IM- PROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Friedrich Hermann Felix Engel, Civil Engineer and
Patent Agent, in the City of Hamburg, Germany, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES." A communication from Biernatzki and
Company, of Hamburg, in the German Empire.
Sealed the 11th July 1879, and dated the 15th February 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Friedrich Hermann Felix
Engel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th February
1879.
FRIEDRICH HERMANN FELIX ENGEL, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, in the
A com-
City of Hamburg, Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES."
munication from Biernatzki and Company, of Hamburg, in the German Empire.
These improvements relate to that class of knitting machines wherein is employed
straight rows of needles and needle beds, and which are generally known under the
name of Lamb's system.
By means of one part of this Invention fancy striped goods from threads of
different colors can be produced on these machines, and by means of the second
part of these improvements one and the same machine can be employed for the
production of regular fabrics from yarn of very different thickness, and with different
sizes of meshes.
According to the first part of this Invention by means of an original construction
of the cams of the sliding carriage of the machine a new and original up and down
motion is imparted to the needles, so as to force the needles of both rows to rise
immediately after each formation of the corresponding meshes, and to stop in this
raised position. Hitherto a lifting or rising of the needles only takes place at the
moment the meshes are formed, after which the needles directly drop again into
position underneath the surface of the needle plates.
Outside and independently of the knitting machine I employ a frame with two
or more turnable sliding bars, to which adjustable thread guides can be attached;
these thread guides taper towards the bottom end to allow the latter part of each
guide to pass through the free space between two neighbouring needles. The
•
A

page_text: number of thread guides and different colored threads employed is in each case
equal to the number and the colors of the designs of the fabric has to be
produced.
The manner of working this mechanism is as follows:-According to the
intended design of the fabric the thread guides must be adjusted and fastened in
position on the sliding bars of the frame, and after the completion of one row of
meshes the thread guides of one bar are moved through the outer row of needles,
and brought into the free space between the crossing neodles; the bar with the
guides is then shifted in horizontal or lengthwise direction of the machine, so far as
to correspond with the breadth of the designs, and. the guides are then passed out
of the machine.
+
A new row of meshes is now formed which contains the desired design.
For narrowing or widening the different designs two thread guide bars must be
employed, by means of which the operator can by diminishing or increasing the
length of the sliding or shifting motion of the alternatively moved rows of thread
guides produco a design of one or other sort as required.
A latch opener is employed to keep the needles in open position to enable the
thread guides to deliver the threads safely in the eyes of the needles.
The second improvement consists of two strips of sheet steel, which can be
brought into the free space between the two needle beds of a knitting machine.
The purpose is to diminish this space, and to exert a certain pressure against the
loops of the fabric, in consequence of which the loops will drop better from the
neodles, and one and the same machine can be employed for the making or pro-
ducing of fabric from yarn of different thickness, and of meshes of very different
size. By means of this simple arrangement one and the same machine can produce
goods for which hitherto three different sized machines had to be employed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Friedrich Hermann Felix Engel in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th August 1879.
A
FRIEDRICH HERMANN FELIX ENGEL, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, in the
City of Hamburg, Germany. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES."
communication from Biernatzki and. Company, of Hamburg, in the German
Empire.
These-improvements relate to that class of knitting machines that employ straight¯
rows of needles and needle beds, and which are generally known under the name of
Lamb's system. By means of one part of this Invention fancy striped goods can be
produced out of threads of different colors on these machines, and by means of the
second part of this Invention on one and the same machine fabric of very different
closeness can be produced, and yarn of very different thickness be employed whilst
formerly in such cases several machines of different sizes had to be employed.
The first part of this Invention is illustrated by Sheet I., and the second part by
Sheet II. of the annexed Drawings, and I will now proceed to describe the first
part.
The mechanism of same consists of a thread guide apparatus, which is indepen-
dant from the knitting machine, and which is furnished according to the intended
designs of the goods to be produced with one or more rows of thread guides, the
threads of which are before the formation of each row of meshes placed in suitable
manner upon the open needles of the machine, as will be hereafter fully explained.
The locks of this machine must be of such construction that the cams of the same
shall force the needles upward again directly after the completion of the corre-
sponding meshes, and allow the needles to rest for a certain interval of time in this
raised position. After the formation of each row of meshes all working needles of
the machine will be in this lifted position, and this will enable the operator to pass
the pointed ends of the thread guides, and consequently the different corresponding
threads through the free space between the needles within the space of the two
rows of the needles. The different. threads or thread guides are then shifted
sideways for the distance of such number of needles corresponding to the intended
designs, and then when at the required and arrived at position are to be passed out
from the machine through the free space between the needles.
As it is absolutely necessary for the purpose of the forming of the meshes that
the working threads are placed on the open latches of the needles, and not under-
neath the former, a lever or arm connected to the carriage of the machine moves
along with the latter, and prevents the latches of the raised needles from being
closed.
Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings illustrates this improvement attached to
and in combination with a knitting machine of common construction; Fig. 1 is a
front view; Fig. 2, a side view partly in section; and Fig. 3, a ground plan of
same; Figs. 4, 5, and 6, are details of the lock in different positions of the working
parts. E, E, is the frame of the thread guide apparatus, which is mounted directly
behind the knitting machine, as will be seen from Figs. 2 and 3. The different
thread guides n are fastened to two cross bars P, P', which are suspended from, and
turnable on two iron rods r, rl, by means of adjustable arms h, h, and h¹, h¹. The
different threads are led from bobbins 8 to the corresponding guides. By means of
the locks of the machine, which will hereafter be more fully explained, the two
rows of needles are brought into raised position, as shown in Fig. 2, after completion
of each row of meshes.
The manner of operating this apparatus is as follows:-
To the bars p, p, the required number of thread guides n are attached, as
different designs are intended to be produced in the fabric. For setting up of the
work the cams of the locks must be brought into the position as shown by Fig. 4.

