IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Luke Barton, of Ison Green, near Nottingham,
Machinist, and Edwin Stanley Brookes, of Nottingham, Hosier, for tho
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS."
Sealed the 21st August 1857, and dated the 6th March 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Luke Barton and Edwin
Stanley Brookes at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 6th March 1857.
We, LUKE BARTON, of Ison Green, near Nottingham, Machinist, and EDWIN
STANLEY BROOKES, of Nottingham, Hosier, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the application of rotary action to the ordinary.
stocking frame, and by such rotary application to make narrowings or fashioned
stockings, shirts, drawers, &c., and by such rotary application to make any
certain number of stockings, shirts, drawers, &c. in silk, cotton, merino, and
worsted at one and the same time, as shall be found by experience the most
profitable.
And whereas having secured by Letters Patent a former Invention, in con-
junction with Messrs. Hine, Mundella, & Co., of Nottingham, dated the
Tenth day of February 1854, for producing narrowed of fashioned stockings,
shirts, or drawers by rotary action, said narrowing or fashioning being obtained

page_text: by reversing said rotary action; but the present Invention is to obtain the said
narrowing or fashioning without reversing the said rotary action, but by direct
and continuous rotary action, thereby rendering more simple the manipulation
and increasing the production of said stocking frame.
It is also intended to produce by rotary action improved heels, viz., selvedged
heels and spliced ankles, such selvedged heels and spliced ankles not having
been produced by rotary action direct or reverse before.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Luke Barton and Edwin Stanley Brookes in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th September 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, LUKE
BARTON, of Ison Green, near Nottingham, Machinist, and EDWIN STANLEY
BROOKES, of Nottingham, Hosier, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Luke Barton and Edwin Stanley Brookes, Her special licence that we,
the said Luke Barton and Edwin Stanley Brookes, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Luke Barton and Edwin
Stanley Brookes, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
wc, the said Luke Barton and Edwin Stanley Brookes, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and
seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to bo filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Luke Barton and Edwin Stanley
Brookes, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-

page_text: "
"
5*
cam and strap for bringing the frame forward and
backward while narrowing.
cam 'to actuate spindle bar for racking tickler bar
and thread carrier stops.
cam for throwing narrowing apparatus into action.
taking-over arch cam when narrowing.
These five last cams are on tho narrowing 'shaft.
On Sheet E, Figure 2 is'a transverse section, Figure 3 a plan, and Figure 4
a front elevation, of that part of the frame where the connection between the
intermediate shaft 'and 'main shaft, and 'between 'tho intermediate shaft and
narrowing shaft is 'made.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.
(In all the Sheets and Figures the same letters of reference indicate the
same parts). A, A, (Figures 1 and 2, Sheet A,) is the framework of the
machine; B (Figure 1, Sheet A, Figures 2, 3, and 4, Sheet E,) is the main
shaft, that is to say, the shaft which actuates the part of the machine which
performs the plain course of work; C. is the narrowing shaft, or shaft for
actuating the narrowing apparatus; D is the driving shaft, which 'wo also
call the "intermediate" shaft. E is a spindle bar or shaft, to which the
narrowing or tickling apparatus F is attached by means of arms E¹, E";
F is an angle iron bar, having axles at each 'end moving in the upper ends
of the arms E', E', by which it is carried forward and backward as required';
F, F, (Figure 1, Sheet B.) are two sliding bars connected to the bar F,
free to slide lengthwise thereon in bearings f, "The ticklers *,, aro
fixed to these bars. I is a ratchet rack, one of which is attached to each
of the sliding bars F, F, at the right and left hand end of the frame
alternately; F³ is a ratchet pall, turning on an axlo of a lever T, the
fulcrum of which is fixed to the bar F; F is another ratchet pall, "acting
as a lockor or stop to sliding bar F; Fois a bell-crank lever, turning on an axle
attached to the arm E¹, having jointed to it a moveable arm F, with an
oblong opening at the further end to admit the round end of the lever F*;
f* (Sheet A, Figure 1,) is a short lover fastened to the under side of the bar F
working on an axle in a bracket; F is a bell-crank lever fastened to the part
A' of the framework, as shown, having at one end a truck resting against the
cam 1*, while the other end is jointed to a connecting rod F³, itself jointed at
top to the lever ; P is a rocking shaft, turning in bearings and acted upon
from the narrowing shaft C by means of the cam 3*; P is a sliding piece,
working in a bearing at top, fixed to the side of the framework, as shewn, and

