US2433931A - Method of knitting - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 6, 1.948. E. s1'. PIERREy METHOD 0F KNITTING Filed July 27, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIC'. Z.

Jan. 6, 1948. E. sT. PIERRE 2,433,931

. METHOD oF KNITTING l Filed July 27, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 6, 1948. E. ST. PIERRE' METHOD l0F KNITTING Filed July 27, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 A INI/Enne: K En; NEJZ'HE E,

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Jan. 6, 1948. 5.81'. PIERRE METHOD OF KNITTING Filed July 27, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Jan. 6, 1948; Y t E. sT. PIERRE l 2,433,931

KEQHOD OF KNITTING Filed my 2v, 1946 5 sheets-snaar s s.,f-z

M15/V701? 5 Eri EMEJZ'HERE l Patented Jan. 6, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF KNITTING Eugenen St. YPierre,Pawtucket, R. I., assgnorto Hemphill "Company, Central Falls, R. I., acorporation of Massachusetts Application July 27, 1946,- serial Nm 686,657

2' Claims. 1l

This inventionlrelates to .a new and` useful mechanism and method .for producing', automatically, multiple yarn hosiery-upon acircular,l independent needle, knittingmachine.

The fabric ofwhich the hosieryr concerned is made has been produced .formany years but'only in tubulary form andllargelybyhand operated machines. It hasthen been cut to :shape and sewed to separately knitheelsisoles and toes -to make stockings. Obviously, `such a method-of production is slow. and extremelyY expensive. Stockings made in thisfway have` always ,cost `several dollars.

By the methodof this invention, stockings can be made automatically at exceedingly high speed and a fraction of the v.former cost. Also the-pattern possibilities are almost unlimited without special equipment for-making them.. Y

The production .of this fabric will be .described in connection with acircular, independent need-le,l knitting machine having a' cylinder.v andy adial but it must be understood that the invention yis not'limited to the use of Ythemethod upon such a machine but includes two cylinder and` any other suitable type of independent need-le ma.- chine as well. Y

In the drawing:

Fig'. 1 illustrates a'stocking produced in accord.- ance with the method of this invention;

Fig. 2A illustrates diagrammatically a greatly. enlarged section of fabric showing the leoparrangement.

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and are views of a dial .mechanisrn; and

Figs. 7, 8 and ".9 are diagrammatic-illustrations of the needle andjack cams. selectors, etc., of the.

machine chosen for 'description herein.

Although the-stocking `shownin thev drawing requires; in general, four separately fed and sepa rately'knit yarns, .thelyarns may be Aas fewastwo toas many as -theimachine islcapableof .feeding and knitting.

The machine-f which has -been selected-for use is.provided'withlzfourSfeeds 4shown at i,- 2, 3 andf in Fig; 3`spacedaround the dial and cylinder arrangedso as `tobe'able `to feed'yarnto either dial :or cylinder needles forfbcth'. Therefore, dure ing each rotation'Ofthecylinder'the knitting O 2, four courses may be in,y progress, each of a different yarn fed by a different feed.

Any desired sort of top may be used such, for example, as an automaticallyproduced, true rib top made by independently knitting. alliour of the yarns 5, 6, 1 and 8 fed by feeds l, 2, Sland 4 respectively to both the dial needles 9 and alternate cylinder needlesv l0. If ithese four yarns are of different colors, a, true rib top having repeated horizontal Afour coursepatterns will result.

After the top is nished, the leg is made by knitting simultaneously all four of the yarns upon the dial needles. Without more this would simply produce fabric having the` birdseye appearance usual to fabric knit of'differently colcred yarns in rotation. However, patterns of almost endless variety inthe color of any of the yarns can be made anywhere in the stocking, with therexception of the heel and toe, simply by bringing alternate cylinder needles into cooperation with the dial ,needles to knit rib fabric of the yarn having the desired color in those wales and courses in which that particular color is to appear.

For example, Fig. 2 illustrates a piece of fabric knit 0f foul' yarns 5, 6, .1 and 8 which, it will be assumed, are colored red, green, yellow and blue, respectively. All of these yarns are knit simultaneously but at four different feeds. Of these three yarns 5. 6 and 1 are knit on dial needles only whereas yarn 8 is knit on both alternate cylinder anddial needles, the cylinder needles being selected inv accordance with the pattern. This produces the section o f thev fabric indicated by a in Fig.,2 which' has the appearance of a blue stripe. Section b of Fig. 2 is yellow. It is formed by knitting yarns 5, 6 and 8 on dial needles only and yarn 1 on both dial and selected alternate cylinder needles. The third-section c which is green is similarly made' by knitting yarns 5, 1 and upon" the dial needles'on-ly and yarn S onthe dial needles andthe appropriate alternate vcylinder needles; Section d is red as the result of knitting-yarn 5 von both dial and cylinder needles,v the otherthree yarns being knit on dial needles only. Y

