IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS
Year: 1847

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
LANGTON, of Bullwell, near Nottingham, Framework Knitter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Second day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-seven, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Langton, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas Langton, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Langton,
my 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, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNITTED FABRICS;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Thomas Langton, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her 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 appear.

page_text: Thomas Langton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, 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:-
My Invention consists of manufacturing fabrics composed of a slack and a
straight or tight course produced simultaneously on the needles of the frame,
by so arranging a knitting frame, that a slack and tight course may be simul-
taneously produced on the needles.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the means pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews so much of the section of a knitting frame arranged to
work according to my Invention, as will enable me to describe the same.
Figure 2 shews a similar sinker to that shewn in its place in the frame; and
Figure 3 shews another sinker, which may be used in place of the one shewn
at Figures 1 and 2. And I would here state that I do not confine myself to the
exact form of sinkers shewn, so long as a knitting frame is so constructed as
to produce fabrics consisting of a slack and tight course simultaneously on
the needles of the frame. The sinkers are formed with two notches A and B,
the notch B being such as to produce a slack course, that is, a course of
comparatively long loops, the notch A being so formed as to produce a
comparatively tight or straight course; by which arrangement and mode of
working a fabric will be produced, having a piled surface on one side and a
close knit surface on the other side. There are two thread carriers employed,
the thread supplied by one making the tight course, and the thread supplied
by the other making the slack course; and, according to the arrangement
shewn at Figure 1, the red thread makes the tighter course, and the green
thread the slacker course, they respectively laying the thread so as to be
sunk between the needles by the notches A and B. If, however, the sinkers
Figure 3 were used in place of the sinker Figures 1 and 2, the reverse
would be the case. The jack and the lead sinkers are similarly shaped, and
they are worked as in ordinary knitting frames; and in fact the working is
very similar to what are called plaited fabrics in knitting machines, wherein, as
is well known, two threads have heretofore been used. In order to keep the
two threads separate I employ an instrument Z, at each end of the frame;
the inner thread carrier places its thread above the point Z', and the outer

page_text: thread carrier places thread under the point Z', both thread carriers at the
end of a course passing their threads under the stem of the instrument
Z, and then pass above, so as to lay threads as above explained. In place of
using the instrument Z at each end of the frane I can employ a sinker, such
as is shewn at Figure 4, in using which the red thread would be placed in
the hooked formed part X and the green thread outside thereof, and they
would thereby be kept separate.
From the above description, a workman will readily perceive that a new
manufacture of knit fabric will be produced, consisting on one side of a
projecting looped or piled surface, whilst the other side will be a close knit
fabric, and the extent or projection of the pile will depend on the length of
the loops of the slack course.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would remark that
I do not claim the making of knit fabrics by employing two threads at the
same time on the needles. But what I claim is the manufacture of knit
fabrics herein described, by so arranging and working knitting frames as to
produce knit fabrics consisting of a slack and a tight or straight course
simultaneously on the needles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Langton, have hereunto set my
hond and cool shie Sanand day of