Improved Knitted Fabric, and Improvements in Knitting Machines for Producing same.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 21st July, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 21st Apr., 1893-Accepted, 10th June 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Knitted Fabric, and Improvements in Knitting Machines
for Producing same.
WILLIAM INGRAM JAMES of Green End House Stafford in the County of
Stafford Engineer, WILLIAM TERTIUS ROWLETT of 34 Newarke Street Leicester
Yarn Merchant and SAMUEL CLARKE of 25 Kent Street Leicester Machinist and
Traveller do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our improved fabric consists of knitted web formed of two or more yarns which
are fed to the needles of the knitting machine in such manner that either of them
may be made to appear on the face side of the fabric at will.
The yarns may be of the same or different qualities or colours and by means of
suitable mechanism we can cause any one of the yarns used to appear on the face
of the fabric at will and consequently striped web be produced.
In order to produce the fabric above described we construct a knitting machine
with two or more yarn guides.
These yarn guides are so constructed that they stand in different positions
relatively to the hooks of the needles at the point where the hooks take hold of the
yarns.
In machines having the needles standing vertically that yarn which is fed from
the highest point and on which there is the greatest amount of tension will appear
on the face of the fabric.
In machines having the needles horizontal or partly inclined that yarn which is
fed towards the hook end of the needle and on which there is the greatest amount
of tension will appear on the face of the fabric.
We also construct the yarn guides so that they are capable of being varied in
position alternately in front of the needle hooks so causing the yarns to appear
alternately on the face side of the fabric and thereby producing stripes. This
movement may be communicated to the moveable yarn guides either by hand or by
automatically acting mechanism as for instance by means of a star wheel, actuated
by catches, with suitable connections attached to some moving part of the knitting
machine, or other suitable means.
The automatic mechanism may be made to operate at fixed or variable intervals
by a measuring device actuated by the knitting machine, or by other suitable
means.
We provide means to vary the tension on the several yarns in regard to which
yarn is desired to appear on the face of the web.
Our invention is applicable to all kinds of circular knitting machines whether
with fixed or revolving needle beds as also those capable of a circular reversible
motion as well as machines which revolve continuously in one direction, and also to
flat knitting machines.
Dated this 20th day of July 1892
W. INGRAM JAMES.
W. T. ROWLETT.
SAMUEL CLARKE.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Knitted Fabric, and Improvements in Knitting Machines
for Producing same.
We WILLIAM INGRAM JAMES of Green End House, Stafford, in the County
of Stafford, Engineer, WILLIAM TERTIUS ROWLETT of 34 Newarke Street
Leicester, Yarn Merchant and SAMUEL CLARKE of 25 Kent Street Leicester
Machinist and Traveller, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
Our improved plaited fabric consists of knitted web formed of two or more yarns
which are fed to the needles of the knitting machine in such manner that either of
them may be made to appear on the face side of the fabric at will.
The yarns may be of the same or different qualities or colours and by means of
suitable mechanism we can cause any one of the yarns used to appear on the face of
the fabric at will and consequently striped web be produced.
In order to produce the plaited fabric above described we construct a knitting
machine with two or more yarn guides.
These yarn guides are so constructed that they stand in different positions
relatively to the hooks of the needles at the point where the hooks take hold of the
yarns.
t
In machines having the needles standing vertically that yarn which is fed from
the highest point and on which there is the greatest amount of tension will appear
on the face of the fabric.
In machines having the needles horizontal or partly inclined that yarn which is
fed towards the hook end of the needle and on which there is the greatest amount
of tension will appear on the face of the plaited fabric.
We also construct the yarn guides so that they are capable of being varied in
position alternately in front of the needle hooks so causing the yarns to appear
alternately on the face side of the plaited fabric and thereby producing stripes.
This movement may be communicated to the moveable yarn guides either by
hand or by automatically acting mechanism as for instance by means of a star
wheel, actuated by catches, with suitable connections attached to some moving part
of the knitting machine, or other suitable means.
The automatic mechanism may be made to operate at fixed or variable intervals
by a measuring device actuated by the knitting machine, or by other suitable
means.
We provide means to vary the tension on the several yarns in regard to which
yarn is desired to appear on the face of the web.
Our invention is applicable to all kinds of circular knitting machines whether
with fixed or revolving needle beds as also those capable of a circular reversible
motion as well as machines which revolve continuously in one direction and also to
flat knitting machines.
and
Our invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which
Figs. 1. 2. 3 and 4 are views shewing a portion of a circular knitting machine
Figs. 5. 6 and 7. are views shewing a portion of a flat knitting machine with our
invention applied.
A. Figs. 1. 2 and 3 is the body, B the needle cylinder, C the gear ring and D a
needle of a circular knitting machine. Upon the body A we provide a bracket a
on which is mounted on a pin a' a ratchet wheel a and a cam or stepped disc a
The ratchet wheel a² and the cam a³ being free to revolve together on the pin a'.
