Improvements in or relating to Knitting Machines. Machines.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Dec., 1895-Accepted, 25th Apr., 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Knitting Machines.
A communication by JAMES LAWTON BRANSON, of No. 506 St. John Street, in
the City and County of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, United States
of America, Manufacturer of Knitting Machines.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool and 6 Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham
in the County of Warwick and 31 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, 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 :-
In circular knitting machines wherein a plain or single web is produced there are
sometimes employed sinkers or web holders which are constructed and operated to
hold down the successive stitches during the upward strokes of the reciprocating
knitting needles, and to feed forward the fabric as rapidly as it is produced. In
those machines wherein elongated loops are formed on the inner face of the web,
separate threads are employed for the main or body portion and for the looped
portion of the fabric, the loops of such latter portion being produced by means of
bits or fingers which alternate with the needles in a manner to receive the
alternate loops and to support them during the descent of the needles. Heretofore
in the last-named class of machines, owing to their peculiar construction and mode
of operation sinkers have not been used; but instead the usual take-up weights
have been suspended from the web being knit. In the absence of sinkers in such
machines it has been very difficult to effect a uniform knitting of the looped-face
web, the additional or loop thread frequently escaping the needles, or the loop
extending bits, or both, particularly in reciprocating work. In order to obviate
the defects just stated my correspondent has devised a novel and efficient
construction and arrangement of sinker and loop extending mechanism and
co-acting thread-feeding device, which will be hereinafter fully described and
claimed, reference being had to the annexed drawings, in which―
Figure 1 is a vertical section through the head of a circular knitting machine, in
which the invention is embodied.
Figure 2 is a plan thereof.
i
Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating the relative positions of the needles, the sinker
and loop extending devices, the thread feed and the knitting cans.
Figure 4 is an elevation of one of the combined sinker and loop-extending
devices.
.
Figure 5 is an elevation of one of the sinkers.
Figure 6 is a partial development of the yarn-guide.
The numeral 1 designates the needle cylinder in which are contained the circular
series of vertically-reciprocative needles 2; 3 the rotatable ring or cylinder which
carries the knitting cams 4 for actuating the needles; 5 the radially grooved sinker-
supporting bed affixed. to the needle cylinder; 6 the radially-reciprocative sinkers
which alternate with the needles, and 7 the rotatable sinker cam ring which is
superimposed on the sinker bed-in a manner to co-act with the sinkers.
In pursuance of the invention there are two sets of sinkers, which are, in this
:

page_text: instance, disposed alternately in the sinker bed, although their order of arrange-
ment may be varied to meet special requirements. The sinkers (A) of one set are
or may be of ordinary construction, comprising each a thin blade provided with
tail or web-supporting portion a, an over-hanging hook or stitch-engaging portion a',
and a lug or cam-engaging portion a'. The tail is fitted to a radial groove or way
in the top of the needle cylinder, while the body of the blade is fitted to a
corresponding groove in the annular bed 5, the lug a extending into the path
traversed by the sinker actuating cams 8 in the rotatable ring 7. The sinkers
of the other set (B) are or may be identical with those just described, save that
the top of the over-hanging hook is extended upward to form a supplemental
loop-supporting portion b, the operation of which will hereinafter appear.
The numeral 9 designates the thread-guide, the same being supported in respect
to the needle books by the usual post 10 which is affixed to the cam cylinder. This
guide is provided with two eyes 11, 12 therein for the passage of the two
threads 13, 14, respectively; 13 being the main or body thread, and 14 the additional
or loop thread. The upper eye, 12, is elongated or slotted in respect to the lower
eye, so that during the traverse of the cylinder in either direction, whether in the
knitting of tubular or fashioned work, the loop-thread will be fed rearward of the
main thread to secure its proper introduction to the needles and sinker devices. So
far as the main thread is concerned, it is caught by the successive needles in the
usual manner and acted upon thereby to form the stitches which constitute the body
of the fabric, the hooks of the successive sinkers in both sets engaging the web as
ordinarily. On the other hand, the loop-thread, by reason of the angle in which it
is fed to the needles is only engaged by the hooks of the alternate sinkers A, the
intermediate wale being drawn by the descending needles upon the high portions b
of the sinkers B in a manner to form extended loops; that is to say, while the
thread is in the grasp of one descending needle during the formation of a stitch,
the thread as it extends from the hook of that needle to the thread guide rests
upon the raised portion of the adjacent sinker B, and hence in the descent of the
succeeding needle the wale is drawn upon such raised portion with the effect stated.