page_text: connected at bottom to a projecting arm of the rocking shaft P; Ps is a ratchet
pall, working on an axle fastened to the sliding piece P¹; P' is a projecting
bracket, also fixed to the sliding piece P¹, and provided with a gauge screw;
M is a sliding bolt, moving in bearings N, N, on the framework. (A part of this
is shewn in working size on Sheet B, Figure 5). L is a tumbler cam, turning
on an axle m³ fixed in a projecting part of the bolt M. This cam has a pin m²
(on its side), to which a cord is attached, passing over a pulley m³, and having
a weight m' at its end. O* is a cylinder fixed upon a spindle turning in
bearings; upon this spindle is also keyed a ratchet wheel O', into which the
pall P³ works; round the cylinder O* a screw thread is formed projecting
into the teeth of the sliding bolt M. G is the thread carrier bar, the round
ends of which pass through and slide in a lever arm G³, to which the top of a
connecting rod G³ is attached, while the lower end of G is jointed to a lever
G³, turning upon an axlo fixed to the framework A, and actuated by the cam 3.
Upon the main shaft B, I, (Figure 4, Sheet B.) is a sliding bar, which moves
forward and backward and drives the thread carrier bar, as in the ordinary
rotary frame; K is a driving lever (shown in working size, Sheet B, Figure 4),
turning on an axle fixed to bar I; the axle m³ of the tumbler cam L projects
at back, and is so fixed that on the lever K coming near it in its forward and
> backward motion the recessed part K³ will come opposite to the axle m³
and the driving lever K will be lifted up, as shown in the dotted lines, Sheet B,
Figure 4. G (Fig. 2, Sheet A,) is a small stud fixed to the back of the
thread carrier bar G; K³ is a recess large enough to admit a stud on bar I;
R (Figure 2, Sheet A,) is a vibrating or rocking shaft turning in bearings
fixed in the frame; a rocking motion is imparted to this shaft by means of
cam 1. are two arms fixed to the shaft R; is an iron rod passing across
the frame in front of the thread carriers G; the rocking shaft R is acted
upon by means of cam 1, driving lever R, and rod R, (Figure 1, Sheet A.)
The purpose of this apparatus is to tighten the thread when the ordinary
course is being worked, the rod r³ acting upon the bell crank spring levers r³,
fixed upon the thread carriers G*; when the round rod is raised the lever 1-3
pinches the thread against the thread carriers G³, and thereby makes the
selvage perfect. J is the presser bar, working in the usual way upon joints,
motion being given to it by means of a lever and rod J, J, and cam 2; H is
a cross tie bar at the top of the frame; S is a lever working against the cam 3
on the main shaft; the thread carrier bar G has two projections Go, to which
a bar G is connected, which is also connected by means of the levers and rod
S', S', to one end of lever S.
Description of Figures 2, 3, and 4, Sheet E.-B, main shaft; C, narrowing

page_text: shaft; D, intermediate or driving shaft; A', A', are two lower cross rails of
the framework of the machine, to which a cross bar A is fixed, to which
is jointed a lever B'; B³ is a connecting rod, jointed to lever B¹, and
having an axle with a truck attached to it immediately above the lever B²; the
upper end of the rod B is jointed to the hand bar of the machine at top.
B³ is the cam markod 6 on Sheet C, by which lever B¹ is worked up and
down; T is a bell-crank lever working on an axle fixed to a bracket; one end
of this lever rests upon the truck on the rod B³ immediately above lover
13', and the other end is provided with a truck resting against cam C³, which
is the cam marked 5 on Sheet C. B' and D' are spur wheel and pinion
connecting the shafts B and D. The spur wheel D¹ is carried round with its
shaft D by a catch on a sliding clutch box D' coming in contact with a
catch upon this spur wheel D'; this clutch box D' moves laterally on a key
fitted into the shaft D. D' and C are wheel and pinion connecting the shafts
C and D. Qis a lever, working at one end on a stud or axle, and having
another stud fixed to its side, on which works the catch pall Q; this lever Q
has also a truck attached, resting against a cam D³ keyed on shaft D. Q³ is
a cylinder turning loose on an axle fixed to a bracket A on the rail A'; to
this cylinder Q are attached a ratchet wheel and an excentric cam or screw
acting laterally.
Figure 1, Sheet E, are views on an enlarged scale of cylinder Q³ with its
cam and ratchet; Q³ is a bar, sliding in bearings in the framework of the
machine, having at one end a projecting picce q* fitting into a recessed part of
clutch D (Figure 4). Two other similar projecting pieces, one of which
is shewn at q³, are attached to bar Q, fitting respectively into the recessed part
of the sliding pieces of cams 5 and 6. A spindle bar at the back of tho
rocking shaft E moves in bearings on each end of the frame, and has
connected to it a lever having a truck resting on cam 5; another arm or
lever is connected to it at back, also having a truck, which rests upon cam 8
(the knocking-over cam) at the left side of the frame, which cam counteracts
cam 5; an arm is fastened to the spindle bar, jointed at top to the hand
bar of the machine, for knocking over and taking back the work. S³
(Fig. 1, Sheet A,) is a moveable piece, fixed to the rod S' by a set screw;
'S is a projecting pin on S³; S is a lever jointed to one of the cross rails of the
frame, as shown; S' is a cam-shaped piece, fixed to S, and coming in contact
with the pin S³ when the frame is knocking over, thus acting upon the rod S',
and by this means on the thread carrier; when the narrowing is going on and
the main shaft stationary the rod S' is held up by a spring.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-For effecting the plain

