IMPROVEMENTS IN OR APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNITTING MACHINERY
Year: 1884

page_text: I, HARRY SKELTON, of Saint James Mill, Norwich, in the County of Norfolk,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN OR APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNITTING MACHINERY" to be as
follows:-
In the manufacture of cardigan jackets, jerseys, and other like garments of
knitted work, these articles have hitherto been made in several parts, namely, the
body portion, the sleeves, the pockets, and the bordering, for the manufacture of
each of which parts separate machines have been. required and employed; and
these parts have been subsequently and separately united to the body portion to
form the complete garment either by hand or by the aid of other special machines.
This Invention relates to certain improvements in or applicable to the
construction of knitting machinery of the kind hitherto used for knitting only the
body portion of the garment or the plain portion of the fabric, and of the class in
which opposite straight rows or series of knitting needles are actuated by cams
traversed over them by a reciprocating carriage, and are supported by inclined
needle plates which are separated sufficiently to permit of the operation of knitting
taking place when the yarn is laid between the opposite raised needles by a
reciprocating yarn carrier or carriers, and of the fabric as it is produced hanging
down between them; and which improvements have for their especial object the.
provision of means for enabling such machines to improve the art of knitting such
or like garments or fabrics by knitting the borderings together with the body.
portion at one and the same time and by the same operations of one machine, and
so that the bordering, which is generally of a more ornamental appearance or
pattern than the body portion of the garment or plain part of the fabric, will be
formed together therewith, though the width of the latter varies in accordance
with the fashioning; and which improvements will also allow of the borderings
being made of the same pattern as the body portion of the garment or plain
portion of the fabric, and made to form a part of the width thereof which may vary
with the fashioning thereof, instead of forming a differently ornamented bordering.
thereto.
31
Among the special advantages attained by the use and application of the,
improvements herein described, or of their respective equivalents, may be mentioned,
the saving of the cost of two of the separate machines hitherto used in such
manufactures, for manufacturing the borderings, and for subsequently uniting the.
.:
1

page_text: bordering to the body portion of the garment, the correspondingly simplifying of
the process of manufacture, and reduction in the labor required, a considerable
saving of the present great waste of yarn, and réduction in the cost of manufacture.
According to the present improvements, there is adapted to the needle plates, on
each side of a permanent central section or plate grooved to carry knitting needles,
a section or series of detachable and removable needle bars each being grooved to
carry one two or more knitting needles, and to the outer side of each of these
sections of detachable and removable needle bars there is adapted a laterally
adjustable section also grooved to carry knitting needles.
The lateral extent of the permanent central section of needles is or may be made
equal to the narrowest width of the fabric it is intended to form in the centre
part of the machine; the extent of each outer adjustable section is made equal'
to the greatest width of bordering it is intended to form in the machine at each
side of the fabric, and the intermediate section of detachable and removable needle
bars makes up, with the said central permanent and outer. adjustable or bordering
sections of needles, the greatest width of fabric it is intended to knit in the
machine.
In the operation of the machine, any one or more or the whole of the section
of detachable needle bars may be removed from its or their position on the needle
plate between the said central permanent and bordering sections of needles, and be
replaced on the needle plate at the outer side of the bordering sections, where the
needles may be lowered in their grooves out of operative position, and the
bordering sections may then be laterally adjusted towards the permanent central
section to the extent of the intermediate needles removed. Any one or more of
the needles of the permanent central, the detachable and removable, and the
bordering sections, may be separately lowered in their grooves out of operative
position, so that every possible facility is afforded in the same machine, of
knitting a fabric of any required width, together with a bordering of any required
width and pattern, and of varying the width or fashioning the garment or fabric
in the process of manufacture, the bordering following the fashioning and varying
width of the garment or fabric.
The application to this class of knitting machinery of these detachable and
removable sections of needle bars. in combination with the laterally adjustable
bordering sections forms a material feature of the present Invention: and the
special object of this application is to improve the art of manufacturing such
garments or fabrics in the manner hereinbefore indicated.
