Improvements in or relating to Machines for Uniting Knitted or Looped Fabrics.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1896--Accepted, 14th Nov., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Machines for Uniting Knitted or
Looped Fabrics.
1, GEORGE ARCHIBALD CARTWRIGHT, of Limehurst, Loughborough in the County
of Leicester, Engineer, 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 (1) certain improvements in the "points
upon which,
in machines for uniting knitted or loopel fabrics, two selvaged or looped edges of
such fabrics are impaled to be sewed together, and (2) to the form of the point-bed
in which the points are supported, and to the means for securing the points in
the bed.
The object of the invention is to so improve the form and details of construction of
the points and point-bed and fastenings that the point of the sewing-needle. will not
strike the bed, when for any reason, it passes between two adjacent points.
A further object is to provide a stronger and better fastening for the points than
that heretofore used, by the employment of which, the points may he placed and
removed without injuring the parts of the point-bed, and which shall be so far
below the needle that the loops of the thread with which the edges are sewed
together will not be at any time compressed and held between the under side of
the sewing-needle and the bed or fastening.
The invention consists of a point for turning off machines, the shank or rear
part of which is formed in two portions whose axial lines are at an angle to each
other, and of a point-hed having a projecting rim or support underlying the projecting
parts of the points and provided with grooves cut in its upper face between the
point-rests.
It further consists in certain other details of construction and arrangement herein-
after specified.
In the drawings
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a circular turning-off machine with the looper
and certain details omitted and with the hereinbefore mentioned improvements
incorporated therein.
Figure. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the point-bed and other details of
Fig. 3, showing the improved point in side elevation, a part of the sewing-needle,
two pendant pieces of knit or looped fabrics, and the sweep in elevation, with the
hanger of the sweep broken off.
Fig. 3 is a plan of Fig. 2 with the pieces of fabric and the sweep omitted.
Fig. 4 is a plan of the sweep with the hanger broken off, as in Fig. 2.
Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section of a point, point-hed, and fastenings of the
construction usual in circular turning off machines, showing also a portion of the
sewing-needle.
This figure is introduced for reference to facilitate the description of my invention.
Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are transverse vertical sections of point-beds showing several
modifications of my invention hereinafter fully described.
Fig. 9 is a face view or elevation of a broken-out part of the point-bed, points,
and projecting support or guard of the form illustrated in Fig. 6.
Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a point having my improvements.
All the figures except Figure 1 are on an enlarged scale, and illustrate the
application of my invention to a straight as well as to a circular turning-off machine,

page_text: or to any machine for uniting the edges of knit or looped fabrics in which projecting
or overhanging points are similarly employed.
A is the supporting frame or stand carrying the driving-shaft B and projecting
arm C.
The outer or overhanging end of arm is provided with a hub a, carrying the
cylinder-sbaft b, which is secured in its proper position by the set-screw c.
D is the stationary plate or cylinder, carrying the point-bed E, which in this case
is a ring bored and turned to fit into a groove in the outer face of the cylinder
formed by an annular flange, d, and ring e.
In straight machines the point-bed is straight instead of ring-shaped and is suitably
guided in a straight line, having a reciprocating instead of a revolving motion, and
this specification is intended to apply equally well to either, although for the sake
of brevity no further reference he made therein to straight machines or to other
machines than the circular.
The circular point-bed E is provided with teeth on its under side, forming a
circular rack, which is driven by a pinion, g Fig. 1 ou a transverse shaft, h, carrying
also a ratchet-wheel, i, driven by a pawl, j, on the extremity of the pawl-rod k,
reciprocated by the action of an eccentric (not shown) on shaft B.
Each tooth of the ratchet moved by the pawl carries the point-bed a sufficient
distance to bring one point after the next preceding one successively underneath the
needle l
The sewing-needle is attached to the vibrating needle arm
by a set-screw, n,
and the needle-arm is propelled by the eccentric-cam o on driving shaft B.
F is a point of the usual form shown in section in Fig. 5.
The point F consists of one straight horizontal part, 1, and one straight inclined
Part, 2.
The longitudinal groove it. the upper side of the points permits the needle to
pass into the loops of the fabric without catching the thread.
The circular are in which the point of the needle has its path is indicated by
dotted line 3.
The inner portion of the horizontal part I of point F is confined in a suitable
groove, 4, in bed E, the walls of which project above the needle and are hammered
down upon part 1 after the point is in place, thereby firmly and securely holding
part 1 in place vertically and laterally.
To prevent part 1 from turning in its seat, and to still further secure the point F
in bed E, a shallow inclined groove, 5, somewhat less in depth than the diameter
or thickness of part 2, is formed in the bed to receive part 2, and a follower, 6,
wedge-shape in section is drawn down by screws 7 along the vertical face 71 of
the channel in bed E until it presses firmly against parts 2 of points F, holding
them securely in the grooves 5, and thus completing the necessary fastening of the
points F in point-bed E.
The defects of this the usual construction, (illustrated in Fig. and above
described,) which it is the object of my invention to remedy, are, first, that the
needle 7, from various causes not necessary to enumerate, frequently passes between
the points F instead of into the groove of the point, and necessarily strikes the wall
or partition between the points, with the result of injuring the needle or the wall,
or both second, in sewing the edges of the looped or knit fabrics together, when
the usual hook, or looper (not shown in the drawings) after having formed the loop,
commences to leave the same, the loop is drawn outward and tightened by the
tension of the thread of needle 7 in being withdrawn; but the needle / lies so closely
to the face of the hammered-down part of the walls of grooves 4 that the thread of
the loop is held and detained between the needle 7 and that face, causing irregularity
in the stitches.
These two defects obviate by the employment of my improved point G, the
the shank or rear part of which is formed in two portions the axial lines of which
are at an angle to each other, as shown in the drawings.
In Fig. 2 the horizontal projecting part of the point is shown elevated above

