IMPROVE- MENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Isaac Wixom Lamb at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th January
. 1867.
I, ISAAC WIXOM LAMB, of Nelson Street, in the Town and County of
Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the employment of two classes of needles in the
same machine and in the same needle plate, the one class being the ordinary
self-acting needle, and the other class being a double self-acting needle or a
needle with a hook and latch at each end. By the employment of the double
needles I am enabled to produce either plain or ribbed work, and to change
from the one to the other at pleasure without removing the work from any
needles. To accomplish this
To accomplish this change from plain to ribbed work and vice
versa I employ a single needle in one groove and a double needle in the next,
a single needle in the next, and a double needle in the next, and so on for
the entire row of needles. (This arrangement would enable me to produce
the one and one rib or the plain work. If I wish to have any other kind of
ribbed work place the single and double needles in a different order.) The
single needles cast their loops always alike; the double needles having two
working parts can cast their loops from either end at the will of the operator.
My Invention further relates to the manner of operating the double needles
and to the method of transferring them from one needle plate to the other
or from one jack to the other; and also to the production of a knitted fabric,

page_text: one part of which is ribbed and the other portion plain without removing the
work from the machine.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing is a cross section of the needle plates
and lifters showing also the form of the double needle jacks and their position
when moved in toward each other when the machine is in operation; Figure 2
shows one of the single needles with its jack; Figure 3 is a cross section of
the needle plates, showing also the double needle and the double needle jacks
in the position they assume when the needle is drawn back to cast off the
loop Figure 4 is simply a plan of a portion of the needle plates showing
the relative position of the grooves in which the needles and jacks slide.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several
Figures.
By a slight modification of the same arrangement I am enabled to produce
what is termed "turned work," which is having one or more courses made
one side out by all the needles, and then one or more courses mado the other
side out by all the needles.
A and A¹ are two needle plates having grooves 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on, cut
across them, the grooves in one plate being at an exact line with the grooves.
in the other plate. a is a double needle made in the present case with self-
acting hooks; b, b, are double needle jacks having the under sides of their
front or inner ends so formed that one end of the double needle can lay along
under the front end of either of the said jacks, the jack and needle being in
the same groove.
The jacks b, b, have also hooks h, h', formed on the upper
side of their inner ends, the use of which will be hereafter further explained.
C represents one of the single needles with its jack; this needle and jack is
just as long from the front end of its hook a to the rear end of the jack cas
is the combined length of the jack 6' and the double needle a when one hook
of the double needle is under the said jack 61, as shown in Figures 1 and 3.
The rear ends c and c' of the double needle jacks are of the same form as the
rear end of the single neelle jack. By thus constructing the two classes
of jacks alike at their rear ends the same cams will operate both alike, and
the order in which the single and double needles and jacks are placed in the
grooves will make no difference to the working of the cams. By having the
two classes of needles and jacks of equal length over all when in use both
classes of needles will produce loops of an uniform length. 5, s, are light
springs, one for each double needle jack; their use is to keep the front ends
of the double needle jacks down on the hooks of the double needles unless
such jacks are raised by positive means.
My method of constructing such springs is this:-1 take a piece of thin

page_text: sheet steel as wide as the length of the springs and as long as the needle
plates; I then cut one side of the said plate out in the form of a comb,
having one tooth of such comb for each jack 6 of a needle plate. A similar
series of teeth formed on another similar piece of sheet steel forms the springs
for the jacks b. and are two lifters; their use is to elevate one or the
other set of double needle jacks as such jacks are moved in toward each
other.
In Figure 1 the lifter is represented as raising or lifting the front end of
the jack b, so that one hook of the double needle can pass under the said
jack 6 without touching it; as the lifter is not under the jack b₁ the said
jack is pressed down upon the double needle as shown by the pressure of the
springs s. Now, as the cams (not shown in the Drawings) draw the jacks b
and 6 apart the jack b will draw the double needle with it, because the said
jack & fits upon the end a¹ of the double needle, and also fits in the hook of
such double needle. The jack 6 will not catch the hook a of the double
needle, because it is raised above such hook until the said jack b is drawn
back off the lifter 1; the lifter / does not keep the jack b elevated all the time,
but simply at the time that the hook a of the double needle is passing under
the end of said jack b; and it is not designed to have the jacks braised until
the hooks a have begun to pass under such jacks; by this means each jack b
becomes a latch opener for the hook a of the needle to which it belongs.
When the lifters and are in the position shown in Figure i the double
needles will be operated in the plate A¹, and will cast their loops from the
end a of such needles. Now by placing single needles in the grooves
numbered 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and so on in plate A¹, and by placing double needles
in grooves 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and so on in the same plate (having a double needle
jack b¹ in each groove, containing a double needle, and having another double
needle jack b in the corresponding grooves 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and so on of plate A)
the needles will be arranged in a proper order to permit either plain work or
one and one rib work to be produced. If the lifters and are in the position
shown in Figure 1, then the double and also the single needles will be
operated in plate A', and plain work will be produced. If the lifters are
moved toward the plate A¹ so that the lifter 2 will be drawn in from under the
hooks of jacks 6 and the lifters & then one and one rib work will be produced,
for as the jacks approach each other the jacks will be raised off of the
needle books, and the jacks b being no longer elevated will be pressed down
by their springs s upon the books a of the double needles, and as the jacks
are drawn apart the double needles will be transferred to the plate A and wil
cast their loops from their hooks a¹. Rib work will thus be produced, so long

