IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR DARNING STOCKINGS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Curtis, of Boston, in the County of
Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, in the United States of
America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
DARNING STOCKINGS."-A communication from Oren Stanley Hosmer,
of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,
United States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Frederick Curtis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 16th November 1874, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
CURTIS, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk, and State of Massachu-
setts, in the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINES FOR DARNING STOCKINGS," and have petitioned Her most
Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria to grant unto me, my executors,

page_text: administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same,
and have made solemn Declaration that it is a communication to me
from Oren Stanley Hosmer, of Boston, in the County of Suffolk and
State of Massachusetts, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Curtis, do hereby declare ||
the nature of the said Invention to be as follows:-
The purpose of this Invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive
implement by which the darning of stockings may be effected with a
fraction of the time and labor now employed for the purpose, and
consists in the combination with a series of needles supported by a
sliding carriage and operating to draw the yarn across the hole to be
mended or the material to be darned, of a clamp for holding the material
to be operated upon and for shifting the position of such material in
order that after the needles have laid or drawn a number of stitches or
rows of yarn another series may be interlaced with them in a direction :
at right angles thereto.
The Drawings accompanying this Specification represent in Figure 1
a side elevation, in Figure 2 a front end clevation, and in Figures 3 and 4
vertical sections of the lower cylinder or guide, in Figure 5 a perspective
view of one of the toothed bars making part of the plunger, in Figure 6
a section of a portion of the two plungers.
In these Drawings A represents the frame of the machine consisting
of a base or bed plate B and a curved standard or goose neck C, the
latter terminating in a head D very much after the manner of sewing
machines, the said head D being over and coinciding with a tubular
post E created upon or making part of the base B.
Sliding horizontally within the upright portion of the goose neck or
standard C, and about centrally thereof is disposed a bar F, whose inner
end is converted into a suitable clamp G to seize and support at their
bases a series of needles a, a, etc., preferably latched needles, the outer
ends or points of such needles passing through a perforated guide plate
H disposed as shown in the Drawings, and by which they are steadied
as they are advanced through the material to be darned, the bar F being
forced to and fro of its bearings by a lever I pivoted to it and the
standard in a suitable manner.
The clamp before alluded to for confining the material in place while
being operated upon, and for shifting the position of the yarns, is con-

page_text: structed as follows:-Immediately over the post E is placed a tubular
guide or cylinder J, which is mounted upon a head a constituting the
upper part of an upright bar or standard 6 which fits within the bore of
the post E, while within the upper part of such guide J is disposed a
5 rectangular plunger c, whose upper surface is flat and scored or channeled
as herein-after explained; this plunger or block being connected by means
of rods d, d, etc., with or erected upon a tubular cam block e, which is
situated within the lower part of the receiver J, a coiled spring ƒ being
placed between said cam block and the head or partition a, and serving
> to depress the plunger and force the cam block in contact with the upper
surface of the post E..
No vertical motion is permitted to the guide J, but the plunger c
slides within it, is raised or lowered therein by turning the plunger upon
its axis to the extent of 90 degrees of a circle, as the lower face of said
plunger and the upper face of the post E are sloping or oblique with
respect to the horizon, the extent of this slope being determined by the
height to which the plunger is to be raised.
A hand lever is connected with the lower extremity of the rod or
shank b by which the guide J, and with it the plunger, may be turned
in the arc of a circle, the plunger having a compound motion imparted
to it since it rotates with the guide and rises or falls within the latter,
according to the direction in which the two are rotated, the upper edges
of the guide J being scored or roughened to take a firm hold of the
material to be darned.
Immediately over the guide J and plunger c, with their adjuncts as
stated, is disposed a second set, which are duplicates of the first, but
inverted end for end, the second guide being shown at K, cam block
at N, shank or rod at O, the shank ○ being supported within the head
of the goose neck and the cam block operating in connection with the
lower part of said head which is sloping to correspond with the upper
portion of the post E before alluded to.
Depending from the under side of the upper guide K are several
steady pins 1, 1, etc., which, when the guide is lowered, are to enter
corresponding coinciding sockets created in the upper edges of the
guide J; these pins serving not only to confine the two guides firmly
together and compel them to rotate in unison, but to aid in confining
the work in place while being darned.