For the purpose of revolving the wheel a² and the cam a³ we provide a spring
piston and a pawl a', a second pawl a preventing the wheel a² and, the cam a³
from returning on the back stroke of the pawl a³. To actuate the pawl as we mount

page_text: upon the gear ring C an arm furnished at its outer end with an adjustable striker
which is mounted on a pivot 6 in the arm band provided with a set screw 6 by
which it can be set at any desired inclination. This striker when carried round
by the movement of the machine, passes over and depresses the spring piston a' and
the pawl a³ and so moves forward, one or more teeth according as the striker b' is
set the ratchet wheel a². Carried in the bracket a upon a pivot a is a lever c
having its end c² formed to engage with a star wheel and operated by the cam a³,
through the intervention of a sliding rod e', a spring serving to keep the parts in
contact. The cam a is furnished with projections a' which at intervals determined
by the revolution of the ratchet wheel a raise the rod e and so place the end c² of
the lever e' in the path of the star wheel c. The star wheel c³ is mounted on the
outer end of a short horizontal shaft co carried in bearings formed in the lower end
of a post which is mounted upon the gear ring C so as to be carried round by the
same when the machine is in notion. "The shaft c is also provided with a cam c
and a stop catch wheel e, the former for actuating the yarn guides d d', through
the rod a², and the latter for maintaining the can e in position for which purpose
the wheel e is provided with a catch spring cl which enters notches c" formed in the
edge of the wheel c. The rod is free to slide vertically in bearings d³ formed in
the post c and is kept down in contact with the cam 8 by means of a spring d and
collar d. Near its upper end the rod is furnished with teeth which engage a
pinion d carried on a pin 8 in the upper end of the post c'. This pinion is
furnished with two cams d' d adapted to act on the two tails d d of the before
mentioned yarn guides d d'.
These yarn guides & d' are mounted on a pin d in the upper end of the post c
and their tails are kept in contact with the cams d d by springs d¹ dis
The shape of the cams do is such that with each movement of the star wheel
and cam cone of the yarn guides d d is moved forwards towards the needles D and
the other backwards away from the needles, each position being alternately taken.
by each yarn guide.
So that the tension may be increased on that yarn (e in the drawing) which is being
held forward towards the hooks of the needles, and which yarn e will appear on the
face of the work, a fixed yarn eye el is provided upon the post c' and other eyes e e³
are provided upon the yarn guide d. The yarn e passes in a zig zag direction
through these eyes e' e²e and thus an extra tension is put upon it.
When the yarn
guide d is in its backward position the eyes e¹ e² e come into line and the yarn then
passes easily through. The same action takes place in regard to the guide d', the
yarn e being caused to pass through the eyes e e e³.
The parts operate in the following manner.
The yarns e et one bobbin of which is carried round by the machine, are brought
down from above through the eyes e¹ e² e³ and e³ es e respectively and the guides & d'
to the needles D. The machine being set in motion the knitting proceeds, the
yarn e from the guide d nearer the needles D appearing on the face of the work.
With each revolution of the machine the striker 6. depresses the spring piston a
and pawl a so rotating the ratchet wheel a, a tooth or more at a time, and
advancing the cam a³ until one of its projections a' acts upon the rod c and raises
the lever c. The star wheel in passing strikes upon the end c² of the lever c¹ and
gives a quarter turn to the cam e thus through the rod d² and connections moving
backward the guide d and advancing the guide d' the yarn et from which latter will
then appear on the face of the work while the yarn e from the guide d takes its
place at the back. The next revolution of the machine advances the projection a'
from under the rod c so that the lever c falls and the star wheel c remains
inoperative until the lever c' is again raised.
Figs. 5. 6 and 7 shew a method of applying our invention to a flat knitting
machine E is the body or frame of the machine, F F' the sliding bars which carry
the cam boxes G G' to and fro by means of the curved arms HH' and I I' are
the needle beds.
Upon some convenient moving part of the machine, as the arm H we mount a

page_text: g
6
striker which is capable of being set in a higher or lower position by means of a
thumb screw *. At or near one end of the sliding movement or stroke of the
machine this striker strikes upon a piston" depressing it and a pawl so as to
rotate, one or more teeth, according as the striker is set higher or lower, a ratchet
wheel which is mounted on a shaft f4 carried across the machine in bearings f
formed in the machine frame E. The piston and pawl ƒ are carried in a fixed
part of the machine frame and the piston is returned by means of a spring.
