US2130046A - Textile operation - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 13, 1938. K. M. UPHILL ET AL 291301346 TEXTILE OPERATION Filed April 27, 1937 s sheets-sheet 1 I l I 5vE s /7 [9r 5: 4

K-M. UPHLL T-U'ACKSDN ATTORNEYS mvenroas Sept. 13, 1938. v K. M. UPHILL ET AL 2,130,046

- TEXTILE OPERATION I Filed April 27, 193'! 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 /7 KM UPHILL T. JACKSON Sept. 13, 1938. K. M. UPHILL ET AL 2,130,046

TEXTILE O'PERATION Filed April 27. 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I 56 l] M L \I I 53 5 ,LJ 52, I l Z 1 I v L 50 I 32 Cr v 2;, J.

II I 49 4a 49 4a 49 48 49 48 4 48 49 K-M-UPHILL T- JACKSON j I m vsNTORS ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 13, 1938 TEXTILE OPERATION Kenneth Merson Uphill and Thomas Jackson, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application April 27, 1937, Serial No. 139,170 In Great Britain May 15, 1936 7 Claims.

This invention relates to the production of knitted fabrics and particularly to the production of fabrics in which effect threads are laid in and locked into the fabric without being-actually knitted; i. e. there is no drawing of loops of the laid-in thread through other loops in the fabric.

According to the present invention a fabric having laid-in threads is prepared on a multifcedcr machine having a series of needles and a series of sinkers cooperating with the needles by a cycle of operations comprising feeding the laid-in thread at one feeder to the front of selected needles while the remaining needles are below the level at which such thread is fed, and,

at that feeder, advancing all the sinkers so as to form loops of said laid-in thread round said selected needles, raising said remaining needles without withdrawing the sinkers after the feeding of said thread so that said remaining needies rise in front of said thread, and at a subsequent feeder or feeders, without drawing said loops of laid-in thread through previously formed loops in the fabric, knitting ground thread on all the needles, whereby said loops of laid-in thread are cleared, and locked into the fabric by means of the ground thread.

The cycle of operations described above is one that can be carried out on a high speed multifeeder machine having bearded needles and sinkers, and pressing means for closing the beards of the needles, without substantial modification of the machine; and the advantages of speed and accuracy and fine gauge, inherent in machines of this type, may be obtained when fabric of the kind with which the present invention is concerned is to be produced.

The selection of needles made in accordance with the invention is preferably of a simple character. A method of selection which is very effective, and desirable also because of its extreme simplicity, is the selection of every other needle. This and other simple selections may conveniently be carried out by having needles with operating butts of different lengths, and cams which will act differently upon said different butts. Thus, for the selection of alternate needles, the butts of the needles will be alternately long and short. The cycle of operations according to the invention may comprise the laying-in of two laid-in threads, the needles being selected in the second half 'of the cycle in such a way that the needles to which laid-in thread wasfed inthe first half of the cycle are those which are held down at the second-half of the cycle so that no laid-in thread is fed tothem in such second half.

As a laid-in thread any desired thread having decorative or other useful properties may be employed according to the purpose for which the fabric ultimately produced is to 'be-put. Thus the laid-in thread may be a thick yarn, such as 5 cannot easily be knitted in the ordinary way upon the needles of the machine, and even if it could be so knitted would produce a fabric of greater weight than desired. Alternatively or in addition, the laid-in thread may be a yarn of irregular l0 thickness, the irregularities of which would make it quite unsuitable for knitting in the ordinary way.

The invention provides for the high-speed production of fine gauge fabrics containing effect 15 threads, which, by being disposed substantially entirely at the surface of the fabric, produce the maximum of decorative or other desired effect without adding unduly to the bulk of the fabric.

By way of example one method of carrying out 20 the invention on a 12-feeder bearded needle machine will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic representation in de- 25 velopment of the needles, sinkers, needle cams and sinker cams at one feed of the machine;

Figs. 2 and 3 are diagrammatic perspective views of the needles and the sinkers during their operation by the cams illustrated in Fig. 1; 30

Fig. 4 corresponds" to Fig. 1 but illustrates another feed; and

Fig. 5 is a similar view to Figs. 2 and 3 at the feed shown in Fig. 4;

Figs. 6 and 7 are similar to Figs. 4 and 5 re- 35 spectively at yet another feed;

Fig. 8 and Figs. 9 and 10 illustrate yet another feed;

Figs. 11 and 12 yet another feed; and

Fig. 13 is a diagrammatic representation of a 40 piece of the fabric produced by the operations described in connection with Figs. 1-12.

