US3748873A - Carriage mechanism of a hand knitting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A carriage slidably supported on hand knitting apparatus to impart a required reciprocating motion to a number of needles arranged on the needle bed in equally spaced and parallel relation to each other. The carriage may produce a higher lift of the knitting cams or lifter cams in the skip stitch mode for the needle butts than is produced in the other knitting mode by using unused space assigned to the other path used in the other knitting mode so that getting behind the latches may be ensured as to the loops lying on the needles other than that on which lies the skip stitch loop or loops.

Description

United States Patent 1 Nakane et al.

[ 1 CARRIAGE MECHANISM OF A HAND KNITTING APPARATUS [75] Inventors: Kazushige Nakane, Toyota; Tadashi Honmi, l-landa; Katsumi Koike, Kariya, all of Japan [73] Assignee: Alsin SeikiKabushiki Kaisha,

Kariya, Japan 22 Filed: July 26,1971

21 App1.No.: 165,978

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data July 6, 1970 Japan 45/68783 [52] US. Cl. 66/78 R, 66/60 [51] Int. Cl D04b 7/00 [58] Field of Search 66/64 H, 69, 64, 66/78 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,250,093 3/1966 Tanaka 66/60 July 31, 1973 Primary ExaminerRonald Feldbaum Attorney-Pierce, Scheffler & Parker [57] ABSTRACT A carriage slidably supported on hand knitting apparatus to impart a required reciprocating motion to a number of needles arranged on the needle bed in equally spaced and parallel relation to each other. The carriage may produce a higher lift of the knitting cams or lifter cams in the skip stitch mode for the needle butts than is produced in the other knitting mode by using unused space assigned to the other path used in the other knitting mode so that getting behind the latches may be ensured as to the loops lying on the needles other than that on which lies the skip stitch loop or loops.

7 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENIED JUL 31 I973 SHEET 1 0F 6 nu w PATENTEI] JUL 3 I I973 SHEET 3 BF 6 PAIENIEU JUL 3 1 ma sum u ur a Fm n mm QQE I PAIENIEU JUL31 ms SHEET 5 [IF 6 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a hand knitting apparatus and more particularly to the carriage slidably supported on the needle bed of the apparatus to impart a required reciprocating motion to a number of needles arranged on the needle bed in equally spaced and parallel relation to each other.

As herein used, the term plain stitch refers to the process of knitting a fabric in which every loop of every row is withdrawn from the preceding row of meshes to the same direction or side of the knitted fabric.

The term skip stitch" refers to the process of knitting a fabric in which some loop of some row is elongated two or more times as long as the other loops.

The term pattern stitch" refers to the process of knitting a fabric in which two yarns of difierent type are formed into loops in a series of the same row so that some pattern results in the resultant fabric.

In the hand knitting apparatus adapted to the above mentioned three types of knitting process, the carriage employed therein must have four paths to be followed by the butts of the needles when the carriage is reciprocated on the needle bed of the apparatus. On the other hand, the hand knitting apparatus belonging to a household type of machinery must be designed to possibly reduce its entire size and weight to be accepted by the efforts of the intellect to attain to a machinery of smaller capacity.

Frequently the carriage of this type is of large width and length, and the reciprocation movement of the needles is considerable; hence a carriage of usual design would not only be large in proportion to other parts of the apparatus, but also would require a comparatively long stroke.

This objection is over come with the carriage according to the present invention.

