CN113550058A

CN113550058A - Flat knitting machine

Info

Publication number: CN113550058A
Application number: CN202110435217.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 今里晓允; 藤本大海; 小村善幸
Original assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg Ltd
Current assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg Ltd
Priority date: 2020-04-23
Filing date: 2021-04-22
Publication date: 2021-10-26
Anticipated expiration: 2041-04-22
Also published as: KR102554089B1; EP3901344B1; KR20210131247A; CN113550058B; JP2021172911A; JP7424901B2; EP3901344A1

Abstract

The invention provides a flat knitting machine. The weft knitting machine includes an article insertion device that is movable on a yarn feeding rail and has a holding portion that freely inserts an article into a knitted fabric by gripping the article and releasing the gripping. The holding portion is movable to avoid interference with other yarn feeders moving on the yarn feeding track. An article is supplied from an article supply device to an article insertion device. The article insertion device is provided with an article insertion device capable of inserting an article into a desired position in a knitted fabric, and the article insertion device can be supplied with the article while avoiding interference with other yarn feeders.

Description

Flat knitting machine

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a weft knitting machine including an insertion device for inserting an article into a knitted fabric.

Background

It is convenient if the RFID yarn, the tape-like interlining, the compressed cushion material, and the like can be inserted into the knitted fabric using the flat knitting machine. As an article insertion device for inserting an article into a knitted fabric, there is a device described in patent document 1(US 7246508B). The article insertion device of patent document 1 inserts the color stays (stays for the collar), takes out the color stays in the box one by one, and inserts the color stays into the knitted fabric by pushing out the color stays. However, the article insertion device of patent document 1 cannot move, and therefore, only the color stay can be inserted to a fixed position.

[ Prior Art document ]

[ patent document ]

[ patent document 1 ] US7246508B

Disclosure of Invention

In order to allow the article insertion device of patent document 1 to move freely and insert an article to a desired position, it is conceivable to move the article along a yarn feeding rail, for example. However, the article insertion device of patent document 1 is large and bulky, and therefore cannot be disposed on the yarn feeding rail, and requires a dedicated rail. In patent document 1, since the color stay is taken out from the cartridge, the flatbed knitting machine needs to be stopped for replenishment. Therefore, the flat knitting machine is increased in size and the knitting becomes inefficient.

The present invention addresses the problem of providing a weft knitting machine that is provided with an article insertion device capable of inserting an article into a desired position in a knitted fabric, and that is also capable of supplying the article to the article insertion device.

The invention provides a flat knitting machine for knitting a knitted fabric by feeding a knitting yarn from a yarn feeder traveling on a yarn feeding track to needles of a needle bed,

the weft knitting machine is provided with:

an article insertion device having a holder which is movable on the yarn feeding rail or a rail parallel to the yarn feeding rail, and a holding portion which is provided at a lower portion of the holder and which is capable of freely inserting an article into a knitted fabric by gripping the article and releasing the gripping; and

an article supply device capable of supplying an article to a position where the article insertion device can hold the article,

the article insertion device is configured to move to the position for gripping the article.

In the present invention, since the article insertion device is moved along the yarn feeding rail of the weft knitting machine or the like and the holding portion for freely gripping and releasing the article is provided at the lower portion of the article insertion device, the article can be inserted into a desired position in the knitted fabric.

An article inserted into a knitted fabric may float and may not be stably inserted into a desired position. Therefore, it is preferable that the article insertion device is provided with a pressing means for pressing the article inserted into the knitted fabric downward, and the inserted article is pressed downward to stabilize the position. The pressing means is provided with a mechanism for lowering the holding portion from the holding position of the article, for example, and the holding portion also serves as the pressing means.

If the longitudinal direction of the article is parallel to the yarn feeding rail or the like, interference with other yarn feeders is also small, and the article can be accurately inserted into the knitted fabric. Therefore, the holding section preferably holds the article so that the longitudinal direction of the article is parallel to the yarn feeding rail.

