Improvements in Automatic Narrowing and Widening Devices for Knitting Machines.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Automatic Narrowing and Widening Devices for
Knitting Machines.
We ARTHUR WRIGHTSON of Northwest corner of 2nd and Norris Streets
Philadelphia Pennsylvania United States of America Knitting Machine Manufacturer
and BENJAMIN HOLT of 413 Pearl Street, Camden, New Jersey, United States of
America Machinist do hereby declare the nature of this Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
a
The object of our invention is to construct a simple and compact form of automatic
knitting machine, that is to say, one in which certain of the needles are first thrown
out of action successively and then brought into action successively, to produce
shaped web for the formation for instance of a heel or toe pocket upon a knitted tube,
our invention comprising certain features in the construction of the machine, all as
hereinafter fully described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a knitting machine constructed in accordance
with our invention;
Figure 2 is a plan view of the same, with the needle cylinder and cam box
removed;
Figure 3 is a side view of the machine without the needle cylinder, and looking in
the direction of the arrow Figure 2 ;
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the machine on the line y y Figure 1;
Figures 5 to 14 inclusive, are detached views of parts of the machine, illustrating
features of construction ;
Figures 15 to 26 inclusive, are diagrams illustrating the action of certain cams
forming part of the machine; and
Figures 27 to 31 are diagrams illustrating a method of knitting with reference to
which certain parts of the machine have been devised.
The frames 1 of the machine support a table or bed 2, in which is a central bearing 3
for the lower portion of the needle cylinder 4, and an annular bearing 5 for a down-
wardly projecting flange 6 on the bottom of a cam box 7. The intermediate portion
of the needle cylinder is expanded in diameter, and the needles 8 are provided with
jacks 9 which comprise upper and lower portions in different vertical planes, and a
transverse or intermediate portion connecting said upper and lower portions. The
object of this construction is to secure a greater diameter for that portion of the needle
cylinder in which the lower or bitted portions of the jacks work, whereby, with a fine
gauge at the head of the cylinder, due to the small diameter of the same, the needle
jacks around the expanded portion of the cylinder are owing to its large diameter, at
a sufficient distance apart to permit of their effective operation by the cams of the
cam box, and the ready dropping of a needle out of action or the bringing of a needle
into action, as required in the operation of the machine.
The needle cylinder has, at its lower end, a spur wheel 10, with which engages a spur
wheel 11, hung to a stud 12 depending from the table 2 of the machine, this spur
wheel being secured to or forming part of a bevel wheel 13 (see Figure 1). The
bevel wheel 13 engages with a corresponding wheel 14 on a sleeve 15 free to turn on
the driving shaft 16. This sleeve 15 is provided with lugs 75 for engagement with
lugs 76 on one half of a duplex clutch 17 the other half of the clutch having lugs 77
for engagement with lugs 78, on a sleeve 19, secured to or forming part of a bevel
wheel 20 mounted on the shaft 16. The wheel 20 gears with a bevel wheel 21
carried on a stud at one side of the frame 1, the said bevel wheel 21 having a crank
pin 22, connected by a rod 23 to an arm 24 on a bevel wheel 25 mounted on a stud
in a bracket 26 depending from the table 2 of the machine. The wheel 25 engages
117

page_text: with a bevel pinion 27, free to turn on a stad 28 secured to and depending from said
table 2, which bevel pinion 27 is secured to or forms part of a spur wheel 29, and gears
with a spur pinion 30 formed on the depending flange 6 of the cam box 7.
The clutch 17 is operated by a lever 18 and when it is brought into engagement
with the lugs 75 on the sleeve 15, a rotating movement will be imparted through the
gearing 14, 13, 11 and 10 to the needle cylinder of the machine, but when the clutch
is moved so as to be free from engagement with the sleeve 15, and caused to engage
with the lugs 78 on the sleeve 19, a reciprocating or back and forth movement
will be imparted to the cam box through the guaring 20, 21 connecting rod 23 and
wheels 25, 27, 29 and 30, it being understood that the throw of the crank pin 22 on
the wheel 21 is only sufficient to cause part of a rotation of the wheel 25, such as
will effect the reciprocation of the cam box to the desired extent.
