US718951A - Knitting-machine. - Google Patents

Description

No. 718,951. PATBNTED JAN. 20, 1903.

P. M.. NICHOLS. KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 00122, 1901.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 I T j No. 718,951. PATENTED- JAN. 20, 1 903.

I. M. NICHOLS.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLIOATION FILED 001'. 22, 1901.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Unrrnn dramas ATEN OFFICE.

FREDERICK M. NICHOLS, OF Ol-IIOOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO LAMB KNITTING MACHINE COMPANY, OF OHICOPEE FALLS, MASSA- CHUSETTS, A CORPORATION.

KNlTTING-MACHINE.

SPESIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 718,951, dated January 20, 1903.

Application filed October 22, 1901. Serial No. 79,509. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. NICHOLS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Ohicopee Falls, in the county of 5 Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Knitting-lvlachines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to flat-knitting ma- I chines, and has particular reference to machines of this class for knitting fashioned garments. It is well understood that in this class of machines a certain tension is kept on the fabric by a pair of take-up rolls, which serve I to prevent the stitches from being drawn out by the upward thrust of the needles during the operation of the machine, and these rolls take up the fabric as fast as it is knit. These rolls draw down the fabric evenly as long as the machine is knitting a piece having uniform width; but as soon as the machine begins to Widen the fabric by one or more stitches at the end of each row the widened part will be under no tension until the widest part thereof reaches the take-up rolls, and consequently the upthrust of the needles which are forming the widening-stitches has a tendency to stretch out the widening-stitches and pull the widened portion of the fabric up through the throat of the machine. To overcome this and produce a uniform fabric, it is now customary for the knitter to take a wire and lay the end of it in the throat of the machine, draw it along on top of the stitches on the needles just ahead of those of the latter which are being pushed up, and to bear down on the wire sufficiently to hold these stitches down against the upward movement of the needles, thus performing the tensional func- 0 tion of the take-up rolls. This operation must be performed by the knitter at the end of each row of stitches until the full widening of the fabric has been attained and the take-up rolls have caught the widened fabric. If this is not done, the widened portion of the fabric will be knit in a loose and slovenly fashion and with a ragged uneven edge.

The object of this invention is to provide automatic means for preventing the stitches which constitute the widened portions of the fabric from being pulled up through the throat of the machine by the upthrust of the neodles during the knitting of said wider portions, to the end that the latter may be uniform in character with the main body of the fabric; and to that end the invention consists in the provision of automatically-operating devices for holding down the stitches in the throat of the machine against the npthrnst of the needles, whereby a downward tension on the fabric is maintained on said widening portions in the same manner that it is maintained on the main body of the fabric by the take-up rolls. The devices whereby this is accomplished perform substantially the same function as what is termed the sinker on a circular-knitting machine.

In the specification the word presser will be used to designate that part of the device which travels ahead of the operating-needles to hold down the work against the upthrust of the latter.

In machines of this class, wherein the different courses are laid by a carriage having a reciprocating movement, two pressers are provided, one being thrown into action when the carriage is moving in one direction and the other when it is moving in the opposite direction, and preferably these pressers are mounted on either end of an arm which has an oscil- 8o lating movement in the plane of the throat of the machine and is supported over the latter on the thread-guide arm, said oscillating arm being operated by suitable mechanism at the end of each traverse of the carriage to cause the proper one of said pressers to be swung down on the stitches extending across the throat of the machine and held there under the required tension while the course is knit.

In the drawings forming part of this speci- 9o fication, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a part of a flat-knitting machine, partly in section and showing my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is an elevation of a thread-guide site side.

view showing the relation of the device both to the needles and'to the stitches looped over the latter.

Referring now to the drawings, (1 indicates 5 portions of the frame of the machine, on which are supported in the usual manner the needle plates 1). The needles, which are indicated by 0, may be of the usual type of latch-needles laid in raceways d, cut in the surface of the IO needle-plates, the latter being arranged in the usual manner, whereby the path of the needles will intercept and cross in the throat of the machine. The usual carriage e is located astride of the needle-plates and has a longitudinal I5 sliding movement thereon from one end to the other, being actuated by any suitable mechanism, as the crank-arm f, which may be connected Wit-h some suitable eccentric to give it the desired movement whereby by the engagement of the usual cam-surfaces under the carriage with the needles the latter-are successively given a sliding motion in the needleplate to pick up and cast off the loops of yarn .in the usual manner in this type of machine. The carriage has secured thereto the usual latch-openers g, and beneath the machine are the take-up rolls h, between which the fabric t' passes. The carriage slides in ways on the side barsj of the frame, only one of which is shown in the drawings, and on the top of these side bars is a gib k, on which slides the threadguide carriage Z. Movement is imparted to the carriage l by the carriage e by means of pins on in said carriage e, which during the reciprocatory movements of the latter come in contact with opposite ends of the said carriage Z. More or less frictional resistance is applied to the movements of the carriage Z by means of a couple of springs n, secured there- 0 to and bearing against the outside of the bars j, to the end that the movements of said carriage may be uniform.

