IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR MACHINES FOR MAKING ELASTIC LOOPED FABRIOS.”
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Belshaw, of the Town and County of the
Town of Nottingham, Elastic Web Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR
MACHINES FOR MAKING ELASTIC LOOPED FABRIOS.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Belshaw at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th September 1874.
I, ROBERT BELSHAW, of the Town and County of the Town of
Nottingham, Elastic Web Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS
APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR MACHINES FOR MAKING ELASTIC LOOPED FABRICS," to be
as follows:-
My improved apparatus consists in elongating the driving shaft of
each single-headed circular machine, and securing thereon a worm which

page_text: gears into and drives a toothed wheel which carries a pinion wheel;
these wheels form part of a series of similar wheels, on the axle of onc
of which I secure a cam, the shape of which will vary according to the
shape of the article to be made. The cam traverses a lever attached
to a rod carrying forks which guide a driving belt to and fro upon a pair
of conical drums, one of which is secured upon the driving shaft of the
circular head, and the other drum carries a friction pulley, close to
which are two or more smaller pulleys. Both drum and friction pulley
revolve together on an axle carried by a bracket which supports the
whole of the apparatus; the bracket is secured to the framing of the
circular head; the traversing lever is provided with a spring to hold it
close to the cam.
An india-rubber or other elastic cord, which lies loose in a receptacle
after being passed round the friction roller and pulleys, is led through
guides to a feeding and pressing wheel attached to the circular head.
The traversing of the band on the conical drums causes the india-rubber
or other elastic cord to be fed to the needles in the machine tighter or
slacker, according to the shape of the cam employed. The india-rubber
or other elastic cord is placed in the receptacle above named by a
winding machine which has a driving shaft provided with a grooved
pulley for each cord, which is pressed thereon by an adjustable weighted
pulley. The driving shaft carries a worm which gears into a toothed
wheel on an axle which operates a train of wheels, every other of which
receives and carries one of the receptacles above named.
·
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Belshaw in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 5th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BELSHAW, of the Town and County of the Town of Nottingham, Elastic
Web Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the

page_text: .
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto the said Robert Belshaw, Her special licence
that I, the said Robert Belshaw, my executors, administrators, -and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Belshaw, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO CIRCULAR MACHINES FOR MAKING
ELASTIC LOOPED FABRICS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Robert Belshaw, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Belshaw, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings forming a part of this Specification:—
My improved apparatus consists in elongating the driving shaft of
each single-headed circular machine, and securing thereon a worm which
gears into and drives a toothed wheel which carries a pinion wheel;
these wheels form part of a series of similar wheels, on the axle of one
of which I secure a cam, the shape of which will vary according to the
shape of the articles to be made. The cam traverses a lever attached
to a rod carrying forks which guide a driving belt to and fro upon a pair
of conical drums, one of which is secured upon the driving shaft of the
circular head, and the other drum carries a friction pulley, close to
which are two or more.smaller pulleys. Both drum and friction pulley
revolve together on an axle carried by a bracket which supports the
whole of the apparatus. The bracket is secured to the framing of the
circular head. The traversing lever is provided with a spring to hold it
close to the cam.

page_text: An india-rubber or other elastic cord which lies loose in a receptacle
after being passed round the friction roller and pulleys is led through
guides to a feeding and pressing wheel attached to the circular head.
The traversing of the band on the conical drums causes the india-rubber
or other elastic cord to be fed to the needles in the machine tighter or
slacker, according to the shape of the cam employed. The india-rubber
or other elastic cord is placed in the receptacle above named by a
winding machine, which has a driving shaft provided with a grooved
pulley for each cord, which is pressed thereon by an adjustable weighted
pulley. The driving shaft carries a worm which gears into a toothed
wheel on an axle which operates a train of wheels, every other of which
receives and carries one of the receptacles above named.