page_text: part of the work the frame acts in the usual way, and all the motions
are obtained from the main shaft B and cams thereon as in the ordinary
rotary frame, the narrowing shaft C being stationary. When the frame is
required to narrow, the lever Q (Figure 2, Sheet E,) is lifted and held
up against the cam D³ by means of springs, not shewn, (and which may
be removed when not wanted, that is, when the frame is not required to
narrow.) As soon as this lever is brought in this position the cam D³ will
work the lever Q up and down, and by means of the ratchet pall Q' and
ratchet wheel on the cylinder Q³ moves this cylinder Q'ono tooth in the ratchet
wheel at each motion of the lever, thus the bar Q³ will by means of the projecting
piece move the clutch D' to the right, thus disconnecting the shafts B and D,
but connecting the shaft C and D, and thus the narrowing shafts C will be
brought into action, and at the same time the bar Q3 (by means of the pro-
jections and 9) separates the sliding pieces B on the cams 5 and 6, thus
allowing the frame to be moved by the cams on the narrowing shaft, which
operation would not be performed if the cams 5 and 6 were not moved apart
during the narrowing operation, during which the shaft B is stationary. On
motion being given to the narrowing shaft the tickler bar F is caused to
approach the needles by the cam 4*, and at the same time an up-and-down
motion is given to the tickler by the lever fo on the bar F being acted upon by
cam 1* on shaft C. The ticklers are caused to shift sidewise in the following
manner: The bell crank lever Fo coming in contact with the gauge screw of
the projecting bracket P' on the sliding picce P¹ will move the ratchet pall F³,
which will bring along with it the sliding bar F¹, to which the ticklers f³ are
fixed. (Of course the bell crank lever F on the right-hand side of the frame
will act upon the ticklers on the right hand of each stocking, and vice versa.)
Now as the narrowing proceeds it will be necessary that the motion of the thread-
carrier bar G should also be shortened to the amount of distance of stitches
narrowed; this is done by means of the sliding bolt M, which is moved towards
the centre of the frame after every narrowing operation by means of the screw
on the cylinder O*; motion being given to this cylinder by the pall P³ acting
upon ratchet wheel O', the piece P is moved up and down by the bar P,
acted upon by cam 3* fixed to shaft C. As the bolt M moves nearer tho
centre of the machine the driving lever K will of course be that much
earlier lifted up, and consequently the motion of the thread carrier bar
will be that much shortened. To ensure the thread carrier bar being
always brought to a dead stop, the tumbler cam L (at a little distance from
the end of the motion of the bar G) is turned by a projecting pin at tho
back of bar G to the right, and as soon as the pin m³ (to which cord and

