IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING FRAMES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Luke Woodward, of the Firm of Messrs. Mellor
and Sons, of Awkwright Street, Nottingham, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING FRAMES."
Sealed the 15th February 1870, and dated the 18th December 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Luke Woodward at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th December 1869.
I, LUKE WOODWARD, of the Firm of Messrs. Mellor and Sons, of
Awkwright Street, Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature of the
said. Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING FRAMES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in knitting frames.
The Invention relates, firstly, to a manner of forming the jack levers
of knitting frames to render them more durable and steady in their
work. With jack levers as ordinarily constructed the head of each jack
has a slit cut in it to receive the end of a sinker. In place of forming

page_text: this slot to pass entirely through the head of the jack as heretofore I
leave the upper part of the head of the jack solid, so that the head of the
jack where the counter verge on the under side of the sinker bar strikes
against shall not be liable to be bruised or worn away as heretofore by
the constant striking against it of the counter verge. In order also that
the rear ends of the jack levers may not be liable to be bent by the slur
cock which is drawn along below the ends of the jacks to raise them in
succession I affix to the sides of the jack levers above the part where the
slur cock acts upon them strips of metal to fill up the spaces between
the jacks, so that even should the slur cock catch against one of the jack
levers it would be unable to bend it, as the jack lever at this point would
rest against and be supported by the next jack lever. The whole row of
jack levers would thus abut against and support one another at the part
where the slur cock acts against them, and thus the vibration of the
jacks and sinkers is to a great extent avoided, and the slur cock can be
run across the row of jacks at a quicker speed than heretofore; the jacks
also are not so likely to rebound after falling as they now frequently do,
nor are the sinkers so liable to break. The shape of the jack lever may
be put in a variety of forms, and the driver or slur cock may be put in
various places, but my Invention is to make all the loop givers solid
across the part where they are struck by slur cock or incline where a
sinker is used for laying the thread between the needles.
According to my Invention I form the neb end of sinkers, such as are
used when a comb is employed to knock over the work, narrower than
the other parts of the sinker, thus enabling me to employ shorter needles
and to give a less amount of motion to them, whilst at the same time as
the neb end only is narrowed the sinker still retains the necessary
amount of stiffness. In what are known as flat or rotary knitting frames,
in order to arrange them so that the work can be narrowed when required
automatically and without stopping the machine, I affix a stud or crank
pin to a wheel which is caused to make an equal number of revolutions
with the shaft which carries the set of cams for giving the required
motions to the various parts of the machine for producing ordinary work.
At the time that the work is required to be narrowed a stop is moved to
allow a lever to be drawn back by a spring to bring it into the path of
the stud or pin, so that at each revolution of the wheel which carries it
the lever is driven forwards. The lever carries a pawl or ratchet which
then drives round a ratchet wheel one tooth. The ratchet wheel is fast

page_text: with a cam wheel, and I adapt one or it may be more portions of the
circumference of this cam to act to throw out of action the set of cams
by which motion is imparted to the several parts of the machine when
a working course is being made, and also simultaneously throw into
action the set of cams employed for giving the required motions to the
various parts of the machine for producing a narrowing course. I also
arrange the cam so that when the narrowing course is completed and
the cam has again been shifted one step forward this action shall be
reversed, and the cams for producing ordinary work be again thrown
into action. By giving the step-by-step motion to the cam just at the
completion of each course this throwing in and out of gear is effected
automatically at the required time. The ratchet wheel may be formed
with any desired number of teeth, so that any desired number of straight
courses may be made before the cam is again brought round into a
position to cause another narrowing course to be made. Two or more
ratchet wheels with different numbers of teeth may also be placed on
the axis of the cam before mentioned, so that by setting into action the
driving levers of either of these wheels the desired number of ordinary
courses may be worked intermediate of cach narrowing. When the
machine is required to do straight work all the ratchet levers are held
out of action by the sliding stop, which is shifted to prevent the levers
being drawn back into the path of the stud or crank pin. The throwing
one set of the cams into action whilst the other set is simultaneously
thrown out of action may be effected in various ways, as, for example, by
carrying both sets of cams on one shaft, and giving an endway motion
to it when it is required to change the action of the cams, or the levers
upon which the cams act may be shifted in position. I prefer, however,
to carry the two sets of cams on two separate axes, either one or other
of which can be caused to revolve at the time required, and on each
axis is placed a toothed wheel capable of turning freely round it. The
wheels on the two axes gear with one another, and one of them also
gears with an intermediate wheel, which is driven by a pinion on the
driving shaft of the machine. The intermediate wheel and the wheels
on the cam shafts are all of equal diameter. The intermediate wheel is
by preference arranged to carry the stud or crank pin herein-before
mentioned, which is to act upon the ratchet levers. On each cam shaft
is a clutch capable of sliding endwise of the shaft, but not of turning
around it, and such clutch when shifted can be caused to engage with
the toothed wheel on the shaft, and so set it fast therewith. In order

