US2421638A - Machine for marking circular knit hosiery for boarding - Google Patents

Description

3947. R. J. MOODY ET A L. 2,4 1

MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR BOARDING Filed April 16, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet l Faber/ J Moody John E. fay/0r By Meir affomeys June 3, 1947. R. J. MOODY ET AL 2,421,538

MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR'BOARDING Filed April 16, 1946 5 Sheets Sheet, 2

I F/GZ lifilil John E Tay/or By their attorneys June 3, 1947. 2,421,638

I MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT HOSI ERY FOR BQARDING R. J. MOODY ET AL 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 16, 1946 June 3, 1947. R. J. MOODY ET AL. 2,421,638

MACHINE FOR MARKING' CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR BOARDING Filed April 16,1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 //7|/e/7f0r$ Ruben J Moody Jam 5 Toy/0r 5y fire/7' affomeys June 3, 1947. R. J. MOODY ET AL 2,421,638

MACHINE FOR MARKING CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR BOARDING 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed April 16, 1946 Patented June 3, 1947 .MA-CHJ-NE FOR CIRCULAR KNIT HOSIERY FOR BOARDIN G Robert J. Moody and John 'E. Taylor, Franklin,

N. IL, assignors "to Scott & Williams, Incorporated, Laconia, N. TH., a corporation of Massa- :chnsetts Application April '16, 1946, Serial No. 662,536

1 Claim.

invention relates to a knitting machine having means for marking hosiery knit of a thread for-med, for example, of a material such as the syntheti fibre forming polymeric amides known as nylon which is adapted to be set to a definite shape subjecting the material to heat or heat and moisture as in the hosiery preboarding operation. In order that the hosiery may be properly shaped by the preboarding operation it is necessary tha'tt-he hosiery beyplaced on the =preboarding form with particular wales at the backan-d iront of the hosiery exactly following the back and front edges, respectively, of the thin flat'form used int-his operation. In boarding full-fashioned hosiery, the seam at the "back and bottom of the hosiery provides a raised guide enabfing the operator to rapidly and accurately pothe hosiery on the boarding 'form' by placing the hosiery seam alon the back edge of the form, an operation which can be carried out by feeling the position of the seam on the form. With seam-less hosiery there is no seam to guide the operator and in order to place seamless hosiery on a boarding form so as to have the hosiery present the most attractive appearance when offer-ed for sale, it is necessary to place particular wales of the hosiery on the back and front edges or form. Careiui inspection and adjustment, therefore, are required to insure seamless hosiery heing'properly placed on the form and the operation is slow and costly. It is an object of invention to provide a knitting machine having improved means for markin hosiery during the knitting thereof so as to properly and quickly guide the placing of the hosiery on a form.

The invention is-shown in the drawings "in connection with a Scott and Williams circular knitting machine for knitting hosiery having turned welts, the machine being the general construction shown in the patent to Scott, No. 1,282,958, issued October 29, 1-918, and provided with patterning mechanism comprising jacks and jack selecting means such as are shown in the patent to Page, No. 1,969,853 issued August 14 1934, and only such parts of the knitting machine are shown as are necessary to clearly illustrate the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a partial view in side elevation of a knitting machine having a marking means in accordance with this invention, parts being broken away to show other parts more clearly;

fig. 2 is a partial view in side elevation showing the side opposite to that of Fig. .1 some parts 2 being omitted to show 'the remaining parts more clearly; V

Fig. 3 is a partial top plan view of the machine shown "1, parts being broken away to show other parts more clearly;

Fig. 4 iso fragmentary vlew'in elevation looking from the leftin Fig. 1; I

Fig. 5 is a partial vertical sectional view taken at a needle selected for marking the fabric and showing the relations of the needle 'and intermediate and pattern jacks to each other and to certain operating cams;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view in elevation showingthe relation 'ofthe pattern {racks and th jack selecting lever provided "in connection with this invention;

Fig. "7 is a perspective view showing needle selecting levers detached from the machine;

Fig. a is a fragmentary plan view showing the cam operating the jacks of selected. needles to which coloring matter is to be applied;

Figs. 9 and 10 are views in elevation of the back and front, respectively, of hosiery having coloring material applied "by a'machine ina'ccordance with this invention; and

'Fig. 11 is an enlarged view of a fragment of the hosiery fabric showing coloring material applied to the loops of two adjacent wales.

