US2714298A - Dial knitting machine and method - Google Patents

Description

2, 1955 H. CRAWFORD 2,714,298

DIAL KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed July 8, 1954 18 Sheets-Sheet l HERMAN E. CRAWFORD,

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ATTORNEY Unite States Patent 2,714,298 DIAL KNITTENG MACHINE AND METHOD Herman E. Crawford, Kernersviile, N. C. Application July 8, 1954, Serial No. 442,147 12 Claims. (6!. 66-24) This invention relates to a knitting machine of the type which knits both a ribbed and a plain fabric and, more especially, to an improvement in such a knitting machine for enabling continuous knitting of a fabric, such as an article of hosiery, from top to toe and including a a ribbed top, some of the stitches of which are knit with dial needles and others of which stitches are knit with cylinder needles and a body portion or leg portion knit from cylinder needles only to form a plain fabric.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved knitting machine for continuously knitting an article of hosiery, comprising a ribbed top, knit on dial and cylinder needles and automatically transferring the dial stitches from the dial needles to cylinder needles, which operation will eliminate the use of a ribbing machine and hand transferring the top to a plain or cylinder needle knitting machine.

It is another object of this invention to provideimproved means for maintaining the fabric under suiiicient tension as it is being knitted by the machine to obviate the necessity of take-up rolls or weights to shed stitches from the dial needles as has heretofore been the case. As is well known to those familiar with the art, when a take-up is used to maintain the knitted fabric under tension as it, is shed from the dial needles, the hosiery or other article being knitted must, of necessity, be knitted in a continuous operation and wherein successive articles are connected by a row of stitches which subsequently have to be cut and pulled out by the knitting machine operator to separate the articles. This has been an expensive and time consuming operation and is no longer required with the present machine, since each seek or other article is knitted separately and dropped out of the machine as it is completed.

It is another object of this invention to provide improved method and means for transferring stitches from dial latch needles to cylinder latch needles including improved dial transfer cams for moving dial needles outward to an intermediate position with dial latch intercepting means to hold the dial needle latches partially open when thus opened by the stitches thereon. Patternjack-controlled needles are then raised through the dial stitches held open by the latches. Thereafter the latches are released from the intercepting means, the dial needles are moved to fully outward position and then withdrawn from the stitches to complete the transfer operation.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved pattern controlled dial latch opener which opens the latches on the dial needles after the transfer operation and after dial stitches are formed.

It is still another object of this invention to provide co-axial cylinder needle and selector or pattern jack cylinders with means to raise and lower the needle cylinder along with the sinker head independently of the jack cylinder to vary the lengths of stitches formed on the cylinder needles. This permits the use of relatively large jack cylinder and relatively long selector jacks, thereby providing for a wider range of patterning than has heretofore been possible without subjecting the controls for the raising and lowering of the needle cylinder to excessive stresses.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds,

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when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a front elevation of the upper portion of the improved knitting machine;

Figure 2 is an enlarged elevation of the upper lefthand portion of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a left-hand side elevation of the knitting machine looking at the left-hand side of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged elevation of the upper rightrand portion of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional plan view taken substantially along line 5-5 in Figure 1;

Figure 6 is an enlarged sectional plan view taken substantially along line 6-6 in Figure 2;

Figure 7 is a sectional plan view taken substantially along line 77 in Figure 2;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary plan view of the upper righthand portion of Figure 7 showing the parts in a different position;

Figure 9 is an enlarged sectional plan view taken substantially along line 9-9 in Figure 2;

Figure 10 is an enlarged vertical sectional view, through the needle cylinder, dial and sinker head, taken substantially along line 10-10 in Figure 4;

Figure 11 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through a portion of the dial and latch ring taken substantially along line 11-41 in Figure 9;

Figure 12 is a sectional plan view through a portion of the dial taken substantially along line l2-l2 in Figure 11;

Figure 13 is a rear elevation of the upper portion of the knitting machine taken substantially along line l3-13 in Figure 4;

Figure 14 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantially along line 14l4 in Figure 13;

Figure 15 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the needle cylinder and the selector jack cylinder and showing the novel manner in which the needle cylinder is supported;