The Invention also comprises as a material feature, the combination with this
improved arrangement of needle sections in this class of knitting machinery, of
means for independently shifting the bordering sections laterally during the
operation of the machine to form a pattern different to that of the body portion
of the fabric, and which means can be thrown out of gear by a simple movement
so that a fabric of any width between the extreme widths, and of varying width,
if fashioned, may be formed in the same machine and in part by the same needles
and means as would otherwise form a differently ornamented bordering, but
without now forming such bordering at all.
The permanent central section consists of a grooved plate carrying any required
number of ordinary knitting needles; each of the detachable and removable needle
bars is also grooved to carry one or more ordinary knitting needles; and the
bordering sections each consist of a grooved plate carrying any required number of
ordinary knitting needles.
In the operation of the improved machine in the formation of the body part of
the fabric together with the bordering, all the said needles are raised for the yarn
carrier to lay the thread between them, and lowered to perform the knitting
operation, by the action of adjustable cams carried by a traversing-carriage in the
usual way. The traversing of the carriage and of the yarn carriers is effected in
the usual manner, and by the usual connections from the driving shaft. The
raising and lowering of the needles forming the bordering, may be effected by the

page_text: same cams as similarly operate upon the needles forming the body part of the
fabric, or by separate adjustable cams adapted to such carriage, and which then
provide an additional facility of varying the pattern of the bordering. Each of
these sets of cams, may be made with adjustable parts in the usual manner for
causing the needles to be more or less raised or lowered to make the fabric more or
less slack in its texture, and the separate cams may be connected so that the usual
adjustable stops at each end of the machine may be used to give a common and
equal shift to the connected cams at the end of each traverse of the carriage..
Each bordering section has an independent lateral movement imparted to it at
the end of each traverse, or at the end of each double traverse of the carriage, to
cause the bordering needles to be laterally shifted more or less as desired to give
any desired pattern to the bordering.
The independent motion of the bordering sections is communicated thereto at
the proper or desired times by means also deriving their actuation from the
driving shaft.
These means may consist of a pinion made fast to the usual wheel to which the
connecting rod for traversing the said carriage is connected, and which pinion gears
with and rotates, a wheel to which there is made fast a cam properly shaped and
timed to laterally shift the bordering sections at the times indicated.
This cam effects the shifting of the bordering sections by means of an adjustable
slide having rollers which are acted upon by the circumference of the cams or
otherwise, and the bordering sections are retained during the next traverse of the
carriage in the positions to which they are shifted by concentric segments of
the cam.
In this adjustable slide there is a facility afforded of throwing the driving
means out of connection with the bordering sections, so that, when desired, by
simply disconnecting these parts, the bordering sections may be used for knitting
parts of the width of the fabric, without being separately actuated so as to form
a bordering thereto. To attain this object, the slide is made of two parts each.
carrying one of the said rollers, and these parts by means of a cain and catch can
be retained in such relative positions as to cause the slide to be actuated at every
revolution of the cam, or the said cam and catch being disconnected, a spring
causes the parts of the slide to occupy such relative positions as that they are not
actuated by the cam.
The operating part of the slide is connected to a lever fast on a rod longitudinally
running across the back of the machine, and which, at its other end, is connected
with an articulated lever. Each of the levers on this longitudinal rod is connected
to a bifurcated slide or slides working between the end faces of the machine and
lugs on the ends of right and left handed screws which pass through screwed lugs
on the under surface of the bordering sections in such a manner as that each
operation of each of such bifurcated slides causes an endwise movement of the
screw or screws on which the bordering sections are mounted, and a consequent
lateral shifting of the bordering sections.
In fashioning the centre part of the garment, the operation of the machine is.
stopped in the usual way at the end of any desired traverse of the said carriage,
and the loops are shifted from the needles in the usual manner, and the needles
not required to be used are lowered in their grooves so as not to be raised by the
next traverse of the carriage; but when it is required to effect any fashioning of
the fabric adjacent to the bordering, the intermediate needle bars are relieved from
the pressure of the usual end clamping plates by the usual means, and the bordering
sections are also both shifted together away from each other, by means of hand
gearing at one end of the machine, (at each revolution or part revolution of which,
depending upon the gearing and the pitch of the said screws by which the bordering
sections are shifted as aforesaid, these screws are rotated sufficiently to laterally
shift the said bordering sections a space of the width of one needle bar) this
permits of any of the loosened sections of detachable needle bars which it is not
required to be raised or used in the next traverse of the carriage, being removed

page_text: (after the loops have been shifted in the usual manner) from their positions in the
needle plate between the bordering sections and the central sections, to the outer
sides of the bordering sections, and their needles then being lowered out of
operative position, or of any additional needle bars being inserted between the
bordering sections for adding to the width of the fabric; after which, the bordering
sections are again closed up. by the hand gearing or otherwise, leaving a space of
the width of one or more needle bars, or sufficient for the extent of the independent.
traverse it is desired the bordering sections shall have in the operation of the
machine, and. the needle bars are all clamped together by the usual means, when
the operation of the machine can be continued.
