IMPROVEMENTS IN FINISHING HOSIERY AND OTHER GOODS."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Scattergood, of Sheepshed, in the County
of Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FINISHING
HOSIERY AND OTHER GOODS."
Sealed the 11th February 1873, and dated the 21st December 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Scattergood at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st December 1872.
I, DANIEL SCATTERGOOD, of Sheepshed, in the County of Leicester, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FINISHING HOSIERY AND OTHER Goods," to be as follows:-
i
This Invention has mainly for its object to automatically sew together
the several parts of knitted fabrics, such as the parts of stockings, shirts, :
and drawers in a similar manner to hand sewing. For this purpose I
employ needles similar to ordinary sewing needles, and threaded with..
yarn or thread in the ordinary manner, the ends of the thread or yarn.
threaded through the eye of cach needle being joined or drawn together,

page_text: so that the needles are double threaded as is usual when sewing together
by hand the edges of two parts of a knitted fabric.
In order to hold the edges of the knitted fabric to be sewn together
the loops at such edges are pressed on to a straight row of needles or
points, which have each a longitudinal groove formed in them, and
below the points the fabrics are held between clamping bars. To whip
over or sew together the two edges thus held upon the points the
threaded needles are passed through and through them as in ordinary
hand sewing. To effect this I employ spring or other grippers carried at
the lower ends of arms mounted on an axis, so that they can swing to
and fro. The grippers hold the needles at a distance from their pointed
ends, and lay the points into the grooves of the fixed needles which
carry the work, or into grooves in a metal plate in a line with them.
Slides or pushers in rear of the needles are then caused to move forward,
and to push the needles partly through the work until the points of the
needles come over and rest upon a surface in front of the points carrying
the work; the axis carrying the gripper arms is then caused to rise so
that the grippers leave the needles. The gripper arms then swing
forward and again descend so as again to seize the needles near to their
points; the gripper arms then continue to swing forward, carrying the
needles with them until they have drawn tight the needle threads, and
they are then retained by the threads, to allow of this the axis carrying
the gripper arms is oscillated to and fro by an arm connected to the axis
by a friction clutch, so that although the threads of the needles continue
to shorten the machine can continue its movements without interruption.
As the needles are thus carried to and fro through the work their
threads are held from hanging loose by being passed over fingers at the
ends of spring arms. These arms are carried by an axis which after the
grippers have drawn the needles through the work, and drawn their
threads taut, is caused to shog endwise so that the threads slip off from
the fingers; the axis carrying the fingers then turns slightly to somė-
what swing forward the fingers, and is again shogged back endwise so
that the fingers come again below the threads. The gripper arms and
the arms carrying the fingers then again swing back, and the grippers
again place the points of the needles in the grooves of the points
carrying the work, the bar carrying these points having previously
been shogged sidewise a distance equal to the distance between the
points, and the same operations are then repeated.

page_text: The swinging to and fro of the gripper arms, and the raising and
lowering of the axis which carries them, are each effected by cams on
the main or driving shaft. This shaft also carries a cam to shog end-
wise the axis of the finger arms, and to give an oscillating to-and-fro
motion. To this axis also a cam to give a to-and-fro motion to a lever
carrying a pawl to engage with a rack on the bar which carries the work,
so as to give a step-by-step movement to this bar.
In place of the axis carrying the gripper arms being caused to rise
and fall, as above described, as well as to swing the arms to and fro, it
may simply give the swinging motion to the arms whilst an upward and
downward movement is given to the bar carrying the work. When a row
of stitching or whipping over is to be made several needles at a distance
apart from one another, say, of about one and a half to two inches are
used, and they all work simultaneously in the manner above described
until the stitching made by one needle comes up to and sews over by
one or two stitches the stitching made by the needle next to it, the
whole row of stitching is then complete.
Other fabrics than knitted fabrics may thus be whipped over or sewn
together, the edges of the fabrics being held in suitable clamps. The
clamp bars for.holding the fabrics are made readily removable from the
machine, so that the work may be prepared upon them, and placed into
the machine when ready for sewing. Several bars may thus be employed
so that the machine may be kept constantly at work.
In order readily to place two edges of a knitted fabric which have to
be sewn together on to the point bar above mentioned, the loops at one
edge of the fabric are pressed on to the points of this bar whilst the
loops at the other edge of the fabric are pressed on to points on another
bar, and from these points they can readily be transferred to the first-
mentioned points, so that these points then carry both sets of loops.
The work is then clamped below the points, as before stated, by a clamp
bar which nips the work between itself and the bar which carries the
points. The clamp bar may if desired carry short points to pass into
the work, so as more effectually to hold it.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Daniel Scattergood in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 20th June 1873.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DANIEL
SCATTERGOOD, of Sheepshed, in the County of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto the said Daniel Scattergood, Her special license
tliat I, the said Daniel Scattergood, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Daniel Scattergood, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and 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 FINISHING
HOSIERY AND OTHER GOODS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Daniel Scattergood, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, 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 Daniel Scattergood, 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, that is to say :-
-
This Invention has mainly for its object to automatically sew together
the several parts of knitted fabrics such as the parts of stockings, shirts,
and drawers in a similar manner to hand sewing. For this purpose I
employ needles similar to ordinary sewing needles and threaded with
yarn or thread in the ordinary manner, the ends of the thread or yarn
threaded through the eye of each needle being joined or drawn together
SO that the needles are double threaded as is usal when sewing
together by hand the edges of two parts of a knitted fabric.

