IMPROVEMENTS IN STOCKING LOOMS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in
the County of Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of
Glasgow, North Britain, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STOCKING LOOMS."-A communication from Joseph Nicolas Brocard,
of Troyes, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 16th January 1857, and dated the 23rd August 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd August 1856.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North
Britain, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STOCKING LOOмs," a communication from Joseph Nicolas
Brocard, of Troyes, in the Empire of France, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of
stocking loom, whereby one or several entire stockings may be woven and
completed in the same machine, in place of changing the work from one loom
to another as is ordinarily the case for the purpose of forming the heel and toe
after the rest of the stocking has been formed in the first loom.
According to this Invention, the main driving shaft of the loom is capable

page_text: loom to supply the
There is twice the
and toe, that there
of being driven by a belt and ordinary driving pulleys or by hand, two cranks
being formed upon it for the purpose, and for the facility of starting and
stopping the loom. This cranked driving shaft actuates a second motion shaft
which carries the cams, and which shaft term the cam shaft. The bent
levers which form part of the narrowing mechanism in ordinary machines are
replaced in this loom by bars, carrying other bars sliding longitudinally in
grooves therein. The upper part of the loom carries the bobbins for supplying
the thread for making the leg and foot of the stocking in the ordinary
manner, but a second set of bobbins is employed in this
thread for making the heel and toe of the stocking.
number of bobbins in the second tier for forming the heel
is in the first tier, the bobbins of which serve to form the leg and foot. In
front of each set is a guide bar through which the respective threads are
passed. It will be obvious, therefore, that for making the heels I add to the
ordinary loom a second set of bobbins and a corresponding thread guide, also a
second set of threads carries (those employed for the leg and foot being still
used.) I also add regulators for regulating the course of the bar which carries
the thread carriers for the heel, such regulators consisting each of a blade
spring which presses on a bar having rack teeth formed upon it. This bar,
which supports the thread carriers for the heel, rests when stationary or out of
action upon hooks or brackets placed in a convenient part of the loom.
When required for use it is brought down and placed parallel to, and is con-
nected by means of hooks with the corresponding bar used for forming the leg
and foot, which bar supports the thread carriers for that purpose. The course
of this bar is controlled by the regulators herein-before referred to. The
needle bar, which is ordinarily moveable (that is to say, when it, was not
required for use, it was removed from the loom to be again replaced when
wanted,) is according to this Invention fixed in the loom. It is spported by
suitable pillars or rods secured to a shaft, which is it itself mounted in bearings
ór slides. This bar is furnished also with a lever, by means of which it is
actuated, that is to say, made to approach to or recede from the range of
needles. This bar carries a set of needles which serve to effect the narrowing,
and these needles are made to approach to or recede from each other by
suitably formed; graduated, or stepped cams.. To make .the heel, the first-
mentioned bar is used for distributing the thread, a hook which acts upon it
producing the same effect as the corresponding hook does upon the second bar
which carries the other thread distributors. In making the toe, I use the
same needle bar, but add thereto other sets of needles of an unlimited number.:
The sets of needles which were used for the heel are now turned down out. of

page_text: the way whilst the others are acting. The needles on the bars are made to
approach to or recede from each other by means of a toothed wheel or cam,
which is driven by palls in one direction or the other as required for narrowing
or widening the work. The addition of needles for making the toe necessitates
the use of a greater number of divisions in the cams, which servo to effect the
narrowing of the leg and heel. Various mechanical contrivances may obvi-
ously be adopted for causing the needles in the bars.to approach to or recedo
from each other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
23rd February 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
and of 166, Buchanan Street, in the City of Glasgow, North Britain, Gen-
tleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in. the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John Henry.
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such. others as .I,
the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 STOCKING Looиs," a communication from Joseph Nicolas
Brocard, of Troyes, in the Empire of France, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, 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 Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to the
Jetters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
The said Invention consists in so arranging stocking frames that the
necessary diminutions or narrowings at the calf, the heel, and the end of. the
foot can be performed on it, without the necessity which now exists of taking
the stocking in process of manufacture to other frames where the diminutions
or narrowings of the heel and end of the foot are performed after the leg.has
been completed in. the first frame, whereby much time and labor is lost.
The mechanism for driving the loom is also modified, whereby its action is
rendered much more convenient and effective.
-And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts throughout all the
Eigures..
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a front elevation of the frame com-
plete. Figure 2 is an elevation of that side of the machine opposite to the
driving gear. Figure 3 represents in plan the diminishing bar for the licels
and ends of the feet. Figure 4 is a plan of another arrangement of bar,
which may be used' in lieu of the first; and Figure 5 represents a third modi-
fication of the bar, by which the same object may be attained.
Each of these arrangements consists of a bar J capable of approaching to
and receding from the range of needles, and in this bar two other smaller bars,
carrying leaf needles or ticklers, slide longitudinally in contrary directions..
These tickler bars are actuated either by cams or racks, or by any other
suitable and convenient mechanism. The driving of the machino is effected
by the crank sliaft A, which carries the fixed and loose pullies B, B', together
with the fly wheel C. But in order that the machine may, if preferred, be
actuated by hand, in place of fixing the working cams on the shaft A, I. form
two bends or cranks upon it, and fix at its extremity a spur wheel a, which
gears into the wheel d fast on the cam shaft D. The crank shaft enables the
workman in any position to start or stop the machine.
Besides the convenience attending this arrangement, a great saving of time
is effected, since the workman is enabled to stop or set the machine in motion
without having to return to the centre of the frame, as is usually the case.
The cam shaft D is rendered necessary by reason of the removal of the
cams from the crank shaft A. It will not be necessary to describe here the

