IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Dalton, of Brooklyn, in the State of New
York, United States of America, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
KNITTING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 27th May 1863, and dated the 19th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Dalton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
December 1862.
I, JOSEPH DALTON, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States
of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY," to be as follows:---
I make use of a cylinder of stationary needles with the barbs on the outside.
I have within this cylinder a shaft that revolves in unison with a circular table
around the cylinder of needles, so that the respective gears carried within the
cylinder of needles by the shaft, and outside by the circular table, travel around
the said cylinder of needles, and deposit the yarn in the barbs of the needles,
close the said barbs, cast off the previous loop, and thus knit the fabric by
any of the well-known character of stitches. The gear which deposits the
yarn in the needles is on a circular rest, so that its angle with the needles
can be adjusted. The fabric, as knitted, passes up, and as one side of said
fabric is near the top of the needles, while the other side is near the base,
there is ordinarily a slack part of the fabric that is liable to become entangled

page_text: in the needles, I keep all parts of the fabric under tension by an excentric
cloth presser that rotates with the circular table and presses down one side of
the fabric on the needles, and by its excentricity draws the other side off
nearly horizontally from the points of the needles. The presser that closes
the needle barbs is set on a lever, and so controlled by the thread or yarn that
if the yarn breaks the said presser ceases to operate and the loops remain on
the needles. The fabric passes up over rollers and the tension is kept thereon
by a lever take-up formed by a swinging weighted frame with rubber-covered
rollers, between which the fabric passes, so fitted that as the take-up descends
as the fabric is knitted a vibrating pawl acts on the rollers to roll them up the
fabric and raise the swinging lever take-up, the act of doing which throws the
pawl out of action until the take-up again descends as the fabric is knitted
sufficiently to allow the pawl to come into action again and turn the take-up
rollers as before, thus any length of fabric can be knitted and passed away and
an uniform tension is kept in it..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Dalton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
DALTON, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of America,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Dalton, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Dalton,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Dalton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
KNITTING MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Dalton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed

page_text: in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Dalton, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my machine complete as in use;
"
"
"
2 is a plan with the stocking reels removed;
3 is a side elevation with the legs removed; and,
4 is a vertical section.
Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.
My Invention relates to a circular knitting machine, and consists in a
circular range of fixed needles in combination with feeding and delivery gears
revolving within and around such needles; also in a peculiar eccentric cloth
presser that prevents any portion of the fabric being slack as the knitting
progresses; and I employ a lever take-up that is so fitted as to apply a con-
stant and regular tension to the fabric and passes it away as knitted, regardless
of its length.
In the Drawing a, a, are the legs, and a¹ the bed of the machine, of any
suitable material and design; b is a wheel that may be turned by hand to
rotate the main shaft bof-the machine, or power may be applied thereto at
the pulleys c, c, any suitable stop motion being provided for disconnecting the
power. On this shaft b' is a mitre gear d taking teeth in the edge of the
revolving table e that sets upon the hollow gudgeon f that is sustained upon
the rising bed piece g that is bolted to a. Within this hollow gudgeon f is a
vertical shaft m with a bevel gear 7 on its lower end taking the gear k on the
and l, d and e, are such
end of the shaft 6'. The relative sizes of these gears
that the shaft m makes one revolution to one revolution of the of the table e, so
that the parts carried by the said shaft and table respectively revolve in unison,
while those parts that are carried at the end of the fixed gudgeon f remain
stationary. The end of this guilgeon f is formed as a circular needle carrier h,
receiving the vertical needles i with their barbs on the outside. Within the
circular needle carrier h is a small head attached to the shaft m that carries
the rods 1 and 2, upon which are the inclined studs that receive the gears
n and o, Fig. 2, that are formed so as to work between the needles, and the
gear o raises the loops previously formed over the points of the needle barbs
as said barbs are closed by the action of the roller e¹ on a stud on the bed e,
and the gear n clears said loops from the needles. The yarn is delivered

