In- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED AND TEXTILE FABRICS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wilkinson, of the Town and County
of Nottingham, Framework Knitter, for the Invention of "In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED AND TEXTILE FABRICS,
Sealed the 22nd February 1853, and dated the 24th November 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wilkinson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th November 1852.
I, WILLIAM WILKINSON, of the Town and County of Nottingham,
Framework Knitter, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED AND TEXTILE FABRICS,
AND IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in certain improvements in what is termed
the stocking frame, whereby all the requisite shape necessary to form
a complete stocking can be given to it.. In all machines hitherto con-
structed for forming stockings, gloves, &c., the workman from the first
commencement has to lay each course of thread separately, and to con-
tinue altering by hand each course or row of loops to suit the increasing.

page_text: and diminishing size of the stocking, &c. This I propose to effect
entirely by the aid of certain mechanical arrangements which will
admit of the whole stocking or glove, &c., being formed without re-
quiring the workman in any case to touch or handle the thread, and
this with a degree of certainty and perfection in the article to be formed
hitherto unattained. My improved machine possesses also a further
advantage, that whereas in machines of the old construction not more
than one fabric can be formed at a time, while in the machines con-
structed according to my improvements two, three, or more stockings,
gloves, &c., can be formed at one and the same time, and with the
same degree of accuracy and perfection. The same class of machinery
may also be applied to the formation of "fashioned plaited" goods of
two, three, or more threads, in which the inferior quality thread may be
placed on the inside and the superior quality thread on the outside,
giving to the stocking or other article all the appearance of first quality
goods. Hitherto all "plaited" goods have been made upon the "cut
up"principle, that is to say, the necessary form required to be given
to the web from the machine to form gloves, stockings, &c., has been
effected by hand, which must be necessarily, to a greater or less extent,
imperfect; but whereas in my machine the whole stocking or glove
can be made completely fashioned, and this method of one, two, three,
or more threads. of different materials, as may be required. Should it
also be desired, goods may be formed partly plaited and partly not,
giving to the article all variety of pattern, such as stripes, squares,
diamonds, &c.
Figure 1, of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents the front
elevation of a machine constructed according to my said improvements;
and Figure 2, a cross section of the same. A, A, is the general frame-
work of the machine. B, B, the sole bar. C, the needle bar, carry-
ing the needles a, a. D, is the jack bar; and b, b, the jacks (Fig. 2).
E, is the slur bar. F, the springs for actuating the jacks. G, is the
locker which is provided with a locker bar and sleigh as usual. H, is
the tie bar and I, the main spring, which connects the tie bar H, and
cross bar K, together. L, are the top arms; and L', the spindle bar.
M, is the falling bar and half jacks. N, is the sinker bar, sinker leads,

page_text: and lead sinkers. O, are the jack sinkers. P, is the hand bar; and
P, the hand bar leaf. The machine is provided with verge, star, and
star levers, for lengthening or shortening the loop, trucks, caster backs,
hanging bit, fore sinker, and carriage bar, as usual in machines of this
description. Q, is the presser, and Q, the presser bar. R, are stays
for regulating the pressure on the loops. The parts of the machine just
herein-before described are incidental to all machines of this class of
construction, and to which I lay no claim. I will now describe those
parts which constitute my improvements, and by which I am enabled
to "fashion" or form the stocking, glove, &c.
S, is an upper rail which is bolted to the standards T, T, attached
to the needle bar. This upper rail serves to carry the guide carriage T¹,
which slides to and fro upon it by means of the rollers c, c, when'
actuated by the driving cords from the slur wheel T. U, are the
guides which are of the peculiar box form separately represented in
Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. U¹, is the rod of the guide which is screwed
at its upper end to enable it to be secured to the guide carriage by the
nuts d, d. U2, is the box part, which is formed of brass and of the
peculiar shape. shewn.
The particular object of this box part is to carry the thread or threads
to the foot part e, and also, from the front edge of it being made of an
angular shape, it is enabled to enter the sinker gates and to lay the
thread upon the needles. In all guides of the old construction, wherever
it has been found necessary to lay the thread to form the selvage, spaces
have been left in the sinkers and jacks to admit of the guides to lay
the thread upon the needles, and by this arrangement none but straight
goods have been made; but from my peculiar form of guide they are
able to enter between the sinkers and jacks at any part that shall be
V, is the under rail, which
necessary in forming fashioned work.
serves as a guide to the guide carriage through the intervention of the
friction wheels f. W, is the jack wire which is connected to the upper
rail S, by the supports g, g, and carries the narrowing jacks W', W',
(Fig. 1). The purpose of these jacks is to shorten or lengthen the
traverse of the guide carriage when forming fashioned work, and is
effected in the following manner :-The thickness of each of these jacks

