IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING KNITTED FABRICS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
BAILEY, of Leicester, Machine Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of August,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Benjamin Bailey, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Benjamin Bailey, my
exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Benjamin Bailey,
my exors, admors, 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 ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING KNITTED FABRICS;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said Benjamin Bailey, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Bailey, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be carried into effect, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :--
My Invention consists of so arranging certain parts of machinery known as
Derby rib machinery, that the parts of the Derby rib machinery, as well as the
knitting machinery, may have motion communicated thereto from rotatory axes
in place of the Derby rib machinery receiving motion by the hands and feet of
the workmen as heretofore. And the Invention also consists of so arranging
and working the presser of Derby rib machinery that the same presser may be
caused to act on the needles of the "frame," and also on the needles of "the
machine," in place of having separate pressers. And the Invention also
consists of a mode of supporting the jack bar as hereafter explained. And in
order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily carried into
effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed, in the various
Figures of which the same letters are used to indicate similar parts.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a vertical section, Figure 2 a left-hand end view, and Figure 3
part of a front view of a frame arranged according to my Invention. The
other views show some of the parts separately. a, a, is the main framing.
b is the main or cam shaft, which receives rotatory motion from the crank
handle shaft c by means of the toothed wheels b and c (fixed on those shafts
respectively) gearing into each other. The shaft c may be driven by hand, or
it may have a drum affixed on it for a belt to be driven by any suitable power,
as is well understood and now practised in driving other descriptions of
knitting machinery. d. is the needle bar, carrying the frame needles in the
ordinary manner. e is the sinker bar attached to the hanging cheeks e', e',
which are guided at their upper ends by means of the pins e, e, which pass
through slots, as shewn in the hanging cheeks, and are supported by the main
frame, and these slots serve to guide the upper end of the cheeks, whilst they
allow of the cheeks having a swinging motion given to them. This swinging
motion is accomplished in the following manner :-From the lower end of each
of the hanging cheeks projects a stud e³, which receives one end of the con-
necting link e, the other end of which is attached by a pin joint to the lever e³,
which turns upon an axis at e, carried by the main framing. The other end
of the lever et carries a truck e', which is acted upon by the cam e³, for giving

page_text: is the cam for
giving the downward movement to the hanging cheeks by means of the
lever eo, which, by means of the link el, is connected to the front end of the
link e, and there is a similar arrangement of these parts at each end of the
machine. The hanging cheeks have a tendency at all times to remain in an
elevated position, except when acted upon by the cams e, by their being
suspended to springs e. f is the jack bar connected at each end to the
plates f, f, each of which has a projecting pin or stud f2 by which the bar f
is supported on the upper ends of the bars f³, fs, which are supported with a
capability of oscillating to and fro in recesses f*, f, in the bars f³, carried by
the main framing; by this arrangement the mode hitherto adopted of using
trucks to sustain the jack bar is dispensed with. The plates f¹ have affixed to
them arms f, and these arms f* are connected by pin joints f" to the
hanging cheeks, so as to cause the bar f to move therewith. f³ are arms
projecting from the bar f, to support the slur cock, bar, and spring bar, as
shewn. The slur cocks (the position of which is shewn by dotted lines in the
section) are moved across the machine a distance equal to the width of the
fabrics being made, by means of the lever g, in the following manner:-g' is a
projection from the under side of the slur cock, with a slot to receive one end
of the bent arm g³, which is carried by the bar g³, and this bar g³ slides horizon-
tally in guides carried by the top cross bar, and it has two projections 9', which
embrace the lever g, the lower end of which turns upon the pin g³, carried by
a bracket from the main framing. Motion is given to the lever g, first in one
direction and then in the other, by means of the tappets go, there being trucks
The
or rollers g, carried by the lever g, against which the tappets act.
tappets are affixed to the axis g³, upon which is affixed the bevilled
wheel g, which is geared into by the bevilled pinion g₁ on the axis b. The
upper end of the lever 9 projects forward, and is embraced by the two pro-
jections h from the bar h', which works the thread carriers, as is shewn,
and which is well understood. i is the locking bar, which, by means of
arms (one at each end), is supported at i, in projections from the bar f.
This bar has arms 3, which, by means of links i, are connected to the bell-
crank levers, which have trucks, acted upon by the cams 27, to give the
necessary lifting motion to the locking bar i.
the requisite to and fro movement to the hanging cheeks.
I will now describe the manner in which I obtain motion to the machine
The bar has arms j¹ (one at
needle bar j, and parts connected therewith.
each end of the machine) projecting downwards, with studs which project into
sliding pieces j, which are guided by the slotted plate e, carried by the
hanging cheeks e', and it is suspended by means of links from the arms j*,
affixed to the axis, which has another arm jo, acted upon by springs with

