Improvements in "Turning-off" Machines or Apparatus for use in Stitching Together Parts of Knitted Fabrics.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Jan., 1893-Accepted, 4th Mar., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in "Turning-off" Machines or Apparatus for use in
Stitching Together Parts of Knitted Fabrics.
A communication from abroad by ADELBERT LEE TRAVER, of Mellenville, in
the State of New York, one of the United States of America, Manufacturer..
I; ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County of
London, Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
"
In the manufacture of knitted goods, such as stockings, shirts, drawers, &c., it
is customary to stitch together the cut edges of the fabrics, and also to stitch to
knitted good "rib tops" and cuffs.
%
66
This class of work is done on what are called "turning-off" machines.
"
A "turning-off" machine is essentially a sewing machine containing a rotating
wheel or disk provided at its periphery with a series of horizontally extending
stitch-pins on which are impaled near their cut edges the two thicknesses of
knitted material which are to be seamed or stitched together by a thread carried
by an eye-pointed curved thread-carrying needle carried by a vibrating arm, said
needle entering the material' close to and above the stitch-pins and having
co-operating with it a complemental stitch-forming device usually in the form of a
hook, the needle and hook making a chain stitch.
..!
It has been customary, preparatory to the stitching operation; to trim away with
shears in the hand of the operator, the edges of the knitted material projecting
above the stitch-pins on which the knitted fabric is impaled.
Instead of this, I have devised a machine containing devices to automatically
destroy the loops or threads in the edges of the knitted material extended above
the stitch-pins, and thereafter a pick-out automatically picks out or detaches froin
the knitted goods the yarn or thread of the broken loops, thus leaving but a small
portion of the fabric above the stitch-pins.
During the operation of destroying the loops the fabric is kept down on the
stitch-pins by a deflector located below the stitch-pins, it acting on the knitted
material to draw or pull it down with sufficient force to prevent the fabric being
lifted by or during the action of the loop destroyer.
65
This invention consists in an attachment for use with a turning off" machine,
said attachment including a loop-destroyer to act on and destroy the surplus loops
of a knitted fabric extended above the loops impaled on the stitch pins; and a
deflector to act on and draw and hold the knitted fabric down on the stitch-pins.
And in the use in combination with a turning-off" machine containing a
rotating wheel provided with stitch-pins on which may be impaled the knitted
fabrics to be stitched, and stitch-forming mechanism, of a deflector adapted to
act on the knitted material and hold it down on the said stitch-pins; of a loop
destroyer to act on and destroy the surplus loops of the knitted fabric beyond the
loops impaled on the stitch-pins, a picking-out device to remove the thread loops
destroyed by the loop destroyer; and an actuating device for the said loop-destroyer
and picking-out device, the deflector serving to prevent the loop destroyer from
drawing or straining the kuitted courses below the stitches impaled on the said
stitch-pins, substantially as will be described.
Fig. 1. in plan view, represents a sufficient portion of a machine for sewing
looped fabrics, a machine commonly designated as a "turning-off" machine, with
my improvements added to enable my invention to be understood.
Fig. 2 is a right hand side elevation of my improved attachment, together with

page_text: part of the feeding wheel and its stitch pins, the plates B, B', being partially broken
away.
Fig. 3 is a detail showing the carrier represented in Fig. 1 as having attached
to it not only the loop destroyer, but also the picking-out device.
Fig. 4 is a detail to better illustrate the action of the deflector.
Fig. 5 shows the deflector detached.
Fig. 5, a section of the deflector Fig. 5.
Figs. 6 and 7 are details to be referred to descriptive of a modification of my
invention.
Referring to the drawing A represents the usual feed wheel, and a the usual
stitch-pins carried at its periphery all as in ordinary "turning off" machines, the
said wheel in practice deriving its motion of rotation in any well known or usual
manner.
The feed wheel is mounted upon a suitable center plate or hub A', and as herein
represented it has a series of teeth as A' at its under side adapted to be engaged by
a suitable gear to rotate it.
The central stationary hub A' forms a bed or support for the stand A* of my
improved loop destroying apparatus to be described, said stand being attached by
bolt A'.
The stand supports in an adjustable manner by bolt A*, an arm or casting A
having suitable bearings for a shaft A, having suitable cam or cams to impart
suitable movements to the loop destroyer and to the pick-out device.
The shaft A has a belt pulley m, which, by a universally jointed or knuckle
shaft m¹, is jointed to and rotates a cam disk m at one end of a suitable shaft m
in practise supported in suitable bearings, not shown, of a stationary arm A10 of
the frame-work, said cam disk having, see Fig. 2, a cam groove 9 in which is
entered a suitable roller or other stud 10 of a needle actuating lever m², in practise
of elbow shape, and pivoted on a stud 8 of the arm A, said needle lever carrying
an eye-pointed thread-carrying needle 6.
I have not considered it necessary to show the hook or looper device co-operating
with the needle 6 and complemental thereto for forming a chain-stitch through the
cut edges of the material extended above the stitch pins on which the material hangs,
and such hook or looper may be all as usual in turning-off machines.
The arm A has secured to it in suitable manner two smoothing or guide-
plates B, B¹, between which the cut edges of the material, extended above
the stitch-pins, and to be stitched together are carried by the rotation of the feed
wheel A.
These plates
are of such shape as to readily permit the cut edges to enter
between them and then to smooth out any curls or unevenness therein.
The plate B, in this present embodiment of my invention, acts as a support for
that piece of the knitted material nearest the base of the stitch-pins, so that the
knitted material is, by said plate, put substantially uniformly distant from the base
of the stitch-pins, said plate also serving to sustain the material while the loop-
destroyer h, to be described, is penetrating the material and destroying the
continuity of the thread loops in the cut edges of the fabric down substantially to
the loops then impaled on the stitch-pins, so that the said broken threads or loops
may thereafter be picked out.
The acting face of the plate B' serves to prevent the accidental escape of the
loops from the stitch-pins, and at the same time the said plate, as herein represented,
has a slot 2.for the passage through it of the loop-destroyer b, and one or more
slots 3 for the passage through it of the picking-out device h, to be described.
The shaft A (Fig. 1) has upon it a cam D, shown by dotted lines, in Fig. 2.
which works within an oblong opening in a strap D' forming part of a slide rod D',
the outer end of which is so supported as to enable the said cam D in its rotation
to not only move the strap rod backwards and forwards but also up and down, so
that the devices carried thereby, such as the loop destroyer b and the picking-out
device are given a substantially elliptical movement during their operations.

