Improvements in Circular Knitting Machines.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Mar., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 13th Dec., 1883-Accepted, 27th Jan., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Circular Knitting Machines.
We WILLIAM TERTIUS ROWLETT of No. 34 Newarke Street Leicester in the
County of Leicester Yarn Merchant and WILLIAM INGRAM JAMES of Green
End House Stafford in the County of Stafford Engineer do hereby declare tho
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The first part of our invention consists in a new form of holding down apparatus
for holding down the knitted web as it is produced by the needles. This holding
down apparatus may be made to act upon part or the whole of the needles and may
be put into or out of action at will.
In a circular knitting machine we provide a ring which may be either a special
ring or the ordinary needle retaining ring or clasp ring modified in form.
Attached to this ring in any suitable manner are a number of sinker bits spaced at
such a distance one from the other as to correspond with the spacing of the cylinder
posts.
Each sinker bit reaches to the top of the cylinder post and has a lip which comes
over the top of the cylinder post and above the lip a hook is formed looking
inwards towards the centre of the needle cylinder.
The upper part of the sinker bit is produced upwards and the inner edge of the
produced part is inclined outwards.
The action. of these sinker bits is as follows-
As the needle descends it draws the loop of yarn down the inclined edge of the
Binker into the hook and over tlie lip of the sinker and when the needle again rises
the knitted web which has a tendency to rise with the needle is prevented from
doing so by the just previously formed loop being held by the hook of the sinker.
In order to apply and remove the ring which carries the sinkers wo make it in
sections which may either be applied separately or joined together in any suitable
manner.
The sinkers may be placed round the whole or any desired proportion of the
whole circumference and the ring which carries them may be put in place or
removed at will.
When making ribbed web should the sinker bits interfere with the action of the
ribbing needles the movable sinker ring may be removed and the knitted web
carried down by weights in the usual manner.
In knitting the heel and foot of a stocking on this class of machine it is usual to
take out the ribbing needles on one half the machine and transfer their stitches
to corresponding needles in the cylinder.
By our improvement when the ribbing needles are thus taken out the movable
sinker ring may be put in place with sinkers where the ribbing needles are taken
out and the work will then be held down by the sinkers and thus the hands of the
operator will be free to put the cylinder needles in & out of action when forming
the heel' and toe.
The machine may again be made to produce ribbed work by removing the
movable sinker ring and holding down the web by weights.
We do not limit ourselves to the use of fixed sinkers as just described. These
may be replaced by various forms of movable sinkers working in grooves or
otherwise attached to the movable ring in such manner that the machine may be
used either with or without them.
Instead of entirely removing the sinker ring from the machine when the sinkers
are not in use we may construct it and the accompanying parts in such way that the

page_text: g
ring may be lowered so as to bring the sinkers below the tops of the cylinder post
or we may cut away the upper part of the cylinder posts and lower the sinker ring
so as to make the upper edge of the sinker form the top of the post over which the
stitch is.drawn by the cylinder needles.
By another part of our invention we make use of a similar ring furnished with
sinkers for the purpose of varying the length of stitch drawn by the cylinder
needles at any part or parts of the circumference of the cylinder of a knitting
machine.
For this purpose the sinkers are made to terminate at the lip on the top of the
cylinder post.
This lip may be made of any desired thickness and as the loop formed by the
needle is drawn over this lip it is evident that the thicker the lip the longer will
be the loop drawn.
By this means, by varying the sinkers around the circumference of the cylinder
the character of the work produced, as regards length of stitch may be varied at
will.
The length of stitch may also be varied by raising or lowering the movable
sinker ring so as to cause the lip to be higher or lower with regard to the top of
the cylinder.
Dated this 15th day of March 1903,
.
WILLIAM TERTIUS ROWLETT.
WILLIAM INGRAM JAMES.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Circular Knitting Machines.
We WILLIAM TERTIUS ROWLETT, of 14 Upper Tichborne Street, Leicester,
Merchant also of 34 Newarke Street Leicester and WILLIAM INGRAM JAMES,
of Green End House, Stafford, Engineer, 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 :-
One part of our invention consists in a new form of holding down apparatus for
holding down the knitted web as it is produced by the needles.
This holding down apparatus may be made to act upon part or the whole of the
needles and may be put into or out of action at will.
In a circular knitting machine we provide a ring which may be either a special
ring or the ordinary needle retaining ring or clasp ring modified in form. Attached
to this ring in any suitable manner are a number of sinker bits spaced at such a
distance one from the other as to correspond with the spacing of the cylinder posts.
Each sinker bit reaches to the top of the cylinder post and has a lip which comes
over the top of the cylinder post and above the lip a hook is formed looking
inwards towards the centre of the needle cylinder. The upper part of the sinker
bit is produced upwards and the inner edge of the produced part is inclined
outwards.
In order to apply and remove the ring which carries the sinkers we make it in
sections which may be applied either separately or joined together in any suitable
manner. The sinkers may be placed round the whole or any desired proportion of
the whole circumference and the ring which carries them may be put in place or
removed at will.
When making ribbed web should the sinker bits interfere with the action of the
ribbing needles the movable sinker ring may be removed and the knitted web
carried down by weights in the usual manner.
In knitting the heel and foot of a stocking on this class of machine it is usual to
take out the ribbing needles on one half the machine and transfer their stitches

