IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR FOR MANU- FACTURING LOOP-PILE FABRICS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Richelieu Hodges, of the City of Man-
chester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant and Manufacturer,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
Sealed the 18th November 1856, and dated the 22nd May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by tho said William Richelieu Hodges
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd May 1856.
I, WILLIAM RICHELIEU HODGES, of the City of Manchester, in the County
of Lancaster, Merchant and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANU-
FACTURING LOOP-PILE FABRICS," as communicated to me from a foreigner residing
abroad, to be as follows:-
In combination with the ordinary loom or machine I introduce a wheel,
having each alternate tooth partly filled. This wheel works a circular pivot,
and each alternate tooth of the wheel being partly filled or omitted, the pivot
will only act on each alternate needle, leaving each alternate thread to form
the pile and pass outside. The nap is raised on the material by a revolving
card at the point of the needles when the stitch falls over.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Richelieu Hodges in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RICHELIEU HODGES, of the City, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Merchant and Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty. Queon Victoria, by Her Royal
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of
Her reign, did, for IIerself, Iler heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Richelieu Hodges, Iler special licence that I, the said
William Richelieu Hodges, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Richelieu Hodges, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING LOOP-PILE
FABRICS," as communicated to me from a foreigner residing abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Richelieu IIodges, 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 Royal Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Richelieu Hodges, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, as communicated to me from a
foreigner residing abroad, 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)
The said Invention consists of interlooping a single or second thread in the
common process of knitting, so that a loop shall pass through every alternate
loop of each range of loops. A thread extending across the loops, and pro-
jecting from the surface of the knitted fabric made by the thread which is
interlooped, termed the "napping thread," causes a pile to be raised by means
of a napping cylinder. In making this improved fabric; the main yarn or
thread may be of one material, such as flax, cotton, or hemp, whilst the
napping thread or yarn may be of the same or entirely different material. If
:

page_text: the main body of the fabric consists of cotton, with a woollen napping thread
knit into it, an excellent fabric suitable for many useful purposes will be pro-
duced. The mechanism consists of introducing, in combination with the
ordinary loom or machine, a wheel having each alternate tooth partly filled.
The said. wheel working a circular pivot, and each alternate tooth of the
wheel being partly filled or omitted, the first pivot will only act on each
alternate needle, leaving each alternate thread to form the pile and pass out-
side. The nap is raised on the material by a revolving card at the point of
the needles when the stitch fails over. The construction and arrangement of
this machine will be clearly understood by reference to the accompanying two
Sheets of Drawings, and the letters of reference thereon, in which Fig. 1 is
a top view of the said machine; Fig. 2, a front elevation; Fig. 3, a side
elevation; Fig. 4, a horizontal section taken just above the napping wheel
or cylinder; Fig. 5, a vertical section taken in line of the axis of the driving
shaft; Fig. 6, a side view of the auxiliary sinker; Fig. 7, a section of the
sinker; and and Fig. 8, a side view of the main sinker wheel. A represents the
frame of the machine upon the bed plate a, and at or near the middle of the
same there is fixed the vertical pillar B, which serves as a journal to support
the frame C, which turns on the said pillar, and is provided with a series of
toothed needles, b, b, b, arranged in a circle, as seen at D, in Figs, 2, 3, 4,
and 5. A knitting wheel or frame of this construction is in common use, but in
order to enable it to knit a tubular fabric there is applied to it the main
sinker wheel E, the inclined plane or depresser F, the landing or rising
wheel H, and the cast-off' wheel I; such contrivances, and the particular
manner in which they are applied to the series of needles, &c., do not materially
differ from what is in common use. In order to rotate the series of nee.lles D,
their frame C has the bevil gear d applied to it, the said bevil gear being
made to engage with the bevil e fixed upon the driving shaft f, arranged and
provided with the fast and loose pullies g and h, as seen in Figs. 1, 2, and 5.
Besides the said bevil gear d, the frame C is furnished with the spur gear i,
working with the gear k, arranged upon the vertical shaft l, motion being
communicated to it by the gearing i and k, when the frame C is revolved.
Above the series of rotary needles there is the horizontal shaft m, the journals
of which are supported in the struts n, n, which project from the pillars of the
frame A, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3. The said shaft m carries the card tooth,
napping wheel, or cylinder K, which is fixed upon it, and is put in motion
when the shaft m revolves, the revolution of the said shaft m being effected
by the bevil gearing o, p, fixed .respectively upon it and the vertical shaft 1.
The periphery of the napping wheel is provided with teeth, set.in a foundation

