IMPROVEMENTS. IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1873

page_text: .
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Ward at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th.
October 1873.
I, SAMUEL WARD, of Lower Eldon Street, Sneinton, near Nottingham,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS.
IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
.
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for the.
manufacture of looped fabrics. For this purpose I employ bearded,
needles of the ordinary. description fixed in leads and carried in an
upright position by a needle bar. The instruments for knocking over or
delivering the loops from the needles are also fixed in leads, they project
between the needles and are carried by a bar at the back or beard side of.
the needles. They also at the front of the needle bar enter between the
teeth of a fixed comb. This comb can however be removed in order that
the needle bar may at times be brought forward out of its working
position, in order more conveniently to run on the work or perform any
repairs or adjustment of the needles,
..

page_text: The motion for knocking over or delivering the work is divided
between the needle bar and the delivering bar, so that the motion to
each being short the machine can be worked more rapidly than if the
needle bar had the whole of the motion.
The thread sinkers slide to and fro in guide notches in a sinker guide
bar at the back of the needles, and on the back of this bar are guides in
which the slur cock traverses. The slur cock acts directly upon the
backs of the main sinkers, and moves them forward up to a stop bar
which is fixed to the sinker guide bar, but it is adjustable in position,
and the slur cock is also adjustable to regulate the length of the loops.
The intermediate or dividing sinkers are moved to and fro in their
guide notches by a bar which I call the dividing bar," and this bar is
linked with another bar which I call the "sinking bar" for drawing
back the main sinkers.
The forward motion of the sinking bar does not affect the main 1
sinkers; but the dividing bar which moves with it takes the dividing
sinkers forward. Before the sinking and dividing bars retire, the former
descends and catches upon the main sinkers so that both the main and
dividing sinkers are taken back together.
The connection between the dividing bar and the sinking bar is
adjustable so that the division of the loops may be regulated as desired.
The nose of the sinker guide bar acts as the presser, and the needle bar
has the requisite to-and-fro and up-and-down movements for pressing
and knocking over or delivering the work. The thread carriers, of which
two or more may be employed, are mounted upon bars capable of sliding..
in guides upon a plate, the face of which is upright and which extends
across the frame over the needles, and is supported by brackets at each
end of the frame. The thread carrier needles after laying the thread
upon the work needles are caused by an instrument connected with the
slur box to pass through the needles to the front, and so out of the
and before their next traverse they pass again to the back of the
way,
needles.
The narrowing mechanism is carried by a plate, similar to that on
which the thread carriers work, and stands in front of it. The narrowing
points at the selvages of the fabrics are moved inwards for narrowing,
and outwards for widening, by means of two screws which are rotated
"

page_text: step by step by ratchets and pawls, or the motion of either screw can be
held off by lifting the driving pawl off the ratchet.
To perform the operation of narrowing or widening, the points
descend and then again rise; but (excepting the motion given by the
screws as already described) they have no other movement, other move-
ment being rendered unnecessary by motions which at the times of
narrowing and widening are given to the needle bar, causing it to bring
the needles forward and to deliver the loops on to the narrowing points.
The time when the narrowing or widening is to take place is deter-
mined by a pattern wheel or cam, which acts upon the main cam shaft
and moves it endways, so that other parts of the cams are brought in
action, and so the needle bar in place of moving as it does to work a
course is caused to bring the needles forward to the narrowing points,
and to deliver the loops on to them. The points then receiving motion
from the screw carry the loops the distance of one or two needles either
inwards or outwards, the needles again rise and the points descend, and
then the sinkers come forward and carry the loops from the points on to
the needles, the narrowing points and needles rising as the sinkers
advance, and so the parts return to their ordinary working positions.
This extraordinary motion of the sinkers takes the place of their ordinary
movement, and also results from the shifting of the cam shaft, which
also causes the motion of the thread carriers and knocking-over instru-
ments to be omitted.