As shown in Figs. 9 and I0, hosiery marked by a machine in accordance with this invention has a guide mark M of a width of one or more needle wales which may extend down selected Wale or wales of the back of the leg L from the start of the turned Welt 'W to the heel H. The mark is omitted from the heel and toe but extends along the bottom of the sole S. A similar guide mark M may extend along selected Wale or wales of the front of the leg from the start of the welt W to and along the top of the instep I to the toe. The guide marks M and M, preferably, are oiT-set sever-a1 wales from the exact back and front wales of the stocking so as to appear on the same side of the form in the preboarding operation, both marks being continuously visible to the operator and thus permitting adjustment of the stocking on the form to be readily made. Preferably the guide mark is formed of a fugitive dye contrasting sufficiently in color with the thread of "which the hosiery is knit to be readily seen when the hosiery is being placed on the preboarding form. As the preboarding operation sets the thread of which the hosiery is knit so that the hosiery tends to maintain the shape and (size given it Ibytthe preboarding operation, the removal of the fugitive dye forming the guide mark during the subsequent dyeing and finishing operations does not interfere with rapid and eiiicient boarding of the hosiery as the shape assumed by the hosiery guides its placing on the boarding form.

The machine for forming the guide mark or marks on the hosiery during the knitting thereof shown in the drawings is a circular hosiery knitting machine having a needle cylinder 260 mounted for rotation in a suitable frame and having needles N, intermediate jacks T32 and pattern jacks I36 alined in the grooves thereof, there being a jack of each kind for each needle. The machine is also provided with the usual operating cams and yarn fingers operated by push rods from cams on the main pattern drum I20. The pattern jack selecting means provided comprises a pattern drum 800 rotated step by step in the usual way and operating reader cams 820 to select jacks for operating needles 'in the usual manner.

A guide mark is formed in the hosiery by applying a fugitive dye to the upper ends one or more needles knitting the central wale r wales at the back or back and front of the hosiery, or knitting selected wales adjacent the back and front of the stocking. In order that the dye may be applied to the desired needle or needles only, such needles are selected by being difierentiated in position during each revolution of the needle cylinder when the guide mark is being formed prior to the operation of the adjacent needles to take the thread for knitting. To secure the differentiation in position of the selected needles N, the jacks 1361) for these needles have an upper portion of their operating butts 1360 cut away so that when rocked by the usual cam it during each revolution all patterning jacks 136 except the jacks 13Gb for the selected needles will have their operating butts 136a engaged by a lever '69 pivotally-mounted below the usual make-up lever 6! on the pin mounted in the lower bed plate B on which the reader cams 820 for the patterning jacks are mounted. To operate the lever 60 there is attached to an end of themain pattern drum lZB a pattern disk IZBa which rotates with the main pattern drum IZEI and is provided with cams 50!, am and 50!?) adapted to engage a pin 64 mounted in an arm 66 which is pivotally mounted on the machine frame.- The pin 64 projects on both sides of the arm 56 and has secured thereon, on the other side of the arm E55 from the cam 5M, the looped end of a Bowden wire t8, the opposite end of which is connected to an end of the lever '69. A spring '10 connected between the arm '66 and the machine frame opposes operation of the arm 66 by the cams 56!, 5am and 50lb to permit lever '60 to be moved to its jack engaging position by a spring 12 connected between the lever til and the machine frame end, when the cam has released the lever 6d, serves to return the lever 66 to its inoperative position. The lever 68, when in jack engaging position, engages the jack operating butts 136a of all jacks except the selected jacks 83th and forces back the lower portions of the engaged jacks so that their operating butts pass the usual jack operating cam H3 and are not operated thereby. The jacks 73Gb for the selected needles, not having had their operating butts pressed inwardly, have their operating butts i380 engaged by the jack operating cam H3 and the jacks and selected needles N are raised thereby prior to the raising of adjacent needles to take the yarn for knitting.

