CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BOBBIN NET LACE
Year: 1835

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Joun
LEVERS, of New Radford, in the County of Nottingham, Machine Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-seventh day of February, in the
fifth year of His reign, and in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and thirty-five, did give and grant unto me, the said John Levers,
and JAMES PEDDER, of New Radford, in the County of Nottingham aforesaid,
Lace Maker, our executors, administrators and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said John Levers and
James Pedder, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said John Levers and James Pedder, our executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times hereafter 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 "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING BOBBIN NET LACE;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging us, the said John Levers
and James Pedder, or one of us, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, J, the said
John Levers, on behalf of myself and of the said James Pedder, do hereby
declare that the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, are particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):-
Our Improvements in Machinery for Making Bobbin Net Lace apply to
that description of machines iu which the bobbins and carriages are worked by
means of fluted rollers and circular combs, and consist in a peculiar mecha-
nism to be appended to such machines for the purpose of commanding certain
of the bobbin carriages, in order to prevent their traversing, and to cause the
other bobbin carriages that do traverse to turn again at the selvages for the
purpose of dividing the sheet of net into any desired number of breadths,
the object of which is that embroidered patterns or figures of various kinds
may be wrought on the edges of each breadth. These objects are effected by
making the back fluted rollers hollow, and introducing through the centre of
each hollow roller a longitudinal shaft carrying toothed segments, which
toothed segments, when so mounted upon the central shafts, are intended to
act in spaces or groves cut round the peripheries of the hollow rollers, the teeth
of the segments being coincident with the flutes of the rollers. The toothed
segments are at certain periods of the evolutions of the machine kept
stationary, although the rollers turn, which holding of the segments is for
the purpose of preventing the non-traversing bobbin carriages and the turn-
again bobbin carriages of each breadth being moved by revolving rollers; and
this occasional retension of those bobbins and carriages, in connection with the
suitable shogging of the bars, produces those movements which are calculated
to form selvages and lacing. The holding of the toothed segments is effected
by a pendant sector rack acting on pinions fixed at the end of each of the
internal longitudinal shafts of the back rollers, which sector rack is actuated
through the agency of levers by peculiarly-formed cams. The peripheries of
these cams determine or govern the vibrating movements of the sector rack
which drives or holds the toothed segments that act upon the non-traversing
and lacing bobbins, whilst another set of cams, or what is technically called

page_text: cut of wheels, give the required longitudinal or shogging movements to the
bars which cause the selvages or patterns to be worked upon the lace.
It is to be understood that the toothed segments introduced into the back
fluted rollers may be of any and various thicknesses, in order to cover one
or more gates of the combs, that is, to act simultaneously upon one or upon any
number of carriages in the back rollers.
In the accompanying Drawings Figure 1 represents the four fluted rollers
a, a and b, b, in section, as they would be situate when mounted in the machine.
The teeth of the pendant sector rack c, c, takes into the pinions d, d, d, d,
fixed on the ends of the rollers, and by the vibrations of the sector rack the
rollers are turned, which is the ordinary mode of actuating a fluted roller
machine. In this instance the two back rollers b, b, are made of larger dia-
meter than the front rollers for the purpose of affording sufficient substance
of metal when bored out; and in order that the peripheries of the four rollers
a, a, b, b, may all move through equal spaces and drive the carriages in the
circular combs with equal speed, the number of flutes in the larger or back
rollers must be increased, and the number of teeth on their pinions also, the
latter being driven by an auxilliary sector rack e, e, affixed to the side of the
pendant rack c. Figure 2 represents part of one of the back fluted rollers ;
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the same. f. f, is the shaft passed through
the hollow roller, with the toothed segments g, h, i, affixed to the shaft by arms
with dovetails fitting into a longitudinal grove. Figure 4 is a transverse
section of one of the back rollers b, with its internal shaft f and one of the
toothed segments affixed thereto. The number of teeth in any one of these
segment pieces must depend upon the number of tails or indentations in the
under part of each bobbin carriage, and the arcs of the segments for the inner
back roller should contain four-fifths of the number of teeth which would
form the complete circle, as Figure 5, while those of the outer back roller
need contain only two-fifths of the entire circlue of teeth, as Figures 4 and 6,
having but one tier of carriages to act upon. Figure 7 is an end view of one
of the back rollers shewing the pinion d by which it is driven, and also the
pinion k fixed on the end of the shaft, by which the shaft and its toothed
segments are actuated or held stationary independently of the fluted roller
which incloses it. The pendant sector rack by which the movements of the
internal longitudinal shafts f, f, are governed, is situate at the opposite end of
the machine to the ordinary pendant sector rack, by which the fluted rollers
are driven. Figure 8 shews the additional pendant sector rack 1, l, which
takes into the pinion of the auxilliary shafts f. This sector rack hangs upon
an axle fixed in the end frame of the machine coincident with the center of

