GB2599557A

GB2599557A - Knitting apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2599557A
Application number: GB2118176.3A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Whitehead Brian
Original assignee: Fuse London Ltd
Current assignee: Fuse London Ltd
Priority date: 2019-06-18
Filing date: 2020-06-18
Publication date: 2022-04-06
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-18
Also published as: WO2020254806A1; GB2599557B; GB201908686D0; GB202118176D0

Abstract

The invention relates to apparatus and a method for forming a knitted item from at least one length of material. The material is cast onto a ring of upstanding formations, and a drive force is applied to a drive assembly including a hook member, and to the ring to move the ring in a stepwise manner to move the upstanding formations, in turn, to the location of movement of the said hook member. The hook member is moved by the drive assembly to move a portion of material at the first side of the upstanding formation over a newly supplied part of the material and over the upstanding formation to move said material to the opposing side of the upstanding formation to form a knitted stitch. Movement of the ring and hook member is synchronised and continued in a sequential manner to form the said knitted item.

Claims

1. Apparatus for forming a knitted item from at least one length of material, said apparatus including a housing in which there is provided a drive assembly including a hook member, drive means to move the drive assembly, a plurality of upstanding formations in a spaced apart relationship around a ring and wherein, said ring locatable with the said housing and rotatable in a stepwise manner with respect to the housing and said rotation is synchronised with the operation of the drive assembly so as to move and locate the said length of material with respect to the said upstanding formations and form the said knitted item depending from said ring.

2 Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the said hook member is located with respect to the upstanding formations of the ring so as to extend towards and away from one of said upstanding formations located adjacent thereto at that time.

3 Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein the said hook member is movable along a longitudinal axis of said upstanding formation.

4 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the path of movement of the hook member with respect to the said upstanding formation is along a figure of 8 path.

5 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein each upstanding formation includes an open ended slot located between first and second parts of said upstanding formation, said slot extending from an opening at a free end of the upstanding formation towards the ring.

6 Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the said slot extends through the upstanding formation from one side to the other.

7 Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said slot is located on the upstanding formation such that when the upstanding formation is adjacent to the location of the hook member, the hook member can move from the housing towards the upstanding formation and at least partially into the said slot.

8 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the ring is around a an axis to sequentially position one of the upstanding formations at a location for interaction with the said hook member during operation of the apparatus.

9 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the said length of material is progressively passed around each of the upstanding formations as the ring rotates to extend the material around the ring to form a series of layers of said material in a knitted manner.

10 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the supply of material passes through a tensioning means provided on or adjacent to the housing so as to ensure the material when positioned on the ring, is at a tension within a predetermined tension range.

11 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein movement of the ring is such that each upstanding formation is held stationary for a period of time during which the hook member is moved in a predetermined sequence with respect to the upstanding formation and engages with the material to move the same with respect to the upstanding formation.

12 Apparatus according to claim 11 wherein when the predetermined sequence has completed, the ring is moved by a step so as to bring the next upstanding formation to a position such that the hook member is then moved with respect thereto and repeating the said predetermined sequence.

13 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the movement of the ring, hook member and a blade member is synchronised by the drive assembly.

14 Apparatus according to claim 13 wherein the blade member extends substantially linearly towards and away from said upstanding formation.

15 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein prior to the operation of the drive assembly, the casting on of the material is performed so that the material is threaded along the upstanding formations of the ring.

16 Apparatus according to claim 15 wherein one layer of the material is applied by hand around and along the upstanding formations and before commencement of the drive assembly operation.

17 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein as the item is knitted, the formed item passes through an opening in a centre of the ring until the item has been formed to the required length and at which stage movement of the drive assembly stops and casting off of the material occurs by threading the material tail through the final set of loops before moving them from the upstanding formations and tying off the end of the material

18 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the sequence of movement of hook members is provided to allow a stitch to be performed at an upstanding formation by the hook lifting a previously formed stitch up and over the newly introduced material and the upstanding formation and then pressing this downwardly to locate in a lower recess portion of the upstanding formation using a blade member.

19 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the diameter of the ring and number of upstanding formations located on the same are selected so as to allow an item of a particular form and size to be knitted.

20 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the apparatus includes a plurality of rings of different configurations which can be selectively positioned on the apparatus and thereby allow a range of different knitted items to be made.

21 Apparatus to any of the preceding claims wherein a cradle is provided with which the ring and upstanding formations are located, and the cradle is engageable with the said housing so as to engage the ring at the required location with the housing for the knitting action to be formed.

22 Apparatus according to claim 21 wherein the cradle includes location means which are of a common size and/ or dimension for each of the cradles for each of the rings so as to ensure that the selected ring and cradle are always locatable at the required location with respect to the housing.

23 Apparatus according to claim 22 wherein the location of the cradle with the housing is such that the ring lies at a specific offset position with respect to the housing.

24 Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the operation of the drive assembly allows the movement of the hook member in synchronisation with the movement of the ring and continuous movement of the drive assembly allows an item of a required length to be knitted.

25 Apparatus according to claim 24 wherein the item is formed without the requirement for user intervention during operation of the drive assembly.

26 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the said material is a length of yarn.

27 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the drive means includes a hand operated handle connected to a lever which is rotatable about an axis on the housing and said axis connected with a shaft which, in turn moves the drive assembly when the handle is rotated.

28 Apparatus according to any of the claims 1-26 wherein the drive means is provided with a power source such as one or more power cells or a connection to a mains power supply so as to allow the powered operation of a motor which is connected to drive the drive assembly.

29 Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims wherein the apparatus is provided with a base to allow the same to be located on a support surface during use.

30 Apparatus according to any of the claims 1-28 wherein the apparatus is provided with a gripping portion via which the apparatus can be held by hand during use.

31 A method of forming a knitted item from at least one length of material, said method including the steps of casting on the material to a ring of upstanding formations, applying a drive force to a drive assembly including a hook member, and the ring, wherein said drive force moves the ring in a stepwise manner to move the upstanding formations, in turn, to the location of movement of the said hook member, said hook member moved by the drive assembly to move a portion of material at the first side of the upstanding formation over a newly supplied part of the material and over the upstanding formation to move said portion of material to the opposing side of the upstanding formation to form a knitted stitch and said movement of the ring and hook member is synchronised and continued in a sequential manner to form the said knitted item and subsequently removing the item from said apparatus.