page_text: .The shaft A referred to has its bearing embraced by a hub e at the upper end of
a leg ex to the lower end of which is adjustably secured by a set screw e³ an arm e*,.
upon
which is adjustably mounted by a screw e a deflector e shown separately in
Figs. 5 and 54, said deflector in the form in which my invention is herein embodied.
consisting essentially of a concave bar the edge of which occupies a plane inclined
with relation to the horizontal plane in which the stitch pins travel, so that the
operator by bearing the knitted fabric sustained by the stitch pins against the
inclined edge of the deflector at a point below the stitch pins, will cause the said
deflector to exert a downward pull or strain upon the knitted fabric sufficiently to
keep the knitted material down snugly upon the stitch pins and especially during
the time that the loop destroyer b, referred to, is penetrating the material and
acting to separate or destroy the continuity of the thread previously knitted into
courses of loops and then above the loops impaled on the stitch pins, such holding
down of the knitted fabric preventing the distortion and straining of the fabric
during such operation in the line of the impaled loops. A spring connected
to an arm and at e' to the deflector e causes the latter to keep down the
material.
The deflector referred to is simple and efficient in operation, yet this invention is.
not limited to a deflector of the particular shape shown, as I may employ a deflector
of any suitable shape to produce a downward strain upon the knitted material
during the rotation of the feed wheel.
As herein represented the loop destroyer bis triangular in shape from one to its
other edge, and its broader sides are for cheapness of construction substantially
parallel, that resulting from cutting the separator from a sheet of steel of uniform
thickness.
I have shown the picking-out device has a sort of head having a series of
prongs, the shank of the head entering a hole in the carrier D', a spring 10.
surrounding the said shank and normally acting to keep the picking-out device
pressed forward in a yielding manner.
While I prefer for simplicity to have the loop-destroyer and the picking-out
device attached to the same carrier, yet my invention herein embodied is not
limited to such construction, for instead I may provide the shaft A' with two.
cams as 21, 20, and I may attach the loop-destroyer directly to a carrier 23 and
the picking-out device to a carrier 22 located along side of it, the openings in the
said carriers and the cams 20, 21, being of such shape that while the carrier 22
having the picking-out device has a substantially elliptical or four-motion feed
movement, the carrier 23 has a movement only in a right line or substantially
parallel to the horizontal plane occupied by the stitch-pins.
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: An attachment for use with a 66 turning-off machine," said attachment
including a loop-destroyer to act on and destroy the surplus loops of a knitted
fabric extended above the loops impaled on the stitch pins; and a deflector to act
on and draw and hold the knitted fabric down on the stitch-pins, substantially as
described.
2: A turning-off machine, containing a rotating wheel, provided with stitch-
pins on which may be impaled the knitted fabrics to be stitched, and stitch-forming
mechanism, of a deflector adapted to act on the knitted material and hold it down
on the said stitch-pins; of a loop-destroyer to act on and destroy the surplus loops.
of the knitted fabric beyond the loops impaled on the stitch pins, a picking-out
device to remove the thread loops destroyed by the loop-destroyer; and an
actuating device for the said loop-destroyer and picking-out device, the deflector
serving to prevent the loop-destroyer from drawing, or straining, the knitted
courses below the stitches impaled on the said stitch-pins, substantially as.
described.

page_text: 3: The construction and arrangement of parts of turning off machinery, or
apparatus, for use in stitching, or connecting together, parts of knitted fabrics
substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth and illustrated by the
drawings annexed.
Dated the 24th day of January 1893.
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.