IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF JACQUARDS EMPLOYED IN BOBBIN NET OR TWIST LACE MACHINES
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Oldknow, of Ashforth's Factory, in the
Town and County of Nottingham, General Mechanist, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF JACQUARDS EMPLOYED IN BOBBIN
NET OR TWIST LACE MACHINES."
Sealed the 11th September 1863, and dated the 18th March 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Oldknow at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
March 1863.
I, THOMAS OLDKNOW, of Ashforth's Factory, in the Town and County of the
Town of Nottingham, General Mechanist, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF JACQUARDS EMPLOYED
IN BOBBIN NET OR TWIST LACE MACHINES," to be as follows:-
Under the centre of what is known as the "Manchester" top I place a three-
fold sley of wirework, consisting of a horizontal bottom, and a front side and
back side; the front, bottom, and back sleys are formed of wires, bent at right
angles. The ends of the wires which form the front and back sleys are
connected to other wires or plates at right angles to them, and are secured by
twisting them with lighter or thinner wire or by rivetting or soldering them
together, the centre portion of the wires forming the horizontal sley are
crossed at right angles by other wires. The horizontal or central sley is
provided with as many strings or wires as there are holes in one side of either
of the cylinders when two cylinders are used, or with half as many strings or

page_text: wires as there are holes in one side of the cylinder when one cylinder only is
used. In front of the central or horizontal sley are the strings or wires
belonging to or to which motion is communicated by the front wires and the
front cylinder when two cylinders are used, and at the back of the central or
horizontal sley are the strings or wires belonging to or to which motion is
communicated by the back wires and the back cylinder when two cylinders
are used. The whole of these wires in the front, the centre, and at the back
thereof are each provided with a dropper; these droppers are divided into
three several sets, in three distinct boxes. The strings or wires to the droppers
in the front box are attached to one end of a thin metal jack lying on the front
and back sleys, such jack is also attached to the wire or strings of what may
be denominated number one droppers in the centre and back box, and so on
with
every other subsequent number, so that when a selection is made by the
front cylinder on the front wire in the front box a selection is also made of
the droppers in the central box; hence by the employment of six cams instead
of four, as heretofore, and using three driving bars instead of two, as hereto-
fore, I can select the droppers in the front and centre box or the back and
centre box; I thus move all the threads, which are passed through the bars
operated upon by the droppers to the right or left, either wholly or in part, or
right and left, according as the card or cards are punched during the time
occupied by the carriages leaving such threads and returning to them both in
the front and back motions of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Oldknow in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th September 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
OLDKNOW, of Ashforth's Factory, in the Town and County of the Town of
Nottingham, General Mechanist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Oldknow, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Oldknow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Oldknow, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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 THE
CONSTRUCTION OF JACQUARDS EMPLOYED IN BOBBIN NET OR TWIST LACE MACHINES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Oldknow, my
executors or administrators, 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 per-
formed, 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 Thomas Oldknow, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to
the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:―
My Invention relates to improvements in the construction of jacquards
employed in bobbin net or twist lace machines.
Under the centre of what is known as the "Manchester" top I place a
three-fold sley of wirework, consisting of a horizontal bottom or horizontal or
bottom sley, a front side or front sley, and a back side or back sley; the said
front, bottom, and back sleys are formed of wires, bent at right angles; the ends
of the wires which form the front and back sleys are connected to other wires
or plates, at right angles to them, and are secured by twisting them with lighter
or thinner wire, or by rivetting or soldering them together; the centre portion
of the wires which form the horizontal sley are crossed at right angles by other
wires. The horizontal or central sley is provided with as many strings or wires
as there are holes in one side of either of the cylinders when two cylinders
are used, or with half as many strings or wires as there are holes in one side
of the cylinder when one cylinder only is used. In front of the central or
horizontal sley are the strings or wires belonging to or to which motion is
communicated by the front wires and the front cylinder when two cylinders
are used, and at the back of the central or horizontal sley are the strings or
wires belonging to or to which motion is communicated by the back wires and
the back cylinder when two cylinders are used. Each of these wires or strings
is provided with a dropper of the required size; these droppers are divided
into three several sets, in three distinct boxes; the strings or wires to the
droppers in the front box are also attached to one end of a thin metal jack,
lying in the front and back sleys, such jack is also attached to the wire or

