CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR KNITTING
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
AUGUSTUS DORR, of the City, County, and State of New York, of the United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Augustus Dorr, my exors; admors, and assigns, Her
especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority; that I, the said
James Augustus Dorr, my exors, adiñors, and assigns; or such others as I,
the said James Augustus Dorr, my exors, adññors, 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, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR KNITTING," communicated to me from abroad; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said James Augustus
Dorr, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, 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 in part recited Letters Patent, as in

page_text: and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at largo
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance, with the said proviso, I, the said
James Augustus Dorr, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same, is to be performed, are particularly
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:-
The first improvement consists in the substituting of independent sliding
instruments for forming the loops in place of the jack and lead sinkers hereto-
fore employed, by which means the machinery is simplified, and the same is
much less liable to get out of order.
The second improvement consists in a mode of arranging and working the
needles.
The third improvement consists in a particular combination and arrange-
ment of the machinery, by which the thread is carried along for the formation
of the loops.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine; Figure 2 is a top view
thereof, and Figure 3 a vertical section from front to back in the lino
× ×, of Figure 1, affording an inside view of that part of the apparatus
which is immediately within the ends of the frame. A, A, is the main shaft,
having its bearings in the cast-iron ends B, B, of the frame, which ends are
connected together by suitable girths of wood or metal; C is a pinion, which
gears into a wheel D on the shaft A, by which motion may be communicated
to the whole apparatus; E, E, are two cams on the shaft A, which are so
formed as that during one half of their revolution they shall allow the frame
by which the needles are raised and lowered to remain at rest, and during the
other half they shall cause the said needles to be elevated and depressed to the
requisite extent; F, F, is a chain wheel, having two grooves on its periphery,
and around which passes the two ends of the chain G, G. The said chain also
passes round guide pulleys in the cases H, H, and has its ends attached to the
wheel F, F, and its middle made fast to the underside of the slur, which
throws out the sinkers, the said slur and the feeding rod I, which is attached
to it, being carried to and fro by means of the chain G, G. I' is a stud,
which rests on the slur and supports the feeding rod. The slur is shewn at
J, J, Figures 2 and 3, the bar K which it embraces being that along which it
slides. J, Figure 8, is a piece attached to the under side of the slur, to
which piece the chain G is made fast; L is a hole in the frame, through
which the chain passes to the chain wheel. One of the sinkers is shewn in

page_text: this Figure in red lines at M; M, and each sinker is to be pressed on by a
spring, so as to prevent its being moved back by the elasticity of the thread
after the slur cork has passed away. In the actual machine they are about
four and a half inches long, and their general width is about three-fourths of
an inch, but at M' they are cut in with square shoulders, so as to reduce
them to about half an inch in width, which is done in order to admit the
regulator or bar N between their shoulders. This bar is about five-eighths of
an inch less in width than the recess in the sinkers, and serves to move the
sinkers back preparatory to their being acted upon by the slur, and to stop
them correctly as they are thrown forward by it. The manner of moving the
regulator to and fro will be presently described. The thin plates of which tho
sinkers consist slide within grooves in the siuker frame, which consists mainly
of the stationary bars 0, 0, by which they are guided correctly to and from
the front of the machine grooves, being cut across the said bars to receive
them, or they may slide in ordinary combs. P is a stud on the top of the
slur, which sustains the feeding rod I; Q and R, Figure 3, are two plates
or bars of metal, which embrace the needles between them, and constitute a
part of the needle frame. Between the upper edges of these a row of ordinary
stocking needles is held, which stand vertically, their shanks being retained by
grooves cut in the plates, or the needles may be cast in lead, as heretoforé
practised. The plates Q and R extend the whole length across the machine,
and are firmly screwed together. S is a piece of metal embraced between the
pieces and R below the needles, and attached to a sliding piece or arm
T, T, which descends vertically, and slides up and down in grooves at each
end of the machine. To each of the arms T, T, is fastened a plate of metal
U, U, which carries the studs upon which the cams E operate in carrying the.
needle frame up and down, and other studs to be presently described. The
plate U, U, is perforated to allow the shaft A, A, to pass through it. These
plates have studs also on their outer sides which operate on the regulator, as
herein-after described. V, V₁, is a metal girth or breast piece extending from
end to end on the upper part of the frame, and having grooves about half an
inch deep cut in its bevilled edges V to receive each of the needles. Within
these grooves the said needles slide up and down, the teeth between the said.
grooves serving to cast over the work at every revolution of the machine..
z, z, is a cam on the back side of the cam E, which, when brought into contact
with a stud on the plate U, serves to depress it at the proper time. In
order to prevent the slur cork or the thread carried rebounding at the ends of
their motion, springs are applied, as is well understood to offer friction to
provent the movement of those parts.

