EP3425097B1

EP3425097B1 - Compound needle

Info

Publication number: EP3425097B1
Application number: EP18181826.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kenji Kitahara
Original assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg Ltd
Current assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg Ltd
Priority date: 2017-07-07
Filing date: 2018-07-05
Publication date: 2020-04-15
Anticipated expiration: 2038-07-05
Also published as: CN109208168A; KR102069232B1; JP2019015001A; EP3425097A2; EP3425097A3; CN109208168B; JP6692325B2; KR20190005769A

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a compound needle that includes a needle body and a slider.

BACKGROUND ART

One known example of a needle used in a flat knitting machine is a compound needle in which a needle body, which has a hook, and a slider, which opens and closes the hook, are combined in a manner of being capable of moving relatively to each other (e.g., see Patent Document 1). In this compound needle, the slider is slidably fitted into a slider groove that is formed in the needle body.
In the case of compound needles, dust and waste, such as waste yarn that is produced when knitting a fabric with a flat knitting machine, tend to accumulate in the slider groove. If waste accumulates in the slider groove, the sliding of the slider is hindered, thus leading to the risk that the hook does not fully open, or that the formation of stitches becomes unstable, for example. In view of this problem, Patent Document 1, which represents the closest prior art with respect to the subject-matter of claim 1, discloses a configuration in which a hole (clearance portion) is formed extending greater than or equal to half the length of the bottom portion of the slider groove, thus allowing waste to be discharged from the slider groove.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENT

PATENT DOCUMENT

Patent Document 1: JP 5618778B , with European family member EP 2458052

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

In Patent Document 1, the formed hole is large and extends greater than or equal to half the length of the bottom portion of the slider groove, and therefore the strength of the needle body in the thickness direction is low. In particular, with a fine-gauge flat knitting machine, the thickness of the compound needle is sometimes less than or equal to 1 mm, and there is a risk that the strength of the compound needle of Patent Document 1 is insufficient.
The present invention was achieved in light of the foregoing circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a compound needle that has sufficient strength and suppresses the accumulation of waste in the slider groove.

MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS

A compound needle according to one aspect of the present invention is a compound needle including a needle body that has a hook provided at a tip and a slider groove provided in an upper end face, and a slider configured to be slidably fitted into the slider groove and to open and close the hook, the compound needle including:

a waste discharge window that is formed in a side face of the needle body and is in communication with a portion of the slider groove located on a rear end side in a sliding direction of the slider,
wherein the waste discharge window has a shape capable of accommodating a rear end of a portion of the slider that slides on a bottom portion of the slider groove, when the slider is at a most withdrawn position in the sliding direction.

In another aspect of the compound needle of the present invention, at least a portion of the waste discharge window may be formed in a solid portion that is on a rear end side, with respect to the sliding direction, of the slider groove, and
the slider may have an engaging portion configured to engage with an upper edge face and a lower edge face of the portion of the waste discharge window that is provided in the solid portion, and to suppress rising of a tip of the slider from the slider groove.
In another aspect of the compound needle of the present invention, the compound needle may further include a waste discharge hole formed in a lower face of the needle body at a position in an intermediate portion, with respect to an extending direction of the slider groove, of the bottom portion,
wherein an opening length of the waste discharge hole in the sliding direction may be in a range of 1/30 to 1/5 of the length of the bottom portion of the slider groove in the sliding direction.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION

The compound needle according to the above aspects of the present invention has sufficient strength for use in a fine-gauge flat knitting machine. This is because the waste discharge window is provided so as to be connected to a very small portion of the rear end portion of the slider groove. Also, according to the compound needle of the above aspects of the present invention, waste is readily pushed from the slider groove to the waste discharge window by the forward and rearward movement of the slider, and moreover, waste does not accumulate between the slider and the slider groove on the rearward side in the length direction of the compound needle. Waste is readily pushed out of the waste discharge window due to the waste discharge window having a shape capable of accommodating the rear end of the portion of the slider that slides on the bottom portion of the slider groove, when the slider is at the most withdrawn position. If the waste discharge window has this shape, even when the slider is at the most withdrawn position, there is room for waste to be discharged between the waste discharge window and the rear end of the slider, and thus waste is readily discharged from the waste discharge window. For this reason, according to the compound needle of the above aspects of the present invention, it is possible to suppress problems in which, for example, the slider rises up from the slider groove due to waste accumulating between the slider and the slider groove in the height direction of the compound needle, or the slider cannot be fully withdrawn due to waste accumulating between the slider and the slider groove on the rearward side in the length direction (sliding direction) of the compound needle.
The engaging portion of the slider physically abuts on the upper edge face and the lower edge face of the waste discharge window, thus making it possible to prevent the slider from rising from the slider groove. As a result, it is possible to suppress the case where the tip portion of the slider protrudes upward from the slider groove and hinders the knitting operation.
The waste discharge hole having a predetermined length or smaller is formed in the intermediate portion of the slider groove, and therefore waste is not likely to accumulate in the portion on the tip side of the slider groove . As a result, waste is not likely to accumulate between the bottom portion of the slider groove and the lower end face of the slider, and the tip portion of the slider is not likely to protrude upward from the slider groove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A to 1C are partial configuration diagrams of a compound needle according to a first embodiment, where FIG. 1A is an exploded view of a needle body and a slider, FIG. 1B is a diagram showing the state where a hook of the needle body is closed, and FIG. 1C is a diagram showing the state where the hook of the needle body is open.
FIG. 2 is a diagram in which (I) is a cross-sectional view taken along I-I in FIG. 1C, and (II) is a cross-sectional view taken along II-II in FIG. 1C.
FIGS. 3A to 3C are partial configuration diagrams of a compound needle according to a second embodiment, where FIG. 3A is an exploded view of a needle body and a slider, FIG. 3B is a diagram showing the state where a hook of the needle body is closed, and FIG. 3C is a diagram showing the state where the hook of the needle body is open.
FIG. 4 is a diagram in which (I) is a cross-sectional view taken along I-I in FIG. 3C, (II) is a cross-sectional view taken along II-II in FIG. 3C, and (III) is a cross-sectional view taken along III-III in FIG. 3C.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

First Embodiment

A compound needle 1 according to a first embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1A to 1C and 2. The upper and lower sides with respect to the paper plane in FIGS. 1A to 1C are respectively the front and rear sides of the compound needle 1, the right and left sides with respect to the paper plane are respectively the lower and upper sides of the compound needle 1, and the depth direction with respect to the paper plane is the thickness direction of the compound needle 1. In FIG. 2, which includes cross-sectional views of FIG. 1C, the near and far sides with respect to the paper plane are respectively the front and rear sides of the compound needle 1, the right and left sides with respect to the paper plane are respectively the lower and upper sides of the compound needle 1, and the vertical direction with respect to the paper plane is the thickness direction of the compound needle 1.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the compound needle 1 includes a needle body 2 that has a hook 20, and a slider 3 that is slidably combined with the needle body 2. The slider 3 provided in the compound needle 1 of the present embodiment includes two blades 31 that are arranged parallel with each other at the tip. The compound needle 1 may be a compound needle that does not include blades at the tip of the slider (e.g., see JP H04-66941A ). The compound needle 1 of the present embodiment can be used in a two-bed flat knitting machine or a four-bed flat knitting machine. The configurations of the compound needle 1 of the present embodiment will be described in detail below.