page_text: In order to hold the edges of the knitted fabric to be sewn together
the loops at such edges are pressed on to a straight row of needles or
points which have each a longitudinal groove formed in them, and below
the points the fabrics are held between clamping bars. To whip over or
sew together the two edges thus held upon the points, the threaded needles
are passed through and through them as in ordinary hand sewing. To effect,
this I employ spring or other grippers carried at the lower end of arms
mounted on an axis so that they can swing to and fro. The grippers hold
the needles at a distance from their pointed ends, and lay the points into
the grooves of the fixed needles which carry the work or into grooves in
a metal plate in a line with them. Slides or pushers in rear of the
needles are then caused to move forward and to push the needles partly
through the work until the points of the needles come over and rest
upon a surface in front of the points carrying the work, the axis carrying.
the gripper arms is then caused to rise so that the grippers leave the
needles. The gripper arms then swing forward and again descend so as
again to seize the needles near to their points; the gripper arms then
continue to swing forward carrying the needles with them until they
have drawn tight the needle threads, and they are then retained by the
threads, to allow of this the axis carrying the gripper arms is oscillated
to and fro by an arm connected to the axis by a friction clutcli, so that'
although the threads of the needles continue to shorten the machine can
continue its movements without interruption. As the needles are thus
carried to and fro through the work their threads are held from hanging,
loose by being passed over fingers at the ends of spring arms. These arms
are carried by an axis which after the grippers have drawn the needles
through the work and drawn their threads taut, is caused to shog endwise
so that the threads slip off from the fingers; the axis carrying the fingers.
then turns slightly to somewhat swing forward the fingers, and is again
shogged back endwise so that the fingers come again below the threads.,
The gripper arms and the arms carrying the fingers then again swing
back and the grippers again place the points of the needles in the,
grooves of the points carrying the work, the bar carrying these points
having previously been shogged sidewise a distance equal to the distance
between the points and the same operations are then repeated.
.
The swinging to and fro of the gripper arms and the raising and
lowering of the axis which carries them are each effected by cams on the.
main or driving shaft. This shaft also carries a cam to shog endwise the
1

page_text: axis of the finger arms and to give an oscillating to-and-fro motion to
this axis, also a cam to give a to-and-fro motion to a lever carrying a
pawl to engage with a rack on the bar which carries the work so as to
give a step-by-step movement to this bar.
In place of the axis carrying the gripper arms being caused to rise
and fall as above described as well as to swing the arms to and fro it
may simply give the swinging motion to the arms whilst an upward and
downward movement is given to the bar carrying the work. When a
row of stitching or whipping over is to be made several needles at a
distance apart from one another, say of about 1 to 6 inches, are used,
and they all work simultaneously in the manner above described until
the stitching made by one needle comes up to and sews over by one or
two stitches the stitching made by the needle next to it; the whole row
of stitching is then complete.
:
Other fabrics than knitted fabrics may thus be whipped over or sewn
together, the edges of the fabrics being held in suitable clamps. The
clamp bars for holding the fabrics are made readily removable from the
machine so that the work may be prepared upon them and placed into
the machine when ready for sewing. Several bars may thus be
employed so that the machine may be kept constantly at work.
In order readily to place two edges of a knitted fabric which have to
be sewn together on to the point bar above mentioned the loops at one
edge of the fabric are pressed on to the points of this bar, whilst the
loops at the other edge of the fabric are pressed on to points on another
bar, and from these points they can be readily transferred to the first
mentioned points so that these points then carry both sets of loops. The
work is then clamped below the points, as before stated, by a clamp bar
which nips the work between itself and the bar which carries the points,
or nipped by a bar with tricks in to go between each point; the clamp
bar may if desired carry short points to pass into the work so as more
effectually to hold it.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect I have in the Drawings hereunto annexed shewn
various views of a machine constructed as above described. In this
machine the bar carrying the work has a slight rising and falling motion
given to it as above alluded to, in place of giving these motions to the
axis carrying the gripper arms.

