US3641787A

US3641787A - Patterning devices for circular knitting machines

Info

Publication number: US3641787A
Application number: US867276A
Authority: US
Inventors: Philip Amos Robottom
Original assignee: STIBBE MACHINERY Ltd
Current assignee: STIBBE MACHINERY Ltd
Priority date: 1968-10-23
Filing date: 1969-10-17
Publication date: 1972-02-15
Anticipated expiration: 1989-02-15
Also published as: FR2021401A1; CH504563A; DE1953180A1; GB1216588A

Abstract

A multifeed circular knitting machine having needles and needleactuating jacks. Jacks have operating butts acted upon by raising cams. Besides being movable heightwise by these cams, jacks are radially movable to enable their operating butts to be moved into and out of range of said cams. Patterning butts associated with jacks are selectively pressed in by selecting units- one per feed. Each unit comprises a bracket secured in position, and a selector plate which is attached to bracket and provided with prongs spaced apart in predetermined positions heightwise for action upon and to press in patterning butts in corresponding planes.

Description

United States Patent Robottom 1 Feb. 15,1972

[54] PATTERNING DEVICES FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES [72] Inventor: Philip Amos Robottom, Syston, England [73] Assignee: Stibbe Machinery Limited, Leicester, En-

gland [22] Filed: Oct. 17, 1969 [21] Appl. No; 867,276

{30] Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 23, 1968 Great Britain ..50,307/68 [52] US. Cl. ..66/50 R [51] Int. Cl. ..D04b 15/68 [58] Field of Search ..66/50, 50 B, 25, 36 A, 36 B,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,866,945 7/1932 Lombardi ..66/42 2,007,573 7/1935 Kurdy et al ...66/50 B 1,678,906 7/ l 928 Howie ..66/50 3,004,413 10/1961 Felker ..66/50 B Primary ExaminerWilliam Carter Reynolds A ttorney-Larson and Taylor ABSTRACT A multifeed circular knitting machine having needles and needle-actuating jacks. Jacks have operating butts acted upon by raising cams. Besides being movable heightwise by these cams, jacks are radially movable to enable their operating butts to be moved into and out of range of said cams. Patteming butts associated with jacks are selectively pressed in by selecting unitsone per feed. Each unit comprises a bracket secured in position, and a selector plate which is attached to bracket and provided with prongs spaced apart in predetermined positions heightwise for action upon and to press in patterning butts in 7 corresponding planes.

7 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEDFEB15 1972 3.641.787

SHEET 1 [IF 3 PATTERNING DEVICES FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES This invention relates to patterning devices for multifeed circular knitting machines, and has reference particularly to such devices of the class adapted to initiate selective actuation of stitch forming or other appropriate elements of the machine requiring to be controlled or influenced for producing patterning effects in tubular knitted fabric.

Although there is no limitation in this respect, the elements of the machine to be controlled or influenced by the patteming devices of this invention will usually be either independent slidable needles, or associated jacks or sliders. Thus, when the elements concerned are needles in a cylinder, the purpose of the said patterning devices is to determine the manner in which predetermined needles operate at relevant stations at desired times, e.g., as to whether such needles clear and knit, miss or tuck, and so on, according to patterning requirements.

Again, although the invention is primarily applicable to a multifeed circular knitting machine of the rotary needle cylinder type with a relatively stationary cam box, it would be possible to apply it to a rotary cam box type of machine with a stationary cylinder.

The invention, moreover, is applicable to a patterning system of the kind including, in combination, (a) needle-actuating jacks movably mounted in tricks or grooves in a cylinder, said jacks having operating butts and, in addition to being selectively movable heightwise and controlled or influenced by cams or camming acting on the operating butts for producing patterning effects, being also capable of movement radially within their tricks or grooves with respect to the axis of the cylinder so as to initiate the selective actuation by virtue of the operating butts being caused some to miss and others to be acted upon by the said cams or camming, (b) a patterning butt associated with each of the needle-actuating jacks and (c) patterning devices, one per feed, having formations for action selectively on the patterning butts suchwise as to press in selected patterning butts and thus effect, directly or indirectly, appropriate radial movements of the corresponding needleactuating jacks.