It will be evident that in the'fabric illustrated by Fig.r2, the knittingof all of the yarns by the dial needles is goingon continuously and that the forming ofthe pattern'bythe-dial and cylinder needles may also go on simultaneously at all four feeds but in different courses. The reason why the characteristic colorof the yarn knit by the dial and cylinder needlesappears von the'face- 'ofthe'fabricis that dial knit loops are depressedY 1. The white diamonds represent rib knitting I and may be of any one or more of the colors of the yarn used. The intermediate fabric, in this instance, is simply four feed knitting on dial needles.

When the heel is reached, the knitting of all four yarns is discontinued and the loops on the dial needles are transferred to the alternate cylinder needles which will knit the heel. Thereafter the knitting of the heel by the desired number of short butt alternate cylinder needles proceeds in the usual way.

During the narrowing and widening of the heel, the short buttI needles are picked up and down in the usual way but since only one-half of the cylinder needles of the short butt group are in use i. e. the alternate needles, the picking of the intermediate cylinder needles must be avoided. Consequently, the machine is so arranged that none of the needles will be engaged by a pick unless they are previously raised to picking position by jacks. One of these jacks is shown at I I in Fig. '7 below a cylinder needle I0. The jacks are provided with long and short butts I2 and I 3, respectively. The long butt jacks are positioned below the alternate cylinder needles which will knit the heel whereas the short butt jacks are positioned below the corresponding intermediate needles for a purpose to be described later.

When the heel is completed, knitting is again resumed at all four feeds in the manner described in connection with the leg for completing the foot of the stocking as far as the ring toe. If a plain colored sole is desired, one of the four yarns in use may, by proper cylinder needle selection, be brought to the outside of the fabric for the entire sole section thus giving a plain color effect although all four yarns will be incorporated in the sole fabric. Or if desired, the sole may be made by simply knitting the four yarns in succession on the dial needles only.

When the ring toe is reached, the yarns are again transferred from all of the dial needles to the alternate cylinder needles and, in addition, the rest of the cylinder needles are brought up into knitting action by jacks I I having short butts I3 whereupon the full complement of cylinder needles knit the ring toe in the usual manner. Thereafter, the toe is knit by the usual group of cylinder needles in the usual way, a single feed being used.

In this way, a stocking is automatically produced which heretofore has been tailor-made by hand, a slow and expensive process. By the method of this invention, the knitting speed is substantially quadrupled and all hand labor and skill eliminated with the exception of the usual closing of the toe. 'I'he entire stocking is automatically produced and the range of patterns possible is only limited by the ingenuity of the knitter. No special equipment is required, the entire stocking including any one of innumerable patterns being produced simply by controlled knitting on dial and dial and cylinder needles.

Some details of a dial mechanism suitable for knitting the fabric described above are shown in Figs. 3 6. The cams which cause the dial needles to knit are shown at I4-I'I and I4-I'I in Fig. 5. The manner in which such cams operate the dial needles is too well known to require description here. Each of these cams is independently raisable out of contact with the butts of the dial needles whenever knitting at given feed is discontinued by means of levers I8, I9, 20 and 2| respectively which are operated from any suitably timed source. The mechanism is generally similar to that shown in Patent #2,255,068 to which reference may be had.

The dial is also provided with a transfer cam 22 which can be lowered into operating position or raised to idle position at appropriate times by a lever 23 connected to a suitable operating source. The eifect of transfer cam 22 is to project the needles outwardly as shown in Fig. 5 to an extent sufficient to clear their latches so that the loops thereon will be cast oif after they have been engaged by the cylinder needles to which they are to be transferred. It will also be noted from Fig. 5 that the dial has been shogged suciently to bring the cylinder needles against the dial needles. This is a well known way of simplifying the transfer of loops from the dial to the cylinder needles. A general description of this also can be obtained from the above mentioned patent.

The corresponding cams for operating the cylinder needles and jacks to accomplish the knitting above described is shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9. In Fig. '7 the four knitting cams which cause selected cylinder needles to knit in cooperation with the dial needles the yarn fed by one or another of the four yarn feeds are shown at 24, 25, 2B and 21. The corresponding jack selectors are shown at 28--3I, respectively and the master jack cams which raise the selected jacks and, consequently, the needles to latch clearing height prior to knitting are shown at 32 to 35.

