IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Matthew Townsend, of Leicester, Fancy Hosiery
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF KNITTED FABRICS."
Sealed the 11th November 1856, and dated the 15th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Matthew Townsend at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
May 1856.
I, MATTHEW TOWNSEND, of Leicester, Fancy Hoisery Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
PACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the raising of a loop or pile on the face of knitted.
fabrics by the following means:—
1st. Instead of using two rows of needles or hooks, as now used in a double
bar warp machine, I use one row of needles or hooks and one row of wire
pins or points set in an upright position in a slotted bar, or its equivalent, the
slot or space between the rows being to allow the work to pass away as it is
formed. Above the needles and points are placed guides, to carry the threads
over or round the needles and points to form the loop. Now, suppose a course.
or row of work is on the needles, threads from which communicate with the;

page_text: guides, I move the guides, which passes a thread or threads round the points
or pins opposite to the needles, and again from the points or pins to and round
the needle; whilst that is so doing, another set of guides, placed in a parallel
line with the before-mentioned guides, also pass a thread around the needles
alone; the needle and point bars must now recede together; the needle bar
presses over the course of work formed on the needles, by coming in contact
with the usual slide bar, or with a peculiar sinker (to be presently described),
and at the same time the point bar descends, and, by bringing the threads on
the points in contact with another bar, causes the then threads which are on
the points to be forced off, whereby a raised loop is formed, which when cut
produces a pile to the ground work on the needles. This method will produce
the ordinary raised looped fabric.
2nd. To make figured work, that is, where only part of the loops in the
fabric is raised and the other depressed, instead of placing the points in the
bar, as beforo described, which consequently moves them altogether, I fix
each point in a separate lever, such lever being placed between metal combs,
and connected therewith by a wire passing through the whole length of the
combs, and forms a fulcrum to all the levers. A string passing from each
lever connects them with a jacquard machine, by which means I am able to
raise or lower whichever point or points I may require to enable me to raise
such loops as required to form the pattern or figure I am working. The
other part of the needles and guides work, as before described, in producing the
ordinary raised looped fabric.
3rd. I also propose to employ angular guides, formed like a bell crank lever,
for throwing in colors and working designs' in the fabric. The movement and
working of the guides is as follows:-Instead of using the guides above
described, I arrange a set of these angular guides between combs or steadying
plates, and mount thein on a fulcrum rod, which passes through the angle of
the guides and through the combs. The lower ends of the angular guides
are pierced to receive the threads, which then pass to the needle or, point.as
required.
For varying the colors of the threads, these guides are actuated by strings
attached to 'their upper end, and connected to a jacquard machine above.
The movement of the string by the jacquard machine.causes 'the guides to
wrap on 'to the needles, and points those colors 'required to form the pattern,
and vary them in each 'succeeding course as 'wished.
4. I'also
propose to employ notched sinkers, suitably shaped and arranged,
for 'keeping the fabric on the required part of the needles whilst the continua-
tion of the thread is wrapped on for a fresh course. This sinker will prevent

page_text: the fabric from rising with the bar when it is brought up to receive another
course.
.5. To form a double loop and pile fabric, I arrange two rows of my already
patented single-ended needles, in the same manner as they are used in a
double bar warp machine, and above them are placed three or more rows of
guides to carry the threads round the rows of needles. These needles. I also
propose to arrange in concentric circles, and I then take my thread carried by
the centre guide from one needle and pass it round the opposite needle,
thereby forming a loop, and then bring it back to another needle placed by
the side of the first, which forms a loop; round that I then pass it to an
opposite needle, and so continue backwards and forwards the whole length
of the machine or round the circle. Whilst the guide is carrying the thread
backwards and forwards, the two other guides are each passing the thread
round the same needle at the same time to form a short loop or ground close
to the needles; I thus produce a fabric which when severed between the rows
of needles forms two separate pieces of pile fabric; this can be cut asunder by
shears or knives, but I prefer cutting it by machinery. When the needles are
placed in a straight bar machine, I fix a long knife or cutter. between, but a
little lower than the needles, which is moved from right to left of the machine,
and vice versa, by a crank shaft, or a lever, or any other suitable movement.
As the knitted fabric passes down it comes in contact with the cutter, which
severs the thread formed by the centre guide, and effects the required
separation.
In the circular machine the fabric is carried round by the movement of the
needles, and rubs the threads against a fixed circular blade or cutter fixed
between the two circles of needle bars.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Matthew Townsend in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, MATTHEW
TOWNSEND, of Leicester, Fancy Hosiery Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth 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 Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Matthew Townsend, Her special liceuse that I, the said Matthew Townsend, my,

