GB2112821A - Flat knitting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

To enable maximum knitting performance with minimum thread and needle loading in a flat knitting machine with a crank actuated needle drive and to allow a multiplicity of patterns to be realised in conjunction with simple adjustment of the knitting tightness and uncomplicated thread change operation, the machine comprises crank sheaves (10) which consist of circular wheels and toothed wheels and which are supported on shafts (15), the toothed wheels being driven by toothed drive sheaves. Each circular wheel has a pin (9) for moving a slide (7) which is mounted in a bed (20, 21) and connected with a rocker (5). The rocker is connected by way of a pin with a bedplate (6) and at its lower end with a foot (3) of a respective needle (2). The bedplates (6) have feet (22) which co-operate with guide elements (23) for needle selection. Each needle (2) has a further foot (4) for resetting of knitting tightness, the foot (4) being co- operable with a cam piece (26) fastened to a slide. A thread guide (48, 49) for each knitting system is selectable through cams (56). Synchronism between the thread guide movement and crank sheave drive takes place by means of a spindle drive (43) which is connected through a V-belt gear with a drive motor. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Flat knitting machine The present invention relates to a flat knitting machine and has particular reference to a machine with a separate drive for each needle of the machine.

In SU-PS 1 64 914 there is described a flat knitting machine with shafts, mounted alongside each needle bed, for the drive of the needles. Two of these shafts are provided with dogs for cooperation with the needles, while a third shaft has a perforated program strip. For providing different needle settings, for example loop or catch, the dogs are so constructed in step form that one half of their thickness provides a run-up for complete expulsion of the needles and the other half a runup catching expulsion. To enable knitting of loop or catch, the dog shaft is displaceable in its axis through half a needle pitch. This arrangement, however, has the disadvantage that the operating speed must be greatly reduced for the manufacture of patterned knitwear in view of the required axial displacement and thereby mass movement in one stroke.The advantage of knitting without a feeder plate and thereby the increase in the system number and speed is to a significant part negated.

In DE-PS 1 296 733 there 15 disclosed a flat knitting machine in which each needle is driven from a crank sheave. The needle is connected through a two-armed lever with the crank sheave in that one end thereof engages in a U-shaped end of the needle and its other end is pressed by means of spring force against the crank sheave, In that case, for the purposes of patterning, there is or are provided a stepped abutment or two abutments, limiting the expulsion movement of the needle, which is or are appropriately actuable and hit against the bend of the needle. When no abutment is effective, a loop is formed. The active setting of the one abutment or of the one abutment setting effects the catch expulsion of the needle and the other abutment or the further abutment setting prevents the needle expulsion.A steplessly displaceable abutment is provided for limitation of the withdrawal movement of the needle.

This arrangement has the disadvantage, however, that by reasons of the abutment the needles are constantly exposed to shocks, which leads to premature wear and also to discontinuous needle movement. The expulsion of the needles through springs and the absent continuous constrained guidance of the needles do not permit high speeds and reliability during the knitting operation.

Finally, knitting machines are also known with separate drive for each individual needle, each needle being connected through its foot with one end of a two-armed lever. This lever at its fulcrum or rotatably at its other end carries a bedplate mounted in a plate bed and freely movable with respect to the rotational centre according to pattern by way of its foot through slide pieces or a rigid bedplate mounted in a plate bed or the needle drive.

There is accordingly a need for a knitting machine with a separate drive for each needle in such a manner that a multiplicity of pattern stitches are realisable with substantially shockfree and jerk-free movement of the needles and without restricting the advantage of high knitting performance with simple setting of the knitting tightness and uncomplicated thread change operation.

