IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Tomlinson Bousfield, of Loughborough Park,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN KNITTING MACHINES."-A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Tomlinson Bous-
field at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th March 1858.
I, GEORGE TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton Road,
in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of machines by means of which yarn is
knit into fabrics, and the object of the Invention is to facilitate the operation
of the various acting parts of such machines, to diminish their cost, and to
adapt them to the employment of self-acting apparatus for effecting the
widening of the work. For these purposes the needles, the sinkers, and their
appurtenances are mounted in a reciprocating carriage, which is caused to
travel to and fro upon stationary ways secured to the frame of the machine,'
which also has secured to it the cam bars or axes, by means of which the
proper reciprocating movements are imparted at proper times to the needles
and sinkers.
In order to ensure the uniform width of the stitches, the needles slide in
grooves whose sides converge as they approach the bottoms of the grooves
which are fitted to the sides of the sides of the needles. With the reciprocating
needle carriage is combined a second carriage, which supports the thread guide

page_text: in such a manner that the latter is caused to move along with the former after
the thread is fed to the whole range of needles, but is stationary while the
needles and sinkers are forming the loops, although the needle carriage is then
moving. In widening the fabric the thread guide is caused to pass down
between one pair of needles and rise between another pair, this thread guide
being moved in the meantime by a motion that is independent of its ordinary
reciprocating movement with the reciprocating needle carriage; under supports
are also combined, which support the needles at the places where the loops are
being formed, and operate to close their barbs in succession. In combination
with a reciprocating series of needles and sinkers, stationary apparatus is used
for imparting the necessary movements for forming the loops to different
members of the series in succession, whereby the straining of the yarn in a flat
knitting loom is avoided, and the apparatus for operating the needles and
sinkers is concentrated at the centre of the loom, and may be the same what-
ever number of needles is employed. In combination with the needle carriage
apparatus is used for taking up the fabric after it is formed.
By this system of supporting the needles and sinkers upon a traversing
carriage, the whole of the work of knitting is performed near the centre of the
machine, and the cam bars or axes and supports which are subjected to the
greatest strains may all be secured firmly to the bed frame, while at the same
time the position of the needle and sinker cam bars or axes relatively to their
needles and sinkers tends to bear the latter downwards, and prevents any
tendency in the needle carriage to rise from its ways. The upper edges of the
supports deviate from a straight line, and these deviations are important. When
the needles in their movement .first reach each support, they move over the
lowest portion of the latter, so that the needles are then permitted to rest in
the lowest portions of the orifices of the needle bed; as these orifices are con-
tracted at their bottoms so as to fit the needles, the latter in being depressed
to the bottoms of the grooves by the folding down of the folds of the yarn by
the sinkers, are caused.to arrange themselves at equal distances apart, whereby
the uniformity in the sizes of the folds and consequently of the loops is ensured.
The elevation of the edge of the support above its lowest level is an advantage;
as the raising-of-the-needles-at-this-point-permits. the slope of the sinker cam
groove to be made less abrupt than it would otherwise have to be, and thus
enables the machine to be operated with less friction. The elevation of the
highest portion of the support is a matter of necessity, as it raises the needles
in succession, and causes their barbs to press against the bar above, by which
they are closed.
The take-up mechanism moves along with the needles and sinkers; this

page_text: combination permits the employment of very simple take-up mechanism, and
obviates the difficulty that would arise from the use of a reciprocating series of
needles and sinkers with stationary take-up mechanism, as in the latter case
some means would have to be devised to give back and take up cloth as the
needles and sinkers moved to and fro.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Tomlinson Bousfield in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 24th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
TOMLINSON BOUSFIELD, of Loughborough Park, Brixton, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Tomlinson Bousfield, Her special licence that I, the said
George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, 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 MACHINES,"
munication, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Tomlinson Bousfield, 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.
a com-
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, 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, that is to say :-
Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a knitting machine with the im-
provements applied thereto; Figure 2 is a back elevation of the same;

