Improvements in or relating to Knitting Frames.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Dec., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Knitting Frames.
I, TOM DIXON WESTON, Painter Street Glove Works, Leicester, Glove
Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relating to knitting frames has for its object to embody certain
improvements in their construction by means of which the automatic production
of plated or double faced fabrics in a great variety of different designs or patterns
may be effected.
According to this invention I propose to employ in addition to the other usual
parts of the knitting machine a series of independently movable thread layers
preferably of the same number and gauge as the needles, and arranged under the
control of jacquard and other mechanism so as to lay their threads over any
predetermined needles for one or more courses as desired, and thereby regulate
or determine the pattern to be produced.
Each of the said thread layers may be provided with, a differently coloured
thread and may be soldered or otherwise attached to a jack or lever fulcrummed on
a jackwire and located in a comb or tricked plate in front of the machine, having
bearings in the ends thereof.
The selection of the various thread layers is determined by jacquard or pattern
mechanism and to enable each thread layer or its jack to be actuated by the said
jacquard it is connected by a cord or wire to a lever in contact with the jacquard
which may be provided with either perforations or projections for operating the
said levers for the purpose named.
The selected thread layers having been moved into position to lay their threads,
the bar upon which they are carried may be moved endwise by one or more
pattern wheels or chains so that the threads may be laid over one or more needles.
The thread layers may lay their threads over the same or other needles at
succeeding courses according to the pattern it is desired to produce.
The thread layers may then be lowered between the needles and moved either
at once or by degrees back to their starting point.
The pattern wheel or chain and the jacquard mechanism may each be furnished
with a ratchet wheel and clawkers for its actuation and these may receive motion
through the medium of arms or levers operated upon directly or indirectly from
cams on the cam shaft.
Each thread layer or its jack may be under spring control and a bar operated
hrough suitable intermediate arms or levers from a cam on the cam shaft may
be employed to depress the thread layers after they have been moved into the
position to lay the thread as herein before described.
In some cases the separately and independently movable thread lavers may

page_text: have a sliding action instead of being centred on a fulcrum or jackwire as here-
inbefore described.
I reserve to myself the right to vary the details of construction without depart-
ing from the main lines of the invention.
14: 541 1 of Dawn 1007:
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in or relating to Knitting Frames.
TOM DIXON WESTON of Painter Street Glove Works Leicester Glove Manufacturer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in knitting machines and has for its
object the provision of mean's for enabling an additional thread or threads to be
laid upon any particular needle or needles, whereby a greater variety of plated
patterns may be produced than is possible with machines fitted with guides which
operate together.
According to this invention.each extra thread guide is so fitted that it can be
selected by jacquard or pattern mechanism, and moved into position to lay its
thread in the selected needle. In one arrangement the extra thread guides are
pivotted in guides or tricks and are coupled to a jacquard. In another arrange-
ment the extra thread guides are fitted to slide in tricks and are selected by a
jacquard. In the above arrangements the bar carrying the tricks for the extra
thread guides have a to and fro endwise movement for wrapping the threads on
the needles.
In another arrangement the extra thread guides are moved into and out of
position for wrapping their threads by a jacquard or pattern cylinder and the
bar carrying the extra thread guides is oscillated to carry the selected guides
through the needles and is moved endways for wrapping the threads on the needles.
Preferably springs are used for returning the extra thread guides to their
normal position, but a catch bar arrangement operated by a cam may be used if
desired
In the accompanying drawings which illustrate this invention, and are referred
to in the following detailed description
Fig. 1 is a section of part of a knitting machine showing the application of a
single set of extra thread guides.
Fig. 2 is a section of an arrangement in which the extra thread guides are fitted
to slide.
Fig. 3 is a section of two sets of sliding thread guides, and
Fig. 4 is an arrangement of pivotted extra thread guides selected by a pattern
cylinder.
In the machine selected. to illustrate this invention the needles a are carried
by a fixed bar b to which they are attached in the usual manner. The jack and
dividing sinkers c are also mounted and actuated as in an ordinary machine:
To each of the links d which give the to and fro motion to the sinkers there is
attached a bracket e on which the rail f is mounted so that it can move endways.
