US743152A - Knitting-machine needle. - Google Patents

Description

No. 743,152. PATENTED NOV. 3,1903.

A. GURR-IER.

KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLE.

APPLIOATION FILED we. 2e. 19o1.

N0 MODEL.

wnaesses':

4 KW -m UNITED STATES :Patented November 3, 1903".

PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR CURRIER, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR IO DODGE NEEDLE COMPANY, OF MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

KNITTING-MACHINE NEEDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of l etters Patent No. 743,152, dated November 3, 1903. Application filed August 26, 1901. Serial No. 73 ,378. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;-

Be it known that I, ARTHUR OURE1ER,a citizen of the United States, residing at Manchester, in the county of Hillsboro and State of New Hampshire,have invented an Improvement in Knitting-Machine Needles, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like numerals on the drawings representing like parts.

Needles for knittingmachines are commonly made by providing the body of the needle with a slot in which the end of the latch is pivoted, a pivot-pin being passed for this purpose and being headed'over at its ends to retain it in place. One objection to this construction is that it is very diflicult to spread or head over the end of the pivotpin, so as not to leave a slight bur or roughness which will catch on the fiber of the yarn andinjurethesame. Variousexpedientshave been resorted to to cure this objection, one of them being to insert the pivot-pin into a drilled hole in the body of the needle, said pivot-pin passing through the usual eye in the end of the latch and being shorter than the width of the body of the needle, whereby the ends of pivot-pin are below the surrounding surface of the side walls of the needle. pivot-pin in place, the body of the needle was swaged or upset, so that portions thereof were displaced to partially close the drilled hole therein, the displaced metal overlapping the ends of the pivot-pin and operating to rtetain it in place. This manner of securing the pivot-pin in place, however, has not been entirely successful, because it isextrelnely:

difficult to locate a pivot-pin centrally in the needle-body, so that its opposite ends are supported uniformly in the body of the needle,: as is necessary to make a perfect needle.

Moreover, difficulty has been experienced in making the countersinks in the opposite sides of the needle of uniform depth, this difficulty arising from the fact that the walls of the needle are very thin and the pivot-pin is apt to have its ends extended unequally into the body of the needle. lthas also been proposed to secure the pivot-pin in place by first making a comparatively deep counter- To hold the sink in the side walls of the needle and heading over the ends of the pivot-pin into said countersink in such a way that the edges of the heads on the pivot-pin are below the surrounding surface of the side walls of the needle. This form of needle, however, is objectionable, because the making of the comparatively large countersinks in the side Walls thereof materially weakens the needle at the very point where the most strain comes thereon and where the needle needs to be the strongest. Moreover, experience has demonstrated that even though when the needle is first made according to this method the head of the pivot-pin is carried below the side walls of the needle; yet after the needle has been in use some time the pivot invariably works loose and the thin edges of the heads of the pin will project above the surrounding surface of the side walls of the needle, thus forming a bur or roughness which will catch the fiber of the yarn. Still another'way in which needles have been constructed isto provide the side walls of the needles with the usual countersinks into which the ends of the pivot-pins are headed or spread, as usual. The headed ends of the pivot-pins and a portion of the surrounding side walls of the needles have then been dressed off by a revolving tool to form countersinks, so that the ends of the pivot-pins are carried below the surface of the side walls of the needle. It has been found in practice, however, that a revolving tool will leave a rough edge surrounding the countersink, and such rough edge is sufficient to catch and pull the fine fibers of delicate yarns, thereby unfittin g a needle constructed as above described for many classes of work. Another disadvantage in this form of needle is that in forming the countersinks by dressing ofi or removing the portion of the needlebody the said body is thereby weakened.

It is the object of my invention to provide a novel form of knitting-machine needle which will do away with all of the disadvantages above named and which at the same time will be so constructed that there is no bur or other roughness which can engage and pull the fiber of the yarn. Accordingly I provide my needle-body and latch with the usual drilled hole, in which the usual pivot-pin of suitable length is'inserted, and after the pivotpin has been put in place it is shortened either by cutting or grinding oif or hammering down the ends of the pin until itis of a length subthereof, the hole in the latch being enough larger than the upset pivot-pin to leave the latch free to turn on the pivot-pin. This operation of the punches compresses the mateterial of the needle-body to forma depression in each side of the needle and at the same time shortens or compresses the ends of the pivot-pin and carries the said ends below the surface of the surrounding side walls of the needle, the ends of the pivot-pin constituting and lying substantially flush with or a little below the bottoms of the depressions.

The operation of shortening the pivot-pin in the body of the needle operates to swell the same to thereby completely fill the hole in the body of the needle, whereby the pivot-pin is firmly held in place and at the same time the ends of the pivot are carried below the surrounding side walls of the needle, a feature which experience has proved is necessary in this class of devices. Moreover, by forming the depressions by compression instead of by removing a part of the metal to form usual countersinks it will be seen that the full original strength of the needle-body is preserved at the point where the said body is weakest and is subjected to the most strain.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a knitting-machine needle embody ing my invention. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are transverse sections through the needle at the pivotpin, said figures showing the needle in different stages of completion. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are also transverse sections of the needle at the pivot-pin, showing a slightly-modified form of needle in its different stages of contruction; and Fig. 8 is a side view of a portion of the completed needle.

