IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING FRAMEWORK KNITTED OR NETTED WORK
Year: 1844

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
WARD, of Leicester, Hosier, and DAVID WINFIELD GROCOCK, of the same
Place, Frame Smith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fourth day of June, in the seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said William
Ward and David Winfield Grocock, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said William Ward and David Winfield
Grocock, our exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Ward and David Winfield Grocock, our exors, admors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, ex-
ercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING FRAMEWORK
KNITTED OR NETTED WORK;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that we, the said William Ward and David Winfield Grocock, or one
of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Hér said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
anpear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
William Ward and David Winfield Grocock, do hereby declare that the
nature of our Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists of so arranging machinery that warp-looped fabrics
or framework knitted or netted work may be made in a tubular form, suitable
to be made into what are called "comforters," as well as other articles, where
it is desired to have looped fabrics in a tubular form; and part of the Inven-
tion is also applicable to other arrangements of machinery where looped
fabrics are made by looping on similar needles. And in order that our Inven-
tion may be most fully understood and readily carried into effect, we will
proceed to describe the means we have resorted to for putting our Invention
into practice.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 show two vertical sections through the machine, the
sections being taken at right angles to each other; Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
and 9, show the parts of the apparatus which produce the loops, in the various
stages of the process of making a loop. The other Drawing shows various
details, which being marked with the same letters of reference as are used to
the same parts in the other Figures, it will not be necessary to enter into
a particular or separate description thereof. a, a, is the framing of the
machinery, the nature of which will readily be traced in the Drawings; b is the
main or driving shaft, which receives motion from a steam engine or other
suitable power; this shaft turns in suitable bearings at c, c. On this shaft is
affixed the cog wheel d, which takes into and drives the cog wheel e, affixed on
the shaft or axis f, which turns in suitable bearings at f, as is shown; on the
shaft or axis fare affixed three cams, h, i, j, and on the main shaft 6 is affixed
the cam g, and it is by means of these cams the various parts of the machinery
are so worked as to form a series of warp threads or yarn into a warp or looped
fabric in a tubular form. The cam g is, by means of the intermediate
apparatus, caused to give motion at intervals to the needles, which are mounted
on a tube in the following manner:-g₁ is a lever, moving on an axis at g,
this lever. has a truck or roller at its lower end, which is caused constantly to
press against the surface of the cam g by the spring g³; the upper end of the
lever carries a driver g', by which the ratchet k', formed on the lower part of
the tube, is caused to move one tooth each revolution of the cam g, the

page_text: ratchet and the driver being so arranged that the tube will be moved a
distance equal to the space between two neighbouring needles carried by the
tube . The tube k rests on a circular track 1, with an angular space, and the
tube is kept on this track by means of two clamps. The leads with needles
12 are affixed in a vertical position at the upper part of the tube k, and it shoul
be understood that the work, as it is produced, descends down through the
tube k, and is drawn down by a weight or other convenient means, so as to
maintain an uniform drag. The machine is so arranged that there are as
many threads or yarns as there are needles, and by the rotation of the needles
with the tube k, which carries them, the needles are successively brought up to
work with each warp thread; but that is not absolutely necessary, as the
needles might, by suitable apparatus, be made to move freely round, and then
moved back, if the peculiar fabric is desired to be replaced by a more straight
down one. Each thread or yarn has its guide o, which laps its thread on to
the needle for the time being in a position to receive its thread. The guides
are levers, each moving on its axis, carried by the circular plates o', such plates
having radial slits formed therein, between which the guides o move on their
axes, the axes being soćured between the two plates o'. The plates o' have a
movement communicated thereto, up and down, by means of the cam h, in tho
following mauner:-The plates o' are on the tube o, which can slide up and
down on the fixed cylindrical bar p, but cannot turn thereon, in consequence
of the screw passing through the upper end of the tube o, and entering into a
groove formed in the fixed bar p, and the cam h causes the plates o' to rise and
fall by means of the connecting rod h', the forked end of which embraces the
cam shaft, so as to be guided thereby in rising and falling, there being a truck
or roller h on the connecting rod ', which constantly rests on the cam h.
The upper end of the connecting rod h is attached by a pin joint by the lever
moving on an axis at h; this lever bas lateral projections, to which are
attached two links or connecting rods h, which, at their lower ends, are
attached to two projections o³ from the tube o, by which means the plate o',
with the guides o, are raised up and down; and by being raised up and down,
the ends of the lever guides o come against the two rings q, r, supported in
such a position as to act on the upper ends of the lever guides o; thus, on the
plates o' rising with the guides o, the ends of the lever guides o come against
the ring 9, and by such means the lower ends of the guides o pass back
between the needles with their threads; and on descending, the upper ends of
the guides o come against the ring r, which causes the lower ends of the
guides to be pressed in towards the centre of the tube
needles, which is the position of the parts shown in the Drawing; and it is by
which carries the

