GB2091302A

GB2091302A - Circular knitting machine with a cooling device

Info

Publication number: GB2091302A
Application number: GB8200867A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Sulzer Morat GmbH
Current assignee: Sulzer Morat GmbH
Priority date: 1981-01-16
Filing date: 1982-01-12
Publication date: 1982-07-28
Also published as: DE3101154A1; JPS57139550A; GB2091302B; DE3101154C2

Abstract

A rotatable dial or sinker-plate 4 in which displaceable knitting tools are mounted cooperates with a rotatable needle-cylinder 3 to produce a tube 11 of material which is pulled down by a draw-off device. Cooling air enters through an axial pipe 8 and is fed by way of fixed distributor and pipes 14 to nozzles 18 which direct the air along the lower side of the ribbed web 20 and the ring or dial. A spreader 24 is supported from the distributor. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Circular knitting machine with a cooling device The invention relates to a circular knitting machine with a cooling device of the type defined in the pre-characterising clause of Patent Claim 1.

Cooling devices on circular knitting machines are known in various embodiments and serve, above all, for cooling those parts of a circular knitting machine which are heated excessively because of the friction of the knitting needles with the locks controlling them or the needle beds supporting them.

Air is mainly used as a cooling medium. In this case, either needle beds with special air channels for conveying the air to selected places are provided (German Offenlegungsschrift 1,635,836) or the air is used merely for blowing on the machine parts accessible from outside. In both cases, frequent use is made of the known advantage that the supplied air can be utilised both for cooling purposes and for eliminating the impurities, for example fibre and dust particles, which occur during the knitting operation (German Utility Model 7,638,042). It is also already known to cool selected machine parts with cooling liquid and to circulate the cooling liquid through a separate cooler (German Offenlegungsschrift 2,200,1 54).

The known cooling devices working with cooling air have not proved sufficiently effective when applied to high-performance machines.

Although blowing on the cylinder-lock casing and the rib-lock carrier from outside (German Utility Model 7,638,042) results in cooling of these parts, it nevertheless fails to provide a sufficient effect in depth and therefore also insufficient cooling of the knitting needles, of the lubricant (lubricating oil) used for these and of the parts of the needle-cylinder, sinker-ring or dial which interact with the knitting needles or other knitting tools. This is true especially when the blown-on parts are or should be made of a material of poor thermal conductivity.If, on the other hand, the cooling air is conveyed in a known manner through special bores in the needle cylinder or in the rib-lock carrier (German Offenlegungsschrift 1,635,836), only partial and therefore insufficient cooling especially of the lubricant is ever possible, because this type of cooling is considered merely as a side-effect of the cleaning purpose which is chiefly sought.

Finally, the known cooling devices impede access to the knitting locations and elimination of the hot air arising during the cooling operation.

The object on which the invention is based is to provide the circular knitting machine designated in the introduction with a cooling device such that, in particular, effective cooling of the knitting needles, of the lubricant provided for lubricating these and of the parts of the needle-cylinder and of the dial which interact with the knitting needles and other knitting tools is obtained.

To achieve this object, the characteristing features of Patent Claim 1 are envisaged.

Further advantageous features of the invention are characterised in the sub-claims.

The invention affords the advantage that the needle beds or the needle-cylinder and dial or sinker-ring arrangement are cooled from inside, and it is possible to eliminate the air heated as a result of the cooling operation from inside outwards, for example through the gap existing between the needle-cylinder arrangement and the dial arrangement, with an accumulation of heat being effectively prevented. The arrangement of the fixed cooling tube or, preferably, the several cooling tubes within the tube of material also has the advantage that the outflow orifices of the cooling tubes can be directed to any appropriate part of the dial or sinker-ring arrangement, without thereby impeding access from outside to the knitting locations or to the lock arrangements.

Cooling of the needle-cylinder arrangement and of the knitting tools supported by the needle-cylinder is therefore possible because the cooling air can penetrate through the tube of material.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment, in conjunction with the attached drawing in which: Figure 1 shows the partially cut away front view of a circular knitting machine, with a view of the cooling device according to the invention; and Figure 2 shows the cooling device according to Figure 1 on an enlarged scale.

According to Figure 1, a conventional circular knitting machine contains a frame 1, a base plate 2, a needle-cylinder arrangement 3, a dial arrangement 4 and a rim 5 which is supported by columns 6 supported on the base plate 2 and which serves, for example, for the attachment of thread-guide elements not shown.

Located in the centre of the circular knitting machine is a fixed tubular connecting line 8 which is arranged coaxially to the machine axis 7 and the upper end of which is fastened to the rim 5 and which can be connected to a compressed-air source not shown and the lower of which extends up to a point located underneath the rotatable needle-cylinder 9 (Figure 2) of the needle-cylinder arrangement 3. Within the frame 1, a draw-off device 10 for drawing off the tube of material 11 formed during the knitting operation is located underneath the needle-cylinder arrangement 3 and underneath the lower end of the connecting line 8. All the other parts of the circular knitting machine can be designed in a known manner and are not required for an understanding of the invention.

As shown especially in Figure 2, a fixed distributor housing 12, to which at least one fixed cooling tube 1 4 is connected, is fastened to the lower end of the connecting line 8. The distributor housing 12 contains at least one channel 1 5 which extends radially outwards from the machine axis 7 and which has at its outer end a connection 16 for the cooling tube 14. The radially inner end of the channel 1 5 communicates for flow purposes with the compressed-air source via an orifice 1 7 provided in the connecting line 8.

The cooling tube 14 extends out from the distributor housing 12, also in a radial direction from inside outwards, the outer end 1 8 of the cooling tube 14 serving as an outflow orifice for the cooling air and therefore being directed to those free parts of the underside of the dial arrangement 4 which have to be cooled during operation of the circular knitting machine. If, as illustrated in Figure 2, the dial arrangement 4 contains a rotatable dial 1 9 and a rotatable dial flange 20 supporting the dial 19, then the outer end 1 8 of the cooling tube 14 is arranged, for example, so that the cooling air supplied through the connecting line 8 and the distributor housing 12 flows onto the free parts of the underside of the dial and the underside of the dial flange 20.In particular, those parts of the dial arrangement 4 which are exposed to strong heating as a result of friction, due to the movement of the knitting tools mounted in the dial 19, are cooled as a result. The heated cooling air can flow off through the gap 21 between the dial 1 9 and the needle cylinder 9, so that no accumulation of heat can arise. A rapid flow-off of the used cooling air is achieved, in particular, when the axis of the outflow orifice, for example of the end 18, forms an angle both with the machine axis 7 and with the perpendicular thereto and, consequently, the cooling air flows out in a preferred direction running towards the gap 21.Apart from this, a certain cooling of the free inner parts of the needle-cylinder arrangement 4 from inside is also possible, since the cooling air can penetrate through the tube of material 11 and reach, for example, the needle cylinder 9 from inside.

The invention thus resides essentially in the fact that the cooling air supplied through the connecting line 8, the distributor housing 12 and the cooling tubes 14 flows into the space limited by the draw-off device 10, the tube of material 11 and the dial arrangement 4 and is led off outwards from there after interaction with the dial arrangement and/or needle-cylinder arrangement 4 and 3 respectively.

Instead of only one cooling tube 14, several cooling tubes 14 can be provided. Moreover, it is possible to use cooling tubes which have several outflow orifices for the cooling air and which enable the cooling air to flow out in several directions. The number of cooling tubes 14 or outflow orifices present depends essentially on the number of knitting systems present and on the heat arising during the knitting operation, and it must be remembered that, because of the rotary movement of the dial 19 and the needle cylinder 9 and because of the fixed mounting of the cooling tubes 14, during the knitting operation all the parts of the needle-cylinder and dial arrangements 3 and 4 respectively, which are located in the cooling region, travel successively past the outflow orifices of the cooling tubes 14.

Further fixed elements of the circular knitting machine can be fastened to the lower end of the rigid and fixed connecting line 8. It is also possible, however, to mount a plate 23 rotatably on the connecting line 8 by means of a bearing 22 and, fastened to this plate 23, rotatable elements of the circular knitting machine, for example a spreader 24 for the tube of material 11.

Appropriate cooling can be carried out when a sinker-ring arrangement is provided instead of the dial arrangement. In this case, it is merely necessary to arrange the outflow end of the connecting line 8 so that air is blown on to the underside of the sinker-ring arrangement.

Claims

1. Circular knitting machine with a rotatable needle-cylinder arrangement and with a rotatable rib-plate or sinker-ring arrangement in which knitting tools are mounted displaceably, also with a draw-off device located underneath the needlecylinder arrangement and intended for drawing off the tube of material to be formed, and with a cooling device for cooling the needle-cylinder and/or rib-plate or sinker-ring arrangement, the cooling device having at least one stationary cooling tube which can be connected to a compressed-air source, characterised in that the cooling tube is located in the space limited by the draw-off device and the tube of material can be connected to the compressed-air source by means of a fixedly mounted connecting line extending coaxially to the machine axis and has at least one outflow orifice for blowing on the underside of the rib-plate or sinker-ring arrangement.

2. Circular knitting machine according to claim 1, characterised in that the rib-plate arrangement has a ribbed support web supporting a ring plate and in that the outflow orifice of the cooling tube is arranged so that the cooling air flow along the undersides of the support web and/or of the ring plate.

3. Circular knitting machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the outflow orifice is the radially outer end of the cooling tube, and the axis of the outflow orifice forms an angle both with the machine axis and with the perpendicular thereto.

4. Circular knitting machine according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the cooling tube is connected to the connecting line via a fixed distributor housing.

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5. Circular knitting machine according to claim 4, characterised in that a bearing for the rotatable mounting of a material-spreader is fastened to the distributor housing.