Improvements in and relating to the Sewing together of Knitted Fabrio.
Year: 1888

page_text: ULL LE
Improvements in and relating to the Sewing together of Knitted
Fabrio.
I, JULIUS KÖHLER of Limbach in the Kingdom of Saxony, Empire of Germany
Manufacturer 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 :-
This invention relates to the sewing together of the edges of knitted fabric and
more especially to the sewing of one-and-one ribbed fabric and its object is to sew
together the edges of said fabric in such a manner that the seam shall be substantially
invisible from the outside of the fabric.
Referring to the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a machine
suitable for the sewing of one-and-one ribbed or other knitted fabric. A piece of
one-and-one ribbed fabric is shown in Fig. 2.
Such fabric is knitted by aid of two rows of needles alternately placed, the number
of needles in each row being equal so that at one edge of the fabric for instance on
the left, the last rib projects to the front while one the other edge on the right the
last rib projects to the rear. The fabric therefore appears from above as shown in
Fig. 3 or schematically as shown in Fig. 4.
The edges of the fabric after being laid together were hitherto brought between the
feed discs a and b Fig. 15 of the sewing machine Fig. 1. so that the said edges were
pressed onto each other and fed forward in such a manner that the lateral ribs were
pierced as indicated by an arrow in Fig. 5 and sewn together. After opening and
turning the fabric as shown in Fig. 6 two of the lower ribs are adjacent to each
other and the fabric has the appearance shown in Fig. 7, the stitches become visible
the regularity of the ribs is interrupted, the seam is at once recognizable in the
fabric.
These inconveniences are obviated in the following manner. The two edges of
the ribbed fabric to be sewn together are so placed upon one another that the.
outer most ribs Fig. 9 on the one edge overlaps that on the other edge said rib
lying more or less between the edges so that when pressed down it is pierced by the
needle passing through the outer ribs.

page_text: The needle therefore traverses in one edge of the fabric two ribs but in the other
edge only one rib as usual. When now the fabric is unfolded the ribs alternate
regularly as shown schematically in Fig. 10 and the fabric assumes on the outside at
the place of the seam the appearance shown in Fig. 11. Very little of the seam
proper. is here perceptible being practically invisible in the actual fabric, the meshes
of which become denser the sewing thread having a suitable colour, Since also this
seam may be and preferably is produced on sewing machine as shown in Fig. 1 with
chain stitch the seam shows very little on the rear side also.
In the machine the feed discs A and B are of such nature as to automatically guide
the material in the manner required thus referring to Figs. 12 to 14 it will be seen
that each of the two feed discs A and B Figs. 12 to 14 is provided at the edge with a
narrow projecting rim or flange e slightly milled; these rims run in the recess before
or to the fabric side of the last outward rib on each side and as, these do not corre-
spond exactly in relative position to the respective edge of the fabric whereas the
rims c do correspond in position, the inner rib's Fig. 8 projects farther froin the
surface of the feed discs than the other edge of the fabric. To turn down this
projecting ribs inwardly, the finger d Figs. 12, 13, and 14, is provided having
a tongue e which extends into close proximity with the needle and holds down the
centre ribs so that the needle as indicated above passes through this rib & Fig. 9 as
well as through the two other ribs as aforesaid.
'
The finger d (Fig. 12) carries below a bead which guides the other part of the
fabric.
The upper rim g on the feed discs gives the needle a secure guiding when passing.
The finger d may be fastened to the stationary shaft bearing loosely the disc A.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :
1. In sewing together lateral edges of ribbed knitted fabric terminating in
alternately directed ribs the process consisting in sewing the front and rear rib on
one edge with the rear rib on the other edge substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.
2. In a machine for sewing together knitted fabric the combination with feed
discs A and B of a finger d substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 21st day or February 1888.
HERBERT & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, W.C.,
Agents to Applicant.