page_text: the curve of the combs, and when it vibrates causes the shafts with the
toothed sectors to revolve, or when stationary holds the toothed sectors which
confine the non-traversing and turn-again bobbin carriages to the middle of the
pindant rack; there are attached by a joint m two adjustable pieces n, n,
called "half-jacks," which are connected to the upper ends of two vertical
levers o, o.
These vertical levers o, o, swing upon studs p, p, fixed in the end
frame, and the lower extremities of the levers carry anti-friction rollers q, q,
working against the peripheries of peculiarly formed cams r, r, fixed on the
same shaft as that which carries the ordinary net wheels. The principle upon
which these cams are formed is shewn in the diagrams at Figures 9 and 10.
The faces of the cams are scribed with circles a, b, c, shewn by dots, the
diametures of which scribed circles must be proportioned to the length of
motion required to work the carriages. There being two tiers of bobbin
carriages to be worked in this machine, there must be three different radii of
the cams acting upon the levers at different periods of the evolutions, the
greatest and the least radii determining the extremities of the motions, the
carriages being at those periods either all in the back combs or all in the front,
and the middle radii of the cams corresponding to the position of the carriages
when they are in the middle, that is, one tier in the back combs and the other
in the front combs. In that position of the cams and the pendant rack,
shewn at Figure 8, all the bobbin carriages would be situate in the back combs,
as represented at No. 1 in the horizontal diagram of a portion of the combs and
carriages at Figure 11. As the cams revolve in the direction of the arrows,
Figure 8, in passing from the points of the radii 1 to 2, the levers will receive
no movement, therefore those of the bobbin carriages which are commanded by
the toothed segments will be kept stationary, whilst the other carriages are
moving into the front combs, as shewn in the sectional elevation of the combs,
fluted rollers, bobbin carriages, and the internal shafts with the toothed
segments at Figure 12. The front tier of bobbin carriages having passed
into the front combs, they will then assume the possition shewn in Figure 11,
at No. 1*; the front comb bar then shogs one gate to the right (that is, in the
direction of the arrow in Figure 11), and the carriage will after thus having
been shogged stand as shewn at No. 2. The cams proceeding in their
rotary movements will, in bringing the points of their radii 3 into operation
upon the anti-friction rollers, move the levers so as to cause the internal
shafts to turn with the fluted rollers, and bring the whole of the carriages
into the front combs with the exception of the non-traversing carriages,
which are left in the back combs. The front comb bar now shogs one gate to
the left, and the carriages then will appear as at No. 3. The cams moving on,

