IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS OF THE DESCRIPTION KNOWN AS BOBBIN NET."
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Gamble and Edwin Ellis, both of Not-
tingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FABRICS OF THE DESCRIPTION KNOWN AS BOBBIN NET."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION. left by the said Thomas Gamble and
Edwin Ellis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 2nd April 1860.
We, THOMAS GAMBLE and EDWIN ELLIS, both of Nottingham, do hereby
5 declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF FABRICS OF THE DESCRIPTION KNOWN AS BOBBIN NET," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
fabrics of the description known as bobbin net. In the manufacture of fabrics
of this description it is usual to employ two sets of threads, one set being the
warp threads, which stand vertically in the machine at equal distances apart,
and the other the carriage threads, which are each wound on a separate
bobbin carried by its own carriage, and the meshes of the net are produced
by causing the carriages to carry their threads around the warp threads.
If the fabric to be produced is to be a traverse net, then as the work pro-
gresses in the manner above mentioned, either the warp threads or the carriage

page_text: threads are caused to "traverse" gradually in a direction across the work, so
that the warp or carriage threads, as the case may be, then pass diagonally
from side to side of the work in place of the threads of both sets passing
directly from end to end of the work as in net, in which no traverse is given.
Our Invention applies both to the manufacture of straight down and traverse
In place of employing two complete sets of threads as usual heretofore,
we employ only one complete set, vizt., a warp, and this we use in con-
junction with a shuttle thread, as in a loom for making a plain weaving by
means of hooks or instruments. We cause the warp threads to be picked up
and drawn into loops or eyes thus
and through such loops
or eyes we pass a weft thread by means of a shuttle thrown across the machine;
these loops or eyes are then drawn up by the formation of another set of loops
or eyes, through which a shuttle is again passed, and thus the work continues,
the weft being carried up to the work by points or instruments as is usual in
making net and lace. When the fabric to be produced is to be a traverse
net, the warp, in place of passing direct from end to end of the fabric, as in
ordinary weavings, is caused to traverse as in traverse warp machines.
We would remark, that the absence of carriage threads is not essential to
our Invention, as to produce some patterns of net it may be desirable that a
part of our warp should come from a warp beam or from spools, whilst another
part comes from bobbins mounted in carriages, so that the threads of this
latter part of the warp may be lapped round the threads of the former part of
the warp before the loops or eyes are formed for the passage of the shuttle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Gamble and Edwin Ellis in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd October 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
GAMBLE and EDWIN ELLIS, both of Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Thomas Gamble and Edwin Ellis, Her special licence that we, the
said Thomas Gamble and Edwin Ellis, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Gamble and Edwin Ellis, our

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FABRICS
OF THE DESCRIPTION KNOWN AS BOBBIN NET," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Thomas Gamble and Edwin Ellis, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 Thomas Gamble, on behalf of myself
and the said Edwin Ellis, 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:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of fabrics
of the description known as bobbin net. In the manufacture of fabrics of this
description it is usual to employ two sets of threads, one set being the warp
threads, which stand vertically in the machine at equal distances apart, and the
other the carriage threads, which are each wound on a separate bobbin carried
by its own carriage, and the meshes of the net are produced by causing the car-
riages to carry their threads around the warp threads. If the fabric to be pro-
duced is to be a traverse net, then as the work progresses in the manner above
mentioned, either the warp threads or the carriage threads are caused to
"traverse" gradually in a direction across the work, so that the warp or
carriage threads, as the case may be, then pass diagonally from side to side of
the work in place of the threads of both sets passing directly from end to end"
of the work as in net in which no traverse is given.
net.
Our Invention applies both to the manufacture of straight down and traverse
In place of employing two complete sets of threads as usual heretofore,
we employ only one complete set, viz., a warp, and this we use in conjunction
with a shuttle thread, as in a loom for making a plain weaving by means of
hooks or instruments. We cause the warp threads to be picked up and
drawn into loops or eyes thus 2 and through such loops or eyes
we pass a weft thread by means of a shuttle thrown across the machine; these
oops or eyes are then drawn up by the formation of another set of loops or
eyes, through which a shuttle is again passed, and thus the work continues,

