USRE12256E - Knitting-machine - Google Patents

Description

No. 12,256. RBIssUED AUG. 9, 1904.

' R. W. scoTT.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APB. 13, 1904.

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R. W. SCUTT. y KNIT'IING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13. 1904.

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No. 12,256. n lBussum) AUG. 9, 1904.

R. w. s co'm?.A KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION PILED 23.13, 1904 f fm y ,Q

REISSUBD AUG. 9, 1904.

R. w. SCOTT. KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1904.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4- y No. 12,2*56. REISSUED AUG. 9, 1904. R. W. SCOTT. KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1904.

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7am/6&6( .f m32/V,... g y@ fg@ UNITED STATES Ressued August 9, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT SOOTT,.OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO LOUIS N. D. WILLIAMS, OF ASHBOURNE, PENNSYLVANIA.

KNlTTlNG-NIACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Reissueld Letters Patent No. 12,256, dated Augusty 9, 1904.

Griginal No. 607,002, dated July 5, 1898. Application for reissue led April 13, 1904. Serial No. 202,995.

T all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I. ROBERT W. SCOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification. v

My invention consists of a machine for the production of a shaped or fashioned knitted web in which the widening-wales are introduced without the necessity of transferring stitches from needle to needle and without the formation of eyelet-holes or gaps in the knitted web at the points where the widening-wales are begun.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is an exaggerated diagram of a knitted web capable of being produced upon the machine. Figs. 2, 8, 4:, and 5 are diagrams illustrating the manipulation of the needles employed in knitting said web. Fig. 6 is a view of a modiiied form of the web. Figs. 7 to 13, inclusive, areY diagrams illustrating the manipulation of theneedles resorted to in producing said modiiiedform of web. Fig. 14 is a vertical sectional view of the machine for knitting the web shown in-Fig. 1. Fig. 15 is a plan view of said machine with parts broken away to show those beneath, and Figs, 16, 17, 18, and 19 are views of cam structures forming part of the machine.

I will irst describe the knitted webs illustrated in Figs. l and 6 and the. methods of y producing the same.

In Fig. 1 I have shown thirteen successive courses of a web into which six widening-wales have been introduced, three on each side of .the central line w.

site portions of the web in the rst, second,

third, and fourth courses are separated by floating threads a, and the length of these iioating threads is grad ually diminished as the opposite portions of the web are widened by the introduction of the additional wales until finally the two portions of the web join and form a continuous fabric. The opposite portions of the narrow web and of the web in which the widening has been effected can then be united by joining the wales b4 of the op.- posite webs by means of an ordinary loopingmachine or by sewing or in any other avail,- able manner, the floating threads a being then removed. f

It will be observed that the four wales Zv, b2, b5, and b4 are continuous, so as to form a band of uniform width along the edge of each widened portion of the web, audit will be further observed that although the wideningwales a5, and a5 are introduced between the Wales b and b2 in the respective courses live, eight, and eleven they do not retain this position, but cross said wale and are interlooped with the fifth wale in the succeeding course, so that the eyelet-hole or gap in the knitted web which would otherwise be produced is closed and the appearance of the widened web is not vmarred by such eyelet-holes.

The manner of producing the above-.described knitted web will be understood on reference to Figs. 2 to 5, in which the opposite sets of needles A', A2, A5, A5, and A5 represent vertical needles of a circular-knitting machine, the complete circle being broken by a gap representing eight needles, 4in place of which there are two sets of horizontal needles, (represented at B', B2, B3, and B) these hori- Zontal needles being disposed so as to draw their stitches to the same face of the fabric as the vertical needles and being in this respect the reverse of the needles of the ordinary rib-knitting machine.

As shown in Fig. 2, each needle B' is between the needles A2 and A5, the needle B2 is between the needles A3 and A, the needle B5 between the needles A4 and A5, and the needle B4 alongside of the needle A5, and in knitting the narrow web the needles A5, A4, and A5 of each set are out of action, as shown in Fig. 2, the wales a a5 being formed upon the needles A/ A2 and the wales o5, b5, and o* upon the needles B', B2, B5, andB'the .thread being carried across the gap between the needles B as the thread-guide rotates, so as to form the floating threads a.

