US2076929A - Knitting apparatus - Google Patents

Description

April 13, 1937. D YOUNG 2,076,929

KNITTING APPITARATUS Filed March 16, 1934 fzzlenzor:

. more particularly to improvements in the method Patented Apr. 13, 1937 PATENT OFFICE UNITED STATES .David H.

KNITTING APPARATUS Young, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Artcrai't SilkHoslery Mills, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation, of Delaware f Application March 16, 1934, Serial No. 715,854 2 Claims. (01. 66-126) This invention relates to knitted hosiery and of and apparatus for knitting the same.

It has been recognized by those familiar with the hosiery art that it is often' the case in knitting hosiery-from a single lengthof yarn that shadows,

rings and other such disfiguring conditions are the thickness, weight or denier of one yarn are present in the finished stocking, ,this being due primarily .to variations in the weight, thickness and denier of the yarn employed. .Natural silk yarn is particularly subject to these variations because it isdiflicult, if, not impossible, to control the work ofthe silk worm as to insure the production of a substantially uniform filament of silk. It frequently occurs that in a continuous length'of silk yarn successive portions thereof are of different thicknesses with the result that when two or more successive courses of a knitted fabric are lmitted of a portion of the yarn which varies from the average weight or denier thereofa shadow, stripe or ring efiect is produced in the fabric. Of course, if the variations in weight or denier of the silk yarn were distributed through out the stocking fabric in such manner that no two or more successive courses were. knitted of yarn of the same weight or thicknesses, the ob-- jectionable condition above referred to would not be obtained. While various attempts have been made from time to time to remedythis objectionable condition, noneof them have been entirely satisfactory and it is accordingly among the objects of the present invention to obviate the foregoing objections by the provision of an entirely new methodof knitting a hosiery fabric in which a single carrier is employed for laying a pair of yarns along the needles of the knitting machine, it being a characteristic feature of this invention that the two yarns thus fed by the" single yarn carrier are laid upon the sinkers and dividers in substantially parallel relation in such "manner that together they form a single course of the knitted fabric in "which any variations in largely ofiset by counterbalancing variations in the thickness, weight or denier of the other yarn.

A further object of the invention is to knit a hosiery-fabric of two yarns arranged in substantially parallel relation, each yarn being so complemental to the other inweight, thickness and denier as to produce a finished fabric of uniformly. 'even texture wherein rings, shadows,

stripes and other such objectionable conditions are substantially eliminated.

Still another object of the invention is to provide amethod of and apparatus for knitting a hosieryfabric in such manner that each course thereof is composed of two separate yarns arranged in substantially parallel relation, each yarn being delivered from a separate cone and the two yarns being commonly delivered by a singlethread carrier to a substantially common point immediately in advance of the knitting needles.

bination, construction and relative arrangement of parts, as well as in the method of employing the same, all as will appear more fully hereinafter, v

as shown in the accompanying drawing, and as finallypointed out in the appended claims.

. In the accompanying drawing:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of I a knitting machine in which the thread carrier as constructed in accordance with the present invention is e oyed;

' Figure 2-is a perspective-view or the improvedyarn carrier;

Figures 8 and are transverse sectional viewstaken along the lines 33 and 44 respectively of Figure 2;

. Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the thread carrier;

Figure 6 shows a stocking knitted by the method of and with the thread carrier of the present invention, the encircled portion being an enlargement of the knitted fabric;

Figure '7 is a view of the lower portion of the yarn carrier showing a modified construction thereof; and

Figure 8 is a sectional view' taken on the line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Referring now more/particularly to Figure 1, it will be observed that the thread carrier ill of the present invention is shown applied to a fullfashioned hosiery knitting machine the type comprising the unsual sinker bed I l the alternately disposed sinkers l2 and the dividers l3. The needles ll of the machine are respectively disposed between the forwardly extending extremities ii of the sinkers and dividers.

Inasmuch as the operation of the knitting machine has not been altered in any respect by the present invention, it is not believed necessary for the purpose of the'present invention to describe such operation in detail, it being. understood that the construction of the machine and its operation, except for the thread carrier III, are conventional. The yarn carrier l0, which is adapted to move longitudinally of the sinker bed to lay the yarn upon the sinkers and the dividers'along the needles I4, comprises a main body which is of gradually decreasing width from the upper toward the lower end thereof. The upper portion I6 of the yarn carrier is bent upwardly, as at H, and is provided at its upper extremity with a pair 01' oppositely extending apertured ears i8 for securing the carrier to the longitudinally reciprothe carrier is properly mounted upon its recip-' rocabie suppotting bar the said portion l9 thereof presents itself immediately in advance of the knitting head of the machine which is composed of the needles l4, the sinkers l2 and the dividers l3.

Formed in the upper portion l6 of the carrier ID are a pair of laterally spaced substantially parallel grooves 20 and 2|, these grooves extending preferably from the upper edge of the carrier to points just beyond the upper bend l1 thereon Suitably fixedwithin the grooves 20 and 2| are a pair of upper yarn guide tubes 22 and 23 the lower extremities of which respectiveiy terminate short of the lower ends of the grooves 20 and 2 I.

