IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS."
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Edward Hodges, of Leicester, in the County.
of Leicester, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Edward Hodges at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th November 1857.
I, JOHN EDWARD HODGES, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Manu:
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in making looped fabrics by means of the thread
carriers or guides without jacks, sinkers, or loop wheels, the thread guide or
guides forming the loop as it passes, or they pass from one side of the work to
the other by a motion given from a serpentine template, or two sets of teeth
geared into each other, leaving room for a stud connected with the thread
guide bars to work between them, so that in passing the thread guide from
one side of the work to the other, a serpentine motion is performed, which
laps the thread first round one needle in one bar, then round one in the other
bar, and so on alternately. The frame needles or self-acting hooks are fixed

page_text: in needle bars parallel to each other, each bar having a downward motion.
By passing the thread guides across the work, the thread laps round a needle
in each bar alternately, the bars then go down, and in so doing press the
work over, which finishes the course.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Edward Hodges in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th May 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonn
EDWARD HODGES, of Leicester, in the County of Leicester, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Edward Hodges, Ifer special licence, that I, the said John
Edward Hodges, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Edward 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Edward Hodges, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and scals, 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 Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Edward Hodges, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:
My Invention consists in making looped fabrics by means of the thread
carriers or guides without jacks, sinkers, or loop wheels, the thread guide or

page_text: guides forming the loop as it passes, or they pass from one side of the work to
the other by a motion given from a serpentine template, or two sets of teeth
geared into each other, leaving room for a stud connected with the thread.
guide bar to work between them, so that in passing the thread guide from one
side of the work to the other, a serpentine motion is performed, which laps
the thread first round one needle in one bar, then round one in the other bar,
and so on alternately. The frame needles or self-acting hooks are fixed in
needle bars parallel to each other, each bar having a downward motion. By
passing the thread guides across the work, the thread laps round a needle in
each bar alternately, the bars then go down, and in so doing press the work
over, which finishes the course.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shews in front elevation, and
Figure 2 in vertical section, as much of a machine for making looped fabrics as
will be necessary to explain the Invention. I fix two needle bars A, A, on arms
or levers B, B, free to vibrate on fixed centres or axles C, C. The front and
back bars receive up-and-down motions from cams, not shewn in the Drawings,
revolving in the frame D below by means of levers, in which are trucks or
rollers working to the cam; one end of the lever works on an axle fixed to a
rail running across at bottom of the frame, on the other end of this lever is
another axle on which works a connecting rod or link; the other end of the
link works on another axle fixed to the needle bar, consequently the cam in
revolving round and working on the roller, presses the lever down, and by means
of the connecting rod or link, pulls the needle bar down, which presses over
the work. The other needle bar is worked by similar arrangements. There
are two bars or work slides E, E, running across the machine between the
needle bars, through which the work passes.
The thread lapping arrangement or carrier consists of a square bar or
shaft F the width of the machine, running parallel and above the needle bars
A, A, working in centres or axles, to allow it to be tilted backwards and
forwards on it corresponding with the number of carrier needle rods G, G, G,
for laying in different colours. Short tubes or clasps H act as slides to slide
along the square bar. Fixed to and standing above these clasps H are forks
or catches H', the bottom parts a of which are carried down, and have holes
through them for the carrier rods to go through, large enough to allow the
rod to vibrate. Above the square bar works a round rod or bar I called the
driving rod, running through castings b fixed on the square bar. The round
bar or driving rod receives an end motion, to and fro, from a bell crank
lever K, a part only of which is shewn in the Drawings fixed at the end of the

page_text: machine. The bell-crank lever receives motion from a cam or crank on the
cam shaft working in the frame below. On the driving rod are fixed, and set
at different angles, driving studs L, L, corresponding with the number of
clasps working on the square bar. On the driving bar, to keep it in the
position required, is fixed a fork M, clasping, but free to slide on a stationary
tio bar N running above. The square bar above described, when tilted, forms
a centre. Under the square bar are the thread carrier rods G, G, G, running
through holes in the castings & fixed on the square shaft F. On these rods tho
thread guides or carrier needles 0, 0, 0, are fixed by means of bushes c, c, c,
on the rods. The thread guides descend a little below the book or beard of
the frame needles d, d, consequently when the driving rod I is forced along by
means of the bell-crank lever K working through a slot P on the end of tho
driving rod I, it drives such clasp as is geared on the driving stud L by means
of the fork H', which is continued below, and through the lower end of which
the thread guide rod passes, and to which it is fixed by means of small
collars c, o.
The template stud Q working in the groove or between the teeth of the
template R, forces the thread guides to vibrate or go round ca needle, first
one in one bar, then one in the other alternately, or according to the pattern
cut in the template; each thread guide rod has a stud working in its own
template. A view, in plan, of this template and stud is shewn detached at
Figure 3. According to which carrier needle is wanted to go across the work
to be formed, the carrier is tilted until the driving stud on the driving rod fits
in the fork on the clasp to which the thread guide rod is attached. The
carrier is tilted, to throw in different colors at pleasure by means of a
jacquard of peculiar construction, described in the Specifications of two previous
Patents granted to me, dated 3rd March 1856. In order to make the
working of my Invention thoroughly understood, let us describe the working
of a course. Suppose both needle bars E, E, to be up, 'the driving rod I is
forced across by means of the bell-crank lever K, the driver stud L being
geared into one of the clasp forks II, to the bottom of which is attached tho
thread guide rod G, carries it along. As the thread guide rod moves, the
template stud Q working in the template R, forces the thread guide O round
the needles d, d, in each bar alternately, leaving the thread as shewn in the
detached view, Figure 4. As soon as the threads have passed across; one of
the needle bars descends. The work slides E, E, keep the work stationary,
and press it over.
The needle bar ascends, and the course is finished. The
work goes down between the work slides E, E, to a suitable taking-off roller.

page_text: I do not confine myself to the exact position or form of the template, or
governing the thread guide rods or bars separately, so long as the peculiarity
of my Invention is retained, as the same may be done with one set of teeth, or
the half of a template, with a spring to keep the stud of the guide rod up to
them or it.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the general arrangement and combination of parts of machinery for
the manufacture of looped fabrics herein-before described and illustrated in
the Drawings annexed.
Second, the employment in the manufacture of looped fabrics of templates
or indented surfaces, for imparting motion to thread-carrier needles or guides.
Third, the method of governing each thread guide rod or bar separately,
and of throwing each or any of them in or out of work when desired, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Edward Hodges, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
JOHN EDWARD HODGES. (L.S.)