GB2121837A

GB2121837A - Production of fabric incorporating laid-in yarn

Info

Publication number: GB2121837A
Application number: GB08314386A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Adams
Original assignee: Courtaulds PLC
Current assignee: Akzo Nobel UK PLC
Priority date: 1982-05-25
Filing date: 1983-05-24
Publication date: 1984-01-04
Also published as: GB8314386D0

Abstract

A circular, e.g. cylinder and dial, knitting machine has a yarn guide (17) located at the lower end of a tube (18) at the level of the verges associated with the cylinder needles (9). The tube (18) is located in advance of an associated location (13) where the needles rise to knit, and yarn (29) is laid in the fabric knitted by feeding the yarn down the tube (18), through the guide (17), and behind the needles at the location (13), at the level of the verges. The respective needles are also raised at 32, 33 to ensure correct placing of the inlaid yarn. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Production of fabric incorporating laid-in yarn This invention relates to the production on a circular knitting machine of fabric incorporating a laid-in yarn. The laid-in yarn may be a fancy yarn, for example a poodle yarn or loop yarn, or a "velour type" yarn such as a chenille yarn or a brushed yarn.

According to the invention, there is provided a circular knitting machine with two arrays of needles each controlled by a separate cam system and including a yarn guide located approximately at the level of verges of the walls of the tricks housing the needles of one of said arrays, said yarn guide being arranged to guide yarn at the level of the said verges from a position in advance of an associated needle rise produced by the cam systems, behind needles of the two arrays at a location where they are raised to knit and thus to incorporate the yarn in knitted fabric as laid-in yarn.

In a dial-and-cylinder machine, the said yarn guide may be located at, or constituted by, the lower end of a tube extending from above the level of the dial needles to the level of the said verges and the tube may be inwardly inclined in the downward direction in relation to the axis of the needle cylinder.

Between the said yarn guide and the active needles raised by the associated cam system to knit, dial needles may be raised above the path of yarn from the yarn guide to the active needles and cylinder needles may be raised in front of the path of yarn from the yarn guide to the active needles, to assist in maintaining the yarn on the correct path.

In this specification the term "raise" and derivatives thereof, used in relation to a needle, signifies movement of the needle from a retracted position to or towards an advanced position in which the needle can take yarn to form a further loop, when retracted again. It does not necessarily indicate movement in a vertical direction. The terms "in front of" and "behind" are used in relation to cylinder needles in the sense in which they would be used by an observer looking at the knitting machine from outside the ring of cylinder needles, and are used in relation to dial needles in an analogous fashion from the point of view of an observer located in a similar situation with regard to the orientation of the needle latches.

The invention also includes a weft-knitted fabric including a laid-in yarn which is retained between loops pulled to one face of the fabric and loops pulled initially to the opposite face of the fabric and subsequently transferred to intermesh with loops in the said one face.

The invention will be further described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic developed view of part of a circular knitting machine according to the invention in the region of the dial plate, Figure 2 is a section on the line Il-Il in Figure 1, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing the loop formation produced by cam systems of a machine knitting a fabric according to the invention.

Part of a dial-and-cylinder circular knitting machine according to the invention for knitting garment body lengths is shown schematically in Figure 1. A suitable machine for adaptation to the present invention is an RTC rib machine produced by Wildt Mellor Bromley Limited of Leicester, England. In such a machine, the cylinder and dial remain stationary and cams mounted in cam boxes are rotated to operate the needles.

In Figure 1, needles 9 are mounted in the cylinder 10 of the machine and needles 11 are mounted beneath a dial plate 12 of the machine.

Needles 9 are shown being raised at the position 1 3 by a cam system (not shown) of the machine which comprises cams in a cam box mounted on the dial plate 12 and cams in a cam box mounted on the cylinder 10 of the machine.

Associated with the said cam system is a yarn guide 1.7 constituted by a ceramic ring at the lower end of a tube 1 8 which extends from above the level of the dial 12 down to the region of the needles 11 and to just below the level of the verges 1 9 of the walls of the tricks housing the needles 11. Seen in Figure 1, the tube 1 8 is vertical but seen in Figure 2, it is inwardly inclined in the downward direction with respect to the cylinder 10, the inclination of the tube axis to the vertical being approximately 5 .

The tube 18 has a further ceramic ring 20 at its upper end and is secured to the dial plate 12 by a bracket 22 adjustably secured to the dial plate by a bolt 23 extending through a slot in the bracket. A screw 25 extending through a further slot in the bracket 22 and engaged in a screw-threaded hole in a saddle 27 on the tube 1 8 adjustably secures the tube 1 8 to the bracket 22.

The yarn guide 1 7 is located approximately at the level of verges 28 associated with the cylinder needles 9 and is a short distance above these verges. Yarn 29 is fed from a package (not shown) down the tube 1 8 and proceeds from the guide 1 7 at the level of the verges 28 behind the cylinder needles 9 and the dial needles 11 before these are raised to knit by the cam system at the position 1 3. Thus, the yarn 29 is not taken into the hooks of the dial or cylinder needles but is incorporated in the fabric as laidin yarn. The tube 1 8 and yarn guide 1 7 are located approximately 40 needle spaces in advance of the needle rise produced at the position 13.

Between the yarn guide 1 7 and the cam system at the position 1 3 a further cam system is incorporated in the machine at position 32 to raise dial needles above the path of the yarn 29 after the yarn leaves the yarn guide 1 7 so that the yarn 29 lies behind these needles. A cam system is also incorporated in the machine at the position 33 and raises cylinder needles in front of the yarn 29. These raised needles assist in maintaining the yarn 29 on the correct path to the position where it is laid in to the fabric. The cam system at position 33 also serves to raise the cylinder needles in order to open their latches prior to the knitting operation at the position 13.

Knitting instructions for one fabric according to the invention are given in the Table set out below and a course-by-course loop diagram of this fabric is shown in Figure 3.

TABLE

CAM SYSTEM NO. NEEDLES DCDC DCDC DCDC DCDC DC I x x x x x x x x 2 Lay in yarn 3 x x x | x x x x 4 Transfer all loops on cylinder needles to dial needles 5 Xxl x x xXl x x x x x x Lay in yarn 7 x x x x x x 8 Transfer all loops on cylinder needles to dial needles D = dial needles x = needle programmed to knit C = cylinder needle The knitting operation illustrated in Figure 3 and the Table is repeated every four cam systems. At cam system (1) in Figure 3, a rib course is knitted in which, alternately, two loops are drawn to the face of the fabric by dial needles 11 and one loop to the back of the fabric by a cylinder needle 9. At cam system (2) yarn is laid in as described with reference to Figures 1 and 2. At cam system (3) a rib course similar to that produced at cam system (1) is knitted but on needles displaced one needle space from the needles operated by cam system (1) and which were not operated at cam system (1). At cam system (4) all the loops on cylinder needles 9 are transferred to dial needles 11 and the sequence is then recommenced.

The resulting fabric comprises a basic single jersey structure, formed on the dial needles, on the face side of which the laid-in yarn is held in "tunnels" formed between loops knitted on dial needles and pulled to one face of the fabric and loops knitted initially on the cylinder needles and pulled to the opposite face of the fabric and subsequently transferred to dial needles to intermesh with loops in the said one face. To achieve this structure, the laid-in yarn is fed into the angle formed by loops extending from cylinder needles to the previously knitted fabric and loops extending from the dial needles to the previously knitted fabric.

Claims

1. A circular knitting machine with two arrays of needles each controlled by a separate cam system and including a yarn guide located approximately at the level of verges of the walls of the tricks housing the needles of one of said arrays, said yarn guide being arranged to guide yarn at the level of the said verges from a position in advance of an associated needle rise produced by the cam systems, behind needles of the two arrays at a location where they are raised to knit and thus to incorporate the yarn in knitted fabric as laid-in yarn.

2. A circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the machine is a dial-and-cylinder machine and the said yarn guide is located at or constituted by the lower end of a tube extending from above the level of the dial needles to the level of the said verges.

3. A circular knitting machine according to claim 2, wherein said tube is inwardly inclined in the downward direction in relation to the axis of the needle cylinder.

4. A circular knitting machine according to claim 2 or 3, wherein, between said yarn guide and the location where said needles of the two arrays are raised for the associated knitting operation, the cam systems are arranged to raise dial needles above, and cylinder needles in front of, the path of yarn from the yarn guide to the said location to assist in maintaining the yarn on its correct path.

5. A circular knitting machine substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6. A method of knitting a fabric on a knitting machine according to claim 1 , the method comprising supplying yarn to the needles of the machine at least at said location where they are raised to knit and supplying further yarn through the said yarn guide and behind needles of the two arrays at the said location to incorporate said further yarn in knitted fabric as laid-in fabric.

7. A method of knitting a fabric on a knitting machine according to claim 1, the method being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.

8. Weft-knitted fabric whenever made by the method according to claim 6 or 7.

9. Weft-knitted fabric including a laid-in yarn which is retained between loops pulled to one face of the fabric and loops pulled initially to the opposite face of the fabric and subsequently transferred to intermesh with loops in the said one face.