Improvements in Glove, Stocking, and Clothing Knitting Machines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Feb.; 1890
Complete Specification Left, 18th Nov., 1890-Accepted 20th Dec., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Glove, Stocking, and Clothing Knitting Machines.
I, WILLIAM HARRISON, of 69 Hyde Grove, Chorlton-on-Medlock, and
133 Portland Street, Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Machinist, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:--
"
The improvements which are the subject of this invention relate to latch needle
knitting machines, either of the "Harrison or the "Lamb" form of construction,
and the object of this invention is to produce by the same machine that is employed
in the manufacture of ordinary knitted stockings or like goods, either tubular or
flat knitted fabrics of unlimited variety in patterns and designs, and in various
colours; said designs may be formed of one material, or mixed by intermingling
wool, cotton, silk or other substances. In this invention I employ two ordinary
needle beds placed at right angles: I form combs with any required number of
teeth. I form the ends of these combs so that said combs may slide on the upper
side of needle beds without being detached therefrom, and I place one comb longi-
tudinally on the upper surface of each needle bed the number of teeth in said
combs, and the spaces between teeth, are determined by the number of needles
which are required to be pushed up and brought into action either alternately or
otherwise, and in the same manner the number and width of spaces between said
teeth are determined by the number of needles which it is preferred not to bring
into action, and consequently are passed by means of said spaces: Under end of
comb at each of lower corners of each needle bed, I attach to needle beds a swivel
link, or bell crank lever: I connect the ends of two of said levers on each side of
machine with a connecting rod, while the free ends of said levers press against
lower side of comb: I place a driving shaft in a transverse position at one end of
machine and near to one end of combs: I place at each end of said driving shaft a
clutch: On the loose half of each of these clutches I form a tappet: I form a
tongue on each of aforesaid bell crank levers that are nearest the driving shaft:
When it is desired to operate the combs hereinbefore described, I connect the
clutches by means of suitable levers, when aforesaid tappet acts on tongue formed
on bell crank levers, and by these means each of the combs is pushed higher up the
needle bed and carries with it such of the needles that have previously been deter-
mined for receiving the yarn sooner than those needles which are subsequently
raised by the cams. When the combs are released from tappets, they are returned
to their original positions by means of springs or other suitable mechanism. In
order that said combs may act on any prearranged numbers of needles at different
times and during the progress of the work, I place a cam at one end of the machine,
preferably near the driving shaft.
The cam which I use for this purpose is formed of a shape that will produce
different designs, and I also employ different forms of cams to obtain greater
diversity of designs: I place an eccentric on driving shaft which by means and
intervention of a lever actuates a ratchet wheel placed on underside of aforesaid
design cam. I form a connection between the ends of combs and the design cam
bowl: by the action of the eccentric on driving shaft and the ratchet attached to
cam, said cam is intermittently turned, and in accordance with the form of the cam
path, the combs are caused either to remain opposite the same or are placed
opposite different sets of needles, the cam action varying the position longitudinally
of combs on needle beds: In a modification of this part of my invention, I form the
combs by means of arms corresponding with the teeth of combs, which are carried
on a bar or rod placed longitudinally near the front of the needle bed: these arms
are actuated in a similar manner to the combs herein before described: To this bar

page_text: I attach needles or eyelets such as are used in a narrowing comb, and at equal
distances apart I place these eyelets opposite those needles which are pushed up
by aforesaid arms or teeth: through each eye of the eyelet is threaded a
different coloured yarn to that which is used for the ground work: While the
needles are in a raised position the eyelets are raised up and pass across the top of
the needles, laying in the open latches a coloured yarn the cams passing across
the bed draw down these needles, making them form loops or stitches with the
coloured yarn, the cams immediately afterwards knitting a row of the ground work.
By these means, spots and designs in different colours of yarn can be knitted into
the fronts or backs of cardigan jackets, vests, stockings, socks, or any kind of knitted
clothing at the same time that the articles are being knitted, the spots or designs
appearing upon the surfaces at short or long intervals as may be preferred: The
yarn guide carrier is preferably placed centrally so as to work overhead and by
these means the designs can be produced on both of the outer sides of circular
formed fabrics.
Dated this 10th 1
THOMAS
PRESCOTT,
Arcade Chambers, St. Mary's Gate, Manchester, Agent for Applicant.
•
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
İmprovements in Glove, Stocking, and Clothing Knitting Machines.
