USRE948E - Improvement in knitting-machines - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES CLARK TOMPKINS, OF TROY, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN KNITTING-MACHINES.

Specification forming parts of Let-ters Patent No. 16,297, dated December 23, 1853, Reissue No. 94S., lcated April 24, 1860. V

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be itknown that I, CLAnKToMrKrNs, ofthe city of Troy, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement on the Take-UpMechanism for Rotary Knittin g-Machines described in Letters Patent No. 13,586, issued to myself and John Johnson, September 18, 1885; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same,`reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of that portion of the take-up mechanism to which my invention particularly relates; Fig. 2, a longitudinal sectional elevation, and Fig. 3 a vertical cross-section.

The same letters refer to like parts in all the iigures, and the directions of motion of the parts are indicated by the arrows thereon.

In the take-up mechanism described in the Letters Patent above referred to the web is drawn from the needlecylin der and wound up by a friction or draft roller, driving an incumbent take-up roller movin gin grooves to adapt itself to the increasing size of the roll of web thereon. This draft-roller, which cannot slip on the web, is there made to positively revolve on its axis a certain uniform amount for a given number of revolutions of the needle-cylinder, whether the web is produced fast or slow. That arrangement of mechanism, when once adjusted, gives uniform tension to the web only while the web is produced at the exact speed for which the mechanism is regulated.

Yarn used for knitting varies in size, sometimes running larger andl sometimes smaller than its standard size. Fine yarn takes up77 less than coarse in knitting, and since the whole body of the fabric is formed of one, or at most of three or four, threads, when the yarn is only a very little finer than its number 7 the length of the web produced by a given number of revolutions of the needle cylinder is considerably less than when the yarn is of the standard size.

When the sinkers77 adjusted to feed more yarn to the needles, then also the web is produced faster than when less yarn is used;

hence when the draft'roller is driven as de;

tension of the web will soon be too great, so v that with every variation in the size of the yarn or adjustment of the feed-wheels the tension of the web under these circumstances often requires to be corrected by the operative, by suspending a climbing weighted roller in a bight of the web before it is wound up, as described in Letters Patent granted to myself and John Johnson, May 27, 1856, or other device by which an even tension is always given to the web, and at the same time itis taken up as fast as produced; but such addition of the weighted roller makes the mechanism too bulky and cumbersome.

My improvement is for the purpose of producing an even tension at all times and under all circumstances by the combined draft and take-up rollers alone, without appending the climbing or weighted roller and without increasing the bulk oi' the machinery or materially increasing the rotary take-up mechanism.

My invention consists of aroughened roller employed to take up the manufactured fabric, by turning the roller around which said fabric is wound, by its periphery or the surfaceof the roll as it is wound on, so astocausc the surface to move with equal velocity, asin the Patent No. 13,586, aforesaid, when said rcll':l er is combined with a friction apparatus, by which it is turned, interposed between said roller and the driving-power.

It will be noticed that taking up the fabric by means of a draft-roller applied to the surface ofthe roll of the fabric is not new, nor is afriction take-up new, as it has been effected by a friction-belt and other friction apparatus; but this fiicticn apparatus, however made, was applied directly to the roller on which the Yfabric was rolled. In this case it is evident that as the take-up roll enlarged,

e y f 948 ch an gin g,

.power which causes said roller to turn; but

I prefer the following construction of parts, although any other mechanism that produces the friction between the driving-power and the roughened roller would be substantially the same-namely, a combination of the surfa .e takeup with the friction-driver.

The construction which I prefer and its operation, are as follows:

K is the take-up frame, which is s uspended above and positively turned with the needlecylinder in the manner shown in Letters Patent No. 13,586, or in some other suitable rui-nner. A is the rough draft or friction rol- 1er; B, the incumbent take-up roller, rising` within the grooves t t as thel quantity of` the web w thereon increases. The roller A is so ro igh that it. positively draws off equal lengths of web every time it makes-azrevolution on its axis. r is a worm`wheel fastened to the shaft C of the draft-roller A.

Positive rotary motion is given to the shaft C, by reason of the rotation of thetake-up frame K, by means of the wheely i" and the other means shown in the drawings of said Letters Patent No. 13,586, or by any other equivalent arrangement ofmeaus. This motion of the shaft C must be so fast that if the r )ller A were fastened rmly to it the. surface ofthis roller would then always move a little f ister than the web is,` ever produced by the kuittingmechanism but instead ofthe rough roller A being immovably attached to the shaft C, as heretofore, this roller is loose, so as to turn and slide a little endwise on lsaid shaft. Disks D D', of leather or other yielding material, are applied to its ends. E is a snzoath circulardisk of metal fitting the disk D and fastened to the shaft G. F is another smooth metal plate, fitting against the disk D. Thedisk F is prevented from turning on the yshaft by the pin o and groove f, or in some other mannerwhich shallv allow this disk to slide alittle lengthwise on the shaft, so as to squeeze the roller A more or less between the disks E and F when pressure is applied to F, in order to make the adhesion of the disks of the roller A to those of the shaft G greater or less, according t-o the amount of tension required by the web in knitting.

The hub b ofthe plate F covers the shaft C through a side of the take-up frame, so that the tension on the web can be conveniently regula-ted by the screw a and nut d on the outer end of the shaft (l. The disks E and F fit the disks `D Dl so truly that the force required to turn the roller A ou the shaft C is everywhere the same.

In using this mechanism the friction between the driving-disks and those of the roller A is first regulated by turning the nut a so that the drivingdisks shall just slip forward on the roller A, when the web has the proper tension for knitting. After this rst adjustment the tension produced by the rollers A and B on the web as it is drawn by them directly from the needle-cylinder will continue the same, hour after hour, and day after day, whether the yarn from the bobbins runs line or coarse, or whether the sinkers are set to feed more or less yarn to the needles.

l What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The improvementof driving the rough roller A of the herein-specified take-up mechanism of a rotary knitting-machine by means of the friction apparatus herein set forth, or their mechanical equivalents, substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein described, instead of giving a positive rotary motion to this roller, as heretofore, so that this draft roller, with its incumbent take-up roller B, by the combination of a friction driver, without any additional mechanism or any readjustment, continually gives the same Atension to the web in knitting, however much the yarn varies in size, or whether much or little yarn is fed to the needles, or whatever quantity of web is on the take-up roller.

CLARK TOMPKINS. In presence of A. C. VAIL, R. M. TowNsEND.

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