Improvements in or applicable to Narrowing Apparatus for Knitting Machines.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 15th June, 1894-Accepted, 21st July, 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or applicable to Narrowing Apparatus for
Knitting Machines.
I FRIEDRICH RABE of Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany, Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying drawings:-
My said invention relates to a narrowing apparatus for use on what are known
as Lamb's knitting machines for narrowing the breadth of the fabric by taking a
number of marginal loops by means of tickler needles from the neighbouring self
acting needles.
The tickler needles used are similar to the ordinary eyed needles used in
narrowing by hand and therefore possess no groove. They differ however from
them in having the eye materially longer as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The eye
is lengthened to ensure them meeting and covering the hooks of the self acting
needles which during their rapid action cannot always be brought into an even
position. The eye can be lengthened as much as desired inasmuch as in my
narrowing apparatus the tickler needle has not to draw or push the self acting
needle since both the tickler needles and the self acting needles are operated
independently of each other when narrowing.
Three or more such tickler needles & Figure 1 are carried by a tickler d' which
is laterally adjustable on the stripper shaft do by means of a slot and spring.
This shaft is mounted in the arm d the shaft d of which is actuated by an
excentric. On the stripper shaft 10 is mounted an arm d' which takes against a
cam bar d. When the arm d' is depressed the tickler needles d come into contact
with the self acting needles. The arm do further carries a screw e the nut
which is connected to the tickler and effects the intermittent lateral displacement
of the latter when transferring the loops.
of
A needle pusher is used for displacing the self acting needles. (A needle
pusher works together with each tickler.) The needle pusher consists of a plate a
Figures 4 and 10 (the latter being a back elevation) having a corner shaped slot a
into which takes the foot of the needle and which is as wide as the number of
self acting needles which have to be doffed plus one needle more. In the drawing
it is therefore shown needles wide. The one needle last referred to (1 in
Figure 2) comes into the deeper part of the slot so that when the needle pusher a
rises the needle is only lifted so high as that its loop still remains on the tongue of
this needle while the loops of the other three needles slip behind the tongue.
This slight lift of the one needle is necessary so that the tongue of the needle may
be opened without fail in order to render the transfer of the loop possible.
On the descent of the needle pusher the whole of the needles held by it are
depressed uniformly by the straight upper edge of the slot.
Besides the corner shaped slot the needle pusher is provided with a lug a¹ which
extends over the next needle outside the slot and keeps the needle which has been
doffed out of action. The construction of the needle pusher has been described
and is represented in the drawings as for stripping single needles. To modify it
80 that two or more needles may be doffed the lower part of the alot a' and the
lug a, must be made correspondingly wider.
The needle pusher receives its up and down motion from an excentric which
acts on a shaft a* Fig. 1 the projecting arms of which a' carry a rod a' on which
the needle pushers are mounted.
On the rise of the needle pusher the nose 9 of the needle pusher bar g³ comes

page_text: agamist a ral 9 which causes the needle pusher to be momentarily lifted from the
feet of the needles.
The lateral displacement of the needle pushers is effected by the screw 6 and the
nut c carried by the arm c' which bears against the arm a projecting from
the needle pusher bar g³.
The needle pusher has thus a three fold motion viz.-up and down in the direction
of the needlès, a lateral displacement and a lift from the needles..
The operation is as follows:-After a snug chain has pushed out the slide motion
and drawn in, the excentric shaft for narrowing the needle pusher a. Figure 2
pushes up the self acting needles f so that at the first needle to the left the loop
still remains, on the tongue of the needle while the other loops have gone behind
the tongues. The tickler needles d have meanwhile dropped to some extent on to
the self-acting, needles. The needle pusher a and the tickler needles d descend
but the needle pusher draws down the self-acting needles frather more quickly than
the tickler needles d follow so that the eyes of the tickler needles are now over
the hooks of the self-acting needles as shown in Figure 3. The loops close the
tongues except in the case of the first needle where owing to the loop not having
been taken off the tongue remains open. The needle pusher a draws the self-
acting, needles still lower, the tickler needles d being moved after the loops pass
on to the tickler needles. as seen in Figure 4.
The needle pusher a and consequently also the self-acting needles f come to a
stop, the tickler needles d descend.still lower and at the same time raise themselves
from the self-acting needles f as illustrated in Figure 5.
At this stage the lateral displacement of the tickler needles takes place through
the distance of one needle so that the loops are now inclined as in Figure 8. The
tickler needles d then, rise again and at the same time approach and come into
contact with the self-acting needles as shown in Figure 6. The needle pusher now
begins to rise and in consequence the loops are transferred, on to the self-acting
needles. This having taken place, the 'needle, pusher a moves rather more quickly
upwards than the tickler needles d so that the, needle hooks are freed from the
self-acting needles and the tickler needles can come away as shown in Figure 7.
The tickler, needles then return to their position of rest while the needle pusher
descends.
The self-acting needles 1, 2, 3 (Figure 8) having arrived in their working
position the needle pusher a is momentarily lifted off the. needle bed and the feet
of the needles are released. The needle pusher in descending, still further comes
down again on the needle board. At this point the lug a of the needle pusher
catches the foot of the released needle 4 (Figure 8) and draws this out of the
range of operations of, the, lock.
At the next half turn of the excentric shaft the narrowing takes place on the
other side of the knitting, machine.
Meanwhile the snug, chain has been shifted so, that the slidė movement, has been
pushed in and the narrowing apparatus has been withdrawn. The final result of the
operations is shown in Figure 9 from which it will be seen that the fabric is a loop
narrower and the needle 4. has ceased to act..
Having now particularly. described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in, what manner the same, is, to be performed 1 declare that what I
claim. is―
1. A tickler needle for an automatic narrowing apparatus for knitting machines
without point or groove but with an elongated eye for greater certainty in covering
the needle hooks substantially as set forth.
2. In a Lamb's knitting machine having needles of the kind set forth in Claim
Number 1 an automatic narrowing apparatus consisting essentially of a slotted
needle pusher a for imparting a differential lift to the self-acting needles when rising
and for uniformly depressing the whole of the needles engaging in the slot when
descending and provided with a lug a higher than the slot for withdrawing the

page_text: emptied self acting needle or needles from the action of the lock when descending
after lateral displacement with the means for operating and controlling the same
substantially as hereinbefore set forth and described and shown in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated Fourteenth day of June 1894.
E. T. WHITELOW, A.M. Inst. C.E.,
70, Deansgate, Manchester, Agent for the Applicant.