page_text: simultaneously to shift the clutches on the two shafts, so that one shall
be set fast with its driving wheel whilst the other is simultaneously
set free, I couple up both clutches with a lever which is caused to shift
its position at the desired time by the cam before mentioned. When
one or other of the clutches has been drawn back it is locked and held
from turning by the end of a locking lever entering a recess formed in
it; this locking lever is worked by inclines on the lever employed for
shifting the sliding clutches. In order to enable one clutch to be
thrown into gear just when the other is drawn out of gear the acting or
leading edges or faces of the clutching surfaces are made square, that
is, in a line with the shaft, whilst the back edges of the clutches are
bevilled or inclined away, so that when the clutches are being shifted
the sliding clutch which was previously driving or in action shall
continue to do so until the end of its backward motion, or nearly so,
whilst the sliding clutch which was out of action will during its forward
motion continue out of action until just at the completion of its forward
motion. The acting face of the clutch projection on the toothed wheel
is by the continued revolving of the wheel brought against the acting
face of the sliding clutch. The axis on which this clutch is carried will
then be carried round with its toothed wheel, whilst the other axis is
simultaneously released from its wheel, and so ceases to be driven, and
is then held from turning by a locking lever, as before mentioned. In
this way I am enabled to narrow without stopping the machine, whilst
heretofore much time has been lost in this operation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Luke Woodward in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th June 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LUKE
WOODWARD, of the Firm of Messrs. Mellor and Sons, of Awkwright
Street, Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Luke Woodward, Her special licence

page_text: that I, the said Luke Woodward, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Luke Woodward, my 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
KNITTING FRAMES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Luke Woodward, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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
be 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 I, the said Luke Woodward, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in knitting frames.
The Invention relates, firstly, to a manner of forming the jack levers
of knitting frames, to render them more durable and steady in their work.
With jack levers as ordinarily constructed the head of cach jack has a
slit cut in it to receive the end of a sinker. In place of forming this slot
to pass entirely through the head of the jack, as heretofore, I leave the
upper part of the head of the jack solid, so that the head of the jack
where the counter verge on the under side of the sinker bar strikes
against shall not be liable to be bruised or worn away, as heretofore, by
the constant striking against of the counter verge. In order also that
the rear ends of the jack levers may not be liable to be bent by the slur
cock, which is drawn along below the rear ends of the jacks to raise
them in succession, I affix to the sides of the jack levers above the part
where the slur cock acts upon them strips of metal to fill up the
spaces
between the jacks, so that even should the slur cock catch against one of
the jack levers it would be unable to bend it, as the jack lever at this
point would rest against and be supported by the next jack lever. The
whole row of jack levers would thus abut against and support one
another at the part where the slur cock acts against them, and thus the
vibration of the jacks and sinkers is to a great extent avoided, and the

