IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents, 66,
Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY."-A com-
munication from abroad by James Green Wilson, of the City of New
York, in the United States of America.
Scaled the 16th October 1861, and dated the 16th May 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton-
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Pétition, on the
16th May 1861.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66,. Chancery Lane,.
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY," to.
be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the employment,.for the purpose of controlling the-
direction and changes of direction. of the rotating movement,. of the needle ring.
of a circular knitting machine about its axis, or for the purpose of changing:
the direction of the movement of the needle bar in a straight knitting machine.
of a studded wheel, which has no movement in a direction parallel. with.its.
axis, and which makes but one revolution to effect all the changes in the
movement of the needle ring necessary to complete a stocking or any other
knitted article.

page_text: It also consists in certain novel mechanism through which the said wheel
acts to cause the movement of the needle ring upon its axis in a circular
machine, or the longitudinal movement of the needle bar in a straight machine
to take place in one direction or the other.
Also, in a certain novel system of needles by which the knitting is enabled
to be performed at one and the same time with separate and distinct yarns on
several immediately adjacent needles.
And it further consists in a certain mode of combining yarn guides and a
presser with the aforesaid studded wheel and longitudinally-moving series of
needles.
The needle ring takes somewhat the form of a short tube; it is grooved
vertically to receive the needles, which are capable of sliding up and down
therein, being retained in position by a surrounding casing, so formed as to
allow of the free vertical movement of the needles, notwithstanding their
shanks terminate in horizontal projections. An axial motion is given to the
needle ring by means of a horizontal sliding frame, which embraces the ring,
and is fitted with a pair of clicks, which alternately take into a ring of teeth
at the foot of the needle ring. The clicks are situate at opposite sides of the
ring of teeth, and are pressed forward by springs, but they are thrown into
and out of action as required by a forked rock lever, actuated by studs on the
periphery of the rotating studded wheel above mentioned. The backward and
forward movement of the sliding frame (whereby the clicks are caused to act)
is effected by a cam on the main shaft bearing upon a bowle on the sliding
frame.
For raising or lowering the needles in the needle grooves to enable them to
throw off the stitches of work as they are formed a rock lever is employed,
which carries a plate at its extremity that bears against the horizontal pro-
jections of a group of the needles simultaneously, an opening being formed in
the casing surrounding the needles immediately in front of the plate to permit
of the plate operating upon the needles. The rock lever is operated by a
cam on the driving shaft. Another cam on the same shaft works the rocking
arms which carry the yarn or thread guides and the presser, which latter takes
a segmental form to suit the ring of needles, and is bolted to the under side of
the plate that carries the yarn guides. These guides are simply eyes set at
such distances apart as to correspond to the needles, and they are used in
combination with the needles and presser so as to knit simultaneously on
adjacent needles with different yarns and without the aid of stitch hooks.
"The studded wheel (by which the direction of rotation of the needle ring is
changed to suit the variations in the work as the knitting progresses) has an

page_text: intermittent axial motion, it being driven by a click taking into a ring of teeth
on the wheel, and actuated by a crank rod and lever, which receive their
motion by spur gearing from the main shaft. In order to move the studs as
they come up quickly past the end of the lever which they are designed to
rock, in order to reverse the rotation of the needle ring, as before explained, a
forked driver attached to the sliding frame which carries the clicks for
actuating the needle ring is provided, which driver receiving its motion from
the sliding frame will strike against the studs as they are presented to it,. and.
thus give a sudden axial motion to the studded wheel..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on.
the 16th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,. ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in. the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our. Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,.
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said:
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,.
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 "Iм--
PROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINERY," being a communication from abroad
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton;-
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe-
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same-
was to be performed, and cause the saine to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after. the-
date of the said Letters Patent.
IZSA
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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

