Improvements in or relating to Circular Knitting Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Apr., 1898
Camplada Onanifention Last SOLL 1
4200
OCUL CL
1000
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Circular Knitting Machines.
I, GEORGE SOWTER, of 88, Robin Hood's Chase, in the City of Nottingham,
Hosiery Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
This invention relates to circular knitting machines, and more especially to
machines of the Sowter type; it has for its object to produce striped hosiery,
and also to work one or more splicing threads into any part of hose, or half
hose.
For the purposes of my invention, instead of providing the levers with pegs
for lifting the pawls or clawkers out of the racking wheels or crown ratchet
wheels beneath the cylinder bed plate, for widening or narrowing, I arrange a
case, plate, or cap, called a "bluff" or "blufter," over a portion of each of the
racking wheels, and pivot it concentrically with the racking wheel. I operate
said bluff or blufter from the back of the machine, by means of a lever and
link connection actuated by studs upon the pattern chain. The blufters are
placed beneath the before mentioned clawkers, and so prevent them acting upon
the racking wheels.
I further arrange, upon the ordinary guide bracket, any suitable number of
thread guide levers to guide yarns or threads of various colours, the number of
such yarns, and consequently that of the thread guide levers, depending upon the.
number of colours to be introduced, as circular stripes, in the tubular portions
of hosiery. The outer ends of each of the thread guide levers rest upon cams
having two rises or moves, and these cams are fast on a spindle which carries a
star wheel furnished with pegs equal in number to the rises in all the cams.
Each cam, as a rise thereon comes against the end of its thread guide lever,
forces the guide end of said lever into the needles. The pegs of the star-wheel
are actuated by a cam-are, called a striping cam, provided with two faces, and
carried by a rod sliding in a guide in the cylinder bed plate. This rod is attached
to a lever called the cam-arc operating lever arranged below the cylinder bed plate.
The two-face cam-are also acts upon a lever carried on the guide bracket, and this
lever moves a sliding plate having a hook at one end, each time it comes into
contact with the cam-arc, and the sliding plate then holds down the thread, but
is afterwards returned to its former position by a spring.
The nose of the cam operating lever takes into notches on a disc or wheel
having a number of lugs or projections arranged, concentrically with the notches,
at one side. The said notched disc moves simultaneously with a ratchet wheel,
both being loose upon the back or shogging cam shaft. Upon the ordinary
racking lever, operated by the cams on the pulley or driving shaft, is arranged
an additional pawl which takes into the ratchet wheel above mentioned. There
is also provided a bluffing" cam and link to lift such additional pawl out of
engagement with the ratchet wheel.

page_text: When it is desired to do splicing, instead of striping, the striping thread
guide mechanism is replaced by a splicing device, and the cam-arc is removed
from the machine. The splicing mechanism advantageously consists of a lever.
one end of which is adapted to carry the splicing thread guide, and the other
to be acted upon by pegs, of which there are two, at one end of a rotary spindle
having a star wheel, consisting of four equidistant pegs, at its other end. A
cam upon the cam shaft operated from the pattern chain, by means of levers,
actuates a rocking shaft supported beneath the cylinder bed plate, and which, by
means of suitable connections, raises and lowers vertical sliding rods passing
through the cylinder bed plate. The said sliding rods are caused to rise at every
half revolution of the cam shaft and move the star wheel round as it passes,
so causing one of the two pegs, on the rotary spindle, to actuate the splicing
thread guide, one rod throwing the splicer into the needles and the other throwing
it out. During the reciprocatory motion for fashioning, the star wheel does not
come into contact with the vertical rods. A spring throws the splicer out of
action when not in contact with one of the pegs.
A constant tension device is arranged upon the splicing mechanism.
Dated this 12th day of April 1898.
ERNEST DE PASS,
Chartered Patent Agent,
78, Fleet Street, London, and
5A, Market Street, Nottingham, Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: The improved splicing mechanism has its yarn guide levers provided with
cam surfaces on which act rotary pegs, operated as hereinafter described. The
action of the pegs serves to depress the operative ends of the yarn guides into
proximity to the needles. This splicing mechanism may be used in substitution
of the striping attachment, and carries another peg or star-wheel which drives
the pegs above mentioned, and is, itself, rotated by rising-and-falling rods instead
of by the cam are used with the striping attachment.
In order that the invention may be clearly understood, I will describe the same
fully by aid of the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1 represents, in elevation, part of a circular knitting machine with my
improved striping attachment applied thereto.
Fig. 2 is a plan of the said attachment.
Fig. 3 is a section on the line x, x, of Fig. 2, and
Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line y, y, of Figs. 2 and 3.
Fig. 5 is an elevation, and Fig. 6 a plan, of the cam are to double the scale
of the previous figures.
Fig. 7 is an elevation shewing the mechanism for operating the cam arc,
the latter being shewn in its raised position.
Fig. 8 is a section on the line z, z, of Fig. 7.
Fig. 9 is a detail view hereinafter referred to.
Fig. 10 is a side elevation and Fig. 11 a plan shewing the improved means for
operating the fashioning mechanism.
Fig. 12 is a front view of the splicing mechanism.
