IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY GOODS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Moses Mellor, of Lee Works, Arkwright
Street, Nottingham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY GOODS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.”
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Moses Mellor
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th December 1872.
I, HENRY MOSES MELLOR, of Lee Works, Arkwright Street, Notting-
ham, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY GOODS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," to be as follows:-
-
According to this Invention I construct stockings and other articles
of hosiery upon what are known as circular machines, in which a con-
tinuous set of needles is used with a thickening thread introduced into
any part of the fabric where required, such as the heels and ankles of
half-hose stockings, and the seats of pants, where the thickening is not
•

page_text: required all around the tubular fabric produced, but only to pass down it
in lines at the parts required. To effect this I employ in addition to
the thread eye or layer which supplies the thread to the needles for
producing the body of the fabric another thread layer to lay in a thick-
ening thread wherever a part or parts of the tubular fabric are to be
thickened. This thread eye when in action is caused to lay its thread
on to the stems of that part or parts of the circle of needles on which
the thickened work is to be produced, whilst for the other part or parts
of the ring of needles the additional thread layer lays its thread above.
the beards of the needles, and the work produced upon them is thereby
left unthickened, as the additional thread at these parts will then not be
worked up into the fabric.
The needles at the part or parts of the ring of needles which are to
have the thickened work produced upon them I prefer to make with
shorter beards than the other needles, so that a very slight movement
only is required to be given to the additional thread eye to cause it to
lay its thread below the beard of the first of the short bearded needles,
and yet insure that such thread shall have been laid above the beard of
the needle next to it, so that the edge of the thickening shall be
in a perfectly straight line down the fabric. When the thickening thread
is being laid below the beards of any of the needles it is sunk into loops
between them by a presser wheel in the ordinary manner, whilst when
being laid above the beards of the other needles it comes into a groove
in this wheel, and is by it simply lifted up above the tops of the needles
without its being incorporated with the work. When the work is
finished the threads so left overlaying the body of the work are cut
away.
When latchet needles are used the additional thread may similarly bo
laid above or below the latchet to produce the same result, and such
needles may similarly be made with long and short latchets.

page_text: the needles, and as the blades are carried round with the needles they
are acted upon by fixed cam surfaces so as to cause their outer ends to
rise or fall as required. By this means the work can be brought moro
nearly than heretofore into a line with the tops of the needles at the
point where the loops are knocked over, and the lifting blades after
having lifted the loops above the tops of the needles can again be made
to press such loops up towards the old work one or more times, if
desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Moses Mellor in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 27th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
MOSES MELLOR, of Lea Works, Arkwright Street, Nottingham, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of December, in
the
ycar of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in
tho thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Moses Mellor, Her
special license that I, the said Henry Moses Mellor, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Moses Mellor, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY GOODS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Moses Mellor, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Moses Mellor, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
According to this Invention I construct stockings and other articles
of hosiery upon what are known as circular machines, in which a con-
tinuous set of needles is used with a thickening thread introduced into
any part of the fabric where required, such as the heels and ankles of
half-hose stockings and the seats of pants, where the thickening is not
required all around the tubular fabric produced, but only to pass down
it in lines at the parts required. To effect this I employ in addition to
the thread eye or layer which supplies the thread to the needles for
producing the body of the fabric another thread layer to lay in a
thickening thread whenever a part or parts of the tubular fabrics are to
be thickened. This thread eye when in action is caused to lay its thread:
on to the stems of that part or parts of the circle of needles on which
the thickened work is to be produced, whilst for the other part or parts
of the ring of needles the additional thread layer lays its thread above
the beards of the needles, and the work produced upon them is thereby
left unthickened, as the additional thread at these parts will then not be
worked up into the fabric.
The needles at the part or parts of the ring of needles which are to
have. the thickened work produced upon them I prefer to make with
shorter beards than the other needles, so that a very slight movement
only is required to be given to the additional thread eye to cause it to
lay its thread below the beard of the first of the short bearded needles,
and yet insure that such thread shall have been laid above the beard of
the needle next to it, so that the edge of the thickening shall be in a
perfectly straight line down the fabric. When the thickening thread is
being laid below the beards of any of the needles it is sunk into loops 3
between them by a sinker wheel in the ordinary manner, whilst when
being laid above the beards of the other needles it comes into a groove in
this wheel, and is by it simply lifted up above the tops of the needles
without. its being incorporated with the work. When the work is
finished the threads so left overlaying the body of the work are cut
away.
When latchet needles are used the additional thread may similarly be

