Improvements in Knitting Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1897-Accepted, 6th Aug.,
1898
Improvements in Knitting Machines.
I, CHARLES FRANCIS MURPHY, of No. 26, Chauney Street, in the City of Boston
and State of Massachusetts, United States of America, Merchant, 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 has relation to circular knitting machines adapted to knit either
a plain stitch or ribbed figured fabric. Some parts or features of the invention
may, however, be employed on knitting machines of other types or styles.
It is the object of the invention to provide improvements whereby knit webs
of almost innumerable pattern or figure may be produced with exceedingly simple
means and in a speedy and economical manner.
The invention consists for the most part of operating and controlling the opera-
tions of the needles to which preferably two or more colors or kinds of yarn are
fed.
The invention also consists of several improvements incidental to the foregoing,
all as is hereinafter shown, described, and claimed.
Reference is to be had to the annexed drawings and to the letters marked
thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same
parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.
Of the drawings
Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved machine complete, the needles not
being shown as in place therein.
Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view of the machine proper, the needles
also being omitted from representation therein.
Fig. 3 is a view of the needle-operating cams of the cam-cylinder, the same
being shown as flat or developed.
Fig. 4 is a detail view of parts which control the means for raising the cams for
operating the needle-lifting fingers or pickers into operative position.
Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view through the picker dials and a portion of the
needle-cylinder, showing the construction and relationship of the parts, and the
manner in which the pickers act upon the needles to raise the same.
Fig. 6 is an inside detail view showing the manner of operating the pattern
chain, and the manner also in which the pattern chain acts to control the means
partly illustrated in Fig. 4.
Fig. is a side view of a portion of the pattern-chain.
Figs. S and 9 are sectional detail views showing the means directly connected
with the cam levers for acting upon the picker fingers, and giving a clear under-
standing of how the said cam levers are raised into position.
Fig. 10 is a view of one of the pickers detached.
Fig. 11 is a view of one of the needles detached.
In the drawings
a is the bed of the machine from which the needle-cylinder b is supported by the
hangers c. d is the cam-cylinder provided with bevel gear teeth c. so that it
1
1
1
ching therewith f is the usual vote for sun.

page_text: porting the needle and cam dials and for rotating the latter. The needle-cylinder
is turned down at g and has a grooved rib formed on its surface, in which groove
there is arranged an annular spring hoop j', which, with a similar spring ring
or hoop j, serves to hold the needles i in place in their grooves in the needle-
cylinder. The knitting cams engage the heels k of the needles to reciprocate them
to take the yarn from the yarn guides which are composed entirely of glass.
In my
The knitting cams are numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and operate the needles in a
well known way to cause them to perform the functions of knitting. If a needle
should be raised when passing from the ledge 1 to the horizontal surface 2 so as
to escape being acted upon by the cams, it will hold its yarn but not knit.
present improved machine I supply the yarn guides with variously colored yarns
and raise the needles out of action thereon by the cams in predetermined order so
as to perform fancy or figured knitting. The needles are raised by pickers n
hinged at their inner ends in picker dials u, ul.
The pickers lie in radial grooves partially cut away, as at p. Caps q q¹ on the
picker dials serve to keep the pickers in place. Each picker dial is provided with
teeth on its periphery, which teeth engage the ribs on the needle-cylinder so that
as the latter turns the picker dials will turn on their studs connected with their
supporting arms s. The pickers are formed with shanks and operative free
The pickers in the upper dial o engage the hooks of the needles and those
in the lower dial engage the shanks of the needles to raise the said needles out
of operative connection with the knitting cams, as before said.
ends u.
are arms
provided with cams we which are arranged to be raised into the path of the pickers
and cause the latter to act to raise the needles so that they may not be actuated
to form stitches.
is a ratchet wheel supported by the frame of the machine, with which ratchet
wheel there is compounded a sprocket-wheel over which there runs a sprocket-
pattern-chain y having high or raised links and lower links y'. An arm a¹
pivoted on the bearing stud of the ratchet wheel carries a pawl which engages
the teeth of the said ratchet. Connected with the outer end of the said arm a¹ is
a vertical link which is pivoted at its upper end to the outer end of a link d
pivoted at its inner end to some stationary means. A roller is supported on a
pin on the link d', and the said roller is arranged in the path or line of movement
of a cam Fig. 2 on the cam cylinder, so that each time the cam-cylinder
revolves, the said cam acts to operate the pawl to cause it to move the ratchet
wheel to the extent of one tooth. When the ratchet and sprocket wheels are so
operated as to bring a raised link under the anti-friction roller g on the angular
arm of a lever pivoted or fulcrumed at k', it will rock the said lever on its pivot
so as to move the upper end of the vertical arm in the direction of the arrows.
(See Figs. 4 and 6.)
designates a ring supported outside of the needle-cylinder, and movable
circumferentially on its bearings. The bottom of the said ring is provided with
inclined or cam projections m' Fig. 4 which are adapted to ride up
on parts of the ring support and SO raise the ring to a position in
which it will rest upon the lower faces of its cam parts. Anti-friction rollers »
may be provided to lessen the impediment to the movement of the ring . A
pin projects from the ring through a slot in the upper end of the vertical
arm so that when the said arm is moved in the direction of the arrows (Fig. 4)
it will move the ring in the same direction. A spring moves the arm in a
direction opposite to the arrow, and a spring al operates with a tendency to draw
the ring downward. Balls to may be interposed between the ring and the frame
to render the vertical movement of the ring easy and prevent the same from
binding.
Connected with the cam levers are standards, having a connection, as
shown, between the said levers and the said ring, so that as the ring is raised the
levers are raised, and when the ring is lowered the levers will fall by their own
gravity, or they may be drawn down by springs.

