IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Archibald Turner, of Leicester, Elastic Web Manu-
facturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
LOOPED FABRICS."
Sealed the 27th June 1856, and dated the 31st December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Archibald Turner at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 31st
December 1855.
I, ARCHIBALD TURNER, of Leicester, Elastic Web Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF LOOPED FABRICS, to be as follows:-
My improvements in the manufacture of looped fabrics relate to the means
of manufacturing these fabrics with various patterns, and this object is effected
by adapting to the ordinary stocking frame, warp machine, or any other machine
for producing looped fabrics, a jacquard apparatus, whereby the needles may be
operated upon according to the desired pattern.
To any person acquainted with the machinery employed in the manufacture
of 'looped fabrics, it will be evident that by operating upon the needles or
beards of the needles, or, in other words, by closing the beards or depressing
the needles in any pre-arranged order, so that some of the loops may be pushed
over the ends of the needles while others remain under the beards, any pattern
may be produced at pleasure. This, however, is an 'operation that has not yet

page_text: been accomplished, except to a very limited extent, in looped fabric machinery,
in consequence of its peculiar character.
The object of my Invention is, however, to produce any variety of pattern
with the same facility in looped fabric 'machinery.as may be effected in the
ordinary shuttle loom; and as all that is required is to operate separately
on the needles, I effect this object by means of separate lever pressers being
made to act on each needle if required. These presser levers are connected
by cords or wires to a jacquard apparatus, and by means of the pattern cards
of this apparatus any of the presser levers may be selected and caused to
operate upon their corresponding needles, and thus produce the required
pattern, which may of course be changed or altered, as may be desired, by
merely changing the pattern cards of the jacquard apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Archibald Turner in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, "ARCHIBALD
TURNER, of Leicester, Elastic Web Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Archibald Turner, Her special license that I, the said Archibald Turner, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Archibald
Turner, 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 MANUPAC-
TURE OF LOOPED FABRICS, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Archibald Turner, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I; the said Archibald Turner, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to the formation of patterns or devices in knitted
fabrics by the use of a jacquard apparatus (adapted in any of its; well-known
forms) to the ordinary stocking frame, warp machine, or other machine
employed in the. manufacture of knitted fabrics. In the accompanying
Drawing, Figure 1 shews in sectional elevation so much of a knitting frame
as will serve to explain the mode of carrying out my Invention.
a is the needle.bar, carrying the needles b, as usual; c is the hanging cheek,
to which is attached the ordinary sinker bar, which carries the sinkers d. The
machine I have shewn is provided with two thread carriers e, e, but one only.
may be used if thought desirable.. These carriers are worked as usual, and
serve to lay different colored threads over the row of needles, which threads
are depressed by the sinkers and formed into loops in the ordinary way.
Instead of a presser bar extending across the machine, and pressing all the
needles simultaneously, I provide (for the purposes of this Invention) a presser
for each needle and work them all simultaneously or in groups, according to
the kind of work required. Bolted to the bed plate A of the machine are two
standards B (one only is shewn in the Drawing), and these standards are con-
nected together at their upper end by a tie rod C, and are slotted to receive
the screw centres of a frame D, which is capable of moving on them as its
fulcrum. This suspended frame D forms the support for a comb bar E, the
ends of which. are provided with fulcrum pins f, on which the bar is capable
of turning. Bolted to this bar E is an arm g, which is slotted at its upper
end to receive a binding screw 9*. This screw takes into, a segment slotted
bracket h, bolted to the hanging frame D, and by this arrangement I am
enabled to adjust the comb bar E to any required angle with respect to the
frame D. The combs i affixed to this bar are pierced to receive two rods
,, which extend from end to end of the series of combs. The rod i¹
carries a series of levers k, to the inner ends of which are jointed presser pieces
1 of a peculiar configuration, shewn best at Figures 3. These presses are slotted
at their lower ends to receive the rod 2, which acts as a guide rod to tho
pressers.
A shoulder is formed at on each presser, and this presser is pro-
vided with a flange or rebate to add to the breadth of the presser at that part.
This flange acts upon the beard of the needle which lies below it, and at the
proper period depresses the beard to allow of the loop of the last course being
pressed over by the sinkers, m, m, are rods which bear upon the rear end of
the levers k, and are intended to return the levers k, after they have been set

page_text: in action, to the. position. of rest, which is the position, shewn. at Figure 1.
These rods are carried by levers n, n, which have a bearing on the rod i¹, and
are held down at the outer ends by means of a drag spring o. Attached to
the rear end of the levers k are the cords p, p, which descend from the jacquard
apparatus, and are intended to lift the levers, and thereby force down the
pressers on to the beards of the needles b. It will now be understood, that
in order to produce a pattern in the knitted fabric, it will only be necessary. to
determine by a suitable arrangement of cards in the jacquard apparatus (the
details of which are so well known as to require no description in this place)
which of the levers shall remain quiescent, and the needles underlying, or
commanded by the pressers of those quiescent levers will remain unpressed, and
thus no finished loop will be formed on those needles. There. will thus be a.
"tuck stitch" thrown into the work, and a succession of these tuck stitches
distributed over the work will represent the pattern designed to be imparted
thereto. Figure 2 shews the pressers and presser levers in two positions, that
is, in their quiescent and in their acting position, the raised position being.due,
as above stated, to the drag of the jacquard, and the depressed position to the
drag of the spring o. By reference to the partial plan view, Figure 4, .it
will be seen that the series of pressers 7 form in effect & continuous presser
bar, and that the rebate or flange with which they are provided prevents the
possibility of their slipping (when in action) off. the beards of the needles:
During the time that the thread is being laid on the needles, the hanging
frame D rests against the adjustable stop 9; but when the hanging cheek is
advanced, the cam piece or notched plater bears against the finger 8.on the
frame D, and thus keeps the pressers free of the sinkers. In some cases. I
propose to employ the ordinary presser bar, and to apply the lever pressers,.so
that they shall tuck such of the needles as are indicated by the jacquard appa-
ratus. The production of the pattern in the work will then in like manner be
obtained. In Figure 5, I have shewn the manner of throwing in a thread
for making spots or patterns of a different colour from the ground, as applied
to a knitting frame, in conjunction with my intended pressing apparatus. The
thread carrier a is mounted on a rod b, and is secured thereto by a packing
ring. This rod is supported in a frame c, and receives an end-way motion
for traversing the carrier. The boss of the thread carrier is so arranged that
when it meets with a depressed presser its progress will be arrested, and thus
the thread will be laid on a given number of needles only. The frame c turns
bodily (when required) on centres d, for the purpose of drawing down the
carrier between the needles to permit of the course being finished.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of Improvements in the

page_text: Manufacture of Looped 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 application of jacquard apparatus to knitting machinery for the
purpose of forming patterns or designs in knitted goods.
Secondly, the application to knitting machinery of lever pressers acted upon
by jacquard apparatus, for the purpose of forming designs or patterns in the
knitted goods.
Lastly, giving breadth to the extremity of the pressers by means of a flange
or other lateral projection, so as to prevent the pressers when in action from
slipping off the beard of the needles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Archibald Turner, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
ARCH TURNER. (L.S.)