According to the present invention there is provided a flat knitting machine comprising a plurality of selectably displaceable needles arranged in rows, a carriage reciprocatingly movable along the rows by reversible drive means, respective displacing means operable to displace each needle, needle selecting means to select the needles for displacement in dependence on a patten to be knitted, setting means for setting a knitting tightness to be produced by the needles, respective control means operable to control each of the selecting means and the setting means, a plurality of selectable thread guides displaceably mounted on the carriage for guidance of knitting thread to the needles, thread guide selecting means to select the thread guides, and first and second drive transmission means to transmit drive from the drive means to, respectively, the control means and the displacing means to effect operation thereof, each displacing means comprising a respective drive member drivably coupled to the first transmission means, a respective rotatable driven member supported by rotatable support elements and drivable by the driven member through intermeshing teeth, the driven member being provided with an eccentric, a respective slide member slidably movable by the eccentric, and a respective rocker connected at one side of its fulcrum to the slide member and at the other side of its fulcrum to the respective one of the needles, the needle selecting means comprising a respective movable selector element pivotably connected to each rocker at its fulcrum and guide means selectably co-operable with each selector element to control the position of the rocker fulcrum to enable transmission of movement by the rocker from the associated slide member to the associated needle, and the setting means comprising a respective slidably adjustable stop device engageable with stop means of each needle.

In a preferred embodiment, each needle is movable through a sliding pin drive and a crank sheave, which is supported and driven through shafts and which has a pin engaged in the slide block of a rocker co-operating with a foot of the needle, needle selection being effected through coupling members drivable according to pattern.

Each crank sheave preferably consists of a circular sheave mounted on shafts supported on ball bearings at spacings as short as desired for the exclusion of oscillations, and of a toothed sheave, into which a drive sheave engages. A pin of the circular sheave moves a slide which is mounted in a bed and connected with a rocker, the transmission point between the slide and the rocker being mounted between cross-pieces of a further bed. The rocker is connected through a pin with a bedplate disposed in a plate bed and at its lower end with a foot of the respective needle. For the selection of the needles according to pattern, feet which co-operate with guide elements are arranged at the bedplates.Each needle is provided with a further foot which co-operates with a cam piece displaceable through a slidable stop device for the resetting of the depth of sinking of the loops for the resetting of the tightness. Serving for the command transmission for the patterning and the resetting of tightness is a respective endlesss tape, disposed in an exchangeable cassette, with perforations which are bringable into synchronism with the carriage drive by way of gears through a planetary wheel gear unit acting as coupling. The thread guides each comprise a guidance element arranged on a thread guide slide which in turn is selectably and displaceably mounted in a bed firmly connected with the carriage brackets and movable to and fro with these, a thread guide for each knitting system being selectable through dogs.

Synchronism between the thread guide movement and the drive of the crank sheaves through the drive sheaves takes place by means of a spindle drive comprising a spindle, a spindle nut, a shaft and a toothed gear wheel which is connected through a V-belt gear with a drive motor.

With a machine according to the said embodiment, an increase in performance of the knitwear production to about eight times that compared with a conventional flat knitting machine may be achieved with retention of the pattern variations previously possible. A low loading of the thread materal during the knitting process largely excludes thread breakage and low grade thread material can accordingly be used for particular purposes.

The pins of neighbouring crank sheaves may be angularly displaced relative to each other in their settings.

Preferably, the lower end of each rocker is substantially pear-shaped and is mounted latchably into and out of U-shape limbs of the needle foot.

For the preference, each bedplate has only one foot, which for an increase in the pattern possibilities is arranged at different places in the individual bedplates for co-operation with one of the guide elements.

The guide elements preferably comprise a bed, a slide sliding therein with a foot, rails fastened to the bed, a locating device as well as two parts which are constructed as an axle and as a hollow shaft. The part constructed as an axle carries a slide piece and the part constructed as a hollow shaft and receiving the axle carries two slide pieces. For the attainment of different settings of the parts and thereby of the slide pieces and the bedplates, there is provided a slide displaceable in steps and having ramps which co-operate with lugs disposed on said parts. Disposed between the slide pieces switched according to desired needle expulsion and the rails is a track for the bedplate feet, which is wider than the bedplate foot to make direct resetting of the knitting tightness possible at the needle.The slide pieces as well as the rails may be structured arcuately to enable a shock-free and jerk-tree movement of the bedplate feet in the tracks.