page_text: 66
is so regulated as to be equal to the gauge of two needles, so that wher
one jack at each end of the machine is brought down upon the uppe
rail the traverse of the guide carriage is shortened to the extent of two
needles at each end, and from my construction of guides being enabled
to enter between the sinker gates at any part, the thread is consequently
laid at each side of the web two needles less than the previous traverse
of the guide carriage and guides, so that the web, being formed upon
the needles can be made of a gradually increasing or diminishing width,
according as the jacks are brought down or placed up, and this to suit
the shape or fashion of the gloves, stockings, &c., under process of
formation. In connection with my improved guide carriage, guide,
and narrowing jacks just herein-before described, I make use of an
improved tickler" carriage, represented separately in Figures 8, and 9.
X, X, (Fig. 1,) are the rails or arms on which the tickler carriage
is supported at each end of the machine, and by which the sets of
ticklers are introduced into the needles when narrowing or in-
creasing the width of the web. X, is the sole plate of the carriage,
supporting at each end the wheels h; h, by which the carriage runs
upon the rails X, X. X2, X", are two square rods, which work upon
the friction rollers i, and are kept in their proper parallel position by
the guide pieces k, k. The top and one side of each of these square bars
are cut with ratchet teeth as shewn. 1, is an upright spindle, which is
attached to and passes through the sole plate X, and carries at top the
small cross levers m, m, to each of which is attached the spring
palls n, n. These palls are placed in the opposite directions the one
to the other, so that the pall ; takes into the teeth upon the square
bar X, while the pall n', gears into the teeth on the bar X". The
lower end of the spindle 7, beneath the sole plate, carries a short lever,
provided with a handle l², for giving motion to the two bars X2, X3,
through the intervention of the palls n, no, o', are two small side
springs provided each with a tooth, which takes into the ratchet teeth
on the side of the bars X²; X³, and prevent them for running back
after they have been moved by the palls n, n. p, p, are guide rollers
so as to steady the forward motion of the tickler carriage, and insure
the accuracy with which the ticklers are introduced into the needles.
i,

page_text: Y, Y, are the tickler leads in which the ticklers Y', are inserted when
cast in the moulds. These tickler leads are secured in sets to the
bars X2, X. The object of these ticklers is to take the selvage loops
on each side of each separate web from off their respective needles,
and transfer them to the next needles holding the portion of the web
to be narrowed or fashioned. This particular class. of ticklers; and the
peculiar manner of working them, will enable me in the same machine
to form what is termed lace hose. Should it be desired to give to the
web any pattern, such as stripes, ribs, &c., I make use of a circular guide,
such as is represented in Figure 10. These guides are arranged in a
series, and cast in leads as usual, and then attached in segments to a
bar which is placed across the machine. These guides are provided
with holes r, r, through which the threads are guided to the needles.
To prevent the threads from coming in contact with the wrong sinker,
pieces of brass are soldered to each of the guides similar to those on
the guides U, U, in Figs. 3 and 4. Z, Z, (Figs. 1 and 2,) are the
framework guides and wires for guiding, the thread from the bobbins
placed on the platform 2, to the circular guides in forming figured
work, there being a sufficient number of bobbins on the platform to
supply one thread to each guide. In forming plain work the bobbins
are arranged upon the rail Z, in front of the machine. Figures 11,
and 12, represent the guide carriage, which I adopt when forming
figured webs in lieu of the guide carriage herein-before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Wilkinson in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 24th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME; I,
WILLIAM WILKINSON, of the Town and County of Nottingham, Frame-
work Knitter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said William Wilkinson, Her special
licence that I, the said William Wilkinson, iny executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Wilkinson, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED AND TEXTILE FABRICS, AND
IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Wilkinson, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Wilkinson, 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 thereof, reference being had to the drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:
My Invention consists in certain improvements in what is termed the
stocking frame, whereby all the requisite shape or fashion necessary to
form a complete stocking or glove can be given to the fabric produced.
In all machines hitherto constructed for forming stockings, gloves, &c.,
the workman from the first commencement of the work has to lay
cach course of thread separately, and to continue altering by hand each
course or row of loops to suit the increasing or diminishing size of the
stocking, &c. This I purpose to effect entirely by the aid of certain
mechanical arrangements, which will admit of the whole stocking or
glove, &c., being formed without requiring the workman in any case
to touch or handle the thread, and this with a degree of certainty and
perfection in the article to be formed hitherto unattained.
In machines as now ordinarily constructed not more than one fabric
can be formed at a time, while in the machines constructed according