It is the object of the present invention to produce a higher lift of the knitting cams or lifter cams in the skip stitch mode for the needle butts than is produced in the other knitting mode by using the unused space assigned to another path used in the said other knitting mode so that getting behind the latches of the loops lying on the needles other than that on which lies the skip stitch loop or loops may be ensured.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A carriage slidably supported on the needle bed of the hand knitting apparatus includes, a base plate, a pair of knitting cams arranged on the base plate symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage, raising cams respectively pivoted to the knitting cams at their ends, a lower long boundary cam extending generally in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the carriage, said raising cams being spring biased toward abutment with the lower long boundary cam, a pair of auxiliary cams swingable about pins fast on the base plate respectively adjacent to the highest points of the knitting cams, block members swingable about said pins about which the said auxiliary cams swing, said block members being operatively connected with said auxiliary cams respectively, a pair of triangle cams of generally equilateral triangle form and fast on the base plate close to the top ends of the knitting cams respectively, a pair of swingable members respectively pivoted to the said triangle cams, a central cam fast on the base plate, a central swingable member pivoted to the said central cam, a pair of lowering cams fast on the base plate, an upper long boundary cam fast on the base plate and parallel to the said lower long boundary cam, whereby four paths are formed in a plane on the bottom side of the carriage and the auxilliary cams may increase or decrease the cam lift of the knitting cams While the block members may block or unblock the other path. The auxiliary cams are operatively connected to an manual actuator means comprising a sliding member slidable along the longitudinal axis of the carriage with studs fast on their respective arms engaged with elongated slots in the sliding member, while the block members being spring biased respectively toward engagement with the edges of the arms, whereby reciprocation of the sliding member causes the auxiliary cams to swing through an angle for increasing or decreasing the lift of the auxiliary cams and the block members to swing for blocking or unblocking the path to be followed by the butts of the needles in the other knitting mode, respectively.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of the knitting apparatus to which the carriage according to the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the carriage;

FIG. 3 is a similar view to that of FIG. 2 showing another knitting mode of the carriage;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the actuator means viewed from the opposite side to the bottom view;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 but showing still another knitting mode of the carriage;

FIGS. from 6 to 8 are views showing operation of the carriage; and

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of the other actuator means to convert the mode of the carriage.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Throughout the drawings, similar numerals refer to similar parts of the apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring first to FIG. 1, the hand knitting apparatus 1 comprises a needle bed 3 and a large number of sinkers 4 forwardly protruding from the needle bed arranged-in parallel and at regular intervals in a plane. A corresponding number of latch needles 5 are alternately arranged with the sinkers and have a free sliding fit in the respective grooves formed in the needle bed. The carriage 2 of the present invention is movably supported above the needle bed in a manner such that the carriage may reciprocate along two parallel guide rails 6 and 7 on the needle bed 3. The carriage engages with the latch needles with their butts retained in the proper section of the grooves formed within the carriage by various cams or guide members thereof. As the carriage is reciprocated along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed, the needles are protruded from and retracted into the needle bed.

The above described construction is so conventional and familiar to those skilled in the art that further description with reference to the general information of the hand knitting apparatus will be alleviated. The description hereinafter will relate to the construction of the carriage in which the present invention consists.

The carriage is, so to speak, a slide cam mechanism which is reciprocated along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed and is for transmitting a straight-line movement to the latch needles, followed by a dwell to permit the next reverse travel of the carriage.