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Matthew
Townsend, 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 THE MANU-
FACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Matthew Townsend, by an instrument in writing under iny hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 Matthew Townsend, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
This Invention relates to certain improved arrangements of mechanism for
forming looped and cut-pile knitted fabrics. In the accompanying Drawings
I have shewn only so much of the knitting machine as will serve to explain
the nature of my improvements, and the manner of carrying out the several
modifications of the well-known knitting machinery, constituting the subject
matter of the present Invention.
In Sheet I., Figures 1 and 2 shew in vertical section and back elevation
so much of a double bar warp machine as will serve to explain the nature
of my first improvement, and Figures 3, 4, and 5 shew the different positions
taken by the working parts in forming a course with a raised cut pile on
the face of the fabric. In this arrangement it will be seen, that in place
of a double row of needles, as now used, in a double bar warp machine,
I employ one row of needles or hooks and one row of pins or points, the
needles being for the purpose of forming the ground or base of the fabric,
and the pius to form the loops for the terry or cut-pile face. a, b, are the
guides for lapping the threads respectively round the pins c and the needles d.
These guides are set in leads, and operated as usual by the shogging and
oscillating action of their respective guide bars A, B; the pins or points c
and the needles d are also set in leads, and mounted on bars, C, D, in the
well-known way. When, however, the machine is used as indicated in
the Drawing for making cut-pile goods, the pin or point bar is stationary,
but the needle bar is operated as usual. The stems of the pins c are slotted

page_text: to receive severally the bevilled edge of a series of rotary cutters e which are
mounted on a cutter shaft E, turning in bearings in the side standards of
the machine, and receiving motion through a band or strap from any con-
venient part of the running gear. f is a fixed guide plate for conducting
down the work as it leaves the needles, and for assisting in knocking over the
Joops (as they are formed).
'In Fig. 1, the working parts a, b, c, and d are shewn in the proper position
for commencing a fresh course. The guides a, which carry the pile threads;
having just been passed through the row of points c, are now shogged the
distance of one needle to the left, the guides 6 which carry the threads for
forming the base of the fabric remaining in the meantime unshogged. A
return rock motion is next given to the guide bars A and B (which always
rock simultaneously, but are capable of receiving an independent shogging
motion, as is well understood), and the pile threads are thus lapped round the
pins c to form the pile loops, as shewn at Figure 3. During this movement
of the guides. the needles are raised up in order to bring the last formed row of
loops off the coverers and on to the stems of the needles. The guides having
now reached their farthest forward position are shogged, the guides a to the
right to lap the pile thread under the beard of the needles, and the guides b
in the reverse direction, to lap the ground threads around the needles next to
those around which they respectively lapped a thread, to form the last course of
work. The return rock motion then takes place, which brings the guides to the
position of Fig. 4, the needle bar in the meanwhile descending to bring the
formed looped on the stem of the needles over the coverer or beard of the
needle ready to be knocked off. The continued descent of the needles causes
the new loops just formed by the interlaced pile and ground threads, and held
under the beards of the needles, to be drawn through the previously formed
row of loops, which are now knocked off the needles by the fixed plate f, as
shewn at Fig. 5. The pile loops belonging to this course being still held by
the pins c, are drawn down over the slot in their stems, and there coming in
contact with the rotating knife they are severed, and thus form a cut-pile face
on the knitted fabric. A repetition of the above-described movements then
takes place, it being understood that the direction of the shogging motion is
reversed at the end of every course, and modified in any of the well-known
ways, according to the nature of the fabric desired to be produced.
I may here remark, that when I design to retain the pile in its looped or
uncut state I dispense with the use of the cutters, and give the point bar C
an up and down motion in order to withdraw the points from the pile loops

page_text: when the course is completed, and raise the points into position again ready to
form another row of loops. I. may also remark that the like fabric. may be
produced in warp machines fitted with a double row of needles, 'when the
needles which are to perform the functions of the points c are worked so as to
receive the lap of pile thread on the needle stem below the coverer. This
arrangement being an obvious equivalent for my improvement, as above
explained, I wish it to be understood that I consider such novel. use of the
needle as embraced in my improved mode of manufacturing knitted fabrics
with a pile face.
To make a figured terry face, which forms the subject of the second part of
my Invention, instead of placing the points on a common bar, as before
described, which consequently moves them altogether, I fix each point in a
separate vibrating or rock lever, such levers being placed between métal
combs, and connected therewith by a wire which passes through the whole
length of the combs and forms a fulcrum for all the levers. A string passing
from each lever connects the whole series with a jacquard apparatus, by which
means I am enabled to raise or lower the points in groups, and thus form any
required arrangement of terry loops upon the fabric. The mode which I prefer
of carrying out this part of my Invention is shewn at Fig. 1, Sheet II. of the
Drawings, wherein a, b, represent, as before, the ground and pile thread guides;
c, the pins or points; and d, the needles. The pins or points c are mounted
upon independent levers C, which have their fulcrum at the fixed centre C';
and are connected by cords C² to the weighted cords of an ordinary jacquard
apparatus. A pattern card, corresponding to the pattern required to be pro-
duced on the face of the fabric, having been applied to the jacquard apparatus,
the points c are selected by the jacquard needles, as required, at the commence-
ment of every fresh course, and held in the proper position to receive the pile
threads which are lapped round them by the guides a, as before explained;
but those points which remain depressed will form no loop, and the face of the
fabric will, consequently, be plain at those parts of the course which were
opposite the depressed points. When the pile loops are formed and tied into
the ground, as explained with reference to Sheet I., the raised levers C fall and
draw down their respective points out of the formed loops, ready to be raised,
if required, at the commencement of the next course.
The third head of my Invention relates to the forming of patterns in terry
and cut-pile knitted fabrics by the throwing in of variously colored threads.
For this purpose I employ a set of thread guides of a peculiar construction;
each one of which is capable of receiving from jacquard apparatus an inde