"The outside adjustable needle bars adjacent to the bordering sections, are formed
with extensions which slide under the bordering sections, and which serve as means
of retaining these needle bars in place, and of retaining the detachable needle bars
in position when the bordering sections are independently shifted as hereinbefore
described.
It is only necessary that this mechanism for shifting the bordering sections
should be adapted to the front of the, machine, because the back of the bordering
may be of the same pattern as that of the body portion of the fabric.
The lateral shifting of the bordering sections as and at the times required, may
be effected by other equivalent means operated from the said driving shaft, or
otherwise; for example, I may use what is known as a notch wheel, which, by a
lever or suitable connections, may be caused to impart the required movements to
the screws carrying the bordering sections.
I wish it to be understood that the application and use in such machinery of
laterally adjustable sections for forming the bordering of the fabric at the time of
forming the body portion thereof, constitutes a material feature of the present
Invention; and that I can use various mechanical arrangements of means for
effecting this shifting or adjustment; and that a further material feature of the
Invention consists in the subdivision of the series of knitting needles in the
manuêr herein described.
1
In each of the needle grooves there is placed a spring-stop, which, when slid
down, allows of the needle being placed out of operative position by simply
lowering it, without lifting it .as at present required, and which, when slid
up in its groove, carries the needle with it, and prevents it from falling, too low or
out of engagement with the traversing cam. This detail is of special advantage in
facilitating the operation of fashioning when the needle bars are not required to be
removed, and in preventing the needle jacks from being damaged by the traversing
cam.
Dated this 1st day of March 1881

page_text: I, HARRY SKELTON, of Saint James Mill, Norwich, in the County of Norfolk;
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN OR APPLICABLE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF KNITTING MACHINERY," and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :—
In the manufacture of cardigan jackets, jerseys, and other like garments of
knitted work, these articles have hitherto been made in several parts, namely, the
body portion, the bordering thereto which is generally of a more ornamental
appearance or pattern, the sleeves, and the pockets, for the manufacture of each of
which parts separate machines have been required and employed; and these parts
have been subsequently and separately united to the body portion to form the
complete garment either by hand or by the aid of other special machines.
This Invention relates to certain improvements in or applicable to the construction
of knitting machinery of the kind hithereto used for knitting only the body portion
of the garment or the plain portion of the fabric, and of the class in which
opposite straight rows or series of knitting needles are actuated by cams traversed
over them by a reciprocating carriage, and are supported by inclined needle plates
which are separated sufficiently to permit of the operation of knitting taking,
place when the yarn is laid between the opposite raised needles by a reciprocating
yarn carrier or carriers, and of the fabric as it is produced hanging down between
them and the improvements have for their especial object the provision of means
for enabling such machines to improve the art of knitting such or like garments or
fabrics by knitting the ornamental borderings together with the body or plain
portion and so as to follow the varying width of the latter in accordance with
the fashioning thereof at one and the same time and by the same operations of;
one machine, and which improvements and means will nevertheless allow of a
plain fabric being made in the same machine and of the full width thereof or of
any less or varying width and without forming a differently ornamented bordering.
thereto.
Among the special advantages attained by the use and application of the
improvements herein described, or of their respective equivalents, inay be mentioned,
the saving of the cost of two of the separate machines hitherto used in such
manufactures, viz. the machines for manufacturing the borderings, and for
subsequently uniting the same to the body or plain portion of the garment, the
simplifying of the process of manufacture, reduction in the labor required, and in
the cost of manufacture, and a considerable saving of the present waste of yarn.