page_text: within the barbs of the needles i by the gear or feed wheel p, r being the
bobbin of yarn 3, and 4 the thread guides, and q a spring guide near the
wheel p. The construction of these gears o, n, and p, is the same as usual in
knitting machines, each being formed of a series of plates set around a hub
diagonally to the axis. It will be seen that the gears o and n travelling around
within the fixed circle of needles, while the gear p, wheel e', and bobbin r,
travel around the outside of said needles in unison, cause the knitting to
progress regularly and the fabric is delivered and passes off above said needles
over the rollers u, u, on the standard t and down to the take-up apparatus
hereafter described. I support and adjust the feeding gear p as follows:-
10 is standard on e, taking a short hub 5 that passes into a hole in said
standard (see Fig. 5), where it is retained by a screw 6; 7 is a screw passing
through this hub 5 into the block 9, which block carries the gudgeon of this
wheel Pi and 8, 8, are slide guide rods from 5, entering holes in 9 to support
the block 9, and a spring around 7 keeps the said block 9 pressed away from
the hub 5. By this screw 7 the proximity of the gear p to the needles i can
be adjusted, and the angle at which it stands can also be adjusted by loosening
the screw 6 and turning the hub 5, in order that the plates of said gear p may
stand correctly between the needles i. The spring allows for the yielding of
the gear when necessary. The operation of knitting by this machine will now
be apparent, and I remark that ribbed or corded fabrics can be knitted with
this machine by removing the wheel e¹ and inserting one with a notched
periphery, in order that the barbs may be left alternately open (so as not to
deliver each loop), as now practiced. The fabric, in being knitted, is pressed
down at one side in order that the loops may be near the bottom of the needles
while the loops are being delivered off the tops of the needles at the other
side, this would hence cause the one side to be slack while the other side of
the fabric was tight. To prevent the slack side of the fabric from being
entangled in the needles as it, in its turn, is pressed down as the knitting
progresses, I employ the eccentric cloth presser s upon the stud 11 from the
standard 10, which cloth presser, from its peculiar eccentric shape, keeps an
equal tension on all the loops of the knitting, whether at the bottom of the
needles or in the barbs, because the sidewise movement given to the fabric
takes up the slack on the side where the loops are at the tops of the needles.
The fabric, as knitted, passes down from over the rollers u, u, between the
take-up rollers v, v, that are geared together by the wheels 12, and one of the
rollers v is binged at 13, so that said rollers can swing apart; and 14, 14, are
rods with springs applied so as to keep the rollers v, v, pressed together; and
is a lever frame on centers 15 carrying said rollers v, v; and y is a weight

page_text: on the beam 16, by means of which more or less weight can be applied as
tension to the fabric passing between these rollers v, v, so that my apparatus
becomes a hanging lever take-up. In order to rotate these rollers v, v, gra-
dually and so take up the fabric as formed, I employ the ratchet wheel w,
acted on by the pawl z that is at the end of the sliding rod 18; and 19 is an
eccentric or cam on 6' that reciprocates this pawl; 17 is a stop extending from
the frame x up under this pawl z. As the fabric is knitted the lever take-up
descends, swinging on the centers 15, and the stop 17 descending with the
frame x allows the end of the pawl z to drop into the ratchet teeth in w and
rotate the same until the said lever take-up is raised, so that the stop 17 lifts
the pawl and prevents its farther action on the wheel w, thus the said take-up
hangs with a given amount of weight constantly on the fabric and passes the
the same away continuously as knitted. The rollers v, v, are formed, as shown
in larger size in Fig. 6, with pointed ribs running lengthwise of the rollers, so
as to grasp the knitted fabric firmly, and the peculiar shape of these ribs
prevents the rollers slipping upon the fabric, the inclination of the edges of
both ribs being downward.
In Fig. 7 I have shown a means for throwing the roller e¹ away from the
barbed needles in case the thread breaks, so that the loops will not be
unhooked. The stud of this roller e¹ is on a lever 20 on a fulcrum 21, and
the other end 22 of this lever sets in a small countersink in the side of a
vertical stud 25. This stud 25 carries at its upper end three thread guides
23 & 24, 24, the two outer ones 24 being firmly fastened. to 25, while the
guide 23 is hung at the end so that it can drop, and a hook-shaped projection
on the under side takes one of the projections 26 on the stationary needle
carrier has said thread guides and parts revolve with the table e. The
stud 25 is fitted so that it can turn in its bearing on e, and one side is notched
or cut away near the end 22 of the lever 20, sce the dotted line, hence when
the guide 23 drops if the thread breaks, the projections 26 give, through the
guide 23, a turn to the stud 25 that brings the notch in said stud opposite the
end 22, so that the lever 20 is free and the wheel e no longer pressed to the
barbs of the needles i.
What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,―
First, the circular range of stationary barbed needles, in combination with
the feeding and delivery gears, revolving in unison within and around the said
needles, as specified.
Second, I claim the hub 5, screw 7, and guides 8, 8, for adjusting the
gear p, as specified.
Third, I claim the revolving eccentric cloth presser s, formed substantially

page_text: as specified, to press the fabric below the barbs on one side and take up the
slack of the fabric on the other side, as specified.
Fourth, I claim the construction of the table e, gudgeon f, bed g, and
shaft m, whereby the respective parts are retained in their position and are
rotated by the gears (l and k, d and e), as specified.
Fifth, I claim a lever take-up, fitted with rollers and applied in such a
manner that the descent of the take-up rollers with the cloth shall bring into
operation mechanism that shall revolve such roller, and raise the rollers on
the fabric, or take the same up and preserve an uniform tension, as set forth.
Sixth, I claim the arrangement of the pawl z, slide bar 18, and cam or
eccentric 19, in combination with the stop 17, to give motion to said pawlz,
..as specified.
Seventh, I claim the mode of forming the take-up rollers with the pointed
ribs, as shown in Fig. 5, for the purposes specified.
Eighth, I claim the arrangement of thread guides 23, 24, and turning
stud 25, to retain or relieve the roller e', that closes the needle barbs, for the
purposes and as specified.
In witness whereof, I, .the said Joseph Dalton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witnesses,
LEMUEL W. SERRELL,
121, Nassau Street, New York.
CAN'. H. SMITH,
121, Nassau Street, New York.
J. DALTON.
(L.S.)