JPH0949153A - Knitting needle guiding mechanism for flat knitting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a knitting accident before it happens by making a space between guide members or a recessed groove on the top of the tip part of a needle bed to constitute a guide groove for controlling the bending in the lateral direction of the knitting needle during knitting. SOLUTION: In a flat knitting machine, knitting needles are housed slidably in the knitting direction in each needle groove demarcated by arranging a great number of needle groove walls 7 side by side on the top close to the tip part of a needle bed 5, sinkers 3 are installed between the knitting needles 1 equipped with a spring plate 1a at the side part and guiding members 11 extending in the lateral direction are fitted to both sides of the sinkers. Further guide grooves having spaces, in which the knitting needles 1 are slidable, between the adjoining guide members 11 or recessed grooves are formed on the top of the tip part of the needle bed 5 to provide guide grooves. The bending of the knitting needles 1 in the lateral direction is controlled by the guide grooves even if force in the lateral direction is loaded on the knitting needles 1 during knitting operation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a knitting needle guide mechanism for a flat knitting machine, and more particularly to improvement of a knitting needle guiding technique for a flat knitting machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In this specification, "knitting direction" refers to a direction in which a knitting needle reciprocates for knitting work, and "lateral direction" refers to a horizontal direction orthogonal to the knitting direction.

Usually, in a flat knitting machine, two needle beds provided on both slopes of a base face each other at their tips so as to face each other, and a needle groove defined by a needle groove wall is laterally formed on the upper surface of each needle bed. The knitting needles are arranged side by side in the direction. Knitting needles move in and out of the respective needle grooves for knitting work. Sinkers are fixedly provided side by side in the lateral direction on the needle bed tip portion further on the tip side than the tip of the needle groove with a gap between adjacent knitting needles. The gap is fairly wide so as to form a stitch and not to disturb the opening and closing of the latch.

[0004]

When a lateral load is applied to the knitting needle by the knitting yarn during the knitting operation, the knitting needle bends in the lateral direction by the gap between the knitting needle and the sinker, and the knitting needle deviates from the regular knitting locus. There is. In such a situation, inconveniences such as a knitting accident and a collapse of the knitting structure are likely to occur. However, in the conventional flat knitting machine, no measures have been taken against such inconvenience.

In view of the above problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to prevent the occurrence of knitting accident and knitting structure collapse due to the lateral bending of the knitting needle during knitting operation in the knitting machine.

[0006]

To this end, according to the present invention, at least the most distal end portion of the needle bed is provided with laterally-arranged guide grooves for directing the knitting direction in a position where the guide plate of the knitting needle does not come into contact therewith. The gist is that a knitting needle is accommodated in each guide structure so as to be movable in the knitting direction.

[0007]

The guide structure restricts the lateral bending of the knitting needle even when a lateral force is applied to the knitting needle during knitting work.

[0008]

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of the guide mechanism of the present invention, in which a guide groove is provided with a gap between adjacent guide members. In the figure, a large number of needle groove walls 7 are laterally arranged side by side on the upper surface near the tip of the needle bed 5 to define needle grooves between each other, and the knitting needles 1 slide in the knitting direction in each needle groove. It can be accommodated. Further, a sinker 3 is provided between the knitting needles 1 on the upper surface of the tip of the needle bed 5, and a predetermined gap is provided between adjacent knitting needles 1. A bounce plate 1a is formed on the side of each knitting needle 1.

Guide members 11 extending in the lateral direction are attached to both sides of the base in the vicinity of the tips of these sinkers 3, and a width dimension that allows the knitting needle 1 to slide between the opposing guide members 11. A gap (the guiding groove of the present invention) is left. On the leftmost side of the drawing, the knitting needle 1 is omitted and the gap (guide groove) is clearly shown. As is apparent from FIG. 2, the height of each guide member 11 (that is, the depth of the guiding groove) is narrower than the distance between the bounce plate 1a of each knitting needle 1 and the needle bed 5, and does not contact the bounce plate 1a. . Therefore, when the knitting needle 1 slides, the splash plate 1 a slides on the upper surface of the guide member 11.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the guide mechanism of the present invention, which is an example in which the concave groove provided on the upper surface of the needle bed is used as the guiding groove. The needle groove wall 7, the sinker 3, and the relationship between them and the knitting needle 1 are the same as in the above-mentioned example. However, in the case of this example, unlike the case of the previous example, a concave groove 13 extending in the knitting direction is engraved on the upper surface of the needle bed 5 at the site where the knitting needles 1 between the adjacent sinkers 3 slide. And accommodates the knitting needle 1 so as to be movable. As is apparent from the figure, the depth of the groove 13 is narrower than the distance between the bounce plate 1a of the knitting needle 1 and the needle bed 5, and is set so as not to contact the bounce plate 1a.

As described above, the concave groove 13 is directly formed on the upper surface of the needle bed 5.
Instead of engraving, a separate body having a groove having the same shape may be attached to the upper surface of the needle bed 5.

[0012]

According to the present invention, since the knitting needle does not bend during the knitting operation, knitting accident and knitting structure collapse do not occur.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a guide mechanism of the present invention.

2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view showing another embodiment of the guide mechanism of the present invention.
It is a cross-sectional view similar to.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Knitting needle 1a Bounce plate 3 Sinker 5 Needle bed 7 Needle groove wall 11 Guide member 13 Recessed groove

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A guide groove for directing the knitting direction is defined side by side in a lateral direction at a position where it does not come into contact with the baffle plate of the knitting needle, at least at the most distal end of the needle bed. A knitting needle guide mechanism for a flat knitting machine, which is movably accommodated in the. 2. The guide mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the guide structure is a gap between guide members which are attached to base portions of adjacent sinkers and extend in a lateral direction. 3. The guide mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the guide structure is a concave groove provided on the upper surface of the tip of the needle bed.