IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR MACHINES FOR MAKING PLAIN OR RIBBED LOOPED FABRICS.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathaniel Marshall and Edwin Hewitt, both of
the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO
CIRCULAR MACHINES FOR MAKING PLAIN OR RIBBED LOOPED FABRICS.".
Sealed the 4th February 1876, and dated the 10th December 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathaniel Marshall
and Edwin Hewitt at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 10th December 1875.
:
We, NATHANIEL MARSHALL and EDWIN HEWITT, both of the Town
and County of the Town of Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS
APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR MACHINES FOR MAKING PLAIN OR RIBBED LOOPED.
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
-

page_text: fabrics, or to the circular bracket of a machine for making plain looped
fabrics. The first-named bracket has an axle on which a ratchet wheel
revolves, driven by a clawker carried by a rocking lever operated by a
cam secured to the driving wheel of the head. The axle of the ratchet
wheel carries one or more cams, each of which actuates a lever arranged
so as to cause a slackness of the feeding thread previous to breaking
the said thread immeadiately after the succeeding thread has been secured
by the needles, each thread being alternately fed to the needles and
broken away by the lever pressing the thread on to a fixed surface.
The slackness given to each thread previous to breaking it is for the
purpose of ensuring it being drawn through a feeding guide by the
feeding thread in its turn. By machinery and apparatus above described
we are enabled to make horizontal striped looped fabrics.
Our third modification, applicable to circular machines for making
plain looped fabrics, consists in dispensing with the usual dividing
wheel and employing a loop wheel, placed between the first loop wheel
and the presser wheel usually employed. Both loop wheels are alike,
each being provided with a series of long blades and a series of short
blades alternately, the number of blades varying according to the
pattern required. There is an adjustable thread guide to each loop
wheel, the first of which feeds slack loops and tight loops alternately to
the needles, and the second wheel feeds tight loops and slack loops
alternately, the reverse of the first. The second wheel carries one
cutting blade to cach series of short blades for the purpose of severing
the tight portion of the thread, so as to allow the previous and lower
slack loops to be knocked over, and avoid any mixing of colours, thus
forming two or more distinct vertical stripes.
Our fourth modification consists of apparatus applicable to circular
machines for making ribbed looped fabrics, to which we apply a cam
placed in a recess formed in the cover of the frame needles. There are
recesses in the cam, which are varied according to the pattern to be
produced. These recesses allow the needles to draw a series of long
loops and short loops alternately. The cam is revolved by the frame
needle bits, and outside the machine needle bits or jacks we place a
presser wheel, with a series of deep and shallow teeth alternately, to
correspond to the cam wheel above named, and inside the machine head
we place a cam carrying a sliding incline, held to the needle bits or jacks
by a spring, the bits or jacks lying and passing between the incline and