The carriage is manually reciprocated on the needle bed 3 by the operator. Two sliding members 6' and 7 shown in FIG. 2 are provided on the carriage and have a free sliding fit on the guide rails 6 and 7 respectively. The carriage has first, second, third and fourth continuous grooves following four corresponding paths as indicated by the reference characters A, B, C and D in FIG. 2 to be traced out by the latch needles. Various cams and guide members form the grooves in cooperation with each other for retaining the butts of the needles in the proper section of the grooves. Most of these cams and guide members are arranged in the carriage symmetrically relative to the center line X X shown in FIG. 2. As will be seen in FIG. 2, knitting cams 9 are swingably supported by means of upset pins 10 afixed to the base plate 8. The knitting cams 9 are angularly adjustable by the knob 11 (FIG. 1) relative to the center line X X in FIG. 2. Raising cams 12 are pivoted to the corresponding knitting cams 9 at their ends by means of upset pins 13 and are spring biased into abutment against a lower long boundary cam 14 secured to the base plate 8 of the carriage. Auxiliary earns 15 and block members 16 are swingable about common pins I7 secured to the base plate. The auxiliary cams 15 have outside arcuate upright walls 15a and inside arcuate upright walls 15b as will be seen in FIG. 2. The upright walls 15a and 15b form together with the bottom wall U shaped cross section groove in which the butts of the needles are retained. The auxiliary cams 15 and the block members 16 are operatively connected together in swinging motion so that when the auxiliary cams 15 are rotated through an angle about the common pins 17 the block members 16 also rotate through a different angle, as shown in dot and dash line in FIG. 2. Triangular earns 18 of generally equilateral triangular form are secured to the base plate 8 adjacent to the auxiliary earns 15 and at the centers of the earns 18 are freely swingable members 19 by which the butts of the needles may be guided to follow the desired paths as hereinafter will be described. At the middle position between the triangle cams 18 is a central cam 20 of generally triangular form, at the center of which is a central freely swingable member 21 cooperating with lowering cams 22 of obtuse triangular form secured to the base plate 8 symmetrically relative to the center line X X to form a groove or path for the needles. Spring operated tuck cams 23 are always urged to swing upwardly about pins 24 fixed on the base plate 8 and rest in the positions shown in FIG. 2. Hence, the tuck earns may be depressed downwardly by the butts of the needles when the butts follow the path provided by the lowering cams 22 so that the needles are confined to the path. Leading cams 25 and 26 are swingable about their common pins 27 fixed on the base plate 8 and are upwardly spring biased and normally urged to hold themselves in the position shown in FIG. 2. When the push button (FIG. 4) 28 or 29 is pushed as indicated by the arrows, the leading cams 25 and 26 together rotate and move to the position shown in FIG. 3 in heavy line. Full pushing of the push button results in locking the leading earns 25 and 26 in the position shown in FIG. 3 in heavy line as hereinafter will further be described. The fully pushed button is also held in the pushed position. When the other push button is pushed, the previously pushed button adjacent thereto is returned to its original position and the leading cams 25 and 26 are returned to their original positions as shown in FIG. 2 in heavy line. Second leading cams 30 are operatively connected with the first leading cams 25 and 26 to swing about pins 31. An upper long boundary cam 32 is fixed on the base plate 8 and extends between the two leading cams 30. A sliding guide member 33 of generally triangle form is free to slide along the upper long boundary cam 32. The triangle earns 18 provide stops at the ends of the stroke of the slide guide member 33 so as to confine the butts of the needles to the desired path. It will be noted that the guide member 33 is urged to slide toward the end of its stroke when the butts of the needles travel and rests against one of the cams 18, as shown in heavy line in FIG. 2.

Actuating mechanisms of the auxiliary cams 15 and the block members 16 are separately shown in FIG. 4 as viewed from the side opposite to that shown in FIG. 2. The auxiliary earns 15 and block members 16 are therefore shown in phantom in FIG. 4. A sliding member 34 is slidably supported on two pins 35 and 36 fixed on the upper face of the base plate 8, with its slots 37 and 38 slidably receiving the two pins. The numeral 39 refers to the knob extending from the sliding member 34 toward the convenient reach of the operator. A bellcrank levers 40 are pivotable on the pins 41 fixed on the base plate 8, the studs 42 on the upwardly extending arms 40a being slidably mounted in the elongated slots 43 in the sliding member 34. The elongated slots 43 are positioned at anangle rather than horizontally. It will be noted that the bellcrank levers 40 oscillate about the pins 41 when the sliding member 34 is moved to the left or right. Studs 44 extending from the auxiliary cams 15 operate in slightly elongated slots 45 in the bell crank levers 40. Other studs 46 extending from the block members 16 are always urged into contact with the edge of the bellcrank levers 40 as shown in FIG. 4 by springs 48. The springs 48 have their one ends anchored at one end to screws 49 extending from a fixed portion of the carriage and at the other end to the studs 46 so that the block members 16 are always urged to hold themselves in contact with the edge of the bellcrank levers 40.

Returning to the illustration in FIG. 2, it will be understood from the foregoing that the auxiliary earns 15 and the block members 16 are independently rotated about the common pins 17 when the sliding member 34 is moved to and fro.

Guide plates 54 are fixed on the base plate 8 and confine the needles to the path A, in cooperation with the lower long boundary cam 14. Guide plates 50 and 51 are fixed on the base plate and confine the butts of the needles to movement along the path C. The guide plates 51 otherwise confine the butts to movement toward the path D along their top faces remote from the guide plates 50 in FIG. 2.

