Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 31st May, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 28th Jan., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 13th Apr., 1889
1, TREDERIC JOHNSON
Hosiery Manufacturer.
ВАОдета
This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the production on rotary
knitting frames known as Cotton's of lace or open work patterns, and it has for its
object the production on such frames of a greater variety of patterns than has hitherto
been possible on other than frames worked by hand.
Open work is produced in looped fabrics by taking loops from certain needles and
placing them on needles to the right or left of those from which they are removed,
this may be effected in Cotton's machine by adding additional points to what is well
known as narrowing tackle; by this arrangement a certain number of points are
arranged to take loops from certain needles thus forming a pattern that repeats itself
throughout and admits of no variety as the points are fixed.
This difficulty I overcome by arranging a point to every needle or every other
needle as desired each point being carried on a separate vertical sliding jack each
of which is raised or lowered as required by the action of a jacquard with pattern
cards thus providing separate points for each needle employed such points being
movable separately or in groups as desired. By this arrangement any loop or
combination of loops may be removed from any needle or needles and the combination
may change every motion thus producing patterns of endless variety with great
facility.
In carrying out this invention to every set of needles I arrange in a suitable
framing attached to and sliding on the ordinary narrowing machine shaft a number
of vertical sliding jacks working freely in sley bars cut to the same guage as the
frame, at the lower end of each jack is attached a point specially adapted for picking
up and transferring the loops from one needle to another thus forming a complete set
of points which are raised or lowered in the same manner and by the same shaft

page_text: as the ordinary narrowing tackle and are traversed to the right or left by a special
slide in the narrowing boxes worked by a ratchet wheel and clawker the motion being
given by a special cam on the ordinary cam shaft.
To produce a pattern the points corresponding to the needles from which it is
desired to remove a loop are allowed to descend into their lower position the remainder
being held in their highest position out of the way, this may be effected by a number
of guide bars placed immediately over each other working in bearings at each side of
the framing and at the back of the upper ends of the jacks carrying the points
these guide bars are moved to and fro by the action of a jacquard with suitable pattern
cards at one end and springs at the other in a well known manner; each guide bar
is formed with openings corresponding with the jacks or a multiple of the same and
by the action of the jacquard- the openings in the whole of the guide bars are
caused to coincide and correspond to the jacks required. The projections formed on
the back of each pass through the openings thus formed the remainder being held in
position by their projections resting on the guide bars. After removing the loops the
whole of the jacks are again raised by a locker bar operating on projections on the
front of the jacks and are held there while the guide bars are moved by the jacquard
to allow a fresh number of jacks to be selected. To assist the jacks to fall and to
hold them in position when removing a loop, a spring is attached to each in any
convenient manner. If preferred pivotted jacks may be used such jacks being turned
up out of the way when not required instead of sliding in sley bars.
To obtain a greater combination of patterns two sets of guide bars may be used
one in front-and-one-at-the-back-of the jack, also if desired each separate jack may
be raised or lowered by the action of a jacquard in the same manner as the jacks are
operated in a lace.curtain machine..
The foregoing operation of changing the points is done while the apparatus for
removing the loops is at rest which occurs between the removal of each set of loops;
-it-will-also-be-understood that the motion_imparted to the points for removing the
loops is obtained from the ordinary narrowing machine tackle to which the apparatus
is attached. The foregoing arrangement does not in any way interfere with the
ordinary narrowing mechanism but it is so fixed that the usual leg or heel narrowings
can be put on either with the lace ankle mechanism at work or not.
It is also arranged so that the machine can make the instep and heel of a stocking
both containing the lace pattern, or can stop at any part of the heel and continue plain
fabric, the instep being continued with the pattern in lace at the same time. This
may be done by means of an extra guide bar so cut that it can stop points working in
the heel without in any way interfering with the points working in the instep, or by
connecting each jack to the jacquard in a well known manner it would be effected by
the direct action of the pattern cards.