page_text: slur cock can be run across the row of jacks at a quicker speed than
heretofore; the jacks also are not so likely to rebound after falling as
they now frequently do, nor are the sinkers so liable to break.
x is the
At Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed is shown a side view
of a jack lever and sinker. The upper part of the head of the jack lever
is formed solid in the manner above described, and a slot is formed in
the lower part of the head to receive the end of the sinker.
pin by which the sinker is jointed to the jack lever, and y is a small
hole drilled through the head of the jack lever just at the top of the slot
in it, in order that oil may readily be supplied to the joint. The jack
lever shown in the Drawing has also a filling piece attached to its side
at the part where it is to be acted on by the slur cock or instrument,
which acts in succession upon all the jack levers. The spaces between
the several jack levers is thus filled in, so that the jack levers at this
point abut against and support one another. a is the filling piece, which
may be fixed by brazing, or by pins, or otherwise to the side of the
jack; this filling piece may be either on one side ouly of the jack, as
shown, or it might be on both sides, or on both sides of every alternate
jack. I prefer however to have it on one side only, as show by the
Drawing.
The jack lever shown is in other respects of the form now ordinarily
employed in knitting machines; the shape of the jack lever may however
be greatly varied, and the driver or slur cock may be arranged to act
upon it at any desired place, so long as the jack levers are made to abut
against and support one another at the point where they are struck by
the slur cock or driver, as above described.
What I claim as respects these parts of my Invention are,―
1. The forming the heads of the jack levers of knitting frames solid
where they strike against the counter verge, as herein described.
2. The forming the jack levers of knitting frames to abut against and
support one another at the point where the slur cock or driver acts upon
them, substantially as herein described.
According to another part of my Invention I form the neb end of the
sinkers, such as are used when a comb is employed to knock over the
work, narrower than the other parts of the sinker, thus enabling me to
employ shorter needles and to give a less amount of motion to them, whilst
at the same time as the neb end only is narrowed the sinker still retains
the necessary amount of stiffness.

page_text: The sinker shewn at Figure 1 of the Drawings is formed in this
manner, the neb end being narrowed down, as shewn.
I claim forming the neb ends of sinkers substantially in the manner
above described and shewn by the Drawings annexed.
In what are known as flat or rotary knitting frames, in order to
arrange them so that the work can be narrowed when required auto-
matically and without stopping the machine, I affix a stud or crank pin
to a wheel which is caused to make an equal number of revolutions with
the shaft which carries the set of cams for giving the required motions
to the various parts of the machine for producing ordinary work. At
the time that the work is required to be narrowed a stop is moved to
allow a lever to be drawn back by a spring to bring it into the path of
the stud or pin, so that at each revolution of the wheel which carries it
the lever is driven forwards. The lever carries a pawl or ratchet,
which then drives round a ratchet wheel one tooth. The ratchet
wheel is fast with a cam wheel, and I adapt one, or it might be more,
portions of the circumference of this cam to act to throw of action
the set of cams by which motion is imparted to the several parts
of the machine when a working course is being made, and also simul-
taneously throw into action the set of cams employed for giving the
required motions to the various parts of the machine for producing a
narrowing course. I also arrange the cam so that when the narrowing
course is completed and the cam has again. been shifted one step forward
this action shall be reversed, and the cams for producing ordinary work
be again thrown into action. By giving the step-by-step motion to the
cam just at the completion of each course this throwing in and out of
gear is effected automatically at the required time. The ratchet wheel
may be formed with any desired number of teeth, so that any desired
number of straight courses may be made before the cam is again brought
round into a position to cause another narrowing course to be made.
Two or more ratchet wheels with different numbers of teeth may also
be placed on the axis of the cam before mentioned, so that by setting
into action the driving levers of either of these wheels the desired
number of ordinary courses may be worked intermediate of each nar-
rowing; when the machine is required to do straight work all the
ratchet levers are held out of action by the sliding stop, which is shifted
to prevent the levers being drawn back into the path of the stud or
crank pin.

