IMPROVE- MENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Marshall, of Arkwright Street, Nottinghain,
in the County of Nottingham, Machinist, for an Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Marshall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd October 1880.
NATHANIEL MARSHALL, of Arkwright Street, Nottingham, in the County of
Nottingham, Machinist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY."
The object of this Invention is to produce spots, checks, and diaper patterns in
one or more colors in hosiery goods by circular knitting machines.
Attempts have already been made to regulate automatically the supply of
colored threads to such machines for the purpose of producing circular stripes, and
it is by a modification of the mechanism used for this purpose that I am enabled
to break up into parts the circular stripes and produce instead thereof detached
patterns. This I effect mainly by the introduction of a compound wheel which
will "mispress" selected needles, or press all the needles as desired.
To an ordinary circular head fitted with bearded needles I apply two or more
thread layers, which are capable of being rocked into and out of position by menns
of an endless chain of tappets acting on their rear ends. A tendency is given to
these thread carriers by means of springs to rise out of action, and in either of
their extreme positions they are locked by means of a spring hinged catch. For
the purpose of depressing the thread carriers so as to present the required thread
to the needles the endless chain of tappets is employed. This chain is driven by
gearing from the central shaft of the machine, and it thus receives a traverse
motion timed relatively to the rotation of the circular head. As a thread is
presented to the ring of needles it will be laid by the rotation of the ring of needles
around the head, the thread being guided to its proper level by a fixed guide, and
then carried round under the action of a series of wheels, which completes the
knitting of the fabric. The thread will come first under the action of the looper
wheel, which will press in the thread so as to indent it or provide the requisite

page_text: amount of slack. The thread thus indented will pass under the action of the
divider wheel, which divides the threads more carefully into loops, and raises
it under the beards of the needles. The thread in this raised position is now
carried past the compound presser wheel, which acts upon selected needles only or
upon all the needles, as the case may be, depressing their beards so as to allow of
the formed loops on tlie needle stems being forced onto the beards of the needles
ready to interlock with the imprisoned thread, aud form therewith a fresh course
of work.
As the thread passes from the presser wheel it will come under the action of an
additional divider wheel for the purpose to be presently explained. After this a
knocking over wheel will come into action to push the formed loops over the
needle to the back thereof. While that portion of the presser wheel is in action,
which presses only selected needles, two, three, or even four laps of thread may be
laid around the circular hend. It will then be necessary to press all the needles to
prevent too large an accumulation of thread under the beards of the unpressed
needles.
When bringing into action the part of the presser wheel which acts upon all the
needles a shifting of the thread layers will at the same time take place. This
shifting will be effected as before stated by the chain of tappets, which, in the act
of forcing down a fresh thread layer into place, will trip the hinged spring catch,
and thereby release the thread layer last in use and allow it to rise out of action.
This done the catch will return to its locking position.
The act of depressing the thread layer to bring it into use will cause the arm of
a scissor blade to rock, and thereby close that blade upon a fixed blade, over the
edge of which the thread last laid in the machine is drawn. This closing of the
scissors will sever the thread, and its loose end will be caught in a brush provided
for that purpose. This action of the scissors will be repeated after every change of
thread. A loose end will thus be presented by the work, and it is for the purpose
of drawing such end within the knitted fabric that the dividing wheel situate
between the presser wheel and the knocking over wheel is provided.
The presser wheel in its simplest form will consist of an indented or toothed
wheel cut to suit the desired pattern, and mounted loosely on a vertical spindle,
which is free to slide and turn in the sleeve of an adjustable bracket arm.
Attached to this spindle is a plain, or it may be, a toothed disc wheel, which
when in action will overlie the gaps in the pattern wheel and press all the needles
presented to it. The spindle of this wheel bears upon a rock lever, which is raised
by means of tappets on the chain before mentioned for the purpose of keeping the
disc wheel out of action. When the rock lever is released from this pressure it
will, by the action of a spring, be drawn down to a level to act upon the beards of
the needles.
It may be found desirable to provide two or more pattern wheels which will
be brought into action as required to introduce varieties of patterns by varying
the "tucking" of the work. In such case the disc presser is situate between the
two pattern wheels, and it is thrown into or out of action by the turning of an
excentric, upon which it is mounted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
tho said Nathaniel Marshall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st
April 1881.
