CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STOCKING FRAMES AND MACHINERY USED IN FRAME WORK KNITTING
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MOTTERSHAW FORMAN, of Sheepshead, in the County of Leicester, Framesmith,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Mottershaw Forman, Her especial license that I, the said William
Mottershaw Forman, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Mottershaw Forman, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
and also in all Her said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN STOCKING FRAMES AND MACHINERY USED
IN FRAME WORK KNITTING;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said William Mottershaw Forman, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court
Chancery, within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Mottershaw Forman, do hereby describe the nature of my said
Invention to consist in certain alterations in that part of the ordinary stocking

page_text: frame which forms the loops, by doing away with the old leads which held one
set of sinkers, and substituting for them notched iron plates; as also by doing
away with the old jacks, and substituting for them vertical notched bars, which
I call fallers, from which one set of the sinkers depend. These fallers are held
up by catches taking into notches cut in the said fallers, the motions of the
thread being the same as formerly, but of course obtained by cams of a new
shape adapted to the position and action of the new machinery; and further,
by an alteration in the position of the slur cock, which is placed so as to act
upon my said catches, instead of acting upon the ends of the jacks. And
in further compliance with the said proviso, I, the said William Mottershaw
Forman, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be
performed by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have selected a stocking frame (being
one kind of machinery used in frame-work knitting) for the purposes of my
explanation, and I have exhibited only so much of the stocking frame as
is necessary to explain my improvements, it being about one-fourth the width
of those in general use; and I would here observe that, in order to make my
Invention clearly understood, I have used various colors to denote the parts
which belong to the several movements of the machine where the loops
are formed, and which constitute my improvements; and I have used similar
letters to denote similar parts in all the Figures; I have also shewn detached
Figures of the parts of the machine before alluded to, which will shew their
operation more clearly.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the stocking frame, in which the thread is
shewn as having been laid over the needles in front of the sinkers about
one-half the width of its course, and a few of the fallers and their sinkers
(colored green,) as having dropped upon the thread to form the loops between
every alternate needle, the other parts of the machine being at rest. Figure 2
is a transverse section of the same; and in this Figure are exhibited the
cams, &c. which give the various movements to the face of the frame or
the parts where the work is made.
A, A, is the framing of the machine; B is the conductor for the thread.
This conductor is fixed to a slotted bar 16 by a screw C, which bar works
upon two studs 17, 17, fixed to the carriage D. The carriage has two small
wheels E, E, which run to and fro upon the carrier bar F while the thread is
being laid upon the needles. This bar swings upon pivots 18, 18, fixed to the

page_text: frame of the machine, and there is an arm 19 attached thereto, which is
supported upon a spring 20, see Figure 1. This spring is for the purpose
of bringing back the conductor to its former position, when (as is the case in
manufacturing certain kinds of work) it is brought below the needles. At the
back of the carriage D is a roller G (called the "slur cock," and seen best in
Figure 2); this roller used formerly to act upon the ends of the old jacks,
but, as here placed, as it passes in front of the catches or holders H (colored
yellow, one of which is shewn detached in Figure 4,) it presses upon their
upper ends, and withdraws the projection 21 at bottom from the notch of the
faller J, as seen in the detached Figure 5. One of these fallers is shewn
detached in Figure 11, and allows the springs I fixed at one end to the
bar 12, which is attached by two arms 36 to the sinker bar K, to press at
their opposite ends upon the fallers, and force the sinkers L attached thereto
down upon the thread in order to form the loops. Upon the ends of the
carrier bar F are mounted pulleys M, M, over which cords are passed, and
are attached to the eye or loop N, which forms the pivot of the roller G; the
opposite ends of these cords are attached to levers O, O*, which are mounted
upon centres at each side of the frame, and have bent arms P, P*, at their
opposite ends, moving laterally upon joints Q, Q, as will be hereafter
explained. R, R*, are springs fixed to the frame, and placed at a slight
angle to the best arms P, P*, which act alternately against the sides of the
arms whilst the thread is being laid upon the needles; S, S*, are bent arms
fixed to the cam shaft T, and by which the thread carriage D is moved to and
fro. Between each of the fallers J are placed dividing plates U (colored pink),
to each of which are attached sinkers L, as in the fallers. These plates are
attached to the comb bar V by a pin passing through the holes W (the form
of these plates will be better seen in Figure 6), and after the fallers and their
sinkers have been forced upon the thread, these plates and sinkers are
also forced down upon it, and thus divide the thread into double the number
of loops made by the fallers and sinkers, as will be hereafter explained.
X, X, are shoulders formed in the fallers and plates, which drop upon
the faller bar Y when the "dividing of the work" has taken place. The
bar Y is mounted in slots cut in the side frames Z, Z, which are attached
to the hanging cheeks. a, a, and b, b, are screws which regulate the distance
between shoulders of the fallers and plates and the faller bars, and thus
determine the quality of the work by the distance the fallers and plates
descend. The screws b, b, act upon the stops c, c, which move upon pivots
d, d, fixed in the framing A (these are best seen in Figure 2; e, e, are pro-
jections upon the stops c, which are acted upon by bent stays 37) (provided

