Improvements in Hosiery Machinery.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application. 1st Oct., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 24th June, 1892-Accepted, 13th Aug.,
1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hosiery Machinery.
We, JOSEPH AUGUSTUS CLARINGBURN, Hosiery Machinist, of Liverpool Street,
in the Town and County of Nottingham, and THOMAS HUNTER, of the firm of
Hunter and Young, Hosiery Manufacturers, Hawick in the County of Roxburgh
Scotland do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The object of our invention is, when a thread breaks in any one division of a
hosiery frame, to throw out of action the needle bar in that division, thus preventing
the work being pressed-off and so saving the operative the trouble and time of
re-running on.
In order to obtain this object we propose to use the following mechanism.
At the back of the carrier-rods in a convenient position we place a bar carrying
two small trucks over which passes a perforated steel band, from the ends of which
are small chains, one of which is connected to the needle-bar link and the other to
a spring or weight, they being so fixed that as the link is moved forwards with the
motion of the needle-bar, the chain fastened to it pulls forward the perforated steel
band, and then as the link retires, the weight or spring pulls back again the
perforated steel band.
Just above the perforated steel band is a slot through which works a small
balanced lever having a hole in it. through which is passed the thread on its way
from the bobbin to the carrier-needle; the above named lever when not having any
thread through it drops, with one end of it through a hole in the perforated steel
band, but when the thread is through it, the lever is held up with its end just above
the perforated steel band.
When the end of the lever is through a hole in the perforated steel band it
prevents the band moving backwards and forwards over the trucks and so causes
the link to rise, off the front axle and so get out of action, and allowing the needle-
bar to fall forward and clear of the knocking-over bits and pressers. A spring
fastened to the end of the, needle-bar link makes the throwing of it out of action
more certain.
From the above description it will readily be understood that, when the thread
which passes through the balanced lever breaks, it allows the lever to drop and so
let the end of it pass through one of the holes in the perforated steel band, which
•prevents its passing backwards and forwards and throws out of action the needle-bar
link as before stated.
This appliance can be made to stop one or more divisions or the whole of the
frame, by slight additions of mechanism.
Dated this 1st day of October 1891.
JOSEPH AUGUSTUS CLARINGBURN.
THOMAS HUNTER.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hosiery Machinery.
JOSEPH AUGUSTUS CLARINGBURN Machinist, of Liverpool Street, in the Town
and County of Nottingham and THOMAS HUNTER of the firm of Hunter & Young
Hosiery Manufacturers, Hawick, in the County of Roxburgh, Scotland 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 a stop-motion applicable to straight bar knitting
"

page_text: machines of the Cotton's type, and is designed to come into action upon the
breakage of a thread at any division of the machine, throw the needle-bar of that
particular division out of action, and also if required stop the whole machine.
In carrying out our invention we cause a chain, perforated steel bar or a slide to
move to and fro over suitable guides, and above the chain or its equivalent we 5
place a lever which may be supported by the thread when that is unbroken but
weighted to fall and stop the motion of the chain or its equivalent should the
thread break, or we may use a lever which supports itself clear of the moving
chain or its equivalent while the thread is unbroken but is knocked down when a
thread breaks to stop the motion of the chain or its equivalent by a ring or slide 1
previously supported by the unbroken thread. By preference we use a chain
having a suitably shaped link, as we consider this simpler than a bar or slide.
One end of the chain has a weight attached thereto, and the other is connected
When the
to the needle bar hand lever, and receives its motion from the same.
chain is prevented from moving it raises the needle bar hand lever off a pin on the 1
needle bar cam lever, and the two being thus disconnected the needle bar falls out
of action, and prevents the work being knocked off the needles thus saving the
expense of running it on again, and also waste of material.
When we use this mechanism for stopping the machine we cause the needle bar
haud lever, when raised, to act upon an arm carried by a rocking shaft which is 2
provided with a catch for holding the stop-rod in position when the belt is on the
fast pulley, and when the rocking shaft is thus turned it removes the catch from
the stop-rod and allows the latter to be drawn endways by a spring, and throw the
belt on to the loose pulley.
In the class of knitting machines heretofore referred to, the needle bar in each 2
division is independent of the needle bars in the other divisions, although all the
needle bars receive simultaneous motions from the same rocking shafts. We there-
fore apply a separate stop mechanism to each division of the machine, and have
confined our description to one division, which we have illustrated by the accom-
panying sheet of drawings, showing in Fig. 1 a cross section of a knitting machine 3
with our stop motion applied, in Fig. 2 a front elevation of part of a machine
showing our stop motion, and also the catch for holding the stop rod in position, in
Fig. 3, an elevation of the bracket, and the lever we preferably employ for stopping
the chain, and in Fig. 4 a plan of the same.
The same reference letters are used to indicate the same parts in the different
views.
The needle bar a is pivoted at its lower edge to levers a' on the rocking shaft a
and is also attached to an arm a pivoted upon the hand lever at which is connected
to a lever a on the rocking shaft a", the handle bar receiving its vertical motions
from the shaft a³, and its horizontal motions from the shaft as, this latter being
actuated by a cam indicated by the circle a'.
At a convenient position on the hand lever at we attach a chain 6 which is guided
by pulleys and 6 to a bracket 6 fitted with other guide pulleys 6 and a
lever be the shape of which is best seen in Fig. 3. After passing the pulley b* the
chain has a weight 6' attached to it, and it will be readily seen that as the lever a
moves forward it pulls the chain with it, and as the lever moves backward, the
chain is returned by the weight b².
The thread e is drawn from the usual spool or bobbin and after passing through
a hole in the bar c', and the ordinary snapping lever is passed through and
supports a ring guided on a rod which is so placed, that when the ring is
released by the thread breaking, it is guided to fall upon and depress the lever b
into one of the openings in the chain and thus stop its motion.
When the thread is being fed to the needles they are tipped about the end of the
lever a¹ and stand nearer the front of the machine than at any other time, con-
sequently the lever a is inclined towards the back of the machine, and the weight 6'
is in its lowest position. Should a thread break while the parts are in this position
the chain is held at the time the lever a is moved forward, and since the handle

page_text: lever cannot go also, it is thrown off its pin a³, and the needle bar falls out of
action but retains the work upon the needles, or a spring may be used to pull the
needle bar out of action. The lever a' is slotted to embrace a pin a³ on the lever a³
so that it can be thrown off by the stop mechanism or by hand when required.
When we arrange for stopping the machine in addition to throwing the needle
bar out of action, we place a rocking shaft d below the ordinary stop rod e and at
each division attach to it, an arm d' which projects above a boss on the lever a¹ and
is struck by the same when the lever is lifted. At one end of the machine we
mount a catch d' upon the shaft d, and cause it to engage a collar e' on the stop-
rode and hold the latter in position. When the shaft is rocked it turns the
catch clear of the collar e and allows the stop rode to be drawn endways by a
spring, the end movement of the rod e, by means of the fork es moving the belt
from the fast pulley e to the loose pulley e and thereby stop the machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:―
In knitting machines of the kind referred to, the automatically throwing out of
action of the needle bar, upon the breakage of a thread, by disconnecting the
levers a* and a substantially as described.
Dated this 23rd day of June 1892.
W. H. POTTER, M.I.M.E.,
Parliament Chambers, Nottingham, Agent for the Applicants.