For resetting of the tightness, the stop device preferably slides by its cam piece in a bed and carries at a lower end thereof an arm with recesses for the reception of adjusting screws which are mounted at a first control slide displaceable by the respective control tape.

Disposed alongside the first control slide is a second control slide actuable by the tape and displaceable through a two-armed lever with the first slide through its pin. For raising the recesses from the adjusting screws, the stop device provided with the cam piece is provided with a pin co-operable with a ramp of the second control slide.

Expediently, the planetary wheel gear unit serving as coupling comprises a drive shaft divided in two, hollow shafts arranged thereon, toothed gear wheels which are connected together through a cross-piece, an axle and further toothed wheels. Serving for the control of the tapes are electromagnets which are selectably drivable by their abutments to act on dogs and thereby control actuation of the drive shafts or the hollow shaft, respectively. The thread guides, their selecting device, the guide elements for the patterning and the means for resetting knitting tightness are preferably arranged on carriage brackets movable through the spindle.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a loop forming head of a knitting machine embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a cross-section, to an enlarged scale, of drive elements of a needle and bedplate of the machine; Fig. 2 is a cross-section of a crank sheave of the drive elements; Fig. 3 is a schematic plan view of the path of movement of bedplate feet and needle feet for the resetting of knitting tightness in the machine; Fig. 4 is a cross-section, to an enlarged scale, of a pattern device of the machine; Fig. 5 is a cross-section, to an enlarged scale, of a control device for resetting of knitting tightness in the machine; Fig. 6 is a plan view of the pattern resetting device of Fig. 5; ; Fig. 7 is a schematic view of parts of control tapes for controlling the devices of Figs. 4 and 5; Fig. 8 is a section, to an enlarged scale, through a drive of the pattern device; Fig. 9 is a schematic view of a drive of the flat knitting machine; and Fig. 10 is a cross-section of a crank sheave drive according to a modification.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in Fig. 1 a loop forming head of a flat knitting machine in which needles 2 are mounted in needle beds 1, are provided with feet 3 and 4 and driven through rockers 5. The rockers 5 are mounted in bedplates 6 and are each driven through a slide 7. Each slide 7 has a slide block 8, into which a pin 9 of a respective crank sheave 10 engages. The crank sheave 10 is driven through a shaft 11 by way of a drive sheave 75 (Fig. 2) and is supported by shafts 1 2. For avoidance of slip of the individual shafts 12 and of the crank sheaves 10, it is advantageous to move the shafts 12 constrainedly through a toothed wheel gear (not shown). For additional guidance of the crank sheaves 10, spacer sheaves 14 are disposed between the drive sheaves 75.The shafts 12 are supported at several locations by stays 1 6 with ball bearings 1 5 acting on circumference of the shafts.

The slides 7 are slidably mounted in slotted beds 17, which are retained by the stays 1 6. The stays 1 6 are connected through rails 1 8 with the needle beds 1 or with plate beds 19, respectively.

The coupling point between each slide 7 and rocker 5 is disposed between crosspieces 20 of a bed 21.

The bedplates 6 have feet 22, which are retained by guide elements 23. The guide elements 23 are disposed in a pattern resetting device which is connected by way of intermediate elements with a carriage bracket 25.

The foot 4 of each needle 2 is held in the desired withdrawal position by a displaceable cam piece 26. Serving for this is a device for resetting of knitting tightness, which is selectable by way of an endless tape 28 running over a roller 29. The tape 28 is disposed in a cassette 30. The guide elements 23 are selected by a further tape 34 by way of steps 33 in slides 32. The tape 34 runs over a roll 35 and is also disposed in a cassette 36. The rollers 29 and 35 with the tapes 28 and 34 are pivoted according to carriage running direction, are connected with each other by way of a bevel gear 37 to run synchronously and are driven by way of a shaft 38 and a bevel wheel gear 39. Drive of the shaft 38 is effected through a planetary wheel gear 40, which is arranged to be switchable and is connected through toothed wheels with a spindle 43.The spindle 43 engages in a spindle nut 44 which is firmly mounted to the carriage bracket 25. Drive of the spindle and thereby reciprocation of the carriage takes place through a reversing motor 131 (Fig. 9) with appropriate intermediate gears, the carriage being mounted on rails 45.