NATHANIEL MARSHALL, of Arkwright Street, Nottingham, in the County of
Nottingham, Machinist. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY."
The object of this Invention is to produce spots, checks, and diaper patterns in
Buch one or more colors in hosiery and other goods by circular knitting machines.
Attempts have already been made to regulate automatically the supply of
colored threads to such machines for the purpose of producing circular stripes, and
it is by a modification of the mechanism used for this purpose that I am enabled
to break up into parts the circular stripes and produce instead thereof detached
patterns. This 1 effect mainly by the introduction of a compound wheel which
will "mispress" selected needles or press all the neeilles as desired.
To an ordinary circular head fitted with bearded needles I apply two or moro
thread layers, which are capable of being rocked into and out of position by
means of an endless chain of tappets acting on their rear ends.
A tendency is given to these thread carriers by means of springs to rise out of
action, and in either of their extreme positions they are locked by means of a
spring hinged catch bar.
For the purpose of depressing the thread carriers so
as to present the required thread to the needles the endless chain of tappets is
employed. This chain is driven by gearing from the central shaft of the machine,
and it thus receives a traverse motion timed relatively to the rotation of tho
circular head. As a thread is presented to the ring of needles it will be laid by
the rotation of the ring of needles around the head, the thread being guided to its
proper level by a fixed guide, and then carried round under the action of a series
of wheels, which completes the knitting of the fabric. The thread will come first
under the action of the looper wheel, which will press in the thread so as to indent
it or provide the requisite amount of slack. The thread thus indented will pass
under the action of the divider wheel, which divides the threads more carefully
into loops, and raises it under the beards of the needles. The thread in this raised
position is now carried past the compound presser wheel, which acts upon selected
needles only, or upon all the needles, as the case may be, depressing their beards so
as to allow of the formed loops on the needle stems being forced onto the beards
of the needles ready to interlock with the imprisoned threads and form therewith a
fresh course of work.
As the thread passes from the presser wheel it will come under the action of an
additional divider wheel for the purpose to be presently explained. After this a
knocking-over wheel will come into action to push the formed loops over the
needles to the back thereof. While that portion of the presser wheel is in action
which presses only selected needles, two, three, or even four laps of thread may be
laid around the circular head. It will then be necessary to press all the needles,
not only to prevent too large an accumulation of thread under the beards of the
unpressed needles, but to prevent too great a distortion of the knitted work.
When bringing into action the part of the presser wheel which acts upon all the
needles a shifting of the thread layers will at the same time take place. This
shifting will be effected, as before stated, by the chain of tappets, which in the act
of forcing down a fresh thread layer into place will tip the hinged spring catch,
and thereby release the thread layer last in use, and allow it to rise out of action.
This done, the catch will return to its locking position.

page_text: The act of depressing a thread layer to bring it into use will cause the arm of a
scissor blade to rock, and thereby close that blade upon a fixed blade, over the edge
of which the thread last laid in the machine is drawn.
.
This closing of the scissors will sever the thread, and its loose end will be caught
in a brush provided for that purpose. This action of the scissors will be repeated
after every change of thread. A loose end will thus be presented by the work, and
it is for the purpose of drawing such end within the knitted fabric that the
dividing wheel situate between the presser wheel and the knocking-over wheel is
provided.
The presser wheel in its simplest form will consist of an indented or toothed
wheel cut to suit the desired pattern, and mounted loosely on a vertical spindle,
which is free to turn in a socket bearing of an adjustable bracket arm. Attached
to this spindle is a plain, or it may be a toothed disc wheel, which when in action
will overlie the gaps in the pattern wheel and press all the needles presented to it.
The spindle of this wheel bears jupon a rock lever, which is raised by means of
tappets on the chain before mentioned for the purpose of keeping the disc wheel
out of action.
When the rock lever is released from this pressure it will, by the action of a
spring, be drawn down to a level to act upon the beards of the needles.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 an elevation
of a circular knitting machine arranged according to my Invention, five thread
layers being employed for throwing into the work at pleasure any one of five
different threads.
In these Figures A is the main .framing furnished with a central pin, upon which
the circular head is mounted; B is a cylinder of cast iron mounted on the central
pin and free to rotate thereon. This cylinder carries a ring of vertical bearded
needles b, which are cast in leads as usual, and are made fast to their cylinder by
segment clamping plates B¹.