For obtaining this motion the bracket e at one end of the machine is fitted with
a cam wheel which is intermittently rotated by a ratchet wheel h from a clawker

page_text: operated from any convenient moving part of the machine. The wheel g is cut to
give the necessary to and fro motion to the bar f which is held in contact with the
wheel by a spring, and there is also a spring acting in conjunction with a 'cut
wheel for holding the wheel 9 in position after each movement, the
wheels g, h and being carried upon the same axle and fitted to rotate together..
Upon the top of the bar f. there is a trick bar k cut to receive a jack 1 for each
needle, and to each jack there is attached a guide m for the extra threads. These
jacks and their attached guides are pivotted at n and are held in the position shown
by springs o, and are connected to the jacquard by cords p or equivalent
connections.
In a modification shown in Fig. 2 the bar f is mounted and actuated similarly
to the bar f Fig. 1. while the guides m² are mounted on jacks which are fitted
to slide vertically in tricks 1. In this arangement a plate 7 is employed. to.
prevent the jacks falling out of the tricks. The jacks are connected to the jacquard
by cords 2 and springs o² are used for holding the jacks down. The jacks are
also provided with lugs r to limit the movement of the same in either direction.
In Fig. 3 an arrangement with two sets of guides is shown. Each set of
guides m³ with their jacks and tricks 3, is mounted upon a bar f and both
bars may be connected together and moved endways as a single bar, or each bar
may be may be moved endwavs independently of the other, and in either case the
bars may be moved by mechanism similar to that shown and described with
reference to the movement of the bar f Fig. 1. In this arrangement the jacks
are not raised and lowered between the needles by the jacquard as in the pre-
viously described arrangements but are moved forward when selected into a
position to wrap their their when raised through the needles. For this purpose
the bars in addition to their longitudinal movement have a tipping motion
which is obtained by mounting both bars on the same axle and fitting the same
with a lever which is connected to some convenient arrangement of operating
mechanism.
In Fig. 4 another arrangement with pivotted jacks is shown. The guides m
are carried by jacks which are pivotted at 4 and held up to a stop wire by
springs o. The tricks and bar f are similar to the corresponding parts in
the previously described arrangements. On each jack there is a projecting
pin and the guides are selected by a pattern cylinder which has holes or their
equivalent for the pins s4, the position of the holes in the cylinder being arranged
according to the pattern required.
A pattern cylinder instead of a jacquard may also be used in connection with
the other arrangements. Thus in the first arrangement the cylinder might be
place over the outside end of the jacks; in the second arrangement vertically
under the jacks, and in the third arrangement two cylinders would be required
and the jacks modified to work in conjunction therewith.
When the pattern cylinder is used with the herein described arrangements it
is so mounted and actuated that it has the same movements as the bar f, and in
addition it is moved to and from the jacks or the pins on the same and when
furthest from the jacks it is partially rotated to bring another series of holes into
operation.
In machines with extra thread guides as usually constructed all the guides in
each set, if more than one set is used, are carried by the same bar and at each
wrapping all the guides will wrap their threads on a corresponding number of
needles while in the improved arrangement herein described any guide may be
selected to wrap its thread at any course and when two sets of guides are used
solid plated diamonds and other patterns produced by the same method may he
made.
The threads with which the guides are supplied are preferably drawn from
hobbins or spools instead of from a warp beam, and the machine may be provided
with a pusher similar to that used on existing machines and operated in a similar
manner.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination with a knitting machine of the kind herein referred to, of
extra thread guides so mounted that each guide can wrap its thread on a needle
independently of the other guides and a jacquard or pattern mechanism for select-
ing the guides, arranged and operating substantially as herein shown and described
with reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. The combination with a knitting machine of independently movable guides
arranged substantially as herein described with reference to Fig. 1 and selected by
a jacquard or pattern cylinder.
3. The combination with a knitting machine of independently movable guides
arranged substantially as herein described with reference to Fig. 2 of the accom-
panying drawings and selected by a jacquard or pattern cylinder.
4. The combination with a knitting machine of independently movable guides
arranged substantially as herein described with reference to Fig. 3 of the accom-
panying drawings and selected by a jacquard or pattern cylinder.
5. The combination with a knitting machine of independently movable guides
arranged substantially as herein described with reference to Fig. 4 of the accom-
panying drawings and selected by a jacquard or pattern cylinder.
Dated this 6th day of October 1897.