Improvements in the Manufacture of Hosiery and in Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Apr., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 16th Jan., 1890-Accepted, 12th Apr., 1890
•
Improvements in the Manufacture of Hosiery and in Apparatus
therefor.
We, SAMUEL DAVIS and FRANK MOORE, Hosiery Manufacturers, of 67 Granby
Street, Leicester, in the County of Leicester, JAMES PALMER of Welland Street,
Highfields, and EDWIN NEWTON of 8 Clarendon Park Road, both of Leicester in
the County of Leicester, Mechanics do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
:-
The object of our invention is to provide for splicing the ankle, heel, foot-bottom
and toe of a seamless stocking, half-hose or sock, or other sectional part of a circular
piece of knitting, on an automatic steam knitting machine.
In carrying our said invention into practice we fit a pipe or tube to that part of the
knitting-machine known as the yarn-carrier, and we provide a bracket fitted on the
web holder and a cam ring with trapper plate attached to come over the said pipe in
the yarn-carrier; also an axle on the aforesaid bracket to carry a rack-wheel with
cam-wheel attached to actuate the trapper. We employ a tension spring underneath
the rack wheel for adjusting the wheel and a joint under the machine-bed to carry a
half circular lever.
We also employ two bolts fitted in the web holder bed and cover (to act on rack
wheel) acted on by the aforesaid half circular lever. The said lever is actuated by an
adjustable bolt worked by the ordinary splicing lever and chain. An adjustable
bracket is fitted on the cam ring to carry the splicing bobbin.
Dated this 17th day of April 1889.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Hosiery and in Apparatus
therefor.
We, SAMUEL DAVIS and FRANK MOORE, of 67 Granby Street, Leicester, in the
County of Leicester, Hosiery Manufacturers and JAMES PALMER of Welland Street,
Highfields, Leicester, and EDWIN NEWTON of 8 Clarendon Park Road, Leicester,
Mechanics, 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 :-
Our invention relates to apparatus for the manufacture of hosiery.
By our said invention we provide improved means for splicing the ankle, heel foot-
bottom or toe of a seamless stocking, half-hose or sock, or other sectional part or parts
of a circular piece of knitting, on an automatic knitting machine.
Our said invention is advantageously applicable to knitting machines having.
vertical needles such as for instance that commonly known as the "Shaw" stocking
machine, or to knitting machines having horizontal needles such as that known as the
"Aikens" machine or to any other suitable automatic circular knitting machine.
In the accompanying drawings we have shown how our said invention may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice.
Figure 1 is a plan, and
Figure 2 is a side elevation illustrating our improvements applied to a "Shaw"

page_text: Figure 3 is a front elevation of a portion of the said machine.
Figure 4 is a similar view to Figure 1, some of the parts being removed, showing
the parts in a different position, and
Figure 5 is a vertical section on the line x, x, Figure 4, drawn to an enlarged.
scale, showing details of construction.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
A is the table of the machine, B is the annular shield or guard surrounding the
rotating or cam ring carrying the web holders, C is the rotating or cam ring, D is
the yarn carrier, E is the pillar or standard carrying the main or ordinary thread
tensions and guides, F is the pattern-chain, G is the main or ordinary thread or threads,
H is the additional splicing or supplementary thread, I are the web holders.
a is a pillar or standard secured to the upper surface of the rotating or cam ring C
so that it will move therewith. The pillar or standard a is provided with a bobbin
holder 6 carrying a bobbin b¹ for supplying the additional splicing or supplementary
thread H for splicing or thickening the stocking or other article.
The pillar or standard a is also provided with guides a¹ for the said thread H and
with a guide a for the original or main thread or threads G. c is a tube through
which pass both the main or original thread or threads G and the additional splicing
or supplementary thread H. The tube c is secured in any suitable manner to the
yarn carrier D and serves for periodically conducting the said additional splicing or
supplementary thread H into the fabric with the original or main thread or threads G.
d is a guide attached to the plate carrying the said yarn carrier D, and intended for
keeping the said original or main thread or threads G separate from the additional
splicing or supplementary thread H. e is a bracket secured upon the upper surface of
the rotating or cam ring C so that it will move therewith. The additional splicing or
supplementary thread H passes through a hole f¹ in a guide f provided upon an
extension e¹ of the bracket e and between jaws g, g' and joins the main or original
thread or threads G in the above mentioned tube c. The jaw g is formed in one with
or rigidly secured to the extension e¹ of the said bracket e and the jaw g' is pivoted
at g to a lug g' upon the said extension. Suitable means hereinafter described are
provided for periodically and automatically closing the said jaws (as shown in Figure 1)
so as to form as it were a trap which holds or retains the additional splicing or supple-
mentary thread H and causes the breakage thereof. By these means the splicing or
thickening will be broken after it has been carried round the stocking or other article
for any desired distance.
h is a lever pivoted at h¹ to a boss e³ upon the bracket e. The extremity of the long
arm of the said lover can be moved beneath the guides fand between the latter and
the jaws g, g. is a hole provided in this extremity of the said long arm through
which passes the additional splicing or supplementary thread H.