A thread feed and thread feed changing device is disposed on a plate 46 between carriage brackets 25. The plate 46 has two beds 47, each extending parallel to the needle beds 1, for the guidance of a thread guide slide 48 provided with a raster 51. Each bed 47 carries as many thread guide slides 48 with thread guidance elements 49 as there are knitting systems. A double thread change is illustrated in Fig. 1. It is feasible to arrange even more beds 47 on the plate 46. The thread guide slides 48 with the thread guidance elements 49 are drawn by springs 50 into an inoperative setting.

The slides 48 are provided with feet 52, on which cam pieces 53 act before the carriage reversal following the knitting process of each carriage stroke and bring the elements 49 into an operative setting against the force of the springs 50. The selection of the thread guidance elements 49, i.e. bringing them into operative position, takes place through dogs 56 by way of detent levers 57 and 58. The use of magnets is also feasible in place of the dogs 56. In the illustrated setting, the slides 48 detent into the detents 51 of a catch slide 54. The catch slide 54 is pressed by springs 55 against the detents 51.

Also disposed at the plate 46 are thread conducting devices 59, which conduct threads 60 by way of thread return barriers 62 to thread guide nozzles 63.

Each needle 2 with its foot 3 constructed in Ushape and the foot 4 is guided in the needle bed 1 according to the illustration in Fig. 2. The lower, pear-shaped end 64 of the associated rocker 5 engages in the foot 3. This end 64 is constructed so that it has full contact with the limbs of the foot 3 in both directions of needle movement and is guided by its lower portion in the needle channel in each expulsion setting of the needle 2.

Thus in the overhang setting. For exchange of the needle 2, the rocker can be removed from the foot 3. The other end 65 of the rocker 5 is substantially spherical, is arranged in a U-shaped recess of the slide 7, and is pivotably connected to one of the bedplates 6 by way of a pin 66.

Connection through the pin 66 makes possible an exchange of the bedplate 6 through raising the rockers 5 and disconnecting the bedplate from the pin. Each bedplate 6 has a foot 22, the feet being arranged at different places of the bed plate shanks. The number of the possible foot settings depends on the desired number of pattern possibilities. Each of the foot settings is associated with a guide track formed by the guide elements 23. The play of the individual guide tracks serves for resetting of the tightness of the loops, in that the bedplate 6 during the loop formation in the loop-sinking range does not rest against the guide track, but is limited by the cam piece 26. The cam piece 26 is part of a slide 68, which slides in a bed 69 and is located in its position by way of an arm 70.

The coupling point of the substantially spherical end 65 of rocker 5 within the U-shaped recess of the slide 7 is disposed between the cross-pieces 20. These crosspieces 20 are held in the bed 21 by a part 72.

Drive of the slide 7 takes place through the pin 9 disposed in the crank sheave 10. The crank sheave 10 is formed from a toothed sheave 74 rigidly connected with a circular sheave 73 (Fig.

2a). The circular sheave 73 and thereby the entire crank sheave 10 is supported by the shafts 12.

Drive sheaves 75, which are fastened on shafts 11, engage into the toothed sheaves 74. The settings of the pins 9 in the crank sheaves 1 0 are displaced through an angle a relative to each other from sheave to sheave. A row-by-row knitting of the thread becomes possible as a result. The divisor of the full circular angle of 3600 by the angle a present from sheave to sheave yields the real spacing of the systems one from the other in needle pitches.