The method here described is carried out on a 12-feeder machine having bearded needles mounted in the needle cylinder, these needles be- 45 ing illustrated in Figs. l-12 at I4 and i5. The needles are operated by needle cams which run round the needle cylinder, the needle cams being indicated generally at H5 in Fig. 1. The machine also comprises sinkers i1, operated by 50 sinker cams l8 rotating at the same speed as the close the beards of the needles when .they are 5 pressed by the presser cams in the manner common in knitting machines of the multi-feeder bearded needle type. The presser jacks have been omitted from the diagrammatic Figs. 1-12 for the sake of clarity. The cycle of operations here described involves six feeds, feed I being represented by Figs. 1-3, feed 2 by Figs. 4 and 5, feeds 3 and 6 by Figs. 6 and '1, feed 4 by Figs. 8-10 and feed 5 by Figs. 11 and 12. The operations at feeders 1I2 are merely a repetition of those carried out at feeders I6 as described above.

The needle cams I6 act upon butts 20, 2I carried by the needles I4, I5 and alternate needles I4 are provided with long butts 20 while the remaining needles I5 are provided with short butts 2I. Certain of the needle cams I6 as hereafter described are adapted to operate the long butts 20 only, the short butts 2I not extending far enough from the needles I5 to reach the cams, while the other cams act on all the butts, both long and short, that come in their vertical range of actuation.

At feeder I illustrated in Figs. 1-3 the needle cam shown at 22 is adapted to raise all the needles I4, I5 after which the cam 23 draws down the long butt needles I4, this cam being so cut away that the short butts 2| are allowed to pass over it as may be seen in Fig. 1. When the needles I4, I5 reach this feeder each of them carries on its shank a single loop of ground thread. When the long butt needles I4 have been drawn down, the laid-in thread 24 shown in Figs. 2 and 3 is fed-to the shanks of the short butt needles I5 below the beards thereof as shown in Fig. 2. At this point sinkers I1 are pushed forward by the sinker cam 25 to make loops of the laid-in thread 24 around the shanks of the short butt needles I5, the laid-in thread being engaged by the upper nibs 26 of the sinkers I1. The short butt needles I5 are then lowered slightly by the needle cam 21 which is sufficiently deep to enage the short butts 2I. sufficient to pull the laid-in thread 24 away from the upper nibs 26 of the sinkers I1.

At this feed no pressing action takes place on the beards of the needles as will be seen by the omission from Fig. 1 of the presser cam I9 shown in Figs. 4, 6 and 11, nor are the sinkers allowed to retract as the short butt needles descend, the sinker cam 28 being a straight cam having no action on the sinkers. In this way the loops of laid-in thread, instead of being slackened by the retraction of the sinkers in the usual way, so that they can be drawn through the old loops, are held 31 a tight nonknitting position. The long butt needles I4 are then raised by the engagement of their long butts 20 with a cam 29, so that their heads rise above the laid-in thread 24 held in the upper nibs 26 of the sinkers I1. Since the sinkers have not been drawn back the long butt needles I4 in rising come up outside the laid-in thread 24 as is shown in Fig. 3.so that the laid-in thread is'on the back or shank side of the long butt needles I4 and not on the front or beard side. At this stage, therefore, the laid-in thread 24 lies on the beard side of the short butt needles I5 and on the shank side of the long'butt needles I4. The cam 29 acts on the long butt needles only, leaving the short butt needles in the half-down position to which they have been brought by the cam 21.

At feeder 2 illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 the short butt needles are first drawn right down by the needle cam 30 without being pressed, so that This movement is not the laid-in thread 24 is pulled down from the upper nibs of the sinkers 26 into the throats 3I of the sinkers. The cam 30 lies wholly below the level to which the long butts 20 have been raised by the cam 29 (also shown in Fig. 4) so that this cam does not operate on the long butts at all. Ground thread 32 is then fed to the long butt needles and they are drawn down by means of a cam 33 so as to pull loops of ground thread through the old loops on the long butt needles. The beards of the long butt needles I4 are pressed at this feed by means of presser cam I9 shown in Fig. 4, but since the short butt needles are drawn down by the cam 30 before they reach the presser cams the short butt needles do not draw loops of the laid-in thread through the old loops retained on them, nor do they cast off such old loops. Both sets of needles are then raised by the needle cam 34. At this feed the sinkers are operated in the usual way, being drawn back by the sinker cam 35 so as to allow the ground thread 32 to be fed to the long butt needles, and

' being pushed forward again by the cam 25 so as to form loops of the ground thread round the long butt needles as shown at 36 in Fig. 5. The sinker cam 31 in Fig. 4 retracts the sinkers (unlike the corresponding cam 28 in Fig. l) and slackens the loops formed at 36 so as to allow them to be drawn through the old loops.

