Improved Welt Apparatus for Flat Power Knitting Frames.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 27th Feb., 1897-Accepted, 29th May, 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Welt Apparatus for Flat Power Knitting Frames.
I, MAX ADOLF NIEMANN of Zyrardów near Warsaw, Manager, 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:-
Welts are produced in plain work in such manner that after a number of rows of
loops worked upon each other the first row, so-called cast-on row, is hung on to the
needles of the frame, the latter, therefore, receiving double loops, which by being
knocked over the next row are connected, whereas the worked piece of goods is bent
over or doubled and thus forms the welt.
According to the flat knitting frames or machines hitherto in use, this work has not
been performed by power but, the welts, for instance, on the cotton frame, could only
be hung and run on one after the other by means of hand-rakes or combs, which of
course, necessitated a great deal of time being expended, since the machine had to be
thrown out of gear during the accomplishment of such manual labour.
Now, the object of my said invention is to enable all manipulations, necessary for
producing welts, to be automatically effected during the operation of the machine and
without stopping such operation, or to produce the pieces of work, including the welt,
by power from beginning to end and uniformly upon all sets or divisions and thereby
to materially increase the working capacity of such machines.
:
For this purpose the following arrangement is adapted of which Figs. 1-4 are
sectional diagrammatical views of the main operating parts of the machine in different
positions.
Figs. 5 and 8 represent in side elevation the device for operating the comb and its
attachments in different positions,
Fig. 6 is a plan and
Fig. 7 a cross section on line A-B of Fig. 5;
Fig. 9 is a sectional end elevation of the machine and
Fig. 10 represent the shafts and the connecting parts between same of the machine
in side elevation.
f
For beginning the piece of goods, i.e. after the first row of loops is sunk, a rake or
comb provided with tumbler needles and situated at right angles to the needle
bar a, is hung into these loops in the usual manner by hand and then the machine is
started. The rake or comb c is then in such a position that its needles c are situated
between the frame needles a.
The rake or comb is guided (Figs. 5 & 8) in bearings fat both sides of the division
in such manner that it can be displaced in a horizontal position but is secured against
longitudinal movement by the guide plates r (Fig. 5) so long as it moves in the lower
guide way i. On its end pin or journal c chains k' are secured, which are led over
rollers ² to winding-up rollers ; a weight roller is rotated on the shaft o (Figs. 9
&10) simultaneously with the rollers k, on which roller ³ a weight is suspended,
The chains k' are
which thus serves first as a take-up weight for goods to be made.
unrolled according to the progress of the knitted work.
If the rake c' is displaced so far in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 1) that the
hooks g (Figs. 5 & 6) arranged right and left below such rake and movable in all
directions are no longer covered by same, then the iron bar m is inserted into the
hooks, such bar serving later on for securing the india rubber bands arranged on
the work beam p (Fig. 9); therefore, the foregoing is effected without stopping the
machine.
The guide way i of the bearings f, in which the rake c' moves (Figs. 5 & 8), returns

page_text: behind and rising somewhat in the direction towards the head of the machine
and thereby forms a lower and an upper guideway i, i respectively for the rake
or comb.
i'
The rake enters the upper guide way i¹ (as shown in Fig. 8) as soon as the
desired length of the work for the welt is completed. The laterally arrange guide
plates & s are so constructed that in the lower guide way the tumbler needles are
situated "between" the needles of the frame and in the upper guide way they are
situated "opposite" to the needles of the frame. The guide plates s are stationary,
but are so arranged as to laterally displace the rake when it enters the upper
guide way sufficiently to bring its needles c opposite or in line with the frame
needles a.
In order that the welt may be worked broader or narrower as desired, the end
piece of the guide way i is adjustably arranged in slots. By adjusting the end
piece inwards, the guideway, for instance, is then shortened and the piece of work
is sooner bent down for the welt.
When the desired length of welt piece is attained, the loop sinking device is thrown
ou gear by a counting chain-usually provided on every power knitting frame-in
the well known manner, which is therefore not shown in the drawing; on the other
hand, however, the cam shaft M (Figs. 9 & 10) is displaced for a distance corresponding
to the thickness of an eccentric or cam, in order that the needle bar and hand bar make
the same movements as when tickling off, or narrowing, with the difference only, that
the tickler machine is not put into operation therewith.
