US3134250A - Articles of hose and methods and means for making them - Google Patents

Description

M y 26, 1964 c. F. MANGER ETAL 3,134,250

ARTICLES OF HOSE AND METHODS AND MEANS FOR MAKING THEM Filed Aug. 7, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 X x a y 6, 1964 c. F. MANGER ETAL 3,134,250

ARTICLES 0F HOSE AND METHODS AND MEANS FOR MAKING THEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 7, 1962 PIC-3.3

M y 26, 1954 c. F. MANGER ETAL 3,134,250

ARTICLES OF HOSE AND METHODS AND MEANS FOR MAKING THEM 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 HHHU 3% Filed Aug. 7, 1962 United States Patent 3,134,250 ARTICLES 01*" HGSE AND METHODS AND MEAN FOR MAKHJG THEM Charles Frederick Manger and William Arthur Jayes,

Leicester, England, assignors to The Bentley Engineering Company Limited Filed Aug. 7, 1962, er. No. 215,359

'7 Qlairns. (Cl. 56-472) This invention is for improvements in or relating to articles of hose and methods and means for making them and has for one of its objects to provide an anti-ravel welt having an improved appearance as compared with those previously produced.

In the normal manner of forming an anti-ravel welt such as is provided on mens and youths stockings and socks, and often known as a roll welt, the knitting of the welt is performed with the needles set up in rib and plain needle beds as for 1 x l rib fabric and. while all needles take the yarn at the first course of knitting those in one of the needle .beds merely hold it and are caused then to miss the yarn for several courses and afterwards to take the yarn and knit it in a later course at the conclusion of the welt. This results in long loops being formed in either the rib or the plain wales, depending on whether a normal welt or a reverse welt (for a turn down top) is being formed. The long loops stretch over a number of courses at which the yarn is floated across the wales containing them, and they tend to draw the courses of the welt together. When such a welt is subjected to widthwise stretch there is a marked tendency for holes or openings to appear at widthwise spaced intervals in the fabric namely in the wales of the long loops near the points at which such loops are knitted to a subsequent course. Such holes or openings tend to remain and give rise to unsightliness when the fabric again becomes relaxed. The invention seeks to provide a welt construction in which this disadvantage is largely or wholly avoided.

In accordance with the invention there is provided an article of hose having an anti-ravel welt formed by a group of successive courses of 1 x 1 rib fabric in which alternate wales (i.e. wales knitted by needles of the same needle bed) have held loops formed in the course at the outer edge of the welt and tuck loops formed in a more inward course knitted on to oppositely facing loops in a course at the inner edge of the welt. It is found that the combined effect of forming a tuck loop and knitting this along with the normal held loop on to a reversely knitted stitch at the inner edge of the welt a closer fabric results which avoids substantially or completely the tendency for holes or openings to develop in the region of the welt fabric. The tuck loops may be formed in the course immediately adjacent to that in which the held loops are formed or if desired at a course separated therefrom by one or more intervening courses.

Preferably in carrying out the invention the inner edge of the welt is formed by a course in which every loop is caused to face oppositely to the next loop in the same wale contained in the welt.

The improved welt may be formed on a circular knitting machine of the opposed co-axial needle cylinder type by a method in accordance with the invention which comprises the steps of knitting an initial welt course on needles set out as for knitting '1 x 1 rib fabric, knitting a plurality of subsequent courses in which the needle of one cylinder form normal knitted loops and the needles of the other cylinder whilst holding their initial loops form tuck loops in at least one course and miss the yarn in the remainder of such subsequent courses, then effecting a transference of needles in which those needles "ice 2 carrying tuck loops are all transferred to the opposite cylinder, and performing a course of normal knitting on all of the needles. Conveniently in carrying out the method the transference of needles consists of a reverse transfer in which the needles other than those carrying tuck loops are also transferred from one cylinder to the other. This causes the rib and plain Wales to be interchanged so that when a normal 1 x 1 rib top is then knitted the rib wales will continue from plain wales in the welt and the plain wales will continue from rib wales in the welt.