The body 3 of the needle may be of any usual or suitable construction and has pivoted in a slot in the end thereof the usual latch 41:.

To obtain a needle which has no roughness or bur at the head of the pivot, I construct the needle as follows: The body 3 is provided with the usual hole drilled therein for the reception of the pivot-pin 5, said pivot-pin passing throughthe body of the needle and through the hole or eye 6 in the end of the latch 4, the hole or eye 6 being somewhat larger than the hole in the body of the needle, as shown in the drawings. After the pivot-pin, which is longer than the width of the body of the needle, is inserted through the body of the needle and the eye 6 of the latch, as shown in Fig. 2, the said pivot-pin is shortened in any suitable way until the ends thereof stand substantially flush with the side walls of the needle, as shown in Fig. 3. The pivot-pin may be shortened in any suitable way, and in the form shown in Figs. 2 to 4 the same would preferably be either cut off or removed by a grinding process until the ends of the pivot came flush with the side walls of the needle. Thereafter I subject the pivot-pin in the condition of Fig. 3 to the action of two suitable dies or punches 7 8, having convex faces and being preferably slightly larger in diameter than the pivot-pin. As these punches or dies approach each other they act upon the ends of the pivot-pin and also upon a portion of the body of the needle immediately surrounding the ends of the pivot-pin, the said punches depressing the walls of the needle-body, as at 9, and at the same time shortening and enlarging the pivot-pin 5, whereby the end portions thereof are made to completely fill the aperture or hole in the side walls of the needle and the ends thereof are in position to form the bottoms of the depressions 9, as seen in Fig. 4. At the same time this shortening process of the pivot-pin enlarges the central portion thereof, as at 10, to fill the aperture or eye 6 in the latch 4;, as illustrated. In this modification the end portions of the pivotpin are of substantially uniform diameter and have no heads thereon; but by my process of construction the said pivot-pin is made to fit the holes in the needle-body so tightly that the said pivot-pin cannot become loosened. Furthermore, none of the metal of the needlebody is removed in making the depressions, and therefore the full strength of the said body is preserved at its weakest point.

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 show a slightly different way of arriving at substantially the same result, and in this case the side walls of the needle are provided with slight countersinks 19, which are so small as not to appreciably affect the strength of the needle. The pivotpin 5 of a suitable length is inserted in the body of the needle, as usual and as shown in Fig. 5, and the said pivot-pin is shortened until the ends thereof are substantially flush with the side walls of the needle, as shown in Fig. 6. This shortening of the pivot-pin may be accomplished in a variety of ways; but preferably the ends of said pin are spread to form small heads 20, which fill the countersinks 19 and come substantially flush with the side walls of the needle. Thereafter the needle is placed between suitable dies 7 8, which, as above described, have convex spherical ends and which are slightly larger in diameter than the small heads 20 on theends of the pivot-pins. The dies form by compression the depressions 9 in the side walls of the needle, the act of making the depressions serving to shorten the pivot lengthwise by compressionand swell or bulge the same centrally thereof, as at 10, as above described. In this modification of myinvention the countersinks 19 and the small heads 20 on the pivot-pins are carried by compression below the surrounding side walls of the needle and the ends of the pivot-pins come substantially flush with and form the bottoms of the depressions 9.

Referring to Fig. 8, it will be seen that since the dies are circular in cross-section the depressions 9 9 will be circular, whereby the ends of the pivot-pin are concentric with the said depressions and the material in the side walls of the needle adjacent the ends of the pivot-pin is uniformly compressed.

Two important and necessary features in knitting-machine-needle construction are inherent in both of the above forms. In the first place, the ends of the pivots, whether headed or not, are carried below the surrounding side walls of the needles, and this is done in such a way as to leave no bur or other roughness which can catch or pull the fiber of even the most delicate yarn, and, in the second place, the formation of the depressions is not accompanied by any removing of the metal of the needle and a consequent weakening of the needle at the very place Where it should be the strongest.

Another advantage which I would call attention to is that by having the pivot of a length substantially equal to the width of the needle-body prior to the action of the dies the pivot-pin is maintained in its central position in the body of the needle, a result which is very difficult of accomplishment where the pivot-pin before it is shortened or compressed is shorter than the width of th needle-body.

I desire to state that various changes may be made in the structure of the device withoutdeparting from the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims.

This application is a continuation of and has been filed to take the place of my former application, Serial No. 737,407, filed November 8, 1899.

i Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. A knitting-machine needle comprising a body having a latch mounted on a pivot-pin, the'said pivot-pin and the side walls of the body adjacent the ends of the pin being compressed to form depressions, the compressed ends of the pins coinciding with the bottom of the said depressions. e

2. A knitting-machine needle comprising a body, a latch and a pivot-pin in said body upon which said latch is loosely'mounted, the side walls of the body adjacent the ends of thepins being compressed to form depressions, the ends of the pins being flush with and forming a portion of the bottoms of the said depressions.

3. A knitting-machine needle comprising a body, a latch, and a pivot-pin in said body upon which said latch is loosely mounted, the outer side walls of said body having that portion which surrounds and is concentric with the ends of the pivot-pin compressed to form depressions, the pivot-pin also being compressed longitudinally thereof and the ends of said pin when compressed being flush with and forming a portion of the bottom of the ARTHUR OURRIER.

Witnesses:

A. B. DODGE, ETHEL M. TUFTS.

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