In the machine shown the latch ring 550 and the bracket I attached to the latch ring and supporting the dial operating means can be raised being pivotally connected as at 552 to a standard mounted on the upper bed plate A. To apply the coloring material to the-differentiated needle or needles there is provided a container 2 for liquid coloring material having a detachable top or cover 2a to which is attached a light metal tube 4 having a wick 6 therein, the wick projecting from the tube at both ends so as to tact with the hooks of the differentiated needles.

The metal tube 4 is secured by a clip 8 to a plate portion 9 of a bracket Ill. 'The bracket I0 is formed with spaced lugs H which are pivotally connected to a base plate 12 secured by a screw 13 to the bracket I and with a lug l4 to which is connected one end of a Bowden wire it, the opposite end of which is connected to a pin II on the lever 66. A stop member i8 threaded into an opening in an extension I20; of the base plate I2 and secured in position by a. set screw l9 serves to limit pivotal movement in the di-. rection of the needles of the plate portion 9 and the tube 4 secured thereto while a spring 28; secured to the clip '8 by the clip retaining screw '2! and to the gear casing 22 cooperates with the weight of the container 2 in biasing the plate portion 9 for movement in the direction bringing the wick 6 in'the tube 4 into contact with the differentiated selected needle 'or needles N. The manner of securing the tube 4 and the ease or varying the shape of the tube permits of readily adapting the apparatus to suit different conditions but in general the apparatus is so mounted that the wick end which engages the selected needle or needles is slightly below the level of the liquid color in the container. Adjusting the position of the wick end with respect to the level of the liquid color provides a lim--" ited control of the rate of flow of the liquid color to the needles.

In the operation of the knitting machine dis-; closed, the make-up lever 6| is operated to se-' lect the needles to take the thread for the starting course in the usual manner and, where the guide mark is placed in the Welt, a cam,- as the cam 5010,, will operate the arm 66 to permit the spring 12 to place the'selecting lever 60 in oper-' ative position and the spring 20 to place the wick 6 in position to be engaged by a difierentiated selected needle or needles upon completion of the make-up or starting courses. The cam 50] a is a two-step cam, the first step being designed to render the selector lever 60 operative to select the jacks of the needles N' to be raised and the wick 6 not being brought to position in which it engages the selected needles N until the pin 64 in arm 66 rests on the second step of the cam. The pattern drum I20 is operated to shift the cam 50hr from the pin 64 as the knitting of the welt fabric is completed permitting the spring 10 to operate the lever 66. to return the lever 60 and the wick 6 to their inoperative positions for the transfer of the loops of the starting course to the welt. If following the regularwelt, a shadow welt having patterning for identification is knit, the lever 60 and wick B are retained ininoperative position and are not returned to operative position until the knitting of the leg is begun. The lever 60 and the wick 6 are maintained in operative position throughout the knitting of the leg, as by the cam SUI, andjare with-i drawn from operative position at the beginning of the knitting of the heel. Upon completion of the heel, a cam, as cam 5M b, returns the lever 60 and wick 6 to operative position and maintains them in operative position throughout the knitting of the instep and sole and is operated to permit their return to inoperative position at the beginning of the knitting of the toe.

What is claimed is:

In a marking device for circular knitting machines having means for differentiating selected needles, a container for a fluid color, a wick having one end in saidcontainer and the other end arranged for engagement by a differentiated selected needle, tubing attached to said container and enclosing said wick, supporting means engaging said tubing, means pivotally mounting said supporting means and means for operating said REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 10 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS:

Number Name Date 1,483,844 Drumheller l Feb. 12, 1924 15 2,388,648 Sheppard Nov. 6, 1945

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