Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Hosiery.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Nov., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 4th Mar., 1893-Accepted, 8th Apr., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Hosiery.
I, SAMUEL WILSON BETTS of Hucknall Huthwaite, near Mansfield, in the
County of Nottingham, Hosiery Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows :-
The object of this invention is to prevent plain or ribbed stockings wearing into
holes at the calf.
To this end, I strengthen the calf of the stocking, say, from the commencement
of the narrowings to the ankle, by "splicing," in any convenient manner, and for
any suitable width.
In some cases, the splicing may be of the same width all the way down, and
follow the contour of the selvage.
"
In this case, I employ what I term a long stop," consisting of a cranked
bracket, which is bolted onto the narrowing slide, and extends into the machine
beyond the catch bar, or other parts which have no lateral motion.
This bracket has, at its end, a hinged tumbler, carrying an adjustable stop.
The splicing thread carrier bar is provided with a clip which couples it to the
friction bar, and serves as a striking piece to strike against the stop, and thus arrest
the inward traverse of the splicing bar.
The outward traverse is arrested by a fixed stop in the usual way.
An arrangement of the above kind will of course be provided at both ends of
the machine.
The splicing of the stocking in the manner proposed, will have the incidental
advantage of causing the stocking to cling more closely to the leg, than in the case
of the ordinary stocking.
Although reference has been made principally to stockings, it will be obvious
that the invention is equally applicable to other articles of hosiery, such as drawers
and pants.
Dated thin 15th day of November 1809
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements relating to the Manufacture of Hosiery.
I SAMUEL WILSON BETTS of Hucknall Huthwaite, near Mansfield in the
County of Nottingham, Hosiery 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 chiefly to the manufacture of stockings, and in the following
Specification particular reference will be made to these goods, but the invention
can readily be applied to other kinds of hosiery goods, such as vests, pants, and
drawers, if necessary.
Stockings, when worn by females, are likely to wear into holes at the back of
the leg below the top of the calf, due to the friction of the dress or the
underskirts of the wearer, especially in the case of girls, where short dresses are
worn.
Now, the object of this invention is to obviate this disadvantage, by strengthening
the back of the leg of the stocking from the top of the calf, or from the commence-
ment of what is known as the "narrowings," downwards to the ankle.
This effect by "splicing" the part of the stocking above mentioned on both

page_text: selvages for any desired distance inwards, not less than the width of the divided
heel. Such splicing may be the same width all the way down, and follow the
contour of the selvage, or it may decrease as it proceeds towards the heel, the
inner line of the splicing being straight.
In addition to the element of strength thus imparted to the stocking, another
advantage derived from splicing the leg of the stocking in the manner proposed,
will be to cause it to cling more closely to the leg of the wearer, or
than the ordinary unspliced stockings.
set better
I may
here remark, that I am aware it is common to splice the heels of hose and
half hose from the ankle downwards, and also to splice the knees of hose, both
plain and ribbed, but the effect produced is not the same as in the case of the
spliced calf.
I am also aware that hosiery goods have been produced with a selvage of eight
or ten needles, or less, from the welt to the ankle, such splicing being of the same
width all the way down, and following the contour of the stocking. This mode
of splicing is for an entirely different purpose, and would not effect the object I
have in view.
The splicing of the leg with a straight line in the inside, may be produced on a
" cotton
machine, as at present in use, in which the narrowing slide at the end of
the machine (which receives a step by step motion, inwards) is provided with a
stop to arrest the movement of the splicing bar on its outward stroke, the inward
stroke of said bar being regulated by a fixed stop at the other end of the
machine.
I do not prefer this form of splicing, as the appearance of the goods, when made
up, is not such as would recommend them to the trade, an objection which cannot
be taken to the other form of splicing, namely, the same width all the way down,
following the contour of the stocking.
"Cotton" machines (which are now almost universally used for the manufacture
of fashioned hosiery goods), it is well known, are of considerable length, and
several stockings are produced at one time. The sizes of stockings vary according
to requirements, and the machines have to be constructed to produce these various
sizes as required. The total amount of motion to be given to the narrowing slide
must therefore be comparatively great. The narrowing slide is placed and works
outside the "catch bar," or the permanently positioned parts of the machine, and
in order to keep the length of the machine within reasonable limits, the parts are
so arranged that the stops on the outer end of the narrowing slide, shall come
comparatively near the catch bar, when the slide is at its furthest inward travel,
for the smallest size of hose.
For the selvage splicing before referred to, the width of the splicing is always
the same, say, eight or ten needles or less, and consequently the fixed stop at the
other end of the machine, for arresting the inward motion of the splicing bar,
cannot be used until the splicing of the heel is required. To get over the difficulty,
a second stop has been placed on the narrowing slide, a convenient distance inside
the outer stop, and between these two stops moves a tappet or projection on, or
other suitable contrivance connected with, the splicing bar, so that whatever may
be the position of the narrowing slide, the width of splicing will always remain the
same, until the heel is reached.
It is obvious, then, that if a second stop be placed on the narrowing slide, inside
the original outer stop, in such a position as to arrest the splicing bar on its inward
stroke, the total travel of the narrowing slide will be decreased by the distance
between the inside of the second stop and the inside of the outer stop, and therefore
the sizes of the goods capable of being produced in the same machine will be
limited, a disadvantage of considerable moment.
If this is the case when the splicing is to be limited to the distance of eight or
ten needles or less, the difficulty will be trebled or quadrupled when the splicing
is increased to the width (according to the gauge of the machine) of, say, 48 or
68 needles.