page_text: Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2 a plan view; and Figure 3 an
elevation of one end of the machine; Figure 4 is a transverse section of
the same looking towards the opposite end.
In these Figures a is a long bar carrying a row of short points a', each
having a groove on the upper side at its back end; on to these points the
edges of the work to be sewn together are pressed in the manner herein-
before described; the work is retained on the points by a comb a², the
bar carrying which rests on supports as on the under side of the bar a.
The bar a is slipped underneath a plate 6 on the upper surface of which
are grooves corresponding with the grooves of the several points carried
by the bar a and it rests at its two ends on supports 6 bolted on to the
bar which carrics the plate b, and it is prevented from moving
endwise by plates 6 which are bolted to the two ends of the bar 6' so
that if the grooved plate 6 is moved endwise the bar a is carried with it.
The bar a is also retained from moving forwards by two spring catches
carried at the two ends of the plate b, and which spring over the front
of the comb a² so retaining this comb and the bar a in place. The
bar brests in guides carried by arms c¹ from an axis c upon which is
another arm which rests against a cam B on the main or driving axis A,
and by this cam the requisite rising and falling motions are given to the
grooved plate band bar a which carries the work. An endway motion
is given to this plate and to the bar by a ratchet b' carried by a lever ³,
which at the completion of each stitch is acted on by a cam B*. The
ratchet works with a row of ratchet teeth 6 on the back of the bar ¹;
another ratchet b' prevents any backward movement of the bar. is a
spring which serves to draw the bar back when the ratchets *, b', are
both held back, which can be effected by means of the lever 6' carried
by the framing of the machine; d, d, are the several spring grippers by
which the needles are carried to and fro, these are carried by arms d¹
from an axis & to one end of which an arm & is connected by a spring
friction clip d*. The arm d³ carries two pins, over one or other of which
can be hooked the connecting rod d** which at its opposite end is jointed
to a lever d³ carrying a roller d which is received in the groove of the
grooved cam D on the main shaft, and by this cam a to-and-fro swinging
motion is imparted to the gripper arms, the extent of which can be
increased or diminished by hooking the connecting rod either on to the
upper or lower pin on the arm &. When the threads of the needles are
long it is hooked on to the upper pin, whilst if the threads are short it

page_text: may be hooked on to the lower one. The axis
gripper arms has also fixed upon it another arm
.
which carries the
upon which is a
pin d³, which when the gripper arms are in their backward position is
caught by a catch e which serves to control the action of the gripper
arms as herein-after described. The rear end of this catch is jointed to a
lever e¹ acted on by the cam E; on the cam shaft d' is a counterbalance
weight carried by the axis & to counterbalance the weight of the gripper
arms; ff, are the fingers for taking up the slack of the needle threads;
these are carried by light arms from an axis f¹ on which is an arm ƒª
against which rests the upper end of a lever f³; this lever is from time
to time pushed forward by a pin projecting from the catch e, and causes
the fingers to swing forward so as to come in front of the work. The
axis f¹ can also be caused to shog endwise from time to time by a
lever f* acted upon by a cam F on the cam shaft so as to slip the fingers
out of the loops of the needle threads which are upon them. The
axis f¹ is held up to the lever f* by a spring not shewn in the Drawings.
9, 9, are pushers for pushing the needles through the work, these are
carried by a bar g' supported by arms g² from an axis g³, and on one of
these arms is a roller acted on by a cam G on the cam shaft by which
the pushers can from time to time be caused to move forwards, they
are drawn backwards by a spring not shown. In the front face of each
pusher is a horizontal groove so that the rear ends of the needles may enter
the grooves and be retained from any upward or downward movement when
the pushers are acting upon them. h is a bar supported just in front of
the bar carrying the work by arms ³ from an axis h², this axis has also
upon it another arm h³ carrying a roller that bears against the cam H on
the cam shaft, so that by this cam the bar & can from time to time be
slightly raised, and projecting pieces * upon it be caused to raise the
points of the needles after they have been pushed partly through the
work and support the points of the needles as they are being pressed up
into the spring grippers. The bar ½ can be turned up and held by a
spring catch 7", clipping over the tie bar k which passes from one
end of the frame to the other, the bar can thus be held up out of the
way whenever a point bar carrying work is being placed into or removed
from the machine. *,k*, is a cover by which the back portions of the
machine are covered over.