page_text: is capable of adjustment upon the rod, and guides a belt to and fro
upon a pair of conical drums B', B³, the drum B¹ being secured on the
driving shaft of the machine, and the drum B³ revolves on an axle
carried by a bracket secured to the plate A²; this drum carries three
or more stepped friction pulleys referred to hereafter. The whole of
the pulleys and drums are covered with emery cloth to give a better
hold to the belt and rubber thread wound round them. Behind the
friction pulleys are two or more smaller grooved pulleys K.
An india-rubber or other elastic cord L, either covered or uncovered,
lying loose in a receptacle M is passed over one or more guide pins
carried by the yarn rail of the machine, then over a wire secured to the
bracket supporting the smaller pulleys and round one of the friction
pulleys and the smaller pulleys, then through an eye at the end of the
said wire, and through a guide secured to the bed of the machine, from
whence it passes through the guides secured to the bracket of the
wheel 1 on the circular head; this wheel is in addition to the wheels
usually employed, and feeds the rubber to every other needle in the
machine. The wheel 2 is substituted for the usual clearing wheel, and
holds the rubber thread down below the fabric loop wheel, but above
the fabric, where it is held down by the push back 8.
The wheels 3 to 7 are of the usual construction, as follows:-3, the
loop wheel feeding three single yarns; 4, dividing wheel; 5, landing
wheel; 6, a plain presser wheel as usual. This wheel I take off when
making the welts or ends of articles, or the instep of hose and socks,"
and substitute a tuck presser wheel; portion of the circumference of
such wheel is shown at the upper edge of the wheel at Figure 2; 7 is
the knocking-over wheel, and 8, the push back.
The apparatus operates upon the india-rubber thread or other elastic
cord as follows:-As the cam F draws the belt on the conical drums
towards the head of the machine the thread or cord is fed quicker and
slack on the needles, and when the belt is moved from the head the
thread or cord is fed slower and tighter on the needles. The portion
marked F¹ on the cam operates the thread or cord while the instep is
being made, the portion F while the ankle is being made, the portion F*
while the calf is being made, the portion F' while a straight part of the

page_text: leg is being made, and the portion F while it is slightly narrowed to
the top or welt.
The cam shown answers for any size of hose, half hose, sock, legging,
knee cap, thigh piece, bandages, or similar articles; but if a special
shaped article is required to be made I employ a cam with the inclines
and runs shaped accordingly. And when I wish to make the ankle
and leg with a gradually increasing width from the heal to the largest
circumference of the calf, then straight for a short length, and then
slightly narrowed to the top or welt; I vary the shape of the cam as
shewn by the dotted lines at F2 and F³, and proceed as follows:-
Suppose I wish to make a No. 1 elastic hose without a seam and
fashioned, I employ a cam carrying wheel having fifty-seven teeth for a
course gauge hose, and change such wheel for another having fifty-eight
teeth when making a No. 2 hose, rising one tooth for each higher number
of hose required, until a sixty-eight toothed wheel is reached when making
a No. 12 hose, each tooth representing about one half inch in length of a
coarse gauge fabric; such wheel is driven by a fifteen toothed pinion
wheel D which is carried by a seventy-two toothed wheel C driven by the
worm on the driving shaft. The latter wheel C I change for one having
a greater number of teeth, according to the fineness of gauge required.
The stepped portion of the drum B³ I employ as follows:-Suppose
the thread or cord is fed from the largest circumference, as seen at
Figure 1, and the article made is of the proper shape but too large, I
then feed the thread or cord from one of the lesser circumferences to
reduce the size of the article slightly. The india-rubber or other elastic
cord is placed in the receptacle M by a winding machine shewn at
Figures 3 and 4, which has a driving shaft N provided with a grooved
pulley N for each cord L, which is pressed thereon by an adjustable
weighted pulley N° as the cord passes from the reel O. The driving
shaft carries a worm which gears into a toothed wheel on the upper end
of an axle P which carries a toothed wheel at its lower end which gears
into one of a train of wheels, every other of which receives and carries
one of the receptacles M, the thread or cord being laid therein in suc-
ceeding coils without kinks, as seen in plan at Figure 1, as the
receptacle is slowly revolved.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and the

page_text: manner of performing the same, I wish it understood that I claim the
employment of machinery and apparatus applied to a circular machine,
as above described and illustrated in the Drawings annexed, for making
elastic looped fashioned artioles without a seam.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Belshaw, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
H. W. GOUGH, C.E.,
Nottingham.
ROBERT BELSHAW. (L.S.)