IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES
Year: 1872

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th February 1872.-A communication from abroad by Dana
Bickford, of the City, County, and State of New York, United States
of America.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to a new circular knitting machine for family
use to be operated by hand or treadle motion, though its features
are also applicable to larger machines that are or may be driven by
power.
The Invention consists principally in a new arrangement of the
knitting needle, whose latch when opened will not fold flush against
the needle shank but project a certain distance therefrom. This will
enable the loop that has been slid over the opened latch to close the
latter and be slipped over the needle.

page_text: By this new needle arrangement all the principal objections hitherto
urged against hand knitting machines are overcome. It dispenses with
the use of a separate latch closer and converts the yarn into an
instrument for that purpose without the least danger of being caught or
injured.
The Invention also consists in notching the needle shank below the
latch, so that it can be held elevated by the yarn when to be held
out of action. This is important in the knitting of heels and toe
pieces of stockings when several needles used in making the other parts
of the same fabric must be elevated and held out of gear.
The Invention also consists in a novel arrangement of cams for
regulating the knitting action of the needles in accordance with the
direction in which the crank is turned and also in accordance with the
thickness of yarn employed. The machine is thereby made to work
in either direction, and can when the cams are moved back and forth
instead of continuously around, be used in making flat instead of
cylindrical fabrics.
The Invention furthermore consists in a novel arrangement of per-
forated base and movable or removable stops, whereby the motion of the
carrying cylinder can be arrested in either direction at such desired
places that only a certain desired number of needles and no more
will be brought into action. The knitting of flat fabrics of suitable
width is thereby made extremely easy.
The Invention also consists in a new general arrangement of parts
constituting the machine proper, in the use of new instruments for
applying, suspending, and stretching the yarn, and for winding the same,
and also in a new "tufting" instrument, all as herein-after more fully
described.
The machine proper consists of an annular bed which is by a thumb-
screw or other means fastened to a table or other support, and which has
one or more projecting horizontal ears on which are vertical pins that
serve as supports or pivots for the yarn spools or bobbins. The annular
bed has also a pendent arm in which a crank shaft has its bearings.
Upon the outer end of this crank shaft is mounted a crank handle
or equivalent attachment for revolving the shaft, while its inner arm
carries a bevel pinion which gives motion to the revolving cylinder
hereafter referred to. On the inner edges of the annular bed is formed
a shoulder upon which by means of screws, or equivalent fastenings

page_text: provided on its outer circumference with as many vertical grooves as
there are needles to be held on it. The number of such grooves may
vary according to the diameter of the cylinder and to the kind of work
5 to be done on the machine.
For ordinary purposes two such cylinders of equal diameters are
supplied to every machine, one with about 72 grooves, the other with
about 100; the former can be used for coarse, the latter for finer
work. By removing the screws or fastenings the one cylinder can be
conveniently removed and the other substituted in its place. The grooves
on the outer side of each cylinder are narrow at their lower parts, so
as just to be large enough to admit the needle shanks and guide them
up and down, their upper parts however are enlarged or made wider.
The object of this enlargement of the grooves, which is an extremely
important improvement, is to permit the needles to draw the loops
down with them on their descent and prevent the uppermost meshes
of the fabric from merely resting on the top edge of the cylinder. On
the annular bed is supported the revolving cylinder before mentioned,
which surrounds the stationary needle cylinder and extends up as high
as the narrow lower ends of the grooves in the latter, so that the wider
upper parts of the said grooves are entirely exposed. The lower edge
of the revolving cylinder is toothed, and meshes into the teeth of the
bevel pinion of the crank handle by which it is caused to revolve around
the stationary needle cylinder. The lower end of each needle shank is
bent outwardly to constitute a foot which rests on a shoulder that is
formed on the inner periphery of the revolving cylinder, on which
shoulder all the needles are held at the necessary even elevation. One
part of said shoulder is gently carried down and then up again, so that
thereby the needles will be lowered and raised as is necessary in the
knitting process herein-after described. Part of the inclined portion on
each side of this depression is made in the form of a pivoted cam, there
being thus two cams pivoted at their lower ends and provided with
outwardly projecting pins that fit through slots in the sides of the
revolving cylinder. These pins may be thumbscrews or have thumb
nuts so that by their means the cams can be locked, it being necessary
in the process of knitting that every ascending needle be carried
above the ordinary level so as to bring the opened latch entirely
above the loop last formed, that that cam on which the needles ascend

