US795179A - Needle-holder for knitting-machines. - Google Patents

Description

No. 795,179. PATENTED JULY 18,1905.

E. TOMPKINS.

NEEDLE HOLDER FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 11,1904.

Ill

1 A l III WITNESSES INVENTOI? fimcbwdf 1 27765? 75/30/0775 Patented July 18, 1905.

PATENT tries.-

ERNEST TOMPKINS, OF TROY, NEW' YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FREDERICK l/V. J. MGKIBBIN, OF TROY, NEW YORK.

NEEDLE-HOLDER FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 795,179, dated July 18, 1905.

Application filed July 11, 1904. Serial No. 216,039.

ting-machines, and has particular reference to machines in which the needles are attached to the periphery of cylinders. There are at present in common use two kinds of cylinders for spring-needle machines, that most commonly used being called the leadedneedle-cylinder, in which the needles are cast in lead bases that can be clamped to the periphery of the cylinder under an overhanging flange on the upper edge thereof in the most common construction. In this kind of machine the needles are held in good alinement and the metal base being broader than the needle gives a securer hold for the needle-cap and the base being generally of soft metal, such as lead, will yield a little at the'place where the needle enters, so that the latter is not as liable to break off at the shank or at the point of connection to the cylinder as it is in machines in which the needles are directly clamped between hard-metal surfaces. The leaded needles, moreover, can be held very securely, and if they wear loose in their bases the base can be replaced again. A. plurality of needles may be cast in one base for some classes of work, which lessens the difficulty of assembling them. Further, the cylinder for the leaded needles may be conveniently made on one piece, which enables it to be turned very true and gives a better alinement and feed. to the needles. There are various disadvantages in this class of needles, however, among which is the difficulty of assembling'the needles in alinement, owing to the lack of any vertical support therefor while they are being placed in the machine, they being retained in position and supported. by a single clamp. They are also liable to be burred in cutting or trimbent at right angles.

ming or casting, so that the adjacent needles (whose bases should lit very closely together in this class of machines) will sometimes be unevenly separated, and owing to their bases abutting directly against each other it sometimes happens that the needles are tipped slightly, and these difficulties are enhanced when needles have to be replaced, as the new bases will seldom fit accurately in place of an old one, and although the arrangement of needles when first set up may be perfect the wear and compression thereon soon causes disarrangement of the needles from true alinement,

and this difliculty is enhanced when changes or substitution of needles are required. While these defects are very minute in each instance, they nevertheless result in imperfect work and in the aggregate become very serious. Another style of cylinder commonly used is what is called the trick-cylinder, which is usually made in two pieces, a hub and what may be called a removable trick-top. This top is milled with a series of parallel grooves 01' tricks in its periphery and radial coincident grooves in its end edge, and the needles in this class of cylinders have their lower ends Their shanks it in the vertical grooves or tricks, and they are bent off into the groove. The advantages of this construction are that the trick-needles are accurately spaced and are not liable to vary, as do the leaded needles. The trick-needles cannot tip out of vertical position, as the shanks are held vertically in alinement by the tricks; neither can they crowd each other, as leaded needles frequently do, owing to variation in the metal bases. dles in the cylinder is fixed and is not liable to change, and if a needle breaks only one needle has to be removed, while the leaded needles frequently have a plurality of needles in one base, and if one breaks all the needles have to be thrown away.

The disadvantages of the trick-cylinder are that the needles frequently break off at the bend, which renders it very troublesome to replace them. They are held in place by a front cushion of leather or other soft material, which indents and does not hold the nee The number of trick-needie securely in time. The trick-cylinder cannot be replaced readily and will not hold the needle securely after it has once become worn.

There are other disadvantages of both the leaded-needle construction and the trick-needle construction which it is unnecessary to point out here,thefo1:egoing being sufficient to enable one familiar with the art to comprehend the nature and advantages of my invention, which is designed to retain all the advantages of both the leaded and trick cylinder eonstructions and has additional advantages of its own and eliminates all the disadvantages inherentto the leaded-needle cylinder and trick-needle cylinder which are above pointed out.

I will now proceed to describe my improvestanding thereof, and refer to the claims following the description for concise summaries of the features for which. protection is desired.

