IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING FRAMES OR MACHINES WITH APPLIANCES FOR DIMINISHING OR FASHIONING ARTICLES MADE THEREON."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas James Smith, of the Firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING
FRAMES OR MACHINES WITH APPLIANCES FOR DIMINISHING OR FASHIONING
ARTICLES MADE THEREON."-A communication from abroad by Charles
Poron and Amand Poron, both of Troyes, France, Manufacturers.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Thomas James Smith at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 22nd January 1872, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of
166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send
greeting.

page_text: ING ARTICLES MADE THEREON," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that the same
hath been communicated to me from abroad by Charles Poron and
Amand Poron, both of Troyes, France, Manufacturers.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas James Smith, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :—
This Invention consists chiefly in an arrangement of automatic
appliances for diminishing or fashioning articles made on knitting
frames, the frames being specially arranged both for plain and ribbed
work. The various parts of this machine may be classed into two
categories, viz. :-1st. The parts serving for the knitting or formation
of the meshes, and 2ndly., the organs serving for the diminution or
fashioning.
The construction and action of the various parts will be gathered
from the following details in connection with the annexed Drawings.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a frame or machine, and Figure 2 a
partial front view on another scale to that of Figure 1, the other
Figures being views in detail of various parts of the machine.
The knitting organs are so arranged that the meshes are formed
singly, that is on each needle of the series in succession, one by one; ;
this arrangement which has never before been realized permits a perfect
and regular selvage or edge in the diminution or fashioning. The chief
organ to accomplish the formation of the meshes in the collection is the
sinker A, which is of special construction as seen separately in Figure 3;
this plate glides vertically in two divided combs B, B¹, (see Figures 7
and 8), of say, bronze or brass, and forming a body with other bars, say
of cast iron, to which they are attached by screws. The fall of each
sinker plate is obtained by means of a horse C, which is caused to travel
and come into contact with the stop a of each sinker plate A, causes it
to descend so that they only commence to touch the thread when the
preceding one has taken the quantity which was necessary for the mesh ;
the horse C is fixed to a horse carrier D which slides with a regular and

page_text: to-and-fro movement along the gurder bar E. In order to produce this
movement a cord x" attached to cach side of the horse carrier D passes
over the rollers F, and terminated at its extremity by a button G
(Figure 1) which rolls itself upon a double grooved wheel H. This
3 wheel has on its periphery and at right angles to it a shoulder J,
against which the button G takes when it falls, and which button is
fixed to the end of the cord for actuating the horse C. When the latter
is at the end of its course the projection K' fixed to the pallet K meets
the head of a bent rod which raises the pallet K and forces the
button G from the shoulder. The sinker plates A which have taken
the cotton are held in this position by springs L of peculiar form, each
spring presenting a bearing for pressing upon its plate and by its being
bent at the other end is held in the divisions of the rack M. by screw
plates. The sinker plates A are limited in their fall by the moving
bar N which is held at each end by a rod O, and which receives from
the shaft P a vertical upward movement by means of a cam acting
upon the lever P¹; it is by a movement of the same kind, and when all
the sinker plates A have taken their cotton, that they are brought to their
first position for the succeeding movement. The cotton is brought in
front of the sinker plates by the guide R, R¹, R", which has a slit formed
at its end R" and also a tube S, through which the thread passes.
guide moves vertically in a groove S' in which it is held by a spring T.
The guide carrier also slides upon the bar B, and it is taken in this
movement by the stops V, V, pivoting upon the axes W fixed to the
horse carrier D, a spring X forcing it into a notch in the conducting. box.
At the end of its course it meets an escape piece which forces it to risc
to compel it to abandon the conducting box. The head of the guide R
has an inclined surface (45 degrees) which at the moment of the escape
is met by the stop Z of the horse carrier D, also inclined to 45 degrees.
The guide R with the tube S is then forced to descend and to traverse
the needles to lay the cotton thereon; the meshes being made one at a
time the guide R' is then raised by the bar X' carried by the arms y,
which can receive an upward movement by means of a cam acting upon
the end y' of the lever y.
This
To increase or diminish the sizes of the meshes in the collection. that

page_text: the plates A to be depressed more or less. For this purpose a screw a²,
the nut 6 of which is fixed to the horse carrier D bears upon a pro-
jection c fixed to the horse itself. In loosening the screw d which fixes
the horse to the carrier and suitably turning the pressure screw a' the
depth of the meshes is augmented or diminished.
the bar E may
Instead of this
5
In order to make the ribbed portions it is necessary to be able imme-
diately and for each rib to augment the length of the mesh. For this
purpose the gurder bar E, upon which the horse carrier D slides, is
movcable itself. This bar E is held by two uprights of the frame by a
dovetailed arrangement; a screw e is held by its collars e¹, e¹, and the 1
stop piece is fixed to the frame, its nut 9 being held to bar E; the
screw e and its duplicate fixed to the other upright are each provided
with a crank united by a rod or link i, also connected to a crank j
fixed to the piece k; this piece by means of the handle can turn around
its axes, and it is held in the different positions given to it by the spring 1
172. It will be understood that by moving the handle
be caused to rise or fall, and the collection modified.
arrangement I can employ the action seen in Figures 2 and 11. In this
arrangement a movement of the handle W" turns the bevilled pinions
1 and 2, which gear with the pinions 3
screws 5 and 6 raise or lower the bar E. In order to lower the bar N
or to lift it at the same time as the bar E the rod / carries at his lower
part a lever n which is jointed to a lever o; the movements of the bar k
around its axis can from thence communicate to the rod p a horizontal
movement to or fro in order to cause the abutment 7 to move into a
position above the lever r on the shaft P, and to thus allow the moving
bar N to descend more or less according to the arrangement shewn in
Figure 6. The bar E is connected through a rod 7 to an elbow lever 8,
the screw 9 of which permits more or less freedom to the motion of the
moving bar N.
and 4, and these turning the
In order to make the reverse in ribbed fabrics it is necessary to actuate
the horizontal needle frame alone during a certain number of workings,
and at a given moment the two needle frames are caused to work. The
gathering of mesh should in the interval be diminished by suppressing
for the moment the action of the vertical needle frame, and in conse-
quence the points or knockover blades P, so as to render the levers k¹, j¹,
and n¹, o, movable upon the shafts which actuate them by means of

