IL26820A - Knitting machine for producing non-torque knitted fabric - Google Patents

Description

KNITTING MACHINE FOR PRODUCING KNITTEB FABRIC This to a abrio of single strand yarns of jersey type in which the torque is tially removed therefrom including an improved knitting maohine or producing such and more particularly to a knitting maohine in which the vales of the fabric therein are skewed relative to the longitudinal axies in a direction and at an angle proportional to the and amount of twist in the yarn up the Knitting yarns constructed material such as or th have a twist therein due to the manner in which the are which is classi as a Z or an S twist depending upon the direction of the The amount of this twist may vary somewhat between different types o yarn and different When the yarn is knitted into a bric single a jersey or the the twist various strands of yarn work together to produce a torque in the fabric a magnitude approximately equal to one turn of the fabrio about its longitudinal per 7 to 11 yards of Because of this torque the fbric will not lie and the edges have a tendency to curl and which makes the fabric extremely difficult to handle and causes much culty during use In the prior art many ideas have been mechanized to compensate for the torque in knitted fabric but none o these ideas are very In general use is a process for treating the fabrio to produce a somewhat harder surface so that the fabric will lie flat while a garment is being produced once the garment is washed the treatment is stantially removed and the garment not lie flat or hang method of for the torque in fabrics is to alternate yarn havin a twist and yarn having an S twist when the fabric is In this fashion S twist in the compensates the Z twist in the adjacent yarn and the net torque is the overall appearance of this fabric is somewhat distasteful since adjacent lengths of yarn in the fabric are not it is necessary for the operators o the knitting machine to extremely careful when place in th machinej since Z and S twist yar must be alternated the at least nearly equal amounts must be extra time is required in operation of the and equal amounts of at least two ferent types of yarn must available at all This increases the time and expense of the knitting Another method is to use two or more of in the same whereb the of each strand works against the of other tending Neutralize the total of the this extra operation of strands adds cost and is there ore generally not used in mass I the present invention a standard knitting is In a knitting maohine a plurality of sources supply yarn to a plurality of in a knitting A motor provides relative rotation between the knitting head and the yarn providing the knitting action so that a continuous length of fabric is This uous length of fabric is rolled onto a reel which is rotated about a horizontal axis at a speed suf icient to maintain the length of fabric taut and at the same time the takeup reel is rotated about the longitudinal axis o the oloth at a speed a r n e presen nven on e s an ar s n op knitting is modified so that the fabrio is wound onto the takeup reel the skewed at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the skew o the wales is proportional to the amount of twist in the yarn up the f abric so that the fabric wound on the takeup reel is at rest or has substantially no torque the device does not compensate for the torque in a brio but substantially removes the torque It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved knitting It is a further object of the present invention to provid a knitting maphine which produces a knitted fabric having substantially no torque It is a further pbjeot of the present invention to provide a fabrio having substantially no torque is a further object of the present invention to provide a fabrio which when made into a garment will not twist or These and other of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the accompanying claims and Referring to the wherein like indicate like parts throughout the 1 is a view in perspective of a knitting machine with the present modification incorporated 2 is sectional view as seen from the line in parts thereof shown in is a detailed view in perspective of the apparatus up the takeup reel rotating 4 illustrates a portion of jersey abric having and 5 illustrates a portion of jerse fabric which substantially at or has A revolving cylinder circular knitting maohine is generally designated 10 and illustrated in type of knitting machine is generally referred to as a knitting hich is commercially available will not be in Knitting machines of this type have a knitting head 11 which comprises a plurality of knitting head segments 12 arranged in a circular ring and a rotating containing a plurality of whioh are operated by stationary cams mounted in the knitting head A plurality of knitting yarn inputs 13 have yarn therein whioh is fed to knitting machine 10 from a plurality of spools of yarn mounted above the maohine The yarn in each yarn input is fed from its spool through a tension guide 14 and a yarn guide 15 to one of the segments 12 of the knitting head The knittin head 11 knits the yarns into a tube or cylinder of knitted fabric which is fed to the bottom of the knitting maohine 10 gathered on a takeup reel illustrated in 1 with fabric rolled A suitable drive means 18 mounted on a frame 19 drives the knitting maohine 10 through a series of gears illustrated in In 2 the drive means 18 mechanically connected to a sprocket wheel 20 by a link Wheel 20 is fixedly attached to a horizontal 22 by a Shaft 22 has a pluralit o reducing gears situated in a gear reduction whioh reduce speed of the input shaft 22 down to a desirable value at an output or pinion gear The pinion gear is with a gear 26 having cogs the face thereof and fixedly attached to the lower of a ring 27 which is concentric wit 11 and operatively attached A second ring 28 is mounted concentric with the ring and adjacent the outer edge ring is fixedly mounted the by means not shown for in A plurality of rods 29 help support upper including guides 14 and and maintain it Power is transferred the horizontal shaft 22 a vertical shaft 30 by means of gears in the gear box The shaft 30 extends downwardly the gear bo 24 and has a drive gear attached Below the drive gear adjacent the lower end of the shaft is oally mounted hollow shaft The shaft and the shaft 30 mounted so that the shaft 30 rotates freely within the shaft A driven gear 33 is fixedly at th upper end of the shaft 32 adjacent the drive gear 31 and in a parallel plane A pair of idler 34 and 35 are fixedly mounted on a shaft 39 whioh is in turn rotatably mounted parallel with and spaced apart from the shaft 32 the idler gears 34 and 35 mesh with the drive and the gear 33 as 30 turns the drive gear 31 turns and causes the gear 33 and the shaft 32 turn through the idler gears 34 and the lowe end of 32 is pinion gear 36 whic is with a gear wheel r 37 rotatably mounted in the 19 of knitting machine 10 in a horizontal position substantially concentric the cylinder of knitted fabrio 16 and having an opening therethrough the passage of the attached to the side of gear wheel 37 a vertical and parallel relationship a pai of rectangular shaped Supports The reel 17 is rotatably mounted between the supports fo rotation about a substantially Means no shown rotate the takeup reel 17 about the axis at a sufficient speed to maintain the cylinder of knitted fabrio 16 taut the entire assembly rotatably driven by the pinion gear about the longitudinal axis of the cylinder of knitted fabrio 16 o this bout a substantially vertical entire gear assembly is enclosed in a housing 40 having openings therein for the meshing of pinion gear 25 face gear 26 and gear 36 and gear A lower tion 41 of housing 40 is quickly removable so that speed of the gear relative the shaft 30 may be easily variations in speed are accomplished by changing the ratios of gears 34 and 35 in a number of ways known to those skilled in the In this fashion the speed of rotation of the takeup reel 17 about the vertical axis relative to the knitting head 11 be easily and quickly Although a drive means 18 is illustrated in this embodiment it should be understood that a drive means might be utilized to rotate the knitting head 11 and a separate drive might be utilized to rotate the takeup reel 17 about the vertical axis at varying It should also be understood that various methods might be utilized to connect th drive means 18 to the knitting head 11 and the takeup reel 17 to attain the desired relative In knitting machines of the type desoribed the knitting head 11 and the takeup reel 17 are stationary while yarn inputs 13 are rotated along with the oams which produce the knitting action in the In this of maohine a separate drive means is utilized to drive takeup reels 17 at the desired speed with respect to the relative rotation between the knitting 11 and the yam inputs In 4 a portion of knitted fabric is illustrated having wales 45 extending parallel to the tudinal axis Fabric of this type is produced when the takeup reel 17 rotated about the vertical axis at the same the material to turn or twist about the longitudinal axs approximately one complete turn per 7 to 11 yards of In 5 a portion of fabric is illustrated with the wales 46 skewed at a angle to longitudinal axis Fabric of this type is produced when the takeup reel 17 is rotated about the vertical axis slightly faster than the knitting head 11 as in this speci Th portion of fabric trated in 5 is substantiall at That this fabric has substantially no torque The yarn utilized to duce the fabric in 5 has a Z type twist and it should be S type twist be skewed in opposite direction at an proportional to the amount of twist in the when the knitting 11 rotates olookwise with respeot to yarn inputs viewing 1 from the the takeup reel 17 must rotate in same direction but slightly faster for Z twist yarns and slightly slower for S twist When the knitting head 11 rotates viewing 1 from the the takeup reel 17 must rotate slightly slower for Z twist yarns slightly faste for S twist In this fashion the torque is removed from the fabric during the knitting process with no extra operations we have disclosed a jersey knitted f abrio having substantially no torque therein and apparatus for producing the Because the disclosed apparatus removed the torque rather compensating for the fabric will always remain at rest and will no twist or turn even after numerous the present apparatus for removing the torque from the knitted abric is relatively inexpensive and does not require additional operator time or While have shown and descri ed a specific embodiment of this further and improvements will occur to those skilled in the We desire i to be that this invention is not limited to the particular form shown and we Intend in the appended claims to cover all which do not depart rom the spirit and scope of this HAVING NOW particularly described and ascertained the natur of our said invention and in what manner the same to be we declare that what we claim is insufficientOCRQuality