page_text: pendent motion, and of lapping a thread round the adjacent point or not, as
required, to suit the design. These thread guides, marked a in Fig. 2, are
formed like a bell crank lever, the lower limb being pierced to receive the
thread, and the upper limb connected by a cord to the jacquard apparatus.
Of these guides a there may be 2 sets carrying different colored threads
arranged in pairs, so as to operate the one or the other on the same needle,
according to the color required to suit the pattern. This arrangement is
shewn in the partial front view, Fig. 3. The mode of making the courses of
work will be precisely similar to that before described, the difference in the
result being the substitution of one color of pile thread for another by the
rocking of the guides into or out of their working position, or the stoppage of
the formation of pile in parts by the removal of certain of the guides out of the
range of action, as shewn by the guide a* in Figure 2.
:
To form a double pile fabric, which is the object of the fourth part of my
Invention, arrange two rows of my single-headed hinge coverer needles (for
which I obtained Letters Patent, in conjunction with David Moulden, on the
Thirteenth day of February, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine,) in
the same manner in which they are used in the double bar warp machine, and
above them I place three or more rows of guides for carrying the thread round
the rows of needles.
:
In Sheet III. of the Drawings, Fig. 1 shews in section so much of a
knitting machine, arranged according to 'my improvement, as will serve to
explain this part of my Invention. a are the central guides for carrying the
pile threads across from one row of needles to the other, and b, b, are the
guides for lapping the ground threads round the needles. All the guides
have a simultaneous rocking motion and an independent shogging motion,
as will be well understood, for interlocking the pile with the ground threads.
The work is knocked off by the edges of a central guide f, which conducts
the fabric down to a reciprocating cutter, which severs it into two at about
the middle of the length of the pile, or the fabric may be severed by a sub-
sequent hand operation: The action of the mechanism may be thus briefly
stated. Each thread carried by the centre guides is taken from one needle
and passed round the opposite needle, whereby a pile loop is formed; it is
then brought back to another needle by the side of the first; round this the
thread is lapped and passed back to an opposite needle, and in this manner
the lapping of the pile thread is continued throughout the whole length of the
machine. Whilst the guides a are carrying the pile threads backwards and
forwards, the other guides b, b, are alternately passing their threads round the

page_text: same needle at the same time to form a short loop or ground close to the
needles, and by this means I produce a double fabric, which when severed
forms two cut-pile fabrics.
The last part of my Invention relates to the use of a novel form of sinker,
which, besides sinking the threads and dividing the loops when the thread
guides are shogged the distance of two or more needles, will also hold the
formed loops in the required position on the needles when these are moving
up, and at the proper time when the needles are reaching their lowest position
will knock off the work. The chief novelty in these sinkers (which I prefer
to make stationary, and to use with rising and falling needles of my Patent
construction,) consists in notching their inner edge, and thus enabling them
to embrace the row of loops on the needles. The sinkers will thereby ensure
the removal of the loops from the coverers as the needles ascend, and prevent
the possibility of a loop being "tucked" when stiff or close work is being
made. These sinkers I set in front of the rows of needles, as shewn in the
several views in Sheet III. I am thus enabled to adapt the sinkers to double
bar warp machines.
Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are Diagrams shewing the action of the sinkers
At Fig. 2 the guide is
upon the loops during the formation of one course.
represented as having just lapped a thread under the beard of the needle.
Fig. 3 shews the formed loop pressed up over the coverer. Fig. 4 shews the
loop further advanced, and in the act of being knocked over. Fig. 5 shews
a loop of the new course resting on the sinker, and the needle in the lowest
position; and Fig. 6 shews the needle rising, and the notched sinker, forcing
the loop that lay under the beard over the coverer ready to be in its turn
knocked off on the repetition of the above-described movements.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Inprovements in
the Manufacture of Knitted Fabrics," and explained the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
.recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First, the manufacture of terry or cut-piled knitted fabrics by the employ-
ment of a row of needles and points, or their equivalents, acting in com
bination, as above explained.
Secondly, I claim actuating the points used in the manufacture of terry
knitted fabrics by means of jacquard apparatus.
Thirdly, the employment in such manufacture of bell crank lever guides, o
their equivalent, acted upon by jacquard apparatus for throwing differen
colors into the work,

page_text: Fourthly, the application of hinged coverer needles to the knitting of double
ile fabrics.
And, fifthly, the use of the notched sinker, arranged as above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Matthew Townsend, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
MATTHEW TOWNSEND. (L.8.)