The present improvements and their application to a knitting machine of the:
kind and class herein before referred to are illustrated on the accompanying
Drawings, in which Fig. 1, represents an elevation of the driving end of the
improved machine. Fig. 2, a transverse section thereof. Fig. 3, a front elevation
of that part of the machine to which the present improvements more particularly
appertain. Fig. 4. a plan view illustrating the improved formation of the needle:
plates. The remaining Figures are detail views, and will be hereinafter more
particularly referred to.
On the accompanying Drawings, 1, represents two inclined bed plates the
extremities of which are supported in a usual manner by the end frames, 2; and
intermediate parts of which are supported by lugs, 3, rising from longitudinal
castings, 4, which also extend from the one end frame to the other and help to
keep the connection rigid. In the modification represented on the accompanying
Drawings, the rear bed plate, 1, is grooved at, 5, and the front bed plate is grooved
at, 5, and, 6, and these grooves receive correspondingly formed parts on or

page_text: projecting from parts of the needle plates, 7, and on the end clamps, 8, and act as
guides in the lateral adjustment of such parts as hereinafter explained.
According to the present improvements, the longitudinal extent of the needle
plate, 7, is subdivided into or composed of sections or series of needle plates or bars
each grooved to carry one or more ordinary knitting needles, and having different
functions and movements as hereinafter described. If reference, is had to Fig. 4, it
will be seen that there is a central section, a, the position of which, when on the
bed plate, see Fig. 3, is permanent; this section consists of a grooved plate
carrying any required number of knitting needles, and the lateral extent thereof is
or may be made equal to the narrowest width of the fabric it is intended to form
in the centre part of the machine; and that there is an outer section, b, the position
of which is laterally adjustable on the bed plate, and this section also consists of a
grooved plate carrying any required number of knitting needles, and its lateral
extent is made equal to the greatest width of bordering it is intended to form in
the machine at each outer edge or side of the fabric; and that there are inter-
mediate sections, c, between the sections, a, and, b, and each of which is composed
of a laterally adjustable sub-section, c', consisting of a grooved plate carrying any
required number of knitting needles, and which is or may be made of a lateral
extent equal to the narrowest width of the shoulder pieces it is intended to form
in the machine, and of series, c¹¹, cl, of detachable and removable needle bars,
each carrying one, two, or but a small number of ordinary knitting needles, and by
means of the former series of which the fashioning of the centre part of the width
of the fabric is effected, and by means of the latter series of which the fashioning
of the outer edges or parts of the fabric is effected; the series, c", c¹¹¹, separately
considered, are of no determined extent, as separate needle bars may be removed
from the one series to the other, but their combined extent is or may be made
equal or sufficient to allow of the required fashioning of the fabric being effected
both at the centre parts, and at the outer edges, or where required.
When the sections, a, b, c, of the needle plate, 7, are arranged in the manner
illustrated in Fig. 4, that is, with the bordering sections, b, at the outer edges, and
if all the needles are raised to their operative positions, the operation of the
machine will effect the knitting of a plain fabric, with a differently ornamented
bordering at each edge, of the greatest width the machine will allow of, (and
it will also effect the knitting of a plain fabric of the greatest width the machine
will allow of without forming a differently ornamented bordering thereto, if, as
hereinafter explained, no independent lateral shifting of the bordering sections is
effected during the operation of the machine), but before or during the operation
of the machine any one, or more, or the whole of either or both of the series, cll, clll,
of needle bars, may be removed from its or their positions on the bed plate, 1,
between the sections, a, and, b, and after the sections, b, c, of needles, and those of
the series c¹¹, c¹¹, not removed, have been laterally adjusted towards the section, a,
to the extent of the intermediate needles removed, the latter may be replaced on
the bed plate at the outer sides of the sections, b, and the relative needles may be
lowered in their grooves out of operative position, when the remaining raised
needles will be caused to effect the knitting of any less width of fabric with a
bordering thereto, or without any bordering if at any part desired.
Fig. 3, illustrates a different position of the bordering sections, b; as here
represented, several of the series of needle bars, c111, have been removed from the
inner sides of the bordering sections, b, to the outer sides thereof. With this
arrangement, the machine will knit a plain fabric of the width between the
sections, b, with the borderings such sections will form.
