IMPROVE- MENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY." A communication from abroad by Charles
J. Appleton, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States of America.
Sealed the 9th May 1876, and dated the 11th March 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Cominissioners of Patents on the 11th March 1876.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY."
A communication.
This Invention relates to knitting machines driven by hand or other power, and
provided with independently acting latched needles, which in their movements catch
the threads ono after the other, each needle in descending drawing a portion of the
thread through a loop held on its shank, thus forming a new loop within an old
loop, the new loop held by the hook of the needle and the latch passing through the
old loop which slips up over the top of the needle, and as the needle again rises for
a new loop it passes up through the loop last drawn down, such loops passing below
the ends of the latches of the needle all in the ordinary manner.
These improvements may be applied to a straight machine having a reciprocating
cam plate as well as to a circular machine having a cam cylinder adapted to recipro-
cate in a curved path.
The said Invention consists in the combination of a needle bed grooved to receive
reciprocating needles, with a cam for actuating such needles and with a carrier
having two or more thread guides, whereby independent threads may be presented
to a given number of needles and be knitted into a fabric composed of longitudinal
stripes, each yarn carrier for each stripe moving far enough in one direction to lap
its thread over the needle containing the selvage loop for the adjacent stripe, thereby
connecting the selvages of two stripes on one or more needles.
Also in the combination with a reversible cam cylinder or sliding plate of two
inclined needle actuating cams and a loose switch operated by the butts of the
needles, and adapted to be moved by such needle butts at each change of direction
of movement of the needle actuating cam carrying cylinder or plate from the then
rising to the lowering cam to draw down the needles.
Also in the combination with a movable cam carrying cylinder or a plate and a
stop of a carrier shifter and a carrier provided with one or more thread guides.
Price i

page_text: Also in the combination with the driving gear wheels, fast and loose pulleys,
stationary belt guide, and friction devices of a screw on the shaft adapted to fit the
hub of the driving gear wheel and to move the shaft and pulleys with reference to
the stationary belt guide, so as to shift the belts and reverse the movement of the
cam cylinder.
The needles are the usual latched needles, and they are operated by the recipro-
cating cam cylinder moved through the toothed wheel engaging a rack on the lower
part of the cylinder, and the cylinder on its inner side for the most of its length
has a straight groove to receive the butts of the needles.
The switch is moved only by the butts of the needles, no other devices being
necessary. The carrier consists of a ring fitted to reciprocate on the said frame or
plate and provided with posts and a bar to which are fitted thread guides, the
number of these thread guides depending upon the width of the stripes to be
knitted and joined at the selvages.
The cam cylinder has a stop adapted to meet a stop in combination with the
driving gear wheel, the hub, the friction device and driven shaft, whereby when the
cylinder arrives at one extreme of the motion the driven shaft may continue its
motion without injury to the machine.
com-
The thread guides are preferably all at one side of the different sets of needles to
which they are to deliver threads, and each thread guide rests, .
mencing at the end of the needle bed just beyond each fifth needle. One end of a
projection rests against one side of the arm of the carrier shifter and moves the
same at the completion of the movement of the cylinder.
By using a number of thread guides with a thread for each it is possible to knit
rapidly a fabric composed of strips or stripes of contrasting colours, each strip being
knitted by a single and unbroken thread.
The cams and switch herein described may be applied to any ordinary circular
knitting machine, and in such a case a thread guide of ordinary construction may
be attached directly to the plate carrying the cams and the switch.
If the needles are held in a flat bed, as in an ordinary straight machine, the
plate carrying the cams and switch, as well as the thread carrier, would reciprocate
in a straight line.
The driving shaft has attached to it a hub having two fixed pulleys, and turning
on the hub loosely is another pulley. A straight belt passes about one pulley, and
a crossed belt from the same motor shaft passes over the another of the said pulleys,
and one side of each belt is guided by one of the openings in the stationary belt
shifter, one of such openings being opposite the loose and the other opposite the
fast pulley. The end of the shaft is provided with a screw thread and it fits a
screw thread in the hub of the driving wheel. Friction devices of any suitable
construction are connected with arms attached to the hub, and the pressure of the
friction devices on the hub is regulated by screws.
This machine may be driven by power and by the plain or crossed belt, according
to which one is in action.