The parts are so constructed and arranged that while the said additional splicing or
supplementary thread is held or retained in the said jaws or trap g g', the long arm of
the lever / will be moved outward into the position shown in Figures 1, 2 and 5 and
thus caused to draw down a certain amount of the said additional splicing or supple-
mentary thread from the bobbin b¹, and when the said additional splicing or supple-
mentary thread is released by the opening of the said jaws or trap g, gl, the lever /
will resume its normal position underneath the guide thus releasing the portion of
the additional splicing or supplementary thread H drawn down by the outward
movement of the lever h and causing a certain amount of slack in the said additional
splicing or supplementary thread which slack permits the said threads to follow the
original or main thread or threads G down the tube c and to enter the fabric before
the tension comes into operation.
For automatically opening and closing the trap or jaws g, g¹ at the proper times
during each revolution of the rotating or cam ring C we provide the following
mechanism, that is to say:-i is a semicircular or forked lever pivoted at to the
underside of the annular shield or guard B. j,j, are stops or bolts arranged to move
freely in blocks or pieces j¹ attached to the outer edge or periphery of the said annular
shiold or guard B.

page_text: The lower extremities of the said stops or bolts j bear against and are supported by
the extremities of the semicircular or forked lever i and the upper extremities thereof
are so arranged as to be flush with the upper surface of the said annular shield or
guard under normal conditions. Suitable ineans hereinafter described are provided
for periodically and automatically depressing the short arm i* of the said lever i and
raising the semicircular or forked arm thereof and consequently also the stops or
bolts j into the position shown more clearly in Figures 2 and 3. When the said stops
or bolts are thus raised above the surface of the annular shield or guard B they extend
into the path of a ratchet or toothed wheel k which is carried upon a spindle secured
to the bracket e. k is a disc or friction spring and 11, are nuts for adjusting the
tension of the said spring. m is a cam or cam-wheel formed in one with or firmly
secured to the said ratchet or toothed wheel, k.
With this cam engages the short arm of the lever h, and an extension g* upon
the jaw g¹. n is a spring for retaining the said lever and extension g' in engage-
ment with the said cam or cam-wheel m. The said lever h and the extension g* are
so arranged relatively to the said cam or cam-wheel m that, during the rotation of
the latter, they will be alternately operated or move in opposite directions thereby.
Thus when the said cam-wheel m has been moved by one or other of the teeth of
the ratchet or toothed wheel striking against one of the stops or bolts j into the
position shown in Figure 1 so as to operate or move the extension g' to close the
jaws or trap g, g and hold or retain the additional splicing or supplementary thread,
the long arm of the lever h will be moved from beneath the guide to draw down
the splicing thread as above described. When on the contrary the said cam-wheel m
has been moved by one or other of the teeth of the ratchet wheel striking against
the other stop or bolt j into the position shown in Figure 4 so as to operate or move
the extension g to open the jaws or trap y, gl, and release the additional splicing
or supplementary thread H, the long arm of the lever is returned to its normal
position underneath the guide and the slack portion of the said thread is released
and permitted to fall into the tube c and pass along with the main or original thread
into the fabric.
с
In order to move or elevate the stops or bolts into the path of the ratchet or
toothed wheel and to permit them to resume their normal position at the proper
times we provide a piece o arranged to slide freely in a hole in a bracket p attached
to the table A. This piece o is provided at one extremity with a head or swelling o
against which are adapted to bear inclined surfaces upon blocks or wedge pieces o secured
upon the pattern chain F so as to move the said piece o in one or the other direction
into or from the bracket p. When the piece o is moved by one of the said blocks
or wedge pieces from the bracket p, the head or swelling o¹ (or an inclined surface
provided thereon) moves further underneath the short arm of a bell-crank lever r
which normally rests thereon and raises the latter consequently moving inward the
long arm of the said bell-crank lever. The said bell-crank lever is pivoted at to
a bracket secured to the table A, and the short arm thereof is preferably secured
therecn by a set screw or other suitable means is provided for rendering the said
short arm adjustable relatively to the long-arm.