It is also possible to make lace ankle hose with plain tops the top being made on
the same machine, or the machine can make lace hose the lace work commencing
at the welt, or in making lace socks the mechanism in no way interferes with the
baring on of the tops.
Dated this 31st day of May 1888.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Rotary Knitting Machines or in Apparatus
Connected therewith for the Production of Lace or Open Work
Patterns.
I, FREDERIC JOHNSON, of Mansfield Woodhouse in the County of Nottingham,
Hosiery Manufacturer, 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 by the following statement:-
This invention relates to improvements in apparatas for the production on rotary
knitting frames such for example as those known as Cotton's, of lace or open work
patterns, and it has for its object the production on such frames of a greater
variety of patterns than has hitherto been possible on other than frames worked
by hand.
Open work is produced in looped fabrics by taking loops from certain needles and
placing them on needles to the right or left of those from which they are taken, this
has been effected in Cotton's machine by adding additional points to what is well
known as the ordinary narrowing tackle; by this arrangement a certain number of
points or ticklers are arranged to take loops from certain needles thus forming
a pattern that repeats itself throughout and admits of no variety as the points
are fixed.
This difficulty I overcome by arranging a point or tickler to every needle or every
other needle as desired each point being carried on a separate vertical sliding jack each
of which is lowered as required by the action of a jacquard with pattern cards thus
providing separate points for each needle such points being movable separately or in
groups as desired. By this arrangement any loop or combination of loops may be
removed from any needle or needles and the combination may change every motion
thus producing patterns of endless variety and with great facility.
The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings
in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation, Fig. 2 is a side elevation and Fig. 3 a plan of the
apparatus showing its position between the ordinary narrowing tackle points or ticklers,
Fig. 4 is a vertical section, Fig. 5 shows front and side elevations of back, and front
jacks, Fig. 6 is an elevation and plan of the top sley bar and cap, Fig. 7 is an elevation
and plan of the bottom sley bar and cap, and Figs. 8 and 9 are front elevation and
plan respectively of the back set of guide bars showing method of cutting. Figs. 10
and 11 are side and front elevation respectively of the cam and lever arrangement for
raising the jacks, Fig. 12 is a front elevation-and Fig. 13 is a side elevation of the
narrowing tackle and lace-ankle-tackle-ratchet wheels and pawls showing lever
arrangement for stopping and changing.
To each set of needles on the frame I arrange a number of vertical sliding jacks A
provided at their lower ends with coverer points or ticklers adapted for picking up
and transferring the loops from one needle to another, they are carried and slide freely

page_text: in two sley bars cut to the gauge of the frame; the upper sley bar B provided with a
cap B¹ is secured by its ends to the two bosses D sliding on the ordinary narrowing
tackle shaft D2 between the ordinary narrowing boxes, openings or recesses being
formed in the downward extensions D to admit of the free passage of the narrowing
tackle rods D. The lower sley bar (is supported by two brackets C secured to tho
downward extensions D₁ of the bosses D, and is also provided with a cap or cover (
as shown more clearly in Fig. 7, secured by its ends to the lower part of the downward
extensions D', this cap may be provided with a leather pad C³ for the jacks A to bear
against when removing the loops.
The sliding jacks A are provided near their upper ends with projections A¹ and may
be reduced in thickness at that part, they may be placed in the sley bars with these
projections alternately back and front and are held in their upper position by the
projections A resting on the back and front sets of guide bars E, the bars of each
such set working immediately over each other and sliding in bearings provided with
covers D and formed in the upward extensions D³ of the two bosses D. The guide
bars E are formed with openings and are shogged by the action of a spring-dropper-
jacquard with pattern cards in a well known manner. By the action of the jacquard
the position of the openings in each guide bar E of each set is caused to
correspond to the position of the opening of the bar or bars above or below it and
to the position of the jacks A required to operate and the projections A¹ are thus
allowed to pass through the openings in the guide bars thus permitting the jacks to
fall into their lower position where they are in position for removing loops from
needies to which they correspond; to assist the jacks A to fall and to hold them in
position when removing the loops-cach one is provided at the back with a hook A²
on which the upper end of a spiral spring F is placed the lower ends of which are
secured to a cross bar. F.
