Improvements in Knitting Machines of the Straight Bar Type, and in the Method of Fashioning Fabrics thereon.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Apr., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 21st Jan., 1892-Accepted, 5th Mar., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Knitting Machines of the Straight Bar Type, and
in the Method of Fashioning Fabrics thereon.
1, JOSEPH AUGUSTUS CLARINGBURN Hosiery Machinist, Liverpool Street,
Nottingham, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to enable machines to make fabrics such as ladies'
vests with widenings on the two outside or two inside selvages of one or more pieces
of work, as in making the gores in Jadies' vests. By the method herein below
explained, vests can be made and at the gores the four selvages forming the splits
can be widened and narrowed so that afterwards they only require seaming to form
a full bosomed gore.
For example, in making a lady's vest the plain part of the body is first made
up to where the gores commence then the part of the vest between the gores is
pressed off, the carrier being locked in the centre and the thread unbroken; the
work is then continued on the two outside pieces which are widened on the
inside as far as the centre of the gores and then narrowed again to the required
width, these pieces are then pressed down on the needles and the piece between
the breast pleates is put on the needles again and widened on both sides up as
far as the centre of the gores, it is then narrowed to the required width, the
outside pieces are then raised on the needles and the whole width of the vest
proceeded with in the usual manner. It will readily be seen by the above
description that splits will be made which only require seaming to complete the
gores.
In order to accomplish the above it is necessary to be able to widen on either
side of a piece of work with the screw at one end of a machine and also to have
a filling-up point on either side of each narrowing brass one at a time being used,
the one in use depending upon the direction in which the widening is being made
when narrowing both are out of action.
;
In order to carry out my invention I use three carriers, the first one of which is
used for ordinary work and is actuated in the usual manner, the second one I use
for laying the thread for the left-hand piece of the three pieces of work in making
a lady's vest, and it is stopped for the outside 'selvage by a fixed stop on the
bracket carrying the left-hand narrowing screw, while for stopping it for the inside
selvage which requires widening, it passes through a lug on the left-hand screw-box
and has a collar on the end of it which comes into contact with the lug. This
left-hand screw-box also racks in or out the left-hand narrowing points, so that the.
narrowing points and thread-carrier are always at the same needle.
The third carrier-rod is used in exactly the same manner for the right-hand piece.
of work and the filling-up points are worked in the usual manner.
Dated this 23rd day of April 1891.
JOSEPH AUGUSTUS CLARINGBURN
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Knitting Machines of the Straight Bar Type, and
in the Method of Fashioning Fabrics thereon.
JOSEPH AUGUSTUS CLARINGBURN Liverpool Street Nottingham Hosiery
Machinist 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
5 by the following statement :-
My improvements relate to straight bar knitting machines of the Cotton's type

page_text: and are for the purpose of manufacturing what is known as vests with divided
breast gores and similarly fashioned articles.
In the manufacture of a vest with divided gores the work is started at the lower
end of the vest and is made in the usual way until the part for the gores is reached.
At this point the fabric has to be divided into three pieces, the two outside
pieces being made at one time and the centre piece either before or after the side
pieces. The fashioning points used on this machine are fitted with a filling-up
point on both sides of the ordinary points, so that work may be fashioned on the
right and left sides by the same points.
In order that my invention and the method of making the vest may be understood,
I have attached hereto one sheet of drawings upon which
Fig. 1 shows in plan the thread carriers and the stops for regulating their motion,
also a portion of work during the manufacture of the side pieces of a vest.
Fig. 2 shows the work when the centre piece is being made and
Fig. 3 shows the divided gores complete before seaming while
Fig. 4 is an alternative method of making the screw box.
The lower end of the vest is made by the carrier a until the line de Figs. 1 2 & 3
is reached when a few courses are knitted with the three carriers a b and c Fig. 1
in action, the traverse of the carriers being so arranged that the work is divided into
three parts at the points f & g.
The arm n of the screw nut o is fitted with a slide a carrying two stops u & v,
and when starting the vest the carrier a is arrested by the shorter stop v.