page_text: described the bar is inserted into its place below the grooved or plain
plate b, and this plate having been drawn back by the spring b³ to its
starting point the machine is ready to commence its work. When the
grippers have carried their needles into the position shewn at Figure 4,
the points of each of the needles will lie in one or other of the grooves
in the grooved plate b. This plate is then caused to rise so as to come
into the position shewn by Diagram A. of the Drawings, by which means
the needles are laid flat into the grooves, and their rear ends come
opposite to the front of the pushers, which then advance and move
forward the needles, causing them to move through the loops which are
upon the points in front of them. The grooved plate b then again
descends, and the needles being then held in front by the loops of work
and in rear by the recess in the front of the pushers are withdrawn from
the grippers, which they leave readily as the needles are made thinner
at their rear ends than at their centre. The pushers also complete their
forward movement and move forward the needles so as to bring their
points over V notches in the lifters *. The grippers are then caused
to swing forward into the position shewn by Diagram B., so as to come
in front of the work upon the points. This is effected by the cam E
moving forward the catch e. The grooved plate b then again rises into
the position shewn in this Diagram, and the bar h is also caused to rise
into the position shewn by the dotted lines, whereby they are caused to
slightly raise the points of the needles and support them as the central
portion of the needles is by the rising of the grooved plate pressed
upwards into the grippers. The bar then again quickly descends, and
the grippers are swung forward by the action of the cam D, the catch e
giving way and allowing them to swing forward. The axis carrying
the fingers is then shogged endwise to move the fingers aside to clear
them from the threads of the needles, and the fingers are swung forward
into the position shewn by the dotted lines in Diagram C. The axis
carrying the fingers is then shogged back again to bring the fingers
below the threads in front of the work, the grooved plate having again
risen slightly to ensure the fingers passing below the threads. If the
needles are just commencing a row of stitching, and have only passed
once through the work as above described, the attendant will limit the
distance the grippers swing forward by holding the thread of one of the
needles, or whenever the threads are long enough to allow the gripper
arms to swing forward to their full extent. This distance is limited by
an arm on the axis which carries the gripper arms coming down on to a

page_text: tie bar forming part of the framing of the machine. When the gripper
arms again swing back the fingers are set free to swing back also, and
the spring pressing them back causes them to keep the needle threads
from becoming slack. The point bar carrying the work is at the same
time moved endwise a distance equal to the distance between the centres
of the points, and the parts resume the position shewn at Figure 4.
The same operations are then repeated until the needles have been
driven again partly through the work, and have been again seized by
the grippers, and swing forward into the position shewn by Diagram C.
The threads being then over the spring fingers draw them down, as
shewn in this Diagram. The fingers are then shogged 'sidewise, as above
described, to slip them out of the loops of thread which were over them,
and are swung forward and again shogged. back to bring them under the
threads in front of the work, as before described, the grippers during
this time continuing their forward movement, as indicated by the dotted
lines in Diagram C., and draw their threads taut, the needles being
prevented from slipping through the grippers by their forward ends
being somewhat thicker than the central portion, as shown by the
enlarged view of one of the needles at Figure 5.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,-
1st. The combination of apparatus, substantially as herein described
for finishing hosiery and other goods.
2nd. The employment of grippers carried by arms from an axis to
which an oscillating to-and-fro motion is imparted through a friction
clip to carry sewing needles to and fro for the purpose of sewing over or
sewing together the edges of fabrics, substantially as herein described.
3rd. The combination of pushers with swinging gripper arms, sub-
stantially as described.
4th. The combination of fingers with swinging gripper arms, sub-
stantially as described.
5th. The combined arrangement, substantially as herein described,
for giving a step-by-step motion to the point bar or clamp which carries
the work, and for allowing it to be readily slid back to its starting
point.
.

page_text: 6th. The combination of two or more sewing or stitching apparatus
with a straight point bar or clamp which carries the work, and which
has a step-by-step motion given to it, each sewing apparatus producing
a portion only of the row of stitching to be made on the work which is
carried by the points or clamp bar, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Scattergood, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
DANIEL SCATTERGOOD. (L.S.)