IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE FABRIC KNOWN AS ENSOR NET OR LACE
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Rainford Ensor, of the Park, Nottinghain,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE FABRIC
KNOWN AS ENSOR NET OR LACE."
Bealed the 12th March 1860, and dated the 22nd January 1869.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Frederic Rainford Ensor
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 22nd January 1869, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, Í, FRIDERIO
RAINFORD ENSOR, of the Park, Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF THE FABRIC
KNOWN AS ENSOR NET OR LACE," 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 the manufhettire of
the fabric known as Ensor net or Ince. In Ensor net or laco there are

page_text: two warp threads to each bobbin thread, and each pillar of the fabric
contains one bobbin thread and one back and one front warp thread.
Lach of the warp threads after twisting with a bobbin thread for the
length of a mesh crosses to the next bobbin thread, and having twisted
with it for the length of another mesh returns to the first bobbin thread,
and so on.
The front warp threads always cross from bobbin thread to
bobbin thread behind the bobbin threads, and the back warp threads
always cross from bobbin thread to bobbin thread in front of the bobbin
threads. As the front warp thread from one bobbin thread crosses to
the next bobbin thread its place is taken by the front warp thread from
this next bobbin thread which crosses to the first bobbin thread, and
similarly with the back warp threads on crossing from bobbin thread to
bobbin thread, so that all the crossings in one longitudinal line of meshes
are made by front warp threads, in the next longitudinal line of meshes
they are made by back warp threads, then again in the next longitudinal
line by front warp threads, and so on alternately. While the front warp
threads pass from bobbin to bobbin for forming crossings the back warp
threads remain each with the bobbin with which it was then twisting,
and immediately before the front warp thread crosses to the next bobbin
thread the back warp thread in the same pillar passes over in front of its
bobbin thread towards the next bobbin thread to which the front warp
thread goes, and immediately after this crossing from bobbin to bobbin
is formed each back warp thread returns in front of its bobbin thread,
or in other words, these back warp threads twist with the bobbin threads
first one way and then the other, changing the direction of twisting
immediately after each crossing of the front warp threads. This descrip-
tion of the position of the threads at and about the crossings of the front
warp threads applics equally to the crossings of the back warp threads,
simply substituting throughout the word "back" for the word front, and
vice versa. It results from this construction that the threads forming
cach crossing are (as it is called) "forked," that is to say, held between
the bobbin thread and the remaining warp thread; this is a peculiarity
of Ensor net or lace, and gives firmness to the fabric. It will be under-
stood that in speaking of front and back warp threads I use the words
front and back only to describe the relative positions of the warp threads 3
forming the ground net or lace, for other ornamenting warp threads may
be and generally are introduced into the fabric both in front of and
behind the ground warp thread. The advantages of the Ensor net or
lace are that in its manufacture with a comparatively few motions of the

page_text: MICIDING & Mrm net or ARGO WITH Mestics of a good mangap 15
obtained.
A diagram of Ensor not or lace is shown at Figure 1 of the annexed
Drawings. The red lincs a represent bobbin threads, the blue lines b
represent front warp threads, and the black lines c represent back warp
threads.
Ensor lace or net (the construction of which I have thus fully
described, although it was before known to the trade, in order that my
Specification may be more generally understood) has always heretoforo
been made in twist lace machines having a single row or tier of bobbins
or carriages, four warp bars being used in its production, each carrying
half a complement of threads, or half as many warp throads as thero aro
bobbin threads.
Now I have devised means of producing such net or lace in lace
machines having two rows or tiers of carriages, and so I obtain a much
finar net or lace than can be produced by means of a single-tier machine
of a like gauge. The bobbins and carriages not being delicate work at
great speed and make the net at less cost than the single-tier machino.
There is greater gate room for the warp threads, and the bobbins may be
of smaller diameter without loss of place for thread owing to its width,
an advantage for working the finest silk, the warp threads being less
chafed and the bobbin threads less strained from the bobbin revolving
heavily.
The table, Figure 2, of the annexed Drawings shows the movement or
method for making Ensor net or lace in a double-tier lace machine from
a double complement of warp threads, two to each carringo or bobbin
thread; they are threaded through four warp bars A, B, and C, D, all
with a liko number of threads, that is, each with the same number as
there are carriage or bobbin threads in a ticr; each warp thread inter-
laces alternately with two carriage or bobbin threads, the alternations
producing the crosses or closings of the meshes, which are forked, that
is, lic between a warp and a bobbin thread and constitute the essential
quality of the net or lace; this is accomplished by the alternations of
the back warp threads A and B invariably taking place when their
respective carriage or bobbin threads (which are a back and front car-
ringe bobbin thread of the same groove or gate of combs) are in the
back combs, the front warp threads O and D invariably alternating
when their respective carriage or bobbin threads, which are a front

page_text: carriage bobbin thread of the groove or gate of the combs to left, and a
back carriage bobbin thread of the next groove or gate of the combs to
the right, are in the front combs. In this table
O will indicate to the left of either a back or front carriage of the same
groove or gate of the combs,
1 will indicate
2 will indicate
"
93
"
right,,
23
"
22
22
right,, a back carriage only of the groove or gate
of combs immediately preceding to the right,
The back tier of carriages, say No. 1, and the front tier of carriages, say
No. 2, move constantly in the same grooves or gates of the combs from
the front into the back combs, and vice versa.
The fabric produced by working according to the table, Figure 2, is
shown by the diagram, Figure 3. The machine which I employ is a
double-tier machine of ordinary construction, except as herein-after
mentioned. The back and front point bars have each a double set of
points, say as many points as there are carriages in the two tiers; the
long back points 1, as is indicated by the diagram, Figure 4, will enter
the warp threads with carriages 1. The short back points 2 with car-
riages, on the passage of the carriages from the front to the back
combs, at every such swing the long front points 2 will enter the warp
threads with carriages 2. The short front points 1 with carriages 1 on
the passage of the carriages from the back to the front combs at every
such swing. Theso motions of the point bars are given by suitably
formed cams, as is well understood by lace manufacturers. Figures 5
represent wheels or cams for giving to the warp bars the motions
indicated by the table, Figure 2,
Although the movements which I have described above are those
which I prefer they are, as will be evident to the lace manufacturer,
Busceptible of various slight modifications, thus, the back warp bar B
might be the extreme back in lieu of A, and front warp bar C might be
the extreme front in lieu of P, in which case the bars would read from
linck to front, B, A, D, C, and the wales made with the back carriage
bobbin threads might be made with the front carriage bobbin threads,
and those made with the front carriage bobbin threads with the back
carriage bobbin threads; but such alterations either individually or col-
lectively would not effect any substantive change in the character of the
net or lace or in the method of its production. If desired to make the
pillars of the net or lace with an extra number of movements and yet

page_text: preserve the principle of the system intact the round or course of the
doubled tier can be extended from twenty-four to forty movements
by repeating movements 1, 2, 3, and 4 before making the closing
movements 5 and 6
"3
"
"
7, 8, 9, " 10
11
12
"
93
16
17
18
33
"
"
23
33
"
"
22
23
"
"
33
13, 14, 15,
19, 20, 21,
21
Extra and ornamenting threads may be introduced into net or lace
produced as above described at the discretion of the manufacturer, and
as ho will well understand,
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim as my improvements in the manufacture of the fabric known
as Ensor net or lace is, the production thereof by means of a machine
working with a double tier of carriages, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Rainford Ensor, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Twentieth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.