Patterning devices of this invention are principally applicable without any limitations in this respect, to a particular form of such a system wherein suitably fulcrummed needle-actuating jacks are disposed immediately beneath the needles, and presser jacks (fixed as regards any movement heightwise) are provided for effecting outward radial movements of the actuating jacks, said presser jacks being furnished with the patterning butts and arranged in the same tricks or grooves as the corresponding needles and needle-actuating jacks.

The patterning butts in a patterning system of the kind herein referred to are usually disposed around the needle cylinder in a diagonal (echelon) sequence or in a V-formation.

In all cases, of course, the patterning butts protrude from the needle cylinder prior to being selectively acted upon by a patterning device in advance of any one feed.

One prior form of patterning device of the class concerned, comprises, in combination, a bracket, a stack of individually movable and spring loaded selector slides or levers mounted on the bracket, there being one such slide or lever for each of a multiplicity of butt planes, and the said slides or levers having operative ends or noses for influencing patterning butts, and, also supported by the same bracket, a corresponding stack of rocking levers or the like. Such devices, when applied to a multifeed circular knitting machine of the rotary needle cylinder type, are fixed relatively to the needle cylinder, in advance of the feeds and the respective stacks of rocking levers or the like are interposed between the corresponding stacks of selector slides or levers and intermittently rotatable peg drums or equivalent programming means, the operative ends or noses of the said slides or levers being arranged for selective action directly upon the patterning butts.

But in a multifeed circular knitting machine of the rotary cam box type, only one patterning device of the form described in the last preceding paragraph is provided-at a stationary location-and the operative ends or noses of the slides or levers in this case act successively under elements of subsidiary selector units, one per feed, arranged to rotate together with the cam box. Thus, these subsidiary selector units transmit the variable selective movements of the slides or levers of the single stack to the patterning butts protruding from the stationary needle cylinder through the medium of intermediate elements of the said units. For instance, each such subsidiary selector unit may comprise a stack of elliptical cams provided with star-wheels arranged to be acted upon and tapped round by operative ends or noses of the aforesaid slides or levers and a corresponding stack of spring loaded pressers for action selectively upon the patterning butts.

Accordingly, such prior forms of patterning devices of the class referred to, are capable of producing practically infinite variations of true jacquard patterning of a wide range of widths and depths. On the other hand, such devices are complicated in structure in so far as they comprise many moving and interrelated parts, and their successful operation thus tends to impose limitations of the running speed of the machine.

The object of the present invention is to provide, in a multifeed circular knitting machine, a very simple, relatively inexpensive and efficient form of pattern selector unit having no movable parts.

Accordingly, the aim is to provide in such a machine a simply fitted and yet readily interchangeable patterning device which, although incapable of any variation while the machine is running, is nevertheless adapted to produce small pattern areas at increased speeds.

A pattern selector unit according to this invention consists of a bracket which is secured in position on an appropriate part of the machine and has attached thereto a component provided with rigid teeth or prongs spaced apart in predetermined positions heightwise so as to be capable of acting directly upon depressible patterning butts in corresponding butt planes.

The idea is that with the pattern selector unit set in position, in advance of a feed, the presented teeth or prongs will be disposed in desired butt planes so that as a consequence of relative rotary motion between the unit and the cylinder all relevant patterning butts in those planes will be pressed into the cylinder by the teeth or prongs.

There will naturally be in any machine to which these units are applied provision, in advance of each selecting point, for returning the patterning butts to their projected positions, in readiness for reselection.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried into practical efiect, a specific constructional example thereof as applied to a multifeed circular knitting machine of the rotary needle cylinder type will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein,

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of so much of the machine as is necessary to illustrate the application thereto of a pattern selector unit, a tooth or prong of the unit being shown acting directly upon a patterning butt of a presser jack to select a needle,

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing the presser jack in its ready for selection" position,

FIG. 3 is a part sectional view of the pattern selector unit taken on the line III-Ill of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a detail side view of a toothed or pronged selector plate attachable to the bracket of a pattern selector unit,

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate two alternative setouts of the patterning butts on the presser jacks,

FIG. 7 is a plan view of two of the pattern selector units,

FIG. 8 is a developed layout, as seen from the inside of the stationary cam box, of the needle and needle-actuating jack butt cam tracks at two feeds of the machine, and

FIG. 9 is a view showing the position of a pattern selector unit in relation to the corresponding needle-actuating jack liftmg cam.