Fig. 13 is a plan of the knitting machine, to a smaller scale, shewing the
mechanism for operating the splicer, and
Fig. 14 is a side view of the cam for operating the splicing mechanism.
Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 to 9, shewing the striping attachment.
a are the yarn guides, the separator plates, and the cam arc which operates
these parts through the mechanism hereinafter described.
The yarn guides (the number of which corresponds to the number of coloured
yarns to be used) are pivoted at a and are operated by cam discs 2 having cams
or rises, and mounted on the shaft of a peg or star-wheel a carrying, in this
case, 16 radial arms or pegs as that strike the side of the cam arc e when the
same is raised, and thus cause the cam discs a² to rotate. In the present instance,
there are four cams or rises a³ on each disc at equal distances apart.
The separator plates b have projections provided with hooks or noses 62
round which the yarn can pass, and whereby it is held in position relatively to
the needles. The said plates are connected by intermediate pieces 63, and are
worked to and fro by a crescent lever which rides up over the top edge of the
cam c when the latter is raised, and is thus moved in the direction of the arrow,"
Fig. 1, and thrusts the plates inward into the latch ring 5, and above the
needles 66. A spring serves to retract the said plates after each operation of
the lever.
All the parts above mentioned, except the cam arc c, revolve with the cam
cylinder, and are carried by supports d', d², secured to a bracket on the
said cylinder.
The supports d', can be turned, together with the guide levers and their
connected parts, upon the hinge, so that the needles and sinkers can be got
at without detaching the striping mechanism from the cam ring.
The arrangement illustrated is suitable for producing tubular work having four
differently coloured circular stripes following each other regularly, and the action
is as follows: When the cam are c is raised to change the stripe, the lowest
peg and the crescent lever strike it, passing over it in the direction of the
arrow, Fig. 6. When the lever reaches the top of the cam arc, the lateral
swelling c will move the peg wheel at about of a revolution. This wheel
will then remain stationary till the point c² is reached, when it will make another

page_text: 132 of a revolution. This pause in the action of the peg-wheel causes the cams
or rises a³ to keep down the yarn guide last in use, and also that just coming into
use, until the yarn carried by the latter is properly worked into the fabric.
During the said pause, the guides will pass 3 or 4, or it may be more, needles,
according to the arrangement of the parts. By these means, I ensure the yarn
coming into the proper position to be acted on by the needles, and owing to the
guides being positively held down as described, I obviate any risk of their
shaking and producing holes in the fabric.
The ordinary sinkers hold the yarn under the hook of the needles, and .a
perfect stitch is made without requiring any weights to be put on the fabric.
The separator plates are retracted by the spring instantly the lever b+ leaves
the cam arc.
68 are cops or bobbins from which the differently coloured yarns are fed to
their respective guides. These cops or bobbins are carried by the cam cylinder
and travel round therewith. For this purpose, they are arranged preferably in
a vertical position on a curved piece or bar 69 secured to a cranked or stepped
bracket fixed to the cam cylinder. The yarns are drawn through suitable
carriers and tension devices supported by a vertical rod 612 secured to one of
the steps of the bracket 610. By this arrangement the regulation of the tension
is rendered easier than would be the case if the cops or bobbins were not vertical,
or did not travel with the cam cylinder.
Those yarns which are not being knit in, and the guides of which are in the
raised position, are simply drawn out in longitudinal loops down the inside of
the fabric. They are trimmed off when the fabric is finislied.
A convenient arrangement for raising and lowering the cam arc is as follows:
The cam arc is carried by a vertical rod or stem c³ passing through the cylinder
bed plate of the machine, and having a pin and slot connection with a bell-
crank lever e, Fig. 8, pivoted at e¹ and acted on by a spring e. Suitable cams or
projections f, on the side of a disc f¹, act on an inclined portion 2 on the lower
end of this lever e and cause it to rock, thus raising the cam are c
The cams are rotated by a ratchet wheel g, this latter being fed forward,
tooth by tooth, by a clawker h on a lever actuated by a cam i on the main
shaft
In order to ensure these parts operating at the proper times, means are pro-
vided for keeping the clawker h out of action when the cam is to be kept in
its lowest position. These means comprise a disc k mounted beside the ratchet g
and having a projection k¹, see Fig. 9, which can be brought under the clawker
and raise it out of engagement with the said ratchet, the clawker being wide
enough to overlap the said disc. The slight reciprocating rotary movement the
disc requires to effect such disengagement, is obtained from a lever 1, one end
of which is acted on by the pattern chain, and the other is acted on by a
retracting spring 12 connected with the disc by a bent rod adjustably connected
as at 4, with the lever. When the spring 72 raises its end of the lever, the
projection on the disc lifts the clawker out of action. This is at the time the
plain part of the chain is under the other end of the lever, but when a rise
or projection on the pattern chain comes under the end of the lever, as in
Fig. 8, the end thereof, on which the spring acts, is depressed, and the pro-
jection on the disc is moved slightly to the right, allowing the clawker h
to feed the wheel y and with it the cams f, thus bringing the cam are e into
operation and changing the stripe.
