JPH01250452A - Bimorph piezoelectric element type needle selector for loom - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To surely select a needle at a high speed by carrying out the selection of needle by bending of a piezoelectric cell caused by turning on electricity. CONSTITUTION: When a piezoelectric cell 8 is bent by turning on electricity, the end part 19 of an arm 17 operates fins 20 of an oscillating cam 21 to rotate the oscillating cam 21. Consequently the inclined surface 6 of a fin 25 is moved to the position of a butt 3 of a needle 1. Consequently the butt 3 of the needle 1 is drawn in the direction of a rotary drum 2 so as not to connect the butt 3 to a second cam 6. When turning on electricity is stopped and the bending of the piezoelectric cell 8 is restored to the original state, the oscillating cam 21 is moved to the outside of the butt 3 of the needle 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a needle selection device for weaving machines, in particular machines used for manufacturing stockinette and knitwear.

[Conventional technology]

Various machines are known as this type of machine6.For example, straight stockinette 411
rkknitting machine) is known, the essential part of which is a carriage that is reciprocated, and this carriage is equipped with a tm stone that can be moved to face the carriage by moving the rod upward or downward. It is adapted to come into contact with a needle butt provided on a mating fixation base. These rods are moved by the action of a vibrating cam which raises the rods and with it the needle so that the needle grips the thread.

Other manufacturing machines of the type described include a series of needles arranged around a rotating drum, these needles being arranged to take up suitable knitting yarns in a known manner. The knitting yarn is held by a known member provided near the rotating drum. To perform this grasping, the needle
A desired pattern with various stitches is created by being moved to various heights in a predetermined order and interlocking with appropriate threads, and/or
Or get the color.

The needles are moved by a cam mechanism which acts successively on both ends of the needle and lifts the needle so that the tip supported by each needle can grip the thread. To enable selection of the needles required for a particular pattern, a selection device is provided which acts on both ends of the needles to prevent the cam from operating on needles not needed for the selected pattern. There is. In this way, needles that are not needed for the selected pattern will not move in the vertical direction.

The needle selection device, or more simply the selector, generally consists of a vibrating cam made of iron material rotatably fastened to a pin, the vibrating cam being inclined at a predetermined angle at the end of the needle, that is, the end facing the butt. The angular motion of the vibrating cam brings the bat into contact with the sloping surface and pushes it inward, so that it is no longer affected by the rising cam. When the bat is subjected to the action of a rising cam, the vibrating cam moves upwardly or downwardly so that the bat does not come into contact with the ramp. What is the angular movement of the vibrating cam?

It is provided by an electromagnet which, when energized by an electric current, acts on the vibrating cam (moved by an arm rotatably fastened to the center of the two electromagnets) to rotate the vibrating cam.

This rotation causes the ramp to rise, causing the butt of the needle, which is now located in front of the ramp, to be drawn toward the rotating drum so that the needle is no longer affected by the rising cam. do.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, this type of needle selection device has various drawbacks, including the fact that the operating time of the device is usually relatively long (greater than 6 milliseconds). To increase the speed of the device, a large starting current could be supplied to the electromagnet, but this would cause the electromagnet to heat up to a considerable extent, which is clearly not desirable.

Another disadvantage is that in selectors with such a construction, the vibrating cam can only have two operating positions. Furthermore, metal scum generated when the bat rubs against the inclined surface may be attracted to the electromagnet and cause the MLFi1 stone to malfunction.

One object of the present invention is to solve various problems associated with known selectors. The object of the invention is to provide a needle selection device for the needles of a weaving machine of the type described above.

[Means for solving problems]

This object, and other objects which will become apparent to the person skilled in the art, is a weaving machine, in particular for producing stockinette or knitwear, which is provided around a rotating drum or fixed stand, which, when selected, grips the knitting yarns. In needle selection devices for use in weaving machines comprising a series of needles arranged in such a way as to obtain a product with a particular pattern and/or color. A bimol piezoelectric element of the type, which carries at its free end an arm that acts on a vibrating cam, which arm, following energization of this piezoelectric element and the consequent bending of the piezoelectric element, This is achieved by means of a device characterized in that it causes the selection and/or non-selection of the needles by acting on them to obtain the specific pattern and/or color required for the finished product.

〔Example〕

The invention will now be explained more clearly with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are shown by way of non-limiting example.

In the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 schematically shows a stockinette and knitwear machine comprising a series of needles l arranged around a rotating drum 2, the needles having one end. A butt is provided at one end, and a gripping member 4 for a thread (not shown) is provided at the other end, and the thread is supported by a known means by a member (not shown) provided adjacent to the rotating drum 2. .

Near the rotating drum 2 are first and second drums of known type.
A cam 5.6 is provided. These cams are arranged in a known manner successively in the direction of rotation of the rotating drum. In detail, when the butt 3 of the needles l slides along the first cam 5, this first cam pulls out all the needles l indiscriminately from the rotating drum in an outward direction with each rotation of the rotating drum. The butt 3 thus moved is interlocked with the second cam 6 acting on the butt and by the rotation of the rotating drum to raise the needle 1 to a predetermined height. The needle gripping member 4 hooks the knitting yarn at this height.

In order to obtain a product with a specific pattern and/or color, a needle selection device 7, which will be described later, is provided between the first cams 5 and 6 to select needles l that are not used for the specific pattern and/or color. The bat 3 can be drawn toward the rotating drum 2.

The needle selection bag 2t7 according to the present invention includes a bimol piezoelectric element 8.
This piezoelectric element consists of a ceramic wire body 9 with current conductors 10 and 11 on the upper and lower sides, respectively.

