IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cotton, of Loughborough, in the County of
Leicester, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 29th January 1864, and dated the 1st August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Cotton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st August 1868.
I, WILLIAM COTTON, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in causing the thread or threads which lie behind
the needle or needles or their equivalents in machinery employed in the
manufacture of looped fabrics to be taken by an instrument or instruments,
and passed round such needle or needles or their equivalents on which a
selvage or selvages is or are required to be made, by which means the thread
is secured or made fast upon the completion of the next course, thereby forming
one or more fast selvages in any part or parts of the breadth or breadths of
the fabric being made.
These improvements may be carried into effect in any of the various
circular or straight machines employed in the manufacture of looped fabrics

page_text: by means of an instrument or instruments sliding parallel or nearly so with
the needle or needles or their equivalents employed therein, from the back of
which said needle or needles or their equivalents the thread is taken and
passed round such needle or needles or their equivalents, the instruments so
passing the thread round being then removed until they are again required 5
for the next course.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Cotton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
COTTON, of Loughborough, in the County of Leicester, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Cotton, Her special licence that I, the said William
Cotton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Cotton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPA-
RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Cotton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Cotton, 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 thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and to s
the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-

page_text: My Invention consists in causing the thread or threads which lie behind
the needle or needles where needles are used, or behind other instruments
where other instruments are used, in machinery employed in the manufacture
of looped fabrics to be taken by another instrument or instruments, (such
instruments not being used as or in lieu of needles,) and passed round the
needle or other instrument on which a selvage or selvages is or are required to
be made, by which means the thread is secured or male fast upon the con-
pletion of the next course, thereby forming one or more fast selvages in any
part or parts of the breadth or breadths of the fabric being made.
I carry these improvements into effect in any of the various circular or
straight machines employed in the manufocture of looped fabrics by means
of an instrument or instruments sliding parallel or nearly so with the needle
or other instrument employed therein, from the back of which said needlo or
other first-named instrument the thread is taken by other instruments not
being used as or in lieu of needles and passed round the needles or other
instruments, the instruments so passing the thread round being then removed
until they are again required for the next course.
Ilaving thus set forth the nature of my Invention, I now proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing it with reference to the Drawings.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet 1, represent my improvements according to one
modification or arrangement thereof, and Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7, Sheet 2,
represent a second modification thereof.
Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of one head of a circular machine for making
looped fabrics, sufficient thereof being shewn to explain my Invention when
applied to circular machines having needles cast in leads in a well-known
manner; a portion only of the needle leads A is shown. B is a push-back,
which differs from the ordinary push-back in having a piece cut away on its
under side at the point marked B'; C is a thread guide; D and E, are the
brackets and star screws for the usual wheels; and F is a presser wheel. In
addition to the foregoing I employ the following portions of machinery or appa.
ratus, which are also shewn in side view at Figure 2. To one or more of the
plates which hold the needle leads in their place I attach a plate G, upon which
slides a piece H between two other pieces I, I, which are secured to the plate G.
Near the upper end of the sliding piece H are two small holes in which the
lower ends of two ticklers K are free to move; the outer end of each tickler
is held fast in a small boss L by a set screw. A lever projects from the under
side of each boss; these levers are pressed against two pins M, M, by a folded
spring, represented by dotted lines in Figure 2, which said spring lies under
a second spring N; the spring N presses the levers inwards the distance of the

page_text: space between the bosses L, L, and the sliding piece H, to which is attached a
double incline O lying under the upper end of the spring N. The sliding
piece His provided with a spring P, which presses upon the side pieces I, I,
and thereby holds the piece EI in the position in which it may be placed by the
two inclines Q and Q', which are attached to the ring holding the push-back;
the incline Qforces the sliding piece H upward and the incline Q' forces it
downwards, as the head revolves in the direction of the arrow, being so moved
by a stud Q attached to the piece II striking against the inclines. As the
ticklers are moved up by the incline Q they enter the loop of thread on the
centre needle, and as they continue to rise they separate or expand outward,
and when they are at their extreme point they cover the needles on each side,
having laid the thread at the back of such needles and around them; they are
then drawn clear of the thread, as they are moved down again by the incline
Q'; the thread so laid on the two needles is secured or tied in by loops formed
upon them in the usual manner.
In Figure 1, one set only of apparatus is shewn, but it is evident that a
similar set will be required to form a pair of selvages to cach set of loop wheels,
presser wheel, thread carrier, and push-back. One of the ticklers K is
reprosented in side view at Figure 3 shewing the rocess in one side thereof,
in which the head of the needle lies.
My second modification applies to those kinds of circular machines in which
the needles are secured in needle bits, such needles having an up-and-down
movement given them to gain the loop, the needles being known by the term
"latchet needles." Figure 4 is a plan and Figure 5 a sectional view of one of
such heads known as Campion and Wilson's Patent.
A is the slur cock which depresses the needles; B, the cam ring which
raises them; C, the thread guide; to these are added the following parts,
namely, a metal disc having a hole in the centre and a short pipe on the
under side, through which is passed the stem of a wood plug D' which keeps
the disc level. The work as made passes down between the plug and the inside
of the pipe carrying the sley, in which the needles rise and fall. The disc is
provided on its under bevilled edge with three or more short projections D,
which lie between the needles as they project above the sley, thereby preventing
the disc from turning round. On the top side of this disc is a groove cut
quite across it, in which slide two pairs of spring points E, which operate
upon the thread in the same manner as do the ticklers described in my first
modification. The disc D is shewn in section in Figure 6, in which is
represented one pair of spring points thrown out to the fullest extent, the
other pair being shewn drawn inwards; such movements are effected by means

page_text: of a cam F, shewn separately in plan, Figure 7. The cam which takes into
the recesses E' cut in the upper edges of the spring points may be attached to
an arm or bracket and secured to the bracket carrying the slur cock, or it may
be attached to the wheel carrying the same. Besides the sliding movements of
the spring guides caused by the cam F they have also an opening and closing
movement caused by the pins Ds, by which combined movements the points
are brought forward and receive the thread as it is placed on the needles, the
spring guides then expand and come forward a little more, and as the needles
on each side rise up, the thread is placed at the back of and around the front of
such needles, the points sliding back away from the thread which is tied or
secured by the loops of the succeeding course, by which means selvages are
made where required.
I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not restrict myself to the precise
details here shewn, nor to the circular heads of machinery as shewn, as my
Invention is applicable to all descriptions of circular machines making looped
fabrics having the needles, (or instruments used in lieu thereof,) moved in what
manner soever they may be.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same may be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the employment, in combination with a needle or needles or other
instrument or instruments, of an instrument for taking the thread or threads
and passing them round the needle or needles or instrument or instruments so
as to secure or make them fast and form fast selvages, as and for the purpose
described.
Second, the arrangement and combination of machinery or apparatus as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cotton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
GEO. JON. ROBINSON,
Patent Office,
Nottingham.
WILLIAM COTTON. (L.S.)