Preferably, the article insertion device includes a lifting member provided on the carriage, and the holding portion is closed by lowering of the lifting member to grip the article, and is released from gripping by raising of the lifting member to insert the article into the knitted fabric. By raising and lowering the lifting member, the article can be gripped and released.

Preferably, the holder includes a pair of grip pieces having an article holding position at a lower portion thereof, and a pair of pins protruding from a position above the article holding position of each grip piece, the bracket includes a pair of cam grooves facing each other and guiding the pair of pins, an interval between the pair of cam grooves facing each other is wider at an upper portion and narrower at a lower portion, the interval between the grip pieces is narrowed by lowering the cam grooves to grip the article, and the interval between the grip pieces is widened by raising the cam grooves to release the grip. Thus, the gripping and releasing of the article can be easily and reliably achieved by the lifting and lowering of the grip piece.

Many of the inserted articles are yarn-like or tape-like articles such as RFID-attached yarns and cushioning materials. The yarn-like or tape-like article is preferably supplied from a cone, a bobbin, a reel, or the like. Therefore, it is preferable that the article supply device includes a base that moves horizontally below the needle bed, an elevating section that is supported by the base and ascends and descends, a grip section and a cutter that are supported by the elevating section and are openable and closable, and an article supply section to the grip section. In this way, the lifting unit is raised to grip the article with the gripping unit, and the article is pulled out by a required length by horizontal movement. Then, the article insertion device grips the article, and then the article is cut by the cutter. As a result, the yarn-like or tape-like article can be supplied to the article insertion device without being cut in advance by a desired length.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view of the flat knitting machine of the embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a front view of an article insertion device used in the embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a vertically exploded view of the article insertion device used in the embodiment.

Fig. 4 is a side view of a main part of an article insertion device according to a modification.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an article supply device used in the embodiment.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a jig for inserting a sheet-like article.

[ Mark Specification ]

2 Flat knitting machine

3 controller

4 needle bed

5 knitted region

6 trigonid sliding rack

7 knitted fabric

8 give yarn track

9 Top board

10 article insertion device

12 article supply device

14 conical cylinder

15 supply device

16 article

17 RFID

20 bracket

21 roller

22 lifting rod

23 follower

25 force applying component

26 holding part

26a clamping piece

27 lower end part

28 pin

29 cam

30 triangle

31 solenoid

32 groove

34 shaft

35 cam groove

38 holding part

39 fixing member

40 projection

41 lifting component

42 closure part

44 electric motor

45 feed screw

46 bearing

48 base body

50 lifting part

51 grip part

52 cutting tool

54 sensor

60 clamping device

61 article

Detailed Description

The following shows preferred embodiments for practicing the invention.

[ examples ] A method for producing a compound

Fig. 1 to 6 show a weft knitting machine 2 according to an embodiment and a modification thereof. Hereinafter, the parts of the normal flat knitting machine will be briefly described, and the article insertion device 10 and the article supply device 12 of the article will be mainly described. The controller 3 controls the weft knitting machine 2, particularly controls the article insertion device 10 via the carriage 6, and controls the article supply device 12. The flat knitting machine 2 includes, for example, a pair of front and

back needle beds

4 and 4, and a region where knitting needles are arranged is a knitting region 5 to knit a knitted fabric 7. The knitted fabric 7 is knitted by both the front and

back needle beds

4 and 4, and an article is inserted into the knitted fabric 7.

An article supply device 12 is provided between the

needle beds

4 and 4 at one end in the longitudinal direction of the

needle beds

4 and 4, and supplies an article to the article insertion device 10. The article insertion device 10 and the not-shown yarn feeder move in conjunction with, for example, the carriage 6 along the yarn feeding rail 8 at the upper portion of the needle bed 4 or a dedicated rail parallel thereto. It is also possible to make the article insertion device 10 and the yarn feeder self-propelled. The flat knitting machine 2 has a top plate 9 at the uppermost part, and a cone of a knitting yarn, not shown, is disposed to feed the yarn to a yarn feeder. An article 16 such as an RFID yarn or a belt-like cushioning material, in which RFID is provided at a predetermined pitch, is supplied from the cone 14, and is supplied from the supply device 15 to the article supply device 12. In the example, the article 16 is a yarn-like body, and elements such as RFID17 are provided at a predetermined pitch. The element may be a portion in which the thickness of the yarn-like body changes, a portion in which the color changes, or the like. Since the article 16 has its longitudinal direction parallel to the needle bed 4, the article 16 is gripped so as to be parallel to the knitted fabric 7, and the article 16 can be reliably inserted into the knitted fabric 7 while avoiding interference of the article 16 with another yarn feeder or the like. When the article 16 is of a coin type or the like, the radial direction thereof is parallel to the needle bed 4.

Fig. 2 and 3 show the article insertion device 10. The lower end 27 of the article insertion device 10 is positioned in the gap between the pair of needle beds 4, and shows a gripping position a for gripping the article 16 by a solid line, a release position B for raising and releasing the article 16, and a pressing position C for lowering and pressing the article 16 in the knitted fabric downward by a one-dot chain line. In the release position B, the lower end 27 is raised from the needle bed 4, and interference with other yarn feeders can be avoided.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a carriage which is moved along the yarn feeding rail 8 by a roller 21. The carriage 20 includes a lift lever 22, and a follower 23 at an upper end thereof is pressed by a cam 30 of the carriage to be lowered, so that a lower end 27 is lowered toward the gripping position a. The carriage includes, for example, a solenoid 31, and can further lower the cam 30 to a lowering position 32 indicated by a chain line. Then, the lower end portion 27 is lowered toward the pressing position C. In the embodiment, the interlocking of the article insertion device 10, the lowering of the lower end portion 27 to the gripping position a, and the lowering to the pressing position C are controlled by the cam 32, but may be controlled by different cams. A biasing member 25 is provided for biasing the lift lever 22 upward in the vertical direction, and the follower 23 is raised to a raised position 24 shown by a chain line when the cam 30 is not operated.

The holding

portions

26,26 having a pair of

grip pieces

26a, 26a are swingably attached to a shaft 36 at the lower end of the lifter bar 22. A pair of left and right pins 28 are provided below the grip piece 26a and above the lower end 27. Further, a groove 34, for example, is provided directly above the lower end of the grip piece 26a to hold the article 16. Instead of providing the groove 34, the article 16 may be held by the contact surfaces of the

grip pieces

26a, 26 a. In this specification, the left and right are directions parallel to the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 4.

A pair of left and

right cams

29, 29 are provided at a lower portion of the bracket 20, each cam 29 includes a pair of front and rear cam grooves 35, and an interval between the

cam grooves

35,35 is large at an upper portion and small at a lower portion in the vertical direction. In this specification, the front and rear are directions connecting the front and rear of the flatbed knitting machine 2. Fig. 3 shows the

grip pieces

26a and 26a in the grip position a, the lifter bar 22 is pushed down by the carriage cam 30, and the pin 28 is positioned at a narrow interval below the cam groove 35. As a result, the

grip pieces

26a, 26a contact each other, and the article 16 is held in the groove 34.

When the lift lever 22 is raised from the state of fig. 3, the pin 28 is guided by the cam groove 35, and the

clamp pieces

26a and 26a are swung so that the interval therebetween increases, and released at the release position B to release the article 16. The released article 16 falls into the knitted fabric.

The lower end 27 of the grip piece 26a can be lowered from the state of fig. 3 to the pressing position C by the solenoid 31 of fig. 2 and the like. At this time, the interval between the

cam grooves

35,35 is kept narrow, and thus the pinching

pieces

26a, 26a are not opened. Then, the article 16 in the knitted fabric is pressed downward by the lowered lower end portion 27, and the position is stabilized.

When the

grip pieces

26a, 26a are raised to the release position B, the lower end 27 of the grip piece 26a can be retracted from the uppermost portion (needle bed gap) of the gap between the

needle beds

4, 4. Then, the grip piece 26a does not interfere with the feeding of the knitting yarn by another yarn feeder, not shown, and the needle of the needle bed 4 advances and retreats to operate the knitting yarn. When the grip piece 26a is not retracted from the tooth gap, the article insertion device 10 needs to be retracted from the knitting area by the carriage. In contrast, in the embodiment, when the carriage releases the interlocking of the article insertion device 10, the lift lever 22 is raised and the clamp piece 26a is retracted.

The article insertion device 10 may be self-propelled without being interlocked by the carriage 6. Further, instead of operating the article insertion device 10 by the carriage 6, the article insertion device 10 may be provided with a power supply and a controller to operate autonomously. A tube of compressed air may be provided for pressing the article 16, and the article may be pressed by the airflow. A pressing mechanism may be provided separately from the clamp piece 26 a. The grip piece 26a is not limited to being lifted and retracted, and may be swung back and forth and retracted, for example.

Fig. 4 shows a holding portion 38 used in an article insertion device according to a modification. The fixing member 39 is fixed to a bracket (similar to fig. 2 and 3) of the article insertion device, and includes a projection 40 at a lower end thereof to mount the article 16 thereon. The upper surface of the projection 40 is inclined in such a way that the article 16 falls down. The lifting member 41 is coupled to the lower end of the lifting lever 22 in fig. 2 and 3, for example, and includes a closing portion 42 at the lower end thereof, and inhibits the falling of the article 16 from the projection 43 by the lowering of the lifting lever 22, and permits the falling of the article 16 by the lifting. In order to be able to mount the article 16 on the inclined surface of the upper surface of the projection 40, it is preferable that the fixing member 39 can be swung back and forth in the weft knitting machine in a state where the closing portion 42 is lifted.

Fig. 5 shows the article supply device 12. In the embodiment, the feeding device 15 is constituted by a pair of driving rollers, but the article 16 may be fed out from a side tensioner or the like. An article supply device 12 is provided below one end of the needle bed 4 at a position deviated from the knitting area 5. 44 is a motor, 45 is a feed screw, and 46 is a bearing, by which the base 48 is horizontally moved. The base 48 supports the elevating unit 50, and the elevating unit 50 is elevated by a similar screw mechanism or the like.

In the lifting unit 50, a grip 51 is provided on the supply device 15 side, and a cutter 52 is provided on the knitting area 5 side. Further, the article insertion device 10 can grip the article 16 gripped by the grip portion 51 at the position where the elevating portion 50 is raised, and the article insertion device 10 does not interfere with the grip portion 51 and the cutter 52 at the position where the elevating portion 50 is lowered. Both the gripping portion 51 and the cutter 52 are formed of a pair of members that open and close in the front-rear direction in this specification, and the gripping portion 51 grips the article 16 by closing the pair of members, and the cutter 52 cuts the article 16 when closing the pair of members. The sensor 54 detects the RFID17 or the like provided on the article 16, and determines the type of the sensor 54 according to the type of the detected element.

The operation of the article supply device 12 will be described below. When the first gripping portion 51 grips one end of the article 16, the lifting portion 50 is located at the raised position. The base 48 is moved to the side from which the article 16 is drawn, and after the sensor 54 detects the RFID17, the article 16 is drawn further by a predetermined length (step 1). In the embodiment, during this period, the supply device 15 supports the situation where the article 16 is pulled out from the grip portion 51.

Next, the article insertion device 10 moves to a predetermined position, and holds the article 16 at the predetermined position with reference to the RFID17 (step 2). In order to prevent the interference between the article insertion device 10 and the gripping portion 51 and the cutter 52, the grip piece of the article insertion device 10 is raised or the lifting portion 52 is lowered when they intersect. When the article insertion device 10 grips the article 16, the grip 51 is opened to release the article 16.

Then, the base 48 moves toward the supply device 15 by a predetermined distance based on the RFID17 of the article 16 gripped by the article insertion device 10, the lifting unit 50 rises, and the gripping unit 51 grips the article 16. Next, the article 16 is cut by the cutter 52 (step 3). The amount of articles 16 of the length thus inserted is held by the article insertion device.