The machine is so arranged that no cylinder needles, unless they are raised by selection, will knit at any feed. Therefore, if selectors Eil- 3| are of the multiple blade type such as are diagrammatically indicated in Fig. 7 and if jacks having saw tooth butts such as those described and claimed in U. S. Patent #2,058,481 are used substantially any desired selection of needles can be made.

'I'he selected needles which are to knit, as above described, are raised to the height 36 by the jacks Il at which the latches are cleared in preparation for the next knitting operation which may occur immediately under the next following knitting cam such as 25 for example. The unselected cylinder needles are not raised by the jacks and, consequently, follow the path indicated by 31 in Fig. 7 and do not knit.

To transfer prior to knitting the heel, the needles also have to be selected. The manner in which the dial needles are prepared for transfer has already been described. The transfer operation of the cylinder needles is shown in Fig. 8 in which the selector 29 is shown and master jack cam 33 and also knitting cam 26. The elevation of the selected cylinder needles by cam 33 combined with the operation of the dial needles and the shogging of the dial heretofore described effects the transfer of loops to the selected cylinder needles. These selected needles are, of course, among those heretofore described as alternate needles which cooperate with the dial needles in knitting the fabric of the leg, etc.

As already stated, only the alternate cylinder needles are used for knitting the heel. Therefore, to avoid picking the intermediate needles, the jacks are provided with long butts I2 and short butts I3 as already explained. The jacks corresponding to the alternate cylinder needles have long butts so that by moving jack cams 38 and 39 inwardly far enough to engage the long butts but insufficiently to engage the short butts of the other jacks that fraction of the alternate cylinder needles required for knitting the heel will be elevated to picking height 4B from which they can be picked up by the narrowing picks, one oi which is shown at 4I to height 42 at which they will pass over the knitting cam blocks.

These same needles are lowered again 'by the usual widening picks (not shown) in the usual way with the exception that instead of widening by picking two needles down and one up, a single needle is picked down and none up at each picking operation. Since intermediate needles are idle the widening picks can be constructed so that they can operate not only on alternate but intermediate needles when intermediate needles are in position for picking thus making it possible to carry out the usual picking of two down and one up during the widening of the toe.

The ring toe is knit on all of the cylinder needles. Therefore, immediately preceding the knitting of the ring toe the alternate needles and also the remaining needles are raised to knitting height by a selecting unit such as 30. Then all of the cylinder needles will receive the yarn for the ring toe which is knit at a single feed only, such as feed I, by knitting cam 2'I, for example.

When the ring toe is completed. the toe is knit on one half of the total cylinder needles, i e., the short butt needles, in the usual Way, the

picking for widening being the conventional two down and one up at each picking operation. As elsewhere, the needles which knit the toe are selected by jacks I I. Cams 38 and 39, now inserted fully so as to engage both long and short butts I2 and I3 of jacks II, bring all of the short butt needles into knitting action.

The above method of knitting a stocking may be carried out upon a two cylinder machine. There will, of course, be certain differences in the way the machine operates such as transferring needles yfrom one cylinder to the other instead of transferring loops from dial to cylinder needles but the method remains essentially the same.

I claim:

1. A method of knitting a stocking upon a circular, independent needle, knitting machine having cylinder and dial needles which includes the steps of knitting a leg of a plurality of yarns separately but simultaneously knit each upon al1 of the dial needles, one or more of said yarns being knit also upon cylinder needles selected to form a pattern, transferring loops from dial needles to the cylinder needles which knit the heel, knitting the heel upon these cylinder needles, knitting the foot by resuming the separate but simultaneous knitting of all yarns upon the dial needles and one or more of the yarns also upon cylinder needles selected to'form the desired pattern, transferring all dial loops from dial needles to cylinder needles, knitting the ring toe upon all of the `cylinder needles and knitting the toe on one half of the cylinder needles.

2. A method of knitting a, stocking upon a circular, independent needle, knitting machine having two sets of needles which includes the steps of knitting a leg of a plurality of yarns separately but simultaneously knit each upon all of the needles of one set, one or more of said yarns being knit also upon needles of the other set selected to form a pattern transferring loops from needles of the rst mentioned set to needles of the other set which are to knit the heel, knitting the heel upon those needles, knitting the foot by resuming the separate but simultaneous knitting of all yarns upon the needles of said first mentioned set and one or more of said yarns upon needles of the other set selected to form the desired pattern, transferring all loops from the needles of the rst set to the needles of the other set, knitting the ring toe upon the needles of the said other set and knitting the toe upon one half of the needles of this same set.

EUGENE ST. PIERRE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the ille of this patent:

Great Britain Nov. 9, 1932

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