When the carriage is in use applied to the hand knitting apparatus of usual type, the carriage is reciprocated along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 3 in FIG. 1.

Notwithstanding the above, the description of the invention will hereinafter be stated as if the carriage was held stationary and the needles were advanced relative to the stationary carriage.

The purpose of the above described arrangement is to produce a higher lift of the knitting cams 9 without an increase of the width of the carriage when the carriage remains in the skip stitch mode requiring clearing of the loops behind the latches of the needles other than the needle on which the skip stitch loop lies. When the carriage is moved to the right along the arrow E1 by the operator, under the condition in which all the cams and guide members are in their positions shown in heavy line in FIG. 2, the butt B2 of the needle B1 follows the path B shown by the heavy line in FIG. 3. The path B is formed by the right hand knitting cam 9, right hand raising cam 12, upright wall b of the right hand auxiliary cam 15, fixed right hand triangle cam 18, right hand lowering cam 22, central cam 20, bottom face of the left hand lowering cam 22, bottom face of the left hand knitting cam 9 and the left hand end portion of the lower long boundary cam 14. During the travel of the butt, the first and second swingable members 19 and 21 both serve as blocking members to prevent the butt from entering into errorneous paths. The left hand spring operated tuck cam 23 and the left hand raising cam 12 act to hold the butt in contact with the cam faces of the respective faced cams, lowering cam 22 in left hand side and lower long boundary cam, during the travel of the butt so that better governing of the operation of the needles may result. It will be noted that the tip of the hook of the needle B1 follows the similar path B shown in heavy line in FIG. 2. On this path B, the hook is given the knitting yarn at the yarn guide 52 in retracting movement after having reached the extreme end of its upward travel. Having reached in turn the lower end of the left hand knitting cam 9, the needle Bl completes formation of the new mesh, followed by a dwell until the reverse of the above action takes place.

The reverse path of the butt B2 of the needle B1 will become apparent from the symmetry of arrangement of the various cams and guide members in the carriage.

As to the needle C1, the butt C2 enters into and follows the path C under guidance of the right hand plates 50 and 51 as shown in dot and dash line in FIG. 2. The spring biased right hand swingable plate 50 is rotated as shown in phantom against its spring(not shown) as the butt C2 travels therethrough. The right hand block member 16 guides the butt to converge the path C into the path B as the butt travels. The butt C2 thereafter advances to the left along the same path as that of the needle B1. The needle B1 and needle C1 are both given the same knitting yarn at the yarn guide 52 during travel. The plain stitch thus results from this knitting mode.

Turning to the skip stitch mode of the carriage, the leading cams 25 and 26 are respectively held in the positions shown in heavy line in FIG. 3 by pushing the push buttons 28 as shown in FIG. 4. The mechanisms which control the positions of the leading cams 25 and 26 will be described more fully hereinafter. The other leading cams 30 are also held in the positions shown in heavy line in FIG. 3. The blocking members 16 normally spring biased toward upward rotation are downwardly depressed by the leading cams 30 and caused to position as shown in heavy line in the view. The butt C2 of the needle C1 follows the path D as indicated by the dot and dash line. The needle Cl will thus become inoperative in the path D as is the needle D1, so that the hook of this needle is not given the knitting yarn when the needle passes through the yarn guides 52 and 53.

This will be seen from the locus D traced by the hook of the needle C1 or needle DI the butt of which travels in the path D, the locus D' getting out of the yarn guides. The yarn therefore remains lying on the stem of the needle C1 and does not form the loop and mesh during the travel of the carriage. When the carriage is reciprocated desired times under the above condition, the corresponding number of un-looped and unmeshed yarns remain lying on the stem of the needle C1. The leading cams 25, 26 and 30 are then together return to their original positions shown in dot and dash line in FIG. 3 by pushing the other push button 29 shown in FIG. 4. The carriage is thus converted into the plain stitch mode as previously described and the needle Cl therefore follows the path C rather than the path D. Upon the first time travel of the carriage after the convertion of the mode, the above un-looped and unmeshed yarns having lain on the stem of the needle C1 are all together meshed at once with the new loop and result in respective loops different from each other in successive steps of length as shown in FIG. 6. The required skip stitch is thus obtained in the resultant fabric from the above action. Having returned to the original positions, the leading cams 25, 26 and 30 will confine the needle D1 to the path B. The needle D1 enters into the path C under the guidance of the bottom face of the right hand leading cam 25 and thence into the path B under the guidance of the right hand block member 16.