To make ribbed goods I place within the main vertical and cylindrical needle
bed, a needle bed having a set of ribbing needles of the usual construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th
September 1876.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY."
A communication from abroad by Charles J. Appleton, of Elizabeth, New Jersey,
United States of America.
This Invention relates to knitting machines driven by hand or other power and
provided with independently acting latched needles moving to catch the threads

page_text: one after the other, each needle in descending drawing a portion of the thread
through a loop held on its shank, thus forming a new loop within an old loop, the
new loop held by the hook of the needle and the latch passing through the old loop,
which slips up over the top of the needle, and as the needle again rises for a new
loop it passes up through the loop last drawn down, such loops passing below the
ends of the latches of the needle, all in the ordinary manner.
These improvements may be applied to a straight machine having a reciprocating
cam plate as well as to a circular machine having a cam cylinder adapted to
reciprocate in a curved path.
This Invention comprises the combination of a needle bed grooved to receive
reciprocating needles with a cam for actuating such needles, and with a carrier
having two or more thread guides, whereby independent threads may be presented
to a given number of needles, and be knitted into a fabric composed of longitudinal
stripes, each yarn carrier for each stripe moving far enough in one direction to lap
its thread over the needle containing the selvage loop for the adjacent stripe,
thereby connecting the selvages of two stripes on a needle or two or more needles.
Also the combination with a reversible cam cylinder or sliding plate of two
inclined needle actuating cams and a loose switch operated by the butts of the
needles and adapted to be moved by such needle butts at each change of direction
of movement of the needle actuating cam carrying cylinder or plate from the then
rising to the lowering cam to draw down the needles.
Also the combination with a movable cam carrying cylinder or a plate and a
stop of a carrier shifter and a carrier provided with one or more thread guides.
Also the combination with the driving gear wheel, fast and loose pulleys,
stationary belt guide, and friction devices of a screw on the shaft adapted to fit the
hub of the driving gear wheel and to move the shaft and pulleys with reference to
the stationary belt guide, so as to shift the belts and reverse the movement of the
cam cylinder. It also comprises various improvements in detail herein-after
specified.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a circular knitting machine provided with these
improvements; Figure 2 is a view of the cams and switch detached; Figure 3
shews details of the reversing mechanism; Figure 4 shews other details of the said
machine, herein-after described; and Figure 5 represents a needle used in the said
machine.
The needle bed a provided with grooves to receive the shanks of the needles is
adjustably connected with the frame b furnished with a projection and thumb
screw to secure it to a shelf or otherwise, and has also posts c to receive bobbins
or spools containing yarn or thread, all as usual. The needles shown are the usual
latched needles, and they are operated by the reciprocating cam cylinder d moved
through the toothed wheel e engaging a rack on the lower part of the cylinder,
and the cylinder on its inner side for the most of its length has a straight groove
to receive the butts of the needles, all as usual, or in any well known manner.
The needles are raised and lowered by cams f, g, carried preferably at the inner
side of a removable section h attached to the cam cylinder by screws i, the cams
being connected with the plate h by screws j, and these cams may be adjusted
to be more or less inclined as usual to regulate the size of the loop. Figure 4
shows the position of the parts when the cam cylinder has moved a little in the
direction of arrow 2, Figure 1, but when the cam cylinder is rotated in the
direction of the arrow 1, the butts 1 of the needles pass from the usual straight
groove s¹ in the cam cylinder over a pivoted bridge, Figure 4, the bridge then
resting against cam g and up along the inclined top of the cam raising the
needles. When the cam cylinder commences moving in this direction the point of
the switch m provided with guiding pins n, Figure 1, resting in slots o in plate h
is at the end p of cam g (see dotted lines, Figure 2, and full lines, Figure 4), and in

page_text: this position the needle butts will meet the points of the switch and move the
switch horizontally into the position shewn in Figure 2 in full lines, where the
point meets the end q of the cam f, and the needle butts then pass along down
the lower side of the cain, which action throws down the needles to draw the new
through the old loops, and then the needles are moved upward into groove s¹.
