IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED OR KNITTED FABRICS AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Roe, of the Town and County of the
Town of Nottingham, Mechanic, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED OR KNITTED FABRICS AND IN THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Roe at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st July 1869.
I, EDWARD ROE, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham,
Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED OR KNITTED FABRICS AND IN THE
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
According to these improvements machinery or apparatus is applied
to a rotary hose machine whereby narrowings and widenings are more
readily produced than heretofore and on the same machine. In addition
to the use of the known needle bar and needles, the jack and jack sinkers
and the lead sinkers, slur cock apparatus, and presser bar I employ a

page_text: narrowing machine at the front of the machine instead of using a snail
cam or cams at one or both ends of the machine. This narrowing
apparatus consists of worms and nuts carried by brackets. Each worm
at one end is provided with a divided disc and a turn-over pawl; both
pawls work on the same axis, which is moved by a handle lever or a cam
or its equivalent on the machine. The throw of the pawl axis is capable
of adjustment by a stop and set screw or their equivalent so that the
action of the pawls may be increased or diminished as desired. The
nuts on these screws project on one side and act as a stop to restrain the
sliding movements of the carrier needle and narrowing apparatus. There
is also in front of the machine a bar or rod which slides in bearings; it
is moved to and fro by the driving cam and carries a friction key which
operates upon the rod to which the carries are secured, moving it to and
fro to a regulated distance. The narrowing machine consists of two
bars and a number of points sliding on a platform under the carrier bar.
The bars are moved and stopped by the projections of the nuts on the
screws being held up to the stops by springs or their equivalent. The
in and out and rising and falling movements of the points and their bars
are operated by hand or by a rod lever and cam on the machine. The
falling and rising movements of the carriers are obtained by a lever
and cam at the centre or end of the machine. By this machinery or
apparatus I produce a fashioned hose which is heeled and narrowed off
on the same machine, instead of employing two or three machines for
that purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Edward Roe in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd December 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
ROE, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Mechanic,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Edward Roc, Her special licence that I, the

page_text: said Edward Roe, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edward Roe, 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
OR KNITTED FABRICS AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Roe, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Edward Roe, 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 :-
My improvements are applicable to the rotary hose frame in which
the well known jack sinkers, lead sinkers, and bearded needles are
employed, and consist of the following apparatus :-Heretofore to obtain
a narrowed looped fabric the carriers or thread layers have been placed
above the sinkers and have been operated up. n by levers moved by a
snail cam or cams. I propose to place the carrier bar in front of the
machine; this bar is supported by three brackets secured to the framing
of the machine. The carriers are operated by means of a right-handed
screw and a left-handed screw, each of which are provided with a
notched disk secured to one end; between these disks is a hand lever and
reversible pauls, which lever and pauls are operated by the hand, or
they may be operated upon by a cam and levers in such manner as to
cause widenings or narrowings to be made. The narrowing machine
consists of two sliding bars which are held up to the stops by springs in
the usual way; these stops are nuts through which the right and left
handed screws are passed. The narrowing machine sliding bars slide
to the right or left on a bar supported on trucks which slide to and from
the needles on platforms carried by the three brackets before named.
The to-and-fro movement. may be communicated by hand or by a cam

page_text: and levers. The carrier needles at each selvage falls below the needles,
being supported by the carrier bar which is free to turn in its bearings.
The carrier bar is a round rod with a groove planed its whole length,
in which groove the carrier needle bar slides. The partial revolution
of the carrier bar is effected by a cam and lever at one end of the
machine.
The manner of performing my said Invention is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a front view of one of my improved rotary hose frames with
my improved narrowing apparatus applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a sectional
view of the same frame and apparatus shewing the relative position of
the several parts when the frame is about to commence a course of
work; Fig. 3 is a plan drawn the full size shewing portions of the right
and left handed rocking screws, pauls, and disks, portions of the carrier
slide bar and carrier bar, and part of the central bracket bearing;
Fig. 4 shews in plan portions of the tickler bars with a right and left
handed tickler bracket, each carrying ticklers and a point, which I shall
refer to more particularly hereafter; Fig. 5 represents in section my
improved narrowing and widening machine as applied to the improved
bose frame; Fig. 6 is an end view shewing the cam and levers which
lower and raise the thread carriers; Fig. 7 is a plan of the frame and
narrowing apparatus, the standars of the framing being broken off above
the slur cock bar to shew the chains attached to the slur cock sliding
bar and the thread carrier sliding bar driver, such chains being operated
in a manner more particularly described hereafter. The whole of the
cams for effecting the movements of the several parts are shewn the
full size on Sheet 5, and are numbered 1 to 7 both inclusive, and will
be each referred to in turn, the whole of the corresponding parts being
lettered alike where necessary. The following description will apply to
each.
My improved frame consists of the following main parts:-Two end
standards A and a central standard B connected together by two lower
and two intermediate tie bars and one top tie bar, each lettered C; these
standars and tie bars form bearings, or bearings are attached to them for
the several parts of the machine, and amongst others the following, a
spindle bar carrying the brackets of a presser bar I, a needle bar K, a