As usual in machines of the class to which our invention relates, the needle
operating cams comprise a central drawing down cam, and a lifting cam on each side
of the same, but in our machine, these cams are moved into operative or inoperative
position by the devices hereinafter set forth.
In the diagram Figure 5, 31" and 31 represent the lifting cams and 31° represents
the drawing down cam.
When either lifting cam is elevated as shown at the right hand side of Figure 5, it
will raise the needles so as to catch the knitting thread, and the drawing down cam
will then depress the needles so as to draw the stitches.
In making tubular work, only the lifting cam in advance of the drawing down cam
need be elevated, the needles being carried forward by the rotating cylinder as indicated
by the arrow w in Figure 5.
When the cam cylinder is being reciprocated however, first one and then the other
of the lifting cams must be elevated, as each in turn becomes the leading can.
It will be evident that when the cam cylinder is being reciprocated, only such of
the needles of the machine will receive the knitting thread, as are raised by the leading
cam, and by holding this cam in the elevated position for a shorter time on each
successive reciprocation of the cam cylinder, the number of needles in action will be
gradually lessened and the web of fabric will be gradually narrowed, and if, after the
narrowing is completed, the leading cam is held in the elevated position for a longer
time on each successive reciprocation of the cam cylinder, the web will be gradually
widened, the result being a bag like bulge or pocket, available for the heel or toe of
the stocking, of which the continuous tubular web forms the leg or foot, it being
understood that each needle on being thrown out of action retains the stitch or stitches
which it carries so that the tapering edges of the narrowed and widened webs will be
united.
We will now describe the mechanism whereby the automatic operation of the
cams 31 31 and 31° for the above purpose is accomplished.
The cam 31 is under control of a lever 32 pivoted to a bracket 33" on the cam box,
and this lever has at its outer end a cam slot 34, with which engages a pin on a
lever 35 hung to a bracket 36* on the cam box as shown in Figures 6 and 7, so that
when the free end of the lever 35 is moved inward the cam 31 will be depressed and
when moved outward the said cam is elevated.
The cams 31 and 31° are controlled by a substantially similar combination of levers,
as shown in Figures 8 and 9, and in Figure 4, the cam slots 34, 34", and 34° of the
levers 32ª, 32", 32°, being preferably so formed that when the pin is at either extreme
of the slot, it will lock the lever, and thus prevent accidental movement of the cam
controlled thereby from either the elevated or depressed position, any such movement
being effected only by the movement of the lever 35ª, 356 or 35°, as the case
may be.
These levers are actuated by a series of cams on a pair of segmental cam slides 40,
suitably guided in a recessed portion of the table or bed 2 of the machine, as shown
in Figures 1 and 2, one of said cam slides having cams 41 for actuating the lever 35º of
the drawing down cam 31°; so as to throw it either up or down, a pivoted cam 42 serving
to operate the lever 35* of the lifting cam 3.1 so as to raise the latter to operative position,

page_text: and another cam 43 serving to operate the lever 35 of the other lifting cam 31b so as
to depress or throw it into inoperative position. The other segmental slide 40 has
cams 44, similar to the cams 41, serving to actuate, in both directions, the lever
controlling the drawing down cam 31°, a cam 45 serving to actuate the lever 35 of
the lifting cam 31, so as to depress the said cam and render it inoperative. The slide 40
also carries a pivoted cam 46 serving to elevate the lever 35 of the other lifting
cam 31 and render it operative, it being understood that the levers of the three cams
terminate in different circumferential planes, so that the cams 41 and 44 will act only
upon the lever 35° of the drawing down cam, the cams 42 and 45 will act only upon
the lever 35 of one lifting cam, and the cams 43 and 46 will act only upon the lever 35"
of the other lifting cam.