It will, of course, be understood, as hereinbefore referred to, that each of the
said sections of the needle plate or series of needle bais, a, b, c, (c¹, c¹¹, c¹¹¹).is
grooved for the reception of one or more knitting needles in such manner that in
any relative position of the said sections, and series, when closed up, the needles
will be equidistant apart. In Fig. 3, one of the sections, c¹, is shown as removed
in order to show the grooved bed plate, 1, under it.

page_text: Fig. 5, represents in front view, and full size, one of the series, c¹¹, clll, of needle
bars, showing the same as grooved to carry one needle. Fig. 6, represents a
similar view of another one of such series of needle bars, showing the same as
grooved to carry two needles. Figs. 7, 7×, represent side views of such needle bars
respectively showing the needles, 9, and jacks, 10, in their raised and operative,
and in their lowered and inoperative positions. Figs. 8, represent front and side
views of the needles and jacks. These Figs. (5 to 8,) illustrate the formation of
all the detachable and removable sections or series of needle plates or bars, the
difference consists merely in the lateral extent of the plates or bars and in the
number of needles they carry.
Across each needle groove, 11, there is dovetailed a stop piece, 12, and within
the lower part of the groove there is placed a curved or spring piece, 13, which,
when slid down to its lowered position, see Fig. 7*, allows of the needle and jack
being placed out of operative position by simply lowering it in its groove until it rests
against the upper end of the spring piece, 13, without requiring it to be lifted as
the present arrangement of stepped needle grooves does. When slid up its groove,
the spring piece, 13, carries the jack and needle with it, and prevents the same
from falling too low or out of engagement with the traversing cam by which the
needles are operated. This provision is of special advantage in facilitating the
operation of fashioning, and in preventing the needle jacks from being damaged by
the traversing cam.
Each of the detachable and removable sections or series, c¹¹, c¹¹¹, of needle bars,
is also formed with a dovetailed rear rest piece or guide, 14, which does not quite
fit the groove, 5, of the bed plate in which it rests, permitting of its resting therein,
and of its being raised a little to be lifted out, and the upper front part, 15, of each
of such needle bars is chamferred away to permit of its being readily removed
from under the longitudinal guide, 16, for the carrier of the traversing cams, and
which extends from end to end of the machine as shown in Fig. 3. The section, a,
is fixed to the bed plate, and the rest pieces, 14, of the sections, c¹, are made to
fit the grooves, 5, and with the sections, b, are formed straight up the front, as
they are only required to be laterally adjusted therein. The formation of the
bordering sections, and of the outside adjustable needle bars, cl, next adjacent
thereto, will be hereinafter more particularly referred to.
Any one or more of the knitting needles in each of the said sections or series may
be separately lowered in its or their groove or grooves out of operative position,
and so as not to be engaged by the traverse of the said reciprocating carriage, so
that every possible facility is afforded in the same machine of knitting a fabric of
any required width together with a bordering of any required width and pattern,
and of varying the width or fashioning the garment or fabric in the process of
manufacture, the bordering following the fashioning and varying width of the
garment or fabric.
In the operation of the improved machine in the formation of the body part of
the fabric together with the borderings, all the said needles, (when in their operative
positions) are raised for the yarn carrier or carriers to lay the thread between them,
and lowered to perform the knitting operation, by the action of adjustable cams
carried by a traversing carriage in the usual way. The traversing of the carriage,
and of the yarn carriers, is effected in the usual way and by the usual connections
from the driving shaft, 17. The yarn carriers and traversing carriage by which
they are operated, being of the usual construction, are not illustrated on the
accompanying Drawings, but the connections or means by which the traversing
carriage is operated from the shaft, 17, are in part illustrated in Figs. 1, and, 2,
wherein, 18, represents a pinion on the driving shaft, and, 19, a spur wheel (on a
shaft, 20; carried by the end frame, 2,) which it drives, and, 21, a bar which
connects the wheel, 19, with a lever, 22, centred at, 23, in the cross stay, 24, and
the upper part of which lever is directly connected with and actuates the traversing
carriage in the usual way.