When
the line de is reached the points are racked in until their inside point is over the
point and the slide n¹ is moved to bring the stop u opposite the carrier a, and thus
shorten its motion by a distance equal to the width of the points. The thread
carriers always deliver the thread to the outside of the fashioning points, which
at the start work with the outside left hand point on the line d. When the points
are racked in to work on the edge fkl then the point which worked on the line d
is some little distance from the same line & consequently the motion of the carrier a
must be shortened by a distance equal to the distance between the line ƒ k l and
the point which had been working on the side d. After making a few courses
on the three portions of the fabric, the centre portion is pressed off the needles,
the carrier a locked in the centre of the machine, and the side pieces proceeded
with.
For making work which is fashioned on the outside edges only the fashioning
points are fitted with one filling-up point only, which works a few needles from the
edges of the fabric, but for fashioning the work with the same points on the right
and left hand edges, or as in this case on the edges e & ghi and the edges d
and fkl, the fashioning points are fitted with two filling-up points. When working
on the edge e the inside filling-up point is in action, and when on the edge g h i the
outside point is in action, the terms inside and outside been here used in reference
to the outside edges d and e.
The carrier c for making the left hand side piece is mounted on a rod m which
passes through the arm n of the screw box o and its motion on the edge d is
limited by an adjustable fixed stop p.
The motion of the carrier c.in the other
direction that is towards the centre of the fabric is limited by a collar q on the
rod m, this collar striking the arm n as the rod moves towards the centre of the
fabric.
In the ordinary method of fashioning the fashioning points are moved inwards
and the motion of the carriers decreased or the points are moved out and the
motion of the carriers increased, the thread carriers always striking the inside of
the stop n, but when making fashionings of the description shown the points travel
towards the centre of the fabric from to k and then back again along the line k l,
and by regulating the motion of the carriers from the back or outside of the arm n
then as the points are moved in, the motion of the carrier is increased, and as the
points are moved out the motion of the carrier is decreased.
The right hand side of the fabric is made simultaneously with the left hand

page_text: side, the thread being supplied by a carrier b which is mounted on a rod m¹
and its motion arrested by stops similarly arranged to those at the left hand side.
In Fig. 3 the fashioned breast gores are shown turned over on to the body of
the fabric about the lines and gs and the same reference letters on the fabric
in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 indicated the same points.
When the outside pieces have been made to the liners Fig. 3, they are pressed
down to the bottom of the needles and the centre piece at the line fg Fig. 2 run
on to the needles. The carriers b and c are then locked out of action and the carrier a
released. The fashioning points are then racked in so that the outside points can
work on the edges gh's and f kr but this racking in of the fashioning points would
also carry in the stops for the carrier a a distance equal to the width of the points,
and to prevent this the cap n is moved to bring the shorter stop opposite the
bart and thus allow of the carrier a being brought to the edge of the fabric, the
distance between the ends of the two stops being equal to the width of the fashioning
points.
The centre piece is then made up to the same lines as the side pieces, after
which the upper part of the fabric is finished in the usual manner, and after being
removed from the machine the left hand gore is seamed together at the edges f k r
and fr, and the right hand gore at the edges g h¹s and ghs.
When the machine is making the side pieces the carrier rods strike the screw
stops n and tend to move them towards the centre of the machine while the move-
ment given to the fashioning points tend to move the screw box in the opposite
direction and if through wear or other causes there was any play between the screw
and the box it is evident that the motion of the carriers and fashioning points would
not have the necessary accuracy. To overcome this difficulty I have shown in
Fig. 4 a screw box made in two pieces A and B which are drawn together by
springs C and D. The two parts of the nut are thus drawn up to opposite sides
of the screw thread and prevent any movement of the nut upon the screw. The
two parts of the nut may be fitted with regulating screws E and F to prevent
the springs exerting undue pressure and consequently wear upon the screw or nut.
When the machine is required for making work of the ordinary description, that
is, work which is fashioned on the outside edges only, the carriers b and c can be
readily thrown out of action without loss of time, and the work made by the
carrier a.
Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The method of making on a straight bar knitting machine fashionings as
described with a single fashioning screw at each end of the machine.
2. The application of a collar or its equivalent to the thread carrier rods for
stopping their motion in the manner described as and for the purpose specified.
3. The construction of a fashioning screw box in two parts as shown and described
for the particular purpose specified in connection with a collar or its equivalent on
the carrier rod.
Dated this 20th day of January 1892.
W. H. POTTER,
Parliament Chambers, Nottingham, Agent for the Applicant.