Supposing, therefore, that all of the cams of the cylinder are in inoperative position,
that is to say, both the lifting cams are down, as shown in Figures 6 and 8, and the
drawing down cam is elevated, as in Figure 4, and supposing that the cam box is so
adjusted that its cams are in position somewhere within the half circle under which
the slides 40 are arranged as shown in Figure 2, and that the cam box is about to be
moved in the direction of the arrow in said Figure 2. (The lower ends of the
operating levers of the various cams occupying, for instance, the position represented
by the three black circles in Figure 15) then it will be seen that the first effect of
moving the cam box in the direction of the arrow 2, Figure 2, will be to bring the
lever 35 of the forward lifting cam 31ª under control of the cam 42, as shown
in Figure 16, so that the cam 31 will be lifted into operative position, as shown
The next
in Figure 7, and will commence to act upon the needles of the cylinder.
movement will be to bring the lever 35° of the drawing down cam 31° under control
of the lifting portion of the cam 41, as shown in Figure 17, so that said lever will be
operated to depress the drawing down cam into operative position, the lever 35" of the
final lifting cam 31° passing the cam 43 without coming into contact with the same,
so that said cam 31' remains down, as in Figure 8.
When the cam box has made a half turn, the lever 35% of the lifting cam 31° in
advance will strike the cam 45 and will be operated thereby, as shown in Figure 18,
so as to throw said lifting cam downward, or render it inoperative, as in Figure 6,
the lever 35 of the drawing down cam next coming under the influence of the
depressing portion of the cam 44, as shown in Figure 19, the cam 31° being thereby
raised so as to be rendered inoperative. The lever 35° of the final lifting cam 31
then strikes the cam 46, which is a pivotted cam, acted upon by a spring 47
(Figure 2) yields as shown in Figure 20 without effecting any movement of said
lever 35b.
The parts being now in the position shown in Figure 21, the movement of the cam
box or cylinder is reversed, hence the cam 46 acts upon the. lever 35b, as shown in
Figure 22, and consequently, operates what is now the leading lifter cam 31b, so as to
throw it into operative position, as shown in Figure 9, the lever 35° of the drawing
down cam then coming under the influence of the lifting portion of the cam 44, as
shown in Figure 23, so as to move said cam into operative position, the lever of the
final lifting cam 85* passing the cam 45 without coming into contact with the same.
At the opposite end of the stroke of the cam box, the lever 35° of the leading
lifter cam is struck by the cam 43, and moved as shown in Figure 24, so as to throw
down said cam or return it to the inoperative position, the lever 35° of the drawing
down cam being then actuated by the depressing portion of the cam 41, as shown in
Figure 25, so as to render said drawing down cam inoperative, the lever 35 of the
final lifting cam striking the cam 42 and tripping the same, as shown in Figure 26,
said cam 42 being a pivoted cam like the cam 46 acted on by a spring 48 (Figure 2).
It will thus be seen that on each reciprocation of the cam box, the leading lifter
cam is first moved into operative position, and the drawing down cam is subsequently
moved to operative position, and these cams are subsequently rendered inoperative, the
number of needles in action on the needle cylinder on each reciprocation of the cam
box depending upon the point in the movement of said box at which the lifting and
drawing down cams are so rendered operative and inoperative. hence, it will be under-

page_text: stood that by moving the cam slides 40 so as to bring the sets of cams carried thereby
nearer to each other, the number of needles in action on the cylinder will be
diminished, and by separating the cam slides so as to move the sets of cams carried
thereby apart from each other, the number of needles in action on the cylinder will
be increased, and by imparting successive movements of limited extent to the cam
slides, so as to move the sets of cams, first towards each other until a certain limit is
reached, and then away from each other until they have resumed their original
position, needle after needle at each end of the acting set may first be thrown out of
action and when the narrowing has been completed, these needles may successively be
brought into action again, so as to effect the widening of the web produced.
This intermittent movement of each of the cam carrying slides 40, is effected by
the mechanism shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, and comprising a rack 50 formed on
the outer edge of each of the cam slides, said rack meshing with a worm 51,
(Figure 2) on a shaft 52 having a pinion 53, meshing with a spur wheel 54, secured
to or forming part of a toothed wheel 55, mounted on a stud or shaft on the frame
of the machine the said wheel being actuated by one or other of the arms of a
duplex pawl 56, carried by an arm 57, which is free to swing on the shaft or stud
carrying the wheel 55, and receives vibrating movement from a cam 80 on the arm 24
of the wheel 25, said cam acting through the medium of a lever 58, and rod 59 as
shown in Figure 3.