Attached to the underside of the cylinder, or cast therewith, is a concentric bevil
wheel B² which gears into a bevil pinion B³ on a horizontal driving shaft B, which
shaft has its bearings in the main framing A, and it is by the rotation of this shaft
that the ring of needles b is caused to turn around the central bearing pin ; B³ is a
spur wheel attached to the underside of the cylinder B, and serving to communicate
motion through suitable gearing to an endless tappet chain C. This chain is laid
over a chain wheel C, which is mounted loosely on a stud axle carried by a bracket
casting C², which is bolted to the main frame A. Cast with the chain wheel C' is
a worm wheel C3, into which gears a worin C keyed to a horizontal shaft C³ which
has its bearings in the main frame A. Fitted to this shaft by means of a feather is
a bevil pinion C, which gears into a bevil pinion B6 cast with a spur pinion B',
which gears into the spur wheel B³ before mentioned. These spur and bevil
pinions B, B', are carried by a stud pin pendent from a segment shaped frame A',
which partially surrounds the cylinder B, and is firmly secured by bolts to the
main frame A. A³ is a plate made fast to the central pin before mentioned, and
serving to carry certain parts of the mechanism to be presently described;
D, D', D, D, D, are thread carriers mounted loosely on a stud axle D* carried by
the bracket C. These thread carriers are formed with a pendent incline d at their
outer or rear end to receive the pressure of tappets c carried by the chain C. At
the rear extremity of these thread guides (see the detached view, Fig. 3) is a
V-shaped projection d' for a spring catch bar D³ to bear against, and thus
retain any one or more of the thread carriers in a raised or a depressed position.
When this catch bar bears on the upper side of the V-projection d', as shewn
by the dotted lines, the thread guide to which that projection belongs will
be in its normal or raised position, it being drawn after depression by the
tension of a coiled spring De, which connects it with a fixed bar D7, that
constitutes a guide for the several threads of the thread carriers.
This guide
bar is bolted to a bracket arm C7 attached to the bracket casting C. The

page_text: depression of the thread guides to bring them into the drawn position of Fig. 3 for
laying a thread under the beards of the needles 6 is effected by the pressure of
special tappets c upon the inclined projections d. As the rear end of any one of
the thread guides is forced upwards by this pressure the spring catch bar Ds will
yield and allow the projection d³ to pass it. The catch bar will then take up the
drawn position of Fig. 3, under the projection d', and thereby retain the thread
guide at a level below the beards of the ring of needles. So soon however as a
fresh tappet comes up to act upon another thread guide the projection d' of that
thread guide will trip up the catch bar D³, thereby releasing the thread guides
which it had locked in a depressed. position, and leaving it free to rise out of work.
When a thread guide is required to be thrown out of action another thread guide
will be made to take its place. As this movement is effected the first thread
guide will be disengaged from the catch bar, and its coiled spring De will be
free to come into action and raise the thread guide up to the dotted or inactive
position of Fig. 3. The thread may be drawn from spools situate in any con-
venient position and led through the thread guide bar D7 to the oyes of the
several thread carriers, and thence to a fixed brush D adjustably mounted on
a bracket C3 bolted to the bracket arm C. As the threads of which the knitted
work is to be formed are lifted out of use they will severally be drawn across the
fixed blade of a pair of scissors E. This blade lies horizontally, and is made fast
by a cranked stein to the bracket C. Pivotted also to the same bracket is the
movable blade of the scissors, its cranked stem being furnished with a pin e that
projects into the slot at one end of a double cranked rock lever E' which is pivotted
on the same bracket C7. This lever E' carries a bowl e' which stands in front of
an incline projecting from the under edge of the several threa·l carriers.
When therefore any one of the thread carriers, say D¹, is depressed to bring its
thread into use the previously depressed thread carrier, say D, will require to have
its thread severed to disengage it from the work. This, it will be seen, is effected
by the pressure of the incline d of the depressed thread carrier D¹ coming into
contact with the bowl e', and thereby rocking the crank lever E', which through
the pin e will close the moving blade of the scissors onto the fixed blade, and
thereby sever the thread which the ascending thread guide had so placed as to be
ready (by the continued traverse of the needles) to be drawn into the required
position for being severed.
