IMPROVE- MENTS IN KNITTING SOCKS, STOCKINGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATIONRY
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Inglis Redpath, of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
in the County of Northumberland, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN KNITTING SOCKS, STOCKINGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Inglis Redpath
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th October 1871.
I, SAMUEL INGLIS REDPATH, of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the County
of Northumberland, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN KNITTING SOCKS, STOCKINGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES, ·
AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as follows:-?
This Invention consists in an improved method of working the heels
of stockings and socks made in knitting machines by means of apparatus
forming part of such machines, instead of working them by hand; and
is especially applicable to that form of knitting machine known as
the "Lamb" knitting machine, for which Letters Patent have been

page_text: obtained in the name of William Clark, A.D. 1865, May 26th, No. 1445,
in which rows of hooked or latched needles opposite to one another are
made to work backwards and forwards (in grooves formed in the bed
plate of the machine, or are attached to bars which work in such
grooves) by means of projections at the ends of such needles or bars
carrying needles, which projections are operated upon by cams which
pass along the machine against the projections when required.
For the purpose of working the heels of stockings or socks made in
such machines, I arrange the needles or the bars which carry them so
that
any required number of them can be thrown out of gear (so as not
to be operated upon by the cams), and brought into gear again without
having the loops upon the needles cast off. In order to do this I decpen
the grooves in the bed plate of the machine (in which the needles or the
bars to which they are attached work) in such a manner as to allow any
needle or bar, or any number of needles or bars, to be depressed when 1
necessary, and thus thrown out of gear when requisite, so as not to be
operated upon by the cams without casting off the loops, and to be
raised again when desired so as to be operated upon again by the cams
in the usual way; and I keep such needles or needle bars in the required
position by means of springs or catches.
ย
To put the needles or needle bars in and out of gear as described, I
use a thin picce or pieces of metal turning upon hinges in the grooves
in which the needles or needle bars work. By depressing this piece of
metal when required, the needles or bars are brought down so low that
they are not touched by the cams; and by raising it when required the 2
needles or needle bars are again brought into a position in which the
cams act upon them.
Sometimes instead of depressing the needles or bars, and raising them
again when necessary, I make the needles or bars jointed, so that only
that part of them which, carries the projections acted on by the cams 3
requires to be depressed and raised; or I make the projections moveable
so that they can be removed and replaced as required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Inglis Redpath in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th April 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
INGLIS REDPATH, of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the County of Northum-
berland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Samuel Inglis Redpath, Her special licence
that I, the said Samuel Inglis Redpath, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Inglis Redpath, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
3 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 SOCKS, STOCKINGS, AND OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES, AND IN THE MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Samuel Inglis Redpath, 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 within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Inglis Redpath, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Drawing:-
This Invention consists in an improved method of working the heels
of socks and stockings made in knitting machines by means of apparatus
forming part of such machines instead of working them by hand.
This Invention is more especially applicable to that form of knitting
machine known as the "Lamb" knitting machine (for which Letters

page_text: Patent have been obtained in the name of William Clark, A.D. 1865,
May 26th, No. 1445), in which rows of hooked or latched needles
opposite to one another are made to work backwards and forwards (in
grooves formed in the bed plate of the machine, or are attached to bars
which work in such grooves) by means of projections at the back ends 5
of such needles or bars carrying needles, which projections are operated
upon by cams which are passed along the machine, and strike against
the projections when required.
For the purpose of working the heels of stockings or socks made in such
machines my improvements consist in arranging the needles or the bars 1
which carry them so that any required number of them can be thrown
out of gear (so as not to be operated upon by the cams), and can be
brought into gear again without having the loops upon the needles cast
off. By this means, when any of the needles are so thrown out of gear,.
the number of loops or stitches is lessoned so as to narrow the length of 1
the work, and thus form the heel.
In order to carry my improvements into operation, I deepen the
grooves formed in the bed plate of the machine, in each of which
grooves one needle (or bar carrying a needle) works in such a manner
and to such an extent as to allow any particular needle or bar, or any 2
number of needles or bars, to be depressed when required, and the pro-
jections upon them thus thrown out of gear with the cam by which
they are actuated without its being necessary to cast off the loops upon
them; and when it is required to bring the needles.so depressed into
operation again, I raise them in the grooves, so that the projections upon 2
them are again actuated by the cam in the usual way. When the
needles or bars are depressed in the grooves as described, I retain
them in their position by means of suitable catches; and when they are
again raised, I retain them in position by means of suitable springs or
catches.
8
In order to put the needles or needle bars in and out of gear with the
cam by raising or depressing the projections upon them as described,
to each needle I use a thin piece of metal which turns upon a hinge or
centre in the grooves in which the needle or needle bar works; and I
make the needle or needle bar work backwards and forwards upon the s
upper edge of this thin piece of metal. When this piece of metal is
depressed at its outer end, the projection upon the needle or needle bar
is also depressed, and is thus thrown out of gear with the cam, and

page_text: when it is raised the projection is again thrown into gear with the cam.
And I depress or raise as required the outer ends of the thin piece of
metal by hand or by any other suitable means; and when the piece of
metal is depressed, I retain it in its position by means of an adjustable
wedge piece or catch.
The accompanying Drawing is in illustration of my Invention.
Figure 1 shews a longitudinal section of one of the grooves in the bed
plate of the machine, with the needle and the thin piece of metal raised
so that the projection is in gear. Figure 2 shews the same with the
projection out of gear. O is the deep groove in the bed plate D of the
machine; E is the needle having a projection F upon its outer end;
G is a thin piece of metal turning upon a hinge H in the groove O.
A is a catch (shewn in end view at Figure 3) by which the piece G is
retained in a depressed position; B is a spring by which the piece G is
retained in a raised position.
Sometimes instead of depressing the needles or bars, and raising them
again when required, I make the needles or bars jointed, so that only
that part of them which carries the projections acted on by the cam
requires to be depressed and raised, or I make the projections moveable
so that they can be removed and replaced as required.
Having now described my Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, I claim the methods of arranging the needles or needle
bars of knitting machines so that any number of them may be thrown
in or out of gear with the cam by which they are actuated without
casting off the loops.
In witness whereof, I,, the said Samuel Inglis Redpath, have here-
SAMUEL INGLIS REDPATH. (L.S.)