The improved welt construction may be formed on a circular knitting machine of the opposed co-axial needle cylinder type having independent needles and having mechanism for controlling the needles whereby an initial welt course may be formed in 1 x 1 rib fabric structure with loops knitted on the needles of one cylinder and held on the needles of the other cylinder, whereafter a plurality of courses are knitted with the first mentioned needles performing normal knitting and the second mentioned needles each forming at least one tuck loop and missing the yarn during the remainder of such courses,

and for then causing the last mentioned needles to be transferred to the opposite cylinder, and thereupon causing a normal course of knitting to be performed on all of the needles. Conveniently the mechanism is arranged to perform a reverse transfer before knitting the final course to complete the welt by transferring both sets of needles from their respective cylinder to the respective opposite cylinders. The said mechanism may comprise bolt or switch cams in cam boxes of the opposite cylinders to co-operate with knitting butts on the needle sliders for effecting tucking when required, additional butts on certain of the upper needle sliders and additional bolt lowering cams to co-operate with such additional butts to bring the sliders influenced by said lowering cams into a range of action for transfer of the needles, and means for operating such bolt cams at appropriate times. For a purpose mentioned later the additional butts which may be at a higher level than the normal transfer butts on the upper sliders are preferably arranged at two different levels to co-operate respectively with bolt lowering cams at corresponding levels.

To illustrate more particularly the improvements in accordance with the invention reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which,

FIGURE 1 shows the unrelaxed form of fabric structure of a normal welt as commonly provided on mens socks,

FIGURE 2 shows the unrelaxed fabric structure of the improved form ofwelt,

FIGURES 3 and 4 are respectively developed views of the bottom and top cam systems of an opposed cylinder knitting machine as viewed from inside the cam boxes to illustrate the formation of an improved normal welt, and,

FIGURES 5 and 6 are views corresponding to FIG- URES 3 and 4 respectively illustrating the formation of an improved reverse welt.

In the structure shown in FIGURE 1 the initial course of the welt is indicated at it? and comprises normal loops 11 in plain needle Wales 12 of a 1 x 1 rib structure and held loops form long loops 13 in the rib Wales 14. There are then knitted four courses 15 in each of which normal knitting occurs in the plain wales 12 whilst the rib needles miss the yarn leaving floats 1561. This is followed by a normal course of 1 x 1 rib knitting indicated at 16. When this fabric relaxes and is subjected to widthwise stretch holes or apertures are liable to appear and remain in the fabric inthe region of the wales 14 at the courses 16.

In contrast to the known construction of FIGURE 1,

the improved welt fabric of the invention commences as before with a course 17, FIGURE 2, as for 1 x 1 rib having normal plain loops 18 and held loops forming long loops 19 in the rib wales. Then follows a course 20 in which normal knitting occurs in the wales 12 and the rib needles are brought to tucking height and receive the yarn to form tuck loops 21. These remain on the needles with the held loops 19 Whilst three further courses of knitting indicated at 22 are performed, the yarn being missed by the rib-needles and forming floats 22a. At this stage a reverse transfer of the needles takes place in which needles previously in the rib cylinder are transferred to the plain cylinder and needles previously in the plain cylinder are transferred to the rib cylinder. A normal course of l x 1 rib knitting indicated at 23 is then formed to complete the welt with both sets of needles taking and knitting the yarn. A normal 1 x 1 rib top can then follow without any further transference of needles.

The welt structure of FIGURES 1 and 2 are normal welts as used for half hose without turn down tops. For what are known as reverse welts used in hose having turn down tops the needle action is, so to speak, inverted by causing the rib needles to knit normally while the action of the plain or bottom cylinder needles is modified to form the long held loops and in the present improvement the tuck loops and at other times to miss the yarn.

A welt structure as in FIGURE 2 is knitted on a circular knitting machine of the opposed co-axial needle cylinder type equipped with needle transfer mechanism and organised to perform continuous rotary knitting at some times and to and fro oscillatory knitting at others. In applying the invention to a rotary cylinder machine of this kind to adapt it to make either a normal Welt or a reverse welt at will, the top cylinder and bottom cylinder cam boxes are fitted respectively with a bolt cam moveable in and out and a swing cam pivotally moveable up and down for co-operation with the knitting butts on the top and bottom needles sliders so as to divert them when required to tucking height for drawing the tuck loops of the welt structure. The operation of these cams to introduce them into action need be critically timed, but their withdrawal from actuation needs to be timed accurately at the completion of a course and this can be arranged by actuating them through collapsible strut members or props and releasing the props by accurately timed cams on a shaft driven in suitable speed relation to the cylinders.