page_text: The guide K and its adjuncts is raised and lowered by means of a cam
lever o pivoted to the top of the head D and bearing upon a stud p
projecting from the shank.
The end surfaces of the two plungers are of peculiar formation, that is
to say, each is formed with a series of rows of notched spurs or teeth 1º, r,
etc., of equal size and distance assunder, and the number and length of
these rows of spurs are dependent upon the size of the place to be
darned or of a size of the fabric to be made by the machine as hørein-
after explained.
5
The spurs of each alternate row are opposite the spaces intervening 1
between the spurs of the next adjacent row, and it is found convenient
in the present instance to form the plunger of a series of thin bars, one
of which is shown at 8, in Figure 5 of the Drawings. By refering to
this Figure it will be seen that the upper edge of the bar s is converted
into a series of double pointed or notched spurs r, r, etc., of equal size 1
and distance assunder, the spaces intervening between these spurs being
somewhat greater than the extreme width of any one spur.
The two plungers are so arranged that the spurs of one coincide with
and partially fill the spaces between the spurs of the other when the
plungers approach each other by the turning of the two by means of the 2
hand lever, and as the upper surfaces of the two guides, when forced
toward each other, meet or practically so such two of each of them as
are in line with the needles, with a series of channels scored to receive
such needles.
In the use of this machine or implement the operator seizes the 2
material and places it over the lower guide, the hole to be darned being
situated as near the center of the lower plunger as can conveniently be
done. The upper guide is now lowered and the material firmly clamped
between the two.
The needles are next advanced and pushed through the sound material 3
upon two opposite sides of the hole until the points and eyes of such
needle protrude beyond the front face of the two guides.
The operator next seizes an instrument consisting of a thin steel
plate shown at t in the Drawings, with a hook upon one end, and
passes this hook through the eyes of the entire range of needles or such 3
number thereof as may be necessary, having done which he seizes with

page_text: such hook a piece of yarn, and draws the latter through the eyes, and
thus threads the needles.
He next with a suitable instrument or any small rod or large pin
pushes the yarn from between the pair of needles about one of a series
of upright spurs or teeth a¹, etc., which are erected upon the top of an
upright vibratory bar or standard 6' pivoted to the base B, and in front
of the guides J and K, such standard being susceptible of swinging
toward and away from the said guides and being retracted by a suitable
spring.
The yielding standard constitutes a tension device to take up any.
slack of the yarn when the needles are withdrawn and effects a very
useful purpose.
The operator now withdraws the needles by means of the hand lever I
to their extreme rearward position, the result of which is that a series of
stitches or rows of yarn corresponding in number with the number of
needles threaded are passed through the material and across the hole,
the yarns as they are laid across and through the material coincide with
or lay across the top of the notched spurs, as shown by the black line in
Figure 5 of the Drawings, the entire series of spurs of the two plungers
being at this time a slight distance assunder.
The operator next series the shipper g and turns the two guides and
their adjuncts in the arc of a circle to the extent of 90 degrees, the
effect of which is to force the two plungers together and compel the
spurs of one set to enter and partially fill the spaces of the opposite set.
The effect of this is to force each yarn into a series of alternating
undulations or loops as shown in Figure 6 of the Drawings, consequently
when the needles are next pushed forward they pass through these loops,
and as the bend of each loop of one series is diametrically opposite that
of the next loop of the other series, the two sets of yarns cross each other
at right angles and are interlaced in the manner of ordinary woven
fabrics.
The two guides having been partially rotated upon an axis as stated,
the needles are again advanced and threaded as before, and returned to.
place, dragging with them a series of stitches or yarns which interlace
these first laid.
After the needles are withdrawn in the act of laying the stitches the-
yarns are to be cut from them if a closed eyed needle is employed, but.¨¨¨

