely of such fabrics.
..Fourthly, we claim. the imode of manufacturing looped warp fabrics in lace
machines made with threads or yarns previously printed, by introducing
imprinted threads or yarns longitudinally or transversely into the fabrics in the
progress of their manufacture.
And, fifthly, we claim. the mode of manufacturing fabrics in twist lace
machines, by applying threads or yarns, previously printed with patterns or
devices, as warp threads or bobbin threads.
In witness whereof, I; the said Christopher Nickels, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-three.
CHRISTOPHER (L.S.) NICKELS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord 1843, the aforesaid Christopher Nickels came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and forty-three.