IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Mackew, of Leicester, Machinist, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING LOOPED FABRICS."
Sealed the 13th May 1864, and dated the 18th November 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Mackew at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
November 1863.
I, 'JAMES MACKEW, of Leicester, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING LOOPED
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
My Invention of "improvements in machinery for making looped fabrics
relates to that description of machinery which is generally known as circular
knitting machines, in which the needles and other working parts are arranged
around a centre. In most machines of this class the needles are placed in a
vertical position round a cylindrical grooved piece called a "head," the cam
pieces or other mechanical parts for working the needles being also arranged
round the lower part of the cylindrical head, while the threads to form the
work are fed in above. This arrangement answers very well when only three
or four threads are required to be fed in, but when a larger number are
required space cannot be conveniently found for the cams below. In order

page_text: to obtain greater space for these working parts I propose to make the "head"
conical instead of cylindrical as heretofore. By this arrangement the upper
ends of the needles will be inclined inwards and their lower ends or butts
outwards, so that, supposing the circle formed by the upper ends of the needles
be 3 inches in diameter or 9 inches in circumference, the butts of the needles
might be arranged in a circle of, say, 4 or 5 or more inches in diameter, and
a circumference of 12, 15, or more inches instead of nine. If it be desired to
use two sets of needles or loopers arranged at right angles to each other, one
set may be placed within the circle of the other and inclined in the opposite
direction, so as to be made to cross at right angles or nearly so.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Mackew in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th May 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MACKEW, of Leicester, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth, day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Mackew, Her special license that I, the said
James Mackew, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said James Mackew, 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 Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING LOOPED FABRICS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Mackew, 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 immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Mackew, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for making Looped Fabrics"
relates to that description of machinery which is generally known as circular
knitting machines, in which the needle and other working parts are arranged
around a centre. In most machines of this class the needles are placed in a
vertical position round a cylindrical grooved piece called a "head," the cam
pieces or other mechanical parts for working the needles, being also arranged
round the lower part of the cylindrical head, while the threads to form the
work are fed in above. This arrangement answers very well when only a
limited number of threads, not exceeding six or eight, are required to be fed
in, but when a larger number, say as many as sixteen; are required to produce
the fabric or pattern, space cannot be conveniently found below for the
necessary number of cams to work the needles. In order to obtain greater
space for these working parts I propose to make the "head" conical instead
of cylindrical as heretofore. By this arrangement the upper ends of the
needles will be inclined inwards and the lower ends or butts outwards, so that,
supposing the circle formed by the upper ends of the needles be three inches
in diameter or nine inches in circumference, the butts of the needles might be
arranged in a circle of say four or five or more inches in diameter, and a
circumference of twelve or fifteen or more inches instead of nine. If it be
desired to use two sets of needles or loopers arranged at an angle to each
other, one set may be placed within the circle of the other and inclined in
the opposite direction, so as to be made to cross at right angles or nearly so..
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn so much of a circular knitting
machine as will be necessary to explain my Invention, many of the ordinary
working parts which are unaffected by my improvements being omitted in
order to avoid complexity in the Drawing.
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of part of a circular or rotary knitting
machine constructed according to my Invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan
view of the same shewing the cams as seen from above.
a and a¹ are the upper and lower cam cones between which are formed the
zig-zag grooves b, b, which constitute the cams for working the needles up
and down; c, c, are the needles, which, it will be seen, are arranged in an
inclined position and work in the grooves made in the fixed cone d, d, as
shewn at e in Fig. 1. The upper ends of the needles work as usual in combs
or guides made in an iron ring d¹ shrunk on to the cone d. The threads to
form the fabric are drawn from bobbins not shewn in the Drawing, and are
conducted through eyes in the guides f, f, in the ordinary manner to the

page_text: beards of the needles. The stem of each needle is provided as usual with a
projecting tooth c¹ which enters the cam grooves b, and as the "head" is
carried round the needles are made to rise and fall in the grooves of the cone d,
and form the loops in the same manner as when the needles are placed
vertically; Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of a machine in which there are
two sets of needles cand arranged at an angle to each other. In both
these arrangements the several working parts are actuated by toothed gearing,
as is usual in circular knitting machinery; and as the mechanical appliances
for effecting this object are well known and require no particular alteration
to adapt them to my improved conical head, I have not thought it necessary
to shew this part of the machine in the Drawing.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Machinery for
Knitting Looped Fabrics," and having explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid, constructing the head of circular knitting machines in a conical
form, so as to obtain greater space at the lower part for the purpose of
introducing an increased number of cams, so that a larger number of threads
than usual may be fed into the needles.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Mackew, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
JAMES MACKEW. (L.S.)