Figure 2 shows in full lines the switch and cams in the positions they will
occupy when the cylinder commences its movement in the direction of the arrow 2,
Figure 1; Figure 4 showing the bridge resting on cam fready for the needle butts
to ride up the inclined upper side of cam f, and at the end of cam f the butts mect
point and shift the switch m so that point I will meet end p of cam g, as shewn in
Figure 4 and in dotted lines Figure 2, when the needle butts will pass down the
lower side of g, as in Figure 4. These cams are adapted to actuate the needles to
knit properly when the cam cylinder moves in either direction. This switch is
moved only by the butts of the needles, no other devices being necessary. The
carrier consists of a ring fitted to reciprocate on the plate b and provided with
posts s and a bar t, to which are fitted a number of thread guides u, the number of
thread guides depending upon the width of the stripes to be knitted and joined at
the selvages. In this instance ten thread guides are shown as adapted to operate
in connection with fifty needles, therefore but one guide is used for each set of five
needles, and the stripes or strips will consist of five longitudinal rows of knitted
loops of the color of the thread or yarn carried by the guides; but in addition to
presenting its thread to its own five needles, each thread guide at one of its extreme
inovements moves far enough to allow its thread to be caught by the first needle of
the adjacent set of five needles, and such thread is caught by the needle of the
adjacent set; the loop so taken is knitted by this needle together with its own loop
of a different color, this needle connecting the loops of the two strips or stripes, the
longitudinal row of double loops knitted by this needle presenting two colors.
Should yarns of one color be used, the strips or stripes will be connected by a welt
or cord forined by the double stitches.
In Figure 1 the thread guides are all at one side of the different sets of needles
to which they are to deliver threads, and each thread guide rests commencing at the
end of the needle bed a just beyond each fifth needle. One end of the pro-
jection rests against one side of the arm w of the carrier shifter which is moved
to the position shewn in Figure 1 at the completion of the movement of the
cylinder in the direction of arrow 2. Motion being imparted to the cam cylinder d
in the direction of arrow 1, the needles are caused to knit the thread laid into
or near their hooks when the carrier and thread guides were moved into the
position shown in Figure 1, the cam cylinder continues to rotate until the end a¹ of
the projection meets the opposite or left-hand side of the arm w; then the pro-
jection turns the carrier shifter on its supporting pin b, and causes the toothed
sector c¹ forming part of the carrier shifter to turn and carry with it the carrier
moving it in the direction of the arrow 3, and causing the thread guides to move
each one except the one at the end of the bar t for a sufficient distance to
present their threads to their own set of five needles, and also to a sixth needle,
which is the end needle of an adjacent set. By this movement the selvages of
the adjacent strips are connected on a single end needle of one set and a broad
fabric is produced, whereas if the thread guides did not so present their threads
to the needles of another set the machine would produce only narrow bands or
strips of knitted fabric. As the carrier is brought to its correct position by
the projection v¹ and carrier shifter a pin on the carrier, as seen in Figure 1,
meets the stop e, and at the same time a projecting pin on the cam cylinder d
strikes the stop e¹. The width of the strips knitted and joined together at their
selvages may be varied.
In some instances it is proposed to use threads alike as to quality and color for
the manufacture of gloves, moving the carrier and thread guides as above described
to form the hand portion or a fabric for the hand or palm and wrist portion, and on
reaching a point where fingers are needed the movement of the thread guides will

page_text: be changed, so that they will not move far enough to lap their threads on the
needle of an adjacent set, and this action (the rest of the machine operating as
usual) will produce narrow strips of fabric disconnected at the selvages and suitable
for fingers. This change of action of the carrier to move the guides a lesser distance
and to miss one needle may be made by adjusting the pins placed on the carrier
and adapted to engage the stop e', so that the pins will engage the stop e¹ and stop.
the carrier as soon as the thread guides lay their threads in the needles of their own
set only. This provision of moving the thread guides to connect and at other times
not to connect, permits a fabric to be knitted composed of portions more or less
wide connected by means of narrow strips.
By using a number of thread guides with a thread for each as described, it is
possible to knit rapidly a fabric composed of strips or stripes of contrasting colors,
each strip being knitted by a single and unbroken thread.
The cams and switch herein described may be applied to any ordinary circular
knitting machine, and in such case a thread guide of ordinary construction may be
attached directly to the plate carrying the cams f, g, and the switch, as shown
in Figure 2, or the thread guide might be attached to a movable ring in the usual
manner. If the needles are held in a flat bed, as in an ordinary straight machine,
the plate carrying the cams and switch, as well as the thread carrier, would
reciprocate in a straight line. The driving shaft g¹ has attached to it a hub ¹,
with two fixed pulleys, 1, and turning on the hub loosely is a pulley j¹. A
straight belt passes over the pulley i¹, and a crossed belt from the same motor shaft
passes over pulley j¹. and one side of each belt is guided by one of the openings in
the stationary belt-shifter, one of such openings being opposite the loose pulley
and the other opposite the fast pulley. The end of shaft is provided with a
screw thread, and it fits a screw thread in the hub m² of the driving wheel c.