page_text: strings of what may be denominated number one droppers, in the centre and
back box, and so on with every other subsequent number, so that when a
selection is made by the front cylinder on the front wire in the front box, a
selection is also made of the droppers in the central box; hence by the employ-
ment of six cams instead of four cams, as heretofore, and by using. three
driving bars instead of two driving bars, as heretofore, I am enabled to make
a selection of the droppers in the front and centre box, or in the back and
centre box, by which means I thus move all the threads which are passed
through the bars operated upon by the droppers to the right or left either
wholly or in part, or right and left (according as the cards are punched) during
the time which is occupied by the carriages leaving such threads and returning
to them both in the front and back motions of the machine.
Having thus set forth the nature of my Invention, I proceed more fully to
describe the manner of performing the same with reference to the accom-
panying Drawings.
Figures 1 to 5, Sheets 1 and 2, shew the Invention according to one
arrangement, and Figures 6 and 7, Sheet 3, shews it according to a second
arrangement or modification; Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a side view of my
arrangement of apparatus as applied for moving the bars used in Lever's or
twist lace machines; in this view the upper part of one of the standards is
broken away to shew more fully the jacks and dropper box, and also the three
sets of droppers; Figure 4, Sheet 2, is an end view of the above, a portion
only of the jacks and part of the wire sley being shewn; Figure 2 represents
one jack the full size lying in the wire sley, which is shewn. in section;
Figure 3 represents one of the three sets of droppers the full size; Figure 5
represents portions of the wire sley, with some of the jacks lying therein, the
ends of the jacks being shown; and the first jack of every seven jacks is
represented in its raised position. None of the jacks in this Figure have the
strings attached. The corresponding parts in the Figures on each Sheet are
lettered alike.
A, A, Figures 1 and 4, are a pair of standards, which support the several
parts of the apparatus, and form bearings for the cam shaft B, which shaft
may be driven by a wheel fitted on its projecting end, and gearing into a similar
wheel driven by the machine to which the apparatus is attached, or the cam
shaft may be driven by any other ordinary method. Heretofore only two
cams on each side have been used to give motion to two driving bars, and
dropper boxes have been used with only two sets of droppers, whereas I employ
three driving bars M, a three-spaced dropper box L, and three sets of droppers
marked severally 1, 2, 3, on Figure 1; the cams are marked or figured 4, 5, 6,

page_text: on Figure 4. The dropper boxes L slide in the usual way in sleys C, C, and
between the bars D, D, shewn in section in Figure 1. E are the jacks, lying
in a wire sley F, supported at each end by the standards A, A ; to each end
of the jacks are attached strings G from the wires H of the jacquard; these
strings are continued down, and are attached to the droppers 1 and 3; the
strings attached to the droppers 2 are tied at their upper end to the projection
on the under side of the central portion of the jack E. The lift of the wires H
and the throw of the jack cylinders are effected by the cam 7 and the rods I
and K in the usual way. By the above combination I am enabled at each
selection of the jacquard to make the same selection of the number 2 droppers
as are selected from the number 1 droppers or the number 3 droppers
alternately, one driving bar holding the boxes up by the number 1 droppers,
while a selection is made from number 2 and, number 3 droppers, and the
third driving bar holding the boxes up while a selection is made from number 1
and number 2 droppers, by which method time is saved, and I am enabled to
drive the jack and machine at a greater speed. In this my first arrangement
I do not confine myself to the exact details shewn, as the jacks E and a three-
spaced box L or other suitable shaped box spaced for 3 sets of droppers may
be used with equal advantage if the droppers are inserted from the under side
of the box, and moved direct from the cylinders of the jacquard.
In
my second arrangement I employ two sets of droppers in a two-spaced
box, with an additional wedge-pointed dropper to each set, as shewn at
Figures 6 and 7, Sheet 3.
A, A, Figure 6, represent portions of a pair of standards similar to those
shewn in Figures 1 and 4; to these standards are secured the bars D and the
sleys C, between and in which the dropper boxes L slide; in these boxes L
are two sets of droppers when two sets of droppers are required; such sets of
droppers are marked 1 and 2 respectively. The additional wedge-pointed
droppers are marked 24. Underneath each driving bar I place a fixed plate N
which is secured to and supported by the cross bars of the standards. Upon
these plates the unselected droppers fall, the wedge-shaped droppers also fall
during such selection, then as the driving bar or bars are brought up, those
unselected droppers which are pushed over the edge of the fixed plate N by
the box fall between such plate N and box L, so that as the box L falls down
it can only return to the droppers, which lie between it and the fixed plate.
The wedge-shaped droppers are caused to rise and fall by the cam 8, which
cam is used instead of one of the driving cams 5, Figure 4, such cams 5 not
being required in this arrangement. The cam 8 by means of a lever and
rod P communicates motion to a rocking shaft O, on which are secured as

page_text: many levers O¹ as there are boxes L, the wedge-shaped droppers 2* being
attached to the levers by strings G¹, as shown.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I claim the arrangement and
combination of apparatus, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Oldknow, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Office,
Nottingham.
THOMAS OLDKNOW. (L.B.)