page_text: with set screws 38), fixed to the sinker bar K, and at every operation of the
machine these screws press upon the projections e, and throw the catches H
into gear with the fallers J; f,f. are springs which support the stops c, c, and
keep them in contact with the screws 6 and 38. The hanging cheeks a, a,
are mounted upon pivots 9, 9, which are fixed to the top arms of the spindle
bar h; this bar vibrates upon centres passing through the frame of the
machine at i, i. Attached to the spindle bar is a weighted lever j, which has
a slot k, through which the pin of the connecting rod 7 works; this rod passes
through a guide m, and its lower end has a roller n, which runs upon the
surface of the cam o fixed to the shaft T. By means of this cam the move-
ments of the machine which produce what is technically called the "
dividing
of the work," the "flinging up and the "bringing over of the arch" of the
sinkers are effected, and I have shewn in Figures 3, 8, and 9 the relative
positions of the cams and rollers when these movements take place. p, p, are
the needles, which are fixed by the plate 9 to the needle bar r by screws w,
and attached to the frame A. Each of the needles has over it a presser s,
which is fixed at one end to the bar t by screws u; this bar moves upon axes
which have bearings in studs v, v, fixed to the needle bar r and attached to
the frame. To the presser bar t is fixed a bent lever a, against the lower end
of which a roller y fixed to the toothed wheel z works, and by which the
operation of "pressing" or closing the needle beards is effected. The toothed
wheel is fixed to the cam shaft T, and receives motion from a pinion 1,
which gears into a toothed wheel 2 fixed to the drawing shaft 3, which may
be turned by steam or any other first-moving power.
The two hanging
cheeks a, a, are connected together at bottom by bars 4, 4, commonly called
the hand bars, which bars confine the tails of the sinkers between them.
the back bar is fixed a spring 5, upon which the end of a cranked lever 6
presses; the lower end of this lever has a roller 7, which travels upon the
cam 8 fixed to the shaft T, and by this cam the operations of bringing forward
to the needle heads" and the "knocking up "of the work is performed; in
the detached Figure 7 the relative positions of the cam and roller during these
operations are shewn. To the back bottom bar 4 is attached a loop, to which
is fastened a cord passing over a pulley 9, and has a weight 10 at its end,
which draws back the whole of the working parts of the face of the machine
ready for a second operation as soon as the roller 7 is released from the
projecting portion of the cam 8, as in Figure 2.
39 is the roller over which
the work is wound as it is made, and the weight and cord 11 upon the roller
will by its own gravity give sufficient tension to the work. At the back of the
catches and fallers at top of the machine is a bar 12, which is attached to
To

page_text: the sinker bark by arms 36. To the bar 12 is fixed the faller springs I,
which press them down, and the springs 14 of the catches H, also bear upon
this bar, and bring the catches into the notches of the fallers J when they are
brought opposite to each other.
Having now described the several parts of the machine, I will proceed to
describe their action, premising that (as in the ordinary method) a set of loops
have been formed on the needles by hand, or what is commonly called:
setting on," motion being given to the driving shaft 3, the lever S* on the
cam shaft T will come in contact with the arm P* on the lever 0* (according
as the machine is represented in Figure 1) during a part of its revolution,
and by means of the cord attached to the lever O*, will draw the thread
conductor B and carriage D in the direction of the arrow.
As the Figures 1, 2, 3, do not shew this part clearly, I have given a
detached Figure 10 to exhibit its action, it being drawn as in contact, with
reference to the motion of Figure 1, and dotted as when out of gear. The
roller G, which follows a little behind the conductor, will come in contact with
the upper end of the catches H, and release them from the notches of the
fallers J; the springs I will force down the fallers and sinkers upon the thread
which has been previously laid upon the top of the needles by the conductor,
so as to carry the thread down below the level of the needles between the
spaces formed by every alternate needle, and thus form loops; but in order
that the conductor should on its return be in advance of the roller, it is
necessary to change its position, this is effected as follows:-The conductor
being affixed to and moving with the slotted bar 16, as soon as it has laid the
thread upon the needles and passed a little beyond them, one end of the bar
will come in contact with the stop 31 and there remain stationary, while the
roller G and carriage will be still drawn by the cord as far as the slot will
allow it, and this is so regulated that it shall always be long enough to allow
the roller to pass beyond the catches, and this motion of the roller beyond the
conductor will have placed it behind the latter ready for the next operation
of the machine; the arms S* and P will now be in the position of the dotted
lines in Figure 10. The roller G having passed in front of the catches will
have released each of them, and a similar number of sinkers will be upon
the thread; the carriage will remain in the position last described until
all the other operations of the machine have taken place, and the thread has
again to be laid upon the needles. The arm S* having left the arm P* and
continuing to revolve with the shaft T, the inclined surface of the spring R*
will press upon the end of the arm P* and throw it outside the spring, and
thus allow the arm S* in its next revolution to pass without coming in contact.