page_text: weight m' are attached) ceases to be below the centre of the axle m³, the
weight will move the tumbler cam forward, it at the same time laying hold
of the pin fixed nearer the centre of the thread carrier bar, and thereby
bringing the thread carrier to a firm dead stop. Another pin nearer the end of
the carrier bar first puts the tumbler cam in motion, and throws it over the
contre, all the other motions to produce work being the same as in the ordinary
rotary frame. Of course all the performances described at the one end of the
machine must be repeated at the other end.
The mode of working the narrowing course is now to be described. When the
thread carrier is brought to the right-hand side of the frame, and the ordinary
course is being wrought so far as taking the frame over the arch and putting
the work back, the cam Q being in motion acts upon the sliding bar Q³, which
has projections fitting into recesses of clutch box D, and the sliding pieces
attached to cams 5 and 6 thereby throwing the main shaft out of motion and
the narrowing shaft into motion, and also opening cams 5 and 6, so that tho
frame may move up and down and forwards and backwards by the cams on
the narrowing shaft. The sliding picces being moved as above described, the
framo rises up off the arch, and the tickler bar or narrowing apparatus is
thrown into action by the cam 4*, when the ticklers will take the stitches from
off ono sot of needles and put them on others, as in the ordinary course of
narrowing with the ordinary narrowing machine, the frame and narrowing
apparatus making corresponding movements to effect the same, such move-
ments being well understood by workmen accustomed to work narrowing
machines; the sliding pieces are again moved to the left, and the frame
commences working the ordinary course.
The parts shown in the Drawings above described to which direct rotary
action is given for the purposes of our Invention are the driving shaft D, the
narrowing shaft C, and the main shaft B, and the worm cylinder O*.
Another object of our said Invention is by means of such direct and con-
tinuous rotary action as aforesaid to produco selvaged heels and spliced ancles
in a stocking frame. The expression spliced ancle where used in and in
reference to this part of our Invention is only intended to signify what is
known as tho old split heel spliced ancle made as an extension of the selvaged
heel. The mode in which we carry into effect this part of our Invention is
shown in Figures 6 and 7, Sheet B, of the said Drawings annexed.
In order to produce selvaged heels and the description of spliced ancles
aforesaid in a rotary action frame, wo employ an extra or supplementary
thread-carrier apparatus, which is only to be used when the heels or ancles are
to be made, and which when not in use is turned up above the frame, as shewn

page_text: in dotted lines, Figure 7. This extra thread carrier apparatus is in almost all
respects similar to the ordinary thread carrier apparatus G, thero being (as in
that 'case) a shaft or spindle bar W working in bearings at the ends of
the machine, and two circular arms w with orifices in the ends for the
extra sliding thread carrier bar X (Figure 6) to work in, which bar when
in use is let down and rests on the ordinary thread carrier bar G, into which
it locks by means of racks X', X', (male and female) formed in the bars
G and X respectively, and by which the bar X is moved to and fro with bar
G. The bar X is provided with two pins, similar to those of bar G, for the
cam L and driving lever K to act on, and has an upright hooked piece y,
which grasps a rod G' attached by arms to bar G, and also connected to the
thread carrier tilting apparatus, thereby bringing both thread carriers under
the operation of thread carrier tilting cam 1* on the under side of the top tic
bar H of the frame. At each end are sliding bars h¹, acted upon by projecting
pieces attached to the sliding bolt M, and thereby made to move towards
the centre of the frame when narrowing, in order to liberato the driving lever
K from the bar X at the proper time while making the heels. On the sliding
bars h' is fixed a plate h³, provided with tumbler catch h', moving on an axis,
and two pins for it to rest on, one when the catch is turned up, not in use, and
the other when the catch is down and the heels being made. The lever K
has a pin ho on its upper side, projecting backward and fitting into a recess in
bar I; when this pin comes in contact with catch h' the thread carriers are
liberated from the driving lever K during the working of the heels. The
racks X¹ not only serve to connect the motions of the thread carriers G and X,
but also to adjust them while making the narrowing in the heels, which is
necessary, as the inside of the heels having to be made straight, and not
narrowed at cach narrowing of the heels, the extra carrier bar has to be
lifted up and shifted into a fresh niche in the rack.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention, and the manner in which it is to be performed, we declare that,
except as herein particularly mentioned, we do not claim as of our Invention
any of the parts above described separate or apart from the application and
combination thereof in manner and for the purposes herein mentioned; and that
we do claim as of our said Invention,-
First, the combination and application of parts having rotary motion with
and to a stocking frame so as to give continuous motion to such a frame, in
manner and for the purposes above described.
Second, the combination and application of such parts having rotary motion
in conjunction with a supplemental thread carrier with and to a stocking

page_text: frame for the purpose of producing selvaged heels and spliced ancles, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Luke Barton, for myself and on behalf
of the said Edwin Stanley Brookes, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Fifth day of September, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
Witness,
M. HENRY,
77, Fleet St.
LUKE BARTON. (L.S.)