page_text: A
Referring again to Fig. 4, the dotted lines, d, represent the lowered and
inoperative position (see also Fig. 7x) of the jacks of all the needles other than of
the bordering sections, and the dotted lines, e, represent the raised and opérative
position (see also Fig. 7,) of the jacks of such needles. In the modification
represented, the line, f, represents the bottom of the needle grooves made in the
bordering sections, b, and the dotted lines, g, the raised and operative positions of
the jacks of the bordering needles, one of which is shown in side elevation and full
size in Fig. 9. The needle grooves in the bordering sections, and the needles and
jacks thereof, may, however, be made of like extent with the needle grooves and
needles and jacks of the remaining sections of the needle plate, so that the bordering
needles and jacks will occupy similar inoperative and operative positions to those
of the remaining needles and jacks. In the latter case, the raising and lowering of
the bordering needles, when in operative position, may be effected by the usual
cams and cam grooves which similarly operate the remaining needles forming the
body or plain part of the fabric; but in the former case, that is, when the operative
positions of the jacks of the bordering needles and of the remaining needles are at
different elevations, as in the modification illustrated in Fig. 4, I adapt separate
adjustable cams to such carriage to operate the bordering needles, and thus provide
an additional facility of varying the pattern of the bordering. Fig. 10, illustrates
such a arrangement of cams as are hereinbefore immediately referred to, and in
which, 25, represents the cams and cam grooves which operate the bordering
needles, and, 26, the cams and can grooves which operate the remaining needles.
Each of these sets of cams may be made with parts, 27, adjustable in slots, 28, in
the usual manner, for causing the needles to be more or less raised or lowered to
make the fabric or bordering more or less slack in its texture, and with other
adjustable parts, 29, which may work separately, or may be connected together so
as to receive a common and equal shift in each traverse of the carriage, the shifting
being effected in the usual manner by means of a slotted cam plate, 30, which is
shifted by the usual adjustable stops, 31, at each end of the machine; 32, represents
part of the case of the carriage, and, 33, the spring for retaining the slotted plate, 30,
in each of its. positions.
The Invention also comprises as a material feature the combination with the
improved sectional arrangement of the needle plate, 7, in this class of knitting
machinery, of means for independently shifting the bordering sections, b, laterally
during the operation of the machine, at the end of each traverse, or at the end of
each double, traverse of the carriage, or at other desired periods, to cause the
.needles of such sections to form the borderings with various patterns differing from
that of the body portion of the fabric, and which means can be thrown out of
by a simple movement, as hereinafter described, so that a fabric of any width
between the extreme widths, and of varying width, if fashioned, may be formed in
the same machine, and in part by the same needles and means as would otherwise
form differently ornamental borderings thereto, but without now forming such
borderings.
gear
The means of effecting the independent shifting of the bordering sections at the
proper or desired intervals or times, derive their actuation from the driving
shaft, 17, through the gearing, 18, 19, by means of a bevil pinion, 34, (of thirty
teeth in the modification represented on the Drawings) made fast to the wheel, 19,
and which gears with and rotates a bevil wheel, 35, (of sixty teeth in the
modification represented,) carried by the end frame, and to this wheel, 35, there
is made fast a disc cam, 36, formed with segments, 37, which are properly shaped
and timed to cause the bordering sections, b, to be laterally shifted at the times
desired. This mechanism is most clearly illustrated in Figs. 11, and, 12, which are
views thereof corresponding to that shown in Fig. 1, but illustrating the mechanism
in different positions. The cam, 36, effects the shifting of the bordering sections, b,
by means of an adjustable slide, 38, provided with rollers, 39, which are acted
upon by the cam segments, 37; and after being shifted, the bordering sections are

page_text: retained in position during the succeeding traverse of the carriage carrying the
cams which operate the needles, or until they are again shifted, by one or other
of the concentric segments of the cam, 36.
For the purpose of allowing of this lateral shifting of the bordering sections,
there is left in the extent of the needle plate, 7, a space, h, of the width of one;
(or it may be more,) of the single needle bars, at the same side of each section; b,
and these sections can be shifted laterally to this extent. The outside adjustable
needle bars, cl, adjacent to the bordering sections, b, are formed with rear and
lateral extensions, 14, shown in section in Fig. 2, and which slide in the groove, 5,
of the bed plate, under the bordering sections which are formed without such rear
extensions, and serve as means of retaining these needle bars in place, and of
retaining the detachable needle bars in position,, and of preventing the latter
from closing up the spaces, h, when the bordering sections are independently
shifted.