page_text: mechanism by which the stitches are produced, as that is well known to frame-
work knitters. I will merely observe, that by this arrangement the frame is
rendered more compact and less complicated, and that several parts, but more
particularly those at E, and the levers d, are made to work within the
machine.
:
81-
The upper portion of the machine is provided, as is jusually the case, with
a bar or bobbin carrier F, carrying the bobbins f, which supply the thread
necessary for the formation of the leg and sole. It also carries a second bar
or bobbin carrier N, on which the bobbins n are mounted, with the thread of
which the heel and ends of the foot are finished, and this constitutes one
important feature of the present Invention. The number of these last-men-
tioned bobbins is double that of the first-mentioned set; a suitable thread
guide M is arranged in front of each of these ranges of bobbins.
For the formation of the heels I add to this loom, first; the upper bobbin
carrier and the thread guide already referred to; second, the guides T, by
which the thread from the bobbins n is distributed. I lay no claim, however,
to the guides t, as these have been previously used for distributing the thread
for the leg; and use, third, the regulators required for the completion of the
heels. These regulators consist of a blade G, which acts as a spring, and
presses upon the bar R', which is formed with rack teeth, as shewn.
There are two of these regulators in the frame. When the bar R', carrying
the guides T is at rest or out of use, and when the other guides t, which are
in connection with the mechanism for making the leg and solo are at rest also,
it is placed on the hooks II, which are situated at convenient parts of the
frame.
$1.
When the bar R' is required for use it is placed in a position parallel with
that of the bar R, to which it is united by the hooks U. The course or
motion of this bar is regulated by the blades or springs G, herein-before
referred to. The leaf needle bar or tickler bar J, which is ordinarily so
arranged that it can be taken out of the machine by hand and replaced again
when wanted, thus occasioning a considerable loss of time, is according to this
Invention placed permanently in the frame. It is supported by means of the
small columns j fixed to the square shaft K, which is citself supported in
bearings k.
1 -
This bar J is also furnished with a lever or handle L, by means of which it
can be actuated, that is to say, the leaf needles can be made to advance to or
recede from the range of needles.
The bar J is furnished with sets of leaf needles or ticklers O, serving to effect

page_text: the required diminutions or narrowings, which sets of needles can be made to
approach to or recede from one another by means of the notched cams, repre-
sented in detail, Figures 7 and 8.
In order to make the heels, the bar R', which distributes the thread, is
brought into action. A hook U produces the same effect upon it. that the
hook U¹ does upon the bar R, which carries the other thread conductors, that
is, it holds this bar R¹ in a state of rest whilst the stitch is being made. For
the ends of the feet I make use of the same bar J, simply adding to it more
sets of leaf needles o, having an unlimited number of needles.
In order that these sets of needles o¹ may be applied in conjunction' with
the sets o, and the sliding bars upon which they are fitted, which serve to
effect the diminution of the leg and heel, they are each and all provided with a
hinge, by which any set can be bent down or restored to their formér position
at will, so that one set may not interfere with the working of the other set.
The cams are mounted upon a shaft P, which is provided with a' notched or
indented wheel Q, serving as a double-action ratchet wheel. A lever q
oscillates freely on the shaft P by means of a rod m, which the workman
can actuate by means of the handle n, and the traverse of this rod m in either
direction is limited' by the two collars or shoulders n'. To the upper ex-
tremity of the oscillating lever q are attached the palls i and i, both of which
gear with the wheel Q, the one acting to the right, and the other to the left.
It is thus obvious that the workman is able to move the wheel Q either to
the right or to the left by imparting a reciprocating movement to the bar m.
For this purpose, to each of the palls i and i¹ is attached a chain r and s,
passing over a pulley & situated at the extreme upper end of the oscillating
lever 9. The other ends of these chains are attached at u and u¹ to a hori-
zontal rod u placed close above the bar m after having passed round a friction
roller won the shaft P.
By means of this arrangement, if the rod u be pushed from left to right. the
chains is so acted upon that it raises the click , while that at i remains in
the teeth of the wheel, causing it to turn in the direction of the arrow as soon
as the workman puts the bar m in motion. If, on the contrary, the rod u be
moved from right to left, the chain r will be affected and will raise tlie click i,
while the click i¹, falls back into gear with the teeth of the wheel, so that the
movement of the bar will turn it in a direction opposite to the one in the
preceding case.
:
The rod u is held in the required position by bringing one or other of the
projections with which it is furnished into gear with the catches y fixed to

