AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF BRACE FABRIC
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Hall Foster, of Leicester, Manufacturer, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF BRACE FABRIC."
Sealed the 30th July 1867, and dated the 1st February 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Hall Foster at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st February 1867.
1, SAMUEL HALL FOSTER, of Leicester, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF BRACE FABRIC,"
to be as follows:-
The central portion or that passing over the shoulders of braces and the
end parts thereof are generally required to be of different widths, the ends.
being narrower than the central portion of them, one of these ends being for
a button-hole, and the other to receive a buckle or slide; and it is customary
to form these parts separately, particularly when the central portion thereof
is obtained by warp and weft weaving, and then to unite such parts by
sewing. Braces thus formed are very liable in use to separate at the joinings.
The object of the improved manufacture of brace fabric is to remedy this
evil, and to simplify the process of manufacture by obtaining the desired
difference of width to a warp and weft brace fabric during the weaving.
A method of accomplishing this object which I have found to answer well
is by forming the dents of the slay in the batten of two different guages, one
end of them being of a broad guage adapted to the broadest part of the brace
fabric, whilst the other end of them is of a narrower guage adapted to the

page_text: narrower widths of the fabric, and the slay is capable of rising and falling in
the batten, so as to bring either guage of the slay into position for action
when desired. These movements to the slay may be obtained by the hand
of the operator, or they may be obtained by a lace or pattern wheel, the
jacquard, or other pattern surface. The narrow part of the fabric in addition
to being of the reduced width required will also be of a closer and more
compact texture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Hall Foster in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
31st July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HALL FOSTER, of Leicester, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Hall Foster, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Hall Foster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Samuel Hall Foster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree 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
"AN IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF BRACE FABRIC," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Hall Foster, 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 Samuel Hall Foster, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, 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 :-
The Invention relates to forming brace weaving by warp and weft in
different breadths adapted to the form desired for the central portion, and

page_text: the ends thereof by a continuous process. The central portion of braces, or
that passing over the shoulders, and the end parts thereof are generally
required to be of different widths, the ends being narrower than the central
portion of them. The object of one of these ends is for a button-hole, and
the other to receive a buckle or slide; and it is customary to form these
parts separately, particularly when the central portion thereof is obtained
by warp and weft weaving, and then to unite such parts by sewing. Braces
thus formed of distinct parts are very liable in use to separate at the joinings.
The object of the improved manufacture of brace fabric is to remedy
this evil, and to simplify the process of manufacture by obtaining the
desired differences of width to a warp and weft brace fabric during the weaving
thereof.
A method of accomplishing this object which I have found to answer well
is by forming the dents of the slay in the batten of two different gauges, one
end of them being of a broad gauge adapted to the broadest part of the brace
fabric, whilst the other end of them is of a narrower gauge adapted to the
narrower widths of the fabric, and the slay is capable of rising and falling
in the batten so as to bring either gauge of the slay into position for action
when desired. These movements to the slay may be obtained by the hand
of the operator, or they may be obtained by a lace or pattern wheel or by a
jacquard or other pattern surface. The narrow parts of the fabric in addition
to being of the reduced width required will also by the contracting or drawing
closer together of the warp threads be of a closer and more compact texture
and better calculated to receive the buckle.
Having thus described my Invention, and means which I adopt in carrying
the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
forming brace weaving by warp and weft in different breadths adapted to the
forms or breadths desired for the central portion and ends thereof by a continuous
process.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Hall Foster, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixte coron
SAMUEL HALL FOSTER. (L.S.)