In the formation of the next stitch, the loop thread is combined with the main
thread in the knitting of the body of the fabric, and the plane sinker acts upon the
stitch in the usual way. Thus the extended loops are formed in alternate stitches
of each course. By varying the positions of the two sets of sinkers the order of
the loops may be changed.
The Dose of the loop-extending portion of each of the sinkers B is beveled
inwardly from the top to the notch or stitch-engaging, portion, as indicated at 6', 60
that during the inward movement of the sinker the main thread will be directed
downward to the tail of the sinker instead of being pressed inward and strained,
as would otherwise be the case. When the sinkers are retracted by the sinker
cams during the knitting of the successive courses, the loops are cast off the raised
portions of the sinkers, and during the inward movements of the sinkers the looped
courses are progressively fed forward with the body of the fabric.
The sinker actuating cams 8 in the ring are substantially the same as the like
parts set out in Letters Patent No. 1480. of 1891, save that the contour of their
inner edges is varied slightly to effect the proper inward throw of the two sets of
sinkers in respect to the needles. The said ring is actuated similarly to the
construction shown in said Patent, that is, the yarn-guide post, during the rotation
or the reciprocation of the cam cylinder, co-acts with lugs or projections on the cam
ring.
In order to effect the requisite movement of the needles to secure the proper
engagement of the threads thereby at the proper .time, my correspondent expands
the knitting cams longitudinally, that is, he elongates: the central cam and thus
increases the distance of the lateral stitch cams from the thread guide. This
construction is necessitated by the different: feeding angles of the two threads, such
different angles being requisite to insure the: proper working of the threads in
respect to the sinkers to attain the end in view.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, 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 a knitting machine, the combination, with the needles, their supporting and
operating parts, and means for feeding a plurality of threads to the needles, of
sinkers provided with stitch-engaging and loop-extending portions, the stitch--
engaging portions being constructed to engage the main thread and the loop-
extending portion being constructed to receive the other or loop thread, substantially
as described.
2. In a knitting machine, the combination, with the needles, and their supporting
and operating parts, of two sets of sinkers, one set being provided with stitch-
engaging portions and the other set being provided with stitch-engaging and
loop-extending portions, and means for operating said sinkers, substantially as
described.
3. In a knitting machine, the combination, with the needles and their supporting
and operating parts, of two sets of alternating sinkers, one set being provided with.
stitch-engaging portions and the other set being provided with stitch-engaging and.
loop-extending portions, substantially as described.
4. In a knitting machine, the combination with the needles, their supporting
and operating parts, and a thread-guide provided with two thread-feeding eyes, one
of which is elongated, as described, of two sets of sinkers, whereof one set is
provided with stitch-engaging portions and the other set is provided with stitch-
engaging and loop-extending portions, together with means for operating said
sinkestantially as described.
5. In a knitting machine, the combination, with the needle cylinder, its needles,.
the cam carrier, the cam therein extended as described, and a thread guide
provided with two thread feeding eyes one of which is elongated, of radially
movable sinkers provided with stitch-engaging and loop-extending portious, and
means for operating said sinkers, substantially as described.
6. The described sinker and loop extender provided with a tail or wale-supporting
portion, a hook or stitch-engaging portion, and a raised or loop-extending portion,
substantially as described.
7. The described sinker and loop extender provided with a tail or wale-supporting
portion, a hook or stitch-engaging portion, and a raised or loop-extending portion
with an inwardly beveled nose, substantially as described.
Dated this 9th day of December 1895.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.