IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BONNET AND CAP FRONTS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PRODUCTION OF ORNAMENTAL EFFECTS TO OTHER TRIMMINGS FOR WEARING APPAREL
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Gadd, the younger, of the Town and County
of the Town of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
BONNET AND CAP FRONTS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO
THE PRODUCTION OF ORNAMENTAL EFFECTS TO OTHER TRIMMINGS FOR WEARING
APPAREL."
Sealed the 12th April 1864, and dated the 30th October 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Gadd at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th October
1868.
I, WILLIAM GADD, the younger, of the Town and County of the Town of
Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF BONNET AND CAP FRONTS, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE
TO THE PRODUCTION OF ORNAMENTAL EFFECTS TO OTHER TRIMMINGS FOR WEARING
APPAREL," to be as follows:-
Lace and other fabric to be used in the manufacture of bonnet and cap
fronts, is usually what is called goffered, and the gofferings obtained are placed
in boxes with chambers or compartments adapted to receive such gofferings,
such chambers being arranged in relation to each other according to the
pattern desired to be obtained to the bonnet or cap front and the gofferings
thus arranged are then pinched or compressed at the back edge by the lids or
flaps of the box, and they then generally have a band applied to them to aid
the holding together of the gofferings in the forms obtained. The forms

page_text: desired to be obtained vary however considerably as to the depths or
breadths of the material operated upon, and it is usual to have a different box
for every variety to be produced, by which considerable inconvenience as well
as expense is experienced; and the object of my improvements is to form a
box or substitute for the same, applicable to various sizes or breadths of the
material and to different figures or pattern's desired to be produced. For this
purpose the apparatus is formed with a flexible moveable bottom of thin metal
or other suitable material, which by adjusting screws or other suitable means
may be caused to assume different curves or undulations or to vary the depth
of the apparatus; and so as to be adapted to varieties in the width of the
material; and in place of solid divisions forming different compartments or
chambers for the collection of the material into the deesired forms, the
moveable bottom has applied to it or is formed with pegs or studs or pro-
jections, around or between which the material may be conducted and held in
a great variety of forms. Other pins may be introduced when required into
holes prepared for them in the bottom referred to or into a separate bar or
plate or plates with holes therein to pass over the pins already referred to, or
bars of pegs or studs or projections may be adjusted at various distances from
each other by screws or lever action. I effect the pinching or compression of
the breadths for the application of the band by means of bars or plates
supported at their ends on arms turning on centres at the ends of the appa-
This apparatus is also applicable when the fabric has been prepared
otherwise than by goffering, and also to operating on fabric with like effects
for other articles of trimming. When the back of the fabric has been pinched
by the bars or plates, other bars or plates or boxes heated by gas jets come
over and compress the projecting edges so that they may better receive the
band, and when the band has been applied pressure may again be exerted by
these heated boxes. These heated boxes may also carry a knife or knives for
effecting the bevelling of the back edge of the fabric previous to the application
of the band.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Gadd in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th April 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GADD, the younger, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, 3
Lace Manufacturer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Gadd, Her special licence that I, the said William Gadd, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Gadd, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agreo
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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF BONNET AND CAP FRONTS,
WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO THE PRODUCTION OF ORNAMENTAL
EFFECTS TO OTHER TRIMMINGS FOR WEARING APPAREL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Gadd, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Gadd, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
Lace, as also other fabric to be used in the manufacture of bonnet and cap
fronts, is usually what is called "goffered," and the "gofferings" obtained are
placed in boxes with chambers or compartments adapted to receive such
"gofferings," such chambers being arranged in relation to each other according
to the pattern desired to be obtained to the bonnet or cap front, and the
"gofferings" thus arranged are then pinched or compressed at the back edge
by the lids or flaps of the box to receive a "band," which is applied for the
purpose of holding together the " gofferings" in the forms obtained. The
forms desired to be obtained vary however considerably, as do the depths or
breadths of the material operated upon, and it is usual to have a different box
which considerable inconvenience, as well
for every variety to be produced,
as expense, is experienced with changes in size or form of the article to be
obtained; and the object of my improvements is to form apparatus to be
used in place of or in substitution of such boxes, applicable to various sizes os.

page_text: the accompanying Drawings proceed more fully to describe means pursued
by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS..
Figure 1 shows an end view, Figure 2 a transverse section, and Figure 3 a
plan view of apparatus arranged according to my Invention; Figures 4 and 5
show the parts in different positions from those indicated by Figures 1, 2, and
3; Figures 6, 7, "and 8 show parts separately. In each of these Figures the
same letters indicate corresponding parts wherever they occur.
a, a, is the main framing; 6 is the plate upon which the lace or other
fabric to have form given to it is placed. This plate is supported and held in
position by means of the ribs or bars c, c, aided by the buttons or moveable
clips c, c', whilst the ribs or bars c are connected to necks formed at the
upper ends of the screw stems d, d, the threads of which turn in cor-
responding threads formed for them in the stationary bars a', a', carried by
the main framing. These screw stems d have heads d, by which they may
be readily turned in order to adjust the general height of the flexible plate b
to the width of fabric under operation, or by which that plate may be bent,
curved, or undulated as desired to suit variation in the width of parts of the
article being produced. In place of screw stems, other means may be adopted
for producing corresponding variation in the height of the table b and the cur-
vature to it. In place of solid divisions forming different compartments or
chambers for the collection of the material into the desired forms, this plate b
is formed with pegs or studs, or projections 62, around or between which the
material may be conducted and held in a great variety of forms. Other pins
may, if desired, be introduced into holes prepared for them in the plate 6, but
I prefer to employ for this purpose a separate plate or plates with holes therein
to pass over the pins 6. One of such plates e, e, is shown in position on the
plate b, and a portion of it is also shown separately at Figure 8. This plate e
has holes formed in it corresponding with the pins 6', and through which those
pins pass, and it has affixed to and standing up from it other pins e¹, e¹, inter-
mediate of the pins b¹ already referred to. Or bars of pegs or studs, or
projections adapted to admit of the fabric being operated upon passing around
or between them may be adjusted at various distances from each other by
means of screws. Figures 1, 2, and 3 show the parts in position to receive
the fabric in order to its being placed in the desired form on the plate b.