The patterning device illustrated in Fig. 3 shows two knitting systems I and II each with two respective needle selection devices. It comprises continuous rails 77, slide pieces 78, 79 and 80 of which are disposed opposite one another. The rails 77 and slide pieces 78, 79 and 80 bound a track 81, in which run the feet 22 of the bedplates 6. The tracks 81 are wider than the feet 22. As a result, these lie against either the continuous rails 77 or the slide pieces 78, 79 and 80. The slide pieces 78, 79 and 80 are arranged to be switchable and can be brought out of action according to the desired pattern. Together, they give the width of a knitting system. The knitting system (I) illustrated at the lower left in Fig. 3 is so structured that no knitting needle movement takes place.The foot 22 of the bedplate 6 is not retained by the slide pieces 78, 79 and 80 and the rocker 5 cannot transfer movement to the needles 2. The threads form united places. The slide pieces 78, 79 and 80 are recessed. The upper righthand knitting system (II) drives the needles into catch setting. For this purpose, the slide piece 78 is recessed. The foot 22 of the bedplate 6 is not retained in the region of the slide piece 78. Both the other knitting systems (upper lefthand and lower righthand) are so switched that the needles 2 form loops by way of the associated bedplates 6. The slide pieces 78, 79 and 80 can advantageously be constructed as cam pieces in order to avoid shocks on the change of contact of the bedplate 6. They can be structured as sinusoids or as higher polynomials.

The feet 22 of the bedplates 6 change their contact in the tracks 81 with the reversal of the direction of movement of the needles 2 at the start and in the middle of the knitting system, i.e.

in the lowest needle setting, the loop-sinking point, and at the upper dead centre of the needle, the inclusion setting. Whilst the change of contact is always carried out in the middle of the system with the needles 2 knitting, the movement path of the feet 22 at the start of the system is shortened according to the desired tightness of knitting. The minimum change path yields the loosest loop. The shortening of the contact change path of the bedplate 6 takes place by way of the foot 4 of the needle 2. The cam piece 26 engages at this and by way of the rocker 5 limits the travel of the foot 22 of the bedplate 6. The cam piece 26 can be displaced along the needle axis through an adjusting device.

This adjusting device is illustrated in Fig. 5. As can be seen, the cam piece 26 is disposed on the slide 68. The slide 68 slides in a groove 67 of the bed 69 which is disposed on the carriage. The arm 70 of the slide has a recess 83, into which adjusting screws 84 of a slide 85 engage. The slide 85 is displaced by way of a stepped end 89 thereof through perforations 42 of the tape 28.

This resetting of the slide 85 is only possible when a slide 87 has previously been reset through the tape 28. Parallel with the resetting of the slide 87, the slide 68 is displaced by means of a pin 86 through a ramp 88. In that case, the recess 83 lifts off from the adjusting screws 84.

At the same time, a multi-armed lever 90 is pivoted by way of a pin 91, and the slide 85 is in that case brought by way of a pin 92 into selection setting. The pin 91 slides over the end 93 of the lever 90. The lever 90 thus returns to its initial position. In this selection setting of the slide 85, the slide 87 holds the slide 68 by way of its pin 86 against spring force in the selection setting. The spring force is provided by springs 95 and 96, as well as spring 97 for the lever 90. In this setting, the tape 28 can undertake the new selection of one of the adjusting screws 84.

The tape 34 (Fig. 4) serves for pattern selection, i.e. for the selection of the slide pieces 78, 79 and 80. Two slides 32 per knitting system are controlled by way of the tape 34. These slides 32 possess notches 99, into which a locating device 100 detents. Moreover, they are provided with a central foot 102, by way of which they can be conducted back to their initial setting by means of a cam piece 103 fastened to the plate bed 19.

The slides 32 are provided in the region of the slide pieces 78, 79 and 80 with an upper edge 104 at upper and lower levels, on which lugs 105 and 106 (Fig. 6) of the parts 107 and 108 rest.

Present between the lower and upper edges 104 are ramps 109, by way of which the slide pieces 78 and 79 and 80 during the movement of the slider 32 are moved into or out of an operative setting through the lugs 105 and 106 of the parts 107 and 108. The lugs 105 and 106 are pressed by springs 110 onto the upper edge of the slide 32. The part 107 is constructed as a hollow shaft end and the part 108 as an axle which slides in the hollow shaft. The slide pieces 79 and 80 are fastened to the part 107, while the slide piece 78 is disposed at the part 108. Accommodation in a confined space is possible through the guidance of the parts 108 in the parts 107. A bed 112on the one hand and a guide part 111, in which is disposed the track 81, on the other hand serve as guides for the parts 107 and 108.