page_text: the main standards X. The addition of the leaf needles for making the ends
of the feet renders it necessary to augment the divisions of the cams, which
serve for making the required diminutions of the calf and heel.
Two rods G and H' (shewn by single lines in Figure 3) terminated by spiral
springs are attached to the two ends of the bar J; one of these rods is united
to every alternate set of leaf needles, and the other to the remaining ones; so
that in whatever direction the sets of leaf needles may be moved, their motion
will always act upon, one of the springs of the rods, the effect of which will be
to counteract such inaccuracies in the position of the leaf needles as might be
produced by the play or back-lash of the gearing alone.
.>
I' indicates the cross pieces which prevent any oscillation of the sliding bars
carrying the leaf needles.
For diminishing or narrowing the ends of the feet the bars represented at
Figures 4 and 5 may be substituted for that above described. Figure 4
represents a bar fitted with racks and pinions, which answers the same purposo
as that of the bar J. This arrangement obviously renders the cams unnecessary:
The handle or lever L in the middle of this bar is always retained. Thus the
racks moving in contrary directions causes the leaf needles to approach or
recede from one another as in the former ense. It is also possible to apply tho
"Delarothiere" mechanism to the frame. This apparatus, which has been
applied to ordinary frames, is well known; but I
propose applying to the
manufacture of several stockings simultaneously. It is represented at Figure 5:
A indicates the bar which carries the leaf needles, and B' that carrying the
spirals; this last carries the wheel C', which regulates the amount of motioni
to be imparted to the spirals at each diminution or narrowing.
Instead of the button by means of which the rod of the spirals is generally
turned by laying hold of it between two fingers, I have applied the handles D¹;
which the workman can grasp with his hand, or the small armis E, by which
means he can more easily apply the required force, which must necessarily. be
greater in this loom than in those with one range of needles only:
.
Figure 6 represents in plan another form of leaf needle bar for ornamenting
the lower part of the leg near the heel. The needles or "ticklers" F occupy
the place of the needles for the ends of the feet; they are single needles, and
are arranged on hinges so as to be capable of lowering when the leaf needles
G' come into action, and of rising when the others are lowered.
The object of these "ticklers," as is well known, is to take a stitch from one
needle in order to place it on the neighbouring one, which is done in reality by
hand. As each "tickler" is in a straight line, it is necessary that it should at
each time it transfers a stitch make a movement in the required direction, and

page_text: return to its original-position. These movements are exactly similar to those
for narrowing the ends of the feet.
I employ these special frames for making the legs and heels, and I apply to
these frames diminishing or narrowing bars, which are furnished with leaf
needles for diminishing the calf and heels, and with ticklers for transferring
the stitches. This I have represented at Figure 6.
I propose using also frames destined to make the soles and ends of the feet
only. In this case I only apply to the diminishing or narrowing bars the leaf
needles for making the stitches. These same leaf needles make the required
diminution or narrowing for the soles.
Figure 9 is a detail view of the cam No. 3 actuating the hooks U.
Figure 10 is a detail view of cam No. 0; which actuates-such-of the-thread.
distributors as are required to come into action according to that portion of the
stocking that they are arranged to finish.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to
the precise details or arrangements which I have had occasion to describe or
refer to, as many variations may be made therefrom without deviating from tho
principles or main features of the said Invention; but what I consider to be
novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the system or mode of forming the legs, heels, and ends of the feet of
stockings on one frame, as herein-before described.
Second, the application for this purpose of two distributors or thread con-
ductors, one of which produces the heels, while the other supplies thread for
the leg, for the second thread of the heel, and for the end of the foot.
Third, the arrangement of leaf needle bars, carrying the leaf needles neces-
sary for diminishing or narrowing the leg, heel, and end of the foot of several
stockings on the same frame, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the arrangement of hinged leaf needles, which can be folded back
when they are not required, whilst the others are in operation.
Fifth, the mechanical means herein-before described for actuating the
conductors, and diminishing or narrowing bars, either by cams, racks, or by
the "Delarothiere" movement, when applied to the formation of several
stockings simultaneously.
Sixth, the arrangement of palls whereby the workman can conveniently turn
the cam shaft, which actuates the diminishing bars either to the right or to the
Jeft as occasion may require.

page_text: Seventh, the application and use of spiral springs to avoid that inaccuracy
in the position of the leaf needles which the play or back-lach of the gearing
would otherwise produce.
Eighth, the employment of a handle or of small arms for turning the shaft
of the "Delarothiere" mechanism.
Ninth, the application to this loom of single leaf needles or "ticklers," in the
manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
ગ.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of February, "One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven.
W