In the said adjustable slide, 38, there is a facility afforded of throwing the
driving means out of connection with the bordering sections, b, so that when
desired, by simply disconnecting these parts, the bordering sections may be used
for knitting parts of the width of the fabric, without being separately actuated
so as to form a differently ornamented bordering thereto. To attain this object,
the slide is made of two parts, 38, 38x, the former carrying the upper roller, 39;
and the latter carrying the lower roller, 39, and these parts, by means of a cam, 40,
on the part, 38*, and a catch or pin, 41, on the part, 38, can be retained in such
relative positions as shown in Figs. 1, 3, and 11, as to cause the compound
slide, 38, 38*, to be actuated at or by every semi-revolution of the cam, 36. But
upon turning the cam, 40, by means of its handle, 42, to the position indicated in
Fig. 12, a spring, 43, connecting the parts, 38, 38*, of the slide, causes them to
occupy such relative position, shown in this Figure, as that the rollers, 39, they
carry, are not actuated by the cam, 36, and hence the bordering sections are not
independently shifted thereby, and may then be used for knitting parts of the
width of the fabric.'
The operating part, 38, of the lever, is slotted at, 44, and is guided by pins, 45,
projecting from the end frame, 2, and its upper part is connected at, 46, to a
lever, 47, fast on one end of a rod, 48, which is supported in brackets, 49, bolted
to the end frames, 2, and runs longitudinally across the back of the machine, and
the other end of this rod is connected with an articulated or compound lever, 50,
as shown in Figs. 2, and, 13, which latter Figure is an elevation of part of the
other end of the machine. Each of the levers, 47, 50, on the rod, 48, is connected
to a bifurcated slide or slides, 51, the former by means of a linked connection, 52,
and the latter directly, or by such means as will accommodate the adjacent
mechanism. These slides, 51, are slotted as at, 53, Fig. 13, and are guided in
their movements by pins or bolts, 54, projecting from the end frames, or they
are otherwise suitably guided, and work against the end frames of the machine,
between them and lugs or nuts, 55, fast on the projecting ends of right and left
handed screws, 56, which extend the length of the machine and pass through
internally screwed lugs or nuts, 57, on or attached to the under surface of the
bordering sections, b, as seen most clearly in Figs. 2, and, 3.
Thus, each operation of the cam; 36, causes, by the connections described, one
or other of the levers, 47, 50, to be raised, and the other lever to be correspondingly
lowered.. As an example, different positions of the lever, 47, are represented in
Figs. 1, 3, and, 11. In the last Figure, the slide, 38, is shown as in its lowered:
position, and the bifurcated slides, 51, at this end of the machine are shown as
lowered out of engagement with the said lugs or nuts, 55, on the screws, 56; but
as the lowering of the lever, 47, effects the raising of the compound, lever, 50, the
bifurcated slides, 51, attached to this latter lever are correspondingly raised
between the lugs, 55, at this end of the machine and the end frame of the latter,.
as shown in Fig. 13, and they would consequently have caused an end wise
movement of the screws, 56, on which the bordering sections, b, are mounted,

page_text: towards the left hand end of the machine, and a consequent lateral shifting of the
bordering, sections; but in the former two Figures (viz. Figs. 1, and, 3,) as seen
best in the latter, the bifurcated slides, 51, at the driving end of the machine, are
shown as raised between the lugs, 55, at this end of the machine and the latter,
and would consequently have caused an endwise movement of the screws, 56, and
bordering sections, b, towards the right hand end of the machine.
It is only necessary that the mechanism for shifting the bordering sections
should be. adapted to the front needle plate of the machine, because the back of
the borderings may be of the same pattern as that of the body portion of the
fabric; the mechanism may, however, be duplicated and adapted to both needle
plates, or the opposite bordering sections may be suitable connected to partake of
a common motion.
The lateral shifting of the bordering sections, b, as and at the times required,
may be effected by other equivalent means operated from the driving shaft, or
otherwise; for example, I may use what is known as a notch wheel, common,
for other purposes, to this kind of machinery, and which, by a lever or suitable
connections, may be caused to impart the required endway movements to the
Screws carrying the bordering sections.
