US2762212A

US2762212A - Machine for making striped loop cloth

Info

Publication number: US2762212A
Application number: US254224A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert S Steinberg
Original assignee: MANUEL W STEINBERG
Current assignee: MANUEL W STEINBERG
Priority date: 1951-11-01
Filing date: 1951-11-01
Publication date: 1956-09-11
Anticipated expiration: 1973-09-11

Description

p 11, 1956 R. s. STEINBERG MACHINE FOR MAKING STRIPED LOOP CLOTH 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 1, 1951 xom 9.53m 55 xuom E xuum 2 Ezfezaz 6 E5 5 k 2 6 Sept- 1956 R. s. STEINBERG 2,762,212

MACHINE FOR MAKING STRIPED LOOP CLOTH Filed NOV. 1, 1951 3 Sheeis-Sheet 2 BAG/f YARN RED /0 BROWN fifPOW/V BACK J/Df 0F C107 /5 Jf/TJf) 5777271 Au 0; JAM: 6010/? INVENTOR. fiOaE/PT 0. Srf/mszlm ATTOR/VIfYJ' p 1, 1956 R. s. STEINBERG 2,762,212

MACHINE FOR MAKING STRIPED LOOP- CLOTH Filed NOV. 1, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Rising Cam Mom FIG. 3.

Wing Corn Mechanism For Periodically Changing Color Of Stripes According To PoHem smch Com INVENTOR ROBERT S. STEINBERG ATTORNEYS 2,762,212 7 MACHINE FOR MAKING STRIPED LooP CLOTH Robert S. Steinberg, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor of thirtythree and one-third per cent to Manuel W. Steinberg and thirty-three and one-third per cent to Samuel Steinberg, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application November '1, 1951, Serial No. 254,224

11 Claims. (Cl. 66-93) This invention relates to a variable striped loop cloth as an article of manufacture, and to a machine for making that article.

The invention has as one object the provision of a new distinctive article of manufacture.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and distinctive cloth.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a machine for making variable striped loop cloth.

It is well known in the art that a distinctive cloth known as loop cloth can be readily manufactured. This cloth utilizes, as a base, a cloth having the conventional jersey stitch. The pile or loop cloth includes a series of loops which are held in place by the jersey stitches. In several prior patents such as U. S. Patent 741,113 to R. I. Creelman, granted October 13, 1903, entitled Knitting Machine, it has been proposed to make a striped loop cloth by making the loops (pile) of one color and the jersey stitches of another color and then periodically omitting the loops altogether. Hence, with that arrangement only two colors would be possible, and over the span of the second color there would be no loops.

Another method of making striped loop cloth has contemplated the utilization of a fixed feed kniting machine to which is fed loop yarn of different colors. In such'an arrangement, however, the dimensions of the individual stripes are ultimately determined by the number of feeds -.on carriers on the machine, as will be described. The present invention overcomes these difficulties by providving for numerous colors found in stripes, the dimensions of which are not dependent upon the number of feeds, .and for the entire upper surface of the cloth to be charac- .terized by distinctive loops.

In contrast to the striped loop cloths discussed above, the present invention contemplates the formation of a variable striped loop cloth. When a striped cloth is .being manufactured, one of the basic pattern considerations is the repeat of the pattern. Repeat may be broadly defined as the total number of coursesin a color combination. For instance, if the pattern contemplate a .10 course stripe of navy, a 15 course stripe of white, and :a 7 course stripe of red, the repeat is 32 courses. Thus, :the same striping pattern of navy-white-red would be repeated every 32 courses.

In the multi-feed, or fixed feed, knitting machine, the repeat of the color combination is limited by, and cannot exceed, the number of feeds in the machine. Therefore, if such a machine is used in the manufacture of a striped loop cloth, the maximum repeat is equal to the number of feeds. Naturally, a smaller repeat canbe obtained by feeding the same sequences of colors to integral sub-multiples of the total carriers. That is, if a 96 carrier machine is employed, 3 repeats of 32 courses, or 4 repeats of 24 courses, etc., may be obtained. However, the maximum repeat is 96 courses. So, if a red stripe of x courses is desired, and navy and white stripes are also desired, the total courses of navy and white cannot exceed 96x in a 96 carrier machine. This may be seen by 2,752,212 Patented Sept. 11, 1956 referring to a table of possible striping sequences in which the maximum repeat is desired:

