IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THE MANU- FACTURE OF GLOVES, MITTENS, STOCKINGS, AND THE LIKE
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES, CHIEFLY DESIGNED FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF GLOVES, MITTENS, STOCKINGS, AND THE LIKE." A communica-
tion from abroad by the Company J. A. Tholozan et Cio, of Nimes, France,
Manufacturers.
Sealed the 30th March 1880, and dated the 10th October 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th October 1879.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES, CHIEFLY
DESIGNED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GLOVES, MITTENS, STOCKINGS, AND THE LIKE.'
[A communication from abroad by the Company J. A. Tholozan et Cie., of Nimes,
France, Manufacturers.]
"
The said Invention relates to improvements in the construction of knitting
machines, having two channelled plates opposite each other, and provided with self-
acting needles similar to those employed in the well known "Lamb Buxtorf
Machines," and has for its object the manufacture of tubular articles with a con-
tinuous web, and in which I substitute for the tube in the course of manufacture
one or more smaller tubes of equal or varying diameters, without diminution of
needles and without dissolution of the continuity of the material from which they
are continued.
My improvements are especially applicable to the manufacture of gloves, in which
the four finger tubes are substituted for the single tube for the hand portion of
the said glove; for mittens, in which a small tube for the thumb is employed in
connection with the large tube for the hand, and also for cuffs, wristbands, stockings
having toes, and the like.
In constructing a knitting machine having two parallel channelled plates according
to this Invention I modify the cams which act upon the needle feet, and arrange
several thread guides upon a single bar which is carried along in the movement of
the carrier, the said machine being arranged to be worked by hand or mechanically,
as desired.

page_text: The said Invention is carried into practice as follows, that is to say:-The said
machine is provided with a suitable frame upon which the channelled plates which
carry the two rows of needles are arranged. The said needles are formed as
ordinarily with a hook and a latch or guard, and each of the said needles is
arranged to slide in a slot in the said channelled plate, and is retained at its lower
portion by a kind of bolt having a spring action to maintain the same in place, but
which may be readily moved. By this means a certain number of needles may be
rendered inoperative if desired.
Upon the said grooved or channelled plate slides a carriage carrying cams, and
operated by a connecting rod pivotted to the crank handle to be turned by the hand
of the operator.
At the extremities of the frame two supports are arranged upon which a rectilinear
longitudinal bar rests, the said bar having arranged upon it, in the direction of its
length, the thread guides; this bar is provided with marks or divisions, and the
space between two of such divisions is equal to the distance between two needles in
the channelled plate.
1 I am thus enabled to vary at will the position of the thread guides, as the same
may be fixed in such a manner as to always correspond with a determined number
of needles.
The aforesaid bar carrying the thread guides is movable in the direction of
its length as follows, that is to say:-At one of its extremities the said bar
is connected through the medium of an arm to a kind of slide which is drawn
along by friction by the aforesaid carriage; this friction is produced by the
action of a small spiral spring. The resistance however of this spring is over-
come by the friction between the said thread guide bar and the supports upon
the frame. These supports limit the maximum travel of the thread guides in
both directions, and for this purpose the thread guide bar carries the said arm or
tappet, whose position may be varied as desired, and which also serves to connect
the said thread guide bar to the slide. Another arm or tappet, which rests like a
fork upon the said bar, is always fixed with a capability of adjustment upon a rod
pivotted upon a support, which may be attached at any desired point to the thread
guide bar. The said pivotted rod constitutes a kind of disengaging or stopping
gear, that is to say, when it is raised the large tube may be formed, and when
lowered the small tubes are formed.
The travel which is thus imparted to the thread guide bar by the aforesaid arms
or tappets is equivalent to that which is necessary to put in action the maximum
number of needles necessary for the manufacture of the largest sized tube to be
obtained.
Each thread guide is secured in place upon the thread guide bar by means of a
pressure screw which fixes the support of the said thread guide in position. The
rod or shank of each of the said thread guides is, strictly speaking, maintained at a
suitable height by means of the elastic pressure produced upon a pin upon which a
flat or other spring acts; at its lower end the said shank is provided with a small
boss or eye through which the thread passes.
