An Improved Tension Device for Knitting and other Textile Machines."
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
"An Improved Tension Device for Knitting and other Textile
Machines."
I, JOHN MILLAR, of 122 Great Saffron Hill, in the County of London, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved tension device for knitting and other textile
machines and is designed to enable the tension on the yarn or thread to be varied in
a very simple and efficient manner without the use of springs or weights.
According to the said invention the device comprises a screw-threaded block
adapted to be secured on any convenient part of the machine, and the yarn or thread
is wound round one or more threads of the screw so that it has to travel in them on
its way to the needles or operative parts, the tension depending on the number of
threads which it is wound around.
The screw threads may advantageously be made rather wide and of V-form so that
the yarn or thread is held or binds slightly in the bottom of the thread groove, and
care is taken to make the surface of the latter smooth so as to avoid damage to the
yarn or thread.
The screw threaded block is formed at its lower part with a stem or extension of
reduced diameter having flattened sides or faces, a transverse hole extending
between these faces and serving to receive a set screw by which the device is held in
position.
At one end of the screw thread, say the lower end, there is provided a loop or eye
which serves to guide the yarn or thread on to the device, from the bobbin or spool
on which it is wound.
Such a device may be advantageously employed in connection with each of the
bobbins of a knitting machine for producing knitted material or cloth. The said
device may however obviously be advantageously applied to various other classes of
textile machinery in which it is required to put a slight strain or tension on a yarn or
thread.

page_text: "An Improved Tension Device for Knitting and other Textile
Machines."
I, JOHN MILLAR, of 122 Great Saffron Hill, in the County of London, Gentleman,
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 an improved tension device for knitting and other textile
machines which device is designed to allow the tension on the yarn or thread to be
varied in a very simple and efficient manner without the use of springs or weights.
The said device is applicable more particularly to machines of the kind described in
the specification of British Letters Patent No. 21350 of 1894 for producing a knitted
cloth, the simplicity of the device rendering it easily applicable to the bobbin
carriers of a machine of the kind referred to.
The said improved tension device consists of a helically grooved or screw-threaded
block or pillar adapted to be secured on any convenient part of the machine, around
which block or pillar the yarn or thread is wound so that it has to travel through one
or more turns or threads of the helical groove on its way to the needles or operative
parts of the machine, the tension depending on the number of times it is wound
around the screw threaded block.
In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into
effect I will proceed to describe the same by aid of the accompanying drawings
in which
Figures 1 and 2 are elevations at right angles to each other shewing my improved
tension device applied to a machine of the kind referred to, only the parts of the
latter immediately connected with the device being shewn however.
a is the block or pillar which forms the body of the device and which is provided
with a V-shaped helical groove or screw-thread, as shewn, on its outer surface. bis
one of the bobbin carriers of the machine, and 6' is a lateral projection thereon, to
which projection the aforesaid device is secured by a screw a¹ passing through a tail
or shank a² on the block a. c is the yarn or thread which is led upward, from the
bobbin (not shewn) and passes through eyes or guides d and e on to and around
the block a and thence to the needles in the direction of the arrows.
The eyed forms a continuation of a wire d² secured in a projection b² of the
bobbin-holder and has a covering d' of textile material to prevent abrasion of
the yarn.
The eye e consists of a loop of wire secured to the block a near the lower end
thereof and extending across a single turn of the helical groove. It seems to direct
the yarn or thread properly into the said groove.
The V-shaped groove on the block or pillar has its surface carefully smoothed or
polished and the yarn or thread c is wound or coiled around the said block one or
more times and extends along the bottom of the spiral groove. Owing to the
smoothness of the latter the yarn or thread glides or travels therein without catching
and breaking, but with sufficient grip or friction to ensure the requisite tension of the
yarn.
As the yarn is drawn into the needles it slides through the groove around the
block a following the spiral path between the threads in which it has been placed,
that is to say the yarn after being arranged to enter and leave the groove at any
determined points or positions of the latter will continue to enter and leave the same
during the working of the machine. For example supposing the yarn to have been
wound twice round the block as shewn in the drawings, its loops or coils will unless

page_text: altered intentionally continue to preserve their original position upon the block as
long as the machine continues to work.
My improved device as above described permits of the tension being adjusted with
great accuracy as such tension depends on the amount of friction which the yarn
experiences in travelling in the V-shaped groove, and this can be regulated merely
by varying the number of turns or coils of the yarn around the block a.
Although I have described my improved tension device more particularly as
applied to machines for making knitted fabrics, yet obviously it may be advantageously
applied to various other classes of textile machinery in which it is required to put a
strain or tension on the yarn or thread.
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. A spirally grooved block or pillar arranged in a knitting or other machine to
serve as a tension device substantially as set forth.
2. The tension device consisting of the spirally grooved pillar provided with a wire
eye or loop substantially as and for the purpose specified.
HASELTINE LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.