page_text: to employ latched needles is preferable in order that the yarns may be
readily removed.
Although the present machine as originally devised was mainly
intended for darning stockings it can be adapted without change to a
variety of useful purposes. For instance, it will weave lamp mats,.
chain tidies, and many ornamental and useful articles of a size equal to
the area of the upper surface of each plunger or according to the
number of needles which may be threaded.
If considered expedient the upper surfaces or edges of each guide
may be converted into notched spurs arranged after the manner of those
of the plungers in-order that the stitches or yarns passing through the
material about the place to be darned may interlace, but in practice this.
will hardly be found necessary.
It is desired not to be confined to the details of mechanism herein
described, as these may be departed from to a wide extent without losing
sight of the gist and spirit of this Invention, as various modifications
have already suggested themselves. For instance, it is proposed to
adapt the needles to automatically cut the yarns after the latter have
been laid in lieu of effecting such result by hand as before explained,
and to effect this result the inner boundary of the eye of each needle is
reduced to a sharp or knife edge, as shown at k² in Figure 9 of the
Drawings, the consequence of which is that as each needle after reaching
its extreme rearward position in the act of laying or drawing the yarns
across the dies returns, and the bend of the yarn arrives at the guide
plate H, the knife ² instantly severs the yarn within the eye of the
needle.
It is preferred that the outer face of the guide plate H shall be
disposed obliquely to the axes of the needles in order that but one yarn
shall be cut at a time and thus lessen to a very great degree the power
required to effect the severing of the entire number of yarns. It is also
proposed as shown in Figures 8 and 13 of the Drawings, adding to the
under side of the bed plate B a spring bolt P, and affixing to the lower
extremity of the standard or stem ba disc m², in whose periphery are
created two notches n³ or o³, into which the wedge shaped nose p³ of the
bolt may enter and lock the standard and the lower guide cylinder firmly
in position, the two notches and the bolt being so disposed that the said
cylinder is held in one of its two positions herein-before explained. The
value of this bolt and notches or their equivalents consists in the fact

page_text: that they prevent any rotation of the guide cylinder and plunger while
the needles are within them; thus preventing liability of breaking the
needles.
Another modification of this Invention is shown in Figure 12 of the
Drawings, which consists in dispensing with every other tooth or lip of
each spur r, and disposing the remaining teeth or lips at the same
distance assunder as before, the result being that each yarn in lieu of
describing a series of right angular bends about the teeth, as shown in
Figure 6 of the Drawings, passes diagonally from the lower edge of one
lip upward to and about the upper edge of the lip 82 of the next
adjacent spur of the opposite plunger, thence directly downward
between the last named lip s' and the immediately adjoining lip ť of
the adjacent spur of the opposite plunger, and so on diagonally from the
lower edge of the latter. By this method of constructing the teeth of
the plungers twice the number of needles and of yarns may be intro-
duced within a given space, and as a conquence produce a much closer,
firmer, and more durable texture.
It is also proposed, as shown in Figure 13' of the Drawings, adding
to the machine a means of adjusting the position of the upper or
die to the lower in order to accomodate varying thicknesses of the
material to be darned, and to effect such a result is mounted upon the
upper stem or rodo a loose sleeve w³, whose lower face is eccentric or
oblique with respect to the axes of such stem, thus producing an annular
wiper cam which operates in connection with the upper face of the
tubular block b³ to determine the height of the latter, and consequently
of the distance intervening between the two plungers and guide cylinders.
A suitable handle № is to be added to the sleeve w³, by which it may be
readily turned.
OLAIM.
I claim the machine herein named for purposes stated as a principle
or in detail, or any changes or modifications of such principle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Curtis, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of October, 1874.