Before however this action has taken place the thread will have been caught by
the brush DS, and its end will thus be secured ready for renewing the knitting
operation with that thread. The thread guides are made of thin steel, and to
secure compactness and to prevent all tendency to torsion a comb guide D° is
provided for them to work in. This will also steady their movements, which, as
before explained, are independent the one of the other, thus necessitating the
mounting of the thread guides loosely on their common fulcrum pin or support.
To ensure the threads being brought into line with the looper wheel a fixed
guide F is provided, which being slightly inclined upwards leads the thread as it
is drawn forward by the rotation of the ring of needles immediately under the
action of the looper wheel G. The looper wheel G is constructed and mounted in
the ordinary manner, the bracket G' which carries it being adjusted vertically on
the segment shaped frame A¹. The socket which carries the adjustable spindle of
the wheel serves also to support the thread guide bar F. The thread after being
pressed by the looper wheel upon the stems of the needles b in a manner to provide
the requisite slack for the knitting next passes under the action of the divider
wheel G which divides up or equalizes the slack and pushes the thread under the
beards of the needles.
This divider wheel is mounted in a similar manner to the looper wheel and upon
the same seginent frame A'. The needles are now ready to be pressed, and their
continued travel brings them under the action of the presser wheel H, which is cut
to suit the pattern intended to be produced. This wheel is supported upon a

page_text: bracket arm H, carried by an adjustable bracket H on the segment frame A'.
Through the hub of the presser wheel H (see Fig. 4) and through a socket in the
bracket arm H passes a vertical spindle H³, which serves as an axle for the presser
wheel H to rotate on, and carries also a presser wheel H, which, when in position
for knitting, will lie close to the wheel H, and will press the beards of all the needles
as they are brought round, thereby neutralizing the effect of the "mis-pressing"
wheel H. The spindle of this wheel H' rests upon a lever H³ which has its fulcrum
at H, and when the tail of this lever is depressed the wheel H* will be raised, when
the pattern presser wheel H will be free to act upon selected needles and thereby
produce the required pattern in the work.
The tail of the lever E' is acted upon by the rocking lever H7, which is mounted
on the fulcruin D that carries the thread guides, and is so shaped at its rear as to
receive the pressure of tappets h carried by the travelling chain C. These tappets
are so arranged as to cause the lever H7 to lift the presser wheel Hand hold it out
of action while the pattern is being worked, and then to release the presser wheel H*
and leave.it free to drop upon and cover the pattern wheel presser in order that the
plain knitting may be resuined. When it is desired to alter the pattern it will only
be necessary to lift out the compound presser to change the presser wheel H for
another of the required pattern and then to replace the wheels in the machine. On
the beards of the needles being closed, as above explained, the loops of the last row
knitted on the needles are lifted in succession up onto the beards by means of the
landing wheel I, which wheel is mounted on the central plate A³, and like the other
wheels (the looper, divider, and presser wheel) gears with the stems of the needles.
The further progress of the ring of needles brings the thread which is under the
beards of the needles opposite a second or additional divider wheel G³, which
equalizes the size of the loops, and causes the loose ends to be taking up into the
work, which loose ends are due to the shifting of the threads into and out of use
and the cutting off of those threads which have been thrown out of use. This
divider wheel G³ is mounted loosely on a vertical pin, which is fast on a bracket
bolted to the frame A¹. The knitting now proceeds as in the ordinary circular bead
machines, that is to say, the work is brought under the action of a knocking-over
wheel K situate within the ring of needles and supported on the central plate A³.
By this wheel the formed loops are forced off the needles, the action being assisted
by an upward drag put upon the work. The further rotation of the ring of needles
brings the newly frined loops under a fixed guide L within the ring of needles,
which guide, assisted by a wheel K' external of the ring of needles, will depress
the loops to a position on the needle stems suitable for the commencement of a new
row of loops.