A spring 60 is secured to the end of the pivot stud of the wheels 54 and 55, and
bears upon the outer face of the wheel 54 so as to prevent undue movement of the
same due to momentum, or to the backward movement of the pawl.
The pawl 56 is under control of a tripper block 61 on a bar 62, which bar has a
pin 63 adapted to an inclined slot 64 in a second bar 65, guided on the bed 2 in a
direction at right angles to the bar 62. The bar 65 has a lug 66 which is struck
by lugs 67 and 68 on the cam slide 40, so as to shift the position of the bars 62
and 65, a friction spring 69 serving to prevent accidental movement of the bar 65.
When the machine is first changed from round and round knitting to reciprocating
knitting, the pawl 56 is adjusted as shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 13, so that the
toothed wheel 55, spur wheel 54, pinion 53, and worm 51, will be rotated so as to
move the slides 40 towards each other around the cam cylinder, and thus gradually
drop out of action needle after needle at the ends of the fashioning set in order to
Darrow the web produced.
When the desired narrowing has been effected, however, the lug 66 on the bar 65 is
struck and shifted by the lug 67, on the can slide 40, and the pawl 56 is reversed by
the movement of the block 61 as shown in Figure 14, so that movement in the
opposite direction is now imparted to the cam slide operating devices, and the needles
formerly thrown out of action are gradually brought into action again, this movement
continuing until the web has been fully widened and the cam slide has resumed its
original position, whereupon the lug 66 on the bar 65 is struck by the lug 68 of the
slide, and the tripper block is restored to the position shown in Figure 13, ready for
the next narrowing operation. At the same time the clutch 17 is shifted either by
hand or by suitable automatic mechanism, so that the machine again proceeds with
the formation of tubular work.
The tripping cams of the slides 40, which act upon the lifting cams of the cam box,
are, by preference, so located in respect to said cams and to the needles of the cylinder
that the end needle of the fashioning set, just before it is dropped out of action, and
the end needle of the set, just before it is being brought into action, is operated as a
tuck needle, that is to say, it receives the new knitting thread without being-lifted to
the clearing point or so as to slip back of its latch the stitch or stitches already formed
on it. This will be understood on reference to Figures 27 to 31. The lever 85* of
the advance or lifting cam 31ª is fully moved by the raising cam 42, and the lifting
cam is therefore fully elevated by the time it acts upon the first needle of the
fashioning set, say the needle m, in Figure 31.
While the cam box is moving forward however, the cam slide 40 is contracted-80
that the lever 35 of the advance or lifting cam 31 comes under the influence of the

page_text: depressing cam 45, as shown at Figure 27, before said lifting cam has passed the needle
at the end of the fashioning set, for instance, the needle n of the diagram Figure 31,
so that before the apex of the cam 31° has passed the bit of said needle, the cam has,
owing to the action of the cam 45 on the lever 35ª, been lowered to such an extent
that the needle will only be raised to the tuck point, as shown in Figure 27, a stitch
being thus formed on it, in addition to the stitch which it already carries, and
which it retains.
the
On the reverse movenient of the cam box, when the lifting cam 31°
passes
needle n, the lever 35 will not have been acted upon by the cam 46, sufficiently to
cause said cam 31° to elevate the needle n into position and receive the thread, con-
sequently, the needle is out of action, and retains its two stitches, the first needle to
receive the thread on the return movement being the needle n¹.
Precisely the same operation takes place at the opposite end of the set, the lever 35b
being acted upon by the depressing cam 43 before the advance or lifting cam 31°
controlled by said lever reaches the needle m, and said cam being therefore lowere: to
such an extent before its apex passes the bit of said needle m that the latter will be
raised only to the tuck point, and will thus receive two stitches, in the same manner as
the needle n.
On the next forward movement of the cam box the needle m will be out of action,
and will retain its two stitches, the first needle in action being the needle m'. There
is then a further contraction of the cam slide 40 so that the end needles n' m' of the
fashioning set will be tucked and dropped out of action, and after this, the needles n'
and m³, and so on until the fabric has been narrowed to the desired extent and the
widening operation commences.