The corresponding guide bars E in each division of the machine may be coupled
together by screwed rods Et passing through brackets E' secured to the ends of
the bars, and may be-adjusted by nuts E³ thus forming corresponding bars of each
division into series one end of each of which is attached to a spring and the other end-to-
one of the jacquared boxes by means of a steel bar E secured by brackets E³ to the
end of such series of bars E.
The jacks A after removing the loops are raised by a locker bar G acting on
projections A³ on the front of the jacks and are held there while the guide bars E
are moved by the jacquard and a fresh number of jacks selected, the locker bar G is
provided at its ends with anti-friction rollers G' which run on the two plates H. secured
to the narrowing boxes H' of the ordinary narrowing tackle, it is raised and lowered by
two vertical rods 1 connected at their lower ends to levers 1' secured to the shaft 1
as shown in Figs. 10 and 11; motion is imparted to the shaft 12 by a cam 1' secured
on the ordinary cam shaft 1 acting on the anti-friction roller 15 on the end of the
lever 1 secured to the shaft 12.
Fig. 8 is a front elevation and Fig. 9 a plan of a portion of the back set of guide
bars E showing the manner in which they may be cut; when using two sets of guide
bars preferably arrange the jacks A with their projections A' alternately back
and front so that each set of guide bars governs every alternate jack, I also preferably
divide the jacks A into sets corresponding in number to the number of guide
bars used.
In Fig. 8 the bars are shown on the dead stops that is to say in their normal position
and are cut to work alternate jacks Nos. 2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16 in each set of sixteen,
the position of the jacks is indicated by the openings in the dummy bar 9 at the
bottom which is a fixture and also by the figures. Each guide bar is cut with a
blank gate every sixteen gates which blank is an odd number and occurs in a different
place in each bar, for instance in bar 1 No. 1 gate is blank, bar 2 No. 3 gate is
blank, bar 3 No. 5 is blank and so on. When the bars are on the dead stops the
openings 2-4-6-8-1 -12-14-16 in each bar coincide with each other and with the
corresponding jacks thus allowing all the jacks governed by the back set of guide
bars to fall into their lower position, the blanks are brought into operation by the

page_text: jacquard shogging the guide bars one gate to the right when bar 1 would stop
jack No. 2, har 2 No. 4, Bar 3 No. 6, bar 4 No. 8, Bar 5 No. 10, bar 6 No. 12,
bar 7 No. 14, and bar 8 No. 16. The front set of guide bars E are cut in the same manner
but the blanks occur in the even numbers so as to stop jacks 1-3-5-7-9-11-13-15
when shogged by the jacquard. By the foregoing arrangement each guide bar E
governs one jack A in each division but I do not confine myself to this method of
cutting the guide bars as they may be cut in different ways to produce different effects
and may be shogged two or inore gates at one time by droppers in the jacquard in a
well known manner.
I preferably form a dead stop to each set of guide bars in each
division so that as the framing carrying the jacks A is traversed to the right or left,
the dead stop moves also and always occupies the same position with regard to the
jacks, this may be effected by forming slots E in each guide bar E working over a
pin D fixed in the bearings in the upward extensions Ds. It is also obvious that as
the framing carrying the jacks A and guide bars E moves or traverses to the right
or left, more or less droppers would be required in the jacquard boxes to move the
guide bars E one gate from the dead stop.
The operation of changing the points takes place while the apparatus is at rest
which occurs betweon the removal of each set of loops, and it will be understood that
the motion for removing the loops is obtained from the ordinary narrowing apparatus
which imparts the desired motion to the framing carrying the jack simultaneously with
and in the same manner as the ordinary narrowing tackle, each set of jacks however
is moved laterally so as to remove the loops to the right or left independent of the
narrowing tackle.