page_text: I will now describe the manner of communicating motion from the main
shaft A, A, to the respective parts of the apparatus. W, W, are two bevil
geared wheels six inches in diameter, having sockets which enable them to
turn loosely on the shaft A, and which are alternately thrown out of and into
gear with the bevil wheel X, which wheel is three inches in diameter, and is
attached to the chain wheel F; Y is a socket surrounding the shaft A, and
capable of being moved so as to clutch by means of suitable teeth or projections
with the wheels W or W'; this socket is moved by the sliding bolt Z, which
passes through holes in the guides a, a, The sliding or shifting motion is
given to the bolt z, by means of a Y formed switch b, working on a pin through
its centre on the periphery of the wheel c, the said wheel having a fillet c', c¹,
around it, and being made fast to the shaft A. The switch b, as the wheel
c'revolves, is brought into contact with the end d', of a lever d, and carries it
alternately to one side or other of the fillet c', c', and as the lever d is made to
change its position, the switch 6 is turned in its centre pin, and is thereby
placed in the right situation for carrying the lever d back at the next
révolution. The lever d has its fulcrum at e; is connected by a pin at f with
the bolt z, to which a reciprocating motion is consequently given, and the
wheels W, W, are alternately thrown out of and into gear with the wheel X,
the required motions are thus communicated to the chain wheel.
. In Figure 3, g is one of the studs attached to the plate U, against which the
cams E operate in raising and depressing the needles as will be understood by
inspection; a lever h, hung on a pin at i, serves to operate on the presser bar
which is a thin plate j, j, the edge of which is to be brought up against the
needle beards; this presser bar is hung upon pivots at each end, and when its
fore edge is brought up against the needle beards a, it keeps the beards down
until they pass through the work when the presser bar resumes its former
position, the pivots being a little out of the centre towards the front; and its
gravity consequently tilts it back, when it is freed from its pressure against
the needles b. The presser bar is bent into a form similar to that shewn in
the Drawings, so that its fore edge may be nearly in contact with the sinkers
its near position being under and at a little distance from the lower part o¹ of
the sinker frame. The dotted part e shews the place of a stud on the lower
end of the lever h, projecting towards the face of the plate U, and the dotted
part m, a stud on the said plate, which two studs come in contact with each
other as the plate is raised and lowered; as it is raised the lever h is merely
tripped out of its way, but as it is lowered the upper ends of the levers h force
forward the sliding pieces n, which carry the presser bar forward by the action
of the pivots at the right time for the presser bar-acting on the needle beards

page_text: When the studs I and m have pressed each other the presser bar is carried
back by the action of a spring on the sliding pieces n, or in any other convenient
way. The motion of the regulator is accomplished in a manner resembling
that for moving the presser bar, namely by the rising and falling of the plate U,
but it is most convenient to effect this by means of levers and studs on the.
outer sides of the said plate. The arrangement adopted is shewn principally
in dotted lines in Figure 3; o and p are two studs affixed to the plate U, and q.
is a lever, of which there is one at each end, attached to the frame of the
machine by a joint pin at r; the upper ends q' of these levers pass through the.
two ends of the regulator and serve to give it the required motion backward
and forward; s, s, are slots in the top of the frame to allow the lever to
move back and forth; by this motion of the regulator the sinkers are taken
back from between the needles.
The sinker frame, with all its apparatus, including the presser bar, may be
readily removed from the machinė at any moment, as it is held down by screws
passing through its feet into the top of the main frame.
.
The feeding rod is set forward of the sinkers that are to be moved by the
slur, by its coming into contact at each end with the pin t, the stud P which
supports the feeding rod turning in the slur through which its lower end passes.
In the operating of this machine, when the needles are depressed to their,
lowest point, the studs by which they are raised rest on that part of the cams
E, which is nearest to the main shaft, and when this shaft is carried round
one-fourth of a revolution, they arrive at their greatest elevation; whilst this is
being effected, the studs in the plates U, which act upon the regulator levers,
I will have caused the regulator to throw the sinkers forward, entering their
points between the needles setting them ready for the reception of the threads
and the operation of the slur. By the time the needles have attained their
greatest elevation they are then sustained by the circular part of the cam, and
the clutch will have locked with one of the bevil wheels and the chain wheel
will be set in motion; the feeding rod will consequently, be carried along, and
the slur made to act on the sinkers; this operation continues during one half of
the revolution of the shaft; the clutch is then unlocked; the needles descend
during the next quarter of a revolution, and the presser levers are acted upon,
putting down the beards of the needles; the regulator likewise takes back the
5 sinkers from between the needles, the work is cast over by the grooved metal
plate, and the machine is ready to repeat the same operations.
Having thus fully described the manner in which I construct the improved
knitting machinery, and shewn the operation of its respective parts, what I
claim therein as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,--

page_text: First, the application of independent sliding instrument M, in place of the
ordinary jack and lead sinkers heretofore employed, and I also claim the
manner in which the regulator or bar N is combined with the sinkers M, M,.
so that the said bar will move the said sinkers backward and forwards by its
action between the shoulders thereof as herein described.
Secondly, the mode of arranging the needles and the parts V, V', as herein
described.
And, thirdly, the mode of combining and arranging the machinery by which
the thread is carried along for the formation of the loops.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Augustus Dorr, have hereunto
set my hand and 'seal, this Nineteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-five