When the pitch of the RFID17 on the article 16 is longer than the length of the article 16 inserted by the article insertion device 10, the article insertion device 10 that inserts the article 16 into the knitted fabric and returns holds the leading end of the article 16 and continuously draws out the article 16. When the sensor 54 detects the RFID17, the article supply device 12 is moved to a predetermined position such as near the tip of the antenna of the RFID17, and the article 16 is gripped and cut. Then, the gripping by the article insertion device 10 is released, and the unnecessary part is sucked and discarded by a suction device provided at the longitudinal end of the needle bed or the like. Then, steps 1 to 3 are executed.

If the article is a yarn-like or tape-like article, the article can be pulled out from the tapered drum 14 by the article supply device 12 and held by the article insertion device 10 as described above. In the case of an article 61 that is difficult to deform because it has a sheet-like shape, the article 61 is supplied to the article insertion device 10 by a jig 60 or the like shown in fig. 6. The mechanism of fig. 6 is also an example of the article supply device.

The article 61 is provided at a distance on the jig 60, and the jig 60 can be moved forward and backward in the direction of the arrow in the figure (perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the needle bed in the horizontal plane). The

grip pieces

26a and 26a of the article insertion device descend to grip the article 61. In the following operation, similarly to the case of the article 16, the article insertion device is moved to a predetermined position, the

grip pieces

26a and 26a are opened to insert the article 61, the

grip pieces

26a and 26a are closed, and the article 61 is pressed into the knitted fabric by lowering. As examples other than the jig 60, the following article supply device may be used: a box containing a plurality of articles 61 is provided at one end in the longitudinal direction of the needle bed, and a conveyor that advances and retracts in the short side direction of the needle bed (the front-back direction of the flat knitting machine) is provided, and articles are automatically supplied to the conveyor at a predetermined pitch.

Claims

1. A flat knitting machine (2) for knitting a knitted fabric by feeding a knitting yarn from a yarn feeder traveling on a yarn feeding track (8) to needles of a needle bed (4),

the weft knitting machine (2) is provided with:

an article insertion device (10) having a carrier (20) and holding sections (26,38), the carrier (20) being movable on the yarn feeding rail or a rail parallel to the yarn feeding rail, the holding sections (26,38) being provided at a lower portion of the carrier (20) and being capable of freely inserting an article into a knitted fabric (7) by gripping the article (16,61) and releasing the gripping; and

an article supply device (12) capable of supplying an article to a position where the article insertion device (10) can hold,

the article insertion device (10) is configured to move to the position for gripping an article.

2. The flat knitting machine according to claim 1,

the article insertion device (10) is provided with pressing means (26,38) for pressing down an article (16,61) inserted into a knitted fabric.

3. The flat knitting machine according to claim 1 or 2,

the holding sections (26,38) hold the articles (16,61) so that the longitudinal direction of the articles is parallel to the yarn feeding rail (8).

4. The weft knitting machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

the article insertion device (10) is provided with a lifting member (22) provided on the carriage, and the holding sections (26,38) are configured to grip the articles (16,61) by closing the lifting member (22) when the lifting member is lowered, and to release the gripping by raising the lifting member (22) to insert the articles into the knitted fabric (7).

5. The flat knitting machine according to claim 4,

the holding section (26) is provided with a pair of clamp pieces (26,26) and a pair of pins (28,28), the pair of clamp pieces (26,26) are provided with article holding positions (34) at the lower parts, the pair of pins (28,28) protrude from the upper parts of the article holding positions (34) of the clamp pieces,

the bracket (20) is provided with a pair of cam grooves (35,35) which guide a pair of pins (28,28) and are opposite to each other,

the distance between the pair of cam grooves (35,35) facing each other is wider at the upper part and narrower at the lower part, the distance between the grip pieces (26,26) is narrowed by descending to grip the article (16,61), and the distance between the grip pieces (26,26) is widened by ascending to release the grip.

6. The weft knitting machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5,

the article (16) is in the form of a yarn or tape,

the article supply device (12) is provided with a base body (48) which moves horizontally below a needle bed (4), a lifting part (50) which is supported by the base body and can lift up and down, a holding part (51) which is supported by the lifting part (50) and can be opened and closed, and a cutter (52),

also provided are article supply sections (15,15) to the gripping section (51).