page_text: gudgeons. It is necessary however at a given moment to act with the
hand upon a lever, which actuates the last-mentioned levers at the same
time, and also the handle is acted upon in order to diminish the
collection; a scries of ranges are then made as one by causing the
horizontal needles to act until the levers n', o¹, j¹, k¹, are regeared.
The needles of the horizontal needle frame are maintained in the divisions
of the needle bars by screw plates, the needle bar being jointed at each
end to levers x, x, by means of a lug to and pins; the lever x, y, carries
at its end a roller upon which a cam acts, and the whole system can
oscillate upon the centre a¹ so that an advancing and retiring motion
may be imparted to the needle bar. It is in the middle of this retiring
movement that the needles receive the action of the press, and previous
For this
to the lowering of the meshes for finishing the formation.
purpose the lowering bar (of cut brass), Figure 2, causes the plates to
lower and to act with a greater thickness between the ribs in the return
movement of the needles, the head of the needle reaches to the level of
the forward stop of the lowering plate, and even slightly passes it so as
to perfectly equalize the distribution of cotton for the meshes of each
series. The lever x, y, is provided with a roller which can move in a
vertical slide by means of a pressure screw for causing the bar to rise or
fall on the return of the needles, to render its action sharper and in
consequence the lowering also. The needles e¹, e¹, of the vertical frame
(see Figures 4 and 5) are maintained at their divisions by screw plates
g', the ends of the frame being connected by means of lugs and pins to a
rod h, h, which is fixed by means of screws in a groove made on the
piece i¹, ¹; this piece is attached by the same means to the lever, which
by the intermediation of the lever j³, k³, can receive an upward movement
if a cam is caused to act upon the end ¹. The picce 2, 1, permits the
position of the mechanism to be varied horizontally and vertically, and
the mechanism can receive an upward motion to complete its movement,
in relating to the lowering bar which it is made to approach or recede
from, see Figure 9. The cam 10 acts upon the roller 11, and causes the
lever 12 to oscillate, which communicates to the mechanism its horizontal
to-and-fro motion. The knockover or lowering of the work is performed
by means of the blades ", which are fixed to the rod m³, and receive an
upward movement by means of the system m³, n³, o¹, oscillating around
the centre n³, when a cam acts upon the extremity o'. The press A" for
the two series of needles is situated behind the sinkers A and acts
successively upon the needles of the horizontal frame a little before the

page_text: lowering or knockover mechanism is operated, which is done through
the arms B¹ on a shaft c", which receives the action of a cam through
the intermediation of the lever D".
In order to obtain a suitable tension on the thread at the moment
when the guide rises to traverse the needles of the horizontal frame, a
lever is employed, s¹, t¹, s¹, Figure 1, to oscillate around its centre,
through the intermediation of the rod s¹, v¹, the latter being supported
upon a roller ¹, fixed to the bar 10¹, x¹, oscillating around the axis w',
receiving at ¹ the action of a cam. If the extremity s¹ of the lever s², t¹,
rises it acts upon the bent piece 2¹, ¹, the spring y, y', pinches the thread,
and the extremity of the lever z', u', separating from the first position
puts a tension upon the thread and tightens it to the end of the tube.
The diminution or fashioning of the article is produced in the following
manner: The mesh is thrown downwards from the needles of the hori-
zontal frame and are transferred on to the following ones. In order to
obtain this result it is necessary to restrict the travel of the thread
guide so as to supply a more or less number of needles with cotton, and
this is done by causing the escape piece to advance so as to lift sooner
the stop v, and to cause the conducting box or horse to fall sooner. For
this purpose the escape piece, which slides upon the bar B (see Figures 1
and 10) like the conducting box, is terminated by a double-jointed catch.
To the joint of the middle is fixed a pin, which enters in a groove D"
of the rod supported by the arms E" on a shaft F", and a cam acts at
a given moment at G" upon the lever F", G", so that the pin engaged
in the groove D is forced to rise; the catch then advances one of the
divisions made in the bar B to lower it to abut against this division, and
causes the escape piece to advance; the diminution is therefore complete,
the meshes being taken from the needles and carried on to the following
ones by a curved pointer H", which is held by screw plates in the
divisions of the pointer carrier I". The pointer carrier can itself slide
upon a bar J and is held by the spring K", the bar J", which is
movable around the axis. Nu being carried by a frame L", movable
itself upon the axes M"; the frame L" carries a heel O", which by
means of the key P" can be rendered dependent to the lever Q" for
causing a cam to act at the extremity of the latter and the whole
system to advance, so that the pointer H" comes in front of the hori-
zontal needles. A lever oscillating around the centre S" and jointed to