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a detail plan view of part of my combinationcylinder, partly in section and showing the needles in position, but greatly exaggerated. Fig. 2 is a detail section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Figs. 3

and 4 are detailface views of part of the cylinder embodying my improvements. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the needles detached. Figs. 6 and 7 are detail side and sectional views of a modification.

A designates the needle-cylinder, which is preferably made in one piece, although it may be made in sections if desired to change the gage frequently. This cylinder has a circumferentialgroove B in its outer face at the point where the needles are attached, and it has in this face a series of vertical tricks or grooves. C, which are at right angles to the groove B- The needles E are of ordinary construction, but are provided with cast-metal bases F, which are shaped on their inner faces, as My, to engage the tricks C in the face of the cylinder, by which the needle will be kept in vertical alinement and prevented from lateral displacement. The bases also have projecting lugs f, which engage the groove B and support the needle-base and prevent vertical movement of the needles. By means of the tricks 0 and groove B the needle-bases and. attached needles are kept from displacement both laterally and longitudinally, and

when the bases are secured by means of the usual clamping-plates G it is impossible for the needles to get out of alinement. The clamp-plates G may be fastened by bolts g, tapped into the cylinder, as indicated in the drawings. One or more needles may be cast in each base F, if desired. If desired, the inner face of the plates Ur maybe faced with leather or soft material 5 to contact with the ed, as the bases cannot move sidewise.

them securely to the cylinder.- By this arrangement not only is the alinement of the exposed portions of the needles obtained by mechanical means, but I obtain exact correct spacing-and exact vertical position or alinement of the needles. They cannot be crowd- Nevertheless, the needles have a substantial base,

which affords asecure hold for the needlecaps, and are not liable to break at the shank, as they are in. the ordinary trick-cylinder. The needles can be held in the molds, so that when the base is cast upon them they will be in true position, and these bases when assem bled in my improved combination-cylinder as shown in the drawings will be in exact alinement. The needles usually warp or bend in the shanks, and this bond will be taken care of in the metal base.

It will be seen that my needles havea lead ed baseand can be more readily handled than the ordinary. trick-needles, are securely held in exact parallelism and cannot move laterally or vertically, and can be placed and will remain in position until the clamps are. properly secured, and do not have to be held in place until the clamps are adjusted.

In the modification shown in Figs. 6 and 7 the cylinder is provided with a series of peri1)herally-projecting trick-lugs H, which are arranged vertically and parallel, one lug for each needle-base, and the needle-bases F are provided with thick sockets F of a size and shape corresponding to the lugs H and adapted to lit over the latter, and thus hold the needles in alinement vertically and horizontally and prevent displacement of the needles in any direction.

Obviously other modifications of construction may suggest themselves, and I do not wish to restrict myself to the specific forms shown in the drawings, although the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 l. now'deein preferable; but 1 believe myself to be the lirst to have used a cylinder provided with means for engagement with the leaded bases of the needle, whereby such needles are individually held so they cannot be displaced laterally or longitudinally.

Iilaving thus described my invention, I clain1' 1. A cylinder nevided with tricks in combination with needles attached to bases adapted to engage the tricks and hold the needles stationary.

2. A cylinder provided with tricks in combination with needles having leaded bases to en gage the tricks and hold the need lcs stationary.

3. A needle-cylinder having vertical tricks and a circumferential groove; with needles having leaded bases adapted to engage the tricks and groove.

4. A knitting-maclline-cylinder having a circumferential groove and vertical tricks, and

outer surfaces of the needle-bases and clamp l needles having leaded bases adapted to engage the tricks, and provided With lugs adapted to engage the groove.

5. In combination, a knitting-machine cylinder having vertical tricks in its periphery, and a circumferential groove in its periphery intersecting the tricks, and needles having leaded bases adapted to engage the tricks and the groove of the cylinder.

6. In combination, a knitting-machine cylinder having vertical tricks in its periphery angular in cross-section, and a circumferential groove in its periphery intersecting the tricks, and needles having bases adapted to engage the tricks and provided with lugs to engage the groove of the cylinder.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I aflix mysignature in presence of tWo Witnesses. ERNEST TOMPKINS.

In presence of WARREN L. PACKARD, FREDK. W. J. MGKIBBIN.

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