US1324623A - Circular-knitting machine. - Google Patents

Description

RIW. SCOTT.

CIRCULAR xmmmdmcmm.

APPUCATlGN FILED JULY 14} I915.

' 1,23%,623. lmentea D070. 9,1919.

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EQBERT W. $COTT, OF BOSTQN, MASSACHUSETTfi, A$SIGNOR, BY MESNE A SSIGNMEN'IS, TO SCOTT 6,; WELLIAMS, INCGEPQBATED, A CORPORATION 05 MASSACHUSETTS.

CIRCULAEJZNITTING MACHINE.

' Application filed July 14,, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

lie it known that l, Bonnier W. Score, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston. in the county of Sufiollr and State or lvlassachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in fiircularlinih ting Machines, of which the following a specification. -j-

I My invention'relates to knittin machines,

one object being to provide improved and simplified. devices for knitting line gage fabrics, and stockings having reciprocally knit heels and. toes. ()ther objects are to provide for making such fabrics by the operation. of needles having relatively long hooks in existing hosiery knitting machines by enabling them to employ for rotary and reciproeatory knitting such needles, or" which one species having spring hooks and latches is disclosed in my Letters Patent No. 1,097,732, dated May26, 1914. l have herein illustrated my invention. as comprising changes in a latch'needle knitting machine of the type described and claimed in my application Serial No. 746,070 filed February 3, 1913, (Letters Patent No. 1,152,850, Sep tember 7, 1915) but my invention is independent of the particular machine in which it may be utilized, one feature thereof being provision oi means for adapting existing latch-needle machines of various types to make fabrics of a superior character and. finer gage. In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is diagram development of the cam ring and yarn guides showing a needle and paths taken by the needles during rotary and reciprocatory knitting;

Fig. 72 is a diagram plan illustrating the relation of the yarn feed devices to the knitting cams.

f fhen attempting to knit fabrics of fine gage on ordinary latchiiedies ofthe prior art spaced closely, the needles produce fabric permanently of too 'reat a width, which can not be altered by finishing operations.

The fabric of reciprocally knit heels and toes, as one instance, lies permanently too wide relatively to the size oi. the series of needles upon which it is knit, remaining too large aft er finishing even when the ankle and. foot can be stretched in length and shrunk in width to the desired extent. By

use of needles oi the sort indicated with Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented llec. 5E

Serial No. 39.887.

means for operating them and. means for feeding yarn now to be described, I have successfully reduced the width. of the fabric, including the heels and toes, relatively to the size of the series of needles. The drawing shows, for purposesof illustration only, a machine equipped with the needles 1 of my, said patent, having the usual operating butts, comparatively long spring hooks 3, and short latches 5., situated at a relatively large distance from the tip of the needle.

But any needle having a comparatively long hook, whether rigid or of spring metal, is within the scope of my invention;

Yarn changing yarirguides F F, F F,

F preferably similar to those of my said, application are, in. any desired number, movable in a slot in a latch-guard 550 closed at the bottom, as by a throat-plate 559. Said yarirguides may be of any construction permittin one at a time to be removed into an operative position such as shown for guide F I I The needle cams, see Fig. 1, may comprise a leading stitch cam 7 and a following stitch earn 6, a top center cam 8 and a bottom center earn 9 defining between them a flat or level path for needles about to receive yarn, each cain when leading advancing the needles at its top or back to clear their latches, and when. following retracting the needles at surface a. or Z) constituting the active stitchdrawingf slope oi the stitch cam. The machine is provided with usual devices for causing relative rotation between the series oi needles and the needle cams and yarn guides, and at times relative reciprocation between said parts, and with narrowing and widening devices to make heel and toe pockets. Preferred devices for these purposes are disclosed in my said application.

For a given length of stitch drawn by such needles receding through an old loop detained against movement with the needle in any manner, as at the plane P usually defined by movable web-holders (not shown), the place for feeding yarn under thehooks of the needles is carried farther beneathsaid plane than in the case of ordinary latch-needles, and the tip of the hook is elevated farther above loops detained at the welnholdcrs to clear the old loops beneath the hook or latch. The distance from the tips of the needles to the points of the open latches 5, when the needles of my said patent are in use, may be nearly the same as that between tip and point of open latch of ordinary latch needles. the necessary movement of the needlesto knit in this case being of the same extent and kind as in the case of ordinary needles. Knittingcams of prior inachines, such as those'illustrated may thus be employed without change, but the place at which yarn can be supplied operatiyely to the needles is, as a consequence of the length between latch and tip, much nearer the knocking-over plane P, and is narrower, the form of the wave of movement being the same, than is the case when ordinary latchneedles are employed,

Needles 1 traveling between cams 8 and 9' present their place for feedingyarn beneath open hook'fi, as indicated between lines 1), 7) Fig. 1, on a level above plane P at and following llllQ'l)OSltl0li-0f the first needle to move down the stitch cam. I provide for feeding the yarn with enough lead to lie against a considerable number of said needles at said level and between the lines 7), 17 a wrapping of yarn lying upon the needles between a needle completely beneath plane P and the yarn guide at a relatively tiat angle to the horizontal. The point of hook 3 of said first needle to move downward will then be landed over said yarn by its movement while in the middle of a series of needles against the faces of each of which the yarn lies, and by which the yarn frictionally supported. The number of needles to receive the yarn 1n advance of 'the first needle to move to land its-hook over the yarn may be increased beyond the number necessary to insure operation withb out detriment to theoperation, so long as a separation or lead of the yarn-feeding point from the first needle moving down a stitch cam is sufficient to insure accurate landing under the books. It will be understood that the minimum degree of lead for the-yarn may vary with the spacing and gage of the needles, with the dimensions of their hooks, with the kind or tension of the yarn, the number of separate yarns fed together, the distance from the face of the needles of the yarn delivery opening, and other variable conditions apparent to those skilled in the art, but in all cases the minimum lead will be such as to lay the yarn upon the needles as described and will exceed that usual for short-hook needles working under similar conditions.

