IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR LINKING, JOINING, TURNINGOPENITTED FABRICS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO STITCHING
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Campion, of the Butcher Street Works,
Butcher Street, in the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham,
Mechanist and Sewing Machine Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR LINKING, JOINING, TURNING-
Sealed the 14th June 1867, and dated the 15th December 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Campion at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th December 1866..
I, WILLIAM CAMPION, of the Butcher Street Works, Butcher Street, in the
Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Mechanist and Sewing Machine
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR LINKING, JOINING, TURNING-
OFF, AND CLEARING LOOPED OR KNITTED FABRICS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO STITCHING
MACHINES," to be as follows:-
Heretofore in sewing and stitching machines, and in machines used in-the
hosiery trade for linking, joining, clearing, and turning-off looped and knitted
fabrics it has been usual to cast the needles or points employed therein in sets
of two or more of them in leads, and to secure them to the rotating ring or
cylinder of the machine; but if in this arrangement any needle in any one of

page_text: the leads should happen to break or become injured it has been necessary to
take out the lead of needles containing the broken or injured needle and to
cast another lead of needles to replace it; hence much inconvenience arose
and much time and labour were consumed, thereby occasioning considerable
complaint.
Now the object of my Invention is to obviate these evils, and the Invention
consists, firstly, in soldering or otherwise securing each needle or point in a
plate of brass or other metal, each such plate I slip or place in a saw gate or
space made in the outer vertical circumference of the ring or cylinder; these
plates are securely held in the same by the upper portion of each plate
hooking upon and projecting over the upper edge of the ring or cylinder;
secondly, I secure a needle or point, or needles or points in the lower end of
a rocking or swinging lever, which lever carries a stud or pin actuated by
an excentric cam; this lever also has a rising and falling motion communi-
cated to it in addition to and in combination with its to-and-fro movement,
which rising and falling motion is communicated by a second cam operating
upon an arm or lever carrying an axle, upon which the first-named lever
swings or rocks.
From the foregoing it will be apparent that when a needle breaks or becomes
injured it can be instantly removed and another needle substituted therefor
without necessitating the removal, as heretofore, of a lead of needles and
occasioning the necessity of casting another lead to supply its place.
My Invention is also applicable to sewing or stitching machines other than
than those for the purposes above mentioned.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Campion in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th June 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CAMPION, of the Butcher Street Works, Butcher Street, in the Town and
County of the Town of Nottingham, Mechanist and Sewing Machine
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Campion, Her special licence that I, the said William

page_text: Campion, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Campion, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times there-
after 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
MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR LINKING, JOINING, TURNING-OFF, AND CLEARING
LOOPED OR KNITTED FABRICS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO STITCHING MACHINES," upon tho
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Campion, 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 William Campion, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
Heretofore in sewing and stitching machines, and, machines used in tho
hosiery trade for linking, joining, turning-off, and clearing looped or knitted
fabrics, it has been usual to cast the needles or points employed therein in sets
of two or more of them in leads, and to secure them to the rotating ring or
cylinder of the machine; but if in this arrangement any needle in any one of
the leads should happen to break or become injured it has been hitherto
necessary to take out the lead of needles containing the broken or injured
needle and to cast another lead of needles to replace it, hence much incon-
venience has arisen and much time and labour were consumed, thereby
occasioning considerable complaint.
Now the object of my Invention is to obviate these evils, and the Invention
consists, firstly, in soldering or otherwise securing each needle or point in á
plate of brass or other metal. Each such plate I slip or place in a saw gate or
space made in the outer vertical circumference of the ring or cylinder; these
plates are securely held in the same by the upper portion of each plate hooking
upon and projecting over the upper edge of the ring or cylinder; secondly,
I secure a needle or point, or needles or points, in the lower end of a rocking
or swinging lever, which lever carries a stud or pin actuated by an eccentric
cam; this lever also has a rising and falling motion communicated to it in
addition to and in combination with its to-and-fro movement, which rising

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan of one of my machines constructed according to my
Invention; Figure 2 is a side view of this machine, and on one side of this
Figure the cylinder I and the ring K and one of the plates M are shown in
section.
In these Figures A represents the base plate of the machine by which it is
secured to the bench, table, or other fixture on which it is to be worked.
From this plate project two standards B, B, which are bored out to form
bearings for a shaft C provided at its outer end with a handle D by which
motion may be coinmunicated by the hand of the attendant, or the machine
may be driven by steam power or other prime mover by means of a clutch
coupling provided with a grooved pulley E round which a cord or belt is
passed, the cord or belt being also passed round a drum or pulley of larger
dimensions when the machine is driven by steam or other power. The clutch
is shewn in gear, but it may be, thrown out of gear instantly by moving the
handle of the lever F in the direction of the arrow when it is desired to stop
the machine. To the base plate of the machine is secured a bracket which
has an arm G projecting horizontally, and it carries two other arms placed
vertically; the upper arm is marked G¹ and the lower arm G. To the hori-
zontal arm is secured a bent arm H which terminates at its outer end in an
axle which projects downwards in an angular position; the lower end of this
axle has a collar H¹ secured upon it by a set screw; above this collar is a
cylinder or ring of metal I which is cast in one piece with six arms; these
arms terminate in and form part of a pipe or boss which is bored out to
receive an axle at the end of the arm H, round which axle the cylinder is free
to revolve; this cylinder is turned true upon its inner circumference so as to