page_text: needles may similarly be made with long and short latchets, or the same
effect may be produced, as herein-after described, by lifting the needles
more or less to bring them into a position for the additional thread to be
laid upon those only which are to have the thickened work produced
upon them.
In order also to improve the quality of knitted work produced on cir-
cular machines, where a ring of needles is used placed parallel with the
axis which carries the ring in place of knocking over the work by small
lifting wheels such as heretofore used in these machines, I employ
knocking over blades, or instruments ranged radially around the axis of
the ring, and each capable of being rocked upon a pin by preference at
its inner end. The outer ends of the blades pass between the stems
of the needles, and as the blades arc carried round with the needles they
are acted upon by fixed cam surfaces so as to cause their outer ends to
risc or fall, as required. By this means the work can be brought more
nearly than heretofore into a line with the tops of the needles at the point
where the loops are knocked over, and the lifting blades, after having
lifted the loops above the tops of the needles can again be made to press
such loops up towards the old work one or more times if desired.
•
At Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn
a circular knitting machine having a continuous ring of bearded needles,
and provided, as above described, with an additional thread layer to lay
in a thickening thread wherever a part or parts of the tubular fabric are
to be thickened. Figure 1 shows a plan view, and Figure 2 an clevation
of the machine. a is the ring of needles, to which a continuous revolving
motion is transmitted, as usual, from the driving axis b; c, is the addi-
tional thread eye or layer for laying in the thickening thread; d is the
sinker wheel to press such thread into loops between the needles and
raisc it up so as to bring it under their beards; c is the ordinary thread
layer for laying a thread or threads on to the needles to produce the
body of the work; ff, are sinker wheels, to sink the threads into loops
between the needles, and raise them up below their beards; g is the
ordinary presser wheel for closing the beards of the needles whilst the
loops, which were previously upon their stems, are lifted over the points
of the beards by the lifting wheel ; k is a lifting wheel for knocking
over the work, as usual; and is a fixed blade for subsequently de-
pressing the loops from under the beards, and holding them down on to

page_text: the stems of the needles in the ordinary manner during the time that
they are carried past the thread eyes and sinker wheels. The additional
thread eye c is at the forward end of an arm c*, which at its rear end
turns upon a pin, as shewn. This arm when the additional or thickening
thread is to be laid into any desired portion of the work rests upon a
bolt m, which can rise and fall in a fixed guide n, and it is held down on
to this bolt by the spring catch o; the lower end of the bolt rests upon
a cam surface p fixed around the cylinder by which the needles are
carried, and by this cam surface a rising and falling motion is given to
the bolt and to the thread eye resting upon it.
As before stated that portion of the circle of needles upon which the
thickened work is to be produced is formed with somewhat shorter beards
than the remainder of the needles.
When as the circle of needles is rotated the first of the short bearded
needles comes up to the thread eye c, this thread eye is caused by the
configuration of the camp to drop quickly a short distance, so that it
shall lay its thread below the beards of the short needles, whilst after all
of the short bearded needles have moved past this thread eye, and the
first of the long bearded needles comes up to it, the cam surface p causes
the thread eye to again quickly rise, so as to lay its thread above the
points of the beards of these needles, consequently this portion of the
thread will not be incorporated with the work, but will simply float upon
its surface, as shewn by the diagram A, and may subsequently be
quickly cut away, leaving a tubular fabric thickened around a portion
only of its circumference, as shewn by diagram B.
In order that the portion of thickening thread which is not incor-
porated with the work, and which has subsequently, to be cut away, shall
not be sunk into loops between the needles, the thread from the thread
cyc c comes (when this eye is lifted) into a groove c¹ formed in the
several blades of this wheel, as shewn by the separate view of one of the
blades at Figure 3, so that it is simply laid around the circle of needles.
The length of thickening thread which will have subsequently to be cut
away will be thus reduced, and also these threads will not hang loosely
from the fabric or be liable to catch in the needles.
When the strip of thickened work has been made of the length a
desired the spring catch o is pressed back, and the thread eye c turned
away from the needles so as no longer to lay the thickening thread on