Lateral motion is imparted to the framing carrying the jacks by a shaft J passing
through and secured in bosses D', formed at the back of the bosses D this shaft J is
connected at its end to an additional slide in the slide box having an upward
projection K working between the projections L' of the bosses L secured on the
shaft J.
The additional slide in the slide box is actuated in the same manner as the
ordinary narrowing tackle slide by a ratchet wheel and pawl but as it is desirous to
move the slide in either direction I arrange two ratchet wheels M and M' side by
side both secured to the same spur wheel M³ with their teeth arranged so as to be
worked by pawls in opposite directions. The wheels M, M', are respectively turned
by the pawls N and N¹ pivotted at their lower ends on an additional lover O and
connected to each other near their centres by a link P of such a length as to hold
one pawl out of operation when the other is in. Tho pawl N is held in engagement
with the wheel M by a spring O¹ and is disengaged from it and the pawl N¹
simultaneously brought into operation with the wheel M¹ by a lever Q pivotted on a
bracket secured to the framing above the wheels M provided at its lower end with an
anti-friction roller Q₁ acting on the piece N' secured to the pawl N¹ which forces
the pawl N¹ into operation as it rises; the lever Q is connected by its upper end to
a box in the jacquard and is thus turned on its pivot and brought into engagement
with the pawl N when required, by the pattern cards.
The narrowing tackle pawl R turning the wheels S may also be operated in the
same manner by a second lever T with anti-friction roller T¹ at its lower end acting
on the piece R₁ secured on the inside of the pawl R thus forcing it out of engagement
with the wheel S when it is desired not to narrow, the narrowings thus being formed
by the pattern cards instead of in the usual manner; the pawl operating the slide at
the other end of the frame may be stopped by a similar lever connected and operated
simultaneously with the lever T by means of a steel bar or other connection. By this
arrangement-the-narrowing tackle-though working in connection with the lace ankle
tackle will not narrow, but replace the loops on the same needles unless lever T is
moved by the jacquard.
By the foregoing arrangement the apparatus does not in any way interfere with the
ordinary narrowing tackle bnt is so fixed that the usual leg or heel narrowing can.
be put on either with the lace ankle tackle at work or not and will narrow close up to
the lace work.

page_text: It is also arranged so that the machine can make the instep and heel of a stocking
both containing the lace pattern, or can stop at any part of the heel and continue
plain fabric, the instep being continued with the pattern in lace at the same tine.
This may be done by means of extra guide bars cut so as to stop points working in
the heel without interfering in any way with the points working in the instep.
It is also possible to make lace ankle hose with plain tops the top being made on
the same machine, or the machine can make lace hose the lace work commencing at
the welt; in making lace socks the mechanism in no way interferes with the baring
on of the tops.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
(1) The manufacture of lace on a rotary knitting machine by means of coverer
points such as A* on sliding jacks such as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
(2) In a rotary knitting machine the combination with a sliding jack such as A
carrying a coverer point such as A4 of projections such as A¹ and A³ substantially as
and for the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
(3) In a rotary knitting machine the employment of guide bars such as E operated
by a jacquard or its equivalent substantially as and for the purpose described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
(4)-In-a-rotary-knitting-machine-the-combination with sliding jacks such as A
having projections such as A¹ of guide bars such as E operated by a jacquard or its
equivalent substantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.
(5) In a rotary knitting machine the combination of parts forining the support for
-the-sliding jacks A and for the guide bars E and consisting of the sley bars such as B
and C secured to bosses D and brackets C2, and extensions D¹ and D³ the wholo
adapted to slide on the narrowing tackle shaft substantially as described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
(6) In a rotary knitting machine the combination with the sliding jacks A of a
locker bar such as G substantially as and operated in the manner described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
(7) In a rotary knitting machine the combination with a pawl such as N or N², of
a lever such as Qoperated by the jacquard substantially as described and illustrated
in Figs. 12 and 13 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 16th day of January 1889.
FREDERIC JOHNSON.