page_text: Figure 3 is a plan of the same; Figure 4 is an end elevation of the same;
Figure 5 is a cross section of the machine at the line xx of Figure 3; and
Figure 6 is face view of the thread guide carriage, and a portion of the bar on
which it traverses.
+
The Invention relates to that class of machines by means of which yarn is
knit into fabrics, and the object of this Invention is to facilitate the operation
of the various acting parts of such machines to diminish their cost and to adapt
them to the employment of self-acting apparatus for effecting the widening of
'the work. The first part of this Invention consists in mounting the needles,
"the sinkers, and their appurtenances in a reciprocating carriage, which is caused
to travel to and fro upon stationary ways secured to the frame of the machine,
which also has secured to it the cam bars, by means of which the proper
reciprocating movements are imparted at proper times to the needles and
sinkers.
: The object of the second part of this Invention is to ensure the uniform
width of the stitches, and consists in effecting this by causing the needles to
slide, in grooves whose sides converge as they approach the bottoms of the
grooves which are fitted to the size of the needles..
4
The third part of this Invention consists in combining with a reciprocating
needle carriage a second carriage, which supports the thread guide in such a
manner that the latter is caused to move along with the former after the thread
,is fed to the whole range of needles, but is stationary while the needles and
sinkers are forming the loops, although the needle carriage is then moving.
The fourth part of this Invention consists in widening the fabric by causing
the thread guide to pass down between one pair of needles and rise between
-another pair, this thread guide being moved in the meantime by a motion that
sis independent of its ordinary reciprocating movement.
The fifth part of this Invention consists in combining with a reciprocating
ineedle carriage under supports which support the needles, at the places where
the loops are being formed and operate to close their barbs in succession.
: The sixth part of this Invention consists in combining with a reciprocating
fseries of needles and sinkers stationary-apparatus for imparting the necessary
movements for forming the loops to different members of the series in succes-
sion, whereby the straining of the yarn in a flat knitting loom is avoided, and
the apparatus for operating the needles and sinkers is concentrated at the
centre of the loom, and may be the same whatever number of needles is
employed.
The seventh part of this Invention consists in combining with a needle
carriage apparatus for taking up tlie fabric after, it is fornied:

page_text: The several parts of this Invention are embodied in the flat knitting loom'
represented in the accompanying Drawings. The various operating parts of
this loom are supported by a strong rectangular bed. frame A, which may be
secured. upon a táble or bench at any convenient height for the operator who!
tends it. In the upper side of this frame there are two longitudinal V shaped
grooves a, a, which form ways which guide the needle carriage in traversing.
to and fro from one end of the frame to the other. The frame is also fitted.
with brackets B, B, C, C, which sustain the cam bars, by, whose action the:
proper movements are imparted to the needles and sinkers. The needles, as
shown at Figure 5, are of the ordinary form, and each is secured to a slide
having a snug
6 upon it, by means of which it is moved to and fro. The
sinkers, as shown at Figure 5, are also of the ordinary form, and the shank of
each one has a snug c, by means of which it is moved to and fro. The needle:
carriage D is of rectangular form and is mounted upon the bed frame, its:
lower side being fitted with V-shaped feathers which slide in the V shaped.
grooves of the bed frame. Upon the upper side of this carriage there is a
block of metal d, which extends its entire length, and has a series of transverse?
grooves in it to receive and guide the slides E of the needles, for which it
forms a bed:
The needles project forwards from this bed; and pass through a corresponding
series of transverse grooves in. a bar f, which extends along the front side of
the carriage, and forms the nosing or series of orifices into which the needles
are withdrawn, to cast off the loops, and from which they are protruded to
receive the yarn to form a new series of loops. The grooves of this nosing.
have a V form rounded at the bottom to fit the needle wire, and widening as
they extend upwards, so that when the needles are depressed they are caused
by the forms of the grooves to place themselves at equal distances apart, 'and:
when they rise the widening of the grooves permits themi to traverse freely in
them, so that the uniform width of the stitches is ensured without burdening!
the machine with an increased amount of friction.. A second block of metal g
is: supported by standards at the front side of the carriage; this also lias a
series of grooves in it, and forms a bed to receive and guide the shanks of the
series of sinkers O, one of which intervenes between each two of the needles >
beneath. The lower edge è of this sinker bed overlaps the nosing from which
the needles protrude, and forms a bar against the lower side of which the barbs
of the needles are pressed by the action of the support F beneath to close:
them, so that they may pass through and cast off the loops already formed!.
The needle bed:d is surmounted by a stationary needle cam bar G, which is
supported by the brackets B, B, on the main frame of the machine, and has t