page_text: Plain work will be
raise jacks b'. The
as the lifters raise jacks 6' and do not raise jacks b.
produced so long as the lifters raise jacks b and do not
work can therefore be changed instantly at the will of the operator from rib
to plain and from plain to rib as often or as seldom as desired. By having
two single needles together (side by side), and then one double needle in the
needle plates, the rib will be what is termed one and two, by having two
single and then two double needles alternately in the grooves the rib will be
two and two; and so of any other class of rib that it is desired to produce,
by arranging the two classes of needles in the same order that the rib is
required to be the machine will be prepared to produce such rib and to
change at pleasure from such rib to plain work. If it is desired to produce
legs for hose or other articles having a regular length of rib and then another
regular length of plain work I attach a suitable jacquard to the machine to
transfer or shift the lifters and at regular intervals, so that the machine
need not stop its movement to change from the rib to the plain work. B, B,
are two plates or frames that slide along over the needles carrying the cams;
As there are a variety of ways familiar to the public in which they may be
constructed I will not enter in detail upon their description at this time;
suffice it to say that each in the present case carries a V-shaped and corre-
sponding hollow shaped cam, the V cams moving the needles forward, and
the other cams drawing them back. The two frames B and B are not
permanently connected together, but I apply the power to one of them,
say B, and the other frame B is moved by the frame B', they being con-
nected in any suitable manner that will permit of their being disconnected
at will. The object of thus connecting them is to enable me to produce a
"welt" with ease. A welt is produced immediately after the work has
been changed from plain to rib, and the manner in which it is produced is by
knitting two or more times across on one row of needles while the other
needles are not operated; the use of the welt is to make is to make a good
finish at the top of the hose. As before stated, when producing hose I attach
a suitable jacquard to the machine to change from rib to plain and from plain
to rib at the proper times; the same jacquard I make capable of disconnecting
the two frames B and B at the time that a welt should be produced.
My Invention is applicable to circular machines equally as well as to
straight machines. For circular machines I prefer employing two cylinders,
one above the other, having needle grooves cut on their outer circumference,
and having the two cylinders separated far enough to permit the work to be
made between them. There are, however, several methods of construction
well known by which my improvements could be adapted to a circular

page_text: machine. It being only needful (if sliding needles are used) to have two
needle plates with grooves arranged with reference to each other substantially
as herein described, and to employ the double needles for such loops as form
the ribs when rib is produced, and it is immaterial whether the needle plates
are circular or straight, that which constitutes my Invention would be the
same in either case. To produce "turned work" upon one of my machines
the double needles with their jacks are used in all of the grooves, and the
lifters are changed at every stroke or revolution of the machine; or if the
machine be made in a circular form the lifters may be only short pieces, one
or two inches long, and then by employing two sets of cams two feeders and
two sets of lifters the lifters for one feeder may change the needles to one
needle plate, and the lifter that moves with the other feeder may change the
needles to the other needle plate, and thus no change of the lifters be required
to produce the turned work.
I have here given the general principles of my Invention, nearly all of
the details may be more or less modified without changing materially the
result. Thus, instead of the jacks drawing the needles by their hooks, as
here shown, an eye or slot may be punched through the double needles
just behind of each latch, and the front end of the jack could be made to
drop down into such eye and thus move the needles; this plan would
perhaps be preferable if the bearded or common spring needle should be
used in preference to the self-acting needle. Again, instead of the double
needle sliding on the bottom of the groove as shown, the jacks band & may
be made in two parts, the lower portion of the jack sliding on the bottom of
the needle groove, and the needle being between the two parts of the jack,
the jacks in such case taking hold of the needle like a pair of pliers; or,
again, the jack may be made thicker than the needle and the needle be
received into a recess cut in the under side of the jack;
may be swung from a centre and not slide in grooves.
is that the jacks be so made and operated that they can
double needles from one to the other. Or, again, sinkers may be employed to
place the yarn between the needles, and then the loops be all cast off at once.
My design being to adapt any of the known methods of moving the jacks
and needles that may be fitted for any particular class of work the machine
is designed to produce.
or, again, the jacks
All that is required
readily transfer the