page_text: of cloth, leather, or other suitable material, similar to the card cylinders of
an ordinary carding engine, or the said napping cylinder may be constructed
in any convenient form, so that when it revolves against the knitted fabric.it
will rise a nap thereon, the points of its teeth running close to or against
the head or upper end of each of the needles during each rotation of the
entire series D, and, by so doing not only cause the said napping cylinder to
perform the function of napping the fabric, but also of removing from the
heads or upper parts of the needles any loose threads or extraneous knots or
fibres which may have accumulated thereon. Besides the aforesaid mechanism,
there is an auxiliary sinker wheel and presser L, applied to the series of
needles to press down the barbs of the needles, adapted so as to run between
then, same as the main sinker, wheel, but constructed so that when the said
sinker wheel revolves, the presser may act and press inwards against its
shank every alternate one of the series of needles, for the purpose of causing
the thread which is sunk between the needles by the action of the said
auxiliary sinker to be raised into the hooks or barbs of the needles whose
barbs are not pressed back by the presser. Thus it will be seen that by
the action of the auxiliary sinker and presser, the interknitting of a second or
auxiliary thread is effected so as to extend from the external surface of the
fabric in loose loops, be subjected to the action of the napping wheel, and
thereby converted into a, knitted and napped fabric. The main thread cr
threads for producing the fabric are seen at t, in Fig. 2, wherein the auxiliary
or napping thread is seen at s, the fabric being shewn in Figs. 2, 3, and 5, by
dotted lines extending up between the two take-up rollers M and N, arranged
over the series of. needles and supported by the rotary frame O. After passing
between the said rollers the fabric is wound upon the third roller P, which
is placed over the roller N, with its journals u supported in the vertical guides
V, V, applied to the frame O, which frame is made to revolve with the same
speed as the series of needles, and for this purpose it is provided with the
gear wheel w, working with the gear æ, fixed upon the shaft l, in the position
as seen in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. For the purpose of causing the fabric to be
taken up or wound upon the roller P, the lower taker-up roller is provided
with the ratcliet R, which is fixed upon one of its journals, having the
retaining pall S and the impelling pall T, as seen in Fig. 2; the said impelling
pall extending downwards from. the slider U, made to slide vertically in the
frame O, and be depressed during each revolution of the said frame by the
action of the cam W against the friction roller X, carried by the slider, as
seen in Figs. 1 and 3, the said cam is fixed to the underside of the top rail
of the frame A, as scen in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. In order to elevate the slider;

page_text: the spring Y is applied to it at the top of the gear of the frame O, so that it
will be seen that during each rotation of the frame O its impelling pall will
be forced downwards and raised upwards, so as to act in a suitable manner
the ratchet and produce a rotary motion of the draw rollers in a manner
to take up the cloth as fast as it is woven.
upon
Having thus fully described the nature and particulars of the said Invention,
as communicated to me from a foreigner residing abroad, I desire it to be
distinctly understood that I do not confine myself to the exact details herein
set forth, as such may be varied or modified without departing from the
principle thereof. But I claim the arrangement and construction of the
machine or apparatus for combining the napping and knitting processes, pro-
ducing thereby an improved knitted piled fabric, the pile being formed by
combining with the interlooped body loops of ordinary knitted fabrics a second
set of loose or surface loops formed from a napping thread, and by subjecting
the said loops to the action of the napping cylinder a nap or pile is produced,
as such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accom-
panying two Sheets of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Richelieu Hodges, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JOSEPH GREENBERRY.
WM RICHELIEU HODGES. (L.S.)