REPEAT OF 96 CARRIER MACHINE In accordance with the present invention, however, no such limitation is present, other than the practical limitation of what the variable striped cloth is to be eventually used for. That is, the present invention permits the manufacture of a multi-colored loop cloth, each color of which covers, for instance, 1,600 courses. However, a tri-colored loop cloth having a repeat of 4,800 courses might well have limited utility in the manufacture of end products. Nevertheless such a loop cloth can be manufactured by this invention if desired, while such manufacture could not be effected by prior art structures. Some possible variable striping sequences, in accordance with this invention, are shown in the following table:

REPEAT OF VARIABLE STRIPING MACHINE Thus a variable striped loop cloth may be obtained, in which the number of courses in each stripe is not limited by any given total, and in which the total number of courses in the repeat is variable. It is to be understood, of course, that more than three colors of-stn'pe may be incorporated in the cloths being manufactured.

According to the present invention, a variable striped loop cloth may be made on the highly efiicient and rapid circular knitting machine, either of the type wherein the cylinder with needles rotates or in that type in which the cylinder with needles is stationary. In the following'description the invention is shown as applied to a machine of the former type, i. e. one in which the cylinder and needles rotates. Inasmuch, however, as there is-always relative motion between the needles and the several cams, for instance, to be described, it must be understood that the several motions hereinafter described in the specification and claims must be interpreted as relative motion in practicing the invention with a stationary cylinder type machine. The present invention further contemplates the use of a plurality of striping boxes in combination with such knitting machines, these striping boxes being utilized to shift the color of the loop thread, from time to time, according to a predetermined and desired cloth pattern.

In the alternative striping boxes for both the loop thread and the back thread are provided so that the color of both the loop stitches and the jersey stitches may be changed simultaneously or in a predetermined relationship. The adaptation of the striping box to the making of striped loop cloth is not as straightforward as may 9&- hand be perceived, since more threads are involved than are normally used. The invention contemplates feeding the yarn in such a way that the machine operates without confusing the several pieces of yarn.

In the drawings:

lFigure 1. is a'schematic view of one form of the invenwhich normally would be invisible are shown in order that their proper positionrelative to the sinkers may be seen.

Figure 4 illustrates a' pi'eceof cloth contemplated here- Figure 5 is a front view of, and Figure 6 is a side view of, a striping box suitable for use with another form of the invention. The following description applies particularly to a circular knitting machine with a rotating needle cylinder. It is to be understood that, if a machine having a stationary cylinder is used, all parts hereafter described as stationary would rotate to the right, and those parts described as moving to the left would not rotate. In effect, therefore, all motion in the following description is contemplated to be relative motion. I In Figure 1 there are a series of needles 10 having butts 11, these needles being mounted in and rotated by a rotary cylinder 12 by a motor 40 (see Fig. 3) in the well known Way. As the butts move to the left they strike the rising cam 13; the needles are raised to a latch clearing positionjfare then lowered to a tuck position by cam 13 and wing cam 25, and remain in this tuck position untilbeing further lowered by the stitch cam 14, in conventional manner. Interposed between the needles 10 are sinkers 15 which are also. conventional. When the sinkers are fed with yarn under nose of the sinker 15, the needles will form the yarn into standard jersey stitches, and when, in addition, the sinkers are fed with yarn above the nose 20 of the sinker 15 loop cloth will be formed in the well 4 V would be adjusted so that the carrier for red yarn would be active until a given needle had passed five striping boxes, and then the striping boxes would be shifted to their brown thread carriers which would remain active until the given needle had passed twenty-five striping boxes, and then the striping boxes would be shifted to white during one revolution of the machine. Apparatus for effecting shifting of striping boxes as aforesaid is well known'and is thereforeillustrated as the block 19.ofl

Figure 3.