Figure 16 is a schematic view of the selector jacks showing the pattern arrangement of the butts thereon as shaded areas;

Figures 17 through 26 are vertical sectional views through the main pattern drum shown in Figures 3 and 5, said sections being taken progressively from left to right in Figure 5 and showing the various cams thereon d the levers and thrust rods operated thereby;

Figure 27 is a plan view of the cams in the dial as if looking down thereon substantially along line 27-27 in Figure 10 and omitting the dial cap to which these cams are attached;

Figure 28 is a fragmentary view of the lower left hand portion of Figure 27 with the dial cams and dial needles shown in different positions;

Figure 29 is a view similar to Figure 27 showing some of the dial cams and dial needles in different positions;

Figure 30 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the dial and cap taken substantially along line 3it3tl in Figure 27 and showing the latch opener opening a latch on one of the dial latch needles;

Figure 31 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the dial taken substantially along line 31-31 in Figure 27;

Figure 32 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the dial taken substantially along line 3232 in Figure 27;

Figure 33 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the dial taken substantially along line 3333 in Figure 28;

Figure 34 is an enlarged sectional plan View taken substantially along line 34-34 in Figure 1 and showing only the top lever and the cam which operates this lever;

Figure 35 is a view similar to Figure 34 except showing the next lever, and cam for operating the same, below the lever and cam shown in Figure 34;

Figure 36 is a view similar to Figure 35 except showing the next lever, and cam for operating the same, below the lever and cam shown in Figure 35;

Figure 37 is a developed view of the cams surrounding the needle cylinder and showing the path of travel of some of the butts of the jacks and the needles and the hooks thereof;

Figure 33 is a fragmentary rear elevation looking substantially along line 3838 in Figure 3.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, it will be observed in Figures 1 and 3 that the lower portion of the knitting machine is similar to a Scott & Williams Model B5 machine, and substantially as disclosed in the patent to R. W. Scott, No. 1,152,850, in that the means for rotating and reciprocating the needle cylinder, the main pattern drum and its driving connections, the primary pattern chain and the means for driving the dial are conventional and, therefore, only a brief description thereof will be given.

Referring to Figures 1 and 3 it will be observed that the machine comprises legs supporting the base plate 11, an intermediate or jack cam plate 12 and a drum supporting plate 13 supported by a rectangular frame 14. The intermediate cam plate 12 is supported at one side on the frame 14 and its opposite side is supported on a vertically disposed frame member 15 whose lower end is fixed to one edge of the base plate 11. A bevel gear 16 (Figure 15) is mounted for rotation in the intermediate cam plate 12 and is engaged by the teeth of a bevel gear 17 (Figures 1 and 3) fixed on the left-hand end of a main drive shaft 18 journaled in the frame 14.

The bevel gear 17 is continuously driven in one direction when a clutch collar 20 is moved to the right or to the position shown in Figure 1 and the gear 17 is driven in a reciprocatory manner when the clutch collar 20 is moved to the left in Figure 1 by a pattern wheel 21 through conventional linkage. The main drive shaft 18 is driven by a belt 22 engaging either of a pair of pulleys 23 or 24 and which in Figure 1, is shown in engagement with an idler pulley 25. The pattern wheel 21 is rotatably mounted on a pattern cam shaft 26 driven by a rack wheel 27 fixed thereon which is advanced by a conventional crank arm pivotally mounted on the conventional sector gear which is engaged and driven by the reciprocable driving gear on the main drive shaft 18, in the usual manner.

A rack wheel 30 is fixed on the cam shaft 26, to which step-bystep rotation is imparted by conventional means, not shown, controlled by a conventional pattern chain 31. The manner in which step-by-step rotation is imparted to the rack wheel 38 from the pattern chain 31 is clearly shown and described in said Patent No. 1,152,850 and, since this is conventional, a further description thereof is deemed unnecessary. it might be stated that, in the present instance, the right-hand edge of the pattern chain 31 in Figure l, is provided with suitable cams or lugs for controlling step-by-step rotation of the rack wheel 3% and the left-hand edge thereof is provided with a plurality of lugs for controlling step-bystep rotation of an auxiliary pattern drum 33 rotatably mounted on the left-hand end of the shaft 26 in Figure 1. The driving means for the auxiliary pattern drum will be later described.