page_text: a tendency at all times to bear the bar j upwards, and such upward movement
is controlled so as to adjust the position of the machine needles with respect
to the frame needles in the working of a course by means of the lever
arms, there being projections 3 from the under side of the bar j, with
trucks jo, which run under the front ends of the arms j', and the arms j' are
affixed to the axis 10, and they are connected together by means of the bar j",
which, by means of the link, is connected to the lever ¹³, which turns upon
a pin joint, and has a trunk or roller which works under and is actuated by
the cam . There is also an adjusting stop j" to prevent the arm j", and
consequently the bar j, rising too high. 7 is another arm (of which there is
one on each side of the frame), affixed to the bar j, and projecting upwards so
as to be capable of being acted upon by trucks from the arms 18, when the
presser bar is required to act upon the beards of the machine needles, as is
shewn by the Drawings. The arms 18 are affixed to the axis 10, which has
another arm, which, by means of a link 20, is connected to the lever j¹, sup-
ported upon a pin 2, and having a truck acted upon by a cam 23. When in
the revolution of this cam the arms 18 are allowed to be depressed, the
trucks on those arms come into the hollow of the arms 7, the roller pro-
jecting from the arms j then rest against the plate e¹s of the hanging cheeks.
k is the "slide," which moves up and down behind the machine needles, and
it is for the purpose of throwing the loops on to the machine needle beards
whilst the presser is in action on those needles, and then when the pressing
on those needles has taken place the bar k pushes the work over the needle
beards, as is well understood when working these parts by hand. The slide k
has arms k+, which are acted upon to
screws from the arms of the axis k³,
means of the link 4, is connected to the
the cam ko, which it is actuated.
raise the slide by means of the set
which has another arm k³, which, by
lever k³, the truck of which rests on
I will now describe the way in which I give motion to the presser bar, so
that the same single presser bar may act upon the beards of both sets of
needles. The presser p is supported at each end of the machine on the jointed
levers p¹, p, and the parts p', p2, are connected together at p³, with a tendency
for the part p² to be borne upwards against the stop p by means of the
spring po, and when the part p² is in that position, the part p¹, by pressing
upon the joint p³, will bring the presser into action on the beards of the frame
needles, as is shewn by the Diagram, Figure 4.
Figures 1 & 5 shew the presser in action upon the machine needles. In
order to this the part på is slightly depressed, which throws the presser slightly
forward. This is accomplished in the following manner :-The part p² is con-
nected by means of a link p to the lever p', a truck on which is acted upon

page_text: by means of the cam 28. The presser bar is constantly borne upwards by
means of springs po, and it is depressed to give the pressing action by means
of the lever p10, which is connected to the presser by means of the link p"
this lever po being actuated by the cam p¹³.
From the above description, aided by the Drawings, a workman will readily
understand the nature and construction of a machine when arranged according
to my Invention, and it will only be desirable to add, that the chief difference
in working will be in the presser action, and the circumstance of "the
machine" needle bar being worked from a rotatory axis in place of receiving
its motion by the hands and feet of the workman.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark, that I make no claim to
any of the mechanical parts separately, either of the knitting frames or of the
Derby rib machinery, they being separately old and well known, and the
details thereof may be varied without departing from my Invention, which
consists of so combining Derby rib machinery with knitting machinery that
the Derby rib machinery, as well as the knitting machinery, may derive their
motions from rotatory axes. And the Invention also consists of so arranging
the needle bar of "the machine and the presser bar employed, that the same
presser may act on the needles of "the frame," and also on the needles of
"the machine." And the Invention also consists of the mode herein described
of supporting the "jack-bar."
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Bailey, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.