With reference to Fig. 7, pattern selection as well as the resetting of knitting tightness take place by way of the tapes 34 and 28 with perforations 41 and 42. The perforations 41 of the tape 34 act on the steps 33 of the slide 32 and the perforations 42 of the tape 28 on the stepped end 89 of the slide 85 as well as directly on the slide 87.

The tapes 28 and 34 are moved by way of the bevel wheel gears 37 and 39, the shaft 38 and the planetary wheel gear 40. The planetary wheel gear 40 in that case serves on the one hand as a step-up gear for the tapes 28 and 34 and on the other hand as a slip-free coupling. The pattern transmission takes place through toothed wheels by way of a skew gear wheel pair 114 and a hollow shaft 115 5 cross-pieces 11 6 (Fig. 8). The cross-pieces 11 6 are connected together through an axle 11 7, on which are disposed two integrally connected toothed wheels 118 and 11 9. The toothed wheels 11 8 and 119 mesh with toothed wheels 120 and 121. The toothed wheel 120 is disposed on the shaft 38.The hollow shafts 11 5 and 122 of the cross-piece 11 6 or of the toothed wheel 121, respectively, are also mounted on the shaft 38. The shaft 38 is provided with a dog 123, on which acts a displaceable abutment 124 of a magnet 125. The transport of the tapes 28 and 34 is biocked when the dog 123 rests on the abutment 124. For this, the toothed wheel 11 9 is drive by way of the toothed wheel 121.

The hollow shaft 122 is provided with a dog 125, which cooperates with an abutment 127 of a magnet 128. Either the toothed wheel 120 or the toothed wheel 121 is blocked through the alternate switching of the magnets 125 and 128.

The dog 126 moves by way of the toothed wheel 119 during blocking of the toothed wheel 120 and the dog 123 moves by way of the toothed wheel 11 8 during blocking of the toothed wheel 1 21. As a result, interruption of the drive of the tapes 28 and 34 is secured with constant drive.

This entire gear is disposed in a housing 1 29.

The exact synchronism between carriage and needle gear is realised by way of toothed wheels through a spindle drive (Fig. 9). A reversing motor 1 31 serves as drive element. This drives a shaft 133 of the spindle 43 through a V-belt gear 132.

The drive of the drive sheaves 75 for the crank sheaves 10 takes place through a toothed wheel 134, which is mounted on the shaft 133 and meshes with a toothed wheel 135 mounted on the shaft 11.

In place of the crank sheave 10 with a pin 9, it is also feasible to provide the crank sheave 10 with a crank pin 136 and slide block guide 137 (Fig. 1 0). Similarly, it is possible to use electronic or other mechanical means in place of the tapes 28 and 34.

Claims (24)

Claims

1. A flat knitting machine comprising a plurality of selectably displaceable needles arranged in rows, a carriage reciprocatingly movable along the rows by reversible drive means, respective displacing means operable to displace each needle, needle selecting means to select the needles for displacement in dependence on a pattern to be knitted, setting means for setting a knitting tightness to be produced by the needles, respective control means operable to control each of the selecting means and the setting means, a plurality of selectable thread guides displaceably mounted on the carriage for guidance of knitting thread to the needles, thread guide selecting means to select the thread guides, and first and second drive transmission means to transmit drive from the drive means to, respectively, the control means and the displacing means to effect operation thereof, each displacing means comprising a respective drive member drivably coupled to the first transmission means, a respective rotatable driven member supported by rotatable support elements and drivable by the drive member through intermeshing teeth, the driven member being provided with an eccentric, a respective slide member slidably movable by the eccentric, and a respective rocker connected at one side of its fulcrum to the slide member and at the other side of its fulcrum to the respective one of the needles, the needle selecting means comprising a respective movable selector element pivotably connected to each rocker at its fulcrum and guide means selectably co-operable with each selector element to control the position of the rocker fulcrum to enable transmission of movement by the rocker from the associated slide member to the associated needle, and the setting means comprising a respective slidably adjustable stop device engageable with stop means of each needle.

2. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein the support elements comprise a plurality of spaced apart shafts supported by bearings.

3. A knitting machine as claimed in either claim 1 or claim 2, comprising a bed with cross members defining guide passages for the rockers and slide members at the zones of inter connection thereof.

4. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the eccentrics of the driven members of the displacing means for adjacent ones of the needles are angularly displaced relative to each other.

5. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the rockers has a substantially pear-shaped lower end portion removably engaged in the recess of a substantially U-shaped coupling projection of the respective needle.

6. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the driven member of each displacing means comprises a gear wheel connected to a carrier wheel.

7. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 6, wherein the eccentric of each driven member comprises a crank pin arranged on the carrier wheel and the slide member comprises a slide block engaged by the crank pin.

8. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the selector elements are provided with projections cooperable with a plurality of guide elements of the guide means.

9. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 8, wherein each of the selectors is provided with only a respective one of the projections, the projections being disposed at different positions on the selector elements.

10. A knitting machine as claimed in either claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the guide elements comprise a plurality of rails arranged on a support bed to bound guide track means for the projection of each selector element, and a plurality of slide elements carried by two carrier members which are selectably displaceable to'movie the slide members into different settings relative to the guide track means, control members being slidably mounted in the support bed and provided with cam means to effect displacement of the carrier members on slidable movement of the control members, and locating means being provided for locating the control members with the slide elements disposed in desired settings.

11. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 10, wherein one of the carrier members comprises a hollow shaft carrying two such slide elements and the other carrier member comprises a rod which extends in the bore of the hollow shaft and which carries a further such slide element.

12. A knitting machine as claimed in either claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the slide elements and rails comprise curved surface portions for guidance of the selector element projection.

13. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the claims 10 to 12, the guide track means being wider than the selector element projector.

14. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each stop device is slidably mounted in a support bed and is provided with an abutment engageable with the stop means of the respective needle and with an arm having a recess for receiving detent means of a first control slide displaceable between different settings by the control means for the setting means, a second control slide being arranged to be displaceable by said control means and being operatively coupled to the first control slide through a double-armed lever and actuating pins disposed on the slides and co-operable with the lever.

1 5. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 14, wherein each stop device further comprises a pin co-operable with a cam surface of the second control slide for displacement of the stop device to disengage the detent means from the recess of the first control slide.

1 6. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each control means comprises a respective perforated tape.

1 7. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 16, wherein each of the tapes is endless and extends from a cassette removably mounted in the machine.

18. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the first transmission means comprising a planetary gear unit, coupled to the drive means and gear means for transmitting drive from the planetary gear unit to the control means.

19. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 18, wherein the planetary gear unit comprises two coaxial rotatable drive shafts for transmitting drive to the gear means and each carrying a respective gear wheel, a respective hollow shaft rotatably mounted on each drive shaft and provided with a cross-piece, the cross-pieces of the hollow shafts being interconnected by axles, a respective coupling gear mounted on each axle and meshing with a gear wheels of the drive shaft, and electromagnetically actuable locking means selectably engageable with one of the drive shafts or one of the hollow shafts to lock the engaged shaft against rotation.

20. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the second transmission means comprising gear means connected to a drive spindle of the drive means, the spindle being connected by a V-belt drive to a reversing motor and having a threaded portion drivingly coupled to the carriage.

21. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each thread guide comprises a thread guidance element arranged on a slide which is slidably mounted in mounting means arranged on brackets of the carriage.

22. A knitting machine as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the guide means of the needle selecting means, the stop devices of the setting means, the thread guides and the thread guide selecting means are arranged on the carriages.

23. A flat knitting machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 to 9 of the accompanying drawings.

24. A knitting machine as claimed in claim 23 and modified substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Fig. 10 of the accompanying drawings.