IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Keely, of the Firm of Keely, Shaw, and
Lambert, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham,
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF LOOPED FABRICS."
Sealed the 21st June 1870, and dated the 19th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Keely at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th March 1870.
I, THOMAS KEELY, of the Firm of Keely, Shaw, and Lambert, of the
Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Manufacturers, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
My improvements refer to a self-acting arrangement of the apparatus
for the throwing in of the extra or splicing threads into and between the
ordinary threads used in forming the heels of stockings, socks, and other
fabrics where such extra threads are required.

page_text: It is usual in the making of stockings and socks, or what are known
in the trade as hose and half hose, or other fabrics where splicing or
extra threads are required to throw in the extra or additional threads
by hand. By this means a great many stoppages and tedious and costly
delays are caused. Now in order to obviate these difficulties and in-
conveniences I have contrived a means for working the splicing thread
carriers automatically by mechanical appliances, and this I effect by
attaching an independent top or bottom carrier bar to the frame, which
is made to traverse backwards and forwards or in other suitable directions
to cause the splicing thread carriers which slide thereon to lay the splicing
threads in the fabric where required.
This splicing thread carrier bar is operated by means of the same
motion which actuates the ordinary thread carriers acting upon a lever
as desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Keely in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 19th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
KEELY, of the Firm of Keely, Shaw, and Lambert, of the Town and
County of the Town of Nottingham, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas Keely, Her special licence that I, the
said Thomas Keely, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas Keely, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED
FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Keely, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands, and seals, should particularly describe a

page_text: 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Keely, 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 statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hercunto
annexed, that is to say : —
My improvements refer to self-acting apparatus for the throwing in of
the extra or splicing threads into and between the ordinary threads used
in forming the heels of stockings, socks, and other fabrics where such
extra threads are required.
It is usual in the making of stockings and socks, or what are known
in the trade as hose and half hose, or other fabrics where splicing or
extra threads are required to throw in the extra or additional threads by
hand. By this means a great many stoppages and tedious and costly
delays are caused. Now in order to obviate these difficulties and incon-
veniences I have contrived means for working the splicing thread carriers
automatically by mechanical appliances, and this I effect by attaching
an independent top or bottom carrier bar to the frame, which is made to
traverse backwards and forwards or in other suitable directions to cause
the splicing thread carriers which slide thereon to lay the splicing threads
in the fabric where required.
This splicing thread carrier bar is operated by means of the same
motion which actuates the ordinary thread carriers acting upon a lever as
desired.
The manner in which my Invention is carried into effect is represented
in the accompanying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is a side view of the
mechanism before referred to as being fitted on a bottom independent
bar of a hosiery frame, and Figure 2 shows the same mechanism looking
on the front of the frame. In thus describing my Invention I do not
in any way confine myself to that particular arrangement of mechanism
or mode of action, as with machines or frames of different manufacture
the-arrangements or modes would vary to suit each of them. In some
cases the splicing thread carriers would be operated from the front or the
back of the frame, or from the top or bottom as before mentioned, as
found most convenient.

page_text: being kept to its work by
a, b, are two transverse bars connecting the end standards of the frame
or machine; the front one a has a bracket c fitted to it for carrying
rock levers d, d, by which the raising and lowering of the thread carriers
are effected. The front projecting ends of the rock levers are perforated
or pierced for receiving a connecting bar e which has attached to it the
additional bar f, the carriers of which are led up to the needles so as to
lay the splicing threads upon them when the necessary motion is given
to the bar. The opposite ends of the rock levers d, d, are linked by links
g, g, to a cam lever h, and the depression is caused by the cam i acting
upon a bowl riding on a pin at j; the lever
a spring k as clearly shewn. The links are formed of two plates, which
are adjustable one on the other by screws and nuts, to regulate the
length of stroke or the rise and fall of the splicing thread carriers. To
prevent the drop of the carriers being too great I fit a stop, screw, or
block on the back transverse bar b, against which the back end of the
rock levers d, d, abut, this block or screw may be adjustable so that the
drop can be regulated to the greatest nicety. The additional bar fis
caused to transverse over the tops of the needles to lay the splicing
threads on them by means of a lever m centred upon an arm or bracket,
the lever being acted upon by a cam working between two bowls n, o,
on a bent plate p attached to it. The movement of the cam is obtained
by the rotation of the cam shaft in any suitable manner, but in the
arrangement shown it could easily be obtained by fixing a bevil wheel
on the inner end of the cam shaft to gear into the pinion of the main
shaft as would be well understood. The upper end of the lever m has a
catch pinned to it for taking into a fork s on the additional carrier bar,
and as the lever moves to and fro by means of the cam the additional
bar is caused to follow its movement and thus traverse over the needles
to lay its thread the required distance, which is governed by the size or
throw of the cam t. The catch is provided with a tail piece to enable
it to be disengaged from the fork by hand, while the plain portion of the
article is being made, at which time the splicing thread carriers remain
idle, but as the heel portion of the hose or half hose, if such are being
made, is commenced, the catch is made to take into the fork and give
the necessary motion for traversing the needles. The traverse or throw
of the splicing thread carriers is determined by the size of the cam on
the shaft u, and it will be necessary in order to obtain a less or a greater
throw to fit other cams on the shaft to accomplish it, the plates p being
capable of adjustment for that purpose. Of course the splicing thread

page_text: carriers may be in pairs so as to throw or lay two threads on the needles
at the same time, or two threads may be led through one carrier as found
convenient.
This Invention is applicable to all kinds of straight or circular frames
or machines in which hose or half hose, or other similarly worked fabrics
are made, and can be fitted without interfering with the other mechanism
of which the machine is composed.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine myself to any mode of causing the splicing thread
carriers to rise and fall, and to move over the needles for laying the
threads on them, as that has been done for many years, but in all cases
it has either been done by simply laying the threads on the needles by
hand or by moving by hand a set of splicing thread carriers over the
needles so as to move all of them at the same time, both of which
necessitated the machine being stopped while the operation was being
performed.
Now by my Invention I am enabled to throw the splicing threads
into the fabric during the ordinary working of the frame and without
any stoppages, and it is to this point that I attach the importance of
my Invention which consists in working the splicing thread carriers
of looped fabric frames automatically by mechanical appliances whether
by the apparatus before described or by any other.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Keely, have hercunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Signed, scaled, and delivered by the
above-named Thomas Keely, in
the presence of
HUGH BROWNE,
Solicitor,
THOMAS KEELY. (L.S.)
Nottingham.