page_text: The bars p, p¹, are then swung or passed together with the ends of the guides n
through the corresponding free spaces of the row of the needles e, by means of
which the different threads are brought into the space between the crossing needles.
Bar p² with its thread guides is then moved sideways for such a distance as needles
are required for the production of the width of the figure of the design, after which
bar pand its guides are at this place passed out from the machine through the free
space between the needles. The bar p is now moved sideways in a similar manner
as p for such a distance as needles have been left without yarn by the guides of p',
after which the guides of p are removed from the needles, and returned behind
those needles near to which the motion of the guides of bar p¹ had begun; tlien by
turning B a row of meshes is formed, which contains the threads of the guides of
bar p, in width corresponding to the side or shifting motion imparted to the latter,
and the threads of bar p in the width of the side motion of this bar. According to
the distance of the side or shifting motion imparted each time to bar p' before
forming a new row of meshes, the different designs can be narrowed or widened,
and fancy striped or zig-zag patterns of different colors can be produced.
The latches of the lifted needles must all be open to enable the operator to plačo
the threads within the needles; it is further required that the crossing points of
the lifted needles are somewhat above the free ends of the open latches; in case the
needles should be raised higher the threads might slip underneath the ends of 'the
latches, which would prevent the forming of meshes. The locks of the carriage
which regulate the movements of the needles must for this reason very exactly
operate the before described up and down motion of the same, while a metal
'prisma" attached to an arm of the carriage, and placed between the crossing
needles prevents a closing of the latches during the time the needles are in raised
position.
St
The locks, of which one is placed at each side of the carriage, are furnished with
two cams F, F', which must be adjusted after each formation of a row of meshes,
and also with a centre cam H for regulation of loose and fast work; Fig. 4 shows
the position of the different cams during setting up the work, while Fig. 5 is an
illustration of same during the motion of the carriage to the right, and Fig. 6
during the reverse or return motion of the carriage. The different cams of the
locks regulate the motion of the needles in such manner as before described.
The angle bar k, which is connected to the frame E, E, by means of spiral springs,
prevents the thread guides from passing involuntarily of the operator through the
needles; R, R, are set screws for adjusting the position of the thread guides to the
machinc.
The second part of this Invention is illustrated on Sheet II. of the accompanying
Drawings, and by means of this improvement fabric of very different closeness can
be produced, and yarn of very different thickness be employed on one and the same
machine. The operations of widening and narrowing the work can be executed
without increasing or reducing the number of meshes, and in a shorter time than
formerly. Likewise new fancy goods can be produced on knitting machines by
this improvement which could not formerly be made on the same.
With knitting machines of Lamb's system the needle beds form a free space c
between the two beds, through which the newly formed meshes have to pass, and
the width of this free space c must be in proportion to the distance of the needles,
or to the size of the corresponding machine. Thus a machine containing six needles
per inch of bed must have a wider space c than a machine containing seven needles
per inch. This free space c may with machines furnished with this improvement
be made of somewhat greater width than formerly. The main part of ono con-
struction of this Invention consists of two longitudinal bars D, which can be placed
into the free space c for reducing the width, and for executing a certain pressure
.against the meshes as soon as close work is to be produced, while the bars D can
be removed from the machine when loose work is to be produced. This construction
is shown in Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9, of said Sheet II. of the Drawings.

page_text: and in this case the reduction or enlargement of the free space c is produced by
moving the jacks M, M, of the needle beds up or down by means of adjusting
screws S. In consequence of the inclined planes of the needle beds N, N, the
distance between the jacks is either narrowed or widened.
The simplest form of constructing apparatus according to this improvement is
shown in Figs. 7 and 8; d, d, are two flat steel bars, kept apart by means of the
metal pieces e, e, riveted to the ends inside the bars. These bars are placed into
the space c between the jacks of the needle beds, and kept in position by means of
two pins 8, 8, which are passed through borings at the ends of the bars.
Fig. 9 shows a modification of this construction in which the bars d, d, are not
parallel, but placed inclined to each other.
The construction shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, of this said Sheet II. may
preferably be applied to newly built machines, and consists of the two jacks M, M,
which are kept apart-and-parallel-to-each other by means of screw pins f, whilst
adjusting screws S, S, are employed to regulate the required distance of the jacks,
according to the goods that are to be produced. For thick yarn, and for loose
work the distance is enlarged, while it must be diminished for close work, and
when fine yarn is used.
Having now described the nature and particulars of the said Invention in such-
wise that the same may be readily carried into practical effect, I claim,—
First. The lifting of the different needles of both rows of needles of knitting
machines by means of locks of the carriage directly after the formation of the
corresponding meshes in combination with a separate thread guide apparatus, the
guides of which are so arranged that the free ends of the same can be passed
through the free space between the needles, while at same time the guide bars are
movable sideways, as and for the purposes described, and substantially as illustrated
by Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, and
Second. The arrangements for reducing or widening the space between the needle
beds for the purpose of producing close or loose fabric on one and the same
machine, in the manner as described and as illustrated by the various Figures on
Sheet II. of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Friedrich Hermann Felix Engel, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight 'hundred and seventy nine.