It should be noted that the upright walls 15b of the arcuate auxiliary cams 15 are positioned as shown in heavy line in FIG. 3 and produce a higher lift than is produced in the other knitting mode such as the pattern stitch mode to be described. The needle which travels past the path B is carried to a higher point than is carried when the carriage is in the said other knitting mode. This is very important to obtain the required result.

This advantage will be explained with reference to the illustration in FIGS. 6 to 8. In the production of the skip stitch, the old loop L1, L12, and L13 are elongated four times, three times and two times as long as the other loops respectively, as will be seen in FIG. 6 because the needle N1 or D1 is held in its highest position in its upward travel and remains inoperative with its butt retained in the path D for a period within which four rows of stitches are formed. The conventional carriage of this type has a following disadvantage.

The elongated loops L1 to L13 have exhibited a tendency to pull up the precedingly knitted fabric and hence adjacent new loops L2 and L3 tend to fail in getting behind the respective tongues or latches T2 and T3 of the needle N2 and N3 respectively when the needles N2 and N3 retract. The new loops L2 and L3 will thus ride on the tongues as shown in FIG. 7.

Furthermore, there exists no space on the needles N2 and N3 of the conventional apparatus sufficient to have the new loops L2 and L3 lie thereon behind the tongues T2 and T3 respectively in case where many yarns, three yarns in this instance, remain lying on the needle N1 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, by reason of the fact that the three yarns having remained lying on the needle N1 will tend in actual test to displace the adjacent 'new loops L2 and L3 toward the tops of the needles N2 and N3. The loops L2 and L3 hence tend to rise on the tongues T2 and T3 respectively as shown in FIG. 7 even though the needles N2 and N3 are at the highest points of their upward travels. The loops L2 and L3 therefore will tend to fail in formation of the meshes.

The carriage according to the present invention will overcome this disadvantage by increasing the amount of forward movement of the needles N2 and N3 sufficiently to have the loops L2 and L3 get behind the tongues T2 and T3 of the needles N2 and N3. The increase of the lift of the knitting cams 9 given by the auxialliary cams 15 will cause the greater forward movement of the needles N2 and N3. It will be seen that the auxiliary cams 15 are so moved into the unused space assigned to the path C only used in case of other knitting mode as to increase the lift of the knitting cams 9. This is the principal feature of the present invention which is efficient in substantial saving of the size of the carriage.

An arbitrary and independent increase of the lift of the knitting cam in design will cause an abrupt cam groove which will in turn cause the excessive side pressure against the butts of the needles. The resultant friction and shock tends to wear both the knitting cam face and the butts. In view of the above fact, the increase of the lift in design would otherwise so require an enlargement of both width and length of the carriage as to limit the knitting or lifter cam to moderate pressure angles because of the side thrust developed against butts of the needles.

The auxiliary cams 15 were provided for the carriage in the skip stitch or tuck stitch mode and the plain stitch mode in order to move the needles to a higher position than is occupied thereby in the pattern stitch mode of operation of the knitting cams 9, without an enlargement of the necessary minimum size of the carnage.