page_text: The difficulty above referred to, has, in the case of the selvage splicing, been
overcome to some extent by lengthening the narrowing slide guide, but as this
increases the length of the machine, another disadvantage arises.
As a rule, the factories are constructed for a given size of machine, and therefore,
to increase the width of a machine necessitates encroaching on the passage ways
(which, as it is, are none too wide), and this constitutes a serious disadvantage.
It has also been proposed to effect the same object by the use of a claw attached
to the bracket of the narrowing slide, and against which a projection on the end of
the splicing bar strikes, when the selvage splicing is being produced. This is a
somewhat crude arrangement, of the make-shift order, and though it obviously
disposes of the objection raised against the second stop, it has difficulties of its
own to contend with.
Now, to overcome the disadvantages above mentioned, and in order to adapt
the "cotton" machine; as at present constructed, for the purposes of my invention,
I employ what I term a "long stop," which consists of a cranked bracket bolted
to the narrowing slide, near its outer end, and close to the outer stop bracket, or
it may be to the outer bracket itself, and extending into the machine above and
beyond the "catch bar" and other parts which have no lateral motion.
This "long stop" can be arranged to clear all the different stops (such, for
instance, as heeling, knee splicing, selvage splicing, and locking out stops) that are
now required in this class of machine, for the several purposes of hosiery manu-
facture, and also to avoid contact with other fixed parts of the machine, in a
way that does not interfere with, or limit, the total inward travel of the narrowing
slide.
It will thus be seen that in addition to all other kinds of work hitherto effected
in machines of the class named, by my invention an additional kind of work,
namely "calf splicing," can be produced, without complicating the construction of
the machine.
machine as will be
And in order that the nature of my invention may be readily understood, I will
proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings hereunto annexed, the figures
in which partake more of the nature of diagrams than of drawings to scale.
Fig. 1 is a plan view of so much of one end of a "cotton"
necessary to illustrate my invention, and Fig. 2 is a front elevation.
Fig. 3 is a plan view of the other end of the machine.
Figs. 4 and 5 are diagrams of the work to be produced.
A is the "catch bar," and B the catch-bar carrying arm.
slide of the usual form, and a and bare splicing bars, a' and 6' being the respective
thread carriers. These splicing bars a and b are moved by friction in the
usual way.
C is the narrowing
D is the "long stop," which, as before stated, consists of a cranked bracket
bolted onto the narrowing slide.
To the outer end of this bracket, is pivotted an angle piece or tumbler D³,
carrying a screw D², which forms an adjustable stop. This angle piece or tumbler Di
is arranged to overlie the splicing bar, which is provided with a tappet or projection,
preferably in the form of an angle piece E, bolted or otherwise secured to the
splicing bar, so that during its inward movement with the bar, it will strike
against the head of the screw D2, and thereby arrest the movement of the bar.
The tumbler D¹ may be turned up out of action, when not required.
The outward traverse of the bar is arrested by the ordinary outer stop on the
narrowing slide, in the usual way.
The diagrams Figs. 4 and 5 each illustrate examples of two sizes of stockings
manufactured, according to this invention, on different gauge machines, namely, a
30 guage and a 33 guage. These diagrams will be readily understood by those
conversant with the manufacture of hosiery, without further description.
It will be obvious that the same, or a similar arrangement, may be employed
for splicing any other shaped article in the same manner, should it be required, the

page_text: width of the splicing being in no case less than eight or ten needles and preferably
not less than two inches.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
:-
1. Splicing the leg of a stocking on both selvages for a distance inwards of not
less than the width of the divided heel, through the narrowings from the top of
calf to the ankle, as and for the purposes set forth.
2. Splicing the leg of a stocking on both selvages the same width (equal to the
width of the divided heel) all the way down through the narrowings from the top
of the calf to the ankle, as and for the purposes set forth.
3. The production of knitted hosiery goods, with splicing on both selvages, for a
width greater than eight or ten needles, and preferably not less than two inches,
for such distance as may be desired, through the narrowings, as and for the purposes
set forth.
4. In the production of spliced knitted hosiery goods before referred to, the use
of an adjustable "long stop," connected with the narrowing slide, and extending
into the knitting machine, over the first division, beyond the stationary stops, and
beyond the "catch bar" arm, and other pafts of the machine, which have no
lateral motion, such as the pulling-down link, and the point bar slides of the
narrowing apparatus, etc., for the purposes set forth.
"
5. In 66
a cotton" machine, the construction and arrangement of the "long stop
substantially as herein shown and described, whereby the machine may, without
difficulty, be adapted to produce an additional kind of work, as set forth."
Dated this 4th day of March 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.