CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLOVES, STOCKINGS, AND OTHER HOSIERY GOODS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THURMAN, of the Town and County of Nottingham, Hosier, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Eighteenth day of July, in the tenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself. Her heus and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Thurman, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said William Thurman, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, and such others as I, the said Williamı Thurman, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein men-
tioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GLOVES, STOCKINGS, AND OTHER
HOSIERY GOODS," in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said William Thurman, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters

page_text: Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Thurman, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thercof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say)
-
This Invention of Improvements in the Manufacture of Gloves, Stockings,
and other Hosiery Goods, consists in the application of apparatus for producing
a nap or pile on knitted fabrics which are employed, or are capable of being
employed, in the manufacturing of such articles, and when required the nap
or pile may be dyed of a different colour to the fabric.
The apparatus which I employ for ratsing a pile or nap upon knitted fabrics
is applied to the stocking frame, or other machine of that class, whether
constructed to work by hand or other power, and by any convenient motion
of such machines my improved apparatus may be actuated, whereby at the
time that the fabric is descending from the needles to the work roller a pilc
or nap is raised on the surface of such fabric. The goods thus produced, when
taken out of the machine, are sewn up in the form desired, the piled surface
being generally on the inner face of the glove, shirt, or other article, whereby
in silk and cotton goods as much warmth is obtained as when wool is used in
the ordinary way for similar articles.
In Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings I have shewn one arrangement
of my apparatus as applied to an ordinary stocking fiame, Figure 1 being a
The cloth or knitted
front view, and Figure 2 a cross section of the same.
fabic, which is represented in red color, is drawn down from the needles A, A,
and wound on to the work beam oi roller B, and during its passage to the
work rolle it is acted upon by my improved apparatus I will not here detail
the vanous movements of the knitting frame, as they are well understood, but
merely describe my apparatus and the mode of actuating the same. C is a
horizontal bar attached to the hand bar D of the machine, and upon it slides
a cannage E provided with antifiiction rollers to allow of it moving more
casily. This canlage has affixed on its inner face a sheet of wire cards,
and to each end of the carriage a cord F, F, is attached. The lower ends of
these cords pass respectively between a pair of grooved pullies G, thence over
a pulley H, and are firmly attached to a large pulley I, which has also
attached to it the cords for actuating the "slur cock" or box, which depresses
the jack sinkers (as is well understood). and this pulley is made to perform

page_text: every
part of a revolution, first to the right and then to the left, by the depression of
the ordinary treadles K, K. It will thus be clearly understood that at
depression of the ticadles the carriage E will be made to travel laterally ove
the face of the fabric, and the fabic being distended over the face of the hand
bar D, the card teeth will teaze or tear up a portion of the fibre which
composes the thread of the knitted fabric, and lay it smooth upon the face
thereof.
At one end of
In Sheet II. I have shewn several modifications of my apparatus for raising
a pile on knitted fabrics Figure 1 represents in front view, and Figure 2 in
cross section, a card cylinder applied to a knitting fiame. A is a rotating
cylinder mounted in brackets on the face of the hand bar B.
the cylinder a ratchet wheel C is provided, and into its teeth a catch D, jointed
to a fixed part of the framing, takes When therefore the hand bar B is diawn
forward by the workman, the ratchet wheel C slides under the catch D, but
on being returned to its former position the tooth of the catch D falls into a
notch in the ratchet wheel, and causes it, with the caid cylinder A, to
perform part of a revolution. By this means (the knitted fabric descending
as before stated from the needles) the teeth of the card cylinder will teave or
tear up a pile or nap, and the same operation will be continued as long as the
machine is in work.
Another mode of producing the pile is shown at Figures 3, 4, and 5 A
flat bar A is provided on its inner face with a sheet or fillet of cards, and this
bai is attached by adjusting screws B, B, to the hand bar C. Between the
face of the hand bar and the bar A, coiled springs (having the screws for their
support) are employed for giving a little clasticity to the action of the cards,
the bar A being screwed up so as to bing the teeth of the cards in contact
with the fabric as it passes down to the work rolle; the machine is then put
in action, and the teeth will, as before explained, draw out a portion of the
fibres of the thread or yarn employed for producing the fabric, and lay it
smooth on the face thereof.
A third modification consists in employing teazles in place of cards, and the
mode in which I secure them for this purpose in a holder or carriage is shewn
at Figures 6 and 7 One, two, or more slots are made therein, and these
slots are enlarged at one end for the purpose of readily admitting the teazles
in the slots. These teazles I cut lenthways into goies, like the gores of an
orange, and slide the woody part under the lips of the grooves. It is obvious
that a similar plan may be adopted if a rotating cylinder of teazles is employed
instead of the carriage shewn in the Drawing, which carriage is intended
to slide laterally, as explained with respect to Sheet 1.