Turning to the pattern stitch mode, the auxiliary cams l and block members are held in the position shown in heavy line in FIG. 5 by shifting the sliding member 34 to the right. It should be noted that the block members 16 in this mode are so rotated through an angle as to open the path C. The auxiliary cams also rotates through an angle to decrease the lift of the knitting cam 9 so that a sufficient space is provided for the path C outside the upright walls 15a of the auxiliary cams. When the carriage is moved to the right along the arrow E3, the needle B1 follows the path B shown in heavy line in FIG. 5 and while on the other hand needle Cl traces another path C shown in dot and dash line in the view. It will be seen that the tops of the needles B1 and Cl respectively trace different locuses B and C. It will further be seen that the two hooks respectively travel past the different yarn guides 52 and 53 and two different yarns are supplied to the two hooks respectively. As the path C converges into the path B past the yarn guides 52 and 53, the two different yarns may be so formed into meshes of the same row that a series of loops formed of different type yarns is provided; the reverse may also take place. From the reciprocation of the carriage in this mode the desired pattern stitch may result in the resultant fabric. The reference character P refers to a usual fabric presser means detachably attached to the front portion of the needle bed. This means serves to press the knitted fabric to prevent the fabric from freely upwardly rising up into an imaginary plane in which lie the needles. The yarn guides 52 and 53 are fastened to the presser P as shown in FIG. 1.

For convenience, the control means for the leading cams 25, 26 and 30 is separately described hereinafter.

FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the right hand control device 55 in FIG. 4 fastened on the top side of the base plate 8 opposed to the side on which the previously described various cams and guide members are provided. The reference character 56 designates a sheet metal supporting bracket of generally channel-like form that is adapted to-be bolted at its flange portions 57 and 58 to the top face of the base plate 8 by means of bolts respectively entered into the holes 59 and 60. A pair of push plates 61 and 62 are free to slide in the respective holes 63, 64 and 65, 66. As shown in phantom and previously described the push buttons 28 and 29 are respectively fastened to the ends of the push plates 61 and 62. A locking member 67 is slidably supported by means of its elongated slots 68 and studs 69 fastened on the bracket 56. The locking member 67 is normally spring biased toward the left in FIG. 9 by the tensioned spring 70 having one end anchored at a lug 71 of the locking member 67 swedged upwardly from the bottom portion of the member and the stud 69. The locking member 67 has two studs 72 and 73 fastened thereto. It will be seen that the spring 70 normally urges the studs 72 and 73 into contact with the push plates 61 and 62 respectively. When the push button 29 is pushed along the arrow the cam face 61a will cause the locking member 67 to move to the left and further pushing will result in engagement of the notch 61b with the stud 73, the push plate 61 thus being held in its pushed position. It is true of the cam face 62a, notch 62b and stud 72, too. It should be noted that the shoulders 61c and 620 of the two push plates are always urged toward contact with the upright wall of the bracket 56 by'springs to be described below, so that the locked push plate may be releasable by pushing the other push plate. A transmitting member 74 is so supported that the forked ends 78 and 79 may be a sliding fit in holes 76 and respectively and the other end may be also a sliding fit in the hole 64 together with the push plate 61. A compressed coiled spring 77 is mounted around the forked end 78 to always urge a lug 80 to contact with the ear 81 of the push plate 61 and thence in turn to urge the push plate 61 to contactwith the upright wall of the bracket 56 at the shoulder 61c. The transmitting member 74 has an arm 82 extending integrally therewith. As shown in phantom, the leading cam 25 holds its stud 25a normally in contact with the edge of the arm 82 by a tensioned spring behind the arm anchored at the stud 25a and lug 82a while the leading cam 26 holds its stud 26a normally in contact with the edge of the arm 82 by a spring anchored at the stud 26a and a hole in the base plate 8. These springs and the hole are not illustrated for convenience to avoid the complication. The arm 82 has a lug 82b as shown in phantom downwardly swedged therefrom. The lug 82b is normally urged to contact with the push plate 62 as at 82b by the compressed spring 77 so that the push plate will in turn be spring biased against the upright wall of the bracket 56. A lever 83 is pivotable about a pin 84 fastened on the bottom plate of the bracket 56 as shown partially in phantom in the view. A stud 30a of the leading cam 30 is normally spring biased against the lever 83 so that the stud 83a fixed on the lever 83 is always in turn urged to contact with the edge of the push plate 62. This will additionally urge the plate 62 to contact its shoulder 620 against the upright wall of the bracket 56. The left hand control device 55 has identical construction with that of the right hand control device 55 above described except that they are symmetrically constructed relative to the center line of the carriage.

