IMPROVEMENTS IN CIRCULAR FRAMES, AND IN THE FABRICS AND ARTICLES PRODUCED THEREON
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Pape, of Loughborough, in the
County of Leicester, Glove Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CIRCULAR FRAMES, AND IN THE FABRICS AND
ARTICLES PRODUCED THEREON."
Sealed the 5th July 1858, and dated the 7th January 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Pape at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th January 1858.
I, THOMAS PAPE, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester,
Glove Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CIRCULAR FRAMES, AND IN THE FABRICS OR ARTICLES
PRODUCED THEREON," to be as follows:-
I dispense with needles and presser bars, and substitute hooks, and
enable the work to pass off the hooks by turning them over. Instead
of the ordinary loop wheel I make use of a wheel with a set of levers
or arms, each arm placing the thread directly into the hooks. And for
some purposes I construct my frames in such manner that they may

page_text: expand and contract. Among the fabrics and articles I produce
thereon are such as require widening and narrowing, as drawers,
stockings, &c. I also intend to claim the manufacturing of seamless
gloves on my improved frames.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Pape in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 7th July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I.
THOMAS PAPE, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, Glove
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Pape, Her special licence that I, the
said Thomas Pape, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas Pape, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Íslands, and Isle
of Mau, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CIRCULAR FRAMES, AND IN
THE FABRICS OR ARTICLES PRODUCED THEREON," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Pape, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Pape, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performie, to be particularly described and' ascertained in and by

page_text: the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:
My Invention consists in the construction of circular looms or frames
for the manufacture of drawers, stockings, gloves, and other classes of
hosiery, whereby I am enabled to dispense with the needles, presser bar,
and other appendages to circular looms of the old construction, and
substitute in place thereof hooks so constructed and arranged as to
allow of their turning over when pressing off the work. Instead of the
ordinary loop wheel I make use of a wheel with grooves cut round it,
in which are placed levers or blades, the front points of which have nibs
formed upon them similar to the ordinary sinker. They take the thread
from off the bobbins, and lay it between the hooks when forming the
loop. The Drawings hereunto annexed shew these different parts
detached from the machine.
Figure 1, represents one of my hooks; the hooks are arranged around
a circle of brass or other suitable metal, but, instead of being cast in
leads and fixed as in the ordinary needle bar, they are passed through
holes which allow of their being turned half round when pressing off'
the work in the manner herein-after explained. a, is the stem of the
hook, which is turned over at the end b, and so forms a small hook or
barb. The stem is flattened at the part c, and twisted into the form of
a screw, as indicated, so that when acted upon by means of the lever
represented in Figures 2, and 3, it is caused to make a half turn or
turu over, and thus permits the work to be pressed off. These levers
have cut in their lower ends a small notch d, which fits over the screwed
portions of the stem of the hook, and are arranged one to each hook.
The levers are centred at b, to a ring which surrounds the circle
carrying the hooks, and is concentric with it. In order to give to these
levers their requisite motion upon the screwed portion of the stem of
the hook I affix to the framework of the machine a projecting piece or
cam which bears upon the upper part of the levers; when the levers and
hooks revolve, their notched ends are caused to slide along the screwed
part of the hooks, which causes them to make a half turn or to turn
To restore the hooks to their former position after the work has
over.

page_text: .
been pressed off I attach a. similar cam or projecting piece which bears
upon the lower part of the levers, and causes them to slide in the
reverse direction on the stem of the hooks, and prepares them for again
receiving the thread to form a fresh loop. Instead of using these forms
of levers I substitute saddles (one to each hook), as represented in
Figures 4, and 5, arranged and working in a similar manner, and for
the purposes before explained. Figure 6, represents a side view of an
arrangement which I use instead of the ordinary loop wheel. A, is a
wheel which is made of the conical form represented, and has cut in it
and around its surface in lines corresponding to the axis on which it
revolves a series of grooves, in which are placed a corresponding
number of levers or blades similar to that represented in Figure 7.
These blades are centred at a, in the grooves of the wheel (Figure 6),
and are raised and lowered by means of cams which bear upon the
short ends, so as to insert and withdraw the nibs b, of the blades into
and from the hooks when forming the loop. These levers .or blades
have formed upon them two nibs, as shown in Figure 7; the first of
which is to hold the thread, while the second is to bring forward the
fabric to produce new work; the hooks by means of the levers,
Figures 2, and 3, turn over on the thread being placed between them,
and reverse their position as soon as the work is pressed over. In order
to press back the work previous to forming a fresh row of loops a wheel
or cam may be fixed to the framework in the ordinary manner. For
the manufacture of narrowed or fashioned goods on the circular frame,
in which the requisite shape is given to the fabric for forming gloves,
stockings, drawers, and other classes of fabrics without a seam, I
arrange the hooks on which the loop is formed around an expanding
and contracting rim, such expansion and contraction being regulated
by means of the thread of a screw cut upon a rim which surrounds the
rim carrying the hooks, both of which are formed with an opening to
admit of such expansion and contraction. The outer and screwed rim
is made slightly conical, and takes into the thread of a screw cut on the
inside of a third and exterior conical rim, which forms the framework.
of the machine. The hooks at those parts of the expanding and con-

page_text: tracting rim which form the opening are hinged upon a wire, so that
they may be placed in or out of action according to the extent that it is
required to fashion.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is, first, the several arrangements and combinations of appa-
ratus in the formation of circular frames or looms of hooks, levers or
saddles, loop wheel, and levers or blades, all as herein-before described
and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed. Second, I claim
the fashioning of gloves, stockings, drawers, and other fabrics by means
of expanding and contracting rims or frames arranged and constructed
in the manner herein-before described. And, third, I claim the manu→
facturing of gloves, stockings, drawers, and such other articles, either
fashioned or straight, and without a seam, by means of the arrangements
and combinations of apparatuses herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Pape, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
THOMAS PAPE. (L.S.)