Improvements in Knitted Webs and in the Process of Narrowing the same.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Sept., 1889-Accepted, 5th Oct., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Knitted Webs and in the Process of Narrowing
the same.
I, ROBERT WALTER SCOTT, of No. 2079, East Cumberland Street, in the City of
Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Manufacturer of
Knitting Machinery, 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 invention consists of a method of narrowing knitted webs without the use of
transfer points or pickers for carrying the stitch to be dropped from one needle to
another, and in the knitted web so produced. In carrying out my invention the
needles of the machine are so operated that a stitch may be transferred directly from
one needle to the next acting needle of the machine.
In the accompanying drawing Figs. 1. and 2. are diagrams illustrating one method
of carrying out my invention; Fig. 3. is a perspective view of a needle employed by
preference, for the purpose of facilitating this plan of carrying out the invention;
Figs. 4. and 5. are diagrams illustrating another method of carying out the invention ;
Fig. 6. is an exaggerated diagram of a piece of fabric narrowed in accordance with
my invention and Fig. 7. is a diagram explanatory of the method of narrowing.
In the ordinary practice of narrowing knitted webs it is usual to transfer a stitch
from one neelle to the next needle of the row by means of a transferring point or
picker, which catches the loop, lifts it from the needle on which it was formed, and
transfers it laterally to said next needle of the row, but the manipulation of such
transferring points is necessarily a comparatively slow one and interferes with the
rapid operation of the machine.
I, therefore, effect the transfer of the stitch from one needle to another by manipu-
lation of the needles themselves in the following manner:
A, B, represent two needles suitably guided on opposite needle beds set at an angle
to each other, in a manner common in certain classes of knitting machines, the needles
rising and falling in their inclined planes so as to receive the thread from a guide
traversed longitudinally along the machine, the thread being first applied to the needles
on one side and then to the needles on the opposite side of the machine, if a plain
tubular web is to be produced; or being applied in succession first to a needle on one
side and then to a needle on the opposite side of the machine, if a flat ribbed web is
desired.
In order to effect the narrowing of the web in accordance with the first of the plans
shown in the drawing 1 raise simultaneously the end acting needle on each side of the
machine, such end needles being, for instance, represented by the nee iles, A, an! B, in
Fig. 1. Supposing that the stitch is to be transferred from the needle. A, to the
needle, B, said needle, A, is raised somewhat higher than in ordinary operation of
the machine, so that the loop, x, carried by the needle is caught by a shoulder, a¹,
formed on the needle, preferably by recessing one side of the same, as shown
in Fig. 3. the loop being thereby stretched or elevated, as shown in Fig. 1. The
needle, B, is then projected to such an extent that its hook is brought up into line with
the shank of the needle, A, this movement not being sufficient to slip back of its latch
its own loop, y, but insuring the opening of the latch, and on the descent of the
needle, A, the loop a, will be caught by the needle, B, and held thereby, the latch of
the needle, A, closing as the needle is withdrawn, so as to cast off the loop, t, which
is now carried wholly by the needle, B, as shown in Fig. 2. and is cast off said needle
along with its own stitch, y, when the next course of stitches is formed.
In the same way a stitch may be transferred from the end needle, B, to the next
needle, A, until the web has been narrowed to the desired extent.
Although I have described, and prefer the formation of a shoulder upon the needle

page_text: as the means of catching and lifting the loop of thread as the needle rises, such
construction of the needle is not absolutely necessary to the proper carrying out of
my invention, as the stitch may be raised by means of movable sinkers between the
needles, such sinkers being acted upon by cams or pickers traversed from needle to
needle of the machine, or a reverse method of operation may be adopted, that is to say,
the needle which is to receive the stitch may he caused to assume a lower plane than
that in which it normally works, so that on being projected it will be in position to
receive the stitch in its normal position on the needle on the opposite side of the
machine.
This method of operation is illustrated in Figs. 4, and 5, in which the needles are
represented as supported by bars, a, adapted at their outer ends to inclined
bearings, a', on the needle bed, so that when advanced as shown in Fig. 4. these bars
hold the needles in their elevated or normal working position, but upon retracting a
bar the needle supported thereby is dropped to a lower plane, as shown in Fig. 5. so
as to enter the loop of the opposite needle.
My improved method of narrowing involves the transfer of the stitch which is to be
dropped from a needle of one row to a needle of the opposite row, instead of to the
next needle of the same row, as usual. Thus, supposing the diagram, Fig. 7. to
represent part of the two rows of needles of the machine, the first transfer will be from
the needle, m, of the row, A, to the needle, n, of the row, B, the next transfer being
from said needle, n, to the needle, m³, of the row, A, the next transfer from said
needle, m³, to the needle, n', of the row, B, and so on.
This results in a novel effect in the knitted web, that is to say, each wale, s, which is
dropped, merges into a standing wale, /, across the dividing line, w. and this wale, t, is
the next wale to be dropped, and merges into the adjacent standing wale, s, as shown
in Fig. 6. narrowings thus produced presenting a more acceptable appearance than the
usual narrowings, as the narrowing loops or stitches are not stretched so as to be
weakened in the transfer, the stitch to be dropped being passed directly from one
needle to the other without the use of transfer points or pickers.
It will be evident that my invention may be carried out either in the production of
tubular webs or webs with opposite selvaged edges, narrowed in the body of the web,
or flat ribbed webs produced by the joint action of both sets of needles.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what 1
claim is.
1. The mode herein described of narrowing a knitted web, said mode consisting in
transferring a stitch directly from one needle to another by bringing the receiving
needle into position to take the stitch from the needle on which it was formed, and
then operating the latter needle so as to cast the stitch, substantially as specified.
2. The mode described of effecting the narrowing of a knitted web, said mode
consisting in raising the stitch to be transferred, bringing forward the receiving needle
into position to take said stitch, and then operating the needle on which the stitch was
formed, so as to cast said stitch, substantially as specified.
3. A knitted web narrowed by the merging of wales one into another, the standing
wale into which a dropped wale is merged itself constituting the next dropped wale,
substantially as specified.
Dated this 2nd day of Suntanshan 1000
DAY, DAVIES, & HUNT,
321, High Holborn, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.