CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MAKING OR MANU- FACTURING OF STOCKINGS, OR OTHER KINDS OF LOOP Work
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
SNEATH, of Nottingham, Lace Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-third day of February, in the fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles Sneatb, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Charles Sneath, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said Charles Sneath, my executors, administrators,
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 mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MAKING OR MANU-
FACTURING OF STOCKINGS, OR OTHER KINDS OF LOOP Work;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said Charles Sneath, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her 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: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Sneath, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say) :-
My improvements in machinery for making or manufacturing of stockings,
or other kinds of loop work, consist in a novel construction and arrangement of
machinery, whereby successive loops of thread or yarn are formed and con-
nected together, so as to constitute the fabric commonly called or known as
stocking fabric or framework knitting. In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1
represents a front elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 an end elevation of the
same; Fig. 3, a horizontal view, as it would appear when seen from above; and
Fig. 4, a vertical section, taken through the machine about the middle at right
angles to Fig. 1; in which several Figures the same parts of the machine are
pointed out by similar letters of reference. A rectangular frame a, a, a,
standing upon feet, supports the whole machinery, to the front rails of which
brackets b, b, and c, c, are attached, carrying the principal working parts;
d, d, d, are a series of peculiarly formed vertical jacks or levers, vibrating upon
a horizontal shaft between combs or partitions, fixed by lead or otherwise in
the brackets c, c. To the upper end of each of these jacks a lead with two
needles e is connected by a joint, the needle lead sliding out and in hori-
zontally upon the top rail of the frame a, and the lower ends of the jacks are
severally acted upon by springs f,f,f, which, by pressing against the tails of
the jacks, force their lower ends back, and thereby cause the needles to be
projected forward, as shewn in the vertical section, Fig. 4. A horizontal shaft,
mounted in bearings upon the side rails of the frame, extends through the
middle of the machine parallel to the front, carrying the barrel or cylinder g.
On the periphery of this cylinder is fixed a series of cams or tappets h, h, h,
set as oblique steps, see Figs. 1, 3, and 4, which steps act severally upon the
tail parts of the jacks as the cylinder revolves, for the purpose of drawing back
the needles at the required periods one after another. The bobbin containing
the yarn or thread for the production of the fabric is placed in any convenient
situation above the machine, from whence the thread passes down through the
eye of a guide or thread carrier i, i, to the needles. This thread carrier is
made to travel to and fro over the series or horizontal range of needles e, by
means of a lateral cam at the end of the cylinder. The guide i is attached
to a bar 7, which bar slides horizontally in slots in two standards m, m, fixed
to the front top rail of the frame a, as shewn in Fig. 1. The end of the