page_text: b
the cam groove in its lower face to receive the snugs 6 of the needle slides,
and thus impart motion to the needles as the carriage is moved from one end
of the frame to the other. The form of the cam groove is shown in dotted
lines in Figure 3. Immediately in front of the sinker bed is the sinker cam
bar H, which is supported by the brackets C, C, secured to the main frame; it
has a cam groove a in its hinder face to receive the snug c of the sinker
shanks, and thus impart motion to the sinkers as the carriage moves to and
fro. The thread guide J is situated in front of the sinkers, and is fitted to a
carriage I, which slides longitudinally upon ways secured to the front side of
the sinker cam bar H. The front side of this carriage has two snugs i and o
secured to it, which are alternately struck by bumpers K and M, that are'
carried along by the needle carriage D. These bumpers are hung upon a
traverse bar N that is supported by the overhanging extremities of the
standards j, which secure the sinker bed to the needle carriage. The lower
extremities of the bumpers are traversed by a screw L. which turns in
bearings attached to the standards j; one of the bumpers K is adjustable, so
that it can be slid along the traverse bar N and screw L, and secured in any
desired position by means of a set screw n. The other bumper is also
adjustable, but its position is determined by the screw L which works in a
nut m secured to the bumper M, and has a handle k at one of its ends to turn
it. The pitch of this screw is equal to the space between the centres of the
needles, so that by turning it one or more revolutions the bumper is moved
along one or more needles. The shank of the screw has a collar p upon
it, which has a notch in it to receive a spring pawl w, by which the
screw is secured after being turned to set the needle in any required
position. The thread guide J has the form of a flattened tube, whose upper
and lower edges will readily enter and pass through the space between the
needles. Its shank is secured to a slide R, which slides vertically in a broad
dove-tailed groove formed in the face of the thread guide carriage I. The
hinder side of the slide has a snug secured to it, which is received in and
operated by a cam groover formed in the front side of the sinker cam bar H,
so that as the thread guide carriage is propelled to and fro by the alternate
contact of its snugs-with-the-bumpers_secured to the needle carriage, the
thread carrier is depressed below and raised above the needles..
A pair of moveable supports F are supported in guides-upon-the-front side..
of the main frame in such manner that they can be raised and depressed in
alternate succession. The inner side of the shank or slide of each support
has a snug secured to it which passes through a slot in the bed frame, and
rests upon a sliding bar S, represented in dotted lines in Figure 1. The

page_text: upper edge of this sliding bar is inclined at certain parts of its length, and as
the sliding bar is moved longitudinally to and fro these inclined planes' pass
under the snugs and raise the supports or permits them to descend out of the
way of the needles. The sliding bar is moved to and fro at the proper time.
5 by means of a driver T secured to the needle carriage D, which driver
alternately comes in contact with snugs t secured to the hinder face of the
sliding bar as the carriage approaches the opposite extremities of its range of
motion:
The cloth roll upon which the work is rolled up and the take-up motion
are situated at the hinder side of the carriage. They may be of any con-
struction which will perform the duties required of them.
In this example
the cloth roll P is a simple cylinder having a longitudinal groove in it, in
which hooks are secured to which the end of the work is made fast. One of:
the journals of this cloth roll projects beyond its box, and is fitted with a
ratchet wheels, whose teeth are operated upon by a finger V. The latter is
secured to the upper arm of a lever U, whose lower arm hangs within the.
range of a stationary inclined plane Q, secured to the back of the frame of
the machine. Below the cloth roll there is a heavy tension roller W, around
which the cloth is passed before it is secured to the cloth roll. The journals.
of this tension roll passes through slots in the hangers which support it,.
so that it can rise and fall, and maintain a constant strain upon the work..
One of its journals is prolonged beyond the hanger, so as to protrude beneath.
a wedge-formed stop V secured to the face of the longer arm of the finger.
lever, so that when the tension roller is raised by the winding-up of the cloth,,
its journal bearing against the stop v prevents the finger lever from moving
the finger V which turns the ratchet wheel; when, on the contrary, the:
tension roller descends by reason of the increase in the length of the work,
its journal leaving the stops permits the finger lever to vibrate and move the
finger V to a new tooth of the ratchet wheel, so that the returning vibration,
of the finger lever by the action of the inclined plane over which it is drawn
by the reciprocating movement of the carriage, impels the finger against the
ratchet tooth, and causes it and the yarn roll to turn. The yarn to be knit
is wound upon a tube in such manner that it will deliver readily, and the .
tube is supported upon a standard Y, which projects from the front side of
the bed frame. Above the standard there is an eye u, through which the:
yarn is passed, after which it is passed through the thread guide J, and
thence to the needles and sinkers. In order to understand the operation of
the machine when it is at work, let it be supposed that the carriage D is long
enough to carry a sufficient number of needles and sinkers to knit the widest
,