The long arm of the said bell-crank lever is coupled by means of a connecting
rod to one extremity of a sliding rod s which works in a suitable hole in the
bracket supporting the annular shield or guard B. Upon the other extremity
or head of the sliding rod s is provided an inclined surface which bears against
an inclined surface upon the short arm of the lever i so as to depress the short arm
and elevate the long arm of the said lever, and thus raise the stops or bolts ; as
more clearly shown in Figures 2 and 3. When the piece o is moved back to its
normal or original position by the next succeeding block or wedgo piece q the sliding
rods and bell crank lever resume their normal position under the action of a spiral or
other suitable spring u. The blocks or wedge pieces 7 are placed at such a distance
apart upon the pattern chain F as to permit the stop or bolts j to project above the
surface of the annular shield or guard B for the length of time necessary to form

page_text: the splicing or thickening as far around the stocking or other article as may be
required. Any desired number of the said blocks or wedge pieces q may be placed
upon the pattern-chain F so as to move the stops or bolts into the elevated or
operative position at one or more parts of the fabric where it is desired to form the
splicing or thickening, and the said blocks or wedge pieces may be spaced so as to
maintain the said stops or bolts in the said elevated or operative position for the
required length of time during each splicing or thickening operation.
The operation of the apparatus will be readily understood from the foregoing
description. Although we have hereinbefore described our said invention more
particularly as applied to a machine of the kind or class commonly known as a "Shaw"
stocking machine in which the needles are placed vertically, it will readily be seen
that by obvious modifications our said invention may be also advantageously applied
to machines having the needles placed in a horizontal position.
It is obvious that we can somewhat modify our apparatus without departing from
the nature of our said invention. For instance we can employ means other than
those above described for moving the stops or bolts j into the path of the ratchet or
toothed wheel k. Any convenient number of extra or supplementary or splicing threads
may be employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we wish it understood
that we claim :-
1. In an automatic knitting machine, the combination with the cam-ring for
operating the yarn or web-holders of a splicing attachment comprising jaws for
alternately gripping and releasing the splicing thread, a cam and ratchet wheel
for operating the said jaws fitted to rotate upon a stud fixed in the said cam-ring
and adjustable bolts or stops for operating the said ratchet wheel and cam in the
rotation of the said cam-ring substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
2. In an automatic knitting-machine the combination with the cam-ring for
operating the yarn or web-holders and the jaws for alternately gripping and releasing
the splicing-thread of a feed lever for the splicing thread, a spring connecting the
said lever with the movable jaw, a cam and ratchet wheel for operating the said
lever and jaw, fitted to rotate upon a stud fixed in the said cam-ring, and adjustable
bolts or stops for imparting step-by-step rotation to the said ratchet wheel and cam
in the rotation of the said cam-ring, substantially as, and for the purposes, set
forth.
3. In an automatic knitting machine, the combination of the tubular thread
guide adapted to conduct the main and splicing threads into the work, the jaws
above the said thread guide for alternately gripping and releasing the said
splicing thread, the feed lever for the splicing thread arranged to move to and from
the said jaws, and means substantially such as above described, for operating the
movable jaw and feed lever substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
4. In an automatic knitting machine, the combination with the gripping jaws, the
feed-lever and the cam and ratchet-wheel for operating the same, of adjustable bolts or
stops operated by wedge pieces on the pattern-chain and by a retracting spring
whereby the said bolts or stops are moved into and out of the path of the said
ratchet-wheel, substantially as and for the purposes, above specified.
5. In an automatic knitting machine, the combination, with the adjustable bolts
or stops for operating the ratchet-wheel and cam in the rotation of the cam-ring,
of the semi-circular or forked lever pivoted to the table and extending beneath the
said bolts or stops, the sliding rod provided with the inclined surface adapted to act
upon a corresponding inclined surface on the short arm of the said lever, a bell-
crank lever coupled to the said sliding rod, wedge-pieces on the pattern-chain for
moving the said bell-crank-lever and sliding rod in one direction and a spring for
moving them in the reverse direction, substantially as, and for the purposes, set
forth.

page_text: 6. The combination with an automatic knitting machine, of the improved splicing
attachment consisting of the parts constructed and combined substantially as
described with reference to the accompanying drawings and operating in the manner
above specified.
D: 10111
CD 1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicants.