as our invention, the parts or pieces carrying the tentering points or pins for the purpose above described; and to the continuous or endless rack formed by their immediate or consecutive contact; and also the mode of working them in grooved plates, cheeks, or frames, by which the said tenter pieces are governed and conducted through a stretching machine.”—[Inrolled in the Rolls Chapel Office, February, 1837.] Specification drawn by Messrs. Newton and Berry. * To NATHAN BAILEY, of Leicester, in the county of Leicester, framesmith, for his invention of certain improvements in, or additions to, machinery for manufacturing of stocking fabric. -[Sealed 1st August, 1836.] THESE improvements in, or additions to, machinery for manufacturing stocking fabrics, consist in certain apparatus to be attached to the ordinary construction of stocking frames, for the purpose of carrying the thread longitudinally over the bearded needles by means of mechanism, instead of performing that operation by the hand of the workman as heretofore. In the wide stocking frames, commonly used by the manufacturers of the present day, several stockings or gloves, or distinct widths of such fabric, are made at one operation or movement of the machinery. But it is necessary, in some description of goods, occasionally, as the work goes on, to vary the distance or number of needles over which the thread of each stocking or distinct piece of work is thrown, for the purpose of producing the shapes; that is, widening and narrowing the fabric; as in the VOL. XI. E formation of the calf and the small of the leg of the stocking. This, however, is attended with great difficulty and delay when several stockings are made at one time in the ordinary machines, as each thread has to be thrown separately, by hand; and it is particularly to obviate this inconvenience that this improved apparatus or mechanical thread carrier is adapted. "Fig. 1, Plate III., is a front elevation of this improved mechanism, supposed to be attached to a stocking frame, the latter of which is but partially shown in the figure. Fig. 2, is a horizontal view of the same; and fig. 3, is a transverse elevation, taken partly in section: A, A, A, A, A, are parts of the framing of the ordinary machine; B, B, B, the bearded needles, fixed in the frame in three sets, for the purpose of making three distinct stockings, or other pieces of work; c, c, c, are the sinkers, mounted on the sinker bar D, D. The carriage, with the jack bar, is shown at E, E, E, and the presser bar at F, F, affixed to the arms G, G. These are all parts of the ordinary stocking frame, which is so well understood by workmen, and also its manner of operating to produce the fabric, that it will be unnecessary for me to show more of its construction or to describe its evolutions, as they form no part of my invention. "Fig. 4, represents one of my improved thread carriers, detached from the machine, drawn on a larger scale. So many of these thread carriers as there are to be stockings, or distinct breadths of work produced in one machine, are to be applied, as at a, a, a, by attachment to a horizontal sliding rod b, b. These thread carriers are guided in their longitudinal movements by a fixed horizontal rod c, c, parallel to the former, upon which they slide to and fro, both rods being mounted in a rocking frame d, d, the form and position of which will be seen in figs. 1, and 3. This rocking frame is supported by jointed arms e, e, moving upon studs, fixed in the side standards of the new framework f, f, and is connected by lateral links g, g, to the carriage E, so that, as the carriage, with the jacks, moves outward by the ordinary evolutions of the machinery, the frame d, is made to vibrate, for the purpose of withdrawing the thread carriers a, from the sinkers c, when the sinkers advance to bring the loops to the ends of the bearded needles. "The rod b, with the thread carriers, is moved to and fro by means of another sliding rod h, h, mounted on the top rail i, i. This last mentioned rod, having an arm k, affixed to it, which, as the rod h, slides along, comes in contact with the side of a bent arm 7, extending upwards from the lower sliding rod b. These parts I call the driving apparatus. This driving apparatus is put in motion by means of cords, attached to the ends of the sliding rod h, which cords pass over guide pulleys m, m, m, m; and are connected at their reverse ends to the slur wheel H, below; the slur wheel being actuated by the treadles under the machine, in the ordinary way. "It will now be perceived that, if threads, from suspended bobbins, are brought down and passed through the respective thread carriers a, as shown at j, in fig. 3, that by the action of the treadles upon the slur wheel, the cords will be made to draw the sliding rod h, along the top rail i, and cause the rod b, to conduct the thread carriers a, with the threads, over the upper surfaces of the bearded needles. "This being understood, it is now necessary to show by what means the travers of each thread carrier is limited to the extent of the work, that is, made to conduct the thread over the required number of needles, |