I will now proceed to describe my improved arrangement of cams, which are
three in number, that is to say, the first cam is triangular in form, and is capable of
rising and falling at each termination of movement. The said cam for this purpose
is provided with a pin which is capable of movement in a stationary vertical slot,
and engages with an oblique slot formed in a sliding piece guided in its movements
by small pins and susceptible of horizontal displacement at each termination of
movement. The said sliding piece projects at the back of the aforesaid carriage,
and at each end of the stroke is struck by one or the other of two stops or projec-
tions, one towards the right and the other towards the left. These stops are
arranged to slide, and are maintained in position by screws so that the said stops
may be moved forwards or backwards at will, so that they may either act or not
act upon the aforesaid sliding pieces of the cams.
When the said carriage is moved to the right and reaches the end of its movement

page_text: the stop strikes the sliding piece and forces the same towards the left, and the
triangular cam is thereby caused to descend. When the said carriage then travels
toward the left the other stop strikes the said sliding piece, and thus causes the
aforesaid cam to re-ascend, a spring being arranged to hold the said sliding piece in
either of its positions.
The second cam is also of triangular form and is stationary, that is to say, it is
not displaced during each movement like the first cam, but may be moved by a
regulating screw; this cam is guided in its movement by pins engaging in oblique
slots. The object of this displacement is to produce the proper tightening of
the loop.
The third cam is immovably fixed.
When the carriage is at the right hand end of its stroke the first named cam is
lowered as above explained, and each needle foot being engaged by the said cam, the
needles are raised and remain in that position until the feet are engaged by the
third cam, which causes the said needles to descend slightly. The needles are then
in a position to be supplied with thread by the thread-guides, the thread being
supplied to the said needles during the retrograde movement, that is to say, from
the left to the right. In this movement the first named cam is raised. The feet
of the needles, which are in the same position as that determined by the third
named cam, re-engage with the second named cam, which causes them to descend
and all the feet of the needles pass below the horizontal surface of the first named
cain.
The needles in descending take up the threads one after the other, and according
to the position of the second named cam the loops are more or less close or tight.
In the next movement from right to left the same operations are repeated, the
needles reascending and disengaging the stitches made during the preceding
movement, and so on.
The same movements are produced under the same conditions with regard to
both sets of needles, and continuously, a tubular material being thereby formed.
For the sake of example, and in order to enable the action of my improved
machine to be better understood, I will explain the process of manufacturing a
knitted glove.
The range of movement of the thread-guide-bar is first adjusted so that it will
work with a single thread guide to form the hand portion of the said glove. For
this purpose a single thread-guide is lowered, the three other thread guides
being raised. When the hand portion is completed the changing mechanism in
connection with the thread-guide-bar is lowered, and the four necessary thread
guides are lowered and brought into action to complete the four fingers; the said
mechanism being lowered has for its object to limit the movement to that necessary
for forming the small tube, that is to say, the said movement is one fourth of that
required for forming the hand portion of the said glove.
The positions of the thread-guides on the throad-guide-bar are regulated in such
a manner as to make the tubes equal or unequal. Although all the thread-guides
have the same movement the extreme tubes may be smaller by disengaging a certain
number of needles which are not charged with thread, the thread guides travelling
empty in front of the needles thus disengaged.
It is evident from the above description that if the length of the machine permits,
several articles may be simultaneously manufactured on one machine by employing
several sets of thread-guides, the operation being exactly the same as that above
described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 10th
April 1880.
"
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNITTING MACHINES, CHIEFLY
DESIGNED FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF GLOVES, MITTENS, STOCKINGS, AND THE LIKE.”
A communication from abroad by the Company J. A. Tholozan et Cie., of Nimes,
France, Manufacturers.
This Invention relates to improvements in the construction of knitting machines
having two channelled plates opposite each other, and provided with self acting
needles similar to those employed in the well known Lamb or Buxtorf machines,
and has for its object the manufacture of tubular articles with a continuous web.
According to this Invention I extend or continue from one tube in the course of
manufacture one or more smaller tubes of equal or varying diameters without
diminution of needles, and without interruption of the continuity of the material
from which they are extended. The said improvements are especially applicable to
the manufacture of gloves, in which the four finger-tubes form an extension or
continuation of the single tube forming the hand portion of the said glove; to
mittens, in which a small tube for the thumb is added to the large tube forming the
the hand, and also to cuffs, wristbands, stockings having toes, and the like.
In constructing a knitting machine with two parallel channelled plates according
to this Invention I modify the cams which act upon the needle-feet, and arrange
several thread-guides upon a single bar which is carried along in the movement of
the carrier, the said machine being arranged to be worked by hand or mechanically,
as desired.