page_text: Thus far I have described the machine as equipped with two picker dials and
their equipments, as shown in Fig. 5, and it is obvious that the invention may be
thus used for simple patterns, but two or more pairs of picker dials may be
employed, as is shown in Fig. 1, for more intricate patterns or for accomplishing
more work in a given time.
Suppose now that a machine should be constructed as thus far described and
be equipped with two pairs of picker dials and their equipments, and that four
feeds or yarn guides should be employed, as shown in Fig. 1, each yarn guide
being supplied by a suitable colored yarn, and the machine should be started
with the cam levers down, plain knitting would be performed until a raised
link should be brought under the anti-friction roller g' so as to shift the ring /
and raise the said cam levers, when the pickers, acting upon the needles, would
raise the same as they came in contact with the needles in the order predetermined
by the arrangement of the pickers in the picker dials. In this case the needles
can be made to knit the yarn into the face of the fabric or allow it to float on the
back and so form the face of the fabric with any desired figure, such as diamonds,
squares, and the like, or with figured lines running diagonally to each other, or
with figures or diamonds within diamonds, and so on to an almost innumerable
extent, all as will be readily understood by those skilled in the knitting art without
further description or explanation.
In case it should be desired to knit what would be the floating threads on the back
of the fabric, as hereinbefore described, into the body of the fabric, dial needles y¹
may be employed in the dial of the knitting machine at such points as are opposite
to or to one side of the vertical needles raised out of action. This will further
tend to vary the pattern or figure of the fabric produced by the machine, as will
also be understood by knitting artisans without further amplification.
Spring fingers or arms " may be employed to press down the picker fingers
after they have been raised, if they do not fall readily by their own gravity.
The spring in the groove of the rib h on the needle cylinder tends to act upon
the bulged or bent out part 2 on the lower end of the needle, so as to maintain
the needle in raised position in case a thread should break or fail, or any other
thing should happen with a tendency to let the needle drop it being understood
that when the needle is raised by the picker dial it passes the bend 2, which will
pass above the spring j.
My invention is particularly alapted to the knitting of golf or bicycle stockings,
though it may be employed in knitting any sort of a web where either combined
ribbed and plain work or ribbed or plain work alone is desired to be knit, and
where the work produced may be either figured or plain, and when figured, pro-
duced in figures of almost any design capable of being made by the knitting process.
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;-
1. A knitting machine comprising in its organization a needle-cylinder and
its needles; a revoluble cam-cylinder provided with needle operating cams, as
described a pair of picker dials, adapted to engage and revolve with the cam-
cylinder, and provided with pickers in one dial adapted to engage the hooks of
certain of the needles, and those in the other dial adapted to engage the heels
of certain of the needles, to raise them out of position for action thereon by the
cains on the cam-cylinder; and means for raising the pickers, substantially as
described and shown.
2. A knitting machine comprising in its organization a needle-cylinder and
its needles: a revoluble cam-cylinder provided with a plurality of sets of needle-
operating cams, as described a plurality of yarn-feeds; a plurality of pairs of
picker dials adapted to revolve with the cam-cylinder, and provided with pickers.
in one dial of each pair adapted to engage the hooks of certain of the needles,
and those in the other dial of each pair adapted to engage the heels of certain

page_text: of the needles, to raise them out of position for action thereon by the cams on
the cam-cylinder; and means for raising the pickers, the said picker-dials being
adapted to engage the needle-cylinder and to be rotated thereby.
us
3. A knitting machine comprising in its organization a needle-cylinder and its
needles; a revoluble cam-cylinder provided with needle-operating cams,
described a pair of picker dials adapted to revolve with the can-cylinder, and
provided with pickers, in one dial adapted to engage the hooks of certain of the
needles, and those in the other dial adapted to engage the heels of certain of the
needles, to raise them out of position for action thereon by the cams on the cam-
cylinder; and means for raising the pickers, the said picker-dials being adapted
to engage the needle-cylinder and to be rotated thereby, combined with a needle-
dial and its needles, and a revoluble cam-dial provided with cams to operate the
dial needles.
as
4. A knitting machine comprising in its organization a needle-cylinder and its
needles a revoluble cam-cylinder provided with needle-operating cams,
described; a plurality of yarn-feeds a plurality of pairs of picker-dials adapted
to revolve with the cam-cylinder, and provided with pickers, in one dial of each
pair adapted to engage the hooks of certain of the needles, and those in the other
dial of each pair adapted to engage the heels of certain of the needles, to raise
them out of position for action thereon by the cams on the cam-cylinder: and
means for raising the pickers, the said picker-dials being adapted to engage the
needle-cylinder and to be rotated thereby, combined with a needle-dial and its
needles, and a revoluble cam-dial provided with needle-operating cams corre-
sponding with the needle-operating cams in the cam-cylinder to operate the dial
needles.
Dated this Brd day of November 1897.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co..
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co..
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.