When a mesh, or half mesh is made, it must be secured by putting a pin into the cushion ; and, in order to draw the twist work close, the pin is introduced between the recently crossed threads, and carried up towards the top of the pil low, so as to drive the twists and cross before it, and concen trate or draw the twists into a small compass ; the pin is then inserted into its proper hole in the parchment, and will prevent the threads from returning. These four bob bins are now done with for the present, and are put to one side of the cushion; then two other pairs are brought for ward into the front of the cushion, and are twisted and crossed in the same way ; and, in this manner, the work proceeds, till a row of meshes is formed all across the breadth of the intended piece of lace, and then the same bobbins are worked over again to make another row. In general, the number of bobbins and of threads is equal to 48 or 60 to every inch of breadth.
The work-people perform these operations with great dexterity ; but the work, nevertheless, proceeds very s!ow ly, as it requires so many meshes to make a small piece of lace, and only one mesh is made at a time. Taking the threads at 50 per inch, if the piece of lace is one inch wide, it will have 25 meshes in the breadth, or 625 meshes in each square inch of length, or 22,000 meshes in a yard. The price of a yard of lace of this dearriptiom is seldom more than 18 pence.
The point net frame is, as before stated, a variety of the stocking frame, which was invented by Mr. John Morris of Nottingham, in 1764 ; but it was not used to make lace in the first instance, being intended to make oilet holes for the clocks, or ancle part, of stockings. The machine is an ad dition to a stocking frame, and operates on the thread in the same way as in stocking weaving, for a great part of the process. An additional row of needles is placed in front of the frame, which are called points ; these are fixed in a row upon a moveable bar, which is mounted in a frame, so as to be capable of being applied to the row of needles of the frame, or removed from them at pleasure ; but it will al ways preserve its parallelism to the row of needles. The lace in this machine is formed of one continued thread, which is laid across the row of needles, and, by the action of the jacks and sinkers, is formed into lodps, in the same manner as the stocking frame ; (see the article CLIA1N woRK,) but previous to finishing the operation of the chain work, the row of points is plied between the needles of the frame, and the points being only half the number of the needles, they take every other loop, and, by a particular motion, pick up those loops, and cast them over the neigh bouring needles, so as to gather the loops two together, into pairs, and leave intervals between each pair ; consequently, when the usual operations of the stocking-frame are resum ed, the stitches will be found worked two into one. At the succeeding course, the row of points is again applied ; but the points are made to enter between those pairs of loops, which were combined together in the last course, and sepa rate them, hut at the same time to combine together those loops which were separated the last time. These opera tions continued, form a- net work of hexagonal meshes, which resembles lace, and when stiffened with starch, to make the meshes preserve their figure, has a very beauti ful appearance. The objection to this imitation of lace is, that it becomes loose and irregular, after being washed ; and if the thread breaks, the work will unravel in the same man ner as stockins.
The warp frame is also a variety of the stocking-frame ; but the parts are very differently arranged, because n11 the movements arc adapted to be produced by treadles, leaving the hands of the workman to manage the machine, which is a piece of mechanism applied in front of the row of nee dles of the frame. it is to be understood that the needles, and sinkers, and presser of the warp-frame, operate nearly in the same manner as the stocking-frame, except that there are no jack sinket s, because the thread is supplied to the needles in a different manner from the common stocking frame ; and the operation of the sinkers is not to form the thread into loops between the needles, but only to move the stitches of the work backwards or forwards upon the needles; and hence the nibs of the sinkers have no catches upon them, that is, the name given to the small projecting pieces which bear upon the thread, when the sinkers drop down, and carry the thread down into loops between the needles.
In the warp-frame, the piece of lace is not formed of one continued thread, as in the point-net frame but there are as many different threads as there are needles in the frame. These threads are warped, or wound upon a roller or beam, the same as a loom ; and it is from this circumstance that the machine is called wa•p-frante. The roller is placed horizontally beneath the rows of needles, and the threads are carried up ft on) it, and conducted through the guides, and to the needles. These guides are rows of small wires, with eyes through the ends like sewing needles, and the threads pass through the eyes. Two rows of guides are used ; each row containing one half as many as the number of needles in the frame; and as each guide has a thread, the two rows of guides together contain as many threads as there are needles. The machine, which is the frame con taining the two bars on which the rows of guides are fixed, is so poised upon centres, that the guides are capable of advancing to the needles when they are required, to lap the threads upon the needles; or, when the thread is supplied, the guides can be drawn away from the needles, to leave them free for the operations of the sinkers and presser. When the guides are first applied to the needles, they lie beneath the row or noodles ; but the guides can be raised up, so as to ascend in the spaces between the needles; and when the guides are thus raised clear above the row of needles, they arc moved so much sideways, that when they are depressed again, they will not return between the same needles, but between the adjacent needles. It is plain that this action will loop the thread, which each guide contains, iound the needle, and that this is done in the whole row of needles at the same time. The treatment of the loops thus formed is the same as in the former machine ; the guides are so arranged, that those of the upper row fall immediate ly those of the lower, and therefore two guides will pass between the sante needles. By this means the work ing of the frame combines two adjacent threatls together, in a set les of looping, or chain-work ; hut at the next course, the guides are interchanged by moving them sideways, so that those guides w hick were over each other in the former instance, and therefore passed between the same needles, will be separated from each other, and those which were separated in the former instance will be brought together.