FIGURES 3 to 6 illustrate somewhat diagrammatically the modified arrangement of the bottom and top cam boxes of an opposed cylinder circular knitting machine having two knitting stations and equipped with bottom and top needle sliders indicated at BS and TS respectively in these figures. The machine is of the known type organised for transfer of needles in accordance with patterning requirements between the bottom and top cylinders, each needle on being transferred being passed from one to the other of its bottom sliders BS and top sliders TS. Each bottom slider BS has a knitting butt 24 and transfer butt 25. The sliders BS are set up in the bottom cylinder in known manner so that one group extending about half way round the cylinder is equipped with long knitting butts 24 and the sliders in the remaining group have short knitting butts. Further the sliders BS have transfer butts 25 of different heights and they are set up in the tricks also so that alternate transfer butts 25 are of medium height and the intervening butts are short ones. Similarly the top cylinder sliders TS have knitting butts 26 which are arranged in two groups of long and short butts respectively and transfer butts 27 of different heights normally set out in alternate short groups of different heights for use in making a selection for knitting a broad rib structure.

The bottom sliders are controlled by the cam system in FIGURE 3 which it will be noted comprises bolt cams 28, 29 and 34 and also a swing cam 31. The upper sliders TS have their movements controlled by the cam system shown in FIGURE 4 which it will be noted comprises bolt cams 32, 33 and 34, a stitch cam 35 and a cam 36 which moves sliders TS carrying needles to tucking height. In addition the top cam system comprises a bolt cam 37 and slide bolt cams 38 and 39. The latter co-operate with saw teeth butts 40 and 41 provided additionally on certain of the top sliders TS at their upper ends, butts 40 being provided on alternate ones of the top sliders TS which have short knitting butts 26, and butts 41 being provided on alternate ones of the top sliders TS which have long knitting butts 26.

The control of the needles in the making of an improved normal welt, for example for a mans sock, will now be explained, it being noted that the slider butts move in the direction from right to left along the cam tracks as seen in FIGURES 3 to 6. Assuming that a plain course has been knitted and the welt is about to commence, the 1 X 1 transfer for knitting of the welt is caused to occur by inserting bolt cams 29 and 30 to a midway position so that the sliders BS with longer knitting butts 24 will be picked up as a group by cam 29 and be raised thereby to bring the transfer butts 25 to the level of cam 30. Sliders BS having short butts 25 will miss cam 30 but the alternate ones having medium transfer butts will be raised by this cam and caused to transfer their needles to the upper cylinder. Whilst the group of sliders having long knitting butts 24 is being raised by cam 29 this cam is inserted to its fullest extent so as then to encounter and raise the sliders having short knitting butts 24 and cause alternate ones of them to be raised by engagement of their transfer butts 25 with cam 30 and complete the transfer of alternate needles to the top cylinder. During the knitting of the welt, bolt cam 28 is withdrawn and the bottom cylinder sliders BS have their knitting butts 24 moving along a track indicated by the dotted line 42. The top cylinder sliders TS meantime are caused to remain with their knitting butts 26 following the welt track indicated by the dotted line at 43, bolt cams 32 and 33 being withdrawn.

As the alternate needles are transferred to the top cylinder in the region of cam 30 they of course each carry a previously formed loop. At the commencement of their transfer bolt cam 34 is inserted causing the sliders TS to be deflected down the cam 36 to bring the needles now in alternate sliders to tucking height so that at the next knitting station each of the top cylinder needles will receive the yarn but not clear their previous loop and will then become diverted up the cam 35. Thus the course is formed containing the tuck loops 21 of FIG- URE 2 on needles in the top cylinder. As soon as this course is completed the bolt cam 34 is withdrawn so that the butts 26 of top slider-s TS continue along the track part 43b, instead of being lowered to the track part 43a. Knitting is continued for three courses after which it is required that a reverse transfer be made by transfer up of bottom cylinder needles and transfer down of top cylinder needles originally brought up by the initial 1 x 1 transfer.