page_text: cloth that is required, and that the carriage is at the left-hand side of the
machine, the support F being at its highest position; let it also be supposed
that the machine is knitting straight work of the full width of which it is
capable. When the carriage is in this position the thread guide is at the
right-hand end of the series of needles, as represented in Figure 1, and the
yarn leads from the needle nearest the thread guide. If now the carriage be
moved to the right the needles and sinkers in succession pass by the thread
guide, which, remaining stationary, feeds out the yarn to the needles as they
pass. As the needles in passing ride over the support F the sinkers are
caused by the action of their appropriate cam groove to descend in succession
between the needles, and carry down folds of yarn, thus forming loops upon
the needles, and as the descent of the sinkers is successive, and but a
small portion of the whole are in process of descent simultaneously, the
yarn to form the loops is drawn under but these few sinkers at a time, and
with only
a slight strain upon it or the machine. As the sinkers 'descend, the
continued progression. of the carriage carrics the needle slides. along the
inclined portion of the needle cam bar, and causes the needles to be drawn
into the orifices from which they protrude. As this operation is taking place
while the needles are riding over the highest part of the support F, they are
pressed up by its action against the bar e of the sinker bed; the pressure thus
produced closes the barbs of the needles, so that as they are drawn into the
orifices, they enter and pass through the series of loops of yarn previously
formed, and drawing the new set of loops with them through the previous set
cast off the latter. The withdrawal of the needles into their orifices takes
place simultaneously with the ascent of the sinkers by the action of their cam
bar, so that the folds of yarn formed by the latter are rendered up to the
needles as they enter their orifices. When in the motion of the carriage the
set of needles has passed the thread guide, the bumper M striking the
corresponding snug i on the thread guide carriage, causes it to move with the
needle carriage, so that no more yarn is fed by the movement of the latter
past the former. While the two carriages are moving together the thread
guide is caused to descend by the action of its cam groove, and to rise again
as the needle carriage approaches-the-extremity-of-its-stroke,-and-when-the-
-needle carriage comes to rest, the thread guide is at the left-hand end of the
series of needles ready to feed out yarn when the needles are moved from
right to left. While the carriage is progressing from left to right, the right-
hand support is at its lowest position as shewn at Figure 1, so as to afford no
obstruction to the protrusion of the needles, as their slides are again acted
upon by the right-hand inclined portion of their cam bar, but as the carriage

page_text: reaches, the extremity of its stroke, the driver T secured to it striking the
appropriate snug on the bar S, causes the latter to move, thus raising the
,right-hand support, and depressing the left-band one. The parts of the
machine are now ready for the return stroke of the needle carriage, which is
followed by a repetition of the above-described movements. In this return
movement the opposite bumper K acts upon the appropriate snug o of the
thread guide carriage, and returns the latter to its first position after the
(needles' have all passed the thread guide. The .driver T also acts upon the
opposite snug of the bar S, to change the position of the supports.
In forming goods of varying width, which is the kind of work for which
this machine is specially adapted, the adjustability of the thread guide is
brought into action. In this case the narrowest part of the stuff is formed
first, and the bumper M is set by turning the screw L, in such manner that
it will strike the appropriate snug of the needle carriage, and cause the thread
guide carriage to move with the needle carriage, when the yarn has been
delivered to only a portion of the needles instead of to the whole the number
so fed, and consequently the width of the work being determined by the
position of the bumper M, which is governed by the screw. By this new
position of the bumper the thread guide is sooner put in motion, and hence it
is caused to descend between a pair of the needles instead of at the end of the
whole series. The needles between the descending thread guide and .the left-
hand end of the carriage are thus cut off from the rest, and the width of the
work is proportioned to the number of the remaining set of needles. If now
the work is to be widened, the screw is turned to move the bumper towards
the left-hand end of the needle carriage, after the thread guide has descended
and before it rises, and as the pitch of the screw in this instance is equal to
the distance between the centres of the needles, cach turn causes the thread
guide to rise a needle later. The thread is thus cast over an additional
needle during the movement of the carriage from left to right, and the work
is correspondingly widened,,while as the new loop thus produced is formed of
the yarn leading from the last loop of the preceding row, a selvage edge is
produced upon the tapering part of the work. The present machine is
adapted to the widening of the work at one side only, but by constructing the
traverse, bar N in the form of a screw like the lower screw, and causing it to
act upon a nut in the second bumper K, the thread guide may be operated to
widen the work at either side at pleasure; if, on the other hand; the lower screw
have at one end a right-handed screw thread, and at the other a left-handed screw
thread, each thread operating on a nut secured to one of the bumpers, the
widening would be effected at the opposité edges of the work equally.in