page_text: the parts of their peripheries from the points 3 to 4 act upon the levers 0, 0,
which will cause the internal shafts and toothed segments now to turn back
with the return of the fluted rollers, and bring the carriages into the position
shewn at No. 4, the non-traversing carriages and the turn-again carriages
having returned to the extremity of their movements in the back combs.
The cams in revolving from 4 to 5 will give no movement to the levers,
therefore the toothed segments will remain stationary; but the rotation of the
fluted rollers will carry the whole of the bobbin carriages into the back combs,
as at No. 5. The rotation of the cams from 5 to 6 will give the same rotary
motion to the internal shafts as the fluted rollers receive; therefore the bobbin.
carriages all move together into the position shewn at No. 6, one tier being in
the front combs and the other in the back. The movement of the cams
from 6 to 7 does the same, and causes all the carriages to pass into the front
combs at No. 7. From 7 to 8 the cam will cause the internal shafts again to
turn with the fluted rollers, and bring the carriages into the middle, one tier
being in the back combs and the other in the front. The front comb bar
then shogs one gate to the right, which brings the carriages into the situations
shewn at No. 8. The cams, in proceeding from their points of radii 8 to 9,
allow the whole of the bobbins to pass into the back combs, the front comb
bar then shogs one gate to the left, and places the carriages as they appear at
No. 9. The periphery of the cams in revolving from 9 to 10 shift the levers
so that they cause the internal shafts with the toothed segments to return with
the fluted rollers, and conduct the carriages to the middle as at No. 10. The
further retention of the cams from 10 to 11 continues the same movements
of the toothed segments with the fluted rollers, and causes the carriages to
occupy the front combs as at No. 11. The cams in passing from 11 to 12
cause the levers to move the internal shafts and toothed segments with the
fluted rollers, and control the carriages from the front to the middle, and bring
them into the position shewn at No. 12. From 12 to 1 the rotation of the
cams continuing causes the carriages to pass from the middle to the back
combs into the situation shewn at No. 1, after which the evolutions of the
machine go on again as described. On examining the diagram No. 11 and
noticing the positions of the carriages at No. 2, 3, and 8, at the same time
remembering that the front comb bar shogs to the right at No. 2 and to the
left at No. 3, also to the right at No. 8, and to the left at No. 9, it will be
found that the carriages at the selvages will turn again without the necessity
of placing turn-agains in the front rollers. It is to be observed that though
toothed segments are placed in both the back rollers, yet the inside back
roller alone causes the carriages to turn again, the toothed segments in the

page_text: outer back rollers being designed solely for the purpose of preventing
such of the carriages from traversing as may be requisite according to
the work to be made. By way of example it may be stated that if
a toothed segment wide enough to cover six gates be mounted in the
outer back roller, and a corresponding segment mounted in the inner back
roller, and five carriages and bobbins be removed from the front tier, leaving
one carriage coincident with the segments at the left, at the same time half
the
warp threads being withdrawn opposite the same carriages, it will be
perceived that these six carriages will pass to and fro in the back and front
combs without traversing, the other carriages which do traverse forming the
meshes of the twist. net. By these means a space or opening is left in the
fabric of the net at the edge of the breadth, consisting simply of straight
threads, for the introduction of weft thread, to be conducted in and interwoven
by means of any one of the ordinary modes of working threads by guides
and guide bars according to the pattern required. The cut of wheels for
making the net is shewn at Figures 13, 14, and 15. Fig. 13 is the comb
bar wheel, Figure 14 the back guide bar wheel, and Figure 15 the front
guide bar wheel, the numbers placed round these wheels corresponding to the
numbers on the cams, Figures 9 and 10.
Lastly, we desire it to be understood that we claim as constituting important
features in this our Invention,--
First, the introduction into a lace machine to be worked on the fluted roller
principle of a longitudinal shaft within each of the back fluted rollers, for the
purpose of carrying toothed segments which shall be enabled to turn inde-
pendently of the fluted rollers, and to command certain of the bobbin car-
riages for the purpose of giving an extraordinary movement to certain of the
carriages, causing some to turn again and prevent others from traversing.
Second, the use of the outer back fluted roller cut with grooves round it,
to receive toothed segments or toothed rims, for the purpose of preventing
portions of the carriages traversing.
Third, the adaptation of cams for actuating the internal shafts of the
hollow fluted rollers, by means of which, through the agency of levers and
a sector rack, the toothed segments are worked to govern the non-traversing
and the turn-again carriages.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Levers, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five.
JOHN (L.S.) LEVERS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of August,
in the sixth year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth, the
said John Levers came before our said Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Instrument aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Instrument
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made in the
fifty-fifth year of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of August, One thousand eight hundred
and thirty-five.