IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLOVES AND ARTICLES OF DRESS AND FURNITURE
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
NICKELS, of the Albany Road, Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Ninth day of December,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the twelfth year of Her 'reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Christopher Nickels, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Christopher Nickels, my
exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Christopher Nickels,
my exors, adors, or 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLOVES AND ARTICLES OF DRESS AND FURNITURE;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Christopher Nickels,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of

page_text: 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, I, the said
Christopher Nickels, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, first, of improvements in the manufacture of gloves,
by the application of certain descriptions of woven fabrics in such manu-
facture; secondly, my Invention consists of improvements in the manufacture
of chenille, and in making articles of dress and furniture of chenille weavings;
and in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
One of my improvements in the manufacture of gloves, consists of the use
of fabrics composed of woollen weft and a warp of silk, linen, or cotton, the
object being to obtain greater strength in the length way of the gloves than is
obtained when using woollen warp with woollen weft for making fabrics for
the manufacture of gloves. For this purpose the fabric is to be woven with
warp of silk, linen, or cotton and woollen weft, then fulled and finished in like
manner to ordinary woollen cloths, and the length of the glove is to be cut in
the way of the warp. And when it is desired to have the upper part of the
gloves elastic, I cause threads of india-rubber to be thrown in as weft at
intervals as has heretofore been done in weaving cloths for the making of
gloves.
Another of my improvements consists of applying-a woollen cloth woven
into a tube or cylinder, then cut in an inclined or spiral direction so that the
warp will run across the fabric in an angular direction from side to side, and I
prefer that they should be at an angle of about forty-five degrees. For this
purpose I cause the woollen fabric to be woven into a tube or cylinder as is
well understood in weaving fabrics for various purposes; the fabric is then to
be cut as above explained, then to be fulled and finished in the manner of
woollen cloths. Gloves made of such fabrics will be found to be elastic across
the hands.
I will now describe the second part of my Invention, which consists of
manufacturing chenille. One of my improvements in this manufacture consists
of weaving chenille in such manner that the width is varied according to
design in such manner as to produce boas and other articles, such as tassels
or ornaments for dress and furniture. This is best accomplished by the use of

page_text: selvage threads, which are made to move away from or nearer to the warp of
the chenille fabric, so that as the weft is thrown in, the width of the fabric
will be greater when the selvage threads are most distant from the warp
threads of the fabric, and narrowest when the selvage threads are nearest the
warp threads of the fabric; by this means, boas and such like articles.of
dress, and also tassels and ornaments for dress and furniture requiring to be of
different diameters at different parts of their length, may with great facility be
manufactured. For carrying out this part of my Invention, I prefer to
employ an expanding reed, such as is shown in the Drawing. Figure 1 shews
a section of an ordinary hand loom taken in front of the batten and reeds.
Figure 2 is part of a side view; a is a fixed or centre portion of the reed;
b, b, are the expanding and contracting parts which are affixed to the sliding
parts , which are caused to slide backwards and forwards by the inclined
discs c, which take into grooves ³, cut on the ends of the slides ¹; "and it will
be seen that the parts of the slides where the grooves are cut extend laterally,
in order that the discs c may always remain in gear with the slides ³, when
pushed back to their furthest position. The discs.c are actuated by the cog
wheels d affixed to them, and turning on stud pins on the framing of the
machine; and motion is Communicated to the wheels d by the cog wheels.e
affixed on the axis f across the machine, there being a ratchet wheel g
fixed on the axis f.; and the driver his connected by a pin joint to the
treadle i, by which the workman gives motion to the discs c.at suitable intervals,
according to the nature of the article which is being woven; the discs c being
inclined to suit the varying widths or shape of the intended chenille. The
weaving of chenille being well understood, it will not be necessary to enter
into any description thereof here, as this improvement Simply consists in
weaving articles of chenille wider at one part than another, in order to manu-
facture chenille, boas, and other articles requiring to be of unequal diameters.
Another improvement consists of manufacturing chenille boas and other
articles of chenille of different diameters; for this purpose I manufacture
chenille in the ordinary manner, or as hereafter explained, but of such width
in the weavings that by cutting indirectly or in a zig-zag direction, suitable
portions may be obtained for making boas or other articles where unequal
diameters are required in different parts of the length of the article. In thus
manufacturing boas and similarly shaped material, I for the most part employ
weft of wool, but other weft may be used. Figure 3 and Figure 4 shew
webs of chenille weaving suitable when cut, as indicated by the blue lines, for
making boas or such like shaped articles of chenille.
Another of my improvements consists in manufacturing chenille by
.

