AN IMPROVEMENT IN KNITTING MACHINERY
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Jeacock, of 20, Bridge Street, Leicester, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN KNITTING MACHINERY."
Sealed the 12th September 1856, and dated the 22nd April 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Jeacock at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd April 1856.
1, THOMAS JEACOCK, of 20, Bridge Street, Leicester, do hereby declare, the
nature of the Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN KNITTING MACHINERY," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in knitting machinery,
with a view to dispense with the use of pressers, and in place thereof to apply
to each needle a slide or instrument which will be caused to act by the
movement of the work on the needles.
This improvement is applicable when using either single or double ended
needles. The form of needle employed, when for ordinary knitting frames, is a
hook, the beard or point of which is not required to bend as the beard of an
ordinary needle. On the upper surface of the needle there is a groove formed,
and in which the point of a sliding instrument works to and fro, as the work is

page_text: moved back and forward on the stems of the needles. The pointed instrument
near its fore end or point is bent or curved upwards, and it has a groove on its
upper surface, into which the point of the hook of the needle enters.
When
the instrument is moved as far forward as it will go, at which time the work on
the stems of the needles and of the bent points may be knocked over readily,
as the entrance under the beard or hook of the needle will be closed by the
bend of the sliding point, and then, when the work, hanging by the new loops,
is moved back, the new loops press back the sliding instruments, and will pass
over the bends of the points. When double ended needles are used, the sliding
points will be double also.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Jeacock in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd October 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JEACOCK, of 20, Bridge Street, Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Пer Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Jeacock, Her special licence that J, the said Thomas Jeacock my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Jeacock, my 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
KNITTING MACHINERY," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Jeacock, my executors, or administrators, 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 Thomas Jeacock, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,

page_text: to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object an improvement in knitting machinery
with a view to dispense with the use of pressers, and in place thereof to apply
to each needle a slide or instrument which will be caused to act by the
movement of the work on the needles.
This improvement is applicable when using either single or double ended
needles. The form of needle employed when for ordinary knitting frames is a
hook, the beard or point of which is not required to bend as the beard of an
ordinary needle. On the upper surface of the needle there is a groove formed,
and in which the point of a sliding instrument works to and fro, as the work is
moved back and forward on the stems of the needles. The pointed instrument
near its fore end or point is bent or curved upwards, and it has a groove on its
upper surface, into which the point of the hook of the needle enters. When
the instrument is moved as far forward as it will go, at which time the work on
the stems of the needles and of the bent points may be knocked over readily,
as the entrance under the beard or hook of the needle will be closed by the
bend of the sliding point, and then, when the work hanging by the new loops is
moved back, the new loops press back the sliding instruments, and will pass
over the bends of the points. When double-ended needles are used, the sliding
points will be doubled also.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will procced more fully to
describe the manner of performning the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a single-ended needle (with slide) which is to be cast in
leads, and used in knitting or looping machinery in the ordinary manner;
Figure 2 shows a double-ended needle similarly constructed. The end or ends
of each needle consists of a simple hook, not a beard, such as is most generally
used, but I do not claim the use of such hooks separately, but only when
combined with apparatus such as I will now describe. a is a sliding stem,
the point of which is bent or cranked as shown; the point or fore end of this
stem moves in a groove, formed in the upper surface of the stem of the
needle. These needles are to be employed in a similar manner to what single
and double ended needles have respectively heretofore been used in knitting
machinery, but they will require no presser bar. In use the new loops of the
work will be brought from under the hooks, on to the stems a by the sinkers,
and when the fresh thread has been laid on to the needles, and sunk between

page_text: them by the sinkers, the coming forward of the sinkers will bring forward the
slides, the points will drive the new loops under the hooks, and the work will
be knocked over.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Jeacock, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
JNO. COOK,
4, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn.
THOMAS JEACOCK. (L.s.)