CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU- FACTURING AND MARKING LOOPED FABRICS
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, URIAH
CLARKE, of Leicester, Dyer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixth day of November, in the ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Uriah Clarke, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Uriah Clarke, my exors, admors,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Uriah Clarke, my exors, adñiors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
'might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MANU-
FACTURING AND MARKING LOOPED FABRICS;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Uriah Clarke, shall cause a particular
'description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed; to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
'Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
'thereunto bad, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Uriah Clarke, do hereby declare that the nature of my said improvements,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described in and by

page_text: the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists,―
Firstly, in certain improvements in the framework knitting machine without
jacks, which formed (inter alia) the subject of former Letters Patent granted
to me of date the Twenty-first day of January, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-three, and have reference more particularly to the modification of
that machine described under the second head of the Specification of the said
Letters Patent.
Figures 1 and 2 of the annexed Drawings represent so much of a machine
constructed according to the said modification as is necessary to shew the
nature of the present improvements. C, C, is the swinging frame suspended
from the knuckle joints B, B, of the side standards; E is the needle bar, and
n, n, the needles; F, the sinkers; G', G2, the sleys or guide bars; G³, the
thread carrier; D is the falling bar, which is actuated by means of the spring
X, X, bent levers Y, Y, and links y, y; and d, d, are friction rollers attached
to the ends of the bar (D), which, as the bar falls, tako under an inclined
plane E' carried from centres on the side standards; K is an eccentric which
-is turned by the shaft S, and depresses the inclined plane E'; L is the prosser
bar; N is the comb or sley for bringing the work over the needle heads; and
T, a bent lever by which the comb N is actuated, which lever turns on.
bearings attached to the cheeks of the swinging frame (some peculiarities in
the construction of the comb or sley will be afterwards explained); V is a hori̟-
zontal bar which slides in guides v, v, in the cheeks of the swinging frame.
When the frame is brought forward this bar (V) lies at the bottom of the
guides v, v, and when the frame is pushed back the bar catches against an
inclined plane W, and is thereby brought under the needles and supports
them at one uniform level while the thread is being distributed among the
needles. The blades or dents of the comb N are of the peculiar double-
nibbed shape represented in Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Drawings annexed,
which Figures shew also the different changes of position which the blades or
.dents assume in respect to the needles during the working of the machine
(the red lines representing the thread or work). The comb is shewn in
Figure 3 in the act of dividing by the outer nibs of its blades at the needle
heads, in Figure 4 in the act of turning the work over, in Figure 5 in the
the act of bringing the work forward by the inner nib, or "coming over the
arch" (as it is technically termed), and in Figure 6 in the nct of taking the
work back.
The novelties in this arrangement which has been just described, and which

page_text: I claim, under my present Patent as improvements in the machine without
jacks formerly patented by me, arc, first, the employment of the spring X, X,
bent levers Y, Y, and links y, y, to work the falling bar D, as before described;
second, the supporting of the needles in front of the work at one uniform level
during the distribution of the thread, preferring for this purpose a horizontal
bar with its adjuncts as before described, which I believe to be the best means
that can be adopted for the purpose, but not confining myself to the same;
since the like general effect may be produced in various other ways, differing
only in subordinate details; and, third, the employment of a comb or sley
constructed and actuated in manner represented in the annexed Drawings,
and before described.
Secondly, my Invention consists in producing in a tubular form, and by
means of a circular working machine, the new framework knitted fabric which
formed another of the subjects of the Letters Patent formerly granted to me
as aforesaid, and of which fabric the distinguishing characteristic is, that the
loops are twisted each half way round in one direction.
Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of the circular working machine just referred
to. T is a cylindrical tin case, open at both top and bottom; C is a revolving
shaft enclosed in a tube a, a, which is attached to a horizontal arm A, A, by
which the whole machine is supported as from a bracket. D is a snail cam,
which is keyed to the lower end of the shaft C; S; S, are springs attached at
top to the sinkerse of the needles, and at bottom to the sides of the case (T).
A view of one of these sinkers with its needle is given separately in Figure 10.
B, B, are two sinker guides, which are attached to the tube a, a, and serve
also as supports to the cylindrical case T. The form of these guides is shewn
separately in Figure 8. I is a toothed ring attached to the top of the case T.
A half view of this ring is given separately in Figure 9. C is a handle by
which rotary motion is given to the vertical shaft C. F is a spur wheel which
is affixed to the shaft C' at its upper end, and takes into another, F, the
spindle of which passes through the supporting arm A, and carries a wheel F
of the same size, which drives a fourth wheel F running freely upon the tube
a, a. To the wheel F is attached the carrier G, on which is placed the
bobbin H. The action of the machine is as follows:-Upon turning the
handle the snail eam rotates and raises the needles; under the beards of
which the thread. is laid as they successively rise. On coming off the snail'
the needles fall. one by one and draw down the thread, by which means the
loop is formed. The distance they are allowed to fall below the ring I regu-
lates the length of the loop, and the teeth inside the ring I, between which
the needles rise and fall, serve to turn over the work. The red line' shew's
the thread as it is guided to the needles:

page_text: And I declare that what I claim under this, head of my Invention is, the
production of the new framework knitted fabric, formerly patented by me as
aforesaid, in a tubular form, and by means of a circular working machine, as i
before described,
:
Thirdly, my Invention consists in an improved mode of dressing or finishing
looped fabrics. I employ for this purpose a series of rollers and wheels of the'
relative dimensions, and placed as represented in Figure 11 of the annexed
Drawings. A, A, is a framework in which the rollers and wheels are mounted, :
B and C, C, are three rollers placed side, the middle roller B being con-
siderably larger than the other two, which are both of one and a smaller size.
D is a fourth roller of the same size as C¹ and C, which is placed a little way
under the middle roller B. The middle roller is hollow, and heated by steam
or hot air introduced through its axis, which is made tubular and perforated
for the purpose, or by any other suitable means. F is a wheel mounted on a
prolongation of the axis of the middle wheel B; which gives motion to two
other wheels E and G of the like size, fixed on similar prolongations of the
axes of the rollers C2, C3, respectively. An endless web, indicated by the red
line, is passed round the four rollers in the manner shewn in the Drawing, and
kept in a state of tension by the under roller D and regulating screw d. The :
goods are first damped, or while in a damp state are laid on the endless web in
order to be passed over and under the three upper rollers in the direction denoted
by the blue line. The three wheels, and through them the three rollers, are
then put in motion, and as the roller moved by the middle wheel is of larger'
diameter than the other two rollers, and passes, consequently, through a larger
space in a given time, the fabric as it passes between the rollers is subjected
to a compound sort of action, consisting partly of pressure and partly of
friction, yet wholly free from anything like stretching: The goods as they
come from the rollers are then cooled by placing them for a time in contact
with cold surfaces. Instead of the rollers being of different diameters they
may all be of the same diameter, and driven at equal velocities; but the
arrangement which I have before described I consider to be on the whole
the best.
What I claim under this head of my Invention is, the passing of looped
fabrics, when not on shapes and in a damp state, between heated rollers
revolving either at the same or at unequal velocities, and afterwards bringing
them for a time into contact with cold surfaces, as before described, whether
the whole of the parts of this process are used in combination, or one or more
of them only.
My Invention consists, fourthly and lastly, in making the trade marks on

page_text: more colours. I employ for this purpose (when two colours are used) two
concentric circular stamps moveable one within the other, by means of
separate handles, and draw up the one out of the way while the other is being
dipped in the particular colour it is intended to print. When both have had
their supply of colour the two faces are brought flush and the goods marked.
I do not, however, restrict myself to this method, since there are several
other well-known methods of printing in two or more colours which may be
adopted with (perhaps) equal advantage.
What I claim under this last head of my Invention is, the making of the
trade marks on looped fabrics in two or more colours instead of one only, as
heretofore.
In witness whereof, I, the said Uriah Clarke, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-six.