page_text: means of the guides o carrying the threads in towards and from the centre of
the tube k, together with the movement of the needles, that the warp threads
are caused to be lapped on to the needles; the inner ring r and the outer
ring are fixed together, and are suspended in the proper position by the rods
q' from the fixed projections q² from thé fixed bar p, there being slots in the
rods at their upper ends, so as to regulate their points of fixture with the
projections q2 by means of screws, and by this means the correct placing of the
rings and q is obtained. The cam i gives motion to the apparatus for
knocking over the work in the following manner :- is a connecting rod, which
is forked at its lower end, so as to embrace the cam shaft or axis, and is thus
guided thereby in its up and down movements. The connecting rod carries
a truck or roller 2, which constantly presses on the surface of its cam i.
The upper end of the connecting rod is attached by a pin joint to the lever,
which has its fulcrum at it. The fulcrum being carried by the connecting
link, which turns upon the centre 2, such connecting link being used in
order to allow of the requisite play in the movement of the lever. 1³. On the
lever is a projection, to which the two descending horns t¹ of the tubo t are
attached, yet so as to move freely; hence, as the lever is raised the tube t will
slide up within the tube k, but will not turn therewith. u is a tube, the lower
end of which is within the tube t, there being a groove around this tube u, into
which screws, passing through the tube t, and by this means as the tubet is
caused to rise and fall, the tube u will be moved up and down, thereby at the
same time the tube u will be allowed to turn round with the tube k, which it
is caused to do by there being formed a projecting ring at the upper part of
the tube u, which has radial slits formed therein, one for the stem of each
needle; hence, when this tube u is raised, it will push before it the work which
is on the stems of the needles, and as the ring at the upper end of the tube u
rises above the needles, it will knock off the work therefrom, when the boards
of the needles are so covered as to allow the work to pass off the needles over-
the beards thereof, and this is accomplished by means of instruments v, one to
each needle, the beards of the needles in this machine not being acted on by
pressers to close the beards, as is usually the case with other machinery used
for making framework knitted or netted fabrics; but in place thereof, the
instruments are so worked that their points or outer ends are caused to
enter under the beards of the needles and these instruments, each having a
groove therein, the point of the beard enters into this groove and may be said
to be buried therein; or in place of the groove there may be a complete opening
or slit through the instruments v, the object being to cover the points of the
beards of the needles when the previously formed loops are to be removed from

page_text: the needles, and when the newly formed loops are in the beards of the needles.
The cam works the instruments v up and down by means of the lever j', the
truck or roller carried by which is at all times borne upwards so as to be acted
upon by the cam j, by the spring w. The lever j moves on an axis at 7, and.
is a connecting rod attached to the lever by a pin joint, the upper end of
such connecting rod being attached by a pin joint to the lever j', which
moves on an axis at 5, as is shewn; the other end of the lever is forked, and
partly embraces the tube or cylinder x, which surrounds the tube k, and moves.
freely thereon, there being a groove formed around the cylinder or tube x by
two projecting rings x, into which screws or projections from the ends of the
forked lever jenter, and by which the cylinder can be raised and lowered, and
yet allowed to turn freely with the tube k, and there is a perpendicular opening
in the tube, through which passes a screw a³ into the tube k, by which the
cylinder is caused to travel round with the tube k, while it is allowed to
travel in an upward and downward direction, as described. The upper part of
the cylinder has the instruments affixed thereto, as is shown, and the effect
of the movements of the knocking-over apparatus u, and the instruments v, will
be better understood by examining the parts shown in Figures 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
and 9, and the relative positions which the guides o take in respect to the
needles will also be traced by these Figures. Figure 3 shows the parts in the
positions they would assume just after having knocked over the work, and the
apparatus u at its highest position; Figure 4 shows the parts as the apparatus
u is descending, the new loops descending down the stems of the needle;
Figure 5 shows the apparatus u to have descended still further, just before
the loop is received on to the instrument v; Figure 6 shows the apparatus u to
have descended to such an extent that the loop has just come on to the
instrument v, and the guide o is passing in towards the centre of the tube k;
Figure 7 shows the apparatus u at its lowest position, and the guide o as
having lapped the yarn or warp again on to the needle; Figure 8 shows the
new loop in the beard of the needle and the instrument v raised up under the
beard of the needle; and Figure 9 shows the apparatus u passing the previous
loop over the beard of the needle just before knocking it off. We would here
remark, that the instruments v may be used in other machines for making
knitted or netted fabrics in place of a presser, the instruments being caused
to receive the loops as they are forced on the stems of the needles, by means
of the sinkers used in such machinery, the instruments going forward with the
loop in those cases (which is for the most part the same) where the needle bar
is fixed, and then passing under, covering the points of the beards of the
needles whilst the work is being knocked over by the sinkers.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the best means of
performing the same, we would have it understood, that we make no claim to
any of the parts separately, nor do we confine ourselves to the precise details,
so long as the peculiar character of our Invention be retained; but what we
claim is, the so arranging machinery that warp-looped fabrics may be made
tubular, as herein described; and we also claim, the application of the instru-
ments for covering or protecting the beards of needles, in the manner herein
described, when making framework knitted or netted work.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Ward, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.