On the shaft n, a lever m is loosely journaled, whose roller m² during the sinking
of the loops, rotates on the circular hub or sleeve of the cam m', but in consequence
of the displacement of the shaft M is carried into the path of such cam and thus
operates the wheel m³ on the shaft o. The rake is thereby passed in the direction of
the arrow (Figs. 2 & 8) from the lower guide way into the upper one.
The hooks,
which by the action of a spring g¹ (Fig. 5) effect the taking up of the work for a
certain period, adapt themselves to the movements of the rake, but are held down by a
second and weaker spring g², so that they prevent the interposed bar m from being
released before the proper time.
On the rake moving into the position of Fig. 2, the loops therefore slide behind the
tongues of the tumbler needles.
The rake or comb C¹ now falls in as the arrow indicates (position Fig. 3). The
needle bar has made the retrograde movement beforehand in the same manner as after
the tickling off and now passes along with the hooks of the needles a exactly into the
grooves z, of the tumbler needles c (Figs. 3 & 4^).
By means of the subsequent forward movement of the sinkers b into the position of
Fig. 4, the work w is enclosed between the latter & the tickling-off comb d.
Now, on the needle bar a moving upwards from the position of Fig. 3 into that of
Fig. 4, it raises at same time the rake c¹ bearing on the arms a³ of the former, whereby
the welt handles (that is, the loops w¹ forming the beginning or starting row of the
work) close the tongues of the needles c of the rake and pass upon the needles a of the
frame.
On lifting the rake by means of the needle bar, the levers f¹ drawn downwards by
springs (Fig. 5) afford the rake the necessary free play until the needles of the
rake have left the sinkers b, the rake turns and is forced back into the upper guide
way i¹ by means of springs h; it slides up to the knee of the upper guide way and
remains there stationary until it is used anew.
In order to secure that during this period the rake cannot be drawn back into the
vertical position by the weight, the plate q2, which is provided on a shaft q mounted
along the machine is, after the completion of the welt, so adjusted, by means of a
handle q (Fig. 8) or treadle, that the weight rests upon the same.
Now, for instance, during the subsequent legging of a stocking, the springs g still
take up the work, until the india rubber bands provided on the work beam p in the
usual manner are attached on the bar mo, which can be conveniently done during the
operation of the machine.

page_text: 9
and can
With the known arrangement of a cord having a weight suspended thereto, such
cord passing over a roller, not shown in the drawing, the work is then automatically
wound upon p; the staves or bars mº automatically pass out of the hooks
easily be removed with the work without hinderance. The machine is therefore not
brought to a standstill or stopped during the production of the welt or from the
commencement to the completion of the whole work. On beginning the next welt,
the rake c¹ is again to be brought into the starting position of Fig. 1, the suspended
chains are thereby drawn with the same, the shaft o turned back and at same
time, the take-up weight k is wound up again.
By combining two rakes into one piece or by employing rakes extending over two
needle bars, the work of the hanging of same into the starting rows is decreased by
rakes each having 2 guide
the half; for instance, for a 12-head machine only
bearings would then be necessary.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is
1. Welt apparatus for flat power knitting frames consisting of a rake c' holding the
starting row and provided with tumbler needles c, such rake being automatically
moved by means of a guide i in such manner that the tumbler needles, on doubling
the work piece for the welt so cover the needles of the frame that the starting row is
enclosed between the tickler-off comb d & sinker b and is thereby safely transmitted to
the needies of the frame, substantially as and for the purpose described and shown in
the drawings.
2. A welt apparatus of the kind described in Claim 1, in which the reversing point
of the rake from the lower path into the upper one of the guide way i may be
rendered dependant on the position of a movable intermediate piece whereby the
length of the work piece forming the welt may be varied, substantially as described
and shown in the drawings.
3. A welt apparatus of the kind described in Claim 1, in which an auxiliary
device ( or g) automatically takes up the work until the proper taking up of the
work (by the work beam p) is started, whereupon the former is automatically thrown
out of gear, substantially as described and shown in the drawings.
1
of February 1897.
ALLISON BROS.,
Agents for the Applicant.