page_text: the weft being carried up to the work by points or instruments as is usual in
making net and lace. When the fabric to be produced is to be a traverse
net, the warp, in place of passing direct from end to end of the fabric, as in
ordinary weavings, is caused to traverse as in traverse warp machines.
We would remark, that the absence of carriage threads is not essential to
our Invention, as to produce some patterns of net it may be desirable that a
part of our warp should come from a warp beam or from spools, whilst another
part comes from bobbins mounted in carriages, so that the threads of this
latter part of the warp may be lapped round the threads of the former part of
the warp before the loops or eyes are formed for the passage of the shuttle.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a vertical transverse section of a lace machine (drawn full
size), arranged suitably for forming bobbin net in accordance with our
Invention; Figure 2 shews a similar view (half size) of the warp traversing
apparatus.
In Figure 1 the instruments used in the production of the work are repre-
sented in the positions they assume during the passage of the shuttle. The
other Drawings and Figures represent separate views of the different cams
used to operate upon the various instruments; also a cut of wheels suitable for
shogging the bars, and also an enlarged diagram shewing clearly the direction
the threads take in producing the work.
The nature and use of each of such
parts being written thereon need but little description.
For producing traverse net, according to our Invention, the warps are
drawn off bobbins or spools carried by suitable axes, arranged by preference
horizontally around a revolving drum, although it may hereafter sometimes be
found desirable to arrange them vertically instead of horizontally. Each warp
thread passes up over a bar or guide carried by the revolving drum, then
through the eye of, a lingo, and thence under a bar or guide, also carried by
the revolving drum up to and rests against a bar or guide suitably placed
beneath two screws, which are parallel to each other, such bar or guide acting
so as to retain the warp threads between the threads of the screws. The
screws are at their ends geared together by small pinions, by which they are
caused to revolve at the same speed, hence there will at all times be a back row
of warp threads, and a front row of warp threads equally spaced, and one row
will be constantly moving from left to right, and the other row will be con-
stantly moving from right to left, one of the screws receiving motion from the
main shaft. a, a, are the bobbins or spools, from which the warp threads pass
up over the bars or guides b, b, carried by the revolving drum A; the warps

page_text: next pass through the eyes of the lingoes c, c, then under other bars or guides
d, d, up to the fixed or stationary guide e, which serves to retain them between
the threads of the screws f, f, the axes of which are parallel. These screws
produce the traverse of the two rows of threads, into which the whole warp is
constantly divided.
In the Drawing two sets of instruments are shown, one set in front and one
set at the back, and one set comes into operation as the other goes out of
action. In Figure 1 one set of instruments is shown with the shed open and
the shuttle in the act of passing through the shed, and the other set of instru-
ments is shown as just coming into action to take the threads as the other set
leaves them, and thus slack is prevented from the shed last formed; g is the
top hook bar, and h is the bottom hook bar; there are also two pusher bars i
and j, and two hook bars l, m, and k is the point bar for taking the work up.
Each of the bars carries an instrument g, h, i, j, k, l, or m, for each warp
thread in the back row of warp threads, and there is a like series of bars and
instruments 9', h¹, i, j, k, l, and m', at the front of the machine. Each of
these bars receives motion from a cam on the main shaft or axis. To each set
of instruments there is a set of five suitably cut wheels to produce the
requisite shogging action. The shuttle is thrown across from side to side of
the machine, in like manner to that in which shuttles are thrown in ordinary
looms, and which is well understood, and will therefore not require to be
described, neither has it been considered necessary to show the mechanism for
the same, as it would tend to render the other parts of the Drawing confused.
The drum which carries the warp threads is caused to rotate constantly by
means of a worm and worm wheel or otherwise, which receive motion from
the main or driving shaft by suitable interposed gearing. The front instru-
ments g, h, i, j, k, l, m, constitute a set of instruments for working.in front
of each warp in the front row of warp threads. The threads of the front row
of warps stand intermediate of the threads of the back row of warps. Figure 1
shows the front set of instruments just about to commence forming a shed in
the front for the passage of the shuttle, and as such shed is progressively
formed in the front of the instruments g, h, i, j, k, l, m, will gradually go away,
and when the shuttle is passing through the shed formed in the front the
instruments 9, h, i, j, k, l, and m, will assume like positions to those now occu-
pied by the instruments g, h, i, j, k, l, and m'. The top pusher bar ¹ is
actuated by its cams in such manner as to cause its pusher to enter between
the front and back rows of warp threads, and this bar is shogged by its cut of
wheels a little towards the left hand, so that the pushers press against the
warps on their left hand sides where they remain for a time, whilst other bars