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 together show the relative positions of pattern selector units with respect both to the rotary cylinder and to the needle and needle-actuating jack camming of the machine.

Like parts are designated by similar reference characters throughout the drawings.

In each of FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotary needle cylinder of the machine is indicated by the numeral 10, whereas the stationary cam box within which it revolves anticlockwise (as viewed in plan) is designated 11. The cylinder 10 has formed therein tricks or grooves 12 in the upper portions of which are located individually operable latch needles 13. Immediately beneath each such needle, in the same trick or groove 12, is a needleactuating jack 14. Each jack 14 is so fulcrummed at Ma at its upper end as to enable its lower end to be swung inwardly, i.e., towards the axis of the cylinder 10, and outwardly in radial directions. Whenever any of the needle-actuating jacks 14 is so swung outwardly, in a manner presently to be described, an operating butt 14b thereon will be projected into a jackcamming track JT and raised to a desired height by means of a lifting cam 15. As shown in FIG. 8, the lifting cam 15 at each feed has in association therewith a vertically adjustable slidable cam piece 16. If this cam piece is lowered to its dotted, i.e., inoperative, position, then the action of the main part of the lifting cam 15 upon an operating butt 14b will simply raise the relevant needle-actuating jack l4, and hence also the corresponding needle 13, to tucking position. But if, on the other hand, the cam piece 16 is raised to its full-line operative position, to complement the main part of the lifting cam 15, then desired jacks l4 and corresponding needles 13 will be fully raised to clearing height so that the said needles will knit at the feed by virtue of their actuating butts 13a being acted upon and lowered by the relevant stitch cam 17. The jack-camming track JT in the lower portion of the can box is defined by the lifting cams 15, their associated slidable cam pieces 16 and guard cams 18, on the one hand, and by jack-lowering cams 19 and adjoining cam portions 20, on the other hand.

The jack-camming track .lT, combined with the needle-actuating jack selecting means presently to be described, accordingly permits of individual selection of all of the needles 13 in the machine whenever this is required.

But if, at other times, it is desired to operate all the needles in the same manner at any one feed, this manner being either the same at every feed, or varying as between one feed and another, according to knitting requirements, then use of the needle-actuating jacks l4 and the means for selectively operating the same, may be temporarily suspended, and the raising movements of the needles effected solely by adjustable clearing cams 21 incorporated in a needle butt track NT in the upper portion of the cam box 11. As will be appreciated from a consideration of FIG. 8, whenever the clearing cam 21 at any feed is in its fully raised position (as shown in full lines) it acts on the needle-actuating butts 13a to raise the needles at that feed to clearing height so that the needles knit. When, however, the cam 21 is turned down into a horizontal inoperative position the needles miss, whereas when the said cam is raised to an intermediate position the needles will be raised to tucking height.

The needle butt track NT is, therefore, defined by the clearing cams 21 and guard cams 23, on the one hand, and by the stitch cams 17 and adjoining guard cams 22, on the other hand.

The hereinbefore mentioned means for selectively operating the needle-actuating jacks 14 include fulcrummed presser jacks 24 which are fixed as regards any movement heightwise. There is one presser jack 24 below each needle-actuating jack 14, the two being arranged in the same trick or groove 12 along with the corresponding needle 13 which is disposed above them both. Each presser jack 24 is pivoted at 25, and has an upwardly directed and comparatively short limb 24a disposed for action upon a depending tail 14c of the corresponding needle-actuating jack 14, and a downwardly directed longer limb 24b furnished, in an appropriate plane,