page_text: following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, consists
in the employment for the purpose of controlling the direction and changes of
direction of the rotating movement of the needle ring of a circular knitting
machine about its axis, or for the purpose of changing the direction of the move-
ment of the needle bar in a straight knitting machine of a studded wheel,,
which has no movement in a direction parallel with its axis, and, which makes
but one revolution to effect all the changes in the movement of the needle ring
necessary to complete a stocking or any other knitted article.
It also consists in certain novel mechanism through which the said wheel
acts to cause the movement of the needle ring upon its axis in a circular
machine, or the longitudinal movement of the needle bar in a straight machine
to take place in one direction or the other.
Also in a certain novel system of needles, by which the knitting may be
performed at one and the same time with separate and distinct yarns on several
immediately adjacent needles.
And it further consists in a certain mode of combining yarn guides and a
presser with the aforesaid studded wheel, and longitudinally moving series
of needles.
In the accompanying Drawings which form part of this Specification, Fig. 1
is a central vertical.section of a circular kuitting machine with the improve-
ments applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a plan of the same; Fig. 3 is a horizontal
section of the same in a plane passing very near the bottom of the needle ring;
Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of the. needle ring in the plane indicated by the
line X, X, in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a side view of the cam and its appendages for
producing the rotary movement of the needle ring; Fig. 6 is a back view of
the needle ring and its stationary casing. Similar letters of reference indicate
corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A is a bed plate, which with its supporting standards B, B, constitute the
framing of the machine; C is the needle ring fitted to rotate in a suitable
bearing, half of which is formed by a semicircular recess in the bed plate A,
and the other half in a bow D, bolted to the bed plate by bolts a, a. This
ring whose general form is that of an upright cylinder, has its exterior grooved
dongitudinally for the reception of the needles b, b, which are represented of the
flexible bearded kind, common to the oldest knitting machines, but which may
be of other kinds; the said needles being fitted to slide freely up and down in
'tlie' said grooves, and being confined therein by a stationary cylindrical casing E,
which fits loosely over the ring, and which is secured to the bed plate A iu

page_text: any suitable manner.
The depth of the grooved portion of the needle ring is
equal to or slightly greater than the length of the needles, so that the needles
may be received entirely within the needle ring and the casing E, as shewn
at the right hand side of the needle ring in Fig. 1. The needles are each
made with two outward projections c, c', on the lower parts of the outer sides
of their shanks for the reception between them of the edge of a plate F, (see
Figures 1 and 4) which is attached to a lever G working on a fixed fulcrum d
for the purpose of producing the necessary longitudinal movement of the needles.
The lower part of the stationary casing E is enlarged in diameter as shewn in
Fig. 1, to make room for the projections c, c', on the needles, and a shoulder e
is formed inside of it where the enlargement commences, the height of the
shoulder being such that it just allows the upper projections c' of the needles
'to pass under it when the needles are entirely within the ring, and prevents
'the needles rising while in any position, but opposite to an opening ff, pro-
vided in the back of the casing E, as shewn in Figures 1, 4, and 6, for the
reception of the plate F, the said opening being wide enough to expose at one
'time the shanks of one more than the number of needles upon which it is
desired to knit simultaneously, and the length of the plate being sufficient to
enable it to enter between the projections c, c¹, of all the so exposed needles.
The rotating motion of the needle ring is intermittent, and the longitudinal
'movement up and down of the needles which are opposite the opening f,f,
'alternates with the rotating movement of the ring, and the whole series of
needles and the distances of the latter movements are sufficient to carry one
'needle away from the opening f. f, and present another needle opposite to the
said opening. The plate F, instead of being made to pass between two
projections on the needles, may be grooved longitudinally to receive single
projections on the needles, as illustrated by Fig. 7, which is a vertical section
of a needle ring and its appendages modified in several respects. To provide
for the rotating motion of the needle ring it is furnished round its lower end
with teeth g, g, to be operated upon by one of two pawis h, h', attached (see
Fig. 3) by pinsj, j, to a slide II, which is fitted to fixed horizontal guides i, i,
under the bed plate, and which derives a movement back and forth in the
said guides from a grooved cam I on the horizontal main shaft J of
the machine; the groove 10 (see Fig. 5) in the said cam receiving an
antifriction roller k secured to the said slide. The pawls h, h', are situated
on opposite sides of the needle ring, and have springs 1, P, applied to them in
such manner as to exert a constant tendency to make them engage with the
teeth 9, 9, but one or other of them is always held out of gear by one of the
arms of a forked or three-armed lever K, L, L', which is arranged below the

