US2333074A - Fabric drawoff means for textile machines - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 26, 1943. H, PRlNTZ FABRIC DRAW-OFF MEANS FOR TEXTILE MACHINES Filed Jan. 22, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ElE- l .0 i5 f Z2 Ill/I1 0 E 4 INVENTORZ flenzp flfini BY g I 5 ATTOR Y Oct. 26, 1943. PR|NTZ 2,333,074

FABRIC DRAW-OFF MEANS FOR TEXTILE MACHINES Filed Jan. 22, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORI Patented Oct. 26, 1943 Prints, Beading, Pa., assignor to Textile Machine Works, Wyomissing, Pa., a corpora tion of Pennsylvania Application January 22, 1342, Serial No. 427,716

' 2 Claims. (01. 66-149) This invention relates to the fabric draw-oil means of textile machines, and more particularly to means of this type associated with straight or full-fashioned knitting machines, to tension and take up the fabric as it comes from the needles.

i "Ihe use of hooks to connect the fabric engaging elements, or welt rods, to the fabric drawoff means of straight or full-fashioned .hosiery knitting machines, is well known, and although little or no trouble is ordinarily experienced in the utilization of such hooks on standard machines, it has been found that they are unsatisfactory when used on machines equipped with certain welt fabric draw-oi! mechanisms hereinafter referred to. A dimculty experienced in this connection is, that the usual hooks cannot be employed as ordinarily and when utilized in different manner become accidentally disengaged from the welt rod, for example, when the fabric is wound on the take-up reel. This difliculty makes the fabric draw-off means unreliable and ineifective.

It is an object of my invention to provide novel fabric draw-on means for textile machines, such as straight or full-fashioned knitting machines, which overcomes the mentioned and other difnculties.

Another object is to associate with such means a device which is adapted to connect the draw-oi! means with the fabric engaging element by a downward engaging movement, and which device is provided with means which will prevent it from becoming accidentally disconnected.

A further object is to associate with such means a device in the form of a spring-hook or snap-hook arrangement which .will facilitate connection of the draw-oil means with the fabric eng in element, under conditions where the present devices cannot be satisfactorily ems wd- Another object is to provide such means in which the fabric engaging element and the actusting means therefor are connected by a device having a latch operable by said fabric engaging I element. l

with these and other objects in view, which will become apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment oi my invention shown in the accompanying In the drawings: I Figure 1-is across-sectional view ofa part of a single knitting section of a multi-section full-fashioned knitting machine having my invention applied thereto; i

rm. 2 is a top view of the mechanism of Iig. 3-is an enlarged top view of the welt rod connecting device which forms vention:

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-.4 of Fig. 3; r

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the said welt rod connecting device;-

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantiallyalong the iine 8-8 of Fig. 2, drawn to substantially full scale and showing parts "of several sections knitting; and

Fig. 7 is a full size cross-sectional view of the fabric take-up roller mechanism of Figs. 1 and 2,

and fllustrates my device in the position which it occupies when the strap is wound upon said roller. 3

In the drawings and description, only those parts of a knitting machine necessary to a complete understanding of the invention, are presented; further information as to the construction and operation of other related, usual and well known knitting elements, mechanisms, etc, may be found in one or more of the following publications:

1. Pamphlet entitled-Full-Fashioned Knit- 3. Booklet entitledThe "Readlng rush Pros duction Full-Fashioned Knitting Machine which forms a supplement to the above notecl 1940 Parts Catalog of the Textile Machine Works, and which booklet is a publication of the Textile Machine Works, and was copyrighted by the latter in 1940.

4. Pamphlet entitled-Knitting Machine Lee tures-published by the Wyomissing Polytechnic Institute, Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, in 1935.

Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings disclose certain well known elements present in each section of a straight, or full-fashioned "legger knitting machine, which cooperate to produce the knitted lib fabric, such as the bank of needles Ill, sinkerpart of my, in-

head unit ll, sinkers and dividers l2, and knockover bits I3. I 7

It is the practice, when knitting full-fashioned leg blanks on such a machine, to first produce a certain length of welt fabric on each needle bank, which fabric is drawn from the needles.

by a welt bar H, hooks ii of which engage'the loops of the first course knitted; the welt bar' l4 being attached to a welt bar band or strap I6 which is operated by weight or spring means (not shown) to move the welt bar I on supports 7 or bridges II, in turn secured to front machine bed or table l8 as by screws I9. These welt fabrics are then folded, and the loops of the first course of each welt fabric are transferred from the welt hooks 15, of the Well: bar H, to the needles J0, in well known manner.

After the welt portion of each blank has been I 3 formed, a welt, or fabric draw-oil rod 20, is

inserted between the foldsof each welt portion, and the ends of each welt rod protruding beyond the side edges of the fabric are placed on suitable supports provided therefor. Two bands or straps 22, of the usual fabric tensioning means. are then connected to therod 20, intermediate each side edge of the welt fabric and the supported ends of the rod, which straps are connected to a reel 23, having rotary fabric take-up movement imparted to it in well known manner by spring or weight means, not shown.

In connection with the operation of standard legger machines, the welt bars ll are individually and manually operated in each knitting section of the machine, and in such instances, the welt bars I 4, and the welt rods 20, are usually'supported, and moved along theupper surfaces of the bridges l1.