It is thus seen that the pattern chain 31 will be moved in a step-by-step manner by the rack wheel 30 in a conventional manner to, in turn, position the pattern wheel 21 and the clutch 20 so the bevel gear 16 in the cam plate 12 will be driven either continuously in one direction or will be reciprocated, depending upon the position of the clutch collar 29 on the main drive shaft 18.

When the clutch collar 20 is moved into the position shown in Figure 1, or to the right on the main drive 1 shaft 18, rotary motion is transmitted to the main drive shaft and, when the clutch 20 is moved to the left in Figure 1, reciprocatory motion will be transmitted to the main drive shaft to impart like motion to the bevel gear 17 and the bevel gear 16 in the cam plate 12.

The means for mounting and driving the auxiliary pattern drum 33 in the present application is identical to the manner in which the cam drum $7 in my co-pending application, Serial No. 192,935, filed October 30, 1951, is mounted and driven and, therefore, only a brief description of the same will be given. The auxiliary pattern drum 33 is provided with a rack wheel (Figure 3) which is rotatably mounted on the left-hand end of the shaft 26 in Figure l and, in order to prevent free rotation of the rack wheel 50 on the shaft 26, there is provided a suitable friction means in the form of a leaf spring member 51. The upper end of the leaf spring member 51 frictionally engages the rack wheel 50 and its lower end is suitably secured to a bearing bracket 52, the lower end of which is suitably secured to the lower base plate 11 (Figures 1 and 3).

A ratchet pawl 53, pivotally mounted adjacent the upper end of a pawl carrying arm 54, is resiliently urged into engagement with the rack wheel 50. The upper end of the pawl carrying arm 54 has a hooked portion integral therewith which normally engages a latch 55 in the form of a bell crank which has an upwardly extending arm integral therewith.

The latch 55 is oscillatably mounted on an angle clip 56 (Figure l). The upwardly extending leg of the latch 55 has a detent lever 57 oscillatably mounted thereon, which is normally resiliently urged into engagement with a stud 60 on a stud arm 61 integral with a hub member 62 (Figure l). The hub member 62 is oscillatably mounted on a shifter shaft 63 fixedly mounted in the frame 14.

The opposite end of the hub 62 has an arm 64 integral therewith which extends forwardly in Figure l and to the right and then forwardly again and has mounted therein a stud 65 whose free end is adapted to engage and ride on the left-hand edge of the pattern chain 31. The stud 65 is urged into engagement with the pattern chain 31 by a tension spring 66.

The lower end of the pawl carrying arm 54- is fixed on one end of a shaft journaled intermediate its ends in the upper end of the bearing bracket 52. One end of the shaft 70 has a bunter 71 fixed thereto which is, at times, adapted to be engaged by a quadrant gear, not shown, which is conventional and is clearly shown in said co-pending application Serial Number 192,935. The quadrant gear is also cleariy shown and referred to at 75 in Figure 5 of said Patent No. 1,152,850.

It is thus seen that, the auxiliary pattern drum 33 may be moved in a step-by-step manner, as desired, by placing lugs on the left-hand side of the links of the pattern chain 31 so they will engage and raise the stud 65 to thus raise the stud 60 and move lever 55 out of en gagement with the hooked portion on the upper end of the pawl-carrying arm 54 to thus allow the ratchet pawl 53 to move rearwardly to engage another tooth on the rack wheel 50. As the quadrant gear, not shown, comes down to engage the bunter 71, the pawl carrying arm 54 will be urged in a counterclockwise direction, in Figure 3, to move the rack wheel 50 and the auxiliary pattern drum 33 a step in rotation in a counterclockwise direction.

The machine also has a conventional train of gears 75 (Figure l) 76 (Figure 3) and 77, the gear 75 being fixed on the shaft 26 and the gear 77 being fixed to a main pattern drum 80. The pattern drum 80 is rotatably mounted intermediate the ends of a shaft 81, the inner end of which is fixed to the frame 14 and the outer end of i which is fixed in the frame 15. The main pattern drum 80 is rotated in a step-by-step manner, by the rack wheel 27, and makes one complete revolution each time a sock or other article is knit.

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