Claims (6)

1. · An improvemen in a knitting machine or producing a Jersey fabric having substantially no torque therein comprising: (a) at least a koitting yarn imput adapted to have yar with a t#ist therein applied thereto; (b) a knitting head having a lurality of knitting needles operatively engaged therein; (o) , drive means operative attached to provide relative rotation between said input and said knitting heads for producing kniitin action through said needles to form yarn into a continuous l^ (d) takeup means for winding said fabric onto a roll; and (e) means for rotating said takeup means about an axis substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fbric, in a direction corresponding with the direction of relative rotation between said input and said head, , and at a rate determined by the amount and direction of twis in the yarn, whereby the fabric is rolled onto said takeup means with the wales 'therein skewed slightly so there is sub tantially no torque in the fabric.

2. An improvement in a knitting machine substantially as set forth in olaim 1 wherein the means for rotating the takeup means includes apparatus connecting said takeup means to the drive means.

3. · An improvement in a knitting machine substantially as set forth in claim 1 wherein the takeup means is rotated in the same direction as the relative rotation of the head with respect to the yarn imput and the means for rotating the takeup means is convertible to rotate said takeup means somewhat faster than the relative rotation between the input and the head when the relative rotation is in the direction of the twist in the yam and somewhat slower when the relative rotation is in the opposite direction of the twist*

4. An improved knitted jersey fabric having substantially no torque therein in whioh the wales are skewed relative to the longitudinal axis in a direction and at an angle proportional to the direotion and amount of twist in the yarn making up the fabric, said skew being sufficient to substantially remove any net torque produced thereby.

5. The improved knitted jersey fabric set forth in claim 4 wherein the fabric is knitted on a machine having takeup apparatus operatively attached thereto which skews the wales the desired amount and direction. AGE i! FOR APPLICANT Tel-Aviv, dated this 6th day of November, 196

6.