Referring to Figure 3 it is apparent that -the back yarn feed 17 is arranged to feed the'yarnin the space between r the needles 10and the noses 20 of the sinkers. The

under the nose 20 of the sinker 15 and forms the jersey 7 'sti-tches, or in other words the base or back of the loop cloth. A striping box 18 feeds the yarn which will constitute-the loops of the loop cloth. Striping box 18 is displaced from feed 17 in the direction of needle travel by a suitable distance as will hereinafter appear. The striping box 18' may be of any suitable conventional design, for example of the type shown in U; S. patent'to Samuel Mis'hcon, et al., No. 2,549,701, granted April 17, 1951, entitled Apparatus for Knitting Striped Fabric, or as shown in U. S. patent to Samuel Mishcon et al., No. 2,543,121, granted February 27, 1951, entitled Knitting Machine. The later one of those two patents shows suitable means for cutting the old yarn, after a shift to a new color has been made, and I contemplate such a cutting apparatus.

' It is further understood that in a circular knitting machine that a number of knitting units are disposed about the cylinder 12 so that for each revolution of the cylinder 12 a large number of threads are added to the cloth. Therefore, in connection with Figures-1 and 3 it is understood that there will be a large number, such as sixteen or thirty-two, knitting units disposed around the multiunit machine, all units being identical with the typical unit shown in Figures 1 and 3, and this consideration has been designated by the legend appearing in Figure 1.

Any conventional means may be provided for shifting the component parts of the several striping boxes 18 from one color to another. For example, assume that the machine has sixteen loop yarn stripingboxes'such as 18, and it is desired to make a thin red stripe five courses wide, a brown stripe twenty-five courses wide, and then a white stripe sixteen courses wide, etc. The machine numerous sinkers do not have a true circular motion but are moved forwardly and rearwardly relative to the needles by the V indent of the sinker cam 21. When the back yarnis to be fed into the machine the sinker noses are rapidly drawn behind the row ofneedles by the down slope portion of the V indent of sinker cam 21 as shown in Figure 3. Immediately preceding this, the needles 10 are lowered to tuck positionfrom latch clearing position by means of the wing cam 25 on the rising cam 13. At approximately this time the loop yarn is fed just above the sinker nose as shown in Figure 2, so.

the jersey back stick and interlocking the loop yarn held on the nose of the sinker with the jersey back stitch. The needle butts then strike the rising cam of the next stage and are raised to the latch clearing position, and the entire sequence is repeated. 7 a

The. yarn cutting element 26, positioned as shown in Figure 3 is a part of the combination claimed in certain of the appended claims, although this cutter isitself old as it is fully disclosed in said U. S. Patent No. 2,549,701. In Figure 4, there is shown a sample of the variable striped cloth produced by the machines of'Figures 1 to 3 inclusive. The back side of the cloth isof a single color whereas the front'side has stripes of predetermined varying widths and colors. The front side has the loops customarily found in loop cloth over its entire surface,

the color varying as determined by the presetting'of the machine.

When it is desirable to feed both the back andloop yarn through a single striping box the striping box of Figures 5 and 6 may be used. Here, the yarn carriers 30 and 31 are somewhat longer and when active extend from the striping box at a greater angle than

yarn carriers

32 and 33. Hence, the yarn carriers 30 or 31 when active are in proper position to feed the back yarn under the noses of the sinkers whereas the remaining yarn carriers are, when active, in proper position to feed the yarn above the sinker nose. 1 1

The striping box of Figures 5 and6 is so arranged that the back yarn is fed to one of the yarn carriers 30 or 31. This back yarn finger is maintained independent of the shifting mechanism 19, while the remaining fingers are controlled by the said mechanism 19 to periodically shift the colors of the loop yarn. Thus a single striping box associated with each unit of the machine may be utilized to feed both back and loop yarn to that such as 17 rather than the single colored back yarns dis cussed previously. The yarn carriers of each of the striping boxes are interconnected, preferably by synchronization of the respective shifting mechanisms 19, so that the variable loop stripes have corresponding variable back cloth stripes. The resulting cloth has Stripes which present truer color than has previously been possible inasmuch as, when a monochromatic back cloth is used, the stripes in the loop cloth are somewhat altered when backed by a different color. The invention also recognizes that this color alteration phenomenon may be put to good advantage by so synchronizing the said respective mechanisms 19 that the color shifts in the loop and back cloth do not occur simultaneously. It is thus possible to have, for example, two or more different shades of a color such as red although utilizing the same color loop yarn, by backing respective stripes with back yarn of colors red, navy, white, etc.