A pawl prevents back movement of the ratchet wheel 3. Upon the same
shaft which carries the ratchet wheel 3 are mounted two similar discs g g¹ which
are furnished with projections g² g³. These projections act, at intervals
determined by the rotation of the ratchet wheel f³ upon two other projections
formed upon two levers gg which are mounted on pivots in fixed parts of the
machine. The projections 92 g when in action raise the ends 10 g of the
levers so as to bring them into the paths of two arms which are carried on
pins and are provided with springs *. The pins are fast in sliding
blocks which are free to slide to and fro the length of the machine upon
rails and these blocks carry the yarn guides. Extensions 10 of
the arms carry pawls 1213 upon pivots the pawls acting on the teeth of
ratchet wheels attached to cams 181 mounted so as to be free to revolve
upon the pins 2 h³. Thus movement of the arms caused by their impact upon
the ends go of the levers g g imparts movement to the cams 718 71°. The
spring returns the arm on the return stroke of the machine."
Carried by the cam boxes G Gare pieces i
arms and 18.
which are formed each with two
An arm such as this is ordinarily arranged to strike alternately, during the
operation of the machine, on opposite sides of a sliding block which takes the place
of the block and like it carries a yarn guide which is thus caused to move to
and fro in its proper position relatively to the needles.
Instead of this arrangement and for the purpose of causing either one of the
yarn guides h³ ³° to take the lead as desired in order to bring its yarn on the face
of the work we cause the arms and to strike alternately on opposite sides
of the cams and as these cams are of a somewhat oval shape it follows that
when one cam say ¹ has its long axis horizontal the amount of lost motion
between the arms at each end of the machine stroke will be less than between
the arms where the short axis of the cam " is horizontal consequently the
block and its yarn guide will commence to move in advance of the block A³.
and its yarn guide and the yarn carried by the guide will therefore appear.
on the face of the work.
So that the tension on the yarn may be increased at the same time that a yarn
guide is made to assume the lead a rod is provided arranged to slide vertically in
a guide . The lower end of this rod is extended as at k² to bear upon the
can which whenever it moves, gives an upward or downward movement to the.
rod k. The rod is kept in contact with the cam by means of a spring and
collar. The upper end of the rod has two guide eyes 5k formed in it and
on either side of these two other eyes and k³ 10 are provided being carried on
the yarn take up and tension bracket . The yarns pass through these
eyes and when they are all three in line as with the yarn 12 no resistance is
offered to the passage of the yarn but when the eyes are not in line as with the
yarn the latter is compelled to take a zig zag course and becomes subject to
tension.
The machine operates as follows-
At each complete course the strikerf presses down the piston fl and rotates the
ratchet wheels a tooth or more as desired until the projections y² 3 come into
action and raise the edges gy" of the levers gy into the paths of the arms
which strike thereon and move around the cams 18 and a quarter of a circle so
that their long and short axes respectively change their positions, that cam which
had its long axis horizontal turning until its short axis becomes horizontal and the

page_text: other cam which had its short axis horizontal turning until its long axis becomes
horizontal thus the block and yarn guide.which previously had the least amount of
lost motion and consequently led causing its yarn to appear on the face of the work
now gets the most lost motion and lags behind while the yarn guide which
previously lagged now assumes the lead and its yarn appears on the face of the
work.
After the change is made the next impact of the striker upon the piston 1
revolves the projections g³ ³ from under the levers 9 g which then fall out of the
paths of the arms hand the cams 18 maintain their new positions until the
ratchet wheels has again revolved.
In each of the above described machines when using different coloured yarns for
the purpose of producing stripes the width of each stripe will depend upon the
frequency with which the positions of the yarn guides are changed. These changes
may be governed by using ratchet wheels with more or fewer teeth, by causing the
pawl to take two or more teeth instead of one or by different arrangements of the
projections upon the cams. If however the measuring device known as the pattern
chain be adopted and a wheel adapted to carry the same he used in place of the
wheels having projections, adjustable lugs may be carried upon the pattern chain
which will produce any desired sequence of changes in the colours or width of the
stripes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
1. A plaited knitted fabric composed of two or more different coloured yarns
knitted simultaneously in which the different yarns are made to appear alternately
on the surface of the fabric so as to produce stripes, substantially as described.
2. In a knitting machine the several yarn guides capable of taking different
positions with relation to the knitting needles for the purpose of producing striped
plaited fabric, substantially as described.
3. In a knitting machine the movable yarn guides and varying yarn tension for
the purpose of producing striped plaited fabric, substantially as described.
4. In a knitting machine the several yarn guiries capable of taking different
positions with relation to the knitting needles, controlled by a measuring device for
the purpose of producing striped plaited fabric substantially as described.
5. In a knitting machine the moveable yarn guides and varying yarn tension
controlled by a measuring device for the purpose of producing striped plaited
fabric, substantially as described.
6. The application to knitting machines of the mechanism described and illus-
trated for the purposes specified.
Dated this 20th day of April 1893.
W. INGRAM JAMES.
WILLIAM TERTIUS ROWLETT.
S. CLARKE.