IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN FRAMEWORK KNITTING OR STOCKING FABRICS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
BAPTIST WICKES, of Leicester, Framework Knitter, 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 Thirtieth day of May, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Baptist Wickes, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said John Baptist Wickes, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Baptist Wickes, 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN
FRAMEWORK KNITTING OR STOCKING FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso, that I, the said John Baptist Wickes, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Baptist Wickes, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
My Invention relates to a mode of applying needles to the needle bars of
machinery employed in framework knitting or stocking fabrics, whereby a
workman will be able to narrow his work in the progress of making with
greater facility than heretofore, and according to my Invention the needles
where the narrowing of the work is to take place, are made capable of being
moved up out of action by their being placed on an axis, and capable of move-
ment thereon. And in order to give the best information in my power, that a
workman may readily carry out my Invention, I will proceed to describe the
Drawing hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The construction of stocking or 'framework knitting machinery being well
understood, it will not be necessary for me to enter into a description thereof;
I will therefore confine my explanation to the application of my Invention
thereto. Figure 1 shows the section of so much of the parts of an ordinary
stocking frame as will, together with the other Figures, enable me to explain
the nature of my improvements. Figure 2 is a front view of part of the
needle bar, with leads of needles applied thereto, part of the needles being
raised; Figure 3 is a plan of Figure 2, all the needles being down in their
horizontal position as they would be when all in work; Figure 4 is a section
of the needle bar, shewing the means of replacing the raised needles into
their horizontal position. The other Figures of the Drawing shew the needles
and their springs separately. a is the ordinarily needle bar; -6,-one of the
lead sinkers; c, one of the jack-sinkers; d is the thread carrier, by which the
workman places the thread on the needles to the width desired. Figure 5
shews one lead of needles e separately, and Figure 6 shows a plan and side
view of one of the leads of needles f separately. The only difference in the
two leads of needles e, f, is, that one is made capable of being turned up out
of the way of the thread-carrier, and the other is not, as will readily be seen by
examining the Drawing. It will be evident that in using the needles e-in-a
frame that they will only necessarily be required to an extent equal to the
extent of the narrowing;; but, if preferred, all needles e may be used; the

page_text: advantage to be derived from so doing is, that different widths of fabrics may
be made in the same machine, which could not be the case when leads of
needles are used. g is the axis, which runs through the leads e and f, the
leads e being capable of moving thereon, as is shewn in the Drawing; h,h,
are springs, one to each of the leads of needles e, and they are so formed that
when the needles are horizontal the spring of each lead of needles e presses on
the back of the neb e¹; but when the needles are raised out of the horizontal
position, the spring of cach lead so raised will press on the front of the neb e¹,
and in both cases the springs will retain the needles securely. k is a rod,
proceeding from end to end of the length of needles in the needle bar; i is
a lever moving on an axis affixed on the needle bar, there being a similar
lever on an axis affixed at the other end of the rod k, and the rod k is
affixed to such levers. At the back end of each of the levers i are formed
two notches, into which the end of the spring enters, and when the rod k is
required to be raised up the end of the springs j enter into the front notches,
and when the levers i are down in a horizontal position, then the ends of the
springs j enter into the back notches, and the springs in either case will
retain the rod k 'secure.
Having thus explained the nature of the parts as shewn in the Drawing, I
will describe the mode of working, and in doing so I would remark that the
parts of the machine as shewn, indicate that there are two inches of moveable
leads of needles e on each side of the division of the needles of the frame in
which the fabric is produced, and consequently the work might be narrowed
two inches or less on each side, but the extent of leads e used, and also their
place on the needle bar, may be varied. Supposing the machine to have been
at work with all the needles in the horizontal position, as shewn at Figure 3,
and that it is desired to commence narrowing the work, the workman would
tickle off the loops of the two outermost needles on each side of the work as
as is well understood, and he would then turn up such outermost needles out
of the way of the thread carrier, whereby there would be no thread laid on to
those outermost needles, and he would turn up such outermost needles by first
lifting the levers i, and then raise the outermost needles so that they would be
held out of the horizontal position by their springs, and the workman will
from time to time proceed in like manner as he progressively requires again
and again to narrow his work.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that I am aware that it is not new to remove needles of stocking frames
out of the way of the thread carrier by sliding them back in a horizontal

page_text: position, in order to facilitate the narrowing of the fabrics produced thereby;
I do not, therefore, claim such. means of narrowing generally; but what I do
claim, is the mode of applying needles to the needle bars of machinery
employed in framework knitting and stocking fabrics whereby they may be
turned out of action by moving on an axis as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Baptist Wickes, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
JOHN BAPTIST (L.s.) WICKES.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named John Baptist Wickes, in the
presence of
SAM STONE. Solicitor.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid John Baptist Wickes 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 Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.