page_text: opposite directions by the turning of the one screw L. Narrowing the work
may be effected by turning the screw in the reverse direction to that for
widening. The work formed is drawn beneath the upper side of the carriage,
is passed around the tension roller, and is applied to the take-up roller P,
upon which it is wound as it is formed by the operation of the take-up
motion. By this system of supporting the needles and sinkers upon a
traversing carriage the whole of the work of knitting is performed near the
centre of the machine, and the cam bars and supports, which are subjected to
the greatest strains, may all be secured firmly to the bed frame, while at the
same time the position of the needle and sinker, cam bars relatively to their
needles and sinkers tends to bear the latter downwards, and prevents any
tendency in the needle carriage to rise from its ways. An examination of the
supports shows that their upper edges deviate from a straight line, and these
deviations are important. When the needles in their movement first reach
each support they move over the lowest portion of the latter, so that the
needles are then permitted to rest in the lowest portions of the orifices of
the needle bed. As these orifices are contracted at their bottoms so as to fit
the needles, the latter in being depressed to the bottoms of the grooves by the
folding down of the folds of yarn by the sinkers, are caused to arrange
themselves at equal distances apart, whereby the uniformity in the sizes of
the folds, and consequently of the loops, is ensured. The elevation of the
edge of the support at y above its lowest level is an advantage, as the raising
of the needles at this point permits the slope of the sinker cam groove to be
made less abrupt than it would otherwise have to be, and thus enables the
machine to be operated with less friction. The elevation of the highest
portion of the support is a matter of necessity, as it raises the needles in
succession, and causes their barbs to press against the bar above, by which
they are closed. In the foregoing description the take-up mechanism is
described as moving along with the needles and sinkers. This combination
permits the employment of very simple take-up mechanism, and obviates the
difficulty that would arise from the use of a reciprocating series of needles
and sinkers with stationary take-up mechanism, as in the latter case some
means would have to be devised to give back and take up cloth as the needles
and sinkers moved to and fro. It will be evident to the skillful engineer that
portions of the machine may be modified-without-affecting the principle of
this Invention; and I contemplate so to modify the various parts of the
machine as circumstances may render expedient. Thus, for example, the
take-up motion I have described may be varied by substituting a pair of
nipping and drawing rollers in place of the single cloth roll, in which case the

page_text: fabric will be delivered from the pair of rollers in a flat sheet; motion may
be also imparted to the feed carriage by a segment and rack, or by a crank,
or by an eccentric, or in any manner that may be convenient.
What I claim as the Invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is
combining the needles and sinkers with a reciprocating carriage operating
substantially as herein set forth.
I also claim the adjustment of the position of the needles at the time the
sinkers are forming the folds of yarn, by means of grooves in the nosing
whose sides converge, so as to insure the uniform width of the stitches.
I also claim the combination of a reciprocating series of needles with a
reciprocating thread guide, operating substantially as herein set forth, so as
to move at times with the needles, and to remain stationary at other times
when the needles are moving.
I also claim the varying of the width of the fabric by causing the thread
guide to pass down between one pair of needles, and to rise between another
pair, by mechanism operating substantially as herein set forth, thus producing
a selvage edge when widening is effected.
I also claim the combination of under supports, operating substantially as
herein set forth, with a reciprocating series of needles, so as to support the
needles and effect the closing of their barbs.
I also claim combining with a reciprocating series of needles and sinkers
cam bars or their equivalents, in such manner as to impart the necessary
movenients for forming the loops to the several members of the series in
succession, substantially as herein set forth.
I also claim combining a reciprocating series of needles and sinkers with
reciprocating mechanism for taking up the work as it is formed, substantially
as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, 1, the said George Tomlinson Bousfield, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
GEO. T. BOUSFIELD. (L.S.)
Witness,
R. BROWNING,
New Court, St. Swithin's Lane.