page_text: receive a ring K of brass or other metal, which ring is riveted or otherwise
secured to the cylinder. The lower edge of the ring K is formed with teeth,
as shown in the part seen in section in Figure 2, and the outer circumference
of the ring is turned up and has saw gates cut in it, in each of which saw gates
is placed the stem of a point L which is grooved on its upper surface; these
points are securely held in position by the pressure of a series of plates M
against their stems, which plates M' are cach held by two set screws which
pass through them and are screwed or otherwise secured to the cylinder or
ring I. Saw gates are cut in the upper edge of the plates M, in which said
saw gates lies a portion of the straight grooved part of the points. The
cylinder I, the ring K, the points L, and plates M, are caused to revolve on
their axle by means of a wheel N the teeth of which gear into the teeth upon
the lower edge of the ring K. The wheel N is on one end of a short axle
which lies in bearings in a bracket N₁ having on one side a boss provided with
a set screw. by which it is held fast to the axle of the cylinder I. On the
short axle of the wheel N is secured a ratchet wheel N which lies between
the bearings of the said axle. At one end of the bracket N' is a projection
into which is screwed or otherwise secured the axle of a stop or pawl N³ which
takes into the teeth of the ratchet wheel N2 tooth by tooth as fast as the wheel
is moved by the to-and-fro movement of a driver O which works upon an axle
in a rocking or swinging lever O' carrying a stud or pin actuated by an
excentric cam P which gives a to-and-fro movement to the lever O'. In
combination with its to-and-fro movement this lever O' has also a rising and
falling motion communicated to it by the outer edge of the cam P operating
upon an arm or lever 0 and working upon an axle in a bracket 03 secured
to the base plate of the machine. The lever is provided with a set screw and
lock nut, the end of the screw resting upon a projection from the bracket 0%,
by which means the fall of the lever 03 may be adjusted. The lever 0³ carries
the axle upon which the lever O' rocks or swings. In the lower end of the
lever O' is a needle secured by a set screw, and through the said lower end is
a bole for the passage of the cotton or other thread supplied to the needle
from a spool O or its equivalent placed upon a pin in a bar secured to the
upper arm G¹ of the bracket G.; the tension of the thread supplied to the
needle by the spool or its equivalent is regulated by a spring and lock nuts, as
shown. Upon the axle of the cylinder I and above the boss of the bracket N
is a boss. N secured by a set screw; from this boss project two arms which
terminate in two arcs No between the ends of which the needle passes, the
outer edges of the arcs holding up the edges or selvages of the work and
preventing the needle from pressing the work over the edges of the plates M

page_text: while the work is being stitched. The combined movements of the needle, as
effected by the cam P, will cause the needle as it comes forward to lower its
point into the groove of the point L and to slide therein until the point of the
needle is well under the loop or loops of the fabric to be stitched, the point of
the needle will then slightly rise and come a little more forward before the
return movement takes place, during which movement the needle will be
slightly lowered, it will then rise previously to its, taking a fresh stitch. At
cach forward movement of the needle the point will pass into the loop, which
loop is secured or held by a hook Q during the previous stitch. The hook is
shewn in the act of securing the loop of thread previous to the backward
movement of the needle; this. hook is securely held by a set screw in one end
of a lever Q¹ which works upon an axle in the lower arm G' of the bracket G ;
the lever Q is kept close to one side of the cam P by a spring lying between
the lever Q and the arm G³, as shown in Figure 5, by which arrangement the
cam P is caused to communicate a rotary motion of the hook round the
needle. The shape of that part of the cam which gives such movement to
the hook is shewn at Figures 3 and 4.
When it is preferred to solder or otherwise secure each point in a separate
plate of brass or other metal, I employ the arrangement shewn in section at
Figure 6, in which each point L is secured in a plate L'; the upper portion
of each such plate L' I place in a saw gate or space made in the outer circum-
ference of the ring K, and the plates L' are held in the same by the upper
portion of each plate hooking upon and projecting over the upper edge of the
ring, and being held close to the same by plates M screwed or otherwise
secured to the cylinder. I.
Figure 7 shews my improvement as applied to the common hosiery stitching
machines wherein the cylinder I is fixed, and therefore not capable of rotation,
the ring K being provided with teeth upon its upper edge or surface which
gear into the teeth of a small wheel N upon one end of a short axle lying in
bearings in a bracket N¹; the axle is provided with a toothed ratchet wheel N
and a stop or pawl N³, by which means as the wheel N2 is moved round by
the movement of the machine the toothed wheel N will cause the ring K to
revolve round the cylinder I, which ring K has points L placed round its
circumference close to its lower edge, upon which points L the fabric to be
stitched is placed.
By the foregoing description a workman will perceive that by the employ-
ment of a machine or machines as above described he will be enabled to join,
turn off, or clear any kind of looped or knitted fabrics, effectually securing at
each stitch made by the machine or machines the loop or loops of the fabrics

page_text: which have been placed upon the points for the purpose of joining the same
by means of stitching.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that I claim the general
arrangement and combination of parts constituting the improved machinery
or apparatus, substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Campion, bave hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Office,
Nottingham.
WILLIAM CAMPION. (L.S.).