More recently, a certain type semi-automatic welt mechanism has been made available to simultaneouslymove all the welt bars H into operative position to' receive the loops of the first course of loops formed on each needle bank. One such ,mechanism comprises a shaft 24, journalled in bearings 25, on the front bed or table ll of the machine; thereto a series of arms orlevers 26 pivotally connected to links 21. The links 21 carry studs or travellers 23 at their free .ends in contact with wear, plates 29 secured to the welt bars I, which in turnare moved by means of draw-oft bands or straps IS in a direction away from the sinker-head H, as previously indicated. The travellers are guided along the rails or bridges H, by members 30, the ends of which are slidably engaged in grooves or channels 32, (see Figs. 2 and6).

At the proper time, the shaft 24 is turned in The shaft 24 has secured counterclockwise direction from the position of Fig. l, and this motion is transmitted through the arms 36, links 2! and'travellers 28, to the welt bars ll of the machine which are thereby simultaneously moved towards the needles, along the top surface of the bridges l1, until stopped by pins 33, fastened to bridges l I. With the welt arms 36. The take-up reels 23 are rotated in clockwise direction (Fig. 1) by usual means, to apply tensioning and draw-ofi action to the fabric as it is being knitted, and oscillation of the presser shaft 35 also moves the draw-off reels 23 toward and from the sinker-head I I, in timed relation with the needles. l0, thereby to maintain afixed distance between'the needles and the reels at all times, all in accordance with the usual practice.

When a legger machine is provided with semiautomatic welt mechanism of the type referred to, the welt bars H are, after operation thereof, retained in inactive position on the bridges, against the studs 28 which rest against stop pieces 31. However, the inactive positioning ,of these bars on the top surfaces of the bridges II interferes with the use of these surfaces to also support and guide the welt rods 20. To avoid such interference, the bridges I! are provided with grooved guide channels 38, forsilpporting.

and guiding ,theends of the wen rods "20. With this arrangement, the fabric ofeach knitting section engaged by a welt rod 20, is, accordingly, moved in a plane intermediate the front bed-or table ll of the machine, and the weltbarfl,

when being drawn from the knitting elements, toward the reel 23.

When the welt rods 20 are moved in a plane in;

termediate the top surfaces of the bridges l1 and the front bed l8, as in conjunction with the draw-01f means employed with semi-automatic. welt mechanism referred to, it becomes difficult or even impracticable to engage'the usual open ended hooks of the draw-ofl bands or straps22- with the welt rods 20, from beneath, inaccord-l ance with the practice carried out in connection with standard machines. This is due to the fact.

that the welt fabric is usually of such length that when turned or folded the bight portion thereof is directly over one or the other of the raised wall portions of the table l8, as shown in Fig. 1.

The limited space between the welt rod 20 and the table l8 therefore makes it difficult to engage the hooks from beneath, in accordance with the usual practice. If, on the other hand, such open ating mechanism of my invention is provided with novel connecting means designed to permit quick and easy connection of the draw-oifstraps 22, to the welt rods 20, from aboveyand to pre-.

vent accidental disengagement of. these parts at all times. f

Figs. .3, 4 and 5, disclose one embodiment of my novel connecting means in the form of a device 40, comprising an element, or welt rod' receiving hook portion 40, a. spring latch or automatic hook closure means in the form of a leaf spring member 40b, which is arranged to prevent accidental disengagement of the welt rod 20 from the hook portion 40a, and a part 400 adapted to be engaged with the loopformed at the end of a fabric drawoif strap 22. The part 40b is fastened to the main body portion of the connecting device 40, in any practical manner, as by two rivets 40d which fixedly secure the widened end of the spring member 407) to one side of the device 40 in such manner that the free end thereof has spring action in biased engagement with the hook portion 40a, as shown in Fig. 4. By pressing the device 40 down on a welt rod 20 in such manner that the rod contacts the spring member 40b adjacent the hook part 40a, the member 40b will readily recede to an extent permitting the rod to be engaged in the hook portion 40a. After the rod 20 passes beyond the free end of the spring member 40b, during movement of the rod to the position in the hook portion 40a, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the free end of the member 40b will automatically spring back to its initial position against the inside of the hook portion 40a, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 4. To release the rod 20, it is merely necessary to manually depress the spring member 4012 to an extent permitting the rod to pass between the member 40b and free end of the hook portion 40a. When the welt fabric and the rod 20 are wound on the reel from above, but the fabric take-up and tensioning means cannot become accidentally disengaged from the rods at any time.

Of course, my improved fabric take-up and tensioning means can be changed and modified in various ways without departing from the invention herein disclosed and hereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. In a textile machine, the combination with a frame, a fabric engaging element, means arranged to actuate said element to draw of! the fabric, and guide means for said element arranged to confine the element to a path above a portion of said frame of self-locking means associated with said actuating means and arranged to be connected with the element by a downward engaging movement without interference with said frame portion.

2. In a textile machine, the combination with a frame, a rod for engaging the fabric, means arranged to actuate said rod to draw of! the fabric, and guide means for said rod comprising a pair of rails on said frame and arranged to confine the rod to a path above a portion or portions of said frame of a self-locking rod engaging means arranged to be connected to said rod by a downward engaging movement without interference with said frame.

HENRY PRINTZ.

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