page_text: the presser wheel, such apparatus producing distinct vertical ribbed
stripes; and by combining two of the above-described modifications we
are enabled to produce either horizontal or vertical striped fabrics, or both
in combination, for making a variety of fancy-patterned goods, either
plain or ribbed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nathaniel Marshall and Edwin Hewitt in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, NATHANIEL
MARSHALL and EDWIN HEWITT, both of the Town and County of the
Town of Nottingham, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Nathaniel Marshall and
Edwin Hewitt, Her special licence that we, the said Nathaniel Marshall
and Edwin Hewitt, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Nathaniel Marshall and Edwin Hewitt, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR
MACHINES FOR MAKING PLAIN OR RIBBED LOOPED FABRICS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that we, the said Nathaniel Marshall and
Edwin Hewitt, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Nathaniel Marshall and Edwin
Hewitt, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings forming a part of this Specification:-.
We employ four or more modifications of apparatus.
The first and second modifications consist of a bracket secured to the
flange of the frame head of a circular machine for making ribbed looped
fabrics, or to the circular bracket of a machine for making plain looped
fabrics. The first-named bracket has an axle on which a ratchet. wheel
revolves, driven by a clawker carried by a rocking lever operated by a
cam secured to the driving wheel of the head. The axle of the ratchet
wheel carries one or more cams, each of which actuates a lever arranged
so as to cause a slackness of the feeding thread previous to breaking the
said thread immediately after the succeeding thread has been secured
by the needles, each thread being alternately fed to the needles and
broken away by the lever pressing the thread on to a fixed surface.
The slackness given to each thread previous to breaking it is for the
purpose of ensuring it being drawn through a feeding guide by the
feeding thread in its turn. By machinery and apparatus above described
we are enabled to make horizontal striped looped fabrics.
Our third modification, applicable to circular machines for making
plain looped fabrics, consists in dispensing with the usual dividing
wheel, and employing a loop wheel, placed between the first loop wheel
and the presser wheel usually employed. Both loop wheels are alike,
each being provided with a series of long blades and a series of short
blades alternately, the number of blades varying according to the
pattern required. There is an adjustable thread guide to each loop
wheel, the first of which feeds slack loops and tight loops alternately to
the needles, and the second wheel feeds tight loops and slack loops
alternately, the reverse of the first. The second wheel carries one
cutting blade to each series of short blades for the purpose of severing
the tight portion of the thread, so as to allow the previous and lower
slack loops to be knocked over, and avoid any mixing of colours, thus
forming two or more distinct vertical stripes.
Our fourth modification consists of apparatus applicable to circular
machines for making ribbed looped fabrics, to which we apply a cam
placed in a recess formed in the cover of the frame needles. There are

page_text: recesses in the cam, which are varied according to the pattern to be
produced. These recesses allow the needles to draw a series of long
loops and short loops alternately. The cam is revolved by the frame
needle bits, and outside the machine needle bits or jacks we place a
presser wheel with a series of deep and shallow teeth alternately, to
correspond to the cam wheel above named, and inside the machine head
we place a cam carrying a sliding incline, held to the needle bits or jacks
by a spring, the bits or jacks lying and passing between the incline and
the presser wheel, such apparatus producing distinct vertical ribbed
strips, and by combining two of the above-described modifications we
are enabled to produce either horizontal or vertical striped fabrics, or
both in combination, for making a variety of fancy patterned goods,
either plain or ribbed.
We employ several modifications of apparatus. The first modification
is shewn at Figures 1 to 4, the second at Figures 5 to 7, and the third
at Figures 8 to 18.
The first modification, shewn in plan at Figure 1, and a front side
view at Figure 2, consists of a bracket A secured to the flange of the
frame head of a circular machine for making ribbed looped fabrics; the
bracket supports an axle on which a ratchet wheel B. revolves, being
driven by a clawker B¹ carried by a rocking lever B² moved at each
revolution of the head by a cam C secured to the driving wheel of the
head, and held by a stop lever B³; to the ratchet wheel is secured a cam
plate B shewn in side view at Figure 4. The upper end of the
bracket A carries an axle for a rocking lever D, the outer end of which
when pressed upon by the cam plate B is held in the position shewn in
plan at Figure 1, the wider end of the lever nearest the needles pressing
upon one side of a recessed thread guide bracket E; the lever upon
being released by the cam plate is drawn to the opposite side of the
thread guide bracket by a spring D¹, and there held until again operated
upon by the cam plate. The thread guide bracket E is secured by a
hinged joint to a bracket E' screwed to the outer cylinder of the frame
head, the front of the recessed guide E terminates in a guide and
guard E² which prevents the latches of the needles rising until the hooks
have secured the thread; the guide E and guard E2 are each provided
with a shouldered and pierced stud upon which revolves a thread guide
tube provided with a grooved pulley E³ over which a cord is passed, the
cord also passing under a larger grooved pulley E* secured on and
"

