Improvements in Knitting Machines suitable for Producing Surgical Elastic Work.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 28th May, 1889
Complete Specification Left, 17th Feb., 1890-Accepted, 22nd Mar., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Knitting Machines suitable for Producing
Surgical Elastic Work.
I, ARTHUR FREDERICK LONGDON, Manufacturer, of Agard Street, Derby, in the
County of Derby, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has for its object improvements in knitting machines and applies
especially to machines having two sets of needles which cross each other and move in
planes at right angles. I arrange such machines so that an india rubber or elastic
cord may be laid into the work at every course.
The thread carrier is mounted upon a slide and receives motion to and fro by means
of a latch from the traversing cams which actuate the needles.
When the thread carrier reaches the end of its course it is set free by the
operation of a stationary incline lifting the latch; the thread carrier then remains
stationary whilst the cam completes its movement.
The carrier for the elastic cord is mounted on a slide which itself is carried by the
thread carrier slide and at each traverse before the thread carrier is released by the
latch the rubber carrier is stopped by coming against a suitably adjusted abutment.
By this device the eye which carries the elastic cord is caused always to be in
advance of the thread eye in whichever direction the eyes are travelling.
The elastic cord is laid in to the fabric between the needles and the needles then
advance over it to take the thread from the thread carrier.
Dated this 27th day of May 1889
ARTHUR FREDERICK LONGDON.
Improvements in Knitting Machines suitable for Producing
Surgical Elastic Work.
I, Arthur FreDERICK LONGDON, Manufacturer, of Agard Street, Derby, in the
County of Derby, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This invention has for its object improvements in knitting machines and applies
especially to machines having two sets of needles which cross each other and move
in planes at right angles. I arrange such machines so that an india rubber or elastic
cord may be laid into the work at every course.
The thread carrier is mounted upon a slide and receives motion to and fro by
means of a latch from the traversing cams which actuate the needles.
When the thread carrier reaches the end of its course it is set free by the operation
of a stationary incline lifting the latch; the thread carrier then remains stationary
whilst the cam completes its movement.
The carrier for the elastic cord is mounted on, a slide which itself is carried by
the thread carrier slide and at each traverse before the thread carrier is released
by the latch the rubber carrier is stopped by coming against a suitably adjusted
abutment. By this device the eye which carries the elastic cord is caused always to
be in advance of the thread eye in whichever direction the eyes are travelling.
The elastic cord is laid in to the fabric between the needles and the needles then
advance over it to take the thread from the thread carrier.

page_text: In order that my said invention may be fully understood and readily carried into
effect I will proceed to describe the drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure is a plan of a portion of the machine. Figure 2 is a transverse vertical
section of the same. aa are the needles, they are mounted so that they can move
longitudinally upon the stationary guide plates bb. Each needle has its groove in
the guide plate and is retained in it by the cover plate b¹. The needles receive their
movements from inclined grooves in the cam boxes e c. The cam boxes travel to and
fro continually from end to end of the machine; they are connected by the arms el c
with a slide carried upon stationary guides. Each needle has a projection at a
which engages with the groove in the cam box. d d are retaining bits carried by
the needle guide plates b.
The thread or arm is laid between the bits d d and over
the needles a a. The india rubber cord (which usually is covered with yarn wound
around it) is also laid without tension between the bits & but this is done when the
needles are withdrawn so that the cord drops below the needles and then when they
advance pass over it. c is a stationary guide bar along which a slide f travels. The
slide receives its movement from one of the cam boxes c by means of a latch which
thrusts against one or other of the two projections flf upon the slide. is the
thread carrier; it is fixed to the slide f and on the thread carrier there are spring
guides to regulate the tension of the thread or yarn. The thread or yarn is
marked in Figure 2. jjare guards for the latches of the needles. These guards are
fixed upon the cam boxes. is an incline which can he secured to the bar in any
desired position; there are two such inclines, one at either end of the machine. When
the latchy comes against the incline & it is lifted over the projection against
which it was hearing and the thread carrier then stops whilst the cam boxes travel
on to the end of their course. When the cam boxes commence their return journey
the thread carrier does not immediately commence to travel and the latch passes
over the first projection f which it meets and it is not till it comes against the
second projection fl that the thread carrier commences to be driven. In this way
the cam boxes maintain the requisite lead of the thread carrier. Such being the
general arrangement of the machine I combine with it the mechanism for laying
into the fabric an india rubber cord without tension and without looping it by the
needles, in the following manner: To the slide the arms // are fixed and they
carry bearings in which the rod is able to slide. The carrier for the india rubber
cord is fixed to the rod m. This carrier is made in several parts, the part n' is fixed
to the rod and at its lower end there is a blade n which rests upon a guide h² upon
the thread carrier h. The part 2 of the cord carrier is fixed to the part n', it is an
open frame and the thread carrier projects down through it. The part is fixed
to n² and it terminates in an eye through which the elastic cord is led. is this
cord. At each end of the machine and adjustable together with the incline is a
screw stop o and when the cord carrier has travelled sufficiently far the end of the
rod m comes against this stop and the cord carrier is thus brought to rest whilst the
thread carrier still moves on. When the thread carrier has passed sufficiently far
beyond the cord carrier to get into position for the next traverse it also stops whilst
the cam boxes have yet a short distance to travel before their course is run.
It will be understood that the position of working is as follows: At each traverse
of the cam boxes the elastic cord is laid between the needles when they are down; the
needles then rise, their stems passing over the cord: this brings the parts to the
positions shown in Figure 2. Then the needles descend and as they do so the yarn
is laid on in such manner as to be taken by the needles: the latches of the needles
close upon the yarn and the needles still descending they draw the yarn just laid on
through the loops of the fabric previously upon the needles whilst these loops pass
over the latches of the needles and drop off. This completes the course.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
claim is
I
In a knitting machine having two sets of needles which cross each other and move
in planes at right angles and having a thread carrier supplying yarn to these needles,
mounting upon the thread carrier another sliding carrier for the purpose of laying in
loosely an elastic cord beneath the needles and providing stops to control this cord
carrier and shift it upon the thread carrier at the end of each traverse so that when
passing, along the needles the cord carrier may always be in advance of the thread
carrier as herein described.