IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1851

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
PERRY, of Tower Street, in the Borough of Leicester, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth day of
October, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the fifteenth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Perry, my exors, adññors, and assigns, Her especial license,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Perry,
my exors, admiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Perry,
my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England and
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS," in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Perry, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Perry, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:-
My improvements relate to that part of the process of manufacturing
looped fabrics which consists of removing the work or loops off from some of
the needles, and placing the work or loops on to other of the needles, in order
to produce ornamental work, and also for narrowing or fashioning the work
as it is produced in knitting machines; and my Invention consists of improve-
ments in the instruments used and means of working them to facilitate the
removal and replacing of the loops. And in order that my Invention may be
most fully understood and readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe
the means pursued by me, the construction of the instruments, and the means
of working tickling instruments as heretofore practised for removing loops
from off some needles, and for placing them on to other needles, being well
understood, it will not be necessary to describe the same here, and a workman
acquainted with such mode of working will readily understand the construction
of instruments and the means of working them according to my Invention from
the description hereafter given, and it will only be necessary to direct the
workman's attention to the fact that my Invention is to be used in like
manner to ordinary tickling points, that is, they are to receive the work on to
them from some needles and carry it to the other needles, so that the work
may be removed on to them, but in place of being cast and fixed together, the
tickling points or instruments are separate, and are capable of independent
action one from the other, so that the proper ones to come into action may be
selected by a barrel or pattern surface.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
The nature of each of the views shewn by the Drawings being written
thereon, it will not be necessary to repeat the same here; it will, however, be
desirable to remark that the same letters of reference are used in all cases to
indicate the same parts. The Invention is shewn as being applied to an
ordinary hand-knitting frame (having two sets of needles), of which only
sufficient is shewn to enable the workman to understand how the improved

page_text: apparatus is applied, such improved apparatus consisting of as many inde-
pendent instruments or points to tickle off the work as there are needles on
either of the needle bars, such tickling points being governed as to which
shall at any time come into action, at any time and from time to time, by
means of a perforated barrel or suitable pattern surface; and when in use,
previous to any of the points being brought down on to the needles to receive
the work, the pattern surface is caused to select those points or ticklers which
are for the time being to come into action, and they then receive the work and
carry it by, being shogged laterally to other needles, and have the work taken
on to such other needles, in the same manner as heretofore practised. It will,
therefore, be understood that the manner of working, after the selection of the
tickling points by a pattern surface has been effected, the working is similar to
what has been heretofore practised, and that my Invention consists of arrang-
ing the tickling points or instruments so that they may work independently of
each other, and be governed in their action by a suitable pattern surface.
When the tickling apparatus is employed for producing ornamental surfaces,
such of the tickling points will be selected across the machine as will, as is
well understood, produce the effect desired, and when the apparatus is used
for narrowing the fabric, then only those points will be selected which are
opposite the one or other selvage of the work, and having taken the loops at
that salvage and carried them to the other needles, and deposited the loops
thereon, then the like operation is to be performed in regard to the loops at
the other selvage. I would remark that although I have shewn what I
believe to be the best construction and arrangement of apparatus for the
purposes of my Invention, I do not confine myself to the details as herein
shewn, as the same may be varied without departing from my Invention.
a, a, are the tickle points which are retained upon the plate 6 of the frame b
with a capability of sliding thereon by means of the plate 2, the plate b
having groves formed on its under side, which permit of the instruments a
sliding freely, whilst they are thereby retained in their correct relative position
on the plate b. The frame 6 is guided into position so as to bring the ticklers
to act with one or other of the sets of needles by the workman holding the
handle c, whilst the front part of the frame b is sustained by means of the
necks or axes d in the irons e affixed to the "frame," and as the parts are shewn
they are suitable for working the "ticklers" with the frame needles, but in
order to the ticklers being suitable also of acting with the machine needles,
the necks or axes d are affixed to arms d on the axis d², which, when brought
into the position indicated by the dotted line A, are suitable to hold the