page_text: carried by the main driving axle of the machine, and shewn in side view.
at Figure 3. F is the star bracket for regulating the length of loop
drawn by the frame needles, which with the rest of the machine is of
the usual construction. Between the guide E and the vertical arm of
the bracket A are secured two thread guides G, through each of which
is passed a thread from a separate cop or spool; the threads are then
passed through the studs and tube, the apparatus operating as follows:-
When the rocking lever D is held by the cam plate in the position
shewn at Figure 1 the thread G¹ is firmly held between the lever and
one side of the recessed guide, thus preventing such thread from feeding
the needles until the lever is released by the cam plate; the spring D¹
then reverses the lever so as to hold the thread G2 between it and the
opposite side of the recessed guide bracket during the passage of the
lever from either side of the recess to the opposite side, the released
thread is twisted round the feeding thread by the revolution of the guide
tube, and when secured by the needles the feeding thread is broken and
firmly held by the lever until again released, and in its turn twisted
with the feeding thread and fed to the needles.
The second modification, a front view of which is shewn at Figure 5
and in plan at Figure 6, consists of a bracket A secured to the flange of
the frame head of a circular machine for making ribbed looped fabrics;
the bracket forms bearings for an axle carrying a toothed wheel B
secured on its back outer end, and a similar toothed wheel B¹ capable of
being revolved upon the boss of the wheel B by a driver carried by a
rocking lever C actuated by a cam C₁ secured to the driving wheel of
the head; the axle carries two or more cams D (only two are shewn in
the Drawings), each of which in turn depresses a lever D³ on to a fixed
surface E; each lever is provided with two thread guides D², D³, placed in
such position as to cause a slackness of the thread they guide, as the
lever when released by the cam is raised by a spring attached to it and
to an arm F secured to one side of the bracket, such slackness allowing
the thread to be drawn through a feeding guide G by the feeding thread
to the needles previous to such feeding thread being broken after the
fall of its lever when actuated by the cam, thus tightening the thread
which is cut by a short blade secured in one of the machine needle bits
instead of a needle, such bit being placed intermediately of two adjacent
sets of needle bits, the tightened thread being pressed upon the blade
by the lowering of the frame needles; the cutting blade and bit is
shewn in side view at Figure 5 A, each thread in its turn being fed to

page_text: and through the feeding guide previous to the succeeding thread being
broken; the feeding guide G next the needles terminates in the usual
guard, which prevents the latches of the needles rising until the hooks
have secured the thread, which is supplied from a cop or spool and is
passed through holes in two guide bars H, H', capable of adjustment on
the side of the bracket A previous to being passed through holes in two
guides D³, D². The feeding guide G is hinged to and carried by a
bracket G' screwed to the outer cylinder of the frame head. I is the
usual star bracket for regulating the length of loop drawn by the frame
needles, which with the rest of the machine is of the usual construction.
The variation in the number of courses made by each thread is effected
by the following means:-The toothed wheel B, a side view of which is
shewn separately at Figure 7, has one tooth cut away, so that when such
part is moved round by the driver opposite to itself the driver will then
only move the toothed wheel B¹ for a set number of courses; the
wheel B revolves alone upon the boss of the wheel B which carries a
stop piece B³ until the said piece comes against a stud or studs Bs
screwed in one or other of the holes in the wheel B¹, which wheel is
kept in position by a friction plate and spring B* provided with a set
screw by which pressure may be placed upon the wheel to prevent its
being over driven.
The third modification of apparatus applicable to circular machines
for making ribbed looped fabrics, a front side view of which is shewn
at Figures 8 and 9, consists of a vertical shaft A, the upper portion of
which is broken off at Figure 8, and shewn separately at Figure 9. To
the top of the shaft A is screwed or otherwise secured a rod carrying a
cross, each of the four outer ends of which has a pin riveted in it which
projects downwards and points towards certain thread guides, referred to
hereafter. Each of the pins are provided with a washer and cotter at
the lower end to support a thread cop when placed thereon, one such
cop is shewn in the position it occupies when at work. The vertical
shaft A revolves in two bearings A' and A³, the bearing A' being
secured to the under side of the flange of the frame head, the
bearing A² being secured to a vertical arm A³ screwed on to the upper
side of the flange (shewn in plan at Figures 15 and 16). The shaft A
is held at the requisite height by a set screw in a collar A* resting on
the top of the flange; portion of the lower end of the shaft is of
smaller diameter than the upper, and is grooved on one side so as to
.