with a single-patteming butt 244:. The arrangement is such that whenever the longer limb of a presser jack 24 is pressed back into its trick or groove 12, by virtue of inward pressure upon its single patterning butt 240, the depending tail of the corresponding needle-actuating jack 14 will be swung outwardly: as a consequence the operating butt 14b on such needle-actuating jack will be projected into the jack camming track JT. In this way, the selected needle-actuating jack and hence also the associated needle 13 are raised by the jack camming. Conversely, and after this selective action at a feed has taken place, a cam 26 in advance of the jack selecting point at the next feed acts on the front edge of the tail of the needle-actuating jack and pushes the latter inwardly to withdraw its operating butt 14b from the jack camming. The result of this is also to press the upper limb 24a of the corresponding presser jack 24 inwards thereby returning the lower limb 24b thereof into its original position in readiness for reselection all as clearly shown in FIG. 2.

In the illustrated example, the patterning butts 24c are set out around the cylinder 10 either in echelon formation (see FIG. 5) or in a V-formation (FIG. 6). In an echelon sequence, the stem of each presser jack 24 is furnished with only one patterning butt, these butts being relatively offset in a multiplicity of spaced planes one above another to fonn inclined parallel lines L of butts 24c such that successive butts, i.e., on successive jacks, are located in different planes to increase the space between the butts in any one plane. An echelon sequence gives a nonsymmetrical patterning width of a number of wales corresponding to the number of potential butt positions in a full complement along the length of each relevant jack minus one.

A V-formation, on the other hand, produces a symmetrical or mirror repeat pattern of a width twice that of the nonsymmetrical patterning.

In accordance with the characteristic feature of the present invention, there is provided at each feed, in advance of the relevant lifting cam 15, a pattern selector unit SU having no moving parts. Each such unit consists of a bracket 27 which is secured in position by a screw 28 on a fixed bed or baseplate 29 and has attached thereto a flat or substantially flat metal, e.g., steel, selector plate 30 formed at its leading edge with rigid teeth or prongs such as 30a suitably spaced apart in predetermined positions heightwise so as to be capable of acting directly upon depressible patterning butts 24c in corresponding butt planes.

As shown more clearly in FIG. 3, the said selector plate is removably attached to the back of a recess machined in a side of an upright portion 27a of the bracket 27.

The bracket 27 is so formed as to enable it to be secured in position with the selector plate 30 in a vertical plane obliquely inclined (as viewed in plan in FIG. 7), with respect to the circumferential surface of the needle cylinder 10 and with the leading ends of the teeth or prongs 30a set close to but clear of this surface.

Thus, with a pattern selector unit SU set in position in advance of a feed, the teeth or prongs 300 will be disposed in desired butt planes so that as a consequence of rotation of the cylinder 10 past the said stationary selector unit all relevant butts 24c in those planes will be pressed into the cylinder by the teeth or prongs with a camming action.

Advantageously, each selector plate 30 may, initially and as shown in FIG. 4, be formed with a full complement of uniformly spaced frangible teeth or prongs 30a corresponding in number to the total number of superimposed butt planes concerned and, before the plate is attached to its bracket 27, predetermined ones of the teeth or prongs are broken off, e.g., by a punching or similar operation, according to patterning requirements.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the selector plate 30 is attached to the bracket 27 by means of two suitably spaced screws 31. The screw-threaded stems of these screws are passed through clearance holes 32 in the plate and screwed into tapped holes in the upright portion 27a of the bracket, the

plate being secured by clamping engagement of the heads of the screws with the outer face of the plate. To facilitate ready removal of a selector plate 30 from a bracket 27, and its easy replacement by another plate having a different setout of teeth or prongs 300, the clearance holes 32 are constituted by the small ends of keyhole slots designated generally by the numeral 33. In this way a plate 30 can be removed and substituted by a fresh one without actual removal of the screws 31.

in accordance with a feature of the invention, the side of the bracket 27 against which a selector plate 30 is applied is provided with a fixed locating pin 34 which extends laterally therefrom for accommodation within a horizontal slot 35 formed in the said plate. The idea is that a selector plate can be very accurately set with respect to the needle cylinder 10, that is to say with the leading ends of the teeth or prongs 30a set close to but clear of the surface of the cylinder (see FIG. 7), simply by pressing the plate inwardly until the rear end of the slot 35 comes into contact with the fixed locating pin 34, this setting action being effected immediately prior to the slackened screws 31 being tightened to clamp the plate to the bracket.

