EP1233093B1 - Sliding-tongue compound needle for a knitting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

Sliding-tongue compound needle comprising a needle (1) equipped with a hook (3) and with a sliding tongue (2) straddling the needle and equipped with an end (12) and with a shoulder (13), the bottom of the sliding tongue being longitudinally slotted in its distal region comprising the end (12) and the shoulder (13) so as to allow the end to be parted, the sliding tongue being movable relative to the needle to close and open the hook of the needle and to carry a stitch by its shoulder. This needle has means (6) for the vertical guidance of the sliding tongue (2) as it moves relative to the needle (1) so that the sliding tongue moves in a non-rectilinear path.

Description

The invention relates to a slider needle for knitting machine comprising a needle provided with a hook and a slide overlapping at least partially the needle and provided with at least one heel, a beak and a shoulder, the bottom of this slide being split longitudinally in its distal region including the beak and the shoulder so as to allow the nozzle to be moved apart by the needle or opposite needle or slide, the slide being displaceable relative to the needle to close and open the hook of the needle and to drive a mesh by its shoulder.

Such a needle is described in the application for EP 0 881 315 in the name of the applicant. In the execution described in this document the bottom of the slide and the upper edge of the needle are rectilinear and parallel to the direction of movement of the needle. The movement of the slide is therefore also straight and parallel to the direction of moving the needle. Because of this conformation, when the needle advances relatively the backstage to come in position of preparing for mesh transfer, the mesh to be transferred must be on a ramp of the needle until it is practically at the bottom of the slide. This has effect of exerting on the mesh a traction towards the high which has the effect of enlarging the mesh. This effect is further strengthened when the slide advances in causing the mesh above the hook of the needle, the beak and the shoulder of the slide passing well above the hook of the needle. The fineness of the stitches likely to be knitted is therefore limited.

In an anterior slider needle conventional, that is to say in which the needle, shaped like a slide, provided with a needle hook is located under a slider coming to close and open the hook, it has been proposed in the patent FR 2 652 593, to provide means for raising and lowering slide relative to the bottom of the groove of the needle so as to reduce friction and pull on the mesh carried by the needle and get more regular stitches. These means are constituted, on the one hand, by support in the background of the groove of the needle and, on the other hand, by a lever exerted by the needle pusher. The trajectory of the end of the slider is however not sufficiently accurate and moreover, because of the general conception of the needle, the slider can not move beyond of the needle hook, but only performs one movement back and forth between a low position and a high position, relatively to the bottom of the slides.

The present invention also aims to enable to knit finer and more regular stitches, and, moreover, to facilitate mesh transfers to one or more receiving elements.

For this purpose, the sliding needle according to the invention is characterized in that the needle has special cam-shaped shapes, cooperating with particular shapes of the slide, which constitute exclusively and integrally means of positioning and non-rectilinear guidance of the slide when moving relative to the needle, presenting elevations and lowering, according to a trajectory in all points controlled.

By ensuring a perfectly controlled guidance of the slides, these guide means have the effect of reduce vertical pull as much as possible on the mesh and, consequently, its enlargement. he it is possible to knit finer stitches and more regular.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the bottom of the slide is open between the heel and about the middle of the slide and the needle present an arm extending approximately his milleus forward, substantially parallel to the body of the needle, this arm crossing the slide by its open bottom for extend over the full part of the slide to form, with the body of the needle, a fork in which is guided the slide.

To provide guidance, the inner sides of the fork, as well as the bottom and the back of the part full of the slide, are advantageously in the form of cams ensuring the non-rectilinear movement of the slide, that is to say its elevation and its lowering relative to the needle.

According to one embodiment, the slide presents, at the rear, at least one point of support cooperating with the body of the needle to prevent tipping inadvertent slide and / or to induce a moving in a vertical plane from the back of the slide relative to the needle. In this last case, at least one of the sides of the body of the needle on which rests the fulcrum is cam-shaped.

La figure 1 est une vue latérale de l'aiguille à coulisse.

La figure 2 représente l'aiguille et la coulisse séparées l'une de l'autre.

La figure 3 est une vue de dessus, agrandie, de la partie antérieure de la coulisse.

Les figures 4 à 11 montrent huit positions successives de la coulisse relativement à l'aiguille d'une position extrême à l'autre en particulier dans le cas d'un report de maille.

The appended drawing represents, by way of example, an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 1 is a side view of the slider needle.

Figure 2 shows the needle and the slide separated from each other.

Figure 3 is a top view, enlarged, of the front part of the slide.

Figures 4 to 11 show eight successive positions of the slide relative to the needle from one extreme position to the other particularly in the case of a mesh transfer.

The shape of the needle and the slide will be all first described in relation to Figures 1 to 3.

The slider needle consists of a needle 1 and a slider 2 overlapping the needle 1 so similar to the sliding needle described in EP-A-0 881 315. For this purpose, the slide 2 has an inverted U profile, but on only part of its length for reasons that will appear later.

The needle 1 is provided, in a conventional manner, a hook 3. In the execution mode shown, the needle 1 is provided with a heel 4 for its drive by the cams of a cam holder. The needle could however be driven by a key. Approximately in the middle, the needle is equipped of an arm 5 extending forward, above the needle itself, parallel to the axis longitudinal direction of the needle, that is to say to the direction of movement of this needle in his needle bed. The needle 1 and the arm 5 form a fork 6 of which the inner sides 7 and 8 have a non-contour rectilinear, cam-shaped. The side 7 shaped cam extends beyond the fork 6 where it presents a depression 9 followed by a ramp 10 rising towards forward. In front of this ramp 10, the needle goes slimming, in a known manner, according to a ramp down 11 to hook 3.

The slide 2 has at the front a beak 12 in front a shoulder 13 and it is provided at the rear of a heel 14 for his training. The bottom of the slide 2 is deleted in two places, on the one hand in his distal part, in front of a point 15 located slightly behind the shoulder 13 and, on the other hand, in its rear half 16, between the heel 14 and a point 17 located approximately halfway down the aisle.

Viewed from above, the distal part of the slide is represented in Figure 3. The interruption of the profile in U of the slide forms a slot 18 which narrows to the end of the slide to form the beak 12 to the end of which the sides of the slot 18 is together. Both sides of the slot 18 can move away from each other elastically.

The interruption 16 of the bottom of the slide forms a cutting width corresponding to the thickness of the needle. This cut is crossed by the arm 5 of the needle that extends over the slide proper, that is to say from zone 29 of the slide in which the bottom of the slide is not interrupted. This zone 29 presents externally, at forward a ramp 19 terminated by a nose 20 and, at the back, a slight boss 21. Inwardly, the bottom of the slide has a first boss 22 in its front part and a second boss 23 at the back. Enter these bosses the bottom of the slide presents a slight depression.

At the back, at the height of the heel 14, the slide 2 has two points of support 33 and 34 cooperating respectively with the upper 35 and lower sides 36 of the needle body to prevent tipping untimely slide. These points of support can additionally be used to induce movement extra slide in relation to the needle, for example to retract his heel 14 relative to a cam of the cam carriage or for get a finer and more precise movement of its beak 12. In this case at least one of the sides 35, 36 of the body the needle is non-rectilinear, that is, shaped of cam. The fulcrum 33 is formed by a boss from the bottom of the slide and the fulcrum 34 is formed by, for example, embossing the material of walls of the slide.

Regarding the inside profile of the range 6 of the needle, he presents, from the end arm 5, a release ramp 32 followed by a boss 24, then a slight depression and a second boss 25 weakly marked and, on the needle proper, a high part 26 of constant level between the depression 9 and a ramp 27 leading to a depression 28.

As can be seen in Figure 1, when the needle is assembled, zone 29 of the slide is located in the fork 6 of the needle, which ensures the non-rectilinear guidance of the slide 2 during its displacement. In Figure 1, the slide is shown in its most backward position on the needle. In this position, the boss 24 of the arm 5 of the needle is resting on the nose 20 of the slide, which has the effect of positioning the beak 12 of the slides in a low position of minimum height relative to the needle. In this position, two sides of the beak 12 are separated by the needle 1 and well the beak 12 and the depression located behind this beak are in all points below the edge upper needle.

The complete movement of the slide on the needle will be now described in relation to FIGS. 4 to 11 which represent eight successive positions of the slide relative to the needle from the position shown in Figure 1 which is the same position as that shown in Figure 4.

The represented sequence illustrates a mesh transfer.

In the position shown in Figure 4, the slide 2 is positioned in the fork 6 by its nose 20 and its boss 22. The beak 12 of the slide, open, is located below the upper edge of the needle 1. Both sides of the spout 12 rest on the sides of the needle on two millings 30 which reduce the thickness of the needle and therefore the opening of the beak 12 so as not to exceed the width of the slides. The mesh to be carried 31 is worn by the needle 1 so that it exerts no pressure on the slide 2 which is cantilevered and prevents braking of the slide. The beak 12 is at that moment at a height H1 from the edge of the needle, that is to say with respect to the bottom of the groove of the bed in which slides the needle. This level H1 is the minimum level of the beak 12 on the trajectory of the slide.

When the slide 2 advances, its boss 22 goes up on the ramp 27 of the needle to arrive on the part high 26 (Figure 5). Up, the slide is retained and guided by the boss 24 of the arm 5 of the needle. This ascent of the slide is just sufficient for the depression at the back of the beak 12 of the slide comes slightly above the level of the needle. During this ascent of the slide, the beak 12 closes and the mesh 31 is driven by the shoulder 13 of the slide. H2 level reached by the beak 12 of the slide is the highest level relative to the needle reached by the slide when of his displacement.

The slide 2 continues are advanced relying on the high part of constant level 26 of the needle, that is, keeping the H2 level, as shown in Figure 6.

The boss 22 of the slide then leaves the game 26 of the needle so that the beak 12 of the slide down towards the hook 3 of the needle, as shown in Figure 7.

Continuing its descent, the coulisse 2 comes to style the hook 3 of the needle by its beak 12, as shown in Figure 8. This movement corresponds to closing movement of a conventional needle to valve by its flap.

The slide continues its progression, its boss 22 arrives against the ramp 10 of the needle so that the slide 2 and its beak 12 initiate a movement ascending (Figure 9) which continues until the beak 12 reaches a level H4 (Figure 10). This movement ascending is intended to prevent the hook 3 from the needle hangs from the filaments of the mesh 31 present on the slide.

Once the hook 3 has passed, the boss 22 of the slide 2 goes down along the ramp 11 of the needle and leaves it while the boss 23 takes the relay on the face 26 of the needle and the beak 12 reaches a low level H5 and keeps this level until end of his trip. This descent has the effect to avoid deformation, by traction, of the mesh 31 (Figure 11).

In the position shown in Figure 11 the mesh 31 can be seized by an opposite needle (report) or by a slide (punching) as described in EP 0 881 315, that is to say by the introduction of this needle or this slide in the beak 12.

In alternative embodiments, the slide could totally overlap the needle and she could be with two or more heels. The slide could at the rear, a single point of support, for example the fulcrum 34 (Figure 2)

Claims (8)

1. A sliding-tongue compound needle for a knitting machine comprising a needle (1) equipped with a hook (3) and a sliding tongue (2) at least partially straddling the needle and equipped with at least one butt (14), with an end (12) and with a shoulder (13), the bottom of the sliding tongue being longitudinally slotted (18) in its distal region comprising the end (12) and the shoulder (13) so as to allow the end to be parted, the sliding tongue being movable relative to the needle so as to close and open the hook of the needle and so as to drive a stitch (31) along via its shoulder,
   characterized in that the needle has special shape in the shape of cams (24-28), cooperating with special shape (22) of the sliding tongue, which constitute exclusively and integrally positionning and non linear path guiding means (6) of the sliding tongue (2), as it moves relative to the needle (1), having rising and falling movements, controlled at all points.
2. The compound needle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bottom of the sliding tongue (2) is open (16) between the butt (14) and approximately the middle (17) of the sliding tongue, and the needle has an arm (5) extending from approximately its center forward roughly parallel to the body of the needle, this arm passing through the sliding tongue via its open bottom (16) to extend over the solid part (29) of the sliding tongue so as to form, with the body of the needle, the device (6) in which the sliding tongue is guided.
3. The compound needle as claimed in claim 2, wherein the interior dimensions (28) of said fork (6) and the bottom and back of the solid part (29) of the sliding tongue are in the shape of cams providing the nonrectilinear movement of the sliding tongue, that is to say causing it to rise and fall relative to the needle.
4. The compound needle as claimed in claim 3, wherein the needle (1) has two lateral millings (30) reducing the opening of the end (12) of the sliding tongue by the needle when the end is lowered below the upper edge of the needle.
5. The compound needle as claimed in one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the special shapes in the shape of cams of the needle are such that when the sliding tongue is in its maximum extent relative to the needle (1), its end (12) is below the upper edge of the needle, such that a stitch is supported by the needle in this position of preparing to transfer a stitch.
6. The compound needle as claimed in claim 5, wherein the special shapes in the shape of cams of the needle and the cooperating special shapes of the sliding tongue are such that when the sliding tongue (2) moves forward from its position of maximum withdrawal, taking a stitch with it, this sliding tongue first of all rises to carry the stitch on its shoulder, then falls again as far as the position in which the hook of the needle is closed, then rises again slightly to avoid the hook catching on stitch filaments, and finally falls again so as to reduce the tension on the stitch.
7. The needle as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the sliding tongue has, at the rear, at least one bearing point (33, 34) collaborating with the body of the needle (35, 36) to prevent inadvertent rocking of the sliding tongue and/or to induce a movement of the rear of the sliding tongue in a vertical plane relative to the needle.
8. The needle as claimed in claim 7, wherein at least one of the sides (35, 36) of the needle body against which the bearing point (33, 34) rests, is in the form of a cam.

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