To bring about the reverse transfer of needles bolt cam 30 is inserted fully and cam 29 which was withdrawn after the initial transfer is again partially inserted to encounter and divert upwardly long knitting butts 24 on sliders BS. At this time all the transfer butts 25 on the sliders having long knitting butts 24 will be raised and while the long butts 24 are riding up cam 29 the latter is fully inserted so as to deal similarly with all the short butts 24 on the second group of sliders BS. All the sliders BS are as a consequence raised to transfer height, those having needles being caused to transfer them to the top cylinder and those without needles being raised to receive their needles on transfer down from the top cylinder. Just before the reverse transfer all top cylinder sliders have their knitting butts 26 following track 43,

4312. To effect the transfer down of needles from the'top cylinder the bolt cam 33, FIGURE 4, is partially inserted during the passage of short butts 26 so that the long butts 26 will all ride down cam 33 and whilst they are doing so the cam is fully inserted to engage all short butts 26 subsequently. The top sliders TS are thus all brought down by cam 33 so that alternate sliders TS without needles are in position to receive upwardly transferred needles and the remaining sliders TS carrying needles lower them into position for transfer downwardly. For a short interval following upward transfer of needles in the region of cam 30, FIGURE 3, all needles will be in the top cylinder, and in order to transfer down the alternate needles originally transferred up, these needles must be selected to separate them from those which have just been transferred up. The transfer butts 2'7 of the top sliders TS being normally set out in abroad'rib pattern cannot be used for selection of alternate sliders and it is for this reason that the additional saw tooth butts 4th, 41, are provided on the top sliders TS.

As the bolt cam 33, FIGURE 4, is partially inserted the bolt cam slide 39 is fully inserted and has its top end just below the level of the transfer butts 27 of top sliders whereof the knitting butts are running in the welt track 43. When the sliders having long knitting butts 26 are lowered by cam 33 the alternate ones having the saw tooth butts 41 will be further lowered by engagement of the saw tooth butts with the bolt cam slide 39 causing the needles carried by said sliders to be transferred to the bottom cylinder. While the sliders having long knitting butts 26 are passing down cam 33 the latter is fully inserted and so also is the bolt cam slide 38. Thus the sliders having short knitting butts 26 are lowered by cam 33 and alternate ones have their saw tooth butts 40 brought into engagement with cam slide 38 by which the sliders are lowered to transfer the needles T bus the reverse transfer of the needles is completed and with the needles thus transferred knitting continues to form a l x 1 rib top.

The procedure in producing an improved reverse welt will now be explained with reference to FIGURES 5 and 6 of the drawings. It will be noted that in addition to cams previously mentioned FIGURE 5 shows bolt cams at 44 and 45 a raising cam 46 and a stitch cam 47. FIG- URE 6 shows additionally a bolt cam 48. At the commencenient of a reverse welt alternate needles are transferred to the top cylinder whilst the remainder stay in the bottom cylinder and the needle butts 26 of the top sliders are caused to follow the track indicated at 49 in FIGURE 6, the bolt cams 32 and 48 being withdrawn. The bottom cylinder sliders have their knitting butts 24 tracking in the reverse welt track indicated by a dotted line at in FIGURE 5, the bolt cams 44 and 45 being withdrawn. When the butts 24 of the bottom sliders BS reach the cam 46 they are raised momentarily so that those carrying needles cause their latches to open after which they are again raised to tucking height by the swivel cam 31 which has been propped in its raised position as shown in full lines. The bottom cylinder needles on alternate sliders BS will initially hold loops from the preceding course and on reaching the cam 31 they are raised to tucking height to take the yarn so that they will then hold at tucking height, being then lowered by engagement of the stitch cam 47 with the knitting butts 24. After all the needles in the bottom cylinder have tucked once at the swivel cam 31 the prop of the cam is removed so that it falls to the dotted line position and three further courses are knitted on needles in the top cylinder whilst the needles in the bottom cylinder miss the yarn by passing at all times at too low a level to receive yarn, including the low track portion 50a shown on the left of FIGURE 5. At the end of the three courses just referred to a reverse transfer of needles is caused to occur.

The reverse transfer takes place in the following manner. On completion of the last three courses of the welt the bolt cams 2.9 and 30 are inserted fully and the bolt cam 44 is inserted partially whilst the long knitting butts 24 are on their way towards it. All long knitting butts 24 will then ride up cam 44 and pass along a raised cam track 51, the cam 44 being meanwhile inserted fully so that all short knitting butts 24 will follow the long butts along the raised track causing all bottom sliders BS to be raised. All butts 24 are then raised further by bolt cam 29 causing all transfer butts 25 to be raised by'cam 39 thereby transferring needles on alternate bottom sliders BS to the top cylinder.