The teeth or prongs 30a are, of course, horizontally disposed and are each of a depth corresponding approximately to the heightwise dimension of the patterning butts 24c in the relevant butt plate. The upper and lower edges of each tooth or prong are preferably straight and parallel and, if desired, the leading edge of the tooth or prong may be bevelled or chamfered suchwise as to enable it to act with a smooth camming action on a patterning butt.

The rear edge of each selector plate 30 is, in the particular example illustrated formed with a lug 30b which can be taken between the thumb and fingers to facilitate handling of the plate.

The lower end of each bracket 27 is formed with a foot or base portion 27b which is flat on its underside to rest upon the surface of the fixed bed or baseplate 29 and has formed therein a counterbored hole 27c for reception of the securing screw 28. The leading end of this foot or base portion 27b is so cut back or recessed at its opposite sides as to provide a projection 27d of tenon form for insertion into a correspondingly dimensioned slot 29a cut into an annular step or rib 29b formed on the fixed bed or baseplate 29. In this way each of the pattern selector units SU can be accurately located with its selector plate 30 extending obliquely at the required angle with respect to the needle cylinder 10.

In one specific example, each selector plate 30 is initially formed integrally with a full complement of 17 teeth so that a corresponding diagonal sequence of patterning butts gives a nonsymmetrical patterning width of 16 wales whereas a V-formation of patterning butts gives a mirror repeat patterning width of 32 wales.

Among other possible alternative systems to which the invention may be applied may be mentioned one in which the elements to be controlled or influenced are again in the form of needle-actuating jacks placed beneath needles, but in which these jacks are provided with downwardly extending spring extensions which, whenever permitted to do so, move outwardly under the spring influence but are capable of being pressed back by the pattern selector units into the relevant tricks or grooves either through the medium of corresponding presser jacks furnished with the patterning butts, or by action of the teeth or prongs on the selector plates directly upon patterning butts provided on the needle-actuating jacks themselves. Thus, in this alternative case, whenever the springy extension of a needle-actuating jack moves outwardly, a lower butt thereon engages with a jack-raising cam whereby the jack and hence also the corresponding needle is raised. On the other hand, a jack extension selectively pressed inwards to miss the cam remains down.

Moreover, the invention is also applicable to a system wherein the needle-actuating jacks are themselves furnished with the patterning butts but, instead of being moved outjacks in addition to being selectively movable heightwise by said cams being also capable of movement radially within their tricks with respect to the axis of the cylinder so as to initiate the selective actuation by virtue of the operating butts being caused some to miss and others to be acted upon by said cams; a single-patteming butt provided on a presser jack associated with each of the needle-actuating jacks, said patterning butts being disposed around the needle cylinder in a prearranged series of sequences, and pattern selecting units, one per feed, having formations for action selectively on the patterning butts suchwise as to press in selected patterning butts and thus effect appropriate radial movements of the corresponding needle-actuating jacks; the improvement wherein each pattern selector unit comprises a flat selector plate attached to an appropriate part of the machine, the leading edge of said selector plate having formed thereon a plurality of superimposed straight and rigid prongs of equal length spaced apart in predetermined positions heightwise so as to be capable of acting directly upon depressible patterning butts in corresponding butt planes for the purpose of pressing in selected ones of these patterning butts and each selector plate is disposed in a vertical plane which is oblique, as viewed in plan, with respect to radial planes of the needle cylinder and with the leading ends of the prongs set close to but clear of the circumferential surface of the needle cylinder so that each of the prongs provides a cam surface for pressing in butts at the relevant height.

2. A multifeed circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein each pattern selector unit includes a bracket secured in position on an appropriate part of the machine, said selector plate being attached to said bracket, wherein a side of an upright portion of each bracket has formed therein a recess, and the corresponding selector plate is accommodated in said recess and removably attached to the back thereof.

