IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NEEDLES USED IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING RIBBED STOCKING FABRIC
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davies, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn,
in the County of Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City
of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NEEDLES USED IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING
RIBBED STOCKING FABRIC."-A communication from abroad by Hilaire
Adrien Quinquarlet, of Paris, France.
Sealed the 21st December 1860, and dated the 25th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th June 1860.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE NEEDLES USED IN MACHINERY FOR MANU-
FACTURING RIBBED STOCKING FABRIC," (being a communication to me from
abroad by Hilaire Adrien Quinquarlet, of Paris, France,) to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the needles used in machinery (whether circular
or otherwise) for knitting or manufacturing ribbed stocking fabric, and the
improvements in such needles consist in making them of tempered steel, and
of a longth calculated to give them the necessary spring to dispense with the
oscillating movements of the two needle bars in the ribbed stocking frames.

page_text: Secondly, from the fixed positions which these needles occupy in the
circular frames, they dispense with the gearing for working the rib needle
bar.
Thirdly, the use of these spring needles render easy and practicable the
construction of an interior circular ribbed stocking frame, which has here-
tofore been considered impracticable, or at any rate attended with considerable
difficulty.
Fourthly, it effects a very considerable economy in the construction of such
stocking frames.
And, fifthly, a machine provided with these needles is light and easy to work,
and acts with a simple and regular movement.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Davies, Her special licence that I, the said George Davies, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Davies, 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 THE NEEDLES
USED IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING RIBBED STOCKING FABRIC," being a com-
munication to me from abroad by Hilaire Adrien Quinquarlet, of Paris, France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Davies, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 in the Great Seal Patent Office

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Davies, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawings, that
is to say:
This Invention relates to the needles used in machinery (whether circular
or otherwise) for knitting or manufacturing ribbed stocking fabric, and the
improvements in such needles consist in making them of tempered steel, and
of a length calculated to give them the necessary spring to dispense with the
oscillating movements of the two needle bars in the ribbed stocking frames.
Secondly, from the fixed positions which these needles occupy in the
circular frames they dispense with the gearing for working the rib needle
bar.
Thirdly, the use of these spring needles renders easy and practicable the
construction of an interior circular ribbed stocking frame, which has hero-
tofore been considered impracticable, or at any rate attended with considerable
difficulty.
Fourthly, it effects a very considerable economy in the construction of such
stocking frames.
And fifthly, a machine provided with these needles is light and easy to
work, and acts with a simple and regular movement.
In order that the practical application of this Invention may be clearly
understood, I have annexed hereunto a Drawing representing a portion or
section of a circular machine furnished with one horizontal needle, and one
vertical needle. The needle placed horizontally is that of the principal needle
bar, it is fixed in the circle A by the plate B. It is held a slight distance
from the surface of the plate B by a brass comb E, which is fixed to the part
D of the machine by the screw d. The metal circle G is the working needle
bar completed by the plate H, and the screw h; in this needle bar the needle
is placed between the circle G and the plate H, which are held together by
the scrow h. The circle G is placed on a friction roller I, which turns on a
support K fixed to the lower part of the column L, which is supported by the
bar M, which in its turn is fixed to the carrier plate O by a screw N.
The carrier plate O is the same as that of the ordinary machine; the comb
F, which serves to hold the needles of the working bar, is sustained by a pillar
with a bracket at the bottom, which is fixed by a screw to the plate H; J is
the axis of the friction roller I; Q is a bracket the lower part of which is

page_text: fixed by a screw to the piece K. The upper part of this bracket is provided
with a rebate R, which serves to hold the circle G, so that it cannot deviate
in any direction, allowing it at the same time to slide or roll circular
upon the friction roller I. The excentric S, has at its upper part undulations
corresponding with those of the piece marked U, the office of which is to
regulate the backward and forward motion of the needles of the working bar.
This piece S is fixed by a screw T to the bracket Q, and the piece U is fixed
to the pillar L by a screw V. For the horizontal needles a second carrier Z
is placed under the frame and fixed to the shaft by a screw ✗; an excentric 1,
the undulations of which correspond with those of the piece 2, regulates
the movements of the horizontal needles. The excentric 1 is fixed to the
carrier plate Z by a screw 8, and the piece 2 is fixed by a screw 4 to the
bar M. The sinkers and press wheels are the same as those of the ordinary
machine. The "numbers" of the needles may be changed by regulating the
length of the same, in proportion to the strength of the spring.
Having now fully described the nature and object of the said Invention
for "Improvements in Needles used in Machinery for Manufacturing Ribbed
Stocking Fabric," together with the manner in which the same is to be or
may be performed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood
that I claim as the Invention communicated to me by the said IIilaire Adrien
Quinquarlet, the making of such needles of tempered steel, the spring of
which acts as a substitute for the to-and-fro movement of the needle bars of
rib, or double bar stocking machines, whether circular or rectilinear.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
GEORGE DAVIES. (LS.)