page_text: machinery, such as is used in the manufacture of bobbin net or twist lace:
For this purpose, when narrow chenille is to be made, say half an inch
diameter, I cause two guides to be carried by a guide bar opposite each place
where the-weaving -is-to take place, these two guides are to carry two warp
threads, and with those two warp threads two bobbin carriages are to work, so
as to twist round them; the spaces in the combs between each set of warps
and carriages are to be left vacant, except where carriages are used to carry
lacing threads. Another guide bar is to carry as many guides as there are to
be widths of fabric made, such guides being moved to and fro are to carry
across woollen or other suitable yarn, which is to be fastened. to the warp
threads by the bobbin threads; and I prefer to lace the several widths of
fabrics together by lacing threads carried by bobbins and carriages as is well
understood when lacing widths of bobbin net or twist lace made in similar
machines. I prefer that the warp threads should be hard twisted, and in the
same direction, so that when the weaving is separated by cutting, each piece
will at once, with the simple act of shaking it, twist and become a cylindrical
chenille. By this mode of manufacturing chenille, the guide threads which
are carried to and fro become like the weft thread when weaving with warp
and shuttle as is the ordinary practice, but in this case such guide threads
are secured to the warp threads by the bobbin threads twisting round such
guide threads, and also round the warp threads employed. I have here men-
tioned the use of two warp threads and two bobbin threads, I do not however
confine myself thereto; and I would state that the guide threads used may
be
of one or more colors, and when of several colors may be introduced according
to design as when working with warp and shuttle, but in this mode of manu-
facture guides will be used in place of shuttles, using several independent
guides to be brought into action at proper intervals according to the design or
pattern, and chenille thus made will be suitable for the various purposes
which chenille has heretofore been applied in the making articles of dress and
furniture.
Another of my improvements in the manufacture of chenille consists of
making such fabrics by warp machinery; for which purpose I cause one or
more warp threads (twisted in the same direction) to be lapped and looped on
a needle so as to make a pillar as is well understood, lapping continually in
the same direction, and according to the width of chenille to be made so will
such pillar be produced at intervals across the machine, the pillars being
joined by guide threads moved to and fro across the machine or in "breadths"
as have heretofore been done when introducing gymping and other threads in
warp fabrics. In this mode of manufacturing chenille one or more colors of

page_text: threads or yarn may be thrown across, and they will represent the weft threads
thrown in with shuttles in ordinary chenille weaving, but in this case not only
will shuttles be dispensed with, but the transverse threads will be tied into the
fabric by the warp threads being made into loop pillars.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the details as herein described, so long as the peculiar
character of either part of my Invention be retained, but what I claim is,-
First, the manufacture of gloves of fabrics composed of woollen weft and
silk, linen, or cotton warp, so as to obtain greater strength lengthwise of the
gloves; and I also claim the manufacture of gloves from elastic woollen
fabrics, made in the manner herein described.
Secondly, I claim the manufacture of chenille by causing the same to be
widened and narrowed in the act of weaving; I also claim the manufacture
of articles of dress and ornaments for furniture, such as boas and tassels, of
unequal diameters in different parts, by causing chenille to be woven and then
cut in indirect or zig-zag lines as herein described.
I also claim the manufacture of chenille by means of bobbin net or twist
lace machinery; and I also claim the manufacture of chenille in warp
machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Nickels have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord'
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.

page_text: FIC.
4.