page_text: with it; but by the time the following revolution of the arm S* takes place,
that is, when the opposite side has acted and by the cord drawn the carriage
back again, it will have raised the end of the lever O* to which it is attached,
and passed the arm P* beyond the spring R*, and a spring 40 will then push
it behind or within the spring, so that the arm S* shall come in contact with
it, so that at every operation of the machine one of the side levers will remain
stationary.
As soon as the roller G has thrown down the sinkers of the fallers between
every alternate needle, the cam o will be acting upon the roller of the con-
necting rod l, and raising it until it assumes the position of Figure 3, and thus
lower the dividing plates with their sinkers L upon the thread between the
intermediate needles, so as to divide the the thread into double the number
of loops to what had been made by the fallers, and the catches will also be
lowered, so that the springs 14 shall force them into the notches of the fallers,
and thus set them ready for another operation of the machine. The cam 8
will by this time be acting upon the roller of the cranked lever 6, bringing
forward the machine to the heads of the needles, and the sinkers will also
bring forward the loops which had been previously made, but before the
sinkers had arrived at the heads of the needles the roller y on the toothed
wheel will be brought to the position as in Figure 3, and the pressers S will
have closed the beards of the needles, thus allowing the back loop to be
passed over them; the front loops or those just made will have been brought
by the catch and long nib 22 of the sinkers, and left within the beards of the
needles. These operations are technically called "dividing," "pressing," and
bringing forward to the needle head." The further revolution of the cam o
will allow the roller to fall down the inclined surface 23, as in Figure 8, and
raise the banging cheeks a, and together with them the whole of the fallers
and sinkers; and the back loop, being pressed forward on the inclined
surface 24 of the sinkers as they rise, will be brought over the heads of the
needles, and the loops held within the beards; this operation is called
flinging up." The shaft T still revolving will bring the roller n on the
part 25 of the cam o to the position shewn by dots in Figure 8, raising the
connecting rod and lowering the sinkers, so that the arches 26 shall enclose
within them the loop held within the needle beards; and this operation is called
66
66
throwing over the arch;" the sinkers will also be brought a little forward by
the part 27 of the cam 8 acting upon the roller 7, and as soon as the roller
passes the point 28 of the cam it falls down to the position shewn by dots
at 29, see Figure 7, while the weight 10 will bring back the bottom bar 4,
and with it the whole of the sinkers. The arch of each sinker will at the

page_text: same time bring out of the beard of the needles the loops which had been
held there, and which will now become the back loops; the roller on the end
of the connecting rod will now pass down the surface 30 of the cam o, see
Figure 8, and by means of the connecting rod, as before described, raises the
whole of the sinkers, &c., when it is ready for another operation of the machine.
Figure 12 shews the catch H, faller J, and dividing plate U, while in a state
of rest.
Now, whereas I claim as my Invention the following improvements, that
is to say, the catches H and fallers J, substituted for the old jacks; the
dividers U, substituted for the old lead in which the sinkers were held; the
new position of the slur cock G, acting upon the said catches, and the various
cams, levers, and machinery not now used in stocking frames, by which the
thread is made to perform the same motions with the new catches, fallers, and
dividers that it did with the old jacks and lead sinkers, and whereby the
hose or pieces are manufactured in a more perfect manner than heretofore,
while the stocking frame is manufactured with less labour than heretofore,
and the durability of the working parts much greater.
And such my Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief,
entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her said
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, nor in any of Her
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare this
to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my
said Specification doth comply in all respects fully, and without reserve or
disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent contained; wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right
and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Mottershaw Forman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
Signed, sealed, and delivered, by the
within-named William Motter-
shaw Forman, in the presence of
WILLIAM M. (L.S.) FORMAN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty fifth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid William Mottershaw Forman came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.