In operation, upon pushing the push button 28 along the arrow in resistance to the above mentioned springs the cam face 62a of the push plate 62 will cause the locking member 67 toward the left in resistance to the spring 70 and the notch 62b engages with the stud 72, locking of the push plate 62 thus being provided. The above movement of the push plate 62 will in turn cause the transmitting member 74 to move in the same direction via the lug 82b, and hence the leading cams 25 and 26 are together swung via their studs 25a and 26a and brought into locked condition until the push plate 62 is released. On the other hand the lever 83 is turned counter-by its stud 83a and this in turn causes via the stud 30a to swing the leading cam 30. When the other push button 29 is pushed similarly along the arrow, the cam face 61a will cause the locking member 67 to move to the left and the notch 6lb will engage with the stud 73 of the locking member 67, locking of the pushing plate 61 being thus provided. It will be apparent that the other push plate 62 on the other hand will be released from the locking member 67 when the locking member moves to the left. It will be noted that locking either of the push plates will cause the release of the other push plate. When the push plate 61 is pushed and locked in the pushed position, the leading cams 25 and 26 are swung via the transmitting member 74 but the leading cam 30 remains in the position shown in FIG. 2.

A further arrangement of cams can be achieved by fully depressing push button 29 so that the notch 61b engages with the stud 73 of the locking member 67, so as to lock the push plate 61. In this position the shoulder 81 of the push plate 61 contacts the lug 80 of the transmitting member 74 and causes the transmitting member to move the leading earns 25 and 26 to the positions shown in solid lines in FIG. 3. In contrast to the full depression of push button 28, however, the depression ofpush button 29 does not cause the lever 83 to move counterclockwise and the leading cam 30 therefore occupies the position shown in broken lines in FIG. 3, thus allowing the blocking member 16 to return, under the bias of its spring, to the position shown in broken lines in FIG. 3. It will be apparent from the above description that this cam arrangement provides for continued tucking on any needle D1 at the same time as normal knitting on needles B1 and C1, if the sliding member 34 of FIG. 4 is moved to the left, i.e. patterning on needles Cl and normal (low lift) knitting on needles Bl.

It will be noted that the path D must be provided in the carriage of this type to hold the needles in inoperative condition in their retracted position.

An additional device is used in the application of the carriage in order to allot the selected needles to the entrances to the paths in dependency upon the desired mode of stitch. However, the additional device is so conventional in the art that description and illustration thereof may be abbreviated.

What is claimed is:

l. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus having a pattern stitch path followed by the needles for the pattern stitch between a path followed by the needles for the plain stitch and a path followed by the needles when inoperative for forming the meshes comprising a base plate, a lower long boundary cam secured thereon to form a path in which needles remain inoperative and in a retracted position, an upper long boundary cam secured on said base plate and forming a path in which needles remain inoperative and in a protruded position, a pair of knitting cams arranged on the base plate symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage to form lifting cam means for the needles, raising cams, each knitting cam being pivotally mounted on one of said raising cams, a pair of auxiliary cams pivotally mounted on the base plate symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage and between said upper long boundary cam and said knitting cams, blocking means coaxially swingable with said auxiliary cams, leading cam means including first leading cams and second leading cams, manually operable controlling means for selecting angular positions of said leading cam means to lead the needles into a desired path of travel of knitting mode, and actuating means for angularly adjusting said auxiliary cams relative to said knitting cams and for selecting angular positions of said blocking means whereby said auxiliary cams in the plain stitch or tuck stitch mode are pivotable to move the needles to a higher position than is occupied thereby in the pattern stitch mode of operation of the knitting cams to ensure that the loops on the needles clear the latches of the needles.

2. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and further including manually actuated means for holding said blocking means in the position to guide the needles into the pattern stitch path while said auxiliary cams remain in the position to increase the lift of the knitting cams.

3. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said second leading cams are pivotable on pins arranged symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage, and further including a pair of triangular cams arranged symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage, a pair of freely swingable members mounted on said triangle cams, a second swingable member mounted to swing free at the central position between said auxiliary cams, a pair of lowering cams arranged symmetrically relative to the center line and mounted on the base plate between the said knitting cams, a sliding guide member which serves to retract the needles from the pattern stitch path to the plain stitch path, said first leading cams being arranged symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage and pivotably mounted so as to be held in a position to guide the needles into an inoperative path and then into the path in which the needles are operative or in a position to allow the needles to remain in the inoperative path.

4. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said manually actuated means comprises a sliding member provided with elongated cam slots to pivot said blocking means and a pair of pivot able bell crank levers, said levers having studs for engagingv with the elongated cam slots of said sliding member, said levers being operatively connected with said auxiliary cams and said blocking members.

5. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and further including a fabric presser means in front of the needle bed, said fabric presser means being provided at its central portion with a first yarn guide for plain stitching and a second yarn guide for the pattern stitching.

in claim 3 and further comprising spring means for rotatably biasing said blocking means toward engagement with said second leading cams, said blocking means being swingable against said spring means upon pivoting of said second leading cams and independently of the pivoting motion of said auxiliary cams. l l I II

Claims (7)

1. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus having a pattern stitch path followed by the needles for the pattern stitch between a path followed by the needles for the plain stitch and a path followed by the needles when inoperative for forming the meshes comprising a base plate, a lower long boundary cam secured thereon to form a path in which needles remain inoperative and in a retracted position, an upper long boundary cam secured on said base plate and forming a path in which needles remain inoperative and in a protruded position, a pair of knitting cams arranged on the base plate symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage to form lifting cam means for the needles, raising cams, each knitting cam being pivotally mounted on one of said raising cams, a pair of auxiliary cams pivotally mounted on the base plate symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage and between said upper long boundary cam and said knitting cams, blocking means coaxially swingable with said auxiliary cams, leading cam means including first leading cams and second leading cams, manually operable controlling means for selecting angular positions of said leading cam means to lead the needles into a desired path of travel of knitting mode, and actuating means for angularly adjusting said auxiliary cams relative to said knitting cams and for selecting angular positions of said blocking means whereby said auxiliary cams in the plain stitch or tuck stitch mode are pivotable to move the needles to a higher position than is occupied thereby in the pattern stitch mode of operation of the knitting cams to ensure that the loops on the needles clear the latches of the needles.

2. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and further including manually actuated means for holding said blocking means in the position to guide the needles into the pattern stitch path while said auxiliary cams remain in the position to increase the lift of the knitting cams.

3. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said second leading cams are pivotable on pins arranged symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage, and further including a pair of triangular cams arranged symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage, a pair of freely swingable members mounted on said triangle cams, a second swingable member mounted to swing free at the central position between said auxiliary cams, a pair of lowering cams arranged symmetrically relative to the center line and mounted on the base plate between the said knitting cams, a sliding guide member which serves to retract the needles from the pattern stitch path to the plain stitch path, said first leading cams being arranged symmetrically relative to the center line of the carriage and pivotably mounted so as to be held in a position to guide the needles into an inoperative path and then into the path in which the needles are operative or in a position to allow the needles to remain in the inoperative path.

4. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein said manually actuated means comprises a sliding member provided with elongated cam slots to pivot said blocking means and a paiR of pivotable bell crank levers, said levers having studs for engaging with the elongated cam slots of said sliding member, said levers being operatively connected with said auxiliary cams and said blocking members.

5. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 and further including a fabric presser means in front of the needle bed, said fabric presser means being provided at its central portion with a first yarn guide for plain stitching and a second yarn guide for the pattern stitching.

6. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 3 wherein, said second leading cams are held pivotable either into a position to guide the needles from the pattern stitch path to the inoperative path or into a position to guide the needles into the pattern stitch path.

7. A carriage on a hand knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 3 and further comprising spring means for rotatably biasing said blocking means toward engagement with said second leading cams, said blocking means being swingable against said spring means upon pivoting of said second leading cams and independently of the pivoting motion of said auxiliary cams.

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