One end 12 of the piezoelectric element 8 is sandwiched between two blocks 13 and 14 of insulating material, which blocks are fixed to the piezoelectric element, for example by screws 15. block 1
3 and 14 serve as a support for the piezoelectric element 8 and are provided with known means (
(not shown).

Attached to the end 16 of the piezoelectric element 8 opposite the end 12 sandwiched between the blocks 13 and 14 is an arm 17, which for that purpose has a forked end 18. Be prepared. An end 19 of the arm 17 opposite to the end 18 is also fork-shaped and interlocks with a fin 20 of a vibrating cam 21 attached to a shaft 22. The shaft 22 is a member 23 fixed to the weaving machine.
and 24. The vibrating cam also has another fin 25 on the opposite side of the fin 20 about the shaft 22.
and has an inclined surface 26 facing the butt 3 of the needle l.

Furthermore, a stopper member (its function will be described later)
27 is provided, the stop member having a fork-shaped free end 28 acting on the fin 20 of the vibrating cam 21;
The other end 29 is fixed to the weaving machine. As already mentioned, the purpose of the needle selection device is to select the pattern and/or pattern required for the finished product.
or is not used for color and therefore the first and second cams 5
and 6, and is for drawing the butt 3 of the needle l, which must not be lifted by the second cam 6, toward the drum 2 once.

In this process, the bimol piezoelectric element 8 performs a known operation (
This is done by passing a current through the current conductor 10 so that it bends (in the direction of arrow F in FIG. 1). As a result, the arm 17, by its end 19,
0 to rotate this vibrating cam 21 in the direction of arrow G in FIG.
This movement of the piezoelectric element 8 and the accompanying movement of the vibration cam 21 move the butt of the needle 1 to the position of the butt 3 (located in front of the selection device M7 at this time). 3 is pulled in the direction of the rotating drum 2 to prevent this bat 3 from interlocking with the second cam 6. current conductor 10
When the voltage is no longer applied, the bimol piezoelectric element 8 returns to its rest position and moves the vibrating cam 21 out of the range of the butt 3 of the needle l.

Further, in order to prevent the bimol piezoelectric element 8 from bending excessively, a stopper member is interlocked with the fin 20 of the vibrating cam 21, and this stopper member acts on the fin 20 with its free end 28. By limiting the rotation of the vibrating cam, the arm 17 and the bimol piezoelectric element 8 are
restrict movement.

FIG. 2 shows a case where the needle selection device 7 is applied to another known linear weaving machine. o) [In 6, the first
Parts that are similar to those shown in the figures are given the same reference numerals.

The use of the needle selection device in this linear weaving machine is similar to that described above. However, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the fins 25 of the vibrating cam 21.

In conjunction with a recess 30 provided in the rod 31, this rod can slide between fixed guides 32, and one end 33 of the rod has a C-shape, and the protrusion of the needle 1 In this embodiment, the rod 31 is pulled upward (see arrow ), raise the needle l by 1.

When the voltage application to the current conductor 10 is stopped, the vibrating cam 21 returns to its rest position and the needle l returns downwards.

The reaction of the piezoelectric ceramic used in the needle selection device 7 of the present invention is as follows:
It is two to four times faster than the response of an electromagnetic actuator, where response is the time between the application of a command and the occurrence of an action.

This increased speed means that the rotating drum can theoretically rotate two to four times faster, thereby increasing the machine's production efficiency, which is directly related to the speed of the rotating drum. . Even if it is not possible to increase the speed of the rotating drum due to limitations imposed by other mechanical parts, it is possible to increase the operating speed of the vibrating cam 21 and operate several types of needles in succession using the same needle selection device. This allows the number of needle selection devices to be reduced.

The force that a ceramic rod can exert due to its bending is on the order of a few milligrams of solder, so two or more rods 9 may be stacked on top of each other.

The device according to the invention does not generate heat, since the ceramic remains cold, and is not affected by vibrations or metal debris caused by the contact between the butt 3 and the fins 25 of the needle 1, and Also, by varying the applied voltage, the resulting angular displacement can be used to control the radial movement of the bat. For this purpose, a microprocessor is provided to control the operation of the needle selection device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an example in which the needle selection device according to the present invention is applied to a rotating drum type weaving machine, and FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the needle selection device shown in FIG. This figure shows a schematic diagram applied to a forming wire machine. l... Needle, 2... Rotating drum, 8... Piezoelectric element,
9... Ceramic rod, 10 and 11... Current conductor, 12... One end, 13 and 14... Support member, 1
6...Free end, 17...Arm, 21...Vibration cam patent applicant Mario Scavino

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A weaving machine, especially for producing stockinette or knitwear, which is provided around a rotating drum (2) or a fixed stand, and which, when selected, grips a knitting yarn to produce a specific weaving machine. In a needle selection device used in a weaving machine with a series of needles (1) arranged to obtain a product with a pattern and/or color, one end (12 ) of known type bimol piezoelectric element (8) sandwiched between
, this piezoelectric element has at its free end (16) an arm (17) which acts on the vibrating cam (21), which arm controls the energization of this piezoelectric element (8) and the accompanying A device characterized in that, by acting on the needles (1), following the bending of the needle, the selection and/or non-selection of the needles is effected to obtain the specific pattern and/or color required for the finished product. 2) The bimol piezoelectric element comprises at least a pair of ceramic rods (9), and current conductors (10, 11) are attached to the upper and lower sides of the rods. The equipment described in section.