Needle body

The needle body 2 includes a slider groove 21 in an upper face on the tip side. The blades 31 of the later-described slider 3 are slidably fitted into the slider groove 21 (see FIGS. 1B, 1C, and (I) and (II) in FIG 2) . The slider groove 21 can be formed by using a cutter to shave away a portion of the upper face of the needle body 2.
The slider groove 21 is the space surrounded by a pair of wall portions 21w (see (I) in FIG. 2), a bottom portion 21b that connects the lower ends of the two wall portions 21w, and a rear end face 21s that is the wall face on the rear side in the length direction of the needle body 2. Here, the bottom portion 21b of the slider groove 21 is the portion of the slider groove 21 on which the lower end face of the slider 3 (the lower end faces of the blades 31 in the present embodiment) slides when the slider 3 slides in the range from the position shown in FIG. 1B to the position shown in FIG. 1C. In other words, with respect to the outline of the slider groove 21 shown by a dashed line in FIG. 1A, the portion of the outline having a length L indicated by dimension lines is the bottom portion 21b, and the portion rearward, with respect to the needle body 2, of a below-described waste discharge window 4 is a portion on which the lower end faces of the blades 31 do not slide, and therefore is the rear end face 21s of the slider groove 21.
The needle body 2 of the present embodiment includes the waste discharge window 4, which is formed in a side face of the needle body 2 and is in communication with a portion on the rear end side of the bottom portion 21b of the slider groove 21. The waste discharge window 4 of the present embodiment is a through-hole that passes through the needle body 2 in the thickness direction (see (II) of FIG. 2 as well) . The waste discharge window 4 of the present embodiment is an approximately elliptical hole that is inclined to extend along the inclination of the rear end region of the bottom portion 21b, and is formed by punching out a portion of the needle body 2 in the thickness direction. As shown in FIG. 1C, the waste discharge window 4 has a shape for accommodating the rear end of the portion of the slider 3 that slides on the bottom portion 21b of the slider groove 21 when the slider 3 is at a most withdrawn position in the sliding direction. This waste discharge window 4 is formed so as to extend over a hollow portion formed by the slider groove 21 and a solid portion where the slider groove 21 is not formed, in a side view of the needle body 2. This prevents the problem of the slider groove 21 being crushed when a portion of the needle body 2 is punched out. Of course, a configuration is possible in which the waste discharge window 4 is first formed in the needle body 2 by punching, and then the slider groove 21 is formed in the needle body 2 using a cutter. The case where the region of the waste discharge window 4 overlapped with the solid portion is larger than the region overlapped with the hollow portion is preferable in terms of facilitating the formation of the waste discharge window 4 and in terms of the strength of the needle body 2.
Here, as long as the waste discharge window 4 is connected to the rear end of the bottom portion 21b, it may be formed in only the hollow portion of the needle body 2, or may be formed in only the solid portion. In the former case, the waste discharge window 4 is formed so as to pass through one or both of the pair of wall portions 21w (see (II) in FIG. 2) of the slider groove 21 such that the rear edge portion of the waste discharge window 4 is connected to and coplanar with the bottom portion 21b and the rear end face 21s of the slider groove 21. In the latter case, the waste discharge window 4 is formed in the solid portion of the needle body 2 such that the front edge portion of the waste discharge window 4 is connected to and coplanar with the bottom portion 21b and the rear end face 21s of the slider groove 21.
A waste discharge hole 5 is formed in a lower face of the needle body 2 at a position in an intermediate portion, with respect to the extending direction of the slider groove 21, of the bottom portion 21b of the slider groove 21. As shown in (I) of FIG. 2, at the position of the waste discharge hole 5, the slider groove 21 is constituted by the pair of parallel wall portions 21w, and the bottom portion does not exist.
As shown in FIG. 1A, the size of the waste discharge hole 5 (the opening length in the sliding direction of the slider 3, which is the aforementioned extending direction) is in a range of 1/30 to 1/5 of the length L of the bottom portion 21b (see the dimension lines), and the portion of the slider groove 21 that is constituted by only the pair of wall portions 21w (see (I) in FIG. 2) is much shorter than the total length of the slider groove 21. Accordingly, the strength of the compound needle 1 is not largely reduced by this waste discharge hole 5. The size of the waste discharge hole 5 of the present embodiment is approximately 1/16 of the length of the bottom portion 21b.

Slider

The slider 3 is a member that slides in the advancing- withdrawing direction of the compound needle 1 (the vertical direction with respect to the paper plane). The slider 3 includes a slider body 30 and the two blades 31 (see FIG. 2 also) that are attached to the tip of the slider body 30. A tongue 31t for holding a stitch during stitch transfer is formed at the tip of the blades 31.
In the states shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, the two blades 31 are in close contact with each other in the thickness direction of the compound needle 1 (the depth direction with respect to the paper plane). When performing stitch transfer, the two blades 31 advance upward, with respect to the paper plane, from the state shown in FIG. 1B, and separate to the left and right (the depth direction with respect to the paper plane) with the hook 20 sandwiched therebetween.

Hook open/close operation

As shown in FIG. 1B, when the slider 3 advances relative to the needle body 2, the tip portion of the hook 20 becomes sandwiched between the two blades 31, and the hook 20 of the needle body 2 becomes closed. On the other hand, when the slider 3 is withdrawn relative to the needle body 2 from the state shown in FIG. 1B, the blades 31 are also withdrawn into the slider groove 21 while the lower end faces of the blades 31 slide on the bottom portion 21b of the slider groove 21. When the slider 3 is at the most withdrawn position, the needle body 2 and the slider 3 are in the positional relationship shown in FIG. 1C. In the compound needle 1 of the present embodiment, the withdrawal limit position of the slider 3 is defined by engagement between a recession-shaped engaging portion 29 formed in the needle body 2 and a protrusion-shaped engaging portion 39 formed in the slider 3.
As the slider 3 is withdrawn, waste sandwiched between the lower end faces of the blades 31 and the bottom portion 21b is guided to the waste discharge hole 5 so as to be pushed out from the bottom portion 21b by the blades 31, thus being discharged from the needle body 2. For this reason, waste is not likely to accumulate on the tip side of the waste discharge hole 5 in the slider groove 21, and it is possible to suppress the occurrence of a problem in which waste accumulates in that portion and the tongue 31t of the slider 3 protrudes upward from the slider groove 21. If the tongue 31t protrudes upward from the slider groove 21, there is a risk that a stitch will become caught on the tongue 31t that protrudes from the slider groove 21 during knitting, thus hindering the knitting operation.
Waste that is not fully discharged from the waste discharge hole 5 and waste that accumulates in the portion rearward of the waste discharge hole 5 in the slider groove 21 are guided to the waste discharge window 4 so as to be pushed out from the bottom portion 21b by the blades 31, thus being discharged from the needle body 2. The rear ends of the portions of the blades 31 that are arranged inside the slider groove 21 have a rounded shape, and parts of these rounded rear end portions protrude into the waste discharge window 4 when the slider 3 is at the most withdrawn position. Moreover, the portion of the slider groove 21 in the vicinity of the rear end of the bottom portion 21b has a shape that corresponds to the rounded shape of the blades 31, and waste is readily pushed out from the bottom portion 21b. For this reason, it is possible to suppress problems in which, for example, the slider 3 rises up from the slider groove 21 due to waste accumulating between the slider 3 and the slider groove 21 in the height direction of the compound needle 1, or the slider 3 cannot be fully withdrawn due to waste accumulating between the slider 3 and the slider groove 21 on the rearward side in the length direction of the compound needle 1.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment describes a compound needle 1 that has a different configuration from the first embodiment, with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3C and 4. The views in FIGS. 3A to 3C and 4 are similar to those of FIGS. 1A to 1C and 2 in the first embodiment, and configurations in FIGS. 3A to 3C and 4 that have functions similar to those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference signs as in the first embodiment. The following description in the present embodiment focuses on differences from the first embodiment.
A main difference between the needle body 2 of the present embodiment and the needle body 2 of the first embodiment is the shape of the waste discharge window 4 that is provided in the needle body 2. A portion of the waste discharge window 4 of the present embodiment is formed in the solid portion at a location on the rear end side, with respect to the sliding direction, of the slider groove 21. An upper edge face 40 and a lower edge face 41 of the waste discharge window 4 are formed in the portion that is provided in the solid portion. This waste discharge window 4 has an approximately scalene triangular shape including the lower edge face 41 that is approximately parallel with the extending direction of the needle body 2. The upper edge face 40 of the waste discharge window 4 is constituted by an upper edge front portion 4f that slopes downward toward the lower edge face 41 while extending toward the tip side of the needle body 2 (the upper side with respect to the paper plane in FIGS. 3A to 3C), and an upper edge rear portion 4b that slopes downward toward the lower edge face 41 while extending toward the rear end side of the needle body 2 (the lower side with respect to the paper plane in FIGS. 3A to 3C).
A main difference between the slider 3 of the present embodiment and the slider 3 of the first embodiment is that an engaging portion 31p is formed in each of the blades 31 (see (III) in FIG. 4 as well) . The shape of the engaging portion 31p substantially conforms to the above-described lower edge face 41 and upper edge rear portion 4b of the waste discharge window 4. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 3C, the engaging portion 31p is accommodated in the waste discharge window 4 when the slider 3 has been withdrawn to the deepest portion. In the upper edge rear portion 4b, the inclination of the portion connected to the upper edge front portion 4f is larger than the inclination of the other portions. This inclined portion engages with the engaging portion 31p of the slider 3 so as to guide the slider 3 toward the waste discharge window 4, and allows the slider 3 to sink downward into the slider groove 21.
The engaging portion 31p of this blade 31 abuts on the upper edge face 40 of the waste discharge window 4 and is pushed downward toward the bottom portion 21b of the slider groove 21, and therefore the tip of the slider 3 is also pushed downward. At this time, if waste is present in the bottom portion 21b at a position on the forward side (the upper side with respect to the paper plane in FIGS. 3A to 3C), with respect to the sliding direction, of the abutting portion, the tip of the slider 3 tends to rise. In this case, the rear end side of the engaging portion 31p abuts on the lower edge face 41 of the waste discharge window 4 on the rearward side, with respect to the sliding direction, of the aforementioned abutting portion, thus suppressing the rising of the tip of the slider 3 from the slider groove 21. For this reason, the case where the tongue 31t provided at the tip of the slider 3 protrudes upward from the slider groove 21 is suppressed more than in the configuration of the first embodiment.
According to the configuration of the present embodiment as well, waste is readily discharged from the waste discharge window 4 that is in communication with the portion on the rear end side of the bottom portion 21b of the slider groove 21, and it is possible to suppress a malfunction of the slider 3 that occurs due to the accumulation of waste in the slider groove 21. In particular, in the present embodiment, the engaging portion 31p has a tapered shape, and waste is readily pushed out from the slider groove 21, thus effectively suppressing the accumulation of waste in the slider groove 21.

Claims

A compound needle (1) including a needle body (2) that has a hook (20) provided at a tip and a slider groove (21) provided in an upper end face, and a slider (3) configured to be slidably fitted into the slider groove (21) and to open and close the hook (20), the compound needle (1) characterized by:
a waste discharge window (4) that is formed in a side face of the needle body (2) and is in communication with a portion of the slider groove (21) located on a rear end side in a sliding direction of the slider (3),

wherein the waste discharge window (4) has a shape capable of accommodating a rear end of a portion of the slider (3) that slides on a bottom portion (21b) of the slider groove (21), when the slider (3) is at a most withdrawn position in the sliding direction.
The compound needle (1) according to claim 1,
wherein at least a portion of the waste discharge window (4) is formed in a solid portion that is on a rear end side, with respect to the sliding direction, of the slider groove (21), and
the slider (3) has an engaging portion (31p) configured to engage with an upper edge face (40) and a lower edge face (41) of the portion of the waste discharge window (4) that is provided in the solid portion, and to suppress rising of a tip of the slider (3) from the slider groove (21) .
The compound needle (1) according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising:
a waste discharge hole (5) formed in a lower face of the needle body (2) at a position in an intermediate portion, with respect to an extending direction of the slider groove (21), of the bottom portion (21b),

wherein an opening length of the waste discharge hole (5) in the sliding direction is in a range of 1/30 to 1/5 of the length of the bottom portion (21b) of the slider groove (21) in the sliding direction.