US2719420A - Yarn feeding mechanism - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 4, 1955 ST. PIERRE ET AL 2,719,420

YARN FEEDING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 21, 1952 "EJ Z 3 I [Will 7055a? WA K) ATTy United States Patent YARN FEEDING MECHANISM Eugene St. Pierre, Pawtucket, and Joseph Wawzonek, Cumberland, R. I., assignors to Hemphill Company, Pawtucket, R. I., a corporation of Massachusetts Application August 21, 1952, Serial No. 305,582

3 Claims. (Cl. 66-138) This invention is concerned with circular, independent needle, knitting machines; and, in particular, with improvements in yarn feeding levers and yarn lever assemblies for use in such machines.

When several yarn feeds are employed in circular knitting machines, the different yarns are fed through individual yarn feeding levers usually mounted in-line at a yarn feeding position proximate the needle cylinder.

In this arrangement, there is a tendency for the yarn fed by one of the levers, as it is pulled sidewards by rotation of the needle cylinder, to be drawn across other levers in the line. This sometimes results in the yarn being caught between levers as they are lowered and raised into and out of yarn feeding position. To overcome this difliculty, it has been the custom in the prior art to build up the yarn feeding portion of yarn levers in multi-lever assemblies into a tube-like extension which will fend-off the yarn from neighboring levers and prevent such entanglements.

When a relatively large number of yarn levers, say nine or more, are confined in a narrow yarn feeding area, the levers must be very thin with a consequent reduction in the size of the yarn feeding passageway through them. This causes a problem with the above referred to tube-like extensions. The passage through which the yarn is fed becomes, of necessity, so small that great difficulty is experienced in threading the levers manually. It also becomes difficult, in the process of manufacturing the levers, to give the inside passage in the long, thin, tube-like members the high polish necessary to curtail yarn breakage.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a yarn feeding lever which will be of a thin, yet strong, construction, suitable for use in multi-lever yarn feeding assemblies, and having a yarn feeding passage which is easily polished and threaded.

This is accomplished by a yarn feeding lever having spaced apart yarn feeding eyelets and a yarn-fending guide, in a single unitary assembly. One such assembly is described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the yarn feeding lever, taken along the line 1-1 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a yarn lever assembly embodying the invention.

The yarn lever 1 of Fig. 1 comprises a shank portion 2 adapted to reciprocate upon a shaft 3, and a yarn feeding portion 4 with spaced apart members 5 and 6 containing yarn feeding eyelets 7 and 8. Members 5 and 6 are connected by cross members 9 and 10 and, in consequence, the yarn feeding portion 4 takes the shape of an open centered polygon with cooperating yarn feeding apertures or eyelets in substantially axial alignment across the open center, the alignment being adequate for free passage of yarn therethrough.

In the mode of operation demonstrated by the drawings, the lever 1 in both figures is in the down, or yarn feeding, position, while the lever 11 is in the up, nonfeeding position. The connecting member 9 prevents yarn fed through the eyelets of another lever, such as 11, from cutting across or in between the members 5 and 6 of lever 1 where it might be caught.

Because yarn feeding eyelets 7 and 8 are comparatively short as compared to the tube-like extensions of the prior art referred to above, and because of the open space between them which provides ample digital access, the lever of this invention can be very easily threaded manually. Also, the eyelets can be easily polished on the inside. Interior polishing of the long tubes of the prior art is next to impossible without the removal of more material than is available in thin levers.

The peculiar shape of the yarn feeding portion of the lever shown in the drawing assures that individual levers will remain in line, because the yarn feeding portion of one remains in contact with neighboring levers regardless of their relative positions. Thus, the end of one lever can not swing out of line suificiently to interfere with the operation of another.

The construction in the drawings shows the entire lever 1 with its shank 2 and members 5, 6, 9 and 10 which form the yarn feeding portion, all cast in a single piece, the yarn feeeding portion 4 being a quadrilateral with an open or hollow center. Other polygonal or open centerclosed perimeter shapes may be used or, for example, the member 10 may be eliminated. It is, however, a feature of the invention that the guide member 9, or its equivalent, be interposed between the members containing yarn feeding eyelets 7 and 8.

We claim:

1. For a circular, independent needle, knitting machine a yarn feeding lever having a shank portion and a yarn feeding portion, said yarn feeeding portion comprising a plurality of members joined to form the sides of an open-center polygon, two opposite side members of said polygon having axially aligned yarn feeding holes therethrough, said opposite members being spaced apart a sufiicient distance to permit independent manual threading of yarn through individual ones of said yarn feeeding holes.

2. For a circular, independent needle, knitting machine a yarn feeding lever which comprises an opencenter portion, and cooperating yarn feeding holes in said portion in substantial axial alignment across said open center, said open center being sufliciently large to permit digital access for the purpose of threading yarns through said holes.

3. In a circular, independent needle, knitting machine a yarn feeding assembly which includes a plurality of yarn feeding levers each of said levers having an open center, closed perimeter, portion with yarn feeding apertures in axial alignment across said open center, said open center being large enough to permit digital access to aid in threading yarn through said apertures.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,883,320 Aaronson Oct. 18, 1932 1,883,337 Collar Oct. 18, 1932 1,952,318 Holmes et al Mar. 27, 1934 2,096,667 Broadwell et al Oct. 19, 1937 2,122,845 Raulston et al. July 5, 1938 2,231,672 Lombardi Feb. 11, 1941 2,271,302 Moses Jan. 27, 1942 2,543,121 Mishcon et a1 2. Feb. 27, 1951

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