In fashioning the garment, the operation of the machine is stopped in the usual
way at the end of any desired traverse of the said carriage, and the sections of the
needle plate, 7, are relieved from the pressure of the usual end clamping plates, 8,
by the usual means consisting of right and left handed screwed rods, 58, working
through screwed nuts, 59, fast on the underside of each plate, 8, and of screwed
nuts, 60, on the driving ends of both rods, 58, and which can be revolved by a
common spur wheel, 61, on a shaft, 62, carried by the end framing, 2, and which,
by gearing, 63, 64, can be rotated by a hand lever, 65, centred at, 66, to the end
frame, and connected at, 67, to the wheel, 64, and working between fixed stops, 68,
carried by the frame. By this connection, the movement of the lever, 65, from
the one stop to the other, causes the screwed rods, 58, to be revolved, and this
causes the end clamping plates, 8, to be moved outwards, and release the
intermediate sections of the needle plate, 7, from their pressure, after which,
the bordering sections, b, are also both shifted laterally away from each other by
means of the hand gearing, 69, 70, and notched disc, 71, handle, 72, and controlling
spring, 73, at the other end of the 'machine, see Fig. 13; and at each revolution
or part revolution of which gearing depending upon the relative sizes of the
gearing, 69, 70, and the pitch of the screws, 56, the latter are rotated sufficiently
to laterally shift the bordering sections a space of the width of one needle bar,
or it may be more. The loops are then shifted from the needles in the usual
manner, and the intermediate loosened sections or series of needle bars not required
to be operated or used in the next traverse of the carriage can be removed from
their positions on the bed-plate between the sections, b, and, a, to the outer sides
of the sections, b, or any of the removable needle bars outside such sections, b, can
be inserted between such sections and the section, a, for adding to the width of the
fabric, after which, the sections, b, are again closed up or shifted, as required, by
rotating the hand gearing, 69, 70, 71, by turning the handle, 72, or by other
equivalent means, leaving the spaces, h, of the width of one or more needle bars,
as hereinbefore referred to, for allowing of the subsequent independent lateral
shifting of the bordering sectious; and the needle bars being all again clamped
together by the said usual means operated by the hand lever, 65, and the outer
needles not required to be used in the succeeding traverse of the carriage
being lowered out of operative position, the operation of the machine can be
resumed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim, is :-
1. The herein before described improvement in the art of knitting cardigan
jackets, jerseys, and other like garments or fabrics of knitted work, by knitting the

page_text: ornamental borderings thereof together with the body or plain portion, and so as to
follow the varying width of the latter in accordance with the fashioning thereof,
at one and the same time and by the same operation of one machine of the kind
and class herein before referred to.
I also claim the herein before described several improvements in or applicable to
the construction of knitting machinery of the kind and class herein before referred
to, for effecting such improvement in the art of knitting or manufacturing such
garments or fabrics, such several improvements consisting in ;-
2. The application to and use in such knitting machines of needle plates the
longitudinal extent of which is divided into sections or series of bars each grooved
to carry one or more ordinary knitting needles, and consisting of a permanent
central section, and of laterally adjustable and detachable and removable sections
or series of needle bars, in combination with laterally adjustable bordering sections
to which independent lateral movements can be imparted, all substantially as and
for the purposes hereinbefore described.
3. The combination with such improved sectional arrangement of the needle
plates, of the means herein before described, or of equivalent means, for
independently shifting the bordering sections laterally during the operation of the
machine, as and at the time desired, and for the purpose specified.
4. The provision in such means of the means herein before described, or of
equivalent means, for permitting of the bordering sections being at any time
disconnected from the driving mechanism, so that they will not be independently
shifted during the operation of the machine, and will permit of a plain fabric being
knitted in the same machine without having differently ornamented borderings
formed thereto.
5. The application to such machines, of the means hereinbefore described, or of
equivalent means, for independen, opening and closing the bordering sections
away from and towards the pern.anent central section, to permit of the removal
and placing of the said detachable or removable sections or series of needle bars
substantially as and for the purposes specified.
6. The application to the usual traversing carriages of such machinery, of an
additional set of cams for operating the jacks and needles of the bordering sections,
when such jacks, are, in their working positions, situated at a different elevation to
that of the jacks of the remaining needles which are operated by the usual sets
of cams.
7. The herein before described improved means of retaining and shifting the
jacks and needles in their grooves.