3. A multifeed circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein each selector plate is initially formed with a full complement of uniformly spaced frangible prongs corresponding in number to the total number of superimposed butt planes so that, before the plate is attached to the machine, predetermined ones of these prongs can be broken off, according to patterning requirements.

4. A multifeed circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein each pattern selector unit includes a bracket secured in position on an appropriate part of the machine, said selector plate being attached to said bracket, by means of spaced screws, the screw-threaded stems of which are passed through clearance holes in the plate and are screwed into tapped holes in the bracket, the plate being secured by clamping engagement of the heads of the screws with the outer face of the plate and the said clearance holes constituting the small ends of the keyhole slots whereby the plate can be removed and substituted by a fresh one without removal of the screws.

5. A multifeed circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein each pattern selector unit includes a bracket secured in position on an appropriate part of the machine, said selector plate being attached to said bracket, wherein the side of the bracket against which a selector plate is applied is pro vided with a fixed locating pin which extends laterally therefrom into a horizontal slot formed in the plate whereby, with the latter pressed inwardly to the extent that the rear end of the slot is in contact with the pin, the plate is accurately set with respect to the needle cylinder.

6. A multifeed circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the rear edge of each selector plate is formed with a lug adapted to be taken between the thumb and fingers to facilitate handling of the plate.

being so formed as to provide a projection of tenon form which is inserted into a correspondingly dimensioned slot cut in an annular rib formed on the bed plate whereby the selector unit is located with its selector plate extending obliquely at an appropriate angle with respect to the needle cylinder.

Claims

1. In a multifeed circular knitting machine comprising, in combination, a needle cylinder having formed therein needlereceiving tricks; needles in said tricks; needle-actuating jacks movably mounted in said tricks, beneath corresponding needles and having operating butts; cams for action upon said butts for producing patterning effects, the needle-actuating jacks in addition to being selectively movable heightwise by said cams being also capable of movement radially within their tricks with respect to the axis of the cylinder so as to initiate the selective actuation by virtue of the operating butts being caused some to miss and others to be acted upon by said cams; a singlepatterning butt provided on a presser jack associated with each of the needle-actuating jacks, said patterning butts being disposed around the needle cylinder in a prearranged series of sequences, and pattern selecting units, one per feed, having formations for action selectively on the patterning butts suchwise as to press in selected patterning butts and thus effect appropriate radial movements of the corresponding needleactuating jacks; the improvement wherein each pattern selector unit comprises a flat selector plate attached to an appropriate part of the machine, the leading edge of said selector plate having formed thereon a plurality of superimposed straight and rigid prongs of equal length spaced apart in predetermined positions heightwise so as to be capable of acting directly upon depressible patterning butts in corresponding butt planes for the purpose oF pressing in selected ones of these patterning butts and each selector plate is disposed in a vertical plane which is oblique, as viewed in plan, with respect to radial planes of the needle cylinder and with the leading ends of the prongs set close to but clear of the circumferential surface of the needle cylinder so that each of the prongs provides a cam surface for pressing in butts at the relevant height.

5. A multifeed circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein each pattern selector unit includes a bracket secured in position on an appropriate part of the machine, said selector plate being attached to said bracket, wherein the side of the bracket against which a selector plate is applied is provided with a fixed locating pin which extends laterally therefrom into a horizontal slot formed in the plate whereby, with the latter pressed inwardly to the extent that the rear end of the slot is in contact with the pin, the plate is accurately set with respect to the needle cylinder.

7. A multifeed circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein each pattern selector unit includes a bracket secured in position on an appropriate part of the machine, said selector plate being attached to said bracket, wherein the lower end of the bracket is formed with a foot portion which rests upon a bed plate, the leading end of the foot portion being so formed as to provide a projection of tenon form which is inserted into a correspondingly dimensioned slot cut in an annular rib formed on the bed plate whereby the selector unit is located with its selector plate extending obliquely at an appropriate angle with respect to the needle cylinder.