Formed in the lower portion of the carrier is a groove 24 having "the upwardly extending diverging sections 25 and 26. Secured to the carrier immediately above the upper extremities of the divergent portions25 and 26 of the groove 24 are a pair of laterally spaced yarn guiding eyes 21 and 28, while provided in the lower extremity or throat of the groove 24 is a centrally disposed yarn separator 29. Fitted within the lower portion IQ of the carrier is the bottom yarn guide which may be in the form of a single tube 60 (see Figure 2) or in theform of a pair of small diameter tubes 3| and 32 arranged in parallel relation (see Figure '7) The operating characteristics of the yarn carrier as just described is essentially the same as the conventional yarn carriers insofar as its reciprocation along the knitting head of the machine is concerned. It differs, however, from the conventional yarn carrier in that it delivers two yarns to the knitting head of the machine instead of the single yarn of the conventional yarn carrier. The yarns which are so delivered by the present dual yarn carrier are obtained from separate cones suitably mounted upon the knitting machine. The separate yarns so obtained from the two cones are designated in the drawing as a and b, it being understood that these yarns a and b are preferably as substantially identical as it is possible to obtain under carefully supervised and controlled silk worm production and subsequent spinning operations. Also, it will be understood that in the knitting of a fabric of certain weight, each of the yarns a and b are of such weight that combined they produce the desired weight of knitted fabric. Thus, each of the two yarns may be of the same numberof threads or one yarn may be of a greater number of threads than the other.

Inasmuch as it is extremely unlikely for the yarnof one cone to exactly match linearly through its length any unevenness in character of the yarn of the second cone, it will be apparent that by running the two yarns together through the same carrier the average weight, thickness or denier of the combined yarns will be quite uniform throughout each of the entire knitted fabric, thereby eliminating largely, if not entirely, the cause of shadows, rings and the like appearing in the finished fabric and making possible the production of a fabric of uniform texture throughout. Also, the use oftwo yarns laid side by side along the needles to form each of the interlooped knitted courses of the fabric reduces very; materially the liability of runs occurring, because it will require the breaking through of two yarns at any point before a run can occur.

In the use of the above described yarn carrier, the yarns a and b are respectively threaded through the guide tubes 22 and 23 and the guide eyes 2'! and 26, the yarn a being further 'maintained in separated relation from the yarn b by the divergently arranged guide grooves 25 and 26 and by the separator 29 located in the throat of the common groove 24, the two yarns being finally delivered to the knitting head of the machine through the bottom yarn guide of the carrier. By'so maintaining the two yarns in separated relation, it has been found that the yarns are maintained in a substantially common plane and do not'become twisted together or otherwise displaced relatively to each other during the knitting operation; and that the knitted fabric, such as is shown in an enlarged scale in the insert of Figure 6, is extremely uniform in its texture and entirely free from disfiguring shadows, rings, lines and the like.

A characteristic of the fabric knitted in accordance with the present invention is the entirely different effect which is produced by employ ing two or more separate and independent yarns in each knitted course, it having been observed, for example, that when a pair of Z -thread yarns is so employed as against a single 4-thread yarn, the knitted fabric has the appearance of having been knitted of a single yarn of larger diameter than that of a 4-thread'yarn. This is apparently due to thefact that 'when a. plurality of yarns are employed in each course there results an apparent enlargement of the yarns which is not had when a single yarn is employed, in consequence of which there is obtained a more uniform distribution and appearance of the yarn through-'- out the stocking fabric. The effect is substantially the same as when a relatively heavy yarn is employed, yet the fabric produced in accordance with the present invention and composed,

, for example, "of a pair of 2-thread yarns is at least as sheer and smooth and of as fine texture as can be obtained by the use of a single 4- thread yarn.

While the thread carrier of the present, invention has been shown and described as having provision for delivering only two separated yarns to the knitting head of the machineit will be obvious to those skilled in the art that by increasing the number of guide tubes and grooves in the carrier the latter may be constructed to deliver more than just two yarns to the needles.

It will be understood, therefore,.that the invention is susceptible of various such changes and modifications from time to time, all with-' out departing from the real spirit or general principles thereof, and it is accordingly intended to claim thesame broadly, as well as specifically, as indicated by the appended claims.

What is claimed as new and useful is:-

1. In a yarn carrier of the character described, a main body member provided with an elongated yarn-receiving groove having divergent portions which merge at the delivery end of the member to form a single throat, and a yarn separating member located in said throat for maintaining in separated relation a plurality of yarns passing through said throat and to insure their issuance from said delivery end of the member in intimately associated substantially parallel relation.

2. A yarn carrier of the character described comprising, in combination, a main body memher having a yarn delivering lower extremity which is adapted for disposition operatively in proximity to the knitting head of a knitting machine, a pair of yarn guiding tubes arranged in the upper end of said member in laterally spaced parallel relation, said member being providedwith a yarn guiding groove having divergent upper extremities for respectively receiving in separated relation a pair of yarns delivered through said guiding tubes, said groove being downwardly convergent to provide a single restricted throat

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