page_text: ticklers in position with the machine needles. This movement is accomplished
by the workman acting upon the handle c to bring it into the position indicated
by dotted lines, in the following manner :-The handle c is retained in either
position for the time being by the stop c¹ formed thercon entering the notch f
formed in the plate f. When the workman wishes to produce the change in
the position of the parts, he first with his thumb pushes the end of the plate f
so as to bring the stud c¹ into the slotted part f of the plate f; the handle c
will then be free to turn upon the axis g, which it embraces by means of the
strap c²; in the strap & is formed a slot to receive the pin g¹ from the axis g,
and by which the axis g will be retained in either position, as shewn; the axis g
turns in bearings carried by the frame and at its ends carries arms g², which
have pins projecting therefrom, which enter the forked ends of the arms
d', as the parts are shewn in full lines; one end of the slot in the strap c² is
acting against the pin g¹ to cause the arms g² to be held up against the stops g',
and thereby hold the arms d' in the position shewn. When the arm o is
moved to the position indicated by dotted lines, the other end of the slot in
the strap c acts upon the pin g' to cause the axis g to turn, and thereby move
the arms g past the position indicated by the dotted lines, when the axis d
with the arms will be free to turn round and bring the frame 6 below the necks
or axis d. In this position the ticklers a will be capable of acting with the
machine "needles, and the handle c will be retained in the position indicated
by the dotted lines, by means of its stop c¹ entering the recess f¹ of the
plate f. The spring f³ is for the purpose of preventing the pin c¹ slipping out
of the recess f¹. When it is again wished to bring the tickle apparatus to act
with the frame needles, the pin in the handle c will be released from the
recess f¹, as before; the frame b will be allowed to hang with its weight upon
the necks or axes d, by which the forked ends of the arms d¹ will be in a
position to receive the pins of the arms g³, as those arms are acted upon by
the movement of the handle c (as is shown by the dotted lines). The
Drawings shew a selection of ticklers to have taken place; the selection is
obtained by means of the perforated barrel h, and it is perforated opposite
those tickle instruments a, which for the time being are to remain out of
action. The ends of the barrel are supported in a frame h¹, which has a
slight movement given to it, so as to push forward those ticklers a, which are
to be brought into action; they are then moved out to their full extent by
means of the flange i, on the under side of the bar . These movements
are effected by means of the handle j, in the following manner :-The
handle turns freely upon the axis k, which is supported in bearings from the

page_text: frame b, as shewn. Upon this handle is fixed the lever j', which turns upon
the pin, and is borne in the direction indicated by the spring j³; when the
handle is turned from the position indicated in full lines to the position
indicated by dotted lines, the small lever j¹ slips sideways past the projection
h carried by the barrel frame h, but when the handle is moved from the
position indicated by the dotted lines to that indicated by the full lines, the
end of the lever j' will act against the projection h² to move the frame h¹
with the barrel h towards the ends of the ticklers, and those opposite the
plain parts of the cylinder (in a line opposite the ends of the ticklers) will be
forced a little forward, and in being so pushed forward their springs a¹ will be
raised with their bent ends out of the groove b³, by which the points a² of those
springs will be raised, so as to be in position to be acted upon by the flange i,
on the under side of the bar i, and thus move forward the selected ticklers a
to the position shewn. The bar is moved to and fro by the action of the
handle j, there being a slotted hole in the strap, by which it embraces the
axis k, which receives the pin k' from that axis, so as to cause it to turn
partly round. Upon the ends of the axis are affixed the arms ³, which by
means of the links are connected to the bar ².
*
I would here state that the apparatus is shewn applied to a rib machine
to produce narrowing in "rib" work where such narrowing or ornamenting
is required to be produced on plain" work, then there being but one set of
needles used, fixed axles d² only will be required, and all those movements
which aid in effecting the change of the axles d³ will be unnecessary.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the best manner I
am acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that
I do not confine myself to the details herein described, so long as the tickling
points or instruments are so arranged that they may be governed, as herein-
described, by a barrel or pattern surface, and although I have have only shewn
the apparatus worked by hand, I do not confine myself thereto. But what I
claim is, the mode of combining and applying apparatus so as to be worked by
pattern surfaces for tickling off the work on knitting machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Perry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
5
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within
named Thomas Perry, in the presence of
THOMAS (L.s.) PERRY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Sixteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid Thomas Perry came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.