page_text: are being actuated. The lower pusher bar j¹ is actuated by its cams in such
manner as to cause the pushers on that bar to enter between the front and
back warp threads, and by its cut of wheels the bar is shogged a short
distance towards the left hand in such manner that each pusher enters on the
opposite side of the threads to that on which the top pushers press, and by the
step or notch nearest the points of each of the pushers j', it is caused to hold
a warp thread which is in the front row. The pushers and j¹ go through
the above motions simultaneously. The hook bar g¹ is actuated at the same
time by its cams in such manner as to cause the hooks to enter between the
front and back rows of warp threads, and to the left hand of the left hand side
of the back warp on which it is to act, and by its wheel it is moved half a
space towards the right hand, and then by its cams to move back, each hook
bringing with it the back warp thread. The book bar h¹ is by its cams caused
to move in such manner that the hooks thereon may enter between the back
and front rows of warp threads at the same time as the other hooks g', but in
different spaces in respect to the front row. The bar h¹ by its wheel is moved
somewhat towards the right hand, and then by its cams back, each hook
carrying back a back and front warp thread, and in going back this bar by its
wheel moves one space further towards the right hand, whilst the hooks g¹, h¹,
are moving back, the hooks l, m, are caused to descend by their cams into their
lowest position, so that as the hooks g', h', go back, the hooks A, m', receive
the front warp threads held by the pusher¹ and the hook h'. The hooks
l', m¹, continue to ascend till they come above the hooks h¹, they then by the
cut of their wheel are moved somewhat towards the right hand, and take the
back warp thread held by the hook h¹ and pusher, the hooks A, m³, con-
tinue to ascend until they come up to the top pushers g¹; they are then caused
to separate one from the other by their cams till they assume the positions
shewn in Figure 3, and then the shuttle is thrown or moved through the shed
which has been opened. The point bar is actuated in such manner as to
cause the points to enter when the hooks on the hook bars l, m, have risen
somewhat above the top pusher bar and before the shuttle is thrown, so that
these points form the shuttle race, as is represented in Figure 3. The
points are caused to rise immediately after the passage of the shuttle so as
to take up the work. The hooks m³ are moved towards the centre of the
machine, and the hooks , m³, rise at the same time as the points ¹, but the
points krise the faster, and the points and hooks and m³, assume the posi-
tions shown in Figure 1. The instruments g, h, i, j, k, l, m, then perform at
the back in like manner to what has been above described, in respect to the
instruments g, h, i, j, k, l, m¹. It should be stated that the Drawings

page_text: show the cams and the cuts of wheels all in their positions at the time that
the shuttle is about midway of its passage across the machine. The trucks on
the cams show the working positions of the back set of instruments. The
trucks on cams for the working of the front instruments are not shown.
In the above description traversed lace alone has been mentioned, but the
mode of employing a weft or shuttle thread may be also resorted to when
making straight down bobbin net, in which case it is preferred to employ
a set of warp threads and a set of carriage threads, and to actuate them in
such manner as to cause them to twist around each other, and then to be acted
on in like manner to that described for opening a shed for the passage of a
shuttle thread from selvage to selvage.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we make no claim to
any of the mechanical parts separately, neither do we confine ourselves to
the details, as it will be evident that the arrangement and form of the instru-
ments may be varied, and yet sheds be opened for the passage of a shuttle
obtained according to our Invention, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Gamble, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THOMAS GAMBLE. (L.S.)