We have explained what fashioned work is and how it is done by hand. Fig. 53 shows a machine built by Dubied & Co., which does this work by widening the fabric automatically in the knitting operation. It is called an automatic widening machine, and is particularly adapted to making sleeves. It overcomes the principal objection knitters have to making shaped work—that is, the extra labor involved, and has the advantages before-mentioned—namely, no material to be cut away to get the shape, a selvedge edge which means a small neat seam, and the proper shape for a proper fit.

The Widening Device

To the casual observer, the widening machine would look to be a very complicated piece of mechanism, but as a matter of fact the widening device is surprising in its simplicity.

Fig. 54 shows the principle of the method used. The drawing does not by any means reproduce the parts as made, but only shows the principle employed to secure these results, with all superfluous parts eliminated.

The machine proper is a full automatic machine, practically the same as we have just finished with in the last article, with the exception of the needle plates and the needles that are used, and the addition of the widening mechanism. The needle plates are made almost twice as wide as the regular plates, with a gib running through the middle of the lower part as shown. The needles used for the narrowest part of the fabric, and which are never used in the widening operation, are shown by the letter a in Fig. 56, and have one butt only as indicated at b. The needles used in widening have one butt at the same distance from the hook as the regular needles, as at c, and in addition to this they have a second butt at the lower end of the shank extension which reaches down under the narrow gib to the lower half of the plate, as indicated at d.

The slot in the needle plate, at the lower edge, is cut all the way through the plate up to a point which would about equal the distance between the needles up in working position and the needles down. There are needle springs, shown at n in Fig. 54, below each needle which, when the needles are down, project just below the bottom edge of the plate, and when pushed up to hold the needles in working position would have their lower ends about where the lower butts of the widening needles are when down, as shown. The needle spring is shown in Fig. 56, at e, in its position relative to the needle, the upper portion at e fitting in the needle slot below the needle, while the lower part acts as a clamp on the under side of the plate.

The lever shown at f in Fig. 54, together with the slide g and the stop h, is enclosed in a cast block and they, together with the yarn carrier stop i, move freely lengthwise of the small shaft e. There is attached to this block a cord q, which runs over the small pulley o with a weight attached as at p.

It naturally follows that this weight would pull the block, lever, carrier stop and all, over to the extreme right if there were nothing in the way to stop it. The stop h is for this purpose. It is stationary in the block and extends up to the plate, while the slide g is cut back far enough to clear the lower ends of the springs n which are below the needles.

Inasmuch as these springs extend a trifle below the plate when the long needles are down and the stop h comes up in close proximity to the bottom edge of the plate, this stop will engage the left side of the spring and prevent the block, together with the lever f and slide g, from moving toward the right. Now in order to widen the fabric one stitch or wale it is simply necessary to push the needle r up into working position. This is done by moving the cam block, a, longitudinally, which would necessarily raise the lever d, which, through the rocker shaft e and lever f, would push the slide g, together with the spring n and needle r, up high enough to put this needle into working position.

It should be understood that there are four of these widening mechanisms as shown in Fig. 54, one on each end of both front and back needle plates, but as they are all operated in the same manner it will be necessary to describe and explain but one.

Now to explain how this is done automatically we will refer to Fig. 55, which shows the cam side of the carriage of the automatic widening machine. It will be noted that on the ends of the four fixed extensions b1, b2, b3 and b4, there are rollers a1 to a4, attached with shouldered screws whose heads are flush with the end of the rollers. As we are dealing with only one we will select a1, which is the one that would operate on the block a, Fig. 54, when turned over and placed on the machine.

This roller is in the proper position to engage the cam b (Fig. 54) when the carriage is at the right end of the machine, and when the carriage is at the end of its travel the roller would be at about the point B.

It naturally follows that inasmuch as cam b is attached to the block a on an inclined plane, and the block a is attached to the frame of the machine in such a manner that it cannot move lengthwise of the machine, but may be moved freely in an up-and-down direction, when the roller moves through the camway between cam b and cam c the block must move upward, thereby pushing up one needle. Upon the return of the carriage the roller coming in contact with cam c will return the block to its first position.

When the block a is moved down by the roller, after pushing up the needle, it must necessarily draw the slide g back to the position shown, and inasmuch as the lever f slides freely lengthwise on the shaft e, and there is nothing to prevent, the weight p will draw all of this part of the mechanism over one needle or until the stop h comes in contact with the next needle spring n.