At the third feeder illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 ground thread 38 is fed to all the needles I4, I5 and all the needles are drawn down by means of the needle cam 39 and their beards are pressed by means of the presser cam I9 so that they draw loops of the ground thread 38 through the old loops retained on them. The long butt needles I4 draw the ground thread 38 fed at this feeder through the simple loop of ground thread 32 made at feeder 2 while the short butt needles I5 draw loops of the ground thread 38 through the old loops which were already carried on their shanks when they reached feeder I. These loops of ground thread 38 are also drawn beneath the laid-in thread which was fed at feeder I. The sinker cams 25, 35, 31 at this feed act in the ordinary way as at feeder 2. When the old loops are cleared by the drawing down of the needles under the action of the needle cam 39 each needle carries a single new loop of the ground thread 38. The long butt needles I4 are then raised by means of a needle cam 40 which does not act upon the short butt needles I5.

At feeder 4, illustrated in Figs. 8, 9 and 10, the laid-in thread M is fed to the needles as at feeder I, but at feeder 4 the long butt needles are raised to receive such laid-in thread instead of short butt needles as at feeder I. When the laid-in thread 4| has been fed, the long butt needles are drawn down slightly by means of the cam 42 but not so far as to pull the laid-in thread 4I away from the upper nibs of the sinkers. This action is similar to that of the cam 21 on feeder I. At the same time, as at feeder I, the sinkers are left forward by a plain sinker cam 28 instead of being withdrawn as by the cam 31 shown in Figs. 4 and 6. In this way the laid-in thread 4I is held in tight non-knitting position round the long butt needles I4. The short butt needles I5 are then raised by means of a needle cam 43 so that their head 'rises outside the laid-in thread 4| held by the upper nibs 26 of the sinkers, as was the case with the long butt needles illustrated in Fig. 3. This action is shown in Fig. 10. The cam 43 necessary forraisingtheahortbuttneedles llflloralas .formed in the laid-in thread 24.

the long butt needles, since, being deep enough to reach the short butt needles it must also act on the long butt needles.

At feeder 5 the long butt needles are drawn down by means of a needle cam 143 without being pressed so that they pull the laid-in thread 41 from the upper nibs 26 of the sinkers H and down into the sinker throats 31. When the long butt needles M are down, ground thread 44 is fed to the short butt needles as shown in Fig. 12. The short butt needles are then pulled down in turn by means of I the needle cam 45 and are] pressed at the appropriate stage by the presser 19 as was done with the long butt needles at feeder 2. By this action the short butt needles knit the ground thread, drawing it through the old loops formed at feeder 3. All the needles are then raised by the needle cam 46. At feeder 5 the sinker cams 25, 35, 31 act in the ordinary way as at feeders 2 and 3.

At feeder 6 the operations performed at feeder 3 are repeated exactly; that is to say the ground thread 38 is fed to all the needles which are then all drawn down and pressed to knit such ground thread and clear all the old loops.

As previously stated the operation at feeders ll-l2 is a repetition of the operations above described at feeders l-6. I