I, WILLIAM HARRISON of 69 Hyde Grove, Chorlton-on-Medlock and
133 Portland Street, Manchester in the County of Lancaster Machinist do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
"
The improvements which are the subject of this invention, relate to latch needle
knitting machines either of the "Harrison or the "Lamb" form of construction,
and the object of this invention is to produce by the same machine that is employed
in the manufacture of ordinary knitted stockings or like goods, either tubular or flat
knitted fabrics of unlimited variety in patterns and designs and in various colours;
said designs may be formed of one material or mixed by intermingling wool cotton
silk or other substances.
In order more clearly to describe this my invention I have annexed hereunto two
sheets of drawings: In the several views shown therein, similar letters refer to
similar parts.
Fig. 1 is side elevation of a knitting machine such as is herein before described and
Fig. 2 is plan of the same machine but with yarn guide carrier removed.
In this invention I employ two ordinary needle beds a and a' which are placed
at right angles to each other: I form combs b with any required number of teeth b'.
I form the ends of these combs so that said combs may slide on the upper side of
needle beds a and a' without being detached therefrom. I place one comb longi-
tudinally on the upper surface of each needle bed. The number of teeth b¹ in said
combs and the spaces 6 between teeth are determined by the number of needles
which are required to be pushed up and brought into action either alternately or
otherwise, and in the same manner the number and width of spaces between said
teeth are determined by the number of needles which it is preferred not to bring
into action and consequently are passed by means of said spaces: Under the edge
of, and near end of comb at each of the four lower corners of each needle bed, I
attach to needle beds a bell crank lever or swivel link c, c': I connect the ends c³
of two of said levers or links c and c' on each side of machine with a connecting
rod d, while the free ends of said levers press against lower side or edge of
combs I place a driving shaft e in a transverse position at one end of machine and
near to one end of combs b.
I place at each end of said driving shaft a clutch f, f¹. On the loose half f¹ of
each of these clutches I form a tappet ƒ³.

page_text: I form a tongue f* on each of aforesaid bell crank levers c¹ that are nearest the
driving shaft e. When it is desired to operate the combs b herein before described
I connect the clutches f, f' by means of suitable levers when aforesaid tappet f' acts
on the tongue f* which is formed on bell crank lever c' and by these means each of
the combs 6 is pushed higher up the needle beds a and a¹ and carries with it by
means of the teeth such of the needles that have been previously determined for
receiving the yarn sooner than those needles which are subsequently raised by the
cams. When the combs b are released from the action of the tappets f they are
returned to their original positions by means of springs g or other suitable mechanism.
In order that said combs b may act on any prearranged number of needles at
different times and during the progress of the work, I place a cam hat
one end of the machine,. preferably near the driving shaft e. The cam which I
use for this purpose is formed of a shape that will produce different designs by
means of the cam groove m. I employ cams in which are different forms of cam
grooves in order to obtain greater diversity of designs: The cams h, h', h³, repre-
sented in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 show some of the forms of cam groove m that may be
used, but the form of said cam groove may be varied to a greater or lesser extent.
I place an eccentric j on the driving shaft e which by means and intervention of a
lever k actuates a ratchet wheel 1, placed on underside of aforesaid design cam h. I
form a connection between the ends of combs b and the design cam h by means of
the transverse bar n to which the bowl p is attached. By the action of the
eccentric on driving shaft e and the ratchet q which is attached to the cam h, in
conjunction with the lever k, said cam is intermittently turned and in accordance
with the form of the cam path m, the teeth b¹ of the combs bare caused either to
remain opposite the same or are placed opposite different sets of needles, the cam
action varying the position longitudinally of said combs on the needle beds a, a'.
By these means spots and designs in different colours of yarn can be knitted into
the fronts or backs of cardigan jackets, vests, stockings, socks, or any kind of knitted
clothing at the same time that the articles are being knitted, the spots or designs
appearing upon the surfaces at short or long intervals as may be preferred. The
yarn guide carrier v is preferably placed centrally so as to work overhead, in order
that the designs may be produced on both of the outer sides of circular formed
fabrics.
It should be understood that I do not make any claim to the combs b herein
before described, the same having been employed in knitting machines prior to the
date of this my invention, but 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,
1st. In latch needle knitting machines either of the "Harrison " or "Lamb"
form of construction the means for raising the combs 6 on the needle beds by the
use of bell crank levers in the manner and for the purpose substantially as herein
before described.
2nd. In latch needle knitting machines either of the "Harrison "
or the
"Lamb" form of construction the means for operating the combs 6 longitudinally
by the use of design cams h, in which are cam grooves m that may be either of the
form or outline shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 on drawings or of other preferred design,
so as to cause a certain prearranged number of the needles to be pushed up for
receiving the yarn sooner than others of the needles that are subsequently raised
by the cams, in the manner and for the purpose substantially as herein before
described.
Dated this 14th day of November 1890.
WILLIAM HARRISON,
Applicant.