page_text: slide H on a fixed fulcrum pin m secured in the bed plate, and passing
through a slot (see Fig. 3) provided for it in the slide H. The needle ring
will be caused to rotate in one direction or the other according as the pawl
h or his in gear with the teeth g, g. Fig. 3 shews h' in gear, and the needle
ring rotating in the direction of the arrow marked upon it, but by a move-
ment of the arm K of the lever K, L, L', in the direction of the arrow marked
upon its extremity, the arm L' of the said lever is caused to throw the pawl h¹
out of gear, and at the same time the arm L of the lever permits the spring
to throw the pawl into gear, and so the direction of the rotation of the
ncedle ring is reversed. The shifting of the lever is effected by means of a
studded wheel or drum M, directly over which the arm K of the lever is
situated. This studded wheel or drum M (which constitutes one of the most
important features of this Invention), is secured immovably to a horizontal
shaft N, which rotates in fixed bearings at the back of the machine, but which
is permitted no longitudinal motion. This wheel has but a narrow surface, as
it only requires to have two rows of studs p, p, and p¹, pl, one row to act upon
an inclined surface q (see Figures 2 and 3) on one side of the arm K of the
lever K, L, L', for the purpose of shifting the lever in one direction, and the
other row to act upon similar inclined surface q¹ on the opposite side of
the said arm to shift the lever in the other direction. The studs p, p, and
p, p, are provided in such number, and arranged at such distances apart on
the wheel M, that the said wheel making one complete revolution in the
direction of the arrows shown on it in Figures 1 and 2 while a stocking or
other complete article is being knitted will shift the lever whenever it
becomes necessary or desirable to reverse the rotary motion of the needle ring,
as, for instance, in knitting the toe and beel of a stocking. The revolution of
the wheel M is intended to be very slow, except when a stud por p¹ arrives
in a position to act upon the lever K, L, L', when it must be moved quickly
far enough to enable the stud to effect the necessary movement of the lever.
The slow movement is effected by the action of a pawl O on a series of very
fine ratchet teeth r, r, with which the wheel is provided all round one side of
its rim, the said pawl being attached to a lever O¹, which works horizontally
on a fixed fulcrum s secured to the bed plate A. This lever O¹ derives its
movement from connection with a rod t, which is connected to a crank pin t,
carried by a spur wheel P. A fixed stud to secured to the bed plate forms the
axle for the wheel P to rotate upon, it being driven by a pinion P¹ of much
smaller size on the main shaft J. The wheel M is moved by these means
only to the extent of one tooth of the ratchet for each revolution of the
wheel P, which makes but one revolution for about four of the main shaft.

page_text: The quicker movements which take place whenever a stud p or p¹ arrives in
position to act upon the lever K, L, L', are produced by the action upon such
stud itself of a pawl Q, which is secured to the slide H by a screw x. As soon as
a stud passes this pawl with the movement effected by the action of the pawl O
on the ratchet teeth 1, 7, the said pawl drops behind the stud, and the next back-
ward movement of the slide H, produced by the cam I, brings the said pawl
into action upon the stud, and so forces the stud against the inclined surface
7 or 9 of the lever, and effects the shifting thereof. The pawls O and Q both
work through guides v under the bed plate; the pawl Q is forked for the
lever K, L, L', to pass through it. To prevent the accidental shifting of the
lever a locking spring R is applied to press upon it, but this spring and
the part of the lever on which it acts is bevilled, so that the lever can press it
upward to pass it when the studs p, p', come into operation on it.
The operation of the lever G to give the needles the movement upward to
the position shewn at the left-hand side of the needle ring in Fig. 1, and down
again to a position within the ring like that shewn at the right-hand side of
the ring, and its casing in the samo Figure is effected by means of a grooved
cam S on the main shaft J, the groove 12 in the said cam receiving a pin w,
which is secured in a rod G attached to the lever G, and which is also con-
nected by a bridle rod w', with a fixed pin w² secured to the bed plate. This
cam is so formed that during one quarter of each revolution it raises the
needles from within the ring; during the next quarter it leaves them stationary
in their elevated position; during the third quarter it lowers them; and during
the last quarter leaves them stationary within the ring. The rotating move-
ment of the ring takes place when the needles are stationary in their lowest
position. The projections c, c¹, then meet with no obstruction, but pass regu-
larly one at a time on to the plate F, as they are presented opposite the
opening f, f, in the case E; U is a horizontal rock shaft, arranged in bearings
in standards U, U¹, erected upon the back part of the bed plate A. This rock
shaft has two arms Us, Us, connected by a plate U, which carries both the
yarn guides y, y, and the presser T. The rock shaft has a third arm U³, which
carries an antifriction roller 15 that works in a groove 13 of a cam V on the
main shaft. The yarn conductors consist simply of eyes attached rigidly to the
front edge of a plate y', which is secured to the plate U by screws 14, 14.
The number of conductors is equal to the number of needles upon which it is
intended to knit at once, or, in other words, one less than the number of
adjacent needles raised simultaneously by the operation of the lever G, and
they are arranged at distances apart corresponding with the distances between
the needles. The presser T consists of a bar or plate, having its front edge