page_text: allow a key which is carried by a ratchet wheel B to slide therein..
This wheel has twelve teeth (shewn in plan at Figure 13) and is moved
three teeth, equal to one quarter of a revolution, by three vertical
studs B¹ carried by the toothed driving wheel at the bottom of the
frame head each time the ratchet wheel is lowered for that purpose.
The lowering of the ratchet wheel is effected as follows:-Between the
vertical shaft A and the boss on the lower side of the flange of the frame
head is a wheel C having forty teeth and twenty holes tapped to receive
screwed studs. This wheel revolves upon an axle carried by a bracket C
secured to the boss of the frame head. The toothed wheel is held up to
a stud or collar on its axle by a spring C* adjustable on the outer end of
the axle by a set screw, by which pressure may be put on the spring to
prevent the wheel being over driven. This wheel is racked one tooth at
each revolution of the head by a projecting stud C³ carried by the boss
of the driving wheel (shewn in plan at Figure 17) striking the shorter
and lower end of a two-ended lever C² provided with a driver on its
outer end, the driver being held to the toothed wheel by a spring,
shewn at Figure 12, which represents a right side view of that portion
of the apparatus which lies below the flange of the frame head. The
fall of the lever C² is adjusted by a nut and set screw passed through
an arm secured to the bracket C¹, shewn by dotted lines at Figure 12.
As the wheel C is racked round one or other of the studs it carries will
strike upon the boss of the ratchet wheel B and lower it into position to
be moved by the three studs B¹; after being so moved it is restored_ to
the position seen at Figure 12 by a spring coiled on the lower end of
the shaft A, and held in place by a washer and screw. Above the
bearing A the shaft carries a flanged thread carrying cam D, which
revolves with the shaft. This cam, shewn in plan at Figure 15, carries
on its upper side four studs, to each of which is hinged a thread-nipping
lever D¹. The outer end of each lever carries a pin which is made to
press up to a ring cam E by a spring E' attached to it and to a stud in
a thread guide boss E². The ring cam is screwed to a bracket E
attached to the upper end of the vertical cam A³ above the bearing A²;
shewn in plan at Figure 16, this cam always remaining in a fixed
position as the flanged cam is revolved forces down each thread nipping
lever which firmly holds the thread until raised by the spring E¹ when
brought into the position seen at Figures 1 and 15. The latter Figure
shews the relative position of the four threads, two of them having been
cut, the feeding thread approaching the cutters as it assists in drawing

page_text: the next succeeding thread to the needles. The severed threads lying
between two studs D³ near each end of the inclined flanges of the
cam D are prevented from falling below the cam. Each succeeding
thread by the partial revolution of the cam is laid above a fixed and
slotted guide F, an outer view of which is shown at Figure 18; as the
end of the thread slides along this guide it is pushed up by the rising
of the frame needles being caught by the hooks of the needles as they
fall, and thus carried into the fabric being made.
The cutting of the threads is effected as follows:-Attached to the
bearing A² is a bracket, to which a cutter bar G is secured, carrying the
lower fixed cutter blade G¹. Upon the bar G slides a movable cutter
bar G firmly held to the fixed bar by a spring G³, seen in plan at
Figure 15, the pressure of the spring being adjusted by means of a
washer and set screw. The moveable cutter bar is closed by a
spring G, shewn at Figure 1, except when it is held in the raised
position, indicated by the dotted lines, by a lever operated by a cutter
cam H which revolves with and is carried by the shaft A; a plan of the
cutter cam is shewn at Figure 14. The threads from the spools which
may be of divers colours, are passed through thread guides E³ and E²,
shewn respectively in plan at Figures 10 and 11, previous to being.
threaded through the holes in the nipping levers D¹ and the holes in the
flanges of the thread-carrying cam D.
We do not confine ourselves to pattern wheels containing the number
of stud holes shewn, as we may prefer to employ larger pattern wheels
so as to be able to insert a greater number of courses of each colour
employed; and "we sometimes arrange the pattern wheel in an hori-
zontal position, so that the studs in it may operate a lever to lower the
rocking wheel.
In witness whereof, we, the said Nathaniel Marshall and Edwin
Hewitt, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this First day
of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and coronte civ
NATHANIEL MARSHALL. (L.S.)
EDWIN HEWITT.
(L.S.)