Figure 2 is a plan, and
Figure 3, a transverse section of a knitting machine constructed according to
this Invention, and adapted to be operated by hand.
Figure 4 represents one of the needles employed in my improved machine, drawn
to an enlarged scale.
Figure 5 is a face view, drawn to an enlarged scale, of my improved arrangement
of cams, the cast iron framing being removed, and
Figure 6 is a transverse section of the same.
Figures 7 and 8 are diagrams illustrating different positions of the cams,
hereinafter described.
Figure 9 shews a portion of the bar carrying the thread guides.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the Drawing.
A represents the frame of the machine upon which the channelled plates B which
carry the two rows of needles a are arranged. The said needles, one of which is
shewn in Figure 4, are formed in the ordinary manner with a hook b and a latch
or guard c; each of the said needles slides in a groove d in the channelled plate, and
is retained at its lower end by a bar or bolt e having a spring action to maintain
the same in place, but which may be readily moved or drawn back. Therefore a
certain number of needles may be rendered inoperative if desired.
Upon the grooved or channelled plates slides a cam carrying carriage C, operated
by a connecting rod D pivoted to the crank-lever E, which is turned by the hand
of the operator.
Laterally to the frame are placed the supports F, F, which sustain the arms G, G¹,
connected by the rod G². Each of these arins carries two friction-rollers i, which
serve to guide the flat plate or bar Q carrying the thread-guides H. By thus

page_text: supporting the bar Q on the arms G, G', which are hinged or arranged to turn with
the rod G³ as a centre, the said bar and the thread-guides upon the same may be
turned or thrown back to uncover the plates B and the needles to facilitate the
removal of the work from the machine. The bar Q can, when required, be provided
with marks or divisions, the space between two of such divisions being equal to the
distance between two needles in the channelled plate. I am thus enabled to vary
at will the position of the thread-guides, as the same may be fixed in such a manner
as to always correspond with a determined number of needles.
The bar carrying the thread-guides is movable in the direction of its length, as
follows, that is to say:-The said bar is secured by an arm g to a slide f, which is
drawn along by the carriage C, being held thereto by friction due to the action of a
small spiral spring g'. The resistance however of this spring is overcome by the
obstruction offered to the thread-guide-bar Q in one direction of its movement by
the arm G¹, against which the bent portion or extension Q of the bar Q abuts or
strikes, and in the other direction of its movement by the pin or stud h, which
comes in contact with a stop-piece j, which is so hinged upon the axis of the upper
friction-roller i that it may be raised to permit the pin or stud to pass without
stopping the bar Q at the commencement of the work when making the hand portion
of a glove. When the pivotted piece j is raised, the machine so operates as to form
the large tube, and when the said piece is lowered it constitutes a controlling or
changing device, to so control the movements of the machine as to form the small
tubes.
The travel which is thus imparted to the bar carrying the thread-guides is
equivalent to that which is necessary to put in action the maximum number of
needles necessary for the manufacture of a tube of the largest diameter to be
produced.
When the said machine is to be employed for making tubes of different
diameters, the entire and diminished distance of travel of the thread-guide-bar Q
can be varied.
Each thread-guide may be secured in place upon the bar Q by means of a
pressure-screw. The rod or shank H of each of the said thread-guides is strictly
speaking maintained in its support j¹ by friction only. At the lower part the rod H
is provided with a small socket or eye m through which the thread & guided by the
eye n passes.
I will now proceed to describe my improved arrangement of cams which are
illustrated in Figures 5 to 8, and which are three in number. The first cam L is
triangular in form, and is capable of rising and falling at the termination of each
endwise movement of the carriage. The said cam for this purpose is provided with
a pin o, which is capable of movement in a stationary vertical slot p, and engages
with the oblique slot q formed in a sliding piece r, guided in its movement by the
small pins 8, and susceptible of horizontal displacement at the termination of each
end wise movement of the carriage. For this purpose the said sliding piece ṛ projects
at the back of the carriage C, and at the termination of each of its end wise move-
ments is struck by one or the other of two stops or projections M, M¹, one
towards the right, and the other towards the left hand end of the machine.
When the said carriage is travelling in the direction indicated by the arrow y
and reaches the end of its movement the stop M strikes the sliding piece r and
forces the same towards the left, and the cam L is thereby caused to descend.