Although the invention as described has been primarily concerned with the manufacture of a variable striped loop cloth, it is readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the principles thereof may be readily employed in the manufacture of other types of cloth having variable stripes, for instance Terry cloth, elasticized cloths, etc. Having thus described my invention, I claim to have invented:

1. In a machine for making loop cloth with variable color stripes, a striping box having a plurality of yarn carriers for sequentially feeding yarns of different colors, a plurality of sinkers having noses, a needle between each pair of adjacent sinkers, cylinder means for rotating said sinkers in substantially circular paths, guiding means for moving the sinkers radially inward and radially outward with respect to said circular paths at predetermined locations thereof, said striping box having means for lowering its carriers selectively to position the yarns carried thereby above the sinker noses whereby said yarns of diiferent colors are sequentially fed above said sinker noses, each of said needles having a hook facing radially outward, a wing cam for lowering the needles substantially simultaneously with the said sinkers nearing their outermost radial position, and means for feeding back yarns between the needles and the sinkers after the needles have been lowered, the said back yarn being fed under the noses of the said sinkers.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which the last-named means is a striping box for shifting the yarn to different colors.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which both striping boxes are so adjusted that the stripes on top of the cloth correspond to those on the back.

4. In a machine for making loop cloth with color stripes, a plurality of sinkers having noses, needles between the sinkers, a yarn feed mechanism for feeding back yarn under the noses of said sinkers, a striping box for feeding loop yarns of different colors above said noses, and means for moving said box and mechanism relative to said sinkers and needles.

5. In a circular knitting machine, a plurality of sinkers having noses, first means feeding back yarn below the noses of said sinkers, and second means including a striping box selectively feeding difierently colored loop yarns above the noses of said sinkers.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 in which said first means includes a further striping box, first control means coupled to said first means to determine the sequence of colors of a plurality of back yarns being fed under said sinker noses and second control means coupled to said second means to determine the color of loop yarn fed above said sinker noses.

7. In a machine for making loop cloth with variable color stripes, a substantially cylindrical carrier having a plurality of sinkers with noses and a plurality of needles movably mounted on a circular end thereof, a single needle being interposed between each pair of adjacent sinkers about said cylindrical carrier, a plurality of cams disposed adjacent said sinkers and needles, means effecting relative circular motion between said carrier and said cams whereby said cams cause said sinkers to move periodically inward and outward with respect to the central axis of said carrier and cause said needles to move periodically upward and downward substantially parallel to the central axis of said carrier, a yarn feed mechanism for feeding back yarn under the noses of said sinkers when said needles are in a lowered position and said sinkers are in an outward position with respect to the central axis of said cylindrical carrier, and a striping box mechanism for selectively feeding loop yarns of different colors above the noses of said sinkers when said needles are in a lowered position and said sinkers are in an inward position with respect to the central axis of said cylindrical carrier.

8. The mechanism of claim 7 in which said cams are stationary, said cylindrical carrier being rotated about its central axis by said means effecting relative circular motion.

9. The mechanism of claim 7 in which said yarn feed mechanism comprises a further striping box selectively feeding back yarns of difierent colors under the noses of said sinkers.

10. The mechanism of claim 7 in which said cams are so disposed with respect to said cylindrical carrier that said sinkers are moved inward and outward and said needles are moved upward and downward at a predetermined plurality of locations about said circular carrier, there being a yarn feed mechanism for feeding back yarn and a striping box mechanism for feeding loop yarns at each of said plurality of locations.

11. The mechanism of claim 10 in which said cams are stationary, said cylindrical carrier being rotated about its central axis by said means effecting relative circular motion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 365,728 Carroll June 28, 1887 694,515 Young Mar. 4, 1902 1,749,245 Firsching Mar. 4, 1930 2,098,446 Agulnek Nov. 9, 1937 2,112,260 Agulnek Mar. 29, 1938 2,192,969 Frank Mar. 12, 1940 2,220,428 Shager Nov. 5, 1940 2,289,052 Seligman July 7, 1942 2,466,885 Floyd Apr. 12, 1949 2,543,121 Mishcon et a1 Feb. 27, 1951