IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING KNITTED OR LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Brown, of Leicester, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING KNITTED OR LOOPED
FABRICS."
Sealed the 13th December 1864, and dated the 24th June 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 24th
June 1864.
I, WILLIAM BROWN, of Leicester, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR PRODUCING KNITTED OR LOOPED
FABRICS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for producing
knitted or looped fabrics. For these purposes independent sliding hooks or
needles having hinged or folding beards are used, and they are caused to slide
to and fro in grooves in a straight bar by the sliding of a carriage carrying
angular grooves from side to side of the frame. This carriage causes the
needles or hooks in succession to be moved back after the thread has been
laid in order to knock over the work, and then causes the needles or hooks
immediately to come forward in succession to be in a position to receive a
fresh quantity of thread. The act of coming forward of the needles or hooks
causes the folding or hinged beards to be folded back by the new loops pass-
ing on to the stems of the needles or hooks, whilst the work on the stems of
the needles or hooks is by the going back of the needles or hooks caused to

page_text: press on the beards and to fold them forwards to cover the hooks, and thus
to allow of the work being knocked over. The work is prevented coming
forward with the needles by a bar below the stems of the needles or hooks.
When the thread carrier moves across the frame to lay its thread, all the
needles are as far forward as they can come, which is important as it allows
of work being run on to the needles or hooks with great facility. In order
to produce a slack course the grooved bar in which the stems of the needles
or hooks slide is arranged to admit of its being moved back from its ordinary
position; this may be done in various ways, such as by adjusting screws, or
by means of steps on the back bar against which the grooved bar rests, for
which purpose the back bar has an endway movement so that the grooved
bar may be permitted to go back by the aid of springs or otherwise; or the
grooved bar in which the stems of the hooks or needles work may be other-
wise adjusted to admit of the grooved bar being for a time retained more
backward than its ordinary position. When it is desired that a machine or
frame should be capable of producing ribbed work, another similar grooved
bar and set of needles or hooks are employed, which second set of needles or
hooks are arranged to work through between the spaces of the first-mentioned
set of needles or hooks, and the two sets are respectively caused to take the
thread laid across the first-mentioned needles or hooks as required. In order
to narrow the work as it is progressively produced, the thread carrier is
arranged to lay its thread on a less and less number or width of needles, and
the work is removed from the outermost needles and placed on those next
to them.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BROWN, of Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Brown, Her special licence that I, the said William Brown,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any

page_text: 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 FOR PRODUCING KNITTED OR LOOPED FABRICS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Brown, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I; the said William Brown, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof; that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for producing
knitted or looped fabrics, wherein independent sliding hooks or needles having
hinged or folding beards are used, and they are caused to slide to and fro in
grooves in a straight bar by the sliding of a carriage (carrying angular
grooves) from side to side of the frame. This carriage causes the needles or
hooks in succession to be moved back after the thread has been laid in order
to knock over the work, and it then causes the needles or hooks immediately
to come forward in succession to be in a position to receive a fresh quantity of
thread

page_text: machine on the fixed
The angular grooves
upper end of the lever f is forked at f³, where it embraces the carriage at e¹.
The lever falso gives the requisite motion to the thread carriers h, h, there
being fixed at its upper end an arm fs for that purpose. The front end of
the arm f is jointed at f to a piece f. carrying a truck fo, which passes
between a forked piece h¹ affixed to a bar h, which by brackets h³, h³, is
connected to the thread carrier slide h, to which the thread carriers h, h, are
affixed. The brackets h³ slide on the fixed bar h*; and f' is a spring to
prevent the truck fe from rising out of the fork h'. It will therefore be seen
that as the carriage e is slidden to and fro across the
bars e*, e*, the thread carriers h will also be moved.
forming part of the carriage e will in the movement of this bar act on the
nebs a of the hooks or needles, and cause the needles to move backwards
and forwards, or at right angles to the direction of the movement of the
carriage e and of the thread carriers h, and the needles will after the passage
of the carriage be retained and will be held from going back till the carriage
is again moved, thus facilitating the running on of work as the needles cannot
move back. The thread carriers h lay their thread in the hooks or needles,
which are, as before stated, in their most forward position. After receiving
thread, the needles in succession are caused to move back in order to knock
over the work by passing back into the grooves in which their stems slide,
after which the needles immediately in succession come forward and are
retained in position to receive a fresh supply of thread on the return move-
ment of the thread carriers h. The coming forward of the hooks or needles a
causes the hinged beards or tumblers to be folded back by the new loops
sliding on to the stems of the needles, whilst the work on the stems of the
needles is by the going back of the hooks or needles caused to press on the
beards and to fold them forwards to cover the hooks, and thus allow of the
work being knocked over. The work is prevented from moving forwards
with the needles by means of the bar placed below the stems of the hooks
or needles.
In order to produce a slack course the grooved bar d (or bar on which
the grooves
bare fixed or formed, and in which the hooks or needles a slide)
is arranged so as to admit of its being moved forward from its ordinary
position; this may be. done in various ways. k is a handle or lever fixed
to the shaft or axis k¹, on which are also fixed arms k³, ka, which may be
made to press against the back of the bar c by depressing the handle or
leverk during the production of a slack course. When the lever k
is set at liberty after making the slack course the bar c will be caused
to again assume its original position by means of the springs 1, 1. The

