Patent ID: 6151920
Filing Date: 2000-11-28
Classification: D04B

Abstract:
Circular knitting machine for the production of knitwear (53) formed of at least one yarn (25) and fibers (44) tied into this yarn (25), comprising a needle cylinder (1) with knitting needles (2), a sinker ring (15) with sinkers (16) having upper edges (70) and being mounted so as to be rotatable about an axis of rotation jointly with said needle cylinder (1), and a stationary cylinder cam and sinker cam means being associated with said knitting needles (2) and sinkers (16), respectively, and forming at least one knitting system extending in a rotating direction of said needle cylinder (1), said knitting system having at least one cylinder cam part (36) for raising and drawing off said knitting needles (2), yarn and fiber feed means (24, 20) for feeding and inserting said yarn (25) and fiber tufts (44) in raised knitting needles (2), at least one sinker cam part (41) for advancing and retracting said sinkers (16), and an air guiding unit (45) provided with at least one nozzle selected from the group consisting of a suction nozzle and a blowing nozzle, wherein said cylinder cam part and sinker cam part (36, 41), said yarn and fiber feed means (24, 20) and said air guiding unit (45) being operative for forming initially loops from said yarn (25) and said fiber tufts (44), said fiber tufts (44) being directed essentially toward the axis of rotation, said air guiding unit (45) reversing the direction of the fiber tufts (44) substantially and the reversed fiber tufts (44a) are laid over adjacent sinkers (16) so that they can take part at least once in a loop forming process when passing through a knitting system, and wherein said air guiding unit (45) has a free space (69) arranged on a front side (55) of said knitting needles (2) and above said sinkers (16), said free space (69) extending in a rotating direction of said needle cylinder essentially from a location (49) at which raising of said knitting needles (2) starts, along a preselected part of a subsequent raising portion (50), and extending in a direction parallel to said axis of rotation until close to said upper edges (70) of the sinkers (16).