page_text: to my Invention two, three, or more stockings, gloves, or other like
fabrics can be formed at one and the same time, and with the same
degree of accuracy and perfection in the fashioning.
Figure 1, of the Drawings hereunto annexed represents a front
elevation of a machine constructed according to my said improvements;
and Figure 2, a cross section of the same. A, A, is the general frame-
work. B, B, the sole bar. C, the needle bar carrying the needles a, a.
D, is the jack bar, and b, b, the jacks, one of which is separately
represented in Figure 3. E, is the slur bar. F, the springs for
actuating the jacks. G, is the locker, which is provided with a locker
bar and sleigh as usual. H, is the tie bar; and I, the main spring,
which connects the tie bar H, and cross bar K, together. L, are the
top arms; and L', the spindle bar. M, is the falling bar and half
jacks. N, is the sinker bar, sinker leads, and lead sinkers. O, is the
hand bar; and P, the hand bar leaf. The machine is provided with
verge, star, and star levers, for lengthening or shortening the loop,
trucks, caster backs, hanging bit, fore sinker, jack sinkers, and carriage
bar, as usual in machines of this description. Q, is the presser; and Q',
the presser bar. R, are stays for regulating the pressure on the loops.
The parts of the machine just herein-before described are incidental to
all machines of this class of construction, and to which I lay no claim.
I will now describe those parts which constitute ny improvements,
and by which I am enabled to fashion or or form the stocking, glove, or
other like fabric. S, is an upper rail bolted to the standards T, T,
attached to the needle bar. This upper rail carries the guide carriage T¹,
which slides to and fro upon it by means of the rollers c, c, when
actuated by the driving cords from the slur wheel T. Figures 4, and 5,
are respectively front and end views of this guide carriage detached
from the machine, and represented upon an enlarged scale to shew its
construction more clearly. U, U, are the guides, which are of the
peculiar box form, separately represented in Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
U', is the rod of the guide, which is passed through a hole in the
rod T³, and secured in its requisite position by a pinching screw a.
The rod T3, may be made of any desired length, and pierced with
holes on the inside or outside of the side rods T, so as to carry

page_text: any required number of guides, and also to enable the same guide
carriage being adapted to wider or narrower frames. The rod T, is
secured in its position, and prevented from any lateral play by
the pinching screws b, b, passed through the lower ends of the
şide rods T, T. U, is the box part of the guide, which is formed
of brass, and of the peculiar. shape shewn. The particular object of
this box part is to carry the thread or threads to the foot part e, and
also from the front edge of it being made of an angular shape it is
enabled to enter the sinker gates and to lay the thread upon the
needles. In all guides of the old construction, wherever it has been
found necessary to lay the thread to form the selvage; spaces have been
left in the sinkers and jacks to admit of the guides laying the thread
upon the needles, and by this arrangement none but straight goods
have been formed; but from my peculiar form of guides they are. able
to enter between the sinkers and jacks at any part necessary for forming
fashioned work. V, is the under rail, which serves as a guide to the
guide carriage through the intervention of the thumb-screw f. Should
it be desired, friction wheels may be substituted for the thumb-screw.
W, is the jack wire, which is connected to the upper rail S, by the
supports g, g, and carries the narrowing jacks W, W. Figure 11,
represents a separate view of one of these narrowing jacks, the purpose
of which is to shorten or lengthen the traverse of the guide carriage,
when forming fashioned work, in the following manner :-The thickness
of each jack is so regulated as to be equal to the gauge of two needles,
so that when one jack at each end of the machine is brought down
upon the upper rail the traverse of the guide carriages is shortened to
the extent of two needles at each end, and from my construction of
guides being enabled to enter between the sinker gates at any part,
the thread is consequently laid at each side of the web two needles less
than the previous traverse of the guide carriage and guides, so that the
web being formed upon the needles can be made of a gradually in-
creasing or diminishing width, according as the jacks are brought down
or placed up, and this to suit the shape or fashion of the stockings, gloves,
or other articles under process of formation. In connection with my
improved guide carriage, guides, and narrrowing jacks, just herein-before

