IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED FOR PRODUCING LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Thornton, James Thornton, Albert Thornton,
and William Thornton, all of Nottingham, Manufacturers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED FOR PRODUCING LOOPED
FABRICS."
Sealed the 23rd October 1863, and dated the 8th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Thornton, James
Thornton, Albert Thornton, and William Thornton at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 8th August
1863.
We, JOHN THORNTON, JAMES THORNTON, ALBERT THORNTON, and WILLIAM
THORNTON, all of Nottingham, Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED FOR PRODUCING LOOPED
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used for
producing looped fabrics. For these purposes two sets of hooks or looping
instruments are used, and it is preferred that cach hook should be of a
triangular shape, that is, that the point of the hook should be sharp, and then
widen out till it joins its stem. The hooks of the two sets are set towards or
facing each other, and so that they nearly touch as they slide to and fro; the
hooks are carried by sliding bolts. It is preferred that the machine should
be circular, and that the bolts carrying the hooks should be arranged to slide
to and from the centre of the circle. The two sets of hooks may be arrangel

page_text: to revolve about a vertical or horizontal axis. When the machine revolves
about a vertical central axis, the two sets of hooks will be in two horizontal
parallel planes very near together, and the two books of each pair will be
arranged one under the other. It is preferred that the two sets of hooks
should rotate together, whilst the thread carriers or instruments which supply:
the threads (placed at intervals around the circle) should be stationary. The
thread carriers or instruments are different for the two sets of hooks. The
sliding of the bolts of the hooks is by cams or suitable surfaces, which, when
the two sets of hooks are caused to rotate, are stationary. The sliding bolts
of the hooks are all independent, so that the bolts of each pair of hooks can
be slid to and fro independently of cach other, and there is a separate set of
cam surfaces for each set of hooks. The sinkers or blades, between which
both sets of hooks work, rotate with the hooks.
In the centre of the machine is a tubular passage through which the work
as it is produced is drawn. Near the sinkers there are inclines on fixed
brackets, which are so formed that the work in passing from the hooks to the
tubular passage is bent out of a straight line by parts of the inclines, and is
then allowed by other parts of the inclines to come more and more towards a
straight line between the end of the tubular passage and the hooks.
There are four such brackets and inclines used, and four thread carriers or
instruments for supplying threads to the hooks, but this may be varied. In
working, the loops produced by one set of hooks are constantly drawn through
the loops produced by the other set of books.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Thornton, James Thornton, Albert Thornton, and
William Thornton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th February
1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
THORNTON, JAMES THORNTON, ALBERT THORNTON, and WILLIAM THORNTON,
all of Nottingham, Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of August, 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 us,
the said John Thornton, James Thornton, Albert Thornton, and William
Thornton, Her special licence that we, the said John Thornton, James

page_text: Thornton, Albert Thornton, and William Thornton, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Thornton, James
Thornton, Albert Thornton, and William Thornton, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 APPARATUS USED FOR PRODUCING
LOOPED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
John Thornton, James Thornton, Albert Thornton, and William Thornton,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their bands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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 we, the John Thornton and William Thornton,
on behalf of ourselves and the said James Thornton and Albert Thornton, do
hereby declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used for pro-
ducing looped fabrics. For these purposes two sets of hooks or looping instru-
ments are used, and it is preferred that each book should be of a triangular
shape, that is, that the point of the hook should be sharp, and then widen out
till it joins its stem. The hooks of the two sets are set towards or facing each
other, and so that they nearly touch as they slide to and fro; the hooks aro
carried by sliding bolts. It is preferred that the machine should be circular,
and that the bolts carrying the hooks should be arranged to slide to and from.
the centre of the circle. The two sets of hooks may be arranged to revolve
about a vertical or horizontal axis. When the machine revolves about a
vertical central axis, the two sets of hooks will be in two horizontal paralic!-
planes very near together, and the two hooks of each pair will be arranged
one under the other. It is preferred that the two sets of hooks should rotate.
together, whilst the thread carriers or instruments which supply the threads:
(placed at intervals around the circle) should be stationary. The thread
carriers or instruments are different for the two sets of hooks. The sliding of
the bolts of the hooks is by cams or suitable surfaces, which when the two sets
of hooks are caused to rotate are stationary. The sliding bolts of the hooks.

