IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES
Year: 1886

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I, NEWNHAM BROWNE, of 73, Cheapside, in the City of London, Fel. Inst. P.A.
hereby declare the nature of the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING
MACHINES (a communication to me from abroad by Hermann Stärker, of Chennitz,
in the Kingdom of Saxony) and in what manner the same is to be performed to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The object of this invention is to increase the output of straight or square
knitting frames which work by means of a travelling cam-box by diminishing
the time required for the formation of a row of loops in such machines.
In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows the sinker-motion as applied to a
machine with vertical needles.
Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same.
Fig. 3 transverse section of the same mechanism as applied to a machine with
horizontal needles.
Figs. 4 and 5 represent details.
The jacks of the needles a (Figs. 1 and 3) drop in the usual manner and they are
advanced by the usual knocking over bar b so that the thread or yarn fed to the
needles is transformed into the loop, see Fig. 5. These jacks or the covering
necdles are together withdrawn by the usual means. The thread on yarn is
however in the present invention not laid upon or fed directly to the needles but
it is laid upon the secondary needles c (Figs. 1, 3 and 4) These are actuated by a
cam plate (shown, with the cam-box cover removed, in Fig. 2) in the same
manner as the needles, being advanced and withdrawn singly. The cam-plate d is
actuated together with the knocking over bar b (Fig. 1 and 3) by means of the
arm e and the bar f in such a manner that the secondary jacks are raised at the
time when one of the principal covering needles, say a¹ (Fig. 5) is forming a loop.
As the secondary needles singly descend agnin immediately upon the formation
of the loop, the loops remain freely suspended between the covering needles a
and by reason of the small weight and comparative rigidity of the thread retain
their position as indicated in Fig. 5, whether the covering needles are vertical or
horizontal.

page_text: This arrangement allows the loops to be transferred to the needles at once as soon
as the thread is laid, whilst this would not be possible if the secondary needles
were moved simultaneously, a withdrawal of the secondary needles being necessary
after the thread is laid. At the transfer of the loops (the knocking over movement)
the needles in fig. 1 move towards the covering needles whilst in Fig. 3. the covering
needles together move towards the needles. In either case the loops are divided so
that the fixed covering needles as well as the time for their movement become
unnecessary. In order to avoid that the secondary covering needles form an
obstruction when the looping needles act, the former, together with their cam-plate,
are withdrawn into the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3.
In order to impart a more even motion to the covering needles and thus to reduce
the wear of the jacks of said needles as well as of the guides therefore, the heel or
projection on the jack is not placed at the end opposite to the "
"of the jack,
but centrally so that the jack is guided both in front of and behind the heel.
The formation of the loop takes place as follows:
nose
The
The
The secondary needles c (Fig. 4) singly move against the covering needles a
whilst the latter are carried towards the thread laid over the former.
needles & just then "knock over".the loops, i.e. finish the last formed row.
loops from the covering needles' are now transferred (Fig. 3) the latter sink, whilst
the secondary covering needles withdraw into the position shown in Fig. 3. The
covering needles then rise simultaneously, the sinker and knocking over motions
again proceed (see fig. 4) and the row is completed by knocking over as previously
explained.
The loops are formed in the same manner when the needles are vertical, see
Fig. 1.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is
1. In knitting machines a sinker motion having the secondary needles c which
move forward and backward perpendicularly to the covering needles, and in
co-operation with the latter form the thread into a row of loops that remain
between the covering needles, the loops being capable of being "knocked over" or
transferred to the working needles immediately after the thread has been fed to
the needles, substantially as set forth and shewn in the drawings.
2. The needle jacks a with the heel placed centrally thereon substantially as and
for the purpose set forth and shown in the drawings.
Dated this 10th day of June 1886