page_text: Fabric supposed to be under operation is indicated by yellow lines in the
various Figures. When fabric has been placed as determined, on the plate b,
the pinching or compression of the breadths for the application of the "band"
is effected by means of bars or plates f, f, as indicated by Figure 4. These
bars ff, are supported at their ends on arms f, f, turning on studs or
centres f, f, carried by the main framing, and they are held together during
the pinching by spring catches f³, fs, affixed to, one of them, and catching on
to the other of them; f, f, are screw stops carried by the projections a³,
against which the arms f¹ may rest when the bars fare brought together, and
by which their relative position may be adjusted. When the fabric under
operation has been thus pinched and is being held by the pinching bars, the
edge or back thereof projecting above the bars f, f, is damped, or has adhesive
matter applied to it, and is then acted upon by the surfaces g', g', of the heated
boxes g, g, as indicated by the position of the parts as shown in Figure 5.
These boxes g, g, åre formed at their ends with necks 92, 92, by which they are
supported, with capability of sliding in the slotted openings of the frames g³, g³,
whilst these frames g³, 93, are supported upon arms g', 9', at each end of the
machine, by which a parallel motion is capable of being imparted to the
boxes g, g, when they are moved from the position indicated by Figures 1, 2,
and 3, to that indicated by Figure 5. This motion is obtained by the
operator acting on the handle g³, which is affixed on one end of the axis-96,
to which is also affixed one of the arms 9* at each end of the apparatus. The
axis turns freely in the main framing a, and it has affixed to it other
arms 91, the outer ends of which are acted upon by springs 9", or it might be
by weights, to counterbalance the weight of the frames g³ and parts carried
.thereby. These boxes g, g, are also capable of simultaneous motion to or
from each other in the framing g³, gs, and this motion is effected by means of
the lever handle g affixed on the shaft or axis 98, which is carried by the
frames g³, and which has also affixed to it the lever g°. The necks 92 of one of
0 the boxes g are by links 90, 91, connected to studs g¹¹, carried one of them by
the lever handle 9' and the other by the lever g³, and the necks g of the other
box g are by links 91, 91, connected to studs at the other ends of those levers
g', 9. Each of these boxes g is provided with a pipe g¹³, having numerous
openings for jets of gas supplied by the flexible pipes g, by which when the
5 jets are ignited heat will be imparted to the boxes g, g. Other means of heating
these boxes g, g, may, however, be adopted; and when, as indicated by Figure 5,
these boxes are brought over and caused to press on the projecting edges of the
fabric, they will compress it so that it may better receive the "band." But
previous to the "band" being applied a knife is passed on to the fabric

page_text: through the opening y at the lower part of one of the boxes (as indicated by
the blue line 2, Figure 5) to cut off any superfluous quantity of such material
and render the same uniform. The boxes 9 are then by the handle g caused
to recede from each other, as indicated by the red dotted lines, to admit of the
application of the "band," and when the moistened "band" has been applied
pressure may again be exerted by these heated boxes, and by the boxes being
heated the fabric will be dried, and the "band" caused firmly to adhere thereto
.at the same time that is compressed; g¹³, 91, are adjustable screws carried by
the frames' to rest on the stops a³ when the boxes g, g, are acting on the fabric,
and by which the height of the action of those boxes may be varied; h, h, are
strips of metal placed between the pins or studs b¹ and e' to assist the
attendant in giving uniformity of outline to series of fronts. Figures 9 and 10
show an' edge view and a side view of a part of one of these strips of metal
separately. By these views it will be seen that each strip is formed in parts
with clips h', h¹, so that one part may slide on the other for variations of
.length.
I will now describe a modification of the improvements adapted to the
'ordinary construction of boxes or apparatus used for this purpose. Figure 11
shows a transverse section; Figure 12 an end view; Figure 13 a longitudinal
section, and Figure 14 a plan view of one of such boxes; and it will be seen
by persons conversant with such apparatus, that in place of its having the
ordinary bottom with projecting chambers or divisions adapted to some one
particular form of "front" to be produced, the bottom 6 is provided with a
series of projecting studs or pins 6 similar to those already described, around
'or between which the fabric may be laid in a very great variety of patterns;
the bottom 6 is also flexible, and by the set screws d it may be shifted so as to
vary the depth of the box to different widths of fabric to be operated upon,
and it may be also curved to a greater or less extent to suit irregular widths
of "front." The wings or flaps i, i, are of the ordinary kind, and together
with the general arrangement of the box apart from the bottom band parts
immediately connected with it, forms no part of my Invention. In place of
screws, filling pieces and wedges may be employed, and an extra plate or
extra plates of studs or pins may be used. Boxes thus arranged will be acted
upon for the necessary pressure to the back edge, as heretofore, or otherwise.
Apparatus according to my improvements is also applicable when the fabric
has been prepared otherwise than by "goffering," and also to operating on
fabric with like effects for other articles of trimming.
Having thus described my improvements and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine

page_text: myself to the precise details shown and described, as these may be varied
without departing from the peculiar character of the improvements; but what
I do claim is, the adaptation or combination of means or apparatus used in
the manufacture of bonnet and cap fronts substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Gadd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILLIAM GADD, JN. (L.S.)