When the carriage travels towards the left, that is to say, in the direction indicated.
by the arrow y', the said sliding piece strikes the stop M' and thus causes the
cam L to reascend. A spring t maintains the sliding piece in either of its
positions.
The second cam N is also of triangular form, but is stationary, that is to say, it
is not displaced during each movement of the parts, like the cam L. The said
cam N, however, can be moved to modify the closeness of the work; for this
purpose the said cam is provided with a pink which is capable of movement in an
oblique slot g; this pin is attached to a rack gearing with a pinion u, whose axis

page_text: carries a pointer, which by its position on a dial provided with divisions indicates
the corresponding position of the cam N. This cam is guided in its movements by
the pins or studs g¹, g², engaging in the oblique slots b.
The third cam O is immovably fixed. When the cam carrying carriage is at the
right hand end of its movement the cam L is lowered, as above explained; the
cams are then in position for a movement from right to left, as shown in the
diagram, Figure 7. In this movement, each needle foot being engaged by the cam L,
the needles are raised, and remain in that position until the feet are engaged by
the cam O, which causes the said needles to descend slightly. These needles are
then in a position to be supplied with thread by the thread-guides, the supply takes
place during the retrograde movement, that is to say, the movement from the left
to the right. In this movement the cam L is raised, as shewn in Figure 8. The
feet of the needlos, which are then in the same position as that determined by the
cam O, engage with the cam N, which causes them to descend, and all the feet of
the needles pass below the horizontal surface of the cam L.
The needles in descending in the channelled plate take up the threads one after
the other, and according to the position of the cam N the work will be more or less
close or tight.
In the next movement, from right to left, the same operations are repeated, the
needles reascending and disengaging the stitches made during the preceding
movement, and so on.
The same movements are produced under the same conditions with regard to
both sets of needles and continuously, a tubular material being thereby formed.
For the sake of example, and in order to enable the action of my improved
machine to be better understood, I will explain the process of manufacturing a
knitted glove.
The range of movement of the thread-guide-bar Q is first adjusted so that it will
work with a single thread-guide H to form the hand portion of the said glove.
For this purpose a single thread-guide is lowered and the three other thread-
guides raised, as shown in Figure 9. When the hand portion is completed the
changing devicej in connection with the thread-guide-bar is lowered, and the
four necessary thread-guides are lowered, as shewn in Figure 1, and brought into
action to make the four fingers; when the changing device ; is thus lowered it
limits the short movement or travel to the extent necessary for forming the largest
of the small tubes, for example, the said movement is one fourth of that required
for forming the hand portion of the said glove. The positions of the thread-guides
on the bar are regulated in such a manner as to make the tubes equal or unequal.
Although all the thread-guides have the same movement, the outer tubes may be
made smaller by disengaging a certain number of needles which are not charged
with thread, the thread-guides travelling empty in front of the needles thus
disengaged. The tapering of the web, when desired, may be effected by the means
already in use in such machines, and when a thumb is to be applied it may be
made with or without taper, and added by any known or suitable means.
It is evident from the above description that if the length of the machine permits,
several articles may be simultaneously manufactured on the same machine by
employing several sets of thread-guides, the operation being exactly the same as
that above described. Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawing shew a machine adapted to
make two gloves at the same time.
My improved machine constructed as above described can be employed for the
manufacture of knitted tubular fabrics of all kinds, although, as above stated, it is
especially applicable to the manufacture of gloves, mittens, cuffs, wristbands,
stockings with toes, and the like, and the said machines may be made of any
desired dimensions and of any suitable materials.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim,
First. For the manufacture of knitted fabrics a knitting machine having two

page_text: opposed channelled plates, and constructed and operating to manufacture such
fabrics with contiguous tubes of equal or unequal diameters, without diminution or
displacement of needles, any one of which tubes may be replaced by smaller tubes
without a break or interruption in the continuity of the fabric of which they form
an extension.
Second. The application to a knitting machine having two opposed channelled
plates and self-acting needles of thread-guides carried by a single bar, as above set
forth and for the purpose specified.
Third. The arrangement of the cams which act upon the feet of the needles, as
above described.
Fourth. The application to any existing knitting machine provided with two
longitudinally paralled opposed channelled plates of the thread-guides and cams
and the other improvements, as above set forth and for the purposes specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.