page_text: turned downward and curved to conforin to a circle circumscribing the needles,
the length of the said bar or plate being sufficient to enable it to operate
simultaneously on as many immediately adjacent needles as are raised simul-
'taneously by the lever G. It is secured to the plate U, below the yarn
conductor plate y¹ by the same screws 14, 14, which secure the latter plate,
the said screws passing through slots in U and y', and screwing into tappet
holes in the presser, the slots providing for the adjustment of the yarn con-
ductors and presser in a backward and forward direction. The cam V. by its
action on the roller 15 gives the yarn conductors and presser a movement
obliquely downward and forward toward the needles and back again, the for-
'ward and downward movement taking place just before the descent of the
needles, and the return or backward and upward movement taking place while
the needles are in their lowest position and the needle ring is making its
rotary movement. The yarns, one for each conductor, are supplied from sepa-
rate spools arranged in any suitable position. The downward and forward
movement of the yarn conductors and presser toward the needles brings the
yarn conductors to such a position relatively to the needles that the needles in
their descent will receive their threads to form a series of loops, and brings
the presser into such a position that after the needles have received the
threads their flexible beards by coming in contact with the presser will be
closed to enable them to pass into the loops last formed upon them, and hence
will be caused to carry the new series of loops through the old ones, and slip out
of or cast off the old ones. The backward and upward movement of the yarn
conductors and presser simply takes them out of the way of the yarns 'and
needles. The yarn conductors require a lateral movement every time the
direction of the rotation of the needle ring is changed, in order that they may
severally be always in proper relation to the needles, which are receiving the
yarn from them. This movement is produced by connecting the arm U³ of
the rock shaft U with the lever K, L, L', by a rod W, (see Fig. 3), which
causes the rock shaft every time the said lever is shifted to derive a proper
longitudinal movement in one direction or the other, as may be required. The
latch needle in common use may be applied and used in the within-described
machine in substantially the same manner as the flexible bearded needle. In
operating with a machine fitted with a studded wheel M, as described, for the
purpose of controlling and changing the direction of revolution of the needle
ring, the knitting may be commenced in any part of a stocking or other article,
according to the position in which the wheel M may happen to be; but as the
said wheel may be turned by hand in the direction of the arrow marked upon
it, it may always be brought to the most convenient or favorable position for