Secured to the carriage Zis the thread-guide arm 0, which extends up over the carriage e to a point over the throat of the machine. This arm, at the free end thereof, has secured to it a suitable block 19, to which there is pivotally secured the presserarm g, which consists of a yoke-shaped piece of sheet metal, at each extremity of which is a horizontally-dis posed U -shaped wire a", which constitutes the presser, attached by one end to the arm q. Figs. 2 and 3show all this clearly. This arm q is adapted to oscillate reciprocally in a vertical plane,whereby either end thereof may be tilted downwardly, and itis so located on the threadguide arm that when either end thereof is thrown downward it will bring the lower member of the wire r down against the stitches of the fabric, as shown in Fig. 4, which are looped over the needles. It will be observed that the position of the presser itself will not interfere with the operation of the needles in any way, and it suffices to have the end of it long enough to hold down the fabric only against the upthrust of the needles, and after that movement of the needles has taken place there is no further necessity for the application of downward pressure to the fabric. Therefore it has been found that if the presser is made of such shape as to reach back in under the needles which are being operated far enough to cover three or four sets of the latter it will perform its functions satisfactorily.

To hold the presser down to its work and to put upon the latter the required amount of pressure to prevent the stitches from being pulled out by the upthrust of the needles, as described, suitable devices are provided whereby by the contact therewith of the latchopener g the end of the arm g, which for the time being is the front end, will be depressed slightly in advance of the beginning of its movement coincidently with that of the carriage e, which carries it. These devices are constructed as follows: Through each end of the block 19 there is drilled a hole for the reception of an arm 5, one end of which hangs down for some distance below said block and the opposite end of which projecting through the block is turned at right angles to the downhanging portion of said arm. This constitutes an L-shaped looselyswin'ging arm in each end of the blockp. Located on the arm (1 under each end of the block 19 and separated somewhat therefrom are two blocks 25. (Shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 3.) The blockp is so made that the short end of the arm 8 may swing in aspace between the block 19 and the yoke q, as shown in the drawings, and bear against the block 25.

By referring to Fig. 1 it will be seen that at the end of each movement of the carriage e the yarn-guide carriage I will remain stationary for a moment until the pin m comes in contact therewith, and it is during this movement of the carriage e that the latchopener comes in contact with one of the arms 8 and tilts down to the forward end of thepresserarm q just prior to the engagement of that one of the pins m which drives the carriage Z and the latter. Thus there is constant pressure applied to the forward presser to hold it down against the work during the movement of the carriage e from one end of the machine to the other, the presser being thus pushed along, the forward end of it just in advance of the operating-needles and the recurved free end of it extending back far enough to provide a point of resistance for the stitches which are looped over the needles against the upthrust of the latter.

On the end of the thread-guide arm is the usual thread guide u, through which the thread is trailed along in the course of the machine and picked up by the needles in the usual manner, the stitches on the needles being successively cast off over the last-formed loops.

In machines provided with a traveling presser such as herein described the usual take-up rolls are not a matter of necessity, for the presser operates to hold the stitches on the needles in their place against the upthrust of the latter throughout the entire course of their travel as well as on the widened parts of the fabric and operate from above in effect substantially as the rolls do from below.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The combination with the carriage of a fiat-knitting machine, of a device for holding the Work against the upthrust of the operating-needles movable along the throat of the machine in advance of the operating-needles, and means operable at or near the end of the traverse movement of the carriage for throwing said device out of operative relation to the Work.

2. The combination of a fiat-knitting machine, of a presser pivotally supported in the plane of, and movable along the throat of the machine in either direction in advance of the operating-needles, one end of said presser being adapted to bear on the work in proximity to said needles, substantially as described.

3. The combination in a flat-knitting machine, of an oscillating presser movable along the throat of the machine ahead of the operating-needles in either direction, the opposite ends of which are adapted to bear-on the work at a point close to said needles, and means for moving said presser.

t. In a flat-knitting machine, the combination with the operating-needles thereof, of a pivotally-supported finger for holding the Work against the upthrust of the operatingneedles, and means for reciprocally moving said finger along the throat of the machine-in proximity to said needles, and a device operated by the movement of the machine at or near the end of the traverse movement of the carriage to oscillate said finger in the plane of the throat.

5. In a fiat-knittting machine, a reciprocally-moving main carriage, a thread-guide carriage movable with said main carriage, a presser pivotally supported on the threadguide carriage and normally out of contact with the work, and a device on the main carriage for engagement with the presser, whereby the latter may be brought toa bearing on the work in the throat of the machinein proximity to the operating-needles, substantially as described.

6. In aflat-knittingmachine,athread-guide carriage, a presser pivotally supported thereon normally above the Work, a main carriage movable back and forth on the machine, means on the main carriage for reciprocally moving the thread'guide carriage with said main carriage, whereby the thread-guide carriage may have a period of rest at the end of each of its movements, and a device for bringing the presser to a bearing on the work in the throat of the machine in proximity to the operating-needles during said period of rest, substantially as described.

7. In combination with a carriage of a flatknitting machine, of a device pivotally supported over, and adapted to bear on,the work in the throat of the machine, and means for depressing one end of said device against the work at each end of the traverse movement of the carriage.

FREDERICK M. NICHOLS.

Witnesses:

II. A. CHAPIN, K. I. OLEMoNs.

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