page_text: described, I make use of an improved tickler carriage, represented
separately in Figures 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16. X, X, (Figure 1,) are the
rails or armis on which the tickler carriage is supported at each end of
the machine, and on which the sets of ticklers are introduced into the
needles when narrowing or increasing the width of the web. X', is
the sole plate of the carriage, which has attached to it at each end the
spindles h, h, which work in pieces Z, Z, free to slide to and fro in
parallel slots in the arms X, X. X, X, are two bars formed out of
augle iron. These bars slide upon the sole plate X', and are kept in
their proper parallel position by the guide pieces k, k. The inner part of
each of these bars has screwed to it leads, cast with teeth, similar to a
rack as shewn at y, in the detached view of one of these bars in Figure
14. 7, is a spindle, which is attached to and passes through the sole
plate X, and carries a toothed wheel i, which gears into the teeth of
the rack on each bar. The lower end of the spindle 7, beneath the sole
plate, also carries a ratchet wheel m. 12, is a lever, which is centred
upon a pin on the underside of the sole plate, as shewn in Figure 15.
This lever has attached to. it the paul ", which takes into the teeth
of the ratchet wheel m, and is kept in contact with them by
the spring . 1, is a handle which projects from the lever 12, by
the pull of which by the thumb of the attendant towards the pro-
jecting piece 1, which is grasped by the fingers, the paul causes
the ratchet wheel m, to rotate and give motion to the toothed
wheel, which being in gear with the racks on the inside of the
bars X, X, causes them to be moved and bring the ticklers nearer to
each other, each tooth of the ratchet wheel being equal to the gauge of
the distance between two needles. , is a spring which bears against
the short arm of the lever 12, in order to restore the paul 13, to its first.
position, when the handle 1, is released, and so to prepare the ratchet
wheel m, for a fresh movement when it is again desired to shift the
bars X, X. The guides Z,.Z, serve to steady the forward motion of
the tickler carriage, and insure the accuracy with which the ticklers are
introduced into the needles. Y, Y, are the tickler leads, in which the
ticklers Y', are inserted when cast in the moulds. These tickler leads.

page_text: are secured in sets to the bars X2, X³. The object of these ticklers is
to take the selvage loops on each side of each separate web from off*
their respective needles, and transfer them to the next needles holding
the portion of the web to be narrowed or fashioned. This particular
class of ticklers, and the peculiar manner of working them, will enable.
me in the same machine to form what is termed lace hose. Should it
be desired to give to the web any pattern, such as stripes or ribs, I
make use of a circular guide represented in Figure 17. These guides
are arranged in a series, and cast in leads as usual, and then attached.
in segments to a bar which is placed across the machine. They are
provided with holes 1, 2, through which the threads are guided to the
needles. To prevent the threads from coming in contact with the
wrong sinker, pieces of brass are soldered to each of the guides similar
to those on the. guides U, U2, in Figures 6, and 7. Figures 18, and 19,
represent the guide carriage, which I adopt when forming figured webs
in lieu of the guide carriage herein-before described. Z', Z', are the
bobbins which are placed upon wires attached to the T pieces Z³, Z²
These T pieces are secured to the framework of the machine. Although
in the arrangements of apparatus herein-before described and represented
in the Drawings hereunto annexed complete fashioned hose could be
formed in one machine when desired, yet I find it more convenient, and
a saving in time, to form the leg part of the hose or stocking in one
machine, and then transfer them to other machines constructed with
the same arrangements where the heels can be formed, from which
machines I again transfer them to other and similar machines for
forming the feet.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,
first, the general combinations and arrangements of machinery herein-
before described and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed
for forming stockings, gloves, hose, and such like articles, having all the
necessary and requisite shape or fashion given to them.
And second, the additions to and employment in the ordinary stock-
ing frame of the box guide, guide carriage, narrowing jacks W', with

page_text: their appendages, and the ticklers and tickler carriages, all as before
represented and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilkinson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
WILLIAM
Signed in the presence of ALFRED LONGSDON,
of 166, Fleet St.,
London.
INSON. (L.S.)