The distance between the rises (5 on the pattern chain thus regulates the number
of courses which are worked, and consequently the width of the stripes.
The disc fis, notched around its periphery, and is acted on by a spring m
which serves to put a certain amount of friction on it.
The cam are is preferably raised when the yarn guides have to make about
of a revolution of the cam ring to reach it, and descends when they have again
arrived at the same position.

page_text: Referring now to Figs. 10 and 11, n, n¹, and o, o¹, are the ordinary racking
wheels of the fashioning mechanism, whilst n², n³, and o², o³, are pivoted clawkers
which are actuated by an arm n* in the ordinary manner.
The pattern chain 1 has two sets of projections 15 by means of which the
fashioning is regulated, one set corresponding to the clawkers on the left, and
the other set to those on the right.
My improved means for enabling this pattern chain to control the clawkers
comprise two pairs of sector plates n, no, o, o, termed "bluffs" or "blufters,"
mounted on the same shafts as the racking wheels, and so arranged that they can
be forced under the clawkers and serve to raise them out of engagement with
the racking wheels in which position the clawkers work idly, resting on said
blufters.
The blufters are worked by a pair of rods 2, 7', connected to them by pins p*
and coupled to a pair of bell-crank levers 7 which are arranged as shewn,
so that either of them can be actuated by the projections on the chain, thus
causing the right hand, or the left hand, blufters, as the case may be, to come
under their respective clawkers.
When it is desired to do splicing instead of striping, the splicing mechanism
shewn in Figs. 12, 13, and 14 is, as before referred to, substituted for the striping
attachment. To this end, the cam arc c is removed from the machine by un-
screwing it from its stem, the striping mechanism is also removed from the
varn guide bracket, and the splicer is then attached to the said bracket, as shewn
in Fig. 12.
a is one of the splicing yarn guides of which there may be two or more.
It is pivoted at a on a bracket a which also carries the ordinary yarn guide a³.
The outer end of this lever a* is hollowed out into a cam surface at aº. so as to
he acted upon by pegs of which there are two upon the peg disc 1 at the upper
end of a rotary spindle r² supported by a bracket r. At its lower end, this spindle
carries another peg or star-wheel having four equidistant arms or pegs 4.
s, s, are the rising and falling rods which operate this second star wheel.
They are arranged vertically and are caused to rise and engage the pegs,
as in Fig. 12, twice per revolution of the cam shaft, thus moving the star wheel r³
round as it passes, and causing one of the upper pegs r to act on the cam portion a
of the guide a, so throwing the latter down into the needles.
When the lower star wheel 3 reaches the next rods, the aforesaid upper peg
is moved a quarter turn and releases the guide a*, which immediately leaves the
needles, being moved in the direction of the arrow by means of a spring ³.
The parts are so arranged that during the reciprocating motion of the cam ring
for fashioning, the lower star wheel ³ does not come into contact with the
vertical rods which are then lowered to the position indicated by the dotted line
ats, Fig. 12.
S
Any suitable constant tension device may be arranged upon the splicing
mechanism to ensure a proper tension of the splicing yarn.
The vertical rods s, see Fig. 13, pass through the cylinder bed plate and may
be raised and lowered by arins s¹ with which they are connected by pins and
slots. These arms are mounted on a rocking shaft s2 supported beneath the cylinder
bed plate. This rocking shaft is actuated to raise and lower the rods the latter
being raised by an elbow lever pivoted to a bracket 4 and having a pin, or a
truck which engages a cam 6 on the shaft . The downward movement of
these rods is obtained by means of a spring and lever having a slot through
which passes the pin connecting one of the rods with the corresponding arm s¹.
This improved splicing mechanism enables splicing yarns or threads to be
introduced into the fabric automatically during the working of the machine.
and enables the splicing of different portions of hose, or half hose. to be produced
during the manufacture without requiring any special manipulation of the
machine.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim, is:
1. For use on circular knitting machines, the improved striping attachment,
constructed and operating substantially as described with reference to Figs. 1 to 9
of the annexed drawings.
2. The means for raising and lowering the cam are of the striping attachment
above claimed, substantially as described and shewn.
3. In a circular knitting machine, the means for enabling the fashioning
mechanism to be controlled by the pattern chain, substantially, substantially as
described with reference to Figs. 10 and 11 of the annexed drawings.
4. For use on a circular knitting machine, the improved splicing mechanism,
constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described with reference to
Figs. 12, 13 and 14 of the annexed drawings.
5. In a circular knitting machine having a striping, or a splicing, attachment,
as described, arranging the cops or bobbins (68) so that they travel round with the
cam cylinder, preferably in a vertical position, substantially as and for the
purpose set forth.
6. A circular knitting machine provided with the above claimed striping
attachment, or with the above claimed fashioning mechanism, or with the above
claimed splicing mechanism, or with the said striping attachment and the said
splicing mechanism in combination with the fashioning mechanism, substantially
as described and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 11th day of January 1899.
ERNEST DE PASS,
Chartered Patent Agent,
78, Fleet Street, London, and
.5A, Market Street, Nottingham, Agent for the Applicant.