page_text: is placed higher than the inclined plane, while the other is left with its
edge flush with its inclined plane. For knitting flat fabrics however,
when the needle is moved back and forth and either incline alternately
receives the ascending needles, both cams are carried up. The degree to
which the needles are depressed is regulated by a vertically adjustable
cam, which is directly above the lowest part of the depression, and has
a pin or thumbscrew projecting through a vertical slot in the side of
the revolving cylinder, so that it can be locked at suitable height. The
more the vertically adjustable cam is raised the shorter will be the
stitches or meshes made, as the needles are then not drawn down so far
into the groove, the tension of the yarn holding the needle feet in
contact with the lower edge of said cam. It is evident that as the
needles are held in the straight grooves of the stationary cylinder, the
effect of the incline and of the several cams above specified will be
to draw them up and down in the desired manner. On the top edge
of the revolving cylinder is placed a jointed ring closed by a spring
snap, which fits with its inner edge into a groove of the needle cylinder,
and covers the space between the needle shanks and the revolving
cylinder, thereby preventing the removal of the needles whose feet
cannot pass the said ring. When however the latter is taken off any
one or more of the needles can be conveniently withdrawn. A sliding
ring is placed on a shoulder of the revolving cylinder and held in
contact therewith by friction springs that project from an ear on the
outer side of said cylinder. This ring holds a yarn carrier which
receives the yarn from the bobbins and feeds it into the hooks of
the several needles. The sliding ring has projecting pins or stops, and
the revolving cylinder also has projections or brackets that can be brought
in contact with said stops. When the machine, that is the revolving
cylinder, is turned without hindrance, the friction springs will carry
the sliding ring along; when however an obstacle is in the way of the
sliding ring the rotating cylinder will be at liberty to turn still further
until one of its brackets strikes a stop on said ring and then it too will be
arrested. The ring can be arrested by pins put into apertures, of which
a whole succession is arranged in a circle in the face of the annular
bed of the machine. For knitting flat fabrics or the heels or toes of
stockings or for similar purposes, such pins are inserted in their proper
places. The base of the thread carrier will strike them and the sliding
ring thereby be stopped, but the cylinder can continue to revolve a
certain distance until one of its brackets strikes a stop on said [ring.

page_text: This additional motion is sufficient to ensure the full up and down
knitting motion for even the last needle opposite to which the yarn
carrier is arrested. Each of the needles has the foot afore-mentioned, a
hook at the upper end, and a pivoted latch to the hook. The latch is so
placed when open that its lower end will be some distance from the
needle shank. This object is attained by a corresponding shape of that
portion of the shank against which the open latch rests. The knitting
action of each needle is simple. When a loop of yarn has been placed
in the hook the needle first moves up and brings the open latch over
the loop; a new loop is then placed into the open hook; then the
needle moves down; the first loop thereby slides up and swings the
|latch closed, thereby confining the second loop, and finally the first slips
entirely off the needle over the sides of the second; the latter is
then in the same position as the first loop was formerly and action is
thus continued. In actual operation for knitting cylindrical fabrics the
yarn is first looped by hand around all the needles successively, and
also around the hooks at the upper end of a set up, which is a funnel
shaped wire structure placed within the needle cylinder and weighted
to draw the fabric down. When the first set of loops has been placed
the crank is turned, the yarn from the bobbin being placed through the
slot in the yarn carrier and deposited by the same successively in the
needle hooks. The needles are then moved up and down to form the
meshes, and the completed fabric is held tense by the weighted set up.
After sufficient has been knit to dispense with the set up, it is taken off
and a weighted buckle or clamp substituted for it. When in knitting
a stocking, for example, the heel or toe is to be made, some of the
needles should be temporarily set out of action. For this purpose they
are raised until notches made in their shanks come in line with the
completed loops of the knit fabric. The loop slipping into the notch
will by virtue of the weight on it hold the needle in the elevated
position, at the same time stops are fixed in the bed plate to arrest
the carrier at the desired places. When the raised needles are again
to be put in action the said stops are simply removed and the raised
needles pushed down. A yarn stud is mounted on the base of the
machine provided at its upper end with horizontal arms on which vertical
projecting pins are formed. Between these the yarn is from the bobbin
guided with suitable tension to the yarn carrier. The looper is an instru-
ment with handle, straight shank, and tubular end on the latter, through
which the yarn to be placed over the needles is drawn. By its means

page_text: "
the application of the yarn at starting can be easily effected. A hook
is also provided for taking up fallen loops or restoring meshes to the
right position on the needles. The " tufter before mentioned is a
curved wire on a handle. It is held by hand within the needle cylin-
der and loops laid alternately around it and the needles and then knit
to the latter, whereby a fabric known as a tufted fabric, viz., having
loose projecting loops or tufts, is produced. A reel is provided for
receiving the yarn to be wound upon a bobbin. It has extensible
arms to be adapted to skeins of suitable size, and the bobbin winder
consists of a main wheel having a corrugated edge and of a small :
friction wheel on the end of a spindle on which the bobbin is
placed. The friction wheel has its edge lined with rubber to be reliable
in action.