As the working of this class of knitting machinery is well understood, it will be
unnecessary to follow more closely the notions of the several instruments employed
in producing the work, but as it is new with this machine to produce spots or
isolated patterns, or in fact variations from the ordinary knitted work (except the
introduction of circular bands and longitudinal stripes), I have thought it desirable
by the aid of diagrams to illustrate the mode in which a spot is produced. The
diagram, Fig. 5, shews on an enlarged scale the face or front, and that of
Fig. 5, the back of a piece of work equal in width to eight needles, and of a depth
of seven loops. This work is supposed to consist of a plain and a colored or
darker thread, the plain thread forming the ground, and the colored or darker
thread the spot or pattern. The knitting it will be understood proceeds as usual
with the plain thread, until by the depression of a fresh thread carrier a colored
thread is introduced. The presser wheel H. being at this time lifted, the pattern
presser wheel will be free to act; consequently, as the needles are brought round
past the presser wheel those needles only will be pressed which are designed to
produce the spot, and the other needles being missed, the colored thread will be
brought under their beards and left to form a floating thread in the work. In the
diagrains the spot is represented by two loops in breadth, and three in depth;

page_text: consequently the ring of needles will have to make three rotations before a spot is
completed. This having taken place, the presser wheel H* will be allowed to drop
into the acting position ready to press upon the beards of all the needles at the
next rotation of the ring, and thereby produce an unbroken line of loops. Before
however this is effected the thread carrier with its colored thread must be lifted
out of action and replaced by the plain thread carrier, in the manner already
explained, at which time the scissor blade will be caused to sever the colored thread
and leave a loose end in the work. It is to ensure the knitting of this loose end
into the work, whether it be a colored or a plain thread, that the additional divider
wheel G is provided.
It may be found desirable to provide two or more pattern wheels, which will be
brought into action as required, to introduce varieties of patterns by varying the
tucking" of the work.
st
In such case the disc presser is situate between the two pattern wheels, and it is
thrown into or out of action as desired.
This modification is illustrated at Figures 6, 7, and 8, where Fig. 6 is an
elevation of the compound presser detached from the machine; Fig. 7 is an
elevation of the parts of the machine used in actuating the presser, and Fig. 8 is a
plan view of the same the presser in the latter view being shewn in place.
In this example H and H* are the pattern presser wheels, and H is the disc
wheel, which is capable of being thrust between the two pattern wheels, and
withdrawn automatically by means of the tappet chain C. These cut presser
wheels H, H, have stud axles or pins, which are each carried or mounted in a
journal formed to receive them in the ends of the upper and lower prongs of a
forked extension of the ordinary adjustable bracket arm H. The pin H³ of the
upper presser wheel H* passes through the bearing in the upper prong of the
arm H, and is embraced by the prongs of the forked rocking lever H, which
serves to lift it out of work. The fulcrum of this rock lever is carried by a
bracket H2 bolted to the segment fraine A'. The rocking of this lever H³ is
effected through a lever H' and tappet chain C, as before explained.
The disc wheel H' is mounted loosely on a pin carried by a horizontal cranked
lever Es, having its fulcrum on a vertical pin Ho* carried by the bracket H12 from
the segment frame A¹. The tail of the cranked lever H³ is brought under the
action of a rock lever H mounted by the side of the rock lever H7, and like it
brought into action by suitable tappets on the tappet chain C; H is a coiled
spring which will cause the presser wheel H to be held against the beards of the
needles with sufficient pressure to close them, which pressure can be regulated by
the set screw H". When therefore plain knitting is required the disc wheel H*
will be held in its working position, but when pattern work is required it will be
drawn back out of action, a tappet on the tappet chain raising the underlying rear
end of the lever H°, and one or both of the wheels H and H* will press the beards
of the advancing needles, the cut of these two wheels will be such relatively to each
other that the lower wheel H will produce a given pattern. The upper wheel
when brought to act with the lower one will act so as not to be interfered with
by the lower wheel, or only in some determined degree. So soon as the pattern is
completed the upper wheel H* will be raised out of action, and the lower wheel H
will either be allowed to act alone, or the disc wheel H* will be advanced so as to
press all the needles and produce the ordinary plain work.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of " Improvements in
Knitting Machinery," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
I claim,―
First. In combination with a circular knitting machine furnished with
automatically changing thread guides, the use of a compound presser, which is
capable of being shifted automatically so as to press the beards of the needles
or to "mis-press," and thereby to produce spots, checks, or diaper patterns, as
above described.

page_text: Secondly. The construction of compound presses, as above described with
reference to Figures and 6 of the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathaniel Marshall, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
NATHANIEL MARSHALL. (LS.)