page_text: to corresponding needles in the oylinder. By our improvement when the ribbing
needles are thus taken out the movable sinker ring may be put in place with sinkers
where the ribbing needles are taken out and the work will then be held down by
the sinkers and thus the hands of the operator will be free to put the cylinder
needles in and out of action when forming the heel and toe.
The machine may
again be made to produce ribbed work by removing the movable sinker ring and
holding down the web by weights.
By another part of our invention we make use of a similar ring furnished with
sinkers for the purpose of varying the length of stitch drawn by the cylinder
needles at any part or parts of the circumference of the cylinder of a knitting
machine. For this purpose the sinkers are made to terminate at the lip on the
top of the cylinder post. This lip may be made of any desired thickness and as
the loop formed by the needle is drawn over this lip it is evident that the thicker
the lip the longer will be the loop drawn. By this means by varying the sinkers
around the circumference of the cylinder the character of the work produced as
regards length of stitch may be varied at will.
Our invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which
Fig. 1 is an elevation and Fig. 2 a plan of one half of a holding down ring
removed from the knitter cylinder.
Figs. 3 and 4 are views of the upper portion of a knitter cylinder with the
holding down ring in position.
:
Figs. 5 and 6 are views shewing a method of operating the holding down, sinkers
by a cam.
Figs. 7 and 8 are views of the upper part of a cylinder and cam shell shewing
the cam for operating the holding down sinkers, the ring and sinkers being
removed.
Figs. 9 and 10 shew a modification of the sinker ring.
Figs. 11 and 12 shew the construction of the sinkers for varying the length of
stitch pulled by the cylinder needles.
Figs. 13, 14 and 15 are details.
The holding down sinker bits a Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are formed of sheet steel or other
suitable metal and are of the shape shewn. They are firmly attached to springs.a¹
which form supporting stems and are retained in a groove 6 formed in the needle
clasp ring and are held by set screws 6 or other convenient means. When in
position around the knitter cylinder c each sinker lip d stands vertically over a
cylinder post with its hook e just at the edge of the cylinder at the place where
the knitted web begins to pass downwards from the cylinder needles. The upward
and outwardly inclined inner edge of the sinker bit is sprung outwards by the
yarn pulled down by the cylinder needles until the yarn enters the hook e when the
sinker bit being elastically supported springs in again and holds down the yarn so
as to prevent it rising when the cylinder needles rise again for their next stitches.
Another form of sinker bit is shewn in Figs. 9 and 10 in which the bit a'is all
in one piece the upper portion a being sharply bent inwards at right angles to the
lower part or stem a*.
In the drawing (Figs. 1 and 2) the half ring b' carrying the sinker bits is shewn
in four sections 6º, 6º, 6º, 6º, which are held together by a steel spring band 67 80
that the sections may open and close a little for convenience of removal from the
cylinder.
The rings b may be made in halves, quarters, or other convenient divisions and
are held together on the machine in any of the well known ways used for holding
together ordinary clasp rings.
The holding down sinkers may also be arranged so as to be operated by the-
machine, a method of doing which is shewn in Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 13. The
sinker bit a is pivotted in the ring 68 so that its upper part can be moved slightly
inwards and outwards radially to the cylinder c. The pivot g is preferably formed
as a wire ring and retained in grooves (see Fig. 13) formed in the clasp ring be
which is made in two parts and held together by screws i. The sinker bit a³ is

page_text: furnished with a tail aª which is adapted to engage a cam groove; formed or carried
on the ordinary cam shell of the knitting machine. This cam groovej (see
Figs. 7 and 8) is of such a form as to communicate a slight outward movement to
the hook e of the sinker bit a so as to allow the oylinder needles to draw down their
stitches and to move the hook e inwards again so as to hold down the yarn and prevent
it rising when the cylinder needles rise again.
The bits (Figs. 11 and 12) are for the purpose of varying the length of stitch
pulled by the cylinder needles. The height or thickness of the lips A, A, B, deter-
mining the length of stitch pulled. The higher the lip the longer the stitch. Any
height of lips or may be placed over any cylinder post and rings 6 with
various combinations of the bits l'may be inserted in the cylinder c or removed
at will.
The sinker bits may also be constructed so as to hold down the work as well as
to vary the length of the stitch, as illustrated in Figs. 14 and 15, in which the
lips and are of varying heights or thicknesses while the bits a, the hooks e,
the inclines and the stems a' are similar to those already described and illustrated
in Figs. 3 and 4.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :
1. The construction of circular knitting machines in such manner that not only
may the work be held down by weights but that the work may also be held down by
sinkers on part or the whole of the circumference at will both in circular and fashioned
work substantially as described.
2. The construction of circular knitting machines in such manner that not only
may they be worked in the ordinary way for circular or fashioned work but that at
will the length of the loops may be varied on all or part of the circumference by
sinkers substantially as described.
3. The construction of circular knitting machines in such manner that the sinkera
which hold down the work shall also regulate the length of the loops drawn down by
the cylinder needles substantially as described.
Dated this 12th day of December 1893.
W. T. ROWLETT.
W. INGRAM JAMES.