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The spool threads, which it will be remembered form the pattern or design in cloth work, are threaded through a similar bar to the warp threads, also having a lateral motion, but they are subjected to a further influence from "Jacks," or interceptors, which by means of Jacquard apparatus at the back of the machine are held out from, or allowed to intercept the threads, at will, in such a way as to produce the required design; it is these spools, each one in a machine acted on by an independent interceptor, and independently weighted, that constitute the distinguishing feature of the lace curtain machine as opposed to other kinds of twist-lace machinery. The threads, after being twisted together in the manner above described, are gathered or "taken up," as the technical term is, by the needles or points, which are cast in leads, screwed to front and back bars extending the width of the machine, and the fabric so formed is wound on to a steel roller till the web is complete, when it is unrolled and a fresh web commenced. Some idea of the elaborateness of the designs ordinarily employed on a lace curtain machine may be formed from the fact that it is no uncommon thing for a pattern of a moderately fine gauge machine to contain 4,000 cards.
The spool threads, which it will be remembered form the pattern or design in cloth work, are threaded through a similar bar to the warp threads, also having a lateral motion, but they are subjected to a further influence from "Jacks," or interceptors, which by means of Jacquard apparatus at the back of the machine are held out from, or allowed to intercept the threads, at will, in such a way as to produce the required design; it is these spools, each one in a machine acted on by an independent interceptor, and independently weighted, that constitute the distinguishing feature of the lace curtain machine as opposed to other kinds of twist-lace machinery. The threads, after being twisted together in the manner above described, are gathered or "taken up," as the technical term is, by the needles or points, which are cast in leads, screwed to front and back bars extending the width of the machine, and the fabric so formed is wound on to a steel roller till the web is complete, when it is unrolled and a fresh web commenced. Some idea of the elaborateness of the designs ordinarily employed on a lace curtain machine may be formed from the fact that it is no uncommon thing for a pattern of a moderately fine gauge machine to contain 4,000 cards.
The machine shed is 276 feet in length, and contains over 70,000 square feet of floor space (the total frontage area considerably exceeds 100,000 square feet) in which the whole of the running machinery is situated. On entering, one is at first bewildered by the size of the shed and the noise of the machines, many of them weighing from 12 to 15 tons, being driven at the rate of 180 to 200 revolutions a minute. Into these buildings the lace curtain machines from Basford were, together with a number of new and more productive ones, transferred in the year 1881, and to-day there are upwards of sixty of them, including many of the largest and most comprehensive ones in existence, in active operation there. As previously intimated, most of these machines were built by the firm at their Nottingham works, but a number of the original ones have been from time to time broken up and replaced by others of greater width and more modern construction. To this already extensive plant Messrs. Birkin are at present making further additions, in order to augment the resources at their disposal. Some idea may, however, be gleaned of the immense capacity ot these works when it is stated that the productive output of the Glasgow establishment amounts to the enormous total of 12,000 pairs of lace curtains weekly, giving regular employment to some hundreds of hands, of whom about one-half are females, who find regular employment in the mending and other departments shown in our illustrations.
A Curtain Show and Sale Room, Broadway, Nottingham.