page_text: In order to put one set of the cams into action whilst the other set is
simultaneously thrown out of action, I arrange (as is now commonly the
case in knitting frames) the two sets of cams on two separate axes, either
one or other of which can be caused to revolve at the time required, and
on each axis is placed a toothed wheel capable of turning freely round
it. The wheels on the two axes gear with one another, and one of them
also gears with an intermediate wheel, which is driven by a pinion on
the driving shaft of the machine. When the two shafts carrying the
two sets of cams are to be driven at the same speed the intermediate
wheel and the wheels on the cam shafts are all of equal diameter. The
intermediate wheel is by preference arranged to carry the stud or crank
pin herein-before mentioned which is to act upon the ratchet levers, but
it might be carried by any other wheel revolving at the same speed as
the cam shafts. On cach cam shaft is a clutch capable of sliding
endwise of the shaft, but not of turning around it, and such clutch when
shifted can be caused to engage with the toothed wheel on the shaft and
so set it fast therewith. In order simultaneously to shift the clutches
on the two shafts, so that one shall be set fast with its driving wheel,
whilst the other is simultaneously set free, I couple up both clutches
with a lever, which is caused to shift its position at the desired time by
the cam before mentioned. When one or other of the clutches has been
drawn back it is locked and held from turning by the end of a locking
lever entering a recess formed in it; this locking lever is worked by
inclines on the lever employed for shifting the sliding clutches. In order
to enable one clutch to be thrown into gear just when the other is drawn
out of gear the acting or leading edges or faces of the clutching
surfaces are made square, that is, in a line with the shaft, whilst the
back edges of the clutches are bevilled or inclined away, so that when
the clutches are being shifted the sliding clutch which was previously
driving or in action shall continue to do so until the end of its back-
ward motion, or nearly so, whilst the sliding clutch which was out of
action will during its forward motion continue out of action until just
at the completion of its forward motion. The acting face of the clutch
projection on the toothed wheel is by the continued revolving of the
wheel brought against the acting face of the sliding clutch, the axis on
which this clutch is carried will then be carried round with its toothed
wheel, whilst the other axis is simultaneously released from its wheel,
and so ceases to be driven, and is then held from turning by a locking
lever, as before mentioned. In this way I am enabled to narrow

page_text: without stopping the machine, whilst heretofore much time has been
lost in this operation.
Figure 2 shews an end view of a knitting frame with apparatus, such
as is described, for throwing the two cam shafts alternately into and out
of gear applied to it; Figure 3 shows a portion of a back view, and
Figure 4 a plan view of such apparatus. In these Figures a is the cam
shaft which carries the cams for producing the ordinary course of work;
b, the cam shaft which carries the cams for producing a narrowing
course. I have not thought it necessary to shew in the Drawings the
several parts of the knitting mechanism, as they are well understood.
c is the driving shaft of the machine, to which motion is given either by
the crank handles upon it or by a driving pulley and belt. On this
shaft is a toothed wheel c¹ gearing into an intermediate wheel d; this
wheel gear with a toothed wheel d', which is loose on the shaft a, and
the wheel a similarly gears with a toothed wheel b₁ loose on the shaft b,
so that the wheels a', b', and d all revolve continuously and at equal
speeds when motion is given to the driving shaft. The toothed. wheels
a¹ and can each be set fast with their axis a or 6 respectively by
sliding clutch pieces a² and b²; these sliding clutch pieces are capable of
being slid to and fro on their respective shafts by means of pins on the
two opposite arms of a lever e, as shewn, by which means if one shaft is
clutched fast with the wheel which it carries so as to be caused to
revolve with it the other shaft must necessarily be free from the wheel
upon it, and will not be carried round with the wheel. On the under
side of the lever e is a pin e¹, which enters a grooved cam f on the axis g.
A plan view of this cam is shewn on a larger scale at Figure 5. On the
axis are two ratchet wheels h, k, having a different number of teeth.
h, k, are pawls acting respectively with the wheels h and k; these
pawls are free to turn on pins carried by levers h² and k³, and they are
held against the teeth of the ratchet wheels either by springs or counter-
balance weights, as is most convenient. The levers h² and * swing
on pins or axes at their upper ends, and a rocking motion can be given
to either one or other lever when desired by allowing it to swing back
into the path of a crank pin d' carried by the intermediate wheel d, but
either or both of the levers can be held up out of the path of the crank
pin by a sliding stop when it is desired to hold them out of action.
The rod or stem of this sliding stop passes along the whole front of the
machine, so that the workman in charge of the machine can shift the