In prior machines needles moving in either direction operatively take yarn from the guide last passed by the needles, but by reason of the increased lead to be provided to secure feeding the long-hooked needles, -a yarn fed from a position much nearer the following stitch cam than the plane AA central between the stitch cams will not be taken. I have "therefore arranged the yarn guide F for the heel and toe yarn or yarns fed during reciprocation in said plane, to deliver its yarn directly from a yarn bore 7' therein, whereby during reciprocation the yarn from said guide enters the needles at sufficient lead with respect to knitting waves both atcam 6 and cam 7. I prefer to bring'about this relative .position of the yarn guide F by shifting the cam-carrier about the center of. the machine, as shown, so that radial plane A-A at the cams is thrown out of parallel with the yarn-guides, and to coincide with the active end of the last-passed guide F in the direction for rotary knitting. The narrowing pickers 650 are moved with. the cams,"

but the latch-ring 550, guides F F operating devices therefore, and other parts may remain as in the prior machines.

The relation of the knitting waves to the yarn guides shown in Fig. 1 by solid and broken lines and corresponding arrows.

The yarns from yarn guides F F F and F are in use during rotation only, the

cam (S then being the retracting cam. Yarns from any one of said guldes reeving either from their yarn bores or from an edge of plate 559 are at a lead greater than yarn from guide F and are operatively positioned.

One consequence of shifting the knitting cams with respect to their series of yarnguidcs is to bring the gap or throat in the latch-ring for said guides opposite a part' of the advancing wave caused by cam 7 in the direction for rotation. The latches 5 are prevented from openin in the open throat by a thin extension 55 on" the latch-guard surface, which extension. 1

may be a part of plate Such of the yarn-guides as stand behind said extension. when down and in operation enter their yarns between the rapidly moving needles at their tips, here extending well above plate and by the movement of the needles said yarns are swept to the level for proper feeding at plate 559.

\Vhat I claim is: i

1. A knitting machine having in combination latch'needles with long hooks stitch cams adapted for rotary and reciprocatory knitting. and means for feeding yitxil from ISO eas es and reciprocatory knitting and having in combination needles-having relatively longv liooks,' leadingi and following reciprocal stitch cams, and means for guiding yarn to said needles from a point near the needles near the plane of maximum retraction in the needles caused by said'stitch cams and a substantial distance in advance of any of the needles being actuated by the following stitch cam when knitting in either direction, whereby the yarn lies relatively nearto said plane and under the hooks of a number of needles in advance of those being actuated by said stitch cam.

3. A knitting machine adapted for knitting upon a series of needles having long hooks and latches defining a place for feeding said needles removed from their tips and narrow in extent, comprising in combination an advancing or clearing cam and a following stitch cam, cams for maintaining said needles at a level between said advancing and stitch cams, and means for guiding yarn in a plane intercepting said place for feeding and nearly parallel to the position of the places for feeding of a series of needles at said level, whereby the yarn contacts with said places for feeding of a plurality of said needles during their mainte-.

nance at said level.

, 4:. A knitting machine adapted for rotary and reciprocatory knitting and provided with needles having long thin hooks and relatively short latches, and leading and following stitch-can'is, in combination with means for feedlng a yarn for recip'rocatory knitting from a guide substantially midwayv between said stitch cams and from a point in or near the level defined by the open latches to lie against needles prior to their actuation by said cams, and means for feedin other yarns for rotary knitting from points in said level in advance of said guide and atdifi'erent distances from said following stitch cam.

5. A circular knitting machine having in combination a latch guard member having a surface concentric with the rotary elemerit, a slot in said member central upon a radial plane, parallel yarn-changing yarn guides working in said slot, needles having long hooks and latches and reciprocal stitch- I cams symmetrically placed with respect to combination latch needles having long hooks and cams therefor having an advancing surface for clearing the needle latches operative ahead of a retracting or stitch cam, a latch guard member having a slot'therein, a series of yarn-changing yarn guides in said slot-some of which when operatively positioned are opposite needl s while they are in the position to which they are advanced by said advancing surface, and an extension of said latch-guard member at said slot covering the latches and exposing the tips of said advanced needles, to receive yarn between adjacent advanced needles from an operatively positioned yarn-guide.

8. A knitting machine adapted for reciprocatory knitting and for rotary knitting in one direction, and having needles having spring beards and latches, leading and following reciprocal stitch cams, the leading cam being adapted to advance the needles from their normal position, and means for said needles from a point near, the needles and substantially, in advance of the following stitch cam, 1n each reciprocal direction, in combination with a sense of yarn guides adapted for yarn-changing having yarn delivery openings situated when active in advance, in the'dlrection for rotary knitting, of said yarn feeding means, and at a part of the wave in the needles caused bye-aid leading stitch cam, said yarn-guides being adapt ed to enter their yarns between adjacent needles while said needles are in said wave. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

' ROBERT W SCOTT. Witness:-

RUTH A. Horse.

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