Now, it should be understood that, as a rule, a fabric is not widened a needle each round, therefore the block a (Fig. 54) is arranged so it will drop below the plane of travel of the roller a1 (Fig. 55) when widening is not desired. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that the normal position of block a is below the plane of travel of the roller a1, therefore out of operation and is raised up in the path of this roller by a stud on the widening chain A, Fig. 53, at the proper time to push the needle up into operation. Upon the return of the carriage it drops down to its normal position until another needle is to be added to the fabric. The position of the block a in Fig. 54, in relation to the rest of the machine, may be seen at B in Fig. 53.

As stated before, a fabric to be shaped on this machine must be started at its narrowest part, therefore when the garment or part of a garment is finished, these needles which have been pushed up to widen it must be returned to their lowest position where they are out of operation, in order to start a new piece. This is where the second and lower butts of the needles come into use. They are operated on by the cams c1 to c4, and d1 to d4, Fig. 55.

These cams are arranged so that normally they are raised up in the cam plate and pass over the lower butts of the needles, but they may be lowered to operate the needles and raised again, all automatically, at the proper time and place by slides and levers similar to those described in a previous article on the automatic machine. The manner of returning the widening needles to their lowest position so they will be out of operation should be obvious to the reader after the foregoing explanations and a study of the illustrations.

When the time comes to cast off these added stitches in order to start a new sleeve or fabric, the plate on which cams c1 and d1 are attached is automatically lowered when the carriage is over to the extreme right. Then upon its return the lower needle butts of the widening needles will come in contact with the left side of cam d1, and moving up over the top of this will, of course, raise the needles to a point where the latches are above the stitches. As the carriage moves farther along, and the butts come in contact with the left side of cam c1, they will slide down and cast the stitches off over the latch and hook, and at the same time be drawn down to a point so low that the knitting or upper cams cannot operate on the upper butts.

At the same time that the cams c1 and d1 are lowered to cast off and draw out of operation the widening needles, a plunger, which is attached to the carriage, drops down and engages a recess on the under side of the yarn carrier stop i, Fig. 54, and through the lug j moves the lever f, together with the slide g and stop h, back to its first position where the plunger is disengaged by an inclined stop. The stop h will hold this part of the mechanism in this place by contact with the first needle spring as explained before.

It should be understood that while this explanation covers only one of the four corners that must have the needles pushed up to widen the fabric, the method applies to all of them. Also in the manner of casting off the widening needles and returning them to their lowest positions preparatory to starting a new fabric, we have confined ourselves to the right end of the front plate only in order to present the matter in the simplest possible manner. In actual practice the pair of cams on the left, indicated by c3 and d3, together with c4 and d4, are put into operation first by a medium stud on the widening chain while the carriage is at the extreme left end. Upon the return movement of the carriage these cams would cast off and return the widening needles to their lowest point on the left end of both front and back plates. Immediately this is done the cams are released by means provided, and they again rise up into the plate out of the working position, thus passing over the right side widening needles without effect.

After putting on one full round the cams d1 and c1, together with cams d2 and c2, are put into operation at the extreme right end of the machine by a high stud on the widening chain, and these cast off and draw down out of operation the front and back widening needles on the right in the same manner as heretofore explained.

Yarn Carrier Stop

The reader will realize from what has gone before that when there are needles added to or taken from the edge of a fabric, while in the process of knitting on a machine, it would be necessary to arrange to change the stopping position of the yarn carrier in order to prevent it from stopping too far away from or too close in to the fabric as the widening operation progresses. This is done by the simple expedient of having the yarn carrier stop mounted on its bar or way so it will slide freely, and providing the lugs j and k, Fig. 54, on both sides of the lever f, so that it, with the lever f, and slide g, with stop h, will at all times move together. Therefore the needle on the edge of the fabric and the yarn carrier stops are always in the same relative position.

If the reader has stopped to ponder on the working of this machine, with the resultant fabric, he may realize that there should be more pull or tension on the fabric during the last part of it than when it is started. As there have been needles added it is wider. This has been provided for so that by placing high studs on the main chain at the proper point they will increase the tension on the take-up rollers where and as much as needed. When the widening needles are cast off, and the width of the fabric is reduced to its narrowest portion, this extra tension may be automatically released and the pull reduced to the proper strain for the narrower fabric.

These machines are made only in the double lock type, but there are means provided through the before described levers and slides to change automatically to single lock by raising one pair of the locks up out of operation. This is quite an advantage where one wishes to make some style of garment with a rack showing on both sides of the fabric such as the turned-up cuff on ladies’ sweaters, etc.