IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC OR KNITTED PLUSH
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Albert Thornton and Frederick Thornton, both of the
Town and County of Nottingham, Mechanical Designers, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC OR KNITTED PLUSH
Sealed the 12th February 1856, and dated the 13th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Albert Thornton and
Frederick Thornton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 13th August 1855.
We, ALBERT THORNTON and FREDERICK THORNTON, both of the Town and
County of Nottingham, Mechanical Designers, do hereby declare the nature of
the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC OR KNITTED
PLUSH OR PILED FABRICS FOR HATS AND OTHER PURPOSES" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in combining knitting
machinery for making tubular knit fabrics with pile thereon, suitable for the
manufacture of hats and other articles. For this purpose a series of needles
are arranged in a circle, as is usually the case when manufacturing tubular
knitted fabrics. There is also between each pair of neighbouring needles a
sinker with double nebs, suitable for receiving two yarns or threads, one for
making the ground or body of the fabric, and the other for making the
pile. These sinkers are carried by bars, which are each capable of sliding,

page_text: and also of acting as a lever, by moving as on a fulcrum, the sliding and
rocking of these bars being guided by fixed cam courses or surfaces. The
sliding bars at the moment of sinking the threads between the needles are
pressed on by a spring, having on it a short incline, which presses in succession
on the bars just above and a little forward of the fulcrum, by which the desired
extent of sinking of the pile thread or yarn by the sinkers is more readily
accomplished; and in order to cut the pile, a fixed stationary cutter is placed
at a part of the machine, and the sinkers are provided with projections, which,
on the sinkers being raised up, lift the needles out of their ordinary position,
so that the loops of pile threads thereon are opened, and they pass on to the
knife and are cut thereby.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Albert Thornton and Frederick Thornton in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 13th February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALBERT
THORNTON and FREDERICK THORNTON, both of the Town and County of
Nottingham, Mechanical Designers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of August, 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 us,
the said Albert Thornton and Frederick Thornton, Her special licence, that
we, the said Albert Thornton and Frederick Thornton, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Albert Thornton and
Frederick Thornton, our 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 MANUFACTURE OF ELASTIC OR KNITTED PLUSH OR PILED FABRICS FOR HATS AND
THER PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Albert
Thornton and Frederick Thornton, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent...
:
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Albert Thornton and Frederick
Thornton, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed; to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in combining knitting
machinery for making tubular knit fabrics with pile thereon, suitable for the
manufacture of hats and other articles. "For this purpose a series of needles
are arranged in a circle, as is usually the case when manufacturing tubular
knitted fabrics. There is also between each pair of neighbouring needles a
sinker with double. nebs, suitable for receiving two yarns or threads, one for
making the ground or body of the fabric, and the other for making the pile.
These sinkers are carried by bars, which are each capable of sliding, and also
of acting as a lever, by moving as on a fulcrum, the sliding and rocking of
these bars being guided by fixed cam courses or surfaces. The sliding bars at
the moment of sinking the threads between the needles are pressed on 'by a
spring, having on it a short incline, which presses in succession on the bars
just above and a little forward of the fulcrum, by which the desired extent of
sinking of the pile thread or yarn by the sinkers is more readily accomplished;
and in order to cut the pile, a fixed stationary cutter is placed at a part of the
machine, and the sinkers are provided with projections, which, on the sinkers
being raised up, lift the needles out of their ordinary position, so that the loops
of pile threads thereon are opened, and they pass on to the knife and are cut
thereby
:
.
Having thus stated the nature of our said Invention, we will proceed more
fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a sectional view of the working parts, with the work A taken
back on the needles B by the jacks C, driven by the stationary incline D,
preparatory to their being elevated by the upright incline'E (Figure 2) to
receive the supply of material through the stationary guide F. Each jack
has two sinkers, only one of which has catches, and one of these catches, it
will be observed, is considerably beneath the other., Figure 3 shews the
position of the jacks when they have been forced down by the spring incline G,
and have thereby taken a supply of material to form the fabric, the back
catch for the ground work, and the front and deeper catch for the pile or
plush; Figure 4 shows the parts when in the act of pressing, which operation

page_text: is well understood. After the pressing has been performed, and before the work
is forced forwards to the heads of the needles, every alternate needle or every
alternate two needles are elevated successively by means of projections on the
lower parts of the sinkers, or by a wheel placed under the stems of the needles,
as shown in Figure 5, in order to give facility for the threading of the loops
by the knife; Figure 5 shows the position of the parts when half the needles
. are so elevated. The instrument H serves to keep the loops on the front neb of
the sinker until the knife is in safe possession, when they are allowed to slip off.
The jacks are then forced forward by the back driver I to knock over the
work, which is effected by the time the loops reach the sharp part of the knife.
When the cutting is performed, the work passes through the centre of the
machine, which is of the circular form, commonly employed in the manufac-
ture of plain hosiery. The small dot, between the heads of needles, as shewn
in Figure 5, is intended to shew the point of the knife when taking possession
of the loops before cutting.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that we do not claim
any of the parts separately, nor do we claim the arranging knitting machinery
into a circular form; but what we claim is, the manner of acting on the
needles by the sinkers to facilitate the cutting of the pile, and the introduction
of the cutter in the position described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Albert Thornton and Frederick Thornton,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
WILLIAM TILLEY.
ALBERT THORNTON.
(L.S.)
FREDERICK THORNTON. (L.S.)