The knitting butts 26 of the top sliders TS will at this time be following track 49, FIGURE 6, and whilst the short knitting butts are passing the transfer region bolt cam slide 39 is inserted. As alternate sliders with short knitting butts have saw tooth butts 40 at the higher level these butts will pass above the cam slide 39. When the sliders having long knitting butts 26 reach the cam slide 39 the saw tooth butts 41 on alternate ones of these sliders will engage the cam slide 39 and be lowered so as to lower the respective sliders and cause their transfer butts 27 to engage bolt cam 37 which will have been fully inserted. Bolt cam 37 will move the sliders downwardly and transfer the needles on alternate sliders (which were moved up by the initial '1 x 1 transfer) down to the bottom cylinder. Meantime bolt cam slide 38 is inserted so that when the sliders having short knitting butts 26 reach it the saw tooth butts 40 on alternate ones of these sliders will move down cam slide 38 and cause their sliders to be lowered still further by engagement of their transfer butts 2'7 with cam 37. This will cause the down transfer of needles on the alternate top sliders having short knitting butts 2d thereby completing the reverse transfer operation.

The purpose for which the additional saw tooth butts 40 and 41 are provided at different levels on the top sliders TS is to ensure accuracy in the transfer of needles downwardly from the top cylinder commencing at a specific needle, it being found most convenient (particularly with a machine equipped for knitting both a reverse and a normal welt) to provide that the saw tooth butts at one level are first engaged and moved down by one slide cam whilst the others can pass the slide cam during its inward movement, the second slide cambeing caused to move into position to engage the other set of tooth butts whilst the sliders carrying the first set of saw tooth butts are being lowered.

What I claim is:

1. In an article of hose, an anti-ravel welt formed by a group of successive courses of l x 1 rib fabric in which alternate wales knitted by needles of the same needle bed have held loops formed in the course at the outer edge of the welt and tuck loops formed in a more inward course of said group of courses, said held loops and tuck loop being knitted on to oppositely facing loops of a course at the inner edge of the welt.

2. In an article of hose, an anti-ravel welt according to claim 1 wherein the tuck loops are formed in the course immediately adjacent to that in which the held loops are formed.

3. In an article of hose, an anti-ravel welt formed by a group of successive courses of l x l rib fabric in which the wales of one alternate set each have held loops formed in the course at the outer edge of the welt and tuck loops formed in a more inward course of the welt formed by a course of knitting in which the welt and tuck loops are knitted and the loops in intervening wales are also knitted and in which every loop is caused to face oppositely to the next outward loop in the same Wale.

4. In an article of hose, an anti-ravel welt formed of a group of successive courses of 1 X 1 rib fabric in which alternate wales having loops facing in the same direction have held loops formed in the course at the outer edge of the welt and extending over more than two subsequent courses of said successive courses and also a tuck loop formed in one of the courses over which the held loops extend and floats formed in the remainder of said successive courses, and having the said held loops and tuck loopsknitted on to oppositely facing loops in a course at the inner edge of the welt.

5. The method of knitting an anti-ravel welt on a circular knitting machine of the opposed co-axial needle cylinder type, comprising the steps of knitting an initial welt course on needles set out as for knitting 1 x 1 rib fabric, knitting a plurality of subsequent courses in which the needles of one cylinder form normal knitted loops and the needles of the other cylinder whilst holding their initial loops form tuck loops in at least one course and miss the yarn in the remainder of such subsequent courses, then effecting a transference of needles in which those needles carrying tuck loops are all transferred to the opposite cylinder, and performing courses of normal knitting on all of the needles.

6. A method according to claim 5 wherein the transference of needles consists of a reverse transfer in which the needles other than those carrying tuck loops are also transferred from one cylinder to the other.

7. A method according to claim 5 wherein the tuck loops are formed in the course next following the initial welt course.

No references cited.

Claims (1)

1. IN AN ARTICLE OF HOSE, AN ANTI-RAVEL WELT FORMED BY A GROUP OF SUCCESSIVE COURSES OF 1 X 1 RIB FABRIC IN WHICH ALTERNATE WALES KNITTED BY NEEDLES OF THE SAME NEEDLE BED HAVE HELD LOOPS FORMED IN THE COURSE AT THE OUTER EDGE OF THE WELT AND TRUCK LOOPS FORMED IN A MORE INWARD COURSE OF SAID GROUP OF COURSES, SAID HELD LOOPS AND TUCK LOOP BEING KNITTED ON TO OPPOSITELY FACING LOOPS OF A COURSE AT THE INNER EDGE OF THE WELT.

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