Supposing that the last narrowing needles were the needles and m*, the needles
from no to n and from m20 to m are now to be brought into action successively,
and before each one is brought into action it is to receive and retain a new stitch in
addition to the two stitches it already contains. Supposing that the needle n is the
first needle to be brought into action the latter will only be lifted to the tuck point by
the cam 31ª, so as to receive its third stitch as shown in Figure 28, and on the back
movement will not be lifted into action by the cam 31° as the latter passes it. In the
same way the needle m20 will be only lifted to the tuck point by the cam 31° on the
back movement and on the next forward movement of the cam box will not be lifted
into action by the cam 31 when it passes it.
Before the cam 31ª again reaches the needle 20 however, the cam slide 40 will have
been expanded slightly and the said needle will now be raised to the full knitting
point, the needle n being tucked and on the back movement the needle m will be
lifted to the full knitting point by the cam 31° and the needle m¹ tucked, and so on,
the needles n, m¹, n¹8, m18, n", m17, and so on, being first tucked and then lifted into
action, until the full widening of the web has been effected and all the needles from m
to n are in action.
By thus forming these three stitches along the joining line of the narrowed and
widened webs, a close union of said webs is insured, and the formation of the usua!
objectionable openings along the joining line is effectually prevented.
It will be evident that although we have described our invention as applied to a
circular knitting machine, the invention is applicable, as well, to those knitting
machines in which the needle bed is straight and the cam box is caused to reciprocate
longitudinally instead of being reciprocated back and forth in a segmental path.
Although it is preferable, also, to trip the drawing-down cam of the machine as
well as the lifting cams, it is not absolutely necessary that the drawing-down cam
should be tripped, as it might draw down the needles to the full end of the traverse of
the cam box in each direction, the only object in tripping the drawing-down cam at
the end of the acting set of the needles being to prevent useless movement of the
inactive needles and unnecessary stretching of the needles carried thereby.
The drawing-down cam is not acted upon directly by the lever 32°, the latter acting
on a slide 7", which has a nut 71, acted on by a set screw 72 carried by the cam 31°,

page_text: so that the latter can be moved up or down independently of the slide 70, to regulate
the length of stitch drawn by the needle, (see Figure 12).
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
-
First. The combination, in a knitting machine, of the needle carrier and its needles,
a cam box having lifting and drawing-down cains for the said needles, levers for
actuating the said lifting cams, slides provided with cams for operating the said levers,
and means for moving the said slides towards and from each other, so as to cause the
lifting cams to be rendered operative and inoperative at different points in the traverse
of the cam box, substantially as herein before specified.
Second. The combination of the needle carrier and its needles, the cam box having
lifting and drawing-down cams, levers for actuating both the lifting and drawing-
down cams, slides having cams for acting upon the said levers to move them into one
or other of their extreme positions, and means for moving the said slides towards and
from each other so as to effect the movement of the lifting and drawing-down cams
to operative and inoperative positions at different points in the traverse of the cam
box, substantially as hereinbefore specified.
Third. The combination of the cam slides of the machine, a rack wheel, and gearing
connecting the said rack wheel to the said cam slides, with operating devices for the
rack wheel, comprising a carrier having a duplex pawl, means for vibrating the said
carrier, a tripper block for acting on the pawl, and bars actuated by the cam slides to
shift the pawl at the ends of the movement of said cam slides, substantially as herein-
before specified.
Fourth. The combination of the cylinder and cam box of the machine, each have a
spur wheel or rack, the driving shaft having two sleeves, a clutch whereby either
sleeve may be connected to the shaft or released therefrom, gearing whereby the
movement of one sleeve is transmitted to the needle cylinder, and gear wheels, a crank
pin, connecting rod, and vibrating toothed wheel, whereby the movement of the other
sleeve is transmitted to the cam box, substantially as herein before specified.
Fifth. The combination of the needle cylinder and its needles, the cam box and its
cams, the cam operating levers, and cams for operating the latter, the said lever
operating cams occupying such relation to the needles of the carrier that the end
needle of the acting set will be lifted to the tuck point before being dropped out of
action and on coming into action, substantially as hereinbefore specified.
Dated this 1st day of April 1890.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
Agents.