page_text: extent to which the lever / and springs l, l, are allowed to act is governed by
the star wheels, which are set to suit the stiff courses of the work. Sometimes
when working hooks or needles with hinged or jointed beards it has been
found that the hinged beards have by the springing of the stems of the hooks
or needles risen and fallen over just when the loops have slidden over them
on to the stems. In order to prevent this I employ a bar m³, on which are
fixed instruments or followers m, m; these travel after the thread carriers h, and
are so arranged that on the return movement of the thread carrier they will
follow in the same order that they did in their previous course across the
needles or hooks. These followers or instruments m prevent the hinged
beards from springing up to any injurious height and causes them to fall back
again immediately. The bar m' receives its motion from the cam m³ on the
shaft (n) acting upon the truck m³ on the lever m', which at one end is
centred at m³, whilst its outer end is connected to a chain or cord me which
passes over a pulley m' and is connected to one end of the bar m². The
truck m³ is kept up to its cam m³ by means of a chain or cord and weight
over a pulley, or it may be by a spring attached to the other end of the bar m².
In order that the thread carriers h, h, may always take the lead and the
instruments or followers m follow them when moving in both directions it is
necessary that the followers m should continue to travel each time a distance
a little in excess of the thread carriers, and as they both travel in one line it
is necessary that the thread carriers should move forwards a slight distance so
as to allow the followers to pass by them; this moving forwards of the thread
carriers h, h, is caused by the cam o on the shaft n which acts on the truck o¹
of the lever o, causing it to move on the centre o³. The upper end of the
lever o is connected by a link o' to an arm o³ attached to the bar h*, by which
that bar and the thread carriers carried thereby will be caused to move
forwards on the centre h¹+ while the followers m pass by them, then the thread
carriers again fall into line with the followers m to act as before. The
bar m' is carried by arms me connected to brackets m³, m³, which slide on
the fixed bar mo carried by the framing of the machine.
Figure 4 is a plan view of the bar d with its groove, which at part forms
inclines in order to slide the hooks or needles to and fro, whilst the other part
of this groove is formed in a straight line extending from one incline to the
other; by thus using a groove formed into inclines the needles or hooks are
at all times retained from movement in or out, except when the carriage is
moved across the machine.
When it is desired that the machine should be capable of producing ribbed
work another similar grooved bar having a similar set of needles or hooks is

page_text: employed, which second set of needles or hooks are arranged to work through
between the spaces of the first-named set of needles or hooks, and the two sets
are respectively caused to take the thread laid across the first-mentioned
needles or hooks as required.
Figure 5 is a section of so much of a machine arranged for making ribbed
work as will serve to shew how my Invention is applied thereto; all the working
parts shown are like those already described. p is one of the arms which are
used to connect the two bars d which carry the grooves for moving and
retaining the needles or hooks so that the bars d may be moved together
across the frame; q is a bar carried by the framing; upon this bar
the
lower of the two bars d moves, it being supported on trucks or rollers q* carried
by the bracket q¹, which embraces the bar q, but slides freely on it. When it
is desired to run work on to the needles the bracket q¹ can be moved down-
wards so as to be freed from the arms p, which have forked ends which
embrace the stems of the screws ³, so as to cause the lower bar d to travel
with the upper bar d. Each of the bars d has a groove in it with inclines
similar to the one above described, so that the needles or hooks may not only
be caused to move to and fro but also be retained from movement except
when the bars d are moved across the machine, the needles after the passing
of the inclines remaining projected outwards to the utmost extent, as before
described.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to
the mechanical parts separately, but I claim the mode herein described of
actuating and holding the needles or hooks by the bars d, whereby the running
on of work is facilitated and the needles or hooks are prevented moving back
except on the passage of the bars d; and I also claim the mode herein
described of combining and working two sets of independent needles or hooks
for making ribbed work.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
WILLIAM BROWN. (L.s.)