Improvements in Flat Knitting Machines.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 23rd Nov., 1889-Accepted, 28th Dec., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Flat Knitting Machines.
EDWIN JOHN ADAMS BABBAGE 3 Lisson Grove Mutley Plymouth Hosiery Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
It is an attachment for use with flat knitting machines by which an extra thread
can be worked into the fabric on one bed of these machines & not on the other, when
making plain (as distinguished from ribbed) circular fabrics.
This is done by using two (or more) yarn guides, one (or more) of which carrying
the extra thread is permanently or temporarily fastenel to some part of the carriage
of the machine in such a position as to deliver the extra thread only to the desired
row of needles, & so that the said guide (or guides) with the extra thread, shall main-
tain the same position in relation to the carriage, & shall not swing or shift in the
same way as the yarn guide which does the unspliced part of the work.
D
Loth t. of Fober 1889
EDWIN J. A. BABBAGE.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Flat Knitting Machines.
I EDWIN JOHN ADAMS BABBAGE 3 Lisson Grove Mutley Plymouth Hosiery
Manufacturer 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:-
This invention relates to the addition of a fixed yarn carrier or guide to flat knitting
machines by means of which an extra thread, or yarn, can be worked into the fabric
on one bed of these machines, and not on the other, when making plain (as distin-
guished from ribbed) circular fabric.
This is done by using one (or more) yarn guides or carriers, permanently or
temporarily fixed to some part of the carriage of the machine in such a position as to
deliver the extra thread only to the desired row of needles and so that the said guide
(or guides) delivering the extra thread shall maintain the same position in relation to
the carriage and shall not swing or shift like the ordinary yarn guide or carrier which
does the unspliced part of the work.
The accompanying drawing gives a top view of the carriage of a flat knitting
machine with an extra yarn carrier or guide C for delivering an extra thread to the
back row of needles. The ordinary carrier B pivots on the pin D. When the carriage
is travelling in the direction shown by the arrow the ordinary carrier B remains in
the position shewn in the drawing and delivers the yarn to the back bed of needles,
but when the carriage travels in the opposite direction the ordinary carrier B swings
into the position shewn by the dotted lines & then delivers yarn to the front row of
needles.
The yarn carrier or guide C which carries the extra thread retains the position
shewn in the drawing the result being that the thread is delivered to the back bed of
needles and works in with the wool delivered from the ordinary carrier B as the
carriage travels in the direction of the arrow. When however the motion is reversed
and the ordinary carrier B shifts into the position for delivering yarn to the front bed
needles the yarn carrier or guide C being fixed passes before the said needles are in
drawn in a loose strand
working position, the result being that the extra thread
under the front row of needles and is left inside the circular fabric to be cut away
afterwards if desired.

page_text: The yarn carrier or guide (or carriers). C can be made in any convenient shape and
be fixed to any convenient part of the carriage so as to deliver an extra thread
either to the back or front bed. The drawing, simply shows one method of applying
the invention.
Some makers adopt different systeins of shifting yarn carrier B but the principle
is the same and this invention applies and can be adapted to any machine of this
class.
The thread carrier C will require a separate tension arrangement which can be
attached to the said carrier (such as the ordinary tension in the Lamb machine) or
may be on a separate stand as thought desirable.
The yarn carrier or guide should be so fixed that when the yarn from the ordinary
carrier B and thread from the yarn carrier or guide C are both being taken by the
needles, the holes through which the yarn and thread pass shall be almost close
together.
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 I
claim is
1. The method of inserting an extra thread or yarn into plain circular fabric, made
on a flat knitting machine, by the use of an extra yarn carrier (or carriers) fixed to
the carriage of the said machine so that it shall not swing or shift and shall deliver
the said thread or yarn to one bed of the machine but not to the other thus making
one side of the fabric thicker than the other.
2. In a flat knitting machine for the production of plain (as distinguished from
ribbed) circular fabric the use of one or more fixed yarn carriers, such as the yarn
carrier or guide (), for delivering an extra thread or yarn to either the front or back
bed of needles substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 20th day of Novembe
EDWIN J. A. BABBAGE.
Ayrton & Thomas,
59, Chancery Lane, W.C., Patent Agents:
EDWIN J. A. BABBAGE.
Ayrton & Thomas,
59, Chancery Lane, W.C., Patent Agents.