improvements in Knitting machines for making plush
Year: 1888

page_text: We ERNST JULIUS SEYFERT, and HEINRICH HERMANN DONNER, both of Chemnitz.
in the State of Saxony, Germany, Engineers, 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 :-
Our invention relates to improvements in Knitting machines for making plush, and
consists in the method of knitting plush on the Lamb's knitting machine, and in the
machines used for this purpose.
By this method the Lamb knitting machine knits two pieces of plain work, one on
each row of needles, and at the same time works an extra thread into every row of
loops, which thread forms connecting stitches with every loop of both rows of needles,
and binds both pieces of plain goods together. Afterwards the layers of this extra-
or lining-thread are cut and the two separat pieces of plain ground work, each of
which has a pile, form two pieces of plush or velvet.
These improvements and the manner of working are described in the following
specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a section through the needle bed of the well known Lamb's knitting
machine, showing the arrangement of the knife, which cuts the threads forming the
pile of the plush ware.
Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the same, showing the cams for actuating the
needles.
Fig. 3 to 12 show different steps in the process of manufacturing plush on the
knitting machine.
The above mentioned double ground-work, with the pile threads common to both,
is made on an ordinary Lamb's knitting machine, by forming in the same stroke of the
machine, two plain rows of knitted work, and a row of pile threads, common to both
rows of needles. On the bed A B of an ordinary Lamb's knitting machine rest the
long needles a b, and the short needles a' b¹, and are raised by means of the canis s s¹
and S S S S S S catching on the feet of the needles, and brought back
again by means of the cams tttt&c. when the slides U U¹ are moved along the
needle bed in the usual manner. When the slides U U' move in the direction of the
arrows as seen in fig. 2 the cams st s¹ t¹² ² s³ ³STS' T S² T' S T³ are in action,
and when the direction of the slide is reversed so the cams s² t¹ sº tº S* T* S* T* come

page_text: into action. These cams are put out of gear by being lifted off the needle beds as
seen by the dotted lines in fig. 1 so as to be clear of the feet of the needles, for
example when the slide U U moves in the direction indicated by the arrows fig. 2. the
cams's ts tst st st¹ are in connection with the feet of the needles while the
cams S T S T are raised clear from the needles, and when the slide U U'
moves in the opposite direction so is the reserve the case.
The machine as shown in Figs. 1 & 2 is worked with four threads, and the formation
of the loops and of the piles is as follows:
When the slides U U¹ move in the direction of the arrows y (fig. 2), the thread
carrier F (fig. 1 & 2) lays the thread in the open latches of the long needles a b
which are opposite to the cams & S; the needles ab are raised at the same time, and
the thread flies in the position as seen in fig. 3 and the last formed loop 1 lies on the
latches of the needles a b.
When the needles are depressed again by the cams Tt the thread fis caught in the
hooks of the needles and lies beside the loop 1; the thread fis drawn into the position
as seen in Fig. 4; and lies zig zag between the long needles a bas seen in fig. 10.
Close behind the thread carrier F and the thread, comes the thread carrier G with
the thread g; in a line with the carrier G are the cams ¹¹S' T for the short
needles ab and these short needles a¹ draw the thread in the same manner as
the long needles a b the thread f.
The thread is formed in a zig-zag manner between the short needles a¹ b¹ as seen
by the dotted lines fig. 11. The two threads fand g cross each other in the manner
as shown in fig. 11.
Those threads fg which lie with the last plain knitted loop in the hooks of the long
and short needles (fig. 4), are cast off, and a new loop is formed on every one of these
needles. This formation of new loops is done during the same stroke, or course of
the slides, by the cams s² ² ³ ³ S² T² S³ T³ and the thread carriers H K, in the
following manner: The needles a ba²bcarry the threads fg in zig zag form as
seen in fig. 11 and the loop 1 as seen in fig. 4. The needles are lifted into the
position as seen in fig. 5, 6 by the cams SS*; first the needles a a¹ fig. 5 and
then the needles bb' fig. 6.
Fig. 5 shows the needle a lifted so high that the last formed loop 1 and the
pile thread both lie behind the latch of the needle, ready to be cast off. When
the needle a is again depressed, by means of the cams, a new thread his
lead to the needle by the carrier H; then the latch of the needle closes and the
loop 1 and the pile thread fare cast off, and form with the threadh a row of
plain loops h h h¹... (fig. 8). The same operation occurs with the needles b
and 6 and the pile forming threads f g as well as the thread k (fig. 6) which is
conducted by tho thread carrier K (fig. 2).
Fig. 7 shows the two pieces of ground work, w w with the pile-forming
threads g.
These pile threads which bind the two webs w w' together are cut by means of
a knife m (fig. 1) which is moved to and fro either by hand, or by the machine
itself, and two separate webs of plush, or velvet-like clothes w w¹ are formed, which
are led during the knitting process, over the rollers and are drawn off by means
of weights hung on to them.
The motion of the knife m takes place either during the motion of the slides U Ụ¹
or after each row is formed. The cut ends hang in the ground-work as seen in
fig. 8 and 9.
Needles of all the same length can also be used for making such plush in a
common Lamb's knitting machine; for example only the needles a¹¹in each
needle bed, and in such a case only the cams 's t s t s t are then used on each
side.
By altering the distance between the needle beds A & B and the cams by
means of the screws (Fig. 1) the length of the pile forming threads can be
altered at will, for this purpose the slides U U¹ are held together at the ends by
movable connections.

page_text: By this process it is possible to make regular and even plushes, and it is also
possible to narrow on both needle rows in the usual manner, and plushes can either
be made in the same or different materials, for example the pile threads out of
wool, and the ground threads from cotton or vice versa.
The following operation can also be used; instead of raising the cams st s¹ t¹
ST ST & t¹² 55 t Sª T" S T letting all 6 cams act at the same time; in
such a case it is necessary to have two more thread carriers L and M, which guide
the threads for the needles worked by the cams & st³, and in such a case
double the number of pile threads are formed.
In order that the pile of the plush may not be too thick, finer threads can be
used for the pile.
The following arrangement may also be used, the leading cams S T S³ T'sts¹² t¹
put out of gear, and the following cams S T S T³sts to put in gear, so the
work can be commenced plain and then the pile threads are added, which are
brought together with the next row of plain meshes.
Or a plain row can be knitted and then a row of pile threads made with the
short needles, and the next row plain and then another row of pile threads made
by the long needles.
These are only some of the many different styles of work that can be made by
this improvement.
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.) In knitting machines for making plush the method of making plush wares
by knitting one piece of ground-work on each side of the machine, and connecting
the two pieces together by pile threads which are afterwards cut, for the purpose
as described.
2.) In knitting machines for making plush, the two needle rows a & b and cams
in combination with the knife m, for the purpose as described.
3.) In knitting machines for making plush, the arrangement of the cams on the
needle beds in such a manner that the cams stare opposite to the
cams ST ST and the cams s³ t² 1² t³ t³ are placed before the cams S³ S²
TT TT, for the purpose as described.
4.) In knitting machines for making plush, the arrangement of the cams on the
needle beds in such a manner that the cams stare opposite to the
cams ST ST and the cams s³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ are placed before the cams S² S²
T T T T in combination with the two needle rows and the knife m, for the
purpose as described.
1000