In Fig. 13 a fabric produced in the manner described above with reference to Figs. 1-12 is illustrated. In this figure it will be assumed that the row of loops 41 is the row carried by all the needles when they reached feeder l (and also feeder l) as described with reference to Figs. 1-3. Then 24 is the laid-in thread fed to the short butt needles at that feeder, which short butt needles produce the alternate wales of the fabric indicated at 48. Then 32 is the ground thread fed to the long butt needles 14 at feeder 2 (and 8) which long butt needles produce the wales 49 in Fig. 13. The thread 32 is drawn through the old loops 4? on the long butt needles but not through the old loops 4! on the short butt needles so that the loops 4'1 in the wales 48 are drawn out to a great length. 38 shows the ground thread fed at feeder 3 (and 9) and this ground thread is drawn through the loops 50 formed on the long butt needles out of the ground thread 32, and through the loops 41 held on the short butt needles in the wales 48. It will be seen that in the wales 48 the thread 38 is drawn not only through the loops 4'! but also under loops M The ground thread 38 fed at feeder 3 is thus drawn through an old loop at every wale to form a new series of loops 52. all the needles when they reach feeder 4 (and ill) at which feeder the laid-in thread 4! is fed to the long butt needles 114 which form the wales 49. At feeder 5 (and H) the ground thread 44 is fed to the short butt needles only, and this forms new loops 53 in the short butt wales 48 only, the loops 52 in the long'butt wales 49 being stretched. At feeder 6 (and 12) further ground thread 32 is fed to all the needles, and is knitted by all needles, being drawn through the loops 53 in the wales t8, and in the Wales 49 being drawn through the loops 52 and under the loops 54 of the laid-in thread 40. It will be seen that the laid-in threads 24 and 45 are not drawn through any loops in the fabric whether of ground thread or of laid-in thread. Nevertheless these threads are held firmly in the fabric by short lengths of ground thread indicated at 55 formed of the ground thread 32 fed at feeders 3 and t and also by This is the series of loops carried by longer lengths of ground thread 56 formed of the ground thread fed at feeders 2 and 5.

It will be understood that Fig. 13 is a diagrammatic representation of the fabric in which the loops are shown very open in order that the structure of the fabric may be seen. In an actual fabric of the kind shown, however, the face of the fabric is formed almost entirely of the loops 5'! of laid-in thread which lie over and tend to conceal not only the ground thread but even the loops 54 and 5| of the laid-in thread referred to in the above description of the fabric.

In the fabric shown in Fig. 13, the ground thread is the same, and is similarly fed at all 4 of the feeders l, 4, 1 and l 0. The effect produced, however, may be varied by omitting one or both laid-in threads in the second cycle, i. e, at feeders l and/or l0. Similarly other effects may be produced by omitting alternate laid-in threads, e. g. at feeders l and l or by omitting three of the four laid-in threads, so as to lay in an effect)- thread at one feed only out of the twelve.

Furthermore, the quality of the fabric may be varied by altering the throw of the sinkers at the point where the laid-in thread is fed, i. e. by altering the throw of the sinker cams H8 at feeders l, 4, I and I0. In this way the length of the loops of laid-in thread that are formed round the needles by the sinkers is varied and the quantity of laid-in thread actually knitted into the fabric is controlled. Since most of the laid-in thread lies exposed on the face of the fabric, the quality of the fabric may be greatly varied in this manner, and furthermore, effects may be produced by making the throw of the cam it different at the different feeders l, 4, l and i0.

The operations described above may be carried out on a standard high speed knitting machine having the usual provision of needles and sinkers, and operating cams therefor, and having long and short butt needles with provision for differently actuating them. Very little modification of the machine is required. The presser cams are removed at feeders l, 4, l and I0, and at these feeds also, the plain sinker cam 28 is substituted for the usual sinker cam 31. Further, the needle cams must be arranged to produce the required movements of the long and short butt needles as described above. The only other necessary'change is the adjustment of the thread feeders that may be necessary at feeders H, 4, l and Hi, to enable them to take the particular kind of effect thread employed as the laid-in thread.

Having described our invention what we desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. Method of producing a knitted fabric having laid-in threads on a multi-feeder knitting machine having a series of needles and a series of sinkers co-operating with the needles, said method comprising feeding the laid-in thread at one feeder to the front of selected needles while the remaining needles are below the level at which said laid-in thread is fed and, at that feeder, advancing all the sinkers so as to form loops of said laid-in thread round said selected needles, raising said remaining needles without withdrawing said sinkers after the feeding of said laid-in thread so that said remaining needles rise in front of said thread, at the next feeder knitting a ground thread on said remaining needles only, and at ,the next feeder, without drawing said loops of laid-in thread through previously formed loops in the fabric, knitting a ground thread on all the needles whereby said loops of laid-in thread are cleared and locked in the fabric.

2. Method of producing a knitted fabric hav- 5 ing laid-in threads on a. multi-feeder knitting machine having a series of needles and a series of sinkers co-operating with the needles, said one feeder to the front of selected needles while the remaining needles are below the level at which said laid-in thread is fed and, at that feeder, advancing all the sinkers so as to form loops of said laid-in thread round said selected needrawing said sinkers after the feeding of said laid-in thread so that said remaining needles rise in front of said thread, and at the third feeder, without drawing said loops of laid-in thread through previously formed loops in the fabric, knitting a ground thread on all the needles whereby said loopsof laid-in thread are cleared and locked in the fabric, and at an equal number of further feeders, repeating these operations, with said remaining needles acting as the selected needles and said selected needles as the remaining needles.