page_text: jack axle bar L, which is hinged to arms attached to a spindle bar L';
the bar L has brackets attached to it which carry the locker bar M, and
other brackets N also afford support for a sley, through which the tails
of the jacks are passed, and two bars carrying springs which press upon
the tails of the jacks. O is a shaft carrying the cams which give the.
required movement to the several parts. The cam shaft has a toothed
wheel on its left end, which gears into another toothed wheel driven by
a third toothed wheel on the handle shaft which carries a fly wheel and
a fast and loose pulley for a belt from any prime mover.
The parts
known as the frame are a front spindle bar E lying in bearing arms
attached to a back spindle bar F; to the front spindle bar are attached
three vertical arms to which are secured a sinker bar G and a face bar
or work bar H; the bar G has secured on it the frame sinker leads G'.
There is a bar at the back of the work bar, and in the space between
these bars the lower ends of the lead sinkers G' and jack sinkers H' lie.
The above-named parts being of the usual well-known construction will
not require further description. The parts constituting the frame hereto-
fore has been sunk by attaching a connecting rod or link to each end
of the frame spindle bar E, thereby causing the said bar to spring or
buckle in the centre when lowered by such links being operated upon
by the sinking cam. Such plan I improve upon by obviating any
tendency of the spindle bar to buckle or spring by attaching to the
under side of each of the end bearing arms a knuckle joint D hinged to
the top of a connecting rod having its lower end attached to a lever D'
carrying a truck operated upon by the sinking cam, so that the pull acts
direct under the bearings, which are themselves lowered instead of being
pressed down by the spindle bar E.
A second improvement consists of the employment of snapping tackle
constructed as follows:-To the front of the top tie bar are secured two
projecting brackets P, the front ends of which carry an axle rod having
on each projecting end a thread guide P'. The axle has an arm secured
on it hinged to a connecting rod Ps, which rod has its lower end attached
to a lever operated by a cam No. 7 above the axle in the brackets P.
Lying over the thread guides P' are two arms P which are bent at right
angles at their outer ends, where they are wrapped or covered with some
soft material. These arms when pressed upwards turn in their bearings
and will fall by their own weight or to stops placed to stay them in the
position seen in Figure 2, the thread from the cop being passed through

page_text: carrier needle. The above-described snapping tackle will act in the
following manner-Each course the frame makes the thread which is
slackened by the carrier needle being lowered and then raised by the
cam No. 1 is tightened by the guide P¹ being pressed up to the covered
part of the arm P', the thread being nipped between them, and while so
nipped the guide P₁ and arm Pare slightly raised by the operation of
the cam No. 7.
My third and main improvement consists of an apparatus for
narrowing and widening the fabric. Heretofore to obtain a narrow
looped fabric the carriers or thread layers have been placed above the
sinkers, and have been operated upon by levers moved by a snail cam
or cams, instead of which I attach three brackets R to the front of the
machine. The upper ends of these brackets have bearings attached to
them in which a carrier bar Q is free to turn; this bar is round with a
groove planed in it its whole length; in this groove the carrier needle
bar Q slides. To this bar are secured the carrier needles Q. The
carrier bar Q lies at the right end of the frame in a fourth bearing
screwed to the front of the right end standard A; close to this bearing
the bar Q has a lever Qe secured to it hinged to a connecting link having
its lower end hinged to a bent lever Q³ carrying a truck, which is
operated upon by a cam No. 1, which causes the carrier needles to ho
raised into the position shewn at Figures 2 and 5. During its passage
while laying the thread between the sinkers and the top of the needles,
the carrier needles being then lowered under the needles previous to
being raised for working another course, a spring Q is attached to
the lever Q and to the end standard A. to hold the truck to the cam.
The traverse of the sliding bar Q' is effected in the following manner :-
There is a collar placed so as to slide freely on the bar Q, which collar
forms part of or may be attached to a short arm S" which is screwed
to the bar Q. Attached to the bearings on the central bracket R and
right-hand bracket R is a flat bar S, on which a box S slides; this box
lias a projection in front which carries on its under side a stud S7, to
each side of which a chain S¹ is attached, which chain passes round a
pulley S, two other pulleys U, and round a drum V, which makes an
alternately reversed partial revolution. This drum with a similar
drum W for driving the slur cocks is fully described in the Specification
of a Patent granted to me for improvements and additions in or to the

