Histoire du Tulle et des Dentelles mécaniques en Angleterre et en France, par S. Ferguson fils. Paris, 1862.
"Bobbin net and lace are cleaned from the loose fibres of the cotton by the ingenious process of gassing, as it is called, invented by the late Mr. Samuel Hall, of Nottingham. A flame of gas is drawn through the lace by means of a vacuum above. The sheet of lace passes to the flame opaque and obscured by loose fibre, and issues from it bright and clear, not to be distinguished from lace made of the purest linen thread, and perfectly uninjured by the flame."—Journal of the Society of Arts. Jan., 1864.
In 1826 Mr. Huskisson's reduction of the duty on French tulle caused so much distress in Leicester and Nottingham, that ladies were desired to wear only English tulle at court; and in 1831 Queen Adelaide appeared at one of her balls in a dress of English silk net.
John Hindres, in 1656, first established a stocking-frame in France.
The net produced was called "Tulle simple et double de Lyon et de Vienne." The net was single loops, hence the name of "single press," given to these primitive frames.
In 1801 George Armitage took a "point net" machine to Antwerp, and made several after the same model, thus introducing the manufacture into Belgium. He next went to Paris, but the wholesale contraband trade of Hayne left him no hope of success. He afterwards went to Prussia to set up net and stocking machines. At the age of eighty-two he started for Australia, where he died, in 1857, aged eighty-nine.