page_text: the upper face of the bed, this arrangement allowing the needle to pass between the
points G without striking auy part of the needle-bed, and thereby being broken or
injured.
Being enabled, also, by this arrangement to make the horizontal projecting part of
the point much shorter, and also to dispense with the hammered-down portion of
the wall of the point-bed above referred to, there is much less liability for the loop
to get caught and sufficient clearance between the needle and point-bed will be
obtained.
To prevent the loops 8 of the pendent fabric 9 from being pushed in over the
bend 10 of point G, it is necessary that a suitable projection, 11, be provided
extending outward from the point-bed beyond the fastening of the points therein
sufficiently for the purpose.
The operator, in placing the pieces of fabric on the points, will sometimes force
the loops 8 over the bend 10, and a sweep, 12, may be fixed near the needle / by
attaching the hanger 13 to some stationary support in such a position that the
loops 8, carried by the moving points toward the needle 1, will come in contact
with a suitable working face or edge, 14, of the sweep, and, moving along that face
or edge, will be forced outward toward the extremity of the points into or near
the position shown in Fig. 2.
The outer and upper corner of the projection 11, which extends above the shank
of the point, may be beveled or rounded off, as seen in Fig. 2, so that in case the
needle should strike the inclined surface thus presented it would he forced upward
doing less damage than if striking a vertical face; or it may be beveled or sloped
still more than is represented in Fig. 2 farther inward, to prevent the needle from
striking at all.
In order that the distance between the loops 8 and the hook or looper, may not be
too great the inner portion of the horizontal part of the points G may be lowered
below the outer part sufficiently to bring the inner part and its fastenings below the
hook or looper, as shown in the several Drawings 6, 7, 8, and 9.
In order to support the outer or overhanging portion of the horizontal part of the
points G, the projection 11 may be extended upward quite to the under side of the
outer horizontal part of the point G and the projection 11 may in that case be
grooved between the points, as shown in Fig. 9, to give additional clearance to the
point of the needle / whenever it passes between the points G.
Another objection to the construction shown in Fig. 5 is that when the points
become injured they cannot be renewed or replaced more than once or twice, owing
to the necessity of hammering or riveting down the metal to secure the points F
in the seats.
To avoid this difficulty I employ for each point G two shallow grooves, 15 and 16,
Figs. 7 and 8, not in the same straight line, or one or more suitable grooves forming
a curved or broken line corresponding to the form of the part y of the point G,
the said curved or straight grooves being so disposed or formed in the bed that when
the points Gare placed therein and the follower 6 drawn or forced down, the
follower, passing downward and outward, will hold the points firmly and securely
in position, as will be clearly understood by inspecting Figs. 7, 8, and 10.
When, as in Fig. 8, the shallow groove 15 is horizontal, the projection 11 may be
formed on a removable plute or ring, as illustrated in that figure and also in Fig. 6,
to facilitate the cutting of the grooves 15; but when the grooves 15 and 16 are cut
on parallel or similarly-inclined faces, as illustrated in Fig. 7, it is not necessary that
the projection 11 be formed in a separate or removable plate or ring.
The form of the follower 6 in Figs. 7 and 8 can be perfectly understood by simple
inspection of the figures.
Its form, of course, must correspond with the form of the points G.
The essential features of the point G may be more fully understood by referring
to Fig. 10, in which W X-that is to say, the part of the point G between W and X-
is the projecting or overhanging horizontal part, which may be straight or slightly

page_text: curved, and the part y is the shank of the point, and is formed of two portions
whose axial lines are at an angle to each other.
It will be evident that the shank of the point, if curved as shown in Fig. 10, will
accomplish the same result as if it were of the form shown in Figs. 6, 7, and 8,
although the form of shank shown in said Figs. 6, 7, and 8 is preferred.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. A point for turning off machines, the shank or rear part of which is formed in
two portions whose axial lines are at an angle to each other.
2. In a turning off machine the combination with points having their shanks or
rear portions formed in two parts the axial lines of which are at an angle to each
other of a point bed having grooves therein corresponding in form to the angular
shanks of the said points and means for fixing the said points in position in the said
bed substantially as described.
3. A point for turning-off machines, having its shank or rear portion formed in
two parts, the axial lines of which are at an angle to each other, in combination with
a point-bed having grooves corresponding in form to the angular shank of the point,
a projection extending outward beyond the bend in the point, and a follower for
securing said point in proper position, substantially as described.
4. In a turning-off machine, and in combination with the point thereof, a point-
bed provided with a projection extending outward from said bed and upward beneath
and supporting the projecting portions of the points, and having grooves cut in its
upper face or edge between the points, substantially as described.
5. A point-bed for turning-off machines, provided with a projecting rim or
portion having elevated portions or seats for the points and grooves or recesses
between said elevated portions or seats, as and for the purpose described.
6. A point-bed for turning-off machines, provided with a projecting rim or portion
having its upper outer edge beveled or rounded off, substantially as and for the
purpose described.
7. The improved turning-off machine consisting of the parts constructed, combined
and operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose described and illus-
trated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 21st day of July 1896.
Witness-
E. N. LEWIS,
Berridge Street Chambers,
Leicester.
GEORGE ARCHIBALD CARTWRIGHT.
Boult & Wade,
Agents for the Applicant.