page_text: machinery or apparatus for the manufacture of looped or knitted fabrics,
and also of warp and wift fabrics, dated October Fourteenth, One,
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, and numbered 2999, such
movements of the drum causing the box So to slide alternately to
the right or left. The upper side of the box carries a stud on
which two drivers S turn; each driver is held. by a flat spring in the
position shewn on plan at Fig. 7, so that as the box is moved to the
right or left one of the drivers will catch the arm S¹³ and carry it along
with it until such driver is thrown clear of the arm by the inclined end
of the driver sliding over one or other of the trucks S or S", thereby
allowing the driver to pass the arm S¹ and the other driver to engage
with the opposite side of the arm ready for the return motion. The
truck S is supported by an axle secured to a stop S₁ screwed on the
top of a stop nut S¹ which traverses a screw at the right of the centre
of the frame. The truck S" is supported by an axle at one end of a rod,
having its other end secured to a stop S¹² screwed on the top of a stop
nut S¹ which traverses a screw at the left of the centre of the frame.
The stop nuts S¹ are advanced towards or moved from each other when
they are required to move simultaneously in the following manner :-
One of the screws S which passes through the stop nuts is a right-
handed screw and the other a left-handed screw, each of which is
provided with a notched disk S³. At one end between these disks is a
hand lever and two reversible pauls S, each of which take into the
notches of one of the disks, so that suppose the pauls point upwards
and the handle is raised up so as to rack the disk, the stop nuts S¹ will
be moved away from the centre for the purpose of widening the fabric,
and if the pauls be reversed and the handle depressed to rack the disks
the stop nuts will be moved towards each other for the purpose of
narrowing the fabric. Each of the stop nuts have a projection on their.
lower side to which a clip is screwed which embraces bar S', which
prevents the stop nuts from being carried round with the screws when
they are racked. The bars S' are secured at each end to the screw bearings
which are attached to the brackets R. The traverse of the carrier.
needle sliding bar is stopped at each end by a short arm Q', shewn by
dotted lines in Fig. 2, and another arm Q³, shewn in a lowered position
at Fig. 5, each of which strike against one or other of the stops S¹³, so
that the position of these stops determine the length of traverse of the
carrier needles to form the selvages either in widening or narrowing, and
by the same means the tickler bars are operated, being arranged as

page_text: follows: A bar T is grooved out to allow of two bars T and Te to slide
therein, being held down on the bar T by caps, one of which is seen in
plan at Fig. 4. The bar T is supported on trucks T which run upon
platforms T carried by the three brackets R before mentioned. To each
sliding bar are secured the requisite number of brackets, which carry a
number of ticklers Ts and also one point T to each brackets. The bars,
brackets, ticklers, and points are moved to or from the needles by the
operator, or such to-and-fro movement may be communicated by a cam
and levers. The relative distance the brackets stand from each other is
determined by the position of the stop nuts S', to each of which is
attached a stop bar and spring T" which lie upon each side of a stud in
cach of the tickler bars T and T. Such stop and spring is shewn in side
view at Fig. 5, and in plan at Fig. 7.
The cams which effect the combined movements of the several parts
are shewn in Sheet 5; No. 1 being the cam which operates the thread
carrier needles; No. 2 is the same as No. 9, and are the.frame sinking
cams; Nos. 3 and 8 are alike and operate the presser bar; No. 4
and 5 move the hanging frame to and fro; No. 6 is the locking cam
and operates the locking bar; and No. 7 operates the snapping tackle.
Having described the several parts of my improved narrowing and
widening apparatus, I will describe separately, first, the operation of
narrowing the fabric, then that of widening the fabric.
The narrowing is performed in the following manner:-The move-
ments of the frame having brought the loops forward to the eyes of the
needles the ticklers are pushed towards and placed upon the beards of
the needles and slightly depressed, the loops are brought by the frame
into the ticklers and clear of the needle heads, the right and left threaded
screws being then racked by the pauls of the hand lever carries the said
loops and places them on the next adjoining needles or otherwise, the
frame takes the loops past the beards on to the stem of the needles,
so that the next motion of the frame will secure the loops, and the
fabric will then continue to be made in the usual manner until the
above-described movements are required to be made for the next
narrowing.
For widening the fabric, in addition to four or other number of ticklers
used in each bracket when narrowing the fabric, I also use a plain
point T, see Fig. 4, which lies by the side of the ticklers on the inside
and is moved to or from the needles, and is racked to the right or left

page_text: at the same time as the ticklers by the operator at each widening in the
following manner :-The ticklers and points being placed on the needles,
as before described, the loops are brought forward into them by the
frame, the ticklers and points are slightly raised so as to keep the loops
on them above the needles until they are racked outwards, they are then
placed on the needles, the frame moves forward and takes the loops back
past the beards of the needles, and upon the frame again advancing a
loop is placed upon the whole of the needles, thereby filling up the
hole which would otherwise be produced if performed by the method
heretofore used.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is, the
arrangement and combination of parts of machinery to produce narrowed
or widened looped or knitted fabrics, as hercin-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Roe, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the within-named Edward Roe,
in the presence of
SAMUEL PARSONS,
Solicitor,
Nottingham.
EDWARD ROE. (L.S.)