In knitting course five the needles A3 are raised, as shown vby dotted lines in Fig. 2, and before knitting course six the sets of needles B', B3, B3, and B'l are moved toward each other 'tothe extent of one needle, as shown in Fig. 3, so as to widen each portion of the fabric to the extent of one Wale and cross the wales 7)' and a3. When the next widening-course, eight, is reached, the needles A* are brought into operative position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, and before knitting course nine the setsof needles B', B2, B3, and BAi are again moved toward each other to the extent of one needle, as shown in Fig. 4, so as to effect the crossing of the wales 7)' and a3, and in knitting course eleven the needles A3 are brought into action, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4, the sets of needles B', B3, B3, and B4 being moved toward each other to the extent of one duced Wale b3 is the sixth from the edge.

needle before knitting course twelve in order to cross the Wales t' and a3. Both sets of needles A' A3, Ste., are new in action,'and the gap between them is filled by the sets of needles B', B3, B3, and Bf, as shown in Fig. 5, so as to produce a continuous web of the desired Width. I

The method of introducing and crossing the Widening-Wales can be employed in a web in which the bordering band is not of uniform Width, or, in other words, in which the Widening-Wales are not always introduced at the same distance from the edge of the web in the widened portions. A web of this character is shown in Fig. 6, on reference to which it will be observed that the first-introduced Wale b4 is the fourth, the second-introduced Wale b3 is the fifth, and the third-introthis case the widening-Wales are formed upon needles of the sets B', B3, B3, B4, B3, and B3. Thus the Wales o' a3 a3 b3 3 of courses one, two, three, and four are formed upon the needles A', A2, A3, B3, B2, and B',disposed as shown in Fig. 7. In knitting course five the needles B* areintroduced, as shown in Fig. 8, and before knitting' course six the sets of needles B', B2, B3, and B* are shifted toward each other to the extent of one needle, as shown in Fig. 9. In knitting course eight the needles BEl are introduced, as shown in Fig. 10, and before knitting course nine the sets of needles B',B2,B3,B*, and B5 are again shifted toward each other to the extent of one needle, as shown in Fig. 11, and in like manner needles Bi areintroduced, as shown in Fig. 12, before knitting course eleven, and the sets of needles B',B3,B3,B,B3, and B3 are shifted to the positionshown in Fig'. 13 before knitting course twelve.

The machine for carrying out the method 'of knitting above described With reference to Figs. 2 to 5 is shown in Figs. 14, 15, 16, and 17, on reference to Which it will be observed that represents a vertical needle-cylinder,

which is suitably grooved for the reception Above the segments G and mounted so as to be rotated thereon by an arm F' of the camcylinder F is a cam-ring H, which has camssuch, for instance, as shown in Fig. l-for acting upon the B needles carried by said segments, so as to advance and retract said needles, the cam-cylinder F having the usual camsesuch, for instance, as shown in Fig. l'T-for advancing and retracting the A needles carried by the needle-cylinder D. The bits of the needles upon which the Wideningwales are to be produced pass behind the knitting-cams of the cam-cylinder F, as shown in Fig.4 14, so that said needles will not be operated in order to knit. By raising either of these needles, however, so that its bit e' is brought into range of the knitting-cams of the cam-box the needle is thrown into action and the knitting proceeds upon the same 'as upon the other needles. A shaft K, mounted in suitable bearings upon the ring d, has cam- Wheels m, which act upon toothed wheels m', carried by vertical shafts n, which have spurwheels s engaging with racks s' upon the segments G, any suitable provision being made for operating' the shaft K by intermittent movements of partial rotation. Normallythat is to say, during the knitting of the narrow Webthe segments G occupy the position shown in Fig. 14, and the Widening-needles at each end of the cylinder set are depressed, so as to be out of action.

When it is desired to begin the Widening operation, intermittent movements of partial rotation are imparted to the shaft K, and just before the action of the cam-Wheel m effects the first movement of the segments Gtoward each other the first pair of inoperative needles of the cylinder set are moved to operative position either by hand or by any suitable automatic mechanism, the lateral shifting of the segments G being effected after the knitting of the course in which these nee- -dles draw stitches, thus shifting the segmentneedles so as to cross the Wales.

The movements of the shaft K are so timed dle, so as to cross the Wales, and these operations being repeated until the desired number of widening-courses have been knitted.

After the desired Width of widened fabric IOO IIO

^ term main needle-carrier to' indicate that element of the machine which in the drawings.v

has been knitted and it is desired to restore the segments G to the position shown in Fig. 14 the stitches should be cast off of the widening-needles of the cylinder D, an operation which can bereadily eifected by throwing into action a cam-sueh,for instance, as that shown in Fig. lS-said cam being locatedl on the carncylinder F at a point remote from the threadguide and being constructed so as to act only on supplementary bits 71 of said wideningneedles, the latter being thereby advanced and retracted in order to cast their stitches without catching any new thread, the retraction of the needles being to the lowermost or inoperative position, so that they will remain out of action until the widening operation has shown, for instance, in Fig. l9-thatthe needles of the segments G can be thrown into or out of action,` all of the needles of the cylinder set being active needles.