page_text: are all independent, so that the bolts of cach pair of hooks can be slid to and
fro independently of each other, and there is a separate set of cam surfaces for
each set of hooks. The sinkers or blades, between which both sets of hooks
work, rotate with the books.
In the centre of the machine is a tubular passage through which the work
as it is produced is drawn. Near the sinkers there are inclines on fixed
brackets, which are so formed that the work in passing from the hooks to the
tubular passage is bent out of a straight line by parts of the inclines, and is
then allowed by other parts of the inclines to come more and more towards a
straight line between the end of the tubular passage and the hooks.
There are four such brackets and inclines used, and four thread carriers or
instruments for supplying threads to the hooks, but this may be varied. In
working, the loops produced by one set of hooks are constantly drawn through
the loops produced by the other set of hooks.
And in order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect. we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
1
Figure 1 is a front view, or it may be a plan; and Figure 2 is a transverse
section of a machine or apparatus for producing looped fabrics arranged according
to our Invention.
a, a, and b, b, are two sets of hooks or looping instruments placed face to
face and close the one to the other; the form of one of these hooks or instru-
ments is clearly shewn at Figure 2. The hooks a and b are fixed on slides or
bolts a', a, b, b', and these have projections a³, a, b, b, upon them for the
stationary cams c and d to act upon. The slides or bolts a¹, b', work in
radial grooves cut or formed in tho revolving plate c.
These grooves
are more clearly seen in Figure 3, which is a view similar to Figure 1,
but with the working and some other parts removed. f, f, are blades or
sinkers arranged round in a circle and having the hoops or looping instruments
between them; the sinkers f are fixed in a holding ring g, screwed to the
plate e; h, h, are the two thread carriers or guides at the front of the machine ;
they are stationary and have eyes at their ends through which the yarn to
supply the machine is led. At the back of the machine or on the other side
of the hook or looping instruments there are other similar thread carriers i, i.
i, j, are fixed inclines at the front of the machine, and which are employed to
press the work towards the back at the points required, and k, k, are other
similar inclines at the back of the machine employed to press the work towards

page_text: he front; 1, 1, is a tube through which the finished work is led away; it is
crewed to a bracket m, which is itself fixed to the stationary ring n, in which
he ring e revolves; o is also a fixed ring, and to it the brackets p, carrying
he thread carriers h, are attached. The cams c and d are also secured to the
ing o. The back thread carriers i are carried by the bracket m.
The ring
5 made to rotate by means of spur teeth on its periphery, which gear with a
pur wheel on the driving axis, as is shewn in Figure 1. As the plato e revolves
t will be seen that the books or looping instruments are alternately drawn
back and protruded by the action of the cams c and d. The front hooks or
nstruments a are worked by the cam c.
every alternate hook
or instrument a has two projections a³ upon it, so that the cam moves them
both to and fro; the other hooks or instruments a, for a purpose which we will
presently explain, have only one projection a² on its bolt a', but these are kept
up to the outer circumference of the cam c, by the guide plate r, so that all
the hooks or instruments a make usually similar motions in working a course.
The back hooks or instruments 6 are worked by the cam d, their bolts 6' are
however each made with but one projection, upon it on the outer side of the
cam, and these are kept up to the cam by the guide plate s.
The bolt a¹ of
In working a course the action of the parts is as follows:-Suppose tho
work in commencing to be on the front hooks, then in working the course
the work is first pressed back by one of the inclines j; this extends or opens
the loop on the hook or instrument a, and the hook or instrument b is thrown
forward through the said loop; in this position, in which the parts are shewn
in the Diagram, Figure 4, the hooks pass under the eye of the thread carrier ;
the hook 6 then returns, and in returning catches the thread and draws a loop
of it through the loop previously on the hook a, the said hook a then immediately
moves forward and throws off the old loop. For the next course the work being
on the hooks or instruments b, one of the back inclines & presses the work forward
and the hook or instrument a is thrown forward through the loop; it receives
thread from a back thread carrier as before and retires, and the hooks 6 move
forward to throw off the old loop; thus the work proceeds, the courses being
worked alternately by the front and back hooks. The object of making every
alternate bolt different in some respects from their fellows is for the purpose
of making tuck work; to do this cach alternate hook or instrument is made to
discharge its loop just before commencing to work the course, and for this
purpose they are made to receive a movement forward; this is done by taking
moveable pieces out of the cams c and d at the points c* and d*, and other
inclines, which we have not thought it necessary to shew, are applied to cause
the alternate bolts to follow into the indentations so produced, the projection a

page_text: and 62 of each alternate bolt being lengthened so as to be caught by the
additional inclines thus applied.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not confine
ourselves to the exact details; but what we claim is, the arranging apparatus
for producing looped fabrics as above described, that is to say, with two sets of
hook or looping instruments facing each other, and combined with other parts
as above described, so that in working the courses the fabric already made is
transferred continually to and fro from one set of hooks to the other, the hooks
or instruments which for the time are clear of the fabric being also passed
through the loops on the corresponding hooks or instruments of the other set,
and in returning drawing back loops of thread through them, the course being
completed by the hooks having the old loops throwing them off.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Thornton and William Thornton,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Third day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thusand eight hundred and sixty-four.