page_text: to them, the machine then continues to make a tubular unthickened
fabric in the ordinary manner.
I would state that although in the diagrams A and B I have only
shewn a tubular piece of work thickened around one half of its circum-
ference, yet by altering the configuration of the cam p, and a correspond-
ing alteration in the arrangement of the long and short bearded needles,
the strip of thickened work may be made of any width desired, or two
or more separate stripes of thickened work might be produced upon the
tubular fabric.
Figures 4 and 5 shew respectively a part elevation and vertical section
of an arrangement for effecting the same object when latchet needles are
used. In this case the stems carrying the several needles are each
capable of rising and falling, as is usual in this class of machine, and
such of the needles as are to have the additional threads laid upon them
are, whenever the work is to be thickened, caused to rise higher than the
other needles so as not only to have laid upon them from one thread eye
the thread or threads which form the body of the work, but also at the
same time a thickening thread or threads from another thread cyc above
it. For this purpose the stems of the needles have projections a from
them, as usual, to rest upon the cam surface b; this cam at the point
where the threads are to be laid upon the needles has a rise upon it, and
the needles, as they are carried round by the revolving of the cylinder,
arc as they pass this point caused to rise in succession, in order that a
thread or threads may be laid upon them from the thread eye c.
The
stems of such of the needles as are to have thickened work produced
upon them are made with their projections a longer than those on the
stems of the other needles, so that they may project beyond the cam b,
and on to another cam piece d, and be by it caused to rise higher than
the other necdles, so that in addition to their having a thread or threads
laid upon them from the thread cyc c they shall also have laid upon
them another thread from the thread eye e.
When it is not desired to produce thickened work the screw by which
the cam piece d is held is loosened, and the cam piece is lowered so as to
throw it out of action. The machine then works in the ordinary manner,
and unthickened work is produced by it.
In place of the needles which are to have the thickened work produced
upon them being caused to rise higher than the other needles, the

page_text: additional thread eye might have a rising and falling motion given to it.
The needles might also be made, if desired, with their latchets of
different lengths in a similar manner to that described with reference to
the beards of the bearded needles. I however prefer the arrangement
shewn by the Drawings.
I will now describe my improved mechanism for knocking over the
work in circular knitting machines, where a ring of fixed needles is
mounted concentrically upon an axis, and with the needles parallel to
it. Figure 6 shews an clevation partly in section, and Figure 7 a plan
view of such a circle of knitting needles, together with the knocking over
mechanism. In these Figures a is a fixed hollow standard, carrying a
disc b, upon which is a cam surface c; d, d, is the circle of needles
carried by a cylinder which is caused to revolve around the hollow
standard; e is an axis rising up through the hollow standard, and caused
to revolve at the same speed as the cylinder carrying the needles; upon
this axis is carried a ring f, the upper edge of which forms a pivot for
the several radial blades g, as shewn at Figure 6. There is also a combƒ¹
standing out from the ring f, which serves as a guide for the blades g.
The outer ends of the blades pass between the needles, and their bottom
edge rests upon the fixed disc b and the cam surface c carried by it;
this cam surface is formed with a rise c¹ to raise the blades at the spot
where the beards of the needles are being closed by a presser wheel
acting upon them, and so land the old loops which were upon the stems of
the the needles above the points of the beards. The incline c* then causes
the blades to rise still further, and knock over the work at c³, and to
again rise at c¹ to press the loops which have been knocked off from the
needles up towards the old work.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim,-
1. The manufacture of tubular hosiery goods with a thickening a
thread incorporated with the work around a portion only of their
circumference.
2. The combined arrangements of machinery, substantially as herein
described for manufacturing tubular hosiery goods thickened around a
portion of their circumference wherever required.
.
3. The employment in circular knitting machines, where the needles
are fixed concentrically around an axis and parallel with it, of blades or

page_text: instruments standing out radially from such axis, and passing between
the needles to knock over the work, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Moses Mellor have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
HENRY MOSES MELLOR. (L.S.)