3. Method of producing a knitted fabric having laid-in threads on a multi-feeder knitting machine having a series of needles and a series of sinkers co-operating with the needles, said method comprising feeding the laid-in thread at one feeder to the front of selected needles while the remaining needles are below the level at which said laid-in thread is fed and, at that feeder, advancing all the sinkers so as to form loops of said laid-in thread round said selected needles, raising said remaining needles without withdrawing said sinkers after the feeding of said laid-in thread so that said remaining needles rise in front of said thread, at the next feeder knitting a ground thread on said remaining needles only, and at the next feeder, without drawing said loops of laid-in thread through previously formed loops in the fabric, knitting a ground thread on all the needles whereby said loops of laid-in thread are cleared and locked peating these operations, with said remaining needles acting as the selected needles and said selected needles as the remaining needles.

4. Method of producing a knitted fabric having laid-in threads on a multi-feeder knitting machine having a series of needles and a series of sinkers co-operating with the needles, said method comprising feeding the laid-in thread at one feeder to the front of alternate needles at which said laid-in thread is fed and, at that feeder, advancing all the sinkers so as to form loops of said laid-in thread round said alternate needles, raising said remaining needles without withdrawing said sinkers after the feeding of said laid-in thread so that said remaining needles rise in front of said thread, at the next feeder knitting a ground thread on said remaining needles only, and at the next feeder, without drawing said loops of laid-in thread through previously formed loops in the fabric, knitting a ground thread on all the needles whereby said loops of laid-in thread are cleared and locked in the fabric.

5. Method of producing a knitted fabric having laid-in threads on a multi-feeder knitting method comprising feeding the laid-in thread at 1 dles, raising said remaining needles without within the fabric, and at the next three feeders, re-

while the remaining needles are below the level machine having a series of needles and a series of sinkers co-operating with the needles, said method comprising feeding the laid-in thread at one feeder to the front of alternate needles while the remaining needles are below the level at which said laid-in thread is fed and, at that feeder, advancing all the'sinkers so as to form loops of said laid-in thread round said alternate needles, raising said remaining needles without withdrawing said sinkers afterthe feeding of said laid-in thread so that said remaining needles rise in front of said thread, and at the third feeder, without drawing said loops of laid-in thread through previously formed loops in the fabric, knitting a ground thread on all the needles whereby said loops of laid-in thread are cleared and locked in the fabric, and at an equal number of further feeders, repeating these operations with said remaining needles acting as the alternate needles and said alternate needles as the remaining needles.

'6. Method of producing a knitted fabric having laid-in threads on a multi-feeder knitting machine having a series of needles and a series of sinkers co-operating with the needles, said method comprising feeding the laid-in thread at one feeder to the front of alternate needles while the remaining needles are below the level at which said laid-in thread is fed and, at that feeder, advancing all the sinkers so as to form loops of said laid-in thread round said alternate needles, raising said remaining needles without withdrawing said sinkers after the feeding of said laid-in thread so that said remaining needles rise in front of said thread, at the next feeder knitting a ground thread on said remaining needles only, and at the next feeder, without drawing said loops of laid-in thread through previously formed loops in the fabric, knitting a ground thread on all the needles whereby said loops of laid-in thread are cleared and locked in the fabric, and at the next three feeders, repeating these operations, with said remaining needles acting as the alternate needles and said alternate needles as the remaining needles.

7. Method of producing a knitted fabric having laid-in threads on a multi-feeder knitting machine having a series of needles and a series of sinkers co-operating with the needles, said method comprising feeding the laid-in thread at one feeder to the front of selected needles while the remaining needles are below the level at which said laid-in thread is fed and, at that feeder, advancing all the sinkers so as to form loops of said laid-in thread round said selected needles, raising said remaining needles without withdrawing said sinkers after the feeding of said laid-in thread so that said remaining needles rise in front of said thread, at the next feeder knitting a ground thread on said remaining needles only, and at the next feeder, without drawing said loops of laid-in thread through previously formed loops in the fabric, knitting a ground thread on all the needles whereby said loops of laid-in thread are cleared and locked in the fabric, the sinkers at the different feeds at which said laidin thread is fed being advanced to different extents so as to vary the length of the loops of laidin thread and to produce a variation of effect in the fabric.

KENNETH MERSON UPHILL. THOMAS JACKSON.

Images