-loo 



L A C R. 



r.nce. the form of a small cone ; nd a slender spring is pro- 

 w ""V"'' vided, to cause such a friction as will make the threads 

 Hcathowt'i draw tight, when pulled off from the bobbin. 

 Kim ma- These bobbins are so arranged, between the two rol- 

 chinc. j ers a b ove mentioned, that the threads proceeding from 



them, accompany the longitudinal threads to the upper 

 roller, and are attached thereto. Each of the longitu- 

 dinal threads, in its way to the upper roller, passes 

 through a conical tube, or spindle, at the lower end of 

 which is a small pinion ; and the spindle is so support- 

 ed as to be capable of turning round. On the upper 

 end of the spindle is a taper tube, composed of two 

 parts, which, when put together, form a tube; but the 

 two parts will separate in the direction of the length 

 of the tube. One of the parts of the tube, so divided, 

 remains attached to the spindle, and is thereby sustain- 

 ed, so that it will partake pf the revolving motion of 

 the spindle. 



The longitudinal thread whih passes through the 

 spindle, is conducted through the hollow part of this 

 half tube, and through a small eye at the extreme 

 point of it. 



The other section, or portion of the tube, can be se- 

 parated from the spindle, and contains within its hol- 

 low part the small bobbin on which the diagonal thread 

 is wound. 



When the latter section, with the bobbin, is applied 

 upon the other portion which is attached to the spin- 

 dle, the two form a long taper tube, or spindle, con- 

 taining a pair of threads, via. a longitudinal thread, 

 which comes up from the lower roller, and passes 

 through the hollow spindle, and the half tube attached 

 to it ; also a diagonal thread, which comes from the 

 bobbin contained in the hollow between the two sec- 

 tions. 



These spindles are mounted in collars, so as to be 

 capable of turning round by means of the pinion at the 

 lower extremities, and when so turned will twist the 

 bobbin and longitudinal threads together. 



The number of these tubes or spindles is just equal 

 to the number of pairs of each kind of threads ; and 

 their arrangement is such, that all the pinions lie in 

 the circumference of a circle, and the spindles and tubes 

 converge to the centre of the same circle in the manner 

 of radii. AH the pinions can be moved round at the 

 same time by rack- work, the teeth of which correspond 

 with the pinions. This motion is to cause the pairs of 

 threads contained in each tube to twist together ; and 

 this twisting takes place in all the tubes at the same 

 time. 



The crossing of the diagonal threads over each other 

 is performed in the whole breadth at once as follows : 



That moveable part of each divided tube, which con- 

 tains the bobbin of diagonal thread, can be removed 

 from the other portion, and the bobbin will come away 

 with it ; also any of the separated portions, with the 

 bobbins, will fit and attach to any of the parts attach- 

 ed to the spindles. By a very ingenious piece of me- 

 chanism, the whole number of these moveable parts 

 can be detached from the spindles, and brought for- 

 ward altogether until they are clear of the spindles. 



During the time they are so detached from the spin- 

 dles, one half of them are caused to move one space to 

 the right, and the other half one space to the left. 



The lifted parts are then put back again, and attach- 

 ed to the spindle ; but, by this operation, each spindle 

 will have changed its diagonal thread, without having 

 changed its longitudinal thread. This effects the cross- 



ing of the threads throughout the whole breadth of the Lace, 

 machine at the same time. ^""Y"^ 1 ' 



The pins by which the uniformity of the meshes is 

 preserved, are all placed upon a moveablejja'r, and are 

 all inserted at once into the meshes formed~by the two 

 operations of twisting and crossing. The working of. 

 the machine is a regular succession of the three opera- 

 tions of twisting, crossing, and taking up the meshes. 



Thus the twisting is performed by the revolution of 

 the spindles and tubes containing the two threads to be 

 twisted. 



The crossings are then made by one motion, which in 

 terchanges the bobbins containing the diagonal threads. 



The pins are then all introduced at on<;e to regulate 

 the new meshes formed by the crossing and twisting. 



This machine can be worked with great rapidity, by 

 means of handles and treadles disposed in nearly the 

 same manner as in a stocking-frame. It is calculated 

 to make lace of such breadths as are usually made by 

 the cushion, which seldom exceeds three inches ; but 

 it is not capable of any great width from the circum- 

 stance of the convergence of the spindles and tubes to a 

 centre. 



The object of this convergence is to obtain a sufficient 

 space between the spindles for the pinions and bob- 

 bins ; whilst the extreme points of the tubes, where the 

 pairs of threads issue, are necessarily very close toge- 

 ther : and at these points the lace is formed. 



Mr. Heathcoat, in 1809, invented another machine, Heathcoat'i 

 which is adapted to make lace of any required breadth ; second ma- 

 and as the mechanism is much less complicated, it has 

 superseded the use of the former machine. 



In this, like the first machine, the warp threads are 

 wound upon a roller at the bottom of the machine, and 

 are carried up to a work beam or roller situated at the 

 bottom of the machine ; also the diagonal threads are 

 wound upon small detached bobbins, and regularly in- 

 terspersed between the warp threads ; but there is no 

 farther similarity between the two machines. The 

 bobbins are small flat wheels about the size and thick- 

 ness of a shilling, with a deep groove in the edge to 

 wound the thread upon. These bobbins are fitted into 

 a small carriage or frame, in which it is at liberty to 

 turn round when the thread is drawn off; but there is a 

 slight spring which makes as much resistance as is ne- 

 cessary to draw the thread tight. The bobbins and 

 their carriages are so thin, that, when placed side by 

 side in rows, they will not occupy more room than the 

 breadth of lace they are intended to make. 



The longitudinal threads are stretched in a perpen- 

 dicular direction from the thread roller to the lace rol- 

 ler, so as to form a row of parallel threads arranged at 

 equal distances from each other ; and, to guide them, 

 each thread is conducted through a small eye in a wire 

 resembling a needle. Two rows of such guides are 

 fixed on two bars, which are placed horizontally., and 

 each bar is capable of moving a small space endways, 

 and will then carry the threads sideways with them, 

 which indeed is the object of these rows of guides. 



On each side of the row of perpendicular threads is 

 fixed an horizontal bar, called a comb-bar, the upper 

 surface of which is cut into notches or grooves for the 

 reception of the small carriages which contain the bob- 

 bins. The grooves are in the upper sides of the bars, 

 and crossways or perpendicular the length of the bar. 

 The comb- bar at the back of the row of threads is ex- 

 actly correspondent with that in the front, and the in- 

 tervals of the grooves in both are the same as the spa- 



