the needles are placed apart; consequently, the guide at the end of the lever L, in proceeding inwards, conducts the thread or yarn on one side of the needle a, and, in returning, leads it on the opposite side of the same needle; thereby looping the thread or yarn round the upper part of the shaft of the needle, above the loop previously formed thereon. This being done, the lever M, governed by the cam T, is now allowed to fall into the situation shown by dots in fig. 3, and in falling its tumbler h, is thrown back by a pin on its side, striking against a piece 1, attached to a perpendicular plate v, affixed to the bent part of the standard H above: spring guide 2, prevents the tumbler from falling too far back. The tumbler h, being by these means thrown into the position, shown by dots, the point of the hook i, is made to pass down a groove in the back of the needle, and having descended below, the lower loop of thread or yarn, previously formed upon the stem of the needle, as described, or by the preceding course of the machine, on the lever again rising, the point of the hook will take hold of the lower loop, and lift it up the stem of the needle which is also assisted by the rising of the presser f. As the lever rises, the pin on the side of the tumbler is, by the tension of the loop upon the hook, brought against the curved guide piece 3, fixed to the plate v, which causes the hook to turn the lower loop over the point of the needle, thereby securing the upper loop upon the needle, and finishing the stitch. A lateral movement of the lever L, now takes place, for the purpose of withdrawing the presser f, sideways from the stitch, which is effected by the bent part of the cam u, aty, as it revolves acting against the side of the fork, under the lever L; the lever turns horizontally, a little

distance upon its swivel joint at g, and is then returned to its former place, ready to assist in forming the next stitch.

Repetitions of these evolutions of the levers form and connect the successive stitches, consecutively, upon the range of needles a, a, a; and when the series is complete, the bar A, is made to slide in the opposite direction, for the purpose of connecting another series of stitches with the former, by similar means; which operations go on until the required piece of knitted fabric is completely made.

We now proceed to describe the means by which the bar A, carrying the needles a, a, a, is made to change the direction of its lateral movement; this is effected through the agency of the jointed part of the rim x, of the cam wheel P. When the piece r*, stands in the oblique position, shown in figs. 2, and 5, the rotation of the cam wheel P, will cause the oblique part of the rim acting in the rack at the back of the needle bar A, to drive that bar towards the left hand; but when the position of the piece x*, is changed to the opposite angle, as shown by dots in these figures, then the needle bar will be moved toward the right hand.

In order to effect these changes of position in the piece x*, the following means is adopted: A small spring catch, shown detached at fig. 13, is affixed within the cylindrical part of the cam wheel P, as shown by dots in figs. 2, and 5. This spring catch has two notches, separated by a ridge or double inclined plane; into one of these notches the outer or moveable end of the jointed portion x*, of the rim of the cam wheel P, is to be inserted, for the purpose of being held firmly at an oblique angle to the other part of the rim. On applying lateral force to the piece x*, it will move upon

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its hinge, and the spring giving way it will be readily shifted from one notch to the other. By these means the piece x*, is made to stand in either of the oblique positions, for the purpose, when revolving, of conducting the bar A, toward the right or toward the left.

The shifting of the piece x*, is effected by the small disc x, mounted on a pivot in the periphery of the cam wheel P. This disc%, has a notch or recess in its edge, into which the moveable end of the piece x*, is inserted; and there are ears extending from the disc, for the purpose of moving it upon its pivot. The stops Q, Q, being, as before explained, fixed at those parts of the needle bar A, where the knitting is to terminate, the lateral movements of the bar will, at the extremity of each course, bring one of those stops up to the side of the rim Ꮖ ; and when this period of the operation arrives, one of the ears of the disc z, will, as the cam wheel revolves, strike against the stop Q, and cause the disc to be turned round, so as to throw the piece x*, into the opposite oblique position, when the needle bar a, will immediately be made to travel in the reverse direction.

It will be perceived on reference to figs. 1, and 10, that the feeding arm of the lever 1, stands a little out of the perpendicular; this is for the purpose of causing the eye which conducts and loops the thread or yarn upon the needles to be in advance of the book i, which turns the stitch over the point of the needle. When, therefore, the travelling movement of the bar A, is reversed, the inclination of the feeder must be changed also, in order that by standing at an opposite inclination it may be still in advance of the hook.

For the purpose of effecting this, the feeding arm is attached to a square upon the axle of the lever 1, by a screw 4, at top (see fig. 10), and turns upon that screw:

as a pivot. At the back of this arm there is a spring piece 5, standing at a right angle to the axle, the upper end of which is firmly fixed to the square of the axle but the lower end has a tooth, which, by the pres sure of the spring, is forced into one of the two notches in the back of the feeding arm; by these means the feeding arm is made always to stand slightly inclined from the perpendicular. A piece 6, 6, is attached to the lower part of the feeding arm extending on each side; and when the bar A, has travelled so far as to bring the stop Q, nearly up to the side of the rim ≈, one of the arms s, extending from the stop plate, comes in contact with one of the ends of the piece 6, and pushes it and the feeding arm over into the opposite angle of inclination.

The various evolutions of the machine for producing the fabric having now been explained, I proceed to point out the means by which its movements are suspended when it is requisite to shift the stops s, s, and narrow the width of the fabric formed upon the needles, as in shaping the calf and the narrow parts of a stocking.

in

It has been before said that the mechanism is put action by locking the driving pulley F, to the shaft D, by means of the sliding clutch G; consequently, when the clutch G, is withdrawn from the pulley, the movements of the mechanism must necessarily be suspended. This is done by means of a pin or stud fixed into the face of a disc wheel w, the stud having an inclined plane at its end, which, as the wheel revolves, comes in contact with the clutch lever x, and pushes it aside. This lever turns upon a fulcrum pin Y, fixed in a standard upon the base plate c, and is connected to the clutch-box, as shown at fig. 2; and, therefore, when the pin or stud z, comes against the side of the lever x, the clutch e, is with

drawn from the driving pulley, and the movements of mechanism become suspended, in order that the attendant may shift the stops s, s, to the required positions. The mechanism may be again put in action by remov ing the stud which was last acted, from the wheel w, and again locking the clutch to the driving pulley. It will be seen, by reference to fig. 14, which represents in elevation the gear for driving the disc wheel w, taken transversely across the machine and partly in section, that there are several studs inserted into a segmental series of holes in the face of the disc wheel; these holes are for the reception of any required number of studs z, in order that studs may be placed in different parts of the wheel, according to the required variable breadths of the fabric.

The construction and position of the several wheels and pinions employed for driving the stud wheel w, will be perceived by figs. 2, and 14; and it will be unnecessary to describe very particularly this gear, as it is only to be understood that a tooth a, introduced into the cam shaft D, drives the wheel b, one tooth at every rotation of the shaft; it will then be seen that the wheel c, upon the shaft of b, by taking into the wheel d, causes an endless screw e, to drive another wheel f, standing transversely, and principally shown by dots, upon the shaft of which last-mentioned wheel there is an endless screw g, taking into the wheel h, on the shaft of the disc or stud wheel w. Hence a certain number of rotations of the cam shaft D, will bring any one of the studs z, into contact with the lever x, and throw the mechanism out of gear, as described; and that the several studs will act in succession, and stop the machine whenever the fabric is required to be narrowed. It will, of course, be understood that the diameters of the wheels and