IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES
Year: 1884

page_text: I, EDOUARD HELIN of Ghlin in the Kingdom of Belgium Manufacturer do
hereby declare the nature of said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING
MACHINES" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This Invention is more especially applicable to machines used for making single
web knitted fabrics.
The Invention has for its object to make a machine with large gauged needles
so as to produce with for example six needles per inch a fabric as fine and more
regular than would be a fabric made on an ordinary machine gauged to take about
double the number of needles per inch so that fabrics can be produced of the
greatest possible fineness and regularity. The improvement consists in a simple
arrangement of the operating cams and of a double bed of needles which allows
the stitches to be formed by large needles and to be tightened more closely and
more regularly than if it were made by an ordinary machine with fine needles or
set with a broad guage; the use of fine needles is not capable of practical
application as on account of the too close proximity of the needles the knitting
produced is of an exaggerated degree of fineness and the machine works with
difficulty in consequence of the obstruction or accumulation of the thread between
the adjacent needles and consequently not only is the produced fabric very
irregular or unequal but also the needles and the cotton very frequently break.
The arrangement of the operating cams according to this Invention not only effects
the production of fine fabrics upon a large guaged machine but also allows the
regular actions of machines with narrow guages at the same time increasing the
fineness of the fabric produced thereby.
Referring to the Drawing annexed hereto Figure 1 is a view of the operating
cams in plan and Figure 2 is a transverse section of the cams and the casting
showing the back needle in its position of rest and the front needle descending.
The formation of the operating cams for the other beds consists in simple cuttings
formed at the bottom of the inner edges of the cams C. C whilst the cams of the
opposite bed are of the usual triangular shape. The superior edge X of each of the
aforesaid cuttings is horizontal whilst the side edge ✗¹ is parallel with the inclined
edge the inclination of which is more or less as may be required.
By the cutting X X¹ in the cams CC the descent of the needles operated by
these cams is intermittent whilst the course of the needles operated by the other
cams not undercut is continuous. The effect of this is that the needles of the two
beds at a certain part of their course do not descend simultaneously but one after

page_text: the other because those operated by the cut cams X X are arrested in their
descent by sliding upon the horizontal edge X of the cut portion during the time
that those directed by the triangular cams accomplish the latter portion of their
descent.
The stoppage in the descent of the needles of the bed operated by the altered
cams C. C. takes place at the moment when the needles take the thread and
during this the front needles continue to descend to make their stitch whilst the
back needles are stopped in their descent as long as they move upon the horizontal
edge of the cuttings of the cams and they continue to be stopped until they arrive
at the inclined edge of the said cuttings-The front needles A in descending have
formed their stitches in the ordinary way but that the stitches may be closer or
tighter and consequently the fabric be more uniform and regular the superfluous
cotton in the front needle ought to retire and this is precisely what is effected by
the intermittent course of the back needles A¹-In effect when the latter are on
the point of stopping in consequence of their coming against the horizontal edges X
of the cuts the other needles gather up the thread in moving independently of the
needles A¹ which stop for a time in accordance with the length of the horizontal
edges X and the length of the horizontal edge and consequently of the time of
stoppage ought to correspond with the necessary time for the front needles A to
form their stitches in the ordinary way as shown in Figure 2-Then the edges of
the inclined portions X¹ of the cut cams force the back needles to descend and the
necessary quantity of thread for the formation of the stitches is furnished by the
excess of thread drawn by the front needles-In this manner the stitches of the
front and back needles instead of being formed simultaneously are formed
independently of one another and whereas the ordinary triangular cams make a
fabric of slack stitches the cams formed as aforesaid make a web of close tight and
absolutely regular stitches-This object may be attained also although with less
precision by giving to the cams instead of an angular shape a slightly rounded or
other equivalent form as however the angular form is preferable I have illustrated
that form. By this arrangement the stitches formed upon any rectilineal knitting
machine are at least doubly as tight or compact as hitherto and the independent
working of the needles of each set allows of the perfect operation of the machine
even of close set and fine needles it is evident that a finer fabric can be obtained
than can be by the broad guaged machine.
The application of the Invention to rectilineal knitting machine does not involve
any other modification therein and enables a machine to be adapted from the
manufacture of an ordinary fabric to that of a fabric at least double as tight it is
only necessary to replace the ordinary triangular cams in the one or the other of
the beds of the said machine by the cams formed as shown at X X¹.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
In rectilineal knitting machines the employment in one or the other of the
beds of needles of cams having at the edge of their inclines a part formed as shewn
at X X for the purpose of stopping at a given time the movement of the one
set of needles in their descent substantially as and for the purpose herein before
described,