page_text: At Figure 8 I have shewn a mode of applying my Invention to waip
machines; but it is obvious that other arrangements may be made for effecting
the same purpose, and such arrangements will depend entirely upon the nature
of the knitting machine to which my Invention is intended to be applied.
Let A be supposed to be the driving shaft of the machine. On this shaft I
key a cam wheel B, which, as it evolves, will come in contact with a lever C.
and cause it to vibrate. If then a card roller is provided, as at D, to act upon
the fabuc, this roller may be readily caused to rotate by a catch E, jointed
to the lever C, taking into a ratchet wheel F on the shaft of the caid roller.
A spring may support the catch, and keep it in contact with the ratchet
wheel, and a coiled spring may be applied to the lower end of the lever C to
diaw it inwards, and cause its upper pait to be in contact with the cam
wheel B.
:
In applying my Invention to what are termed circular knitting machines
(that is to say), machines in which the knitted fabric is produced in the shape
of a tube, I suspend at the lower end of such machine a ring, of the diameter.
of the fabric, as a substitute for a bicast bean, and draw the fabric over it as
it is formed. To the outer face of the fabric, on a level with this ring, I apply
a ng of cards, or segment of cards, at different heights but together, encom-
passing the fabic (the latter method I piefer) so that the teeth of such cards
shall be in contact with the fabric as it passes down to be wound on the work
1oller. By this means I am enabled to teaze or tear up a pile or nap on a
cylinder of knitted fabric, while it is passing from the needles of the machine
to the work 1ollers.
a
In order to dye the nap or pile produced on knitted fabues of a different
color to that of the body of the fabric, I apply trough to the knitting
machine for the purpose of holding dye liquor. This trough is placed in fiont
of the fabric, as shewn at Figure 9, and is furnished with a doctor 1oller,
which takes up a portion of the liquor and applies it to the surface of a brush
rotating in contact with the pile of the fabric. By this means a portion of dye
liquor will be laid on the pile or nap, but not in sufficient quantity to penetiato
the body of the fabric. A similar effect may be produced with advantage on
small articles, such as gloves and mitts, by laying the color on by hand, but
for larger articles and piece goods the above is preferable, for if the roller and
brush are set.in motion by the action of the machine in any convenient way,
no time is required for effecting the dyeing beyond that which is necessary
for producing the fabric. In order to distinguish the ordinary kinds of kuitted
gloves from those which are formed out of my improved hosiery fabric, 1
propose to finish those made under my Patent upon a band hoard, simula to

page_text: that used in the finishing of leather gloves, whereby they will assume a
fullness approaching to the form of the human hand, in contradistinction to
the flat appearance produced by employing the flat hand board.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which the same is
to be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the airangements herein shewn, as they may be variously modified
according to the peculiar construction of the knitting machine to which the
Invention is desired to be applied. I therefore claim the application of carding
or tenzing surfaces to machines capable of producing hosiery goods or knitted
fabrics, whereby I am enabled to produce a pile or nap on the surface of such
fabrics while they are being manufactured in the machine. I also claim the
several arrangements of apparatus herein shewn and described for carding or
teazing the surfaces of hosiery goods or knitted fabrics while such goods are
being manufactured. And, lastly, I claim dyeing or staining the pile or nap
produced on hosiery goods so as to give it a different colour to that of the body
of the fabric.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thurman, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand cight hundred and forty-savon
(Ls.) WILLIAM THURMAN.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Sixteenth day of January,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Thurman came before
our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.