page_text: stop from whatever part of the machine he may be opposite to. When
either one or other of the levers is allowed to swing back into the path
of the crank pin d¹ the lever will be moved forward by the crank pin
once for each revolution of the intermediate wheel d, and the crank pin
is so placed on this wheel that this forward motion is given to the lever
just when a course of work has been completed. The moving forward
of a lever causes the pawl carried by it to drive round its ratchet
wheel one step, as the lever when it is free from the crank pin is
again drawn back by a spring, as shewn, the pawl comes into a proper
position for acting on the next tooth of the ratchet wheel. A step-by-
step revolving motion is thus given to the cam f, and when the cam has
thus been brought into the position shewn at Figure 5 the lever e will
be shifted, and will shift the clutches a² and 7 into such a position that
the wheel b¹ will be clutched with the shaft b which carries the cams
requisite for producing a narrowing course, and the shaft 6 will thus be
caused to make a complete revolution, but as soon as the cam is by the
ratchet wheel turned round another step the wheel b¹ is released from its
shaft, whilst the wheel a¹ is again clutched fast with the shaft a, and the
machine then continues to make ordinary work until the cam is again
brought round into the position shewn at Figure 5, when another
narrowing will be produced. The number of plain courses thus made
between the narrowing courses will depend on the number of teeth in
the ratchet wheels; if the ratchet wheel k is being driven, say, 8 courses
will be made, whilst if the wheel is being driven, say, 10 courses will
be made, but this may be greatly varied; any desired number of ratchet
wheels may also be carried on the axis of the cam f, so that the
narrowing may be effected at any desired rate. When the machine is
required to do straight work both the levers h² and are held by means
of the sliding stop from swinging back into the path of the crank pin,
and so the cam f remains stationary. In order that as soon as one or
other cam shaft is released from the toothed wheel which drives it such
cam shaft may be locked and prevented from turning, one end of the
locking lever p is caused to enter a notch in the circumference of the
sliding clutch piece which it carries, the clutch and consequently the
shaft in connection with it is thus held fast. The locking lever p is
actuated by two inclines on the lever e in such manner that as the
lever e turns on its vertical axis the locking lever p shall turn on its
horizontal axis, and by this means just at the moment when one or other
shaft is unclutched from the toothed wheel upon it the shaft is locked

page_text: and held securely. The manner in which the clutching surfaces are
formed is clearly seen in the plan view, Figure 4. From this view it will
be seen that as either sliding clutch piece is moved forward up to the
corresponding clutch piece on the toothed wheel with which it is to
engage, the clutching surfaces x, x, which are in a line with the shafts
a and b, will not engage with one another until the sliding clutch has
completed its forward movement, the surfaces x, x, then come against
one another, and this takes place just as the surfaces x, x, of the other
clutch which were previously locked together are freed from one another,
thus immediately that one cam shaft ceases to be driven the other cam
shaft will commence to revolve. When narrow divisions of work are
being produced on the machine, and when consequently the ordinary
courses of work can be made quicker than when the work on the needles
is in broader divisions, the shaft which carries the cams for producing a
narrowing course may be arranged to revolve when in action at a slower
speed than the shaft which carries the cams for producing the ordinary
courses; for example, the narrowing shaft might be arranged to revolve
once for every two revolutions of the other cam shaft.
I claim as my improvements in rotary knitting frames in which two
cam shafts are employed, one to carry the cams for producing an
ordinary course of work, the other to carry the cams for producing a
narrowing course,-
1st. The combined arrangement of apparatus herein described for
putting either cam shaft into action at the time required.
2nd. The employment of apparatus for locking each cam shaft, and
retaining it from moving at the time when it is put out of action.
3rd. The forming the clutches by which the cam shafts are put into
and out of action, substantially in the manner herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Luke Woodward, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
LUKE WOODWARD. (L.S.)