page_text: bar is connected by a joint to a vertical lever n, vibrating upon a fulcrum
pin o, set in the face of the framework, and the lower end or shorter arm
of this lever carries a stud p, which is kept bearing against the face of the
rotary cam by a helical spring q. From the front ends of the brackets
b, b, a lever frame is suspended by joints, which lever frame carries a
bar 8, and to this bar is attached a series of points t, t, set into leads (see
Fig. 1); these points stand between the needles, and are for the purpose of
forming the loops instead of the sinkers of an ordinary stocking frame. At the
back part of this lever frame a tail lever u is affixed, which is acted upon,
that is raised, at certain periods by the cam v, set in a rotary shaft w, for the
purpose of depressing the points. Also to the front ends of the brackets b, b,
two other levers are attached by joints, which may carry a presser bar æ, and
at the back of this bar there is a tail lever y, acted upon by a cam z, set in
the rotary shaft w, which raises the presser bar at certain periods. To the
under parts of the brackets b, b, a vertical bar j is affixed, the top edge of
which is cut into notches as a comb; it is called the stump bar, and between
these notches the needles slide to and fro. In front of this bar, below the
needles, a thin plate, called the freeing bar, is attached, leaving a space between
the two for the work to pass down to the work beam below, as seen in the
section, Fig. 4. It will be perceived that the Drawings, Figs. 2, 3, and 4,
represent a double machine, that is, a frame containing two sets of working
parts designed to produce two fabrics at one time; the one set of working
parts being situate in front, as shewn in Fig. 1, the other, perfectly corre-
sponding in all its features, being situate behind at the opposite or back
of the frame. But as the forms and arrangements of the mechanical
parts of each set are the same, it will be sufficient if I describe the
operations of one set of the machinery only. In order to actuate this
machine rotary motion is to be given to the driving shaft A, which may be
by a handle or pulley and band from a steam engine or other first mover;
when a pinion fixed upon that shaft, taking into a toothed wheel upon the
shaft of the barrel g, will give rotary motion to the barrel and its cams h, h, h,
and the same pinion, also taking into another toothed wheel on the shaft w,
communicates rotary motion to that shaft and its cams vand, and hence
actuates all the working parts of the machine. Let it now be supposed that
the machinery, as described and shewn in the Drawings, is ready for work, as
at Figs. 1 and 2; the thread or yarn from the bobbin above passing down
through the guide i. The rotation of the driving shaft A may be considered,
in the first place, to have turned the shaft w, so that its cam v shall be
passing under the tail u of the lever frame r, and thereby have raised the

page_text: bar s, and have brought the points t up between the needles, the lower edge
of the presser bar a at this time bearing upon the stems of the needles.
The lateral cam k, on the end of the cylinder g, now begins to act against
the stud p, and to produce such vibratory movement of the lever u as to
cause the sliding bar to conduct the guide i across the machine, over the
range of needles e, and thereby to lay the thread across the machine upon the
tops of the needles. Whilst the guide i, with the thread, is thus passing,
the step cams h, h, h, fixed upon the periphery of the cylinder g, successively
come into operation against the lower ends or tails of the several jack levers d,
causing the jack levers one after another to draw back the several needles e,
by which movement of the needles the thread is brought under their beards,
and as the needles recede further the extended thread is drawn in loops round
the front parts of the points t, t, t. These loops, thus formed on the points t, t, t,
are to constitate a row of stitches or loops of the fabric about to be produced,
but as it must be understood that a previous row of stitches have been laid
round the stems of the needles (as in the ordinary mode of setting on), the
beards of the needles in passing, under the presser bar, are depressed, so as to
allow the previously formed stitches to slide over the beards to the ends of
the needles, and the loops last formed under the beards to be drawn through
the stitches, which is done by a greater elevation of the cam h, as it revolves,
drawing further back all the jack levers and needles collectively. By this
time tho cam v (see Fig. 4) will have so far passed onward as to allow the
tail and lever frame r to descend, and bring down the point bars and
points t, by which the loops of thread will have slipped off the ends of the
points, and by the ultimate receding of the jacks be brought on to the stumps
on the top edge of the bar j. The presser bar a is now raised by the rotary
cam passing under the tail y, and the cams h on the rotary cylinder g
having advanced beyond the tails of the jack levers d, the springs f cause
the jacks to project all the needles forward together, ready to commence
another course. In narrowing the work for shaping the stocking or other
article, the stitch must be lifted from the outside needles on to the next, which
may be done by any of the means at present known and commonly practised.
The needles thus put out of use may then be removed from the jack lever, if
required; and in order to do this, instead of attaching the needle leads to the
jack levers by a permanent rivet, I connect them in the way shewn in the
auxiliary Figs. 5, 6, and 7. Fig. 5 represents the upper part of a jack with
the hole or eye for the connecting pin to pass through; a is a piece affixed to
the side of the jack, having a countersunk edge; Fig. 6 represents the
detached needle and its lead, with the small stud fixed in it which is to pass

page_text: CHAS SNEATH. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-first day of
August, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Charles Sneath came
before our Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Speci-
fication aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-third day of August, in the year above written.