30 



LACE MANUFACTURE 



mesh is produced, and that the texture results from the union of three separate sets of 

 threads, of which one set proceeds downwards in serpentine lines, a second set pro- 

 ceeds from the left to the right, and a third from the right to the left, both in slanting 

 directions. The oblique threads twist themselves round the vertical ones, and also 

 cross each other betwixt them, in a peculiar manner. This may be readily understood 

 by examining the representation. In comparing bobbin-net with common web, the 

 perpendicular threads in the figure, which are parallel to the border, may be regarded 

 as the warp, and the two sets of slanting threads as the weft. 



These warp threads are extended up and down, in the original mounting of the 

 piece between a top and bottom horizontal roller or beam, of which one is called the 

 warp beam, and the other the lace beam, because the warp and finished lace are wound 

 upon them respectively. These straight warp threads receive their contortion from 

 the tension of the weft threads twisted obliquely round them alternately to the right 

 and the left hand. Were the warp threads so tightly drawn that they became in- 

 flexible, like fiddle-strings, then the lace would assume the appearance shown in 

 fig. 1304 ; and although this condition does not really exist, it may serve to illustrate 

 the structure of the web. The warp threads stand in the positions a a, a' a', and 

 a' 1 a" ; the one half of the weft proceeds in the direction b b, b' b', and b" b" ; and the 

 second crosses the first by running in the direction c c, or c' c', towards the opposite 

 side of the fabric. If we pursue the path of a weft thread, we find it goes on till it 

 reaches the outermost or last warp thread, which it twists about ; not once as with the 

 others, but twice ; and then returning towards the other border, proceeds in a reverse 

 direction. It is from this double twist, and by the return of the weft threads, that the 

 selvnge is made. 



The ordinary material of bobbin-net is two cotton yarns, of from No. 180 to No. 250, 

 twisted into one thread ; but sometimes strongly twisted single yarn has been used. 

 The beauty of the fabric depends upon the quality of the material, as well as the 

 regularity and smallness of the meshes. The number of warp threads in a yard in 

 breadth is from 600 to 900 ; which is equivalent to from 20 to 30 in an inch. The 

 size of the holes cannot be exactly inferred from that circumstance, as it depends partly 

 upon the oblique traction of the threads. The breadth of the pieces of bobbin-net 

 varies from edgings of a quarter of an inch to webs 12 or even 20 quarters, that is, 

 2 yards wide. 



Bobbin-net lace is manufactured by means of very complicated and costly machines, 

 called frames. The limits of this Dictionary will admit of an explanation of no more 

 than the general principles of the manufacture. The threads for crossing and twisting 

 round the warp being previously gassed, that is, freed from loose fibres by singeing 

 with gas, are wound round small pulleys, called bobbins, which are, with this view, 

 deeply grooved in their periphery. Figs. 1305, 1306, exhibit the bobbin alone, and 

 witli its carriage. 



In the section of the bobbin a, fig. 1305, the deep groove is shown in which the 

 thread is wound. The bobbin consists of two thin discs of brass, cut out in a stamp- 

 press, in the middle of each of which there is a hollow space c. These discs are 

 riveted together, leaving an interval between their edge all round, in which the thread 

 is coiled. The round hole in the centre, with the little notch at top, serves for spitting 



1306 



1305 



them upon a feathered rod, in order to be filled with thread by the rotation of that 

 rod in a species of reel, called the bobbin-filling machine. Each of these bobbins 

 (about double the size of the figure) is inserted into the vacant space o of the car- 

 riage,^. 1306. This is a small iron frame (also double the size of the figure), which, 

 at e e, embraces the grooved border of the bobbin, and by the pressure of the spring 

 at/, prevents it from falling out. This spring serves likewise to apply sufficient 

 friction to the bobbin, so as to prevent it from giving off its thread at g by its rotation, 