page_text: .
commencing the article. This kind of wheel, and the means described for
combining it with the needle ring may be used in connection with needles
having no flexible beards, and having no longitudinal motion.
The operation of the within-described circular system of flexible-bearded
needles and presser will have been understood by the foregoing description to
resemble in a great degree the operation of the corresponding parts of the old-
fashioned English knitting machine, but the operation of the said system of
needles in connection with the yarn conductors will have been understood to
resemble that of the corresponding parts of another well-known kind of
knitting machine. The system of needles, yarn' conductors, and presser repre-
sented is intended to combine the best characteristics of both those kinds of
machines in such manner as, to make a very simple and at the same time a
very perfect working and rapidly operating machine.
In the modification of the Invention illustrated in Fig. 7 the needles which
are not in operation all occupy positions with their beards above the top of
the needle ring and its casing E, and the reciprocating movement of the
needles intermitting with the rotary movements of the needle ring is first
downward and then upward, and the rotary movements of the ring take place
while the working needles are in their highest positions, in which particulars.
its operation will be understood to be merely the reverse of that of the machine
shewn in Figures 1 to 6 inclusive. The presser T and yarn conductors y in
this modification do not oscillate. toward and from the needles, but are
stationary, with the exception of the slight lateral movement that becomes
necessary for the yarn conductors when the direction of the rotary movement
of the needle ring is changed. The beards of the needles are closed by passing
in contact with the stationary presser as the needle descends.
In the Specification of a Patent granted to William Edward 'Newton as a
communication from the Inventor of the present improvements, and 'dated
August Second, One thousand eight hundred and sixty, No. 1871, there is
described and, claimed the combination of yarn conductors, needles, pressers,
and stitch hooks for knitting with separate yarns on two or. more immediately
adjacent or consecutive needles, the object of such combination being to knit
more rapidly than can be done by the machines previously known, and to
produce work of better quality. The result effected by the Invention herein
described, viz., the knitting with separate yarns on immediately adjacent or
consecutive needles is the same, but the means of carrying it out are much
more simple. The same result may, however, be accomplished by a variety
of mechanical devices, and therefore the Inventor desired to be understood by

page_text: the aforesaid Patent as claiming broadly the first discovery of an organized
system of needles and yarn conductors and their adjuncts for carrying out such
result. The Specification of that Patent describes a system of needles having
no longitudinal movement, but this Specification describes a system of needles
having a reciprocating longitudinal movement, which enables the result to be
obtained with less mechanism, and the present Invention may therefore be
regarded as a further carrying out of or an improvement upon the above-men-
tioned Patent. The value of the discovery of a mode of knitting upon immediately
adjacent or consecutive needles is made apparent from the fact that it enables at
least three stockings to be knit in the same time that one was knit by machines
having similar elements to that described in the Specification of the herein-
before mentioned Patent prior to that discovery.
The same system of needles and yarn conductors, with the whole of the
within described actuating and controlling mechanism may be adapted to a
straight machine, and for knitting drawers and shirts, or any other straight
fabrics for which any oscillating movement or change of direction of the needle
ring or needle bar is unnecessary. The whole of the needles used in a machine
constructed according to this Invention may be made to move up and down at
once, and the yarn guides, one for every needle, may be made to oscillate just
far enough to throw the yarn under the hook or beard of each needle. For
example, a needle bar or ring having five hundred needles in it, and running
at a speed of about five hundred strokes per minute (thus knitting five
hundred stitches per minute on each needle), would produce at this moderate
speed two hundred and fifty thousand stitches per minute, thereby enormously
encreasing the productive power of the machine.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of improvements in
knitting machinery, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, an organized
machine for knitting composed of elements substantially as detailed by the
following separate claims, viz. :-
First, I claim the employment for the purpose of controlling the direction
and changes of direction of the rotary motion of the needle ring or needle bar
of knitting machines, of a studded wheel or drum so constructed, applied, and
operated that it performs its duty as herein described without any movemement
in a direction parallel with its axis.
Second, I claim combining the aforesaid studded wheel or drum with a
slide II and pawls h, h³, or their equivalents, which produce the rotary move-

page_text: ment of the needle ring of a circular knitting machine by means of a three-
armed lever K, L, L', constructed, applied, and operating substantially as
herein specified.
Third, I claim the employment in a circular or straight knitting machine of
a system of needles having longitudinal and lateral movements alternately
produced in the manner and for the purpose substantially as herein specified.
. Fourth, I claim the combination with a system of needles having a longitu-
dinal reciprocating motion, of a system of yarn conductors so applied as to
deliver yarn to immediately adjacent or consecutive needles, substantially as
herein specified.
Fifth, I claim the vibrating presser and yarn guides applied and operating
in combination with a laterally and longitudinally moving series of needles,
substantially as herein specified.
Sixth, I claim the combination of a system of needles and a system of
yarn guides operating automatically without the use of stitch hooks for taking
off the stitches, in such manner as to knit simultaneously on two or more
immediately adjacent or consecutive needles, substantially as herein described.
Seventh, I claim the combination of the studded wheel or drum M having
no movement parallel with its axis, and a series of needles and yarn con-
ductors so applied as to effect the knitting simultaneously with separate yarns
on immediately adjacent needles.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)