Although I have described my invention as applied to a circular-knitting machine having a rotating thread-guide, it will be evident that it may be applied to circular machines in which the thread-guide has a back-and-forth motion, so as to form selvages on the end needles of the set of needles carried by the cylinder, or it may be applied to straight machines having reciprocating threadguides. Hence in some of the claims I have used the is represented by the cylinder D and the term supplementary needle-carrier to indicate that element of the machine which is represented by the segments Gr; but where in the claims I specificallyl mention a rotary knitting-machine having a needle-cylinder7 I mean a knitting-machine in which the travel of the thread-guide or needles relatively to each other is rotary-that is to say, always in one direction-resulting in the production of a fabric tube with floating threads a', Figs. l and 6, in the narrow part of the web, so as to distinguish from a machine in which the moving parts have a back-and-forth motion, resulting in the production of a web with selvages.

It will be understood that the number of -needles carried by the segments G may be may be varied to accord with the desired number of widening courses to be introduced into the web.v

` Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination of the main needle-carrier, with a supplementary needle-carrier having needles which draw stitches to the same face of the fabric as those of the main needlecarrier, means for actuating the needles, provision for permitting movement of certain of the needles of one of said carriers into operative position before lateral movement of the supplementary needles, and provision for laterally moving the supplementary needle-carrier.

2. The combination of the main needle-carrier having needles some of which are movable into and out of operative position, a supplementary needle-carrier having needles which draw stitches to the same face of the fabric as those of the main needle-carrier, means for actuating the needles, pro vision for permitting movement of certain of the needles of the main needle-carrier into operative position before lateral movement of the supplementary needles, and provision for laterally moving said supplementary needle-carrier.

3. The combination in a rotary knitting-machine, of a needle-cylinder, a segment carrying a series of needles for producing the wales of a 'bordering band, said segment being mounted so as to move part way around said cylinder, provision for moving needles of one of said needle-carrying elements into and out- Iof operatlve position, and provision for laterally moving the needle-carrying segment in respectto the cylinder.

4. The combination in a rotary knitting-machine,of aneedle-cylinderhaving needles some of which are movable into andout of operative position, 'a segment carrying a series of needles for producing the wales of a bordering band, said segment being mounted so as to be movable part way around said cylinder, and provision for laterally moving the needlecarrying segment in respect to the cylinder. 5. The combination in a rotary knitting-machine, of a needle-cylinder, a pair of needlecarrying segments mounted so as to be adjustable from and toward each other around said cylinder, provision for moving needles of one IOO IIO

of which are movable into and out of operay tive position, a pair of needle-carrying segments mounted so as to be movable from and toward each other around said cylinder, and provision for moving said segments from and toward each other. n

7. The combination in a knitting-machine,

ISO

of a main needle-carrier, a supplementary needle carrier, provision for permitting movement of needles of one of said carriers into and out of operative position, provision for laterally moving the supplementary needle-carrier, and a'cam whereby certain of the needles of one of said carriers may be projected and retracted so as to cast a series of adjoining stitches at one operation.

8. The combination in a knitting-machine, of a main needle-carrier having needles some of which are movableinto and out of operative position, a supplementary needle-carrier, provision for laterally moving the same in respect to the main needle-carrier, and a cam whereby certain of the needles of said main carrier can be operated so as to cast a series of adjoining stitches at one operation Without atfecting the stitches upon the remaining needles.

9. The combination in a rotary knitting-machine, of a needle-cylinder carrying' an interrupted series of needles, segments carrying needles adapted to lill the space between the needles of the cylinder set, certain of the needles being capable of being' moved into and out of operative position, and provision for laterally7 moving the segments in respect to the needleso' the cylinder.

l0. The combination in a rotary knittingmachine, of a needle-cylinder carrying an interrupted series of needles, certain needles at each end of the set being capable of being moved into and out of operative position, segments carrying needles which coperate with those of the cylinder, and provision for racking said segments so as to cause them to approach or recede from each other.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub- Scribing Witnesses.

ROBERT vv. scorr.

Vitnesses:

J os. H. KLEIN, HARRY SMITH.

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