Friction devices n¹, two or more, and of any suitable construction, are connected
with arms o attached to the hub h, and the force of the pressure of the friction
devices on the hub m³ is regulated by screws p'. The thread guides might move
over more than one needle of an adjacent set, and thicken the fabric and increase
the size of the welt. The wheel c and hub m¹ are held against longitudinal
movement in the direction of the shaft.
This machine may be driven by power and by the plain or crossed belt according
to which one is in action. Suppose the straight belt on pulley i¹ to be in action
then the crossed belt will rest on the loose pulley j¹, and the cam cylinder will be
inoved in direction of arrow 2, until a stop on the cam cylinder strikes stop c¹,
then the cylinder cam no longer rotates nor can the wheel c and hub m¹ connected
therewith, but the pulleys and hub continue to move, the friction devices slipping
about hub m; and during this time the shaft g', through its screw acting on
the screw thread in the hub ml, which cannot move longitudinally, forces the shaft
gand pulleys ', i, j, passing the pulley through the plain belt held by the
end of the stationary belt guide, and placing the loose pulley j¹ into the plain belt,
and the same movement passes the loose pulley through the crossed belt resting on
it, and brings the fast pulley into it, and then the machine will be reversed.
With the reversal of the motion of the shaft ¹ the cylinder not being held against
rotation in the direction of arrow 1 will quickly rotate until a stop on the cylinder
again meets the stop e', when the cylinder will again be stopped and the longitu-
dinal movement of the shaft and pulleys will be the reverse of that just described.
This mechanism might be applied to reverse the action of other machines, but it is
especially adapted to the machine above described.
In a machine having these independent thread guides operating in connection
with sets of needles and joining their selvages, a fabric may be knitted having zig-
zag rather than plain or straight longitudinal stripes, and may present waved or
curved and other irregular stripes by arranging the rod to which the thread guides
are attached so that it has imparted to it an independent backward and forward
movement in addition to its reciprocations, whereby the several independent

page_text: threads will be caused to operate on different needles at each course or at suitable
courses. Each thread may be provided with any suitable stop motion.
To make ribbed goods, I place within the main vertical and cylindrical needle
bed a needle bed having a set of ribbing needles of the usual construction.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim-
First. A needle bed adapted to receive reciprocating needles and cams, and a
movable switch to actuate such needles at each reciprocation of the cam cylinder,
in combination with a carrier connected with and operated by the cylinder and
provided with two or more thread guides, whereby independent threads may be
delivered automatically and simultaneously to sets of two or more needles, and
knitted into a fabric composed of strips with selvage edges knitted together,
substantially as above described.
Second. The combination of a grooved bed adapted to receive reciprocating
needles and a reciprocating cam cylinder provided with two needles, depressing
and elevating cains, and a switch with a carrier connected with and operated by
the cylinder, and provided with two or more thread guides adapted to present
threads automatically and simultaneously to adjacent needles of adjacent sets, to
knit narrow strips of fabric with selvage edges as above described.
Third. The combination of a reciprocating cam cylinder or plate with two cams
arranged to elevate and depress needles, and with a switch adapted to be moved
from one cam to the other by the butts of the needles acting against such switch
to draw down the needles, as above described.
Fourth. The combination with the cam cylinder stop and carrier for the thread
guides of a vibrating carrier shifter moved by the stop on the cylinder at the end of
cach reciprocation of the cylinder, as above described.
Fifth. The combination of the cam cylinder and its driving gear and hub, with
a screw shaft, fast and loose pulleys, friction devices, and stationary belt guides,
whereby a straight and crossed belt may operate to reverse the motion of the cani
cylinder as above described.
Sixth. The cam cylinder and its stop adapted to meet a stop in combination
with the driving gear wheel, hub, friction device, and driven shaft, whereby when
the cylinder arrives at one extreme of its motion the driven shaft may continue its
motion without injury to the machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)