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N.PETERS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, DC.

United States Patent Office_o '&lt;’ -----------------------JOHN LESSELS, OF TROY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CLARK TOMPKINS r- OF SAME PLACE. ’

IMPROVEMENT IN TAKE-UP MECHANISMS FOR CIRCULAR-KNITTING MACHINES.

e ‘ Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 55,422, dated June 5, 1866.

To all whom it may concern ;

Be it known that I, John Lessees, of Troy, iu the county of Rensselaer and State of New ' .- York, have invented a new and useful Im^r provementin the Take-Up Mechanism of Knit“ ting - Machines; and I do hereby declare that ,- the following is a full, clear, and exact descripe tion of my invention, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which—

Figure 1 represents aii elevation of a part of a circular-knitting· machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 re,presents a transverse sectip¹¹ the same, and Figs. 3 represents a top view of the take-up frame and its appurte nances.

My invention lias leference to the take-up mechanism of circular-knitting machines, and is an improvement upon that patented to Henry Brockway the 8th day of November, 1864.

> ' This improvement consists of the combi_— nation of the take - up roller that acts upon the work, the screw-shaft that transmits mo_r tion to the take-up roller, the vibrating pawl < that effects the turning of the screw-shaft, and a movable stop operated by the endwise movement of said screw - shaft, the whole operating in such maimer that when the re0' sistance of the work to be taken up is great enough to cause the screw-shaft to move endwise iu its boxes, rather than turn the take-up roller, the said endwise movement places the stop in position to stop the operation of the _v _ vibrating pawl, and thereby stop the rotary t- ‘ movement of the screw-shaft and take-up roller until the resistance is relaxed, where upon the stop is withdrawn by the action of a _f spring or its equivalent and the taking up of the work is resumed.

The apparatus represented in the accompanying drawings embodies my invention; but the knitting - cylinder and its appurtenances are not represented in the drawings, as their construction need uot differ from those in common use, and the construction and operation of such cylinders are well understood.

The take-up mechanism is conveniently connected with the frame of the knitting mechan&lt; ism by two standards, A A, which sustain a

J bridge-tree, B, from which the take-up frame is suspended, the machine being in this example supposed to be an upright machine.

The take - up frame 0 is suspended from a stud,D, upon which it is turned by the operation of the knitting mechanism in the usual way. This frame sustains the rough-surfaced take-up roller E, which draws up the work, and the movable roller F, upon which the work is wound, by frictional contact with the takeup roller E.

The take-up roller E has a worm-wheel, g, secured to one of its gudgeons, and an upright screw, h, is provided to turn it. This screw is secured to the, screw-shaft I, which is supported in boxes j j' g¹, in which it can both turn and move endwise.

The endwise movement of the screw-shaft in a downward direction is limited by the shoulder a of its journal bearing against the upper side of the lowest box,/, and the endwise movement of the screw-shaft in an upward direction is limited by the contact of a collar, a', with the under side of the upper box, j. The screw-shaft is encircled by a helical spring, k, one end of which bears against the box j', secured to the take-up frame C, and the other end against an adjustable nut, I, secured to the screw-shaft, so that the tendency of the spring is to hold the screw-shaft in its highest position with the collar a¹ in contact with the box/ as seen at Fig. 1“. The part of the screw-shaft which extends above its upper box is fitted with a cog-wheel, m, which gears into a second cog-wheel, n, that is arranged to turn upon a stud, e, secured to the take-up frame C. This second cog-wheel, n, has a ratchet-wheel, b, secured to it that is operated upon by a vibrating pawl, s, the pawl being pivoted to an arm,p, which is arranged to vibrate upon the stud e. The vibratingpawl is actuated by a lever, Q, and a fixed cam, R. The cam R is secured to the stud D, on which the take-up frame turns, and in this example has three protuberances. *

The lever Q is pivoted to the take-up frame. It has one of its arms connected with the pawlarm ρ by a rod, t, and it has a friction-roller, u, upon its other arm. This lever is so situated relatively to stationary cam R, secured to the stud D, that its friction-roller u can run upon the cam, audit is borne against the cam by the spring w; hence as the fake-up frame is turned upon the stud D as an axis the protuberant parts of the cam R cause the lever Q to vibrate > 55,422 in one direction, while the hollow parts of the cam permit its vibration in the opposite direction by the spring u\ The lever is connected with the pawl-arm p by the rod t, so that the pawl s is caused to move and turn tbe ratchetwheel, the second cog-wheel, the cog-wheel on the screw-shaft, and the screw-shaft whenever the friction-roller of the lever Q is operated by a protuberance of the cam; and the screwshaft transmits motion to the take-up roller by the action of its screw h upon the worm-wheel g of the take-up roller. Such movement of the parts may be permitted and goes on as long as the resistance of the work being taken up by the take-up roller E does not exceed the force of the spring 1c. When it exceeds that force the continued turning of the screw-shaft causes it to screw itself endwise downward (upon the worm-wheel g} rather than turn the take-up roller. Tn order that this endwise movement may be made available for the purpose of stopping the action of the take-up, the portion of the screw-shaft above its upper bearings is provided with a grooved collar, x, in which the end of a stop-lever, z, is engaged. This stop-lever is pivoted to th e upper box of the screw-shaft, and is caused to vibrate by the endwise movement of that shaft. Its outer end is close to tbe hub of the arm p of the vibrating pawl s, and a stud, r, is secured to this hub within the range of motion of the arm of the vibrating stop-lever z. Hence, whenever the screw-shaft is· caused to move endwise downward by the resistance of the work to being taken up, the outer end of the stop-lever is brought in position to stop the movement of the stud r and of the vibrating pawl s, with which it is connected through the arm/; and this stud is so placed relatively to the pawl s that the stop takes place when the lever Q and pawi s are in the positions to which they have been moved by one of the protuberances of the cam R. Therefore the lever is prevented from being borne into the depressions of the cam by the spring w, and consequently its operation by the protuberant parts of the cam, and the operation of the vibrating pawl s, as well as the turning of the screw-shaft I and of the take-up roller E, all stop until the resistance of the work decreases below the force of the spring 7c, whereupon the spring moves the screw-shaft upward to its normal position, thus removing the end of the stoplever z from behind the stud r, as shown in Fig. l^a, and permitting the cam to operate the lever Q and the vibrating pawl s, and thereupon the taking up of the cloth is resumed.

From the foregoing it will be perceived that the end of the stop-lever z constitutes a movable stop for the take-up mechanism, aud that this stop is placed by the endwise movement of the screw-shaft(resultingfrom the increased resistance of the work) in a position to stop the operation of the take-up mechanism until the resistance is relaxed. It will also be per. ceived that the stop z is withdrawn by the action of the spring 7c (which then restores the screw-shaft to its position) when the resistance of the work to being taken up is relaxed.

A spring, c, is provided to press the pawl s against the ratchet-wheel b, and a stationary spring-pawl,/,is provided to prevent any retrograde movement of the ratchet-wheel b.