Leavers machine

The Leavers machine is a lacemaking machine that John Levers adapted from Heathcoat's Old Loughborough machine. It was made in Nottingham in 1813. The name of the machine was the Leavers machine (the 'a' was added to aid pronunciation in France). The original machine made net but it was discovered that the Jacquard apparatus could be adapted to it. From 1841 lace complete with pattern, net and outline could be made on the Leavers machine.

Most lace machines stem from the weft-knitting . The Leavers machine is a derivative of Heathcoat's 1809 Old Loughborough. The Leavers machine was invented by John Levers,(sic) a framesmith and setter-up of Sutton-in-Ashfield. Sources give the date as either 1813 or 1814, and the location as Derby Road, Nottingham. Patent applications up until 1930, spelled the name without an 'a', but about 1906, foreign sources had started to insert an 'a'. The Lace working party of 1946 standardised the name with an 'a' and the trade association henceforth adopted that spelling.

Until 1823 they were used solely to make plain net, working on a 60 inch beam at 80 motions per minute

In 1828 an improvement was made to drive the bobbin carriage at intervals, thus leaving time for 'shogging' the guidebars between each movement. In 1841 use of a knob Jacquard allowed the insertion of thick thread (liner). The knobs allowed a greater distance and allowed the automatic gimping around flowered patterns.

The number of Leavers in use was dependent on the market and during periods of depression or cotton shortage many frames were broken up for their iron content. The use of Raschel machines, noted for being better for artificial fibres increased in the 1970s and, with fine polyesters, the two products have converged.

Before 1909 there were only 100 Leavers machines in the United States. Importing them was prohibitively expensive due to a 45% import tarif. The US lost many soldiers to malaria in a squirmish in Spanish America, and need for mosquito netting was seen. The US Tarif Act of 1909 provided free entry for Leavers machines, during a 19 month window from 6 August 1909 to 31 December 1910. Thus by 1947 there were 730 machines in 54 mills employing 5000 people.

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