A method of knitting a garment with a plurality of carriages

Abstract: A method of knitting a garment uses a plurality of carriages (1, 2, 3), different portions of the garment being knitted with the corresponding carriages at approximately the same time. The moving distance of the carriages is shorter and thus, the duration of knitting a given portion will be reduced. As the result, the productivity in fabrication of garment per hour will be much increased. Also, a plurality of discrete carriages for knitting different shapes of fabrics are used thus becoming smaller in the size. Hence, the needle bed of a flat knitting machine (8) on which the carriages travel will be decreased in the overall width because the space for accepting the carriages when they are not in use and off their working ranges is minimized.

Description: The present invention relates to a method of knitting a garment with the use of carriages mounted on each needle bed of a flat knitting machine. In common, a flat knitting machine is provided with one single carriage mounted on each needle bed thereof for sliding movement. For knitting, for example, two, left and right, sleeve portions 5,7 and a body portion 6 of a sweater 4 simultaneously, the carriage is driven by a driving means, which is controlled by a knitting program, for sliding movement along the needle bed throughout the overall width of the sweater as shown in Fig.11. As the result, the two sleeve portions 5, 7 and the body portion 6 of the sweater 4 can be knitted in a sequence. According to a conventional method of knitting a garment with the use of a single carriage, the carriage has to travel throughout the overall width of the garment containing its two, left and right, sleeves and body portions. Also, the different portions of the garment are knitted in a sequence and thus, the traveling distance of the carriage becomes more extensive, whereby the duration of knitting each row of stitches will be increased. Accordingly, the productivity in fabrication of garments will be declined. Also, for knitting the left and right sleeves and the body portion of a garment with higher efficiency, it is needed to have the carriage furnished with a plurality of control cams. This will cause the carriage to be increased in the overall size. Hence, two spaces for accepting such a large sized carriage are needed on both the sides of a working range of the carriage on a flat knitting machine. The flat knitting machine thus becomes enlarged in the width. A modified method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication 3-82856 (1990), which was published after the relevant priority date of this application and in which a number of carriages for knitting a plurality of knitted fabrics of the same shape are prevented from colliding with each other. However, the foregoing technical drawbacks which are unavoidable in the knitting of a single garment and thus, intended to be solved by the present invention have not yet been eliminated by the modified method. It is an object of the present invention, for solving the above drawbacks, to provide an improved knitting method adapted for ensuring high productivity in the fabrication of a garment and minimizing the size of a flat knitting machine to be used. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION For achievement of the foregoing object, a method of knitting a garment according to the present invention is provided in which with the use of a plurality of carriages of a flat knitting machine provided on each needle bed of the same for sliding movement and arranged to be controlled by driving means respectively for independent action so that a single garment can be knitted simultaneously, a number of discrete portions of the garment are knitted at approximately the same time by the corresponding actions of their respective carriages which are controlled by the combination of a knitting program unit and a calculator so that each inactivated carriage located in the travelling direction of another actuating carriage is displaced and remains outside the working range of the actuating carriage for prevention of collision. More in particular, the carriages are first actuated by their respective driving means for knitting corresponding portions. At the time, the moving speed and distance of each carriage is determined by the combination of the program unit and the calculator through calculating the number of rows of each knitted portion for forming a balanced shape of the garment. In action of knitting, for example, a two, left and right, sleeve portions and a body portion of a sweater simultaneously as shown in Fig.1, one of the carriages travels a long distance leftward and rightward for knitting the body portion and the other carriages for knitting the two sleeve portions which are smaller than the body portion move a shorter distance respectively. Accordingly, while the center carriage continues to move rightward for knitting, one of the two carriages which is situated on the left of the center carriage thus for knitting the left sleeve portion remains in a standby state at a location off the left end of its working range after performing a leftward and rightward movement and the other carriage which is situated on the right of the center carriage thus for knitting the right sleeve portion remains in a standby state at a location off the right end of its working range after moving up to the right end. The right carriage is then returned to the left as the center carriage moves back to the left. This procedure is repeated and thus, the different portions of a garment are knitted at approximately the same time for finishing a knitted garment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figs.1 to 10 illustrate embodiments of the present invention in which: Fig.1 is a front view showing a garment in the form of a sweater to be fabricated by a first embodiment method; Fig.2 is a front view of a flat knitting machine employed for performing the same; Fig.3 is a block diagram of a controller device of the traverse knitting machine; Fig.4 is an explanatory view showing courses of knitting in the first method; Fig.5 is an explanatory view showing the moving path of three carriages; Fig.6 is an explanatory view showing another example of the moving path of the carriages; Fig.7 is a front view showing a garment in the form of a vest to be fabricated by a second embodiment method; Fig.8 is an explanatory view showing courses of knitting in the second method; Fig.9 is a front view showing a garment in the form of a vertically striped knit-wear to be fabricated by a third embodiment method; Fig.10 is an explanatory view showing courses of knitting in the third method; and Fig.11 is an explanatory view showing the moving path of a carriage employed in the prior art. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS A method of knitting a garment with a plurality of carriage according to the present invention will be described referring to the accompanying drawings. First Embodiment A first embodiment of the present invention explains a procedure for knitting simultaneously two, left and right, sleeve portions 5 and 7 and a body portion 6 of a sweater 4 shown in Fig.1 with the use of a flat knitting machine 8 illustrated in Fig.2. The flat knitting machine 8 comprises a pair of front and rear needle beds 10 having a multiplicity of knitting needles 9 arranged thereon for advancing and retracting movement and three, left, center, and right, carriages 1, 2, and 3 mounted on each needle bed 10 for sliding movement. Each of the carriages 1, 2, and 3 is provided with a couple of built-in control cams A and B and arranged to be driven, via unshown drive belts, by a carriage drive motor (driving means) 12, 13, or 14 mounted to a side frame 8a of the flat knitting machine 8 and controlled by a controller device 11. The controller device 11 is arranged in which three position detecting signals carrying positional data of their respective left, center, and right carriages 1, 2, and 3 are fed to a calculator 17 where they are calculated with a data signal from a man/machine interface 15 and a program unit 16 for producing a drive signal which is in turn transferred to a carriage motor driver 18, as shown in Fig.3. Upon receipt of the drive signal, the carriage motor driver 18 controls the carriage drive motors 12, 13, and 14 respectively for discrete movements of the carriages 1, 2, and 3. The driving means may be consisted of linear motors, push-pull wires, or other driving power mechanisms, whichever are replaced with the carriage drive motors 12, 13, and 14. The operation of the traverse knitting machine 8 having the foregoing arrangement will now be explained with respect to knitting of the left and right sleeve portions 5, 7 and the body portion 6 of the sweater 4, referring to Figs.3 to 5. The numbers shown at the left of Fig.4 represent knitting courses and the numerals and alphabetic letters at the right denote the cams to be used in each course. More specifically, the cams A and B of the carriages 1, 2, and 3 are expressed as 1A and 1B, 2A and 2B, and 3A and 3B respectively. The arrow marks indicate the directions of cam movement. In operation, a start signal from the man/machine interface 15, a program signal from the program unit 16, and position detecting signals from the three, left, center, and right, carriages 1, 2, and 3 are supplied to the calculator 17 which in turn produces output signals. The output signals from the calculator 17 actuate the left carriage 1 for knitting the left sleeve portion 5, the center carriage 2 for knitting the body portion 6, and the right carriage 3 for knitting the right portion 7 at the same time so that they can start moving from left to right in Course 1 shown in Fig.4. Accordingly, the cams 1A, 2A, and 3A of their respective carriages 1, 2, and 3 perform cast-on actions for knitting the portions 5, 6, and 7 respectively. At Courses 2 to 4, the two sleeve portions 5 and 7 and the body portion 6 are fabricated by plain knitting and at Courses 5 to 8, rib knitting is carried out for knitting the portions 5, 6, and 7 to a desired length, using the knitting needles 9 of the two, front and rear, needle beds 10. Then, loops of yarn on the knitting needles 9 of the rear needle bed are transferred onto those of the front needle bed 10. It is understood that the moving distance of the left and right carriages 1, 3 for knitting the left and right sleeve portions 5, 7 is shorter than that of the center carriage 2 for knitting the body portion 6 of the sweater 4. Hence, the two carriages 1 and 3 remain in the standby state after traveling a predetermined distance and forming a desired number of stitches in each course until the center carriage 2 turns to move in the reverse direction. As the center carriage 2 travels in the reverse direction, the two carriages 1 and 3 form loops of yarn again. At Courses 9 to 17, the cams A and B of each carriage are actuated for plain knitting of the portion 5, 6, or 7 simultaneously, whereby the sliding actions of the carriages are decreased to about a half as compared with the sliding movement using a single conventional carriage. At Course 18, the loops of yarn of the right sleeve portion 7 are temporarily transferred from the knitting needles 9 of the front needle bed to those of the rear needle bed. At Course 19, the loops of yarn of the left sleeve portion 5 are transferred to the knitting needles 9 of the rear needle bed 10 as the three carriages 1, 2, and 3 travel to the right. Also, one row of loops are added to the body portion 7 by action of the center carriage 2. After the rear needle bed is displaced by one stitch to the left of Fig.4, the loops of yarn of the right sleeve portion 7 formed by the right carriage 3 are transferred to the knitting needles of the front needle bed 10. Those actions are carried out almost concurrently. Similarly at Course 20, the loops of yarn of the right sleeve portion 7 are transferred to the knitting needles 9 of the front needle bed to those of the rear needle bed as the three carriages 1, 2, and 3 travel to the right. Also, one row of loops are added to the body portion 7 by action of the center carriage 2. After the rear needle bed 10 is displaced back by one stitch to the right at Course 19, the loops of yarn of the left sleeve portion 5 carried on the rear knitting needles are transferred to the knitting needles 9 of the front needle bed 10. This procedure from Course 18 to Course 20 is then repeated a given number of times, as executed in Courses 20 to 30. As the result, two arm-hole portions for coupling the left and right sleeve portions 5, 7 to the body portion 6 respectively are fabricated. The start and stop action and the speed of the movement of the three carriages 1, 2, and 3 are controlled by the calculator 17 which determines relevant control data through examining the moving distance of each carriage 1, 2, or 3 and the number of stitch rows of each knitted portions 5, 6, or 7 for making a balanced shape of knitted fabric. More specifically in this embodiment, the start action and the speed of the movement of both the left and right carriages 1, 3 for knitting the two sleeve portions 5 and 7 are determined by the calculator 17 so that their movements can be completed within a period of time required for knitting the body portion 6. The stop and/or standby position of the carriages 1, 2, and 3 are determined by the program unit 16 so that an unactuated carriage can always stay out of the path of the running carriage for prevention of collision. For the purpose, the driving means 18 for actuating the carriage drive motors 12, 13, and 14 will be controlled by the calculator 17. According to the first embodiment, the moving distance of the three carriages 1, 2, and 3 for knitting a garment or the sweater 4 becomes shorter as shown in Fig.5. In more detail, the moving distance of the carriages 1, 2, and 3 is shorter than that, illustrated in Fig.11, of a conventional single-type carriage which is used for knitting all the three portions 5, 6, and 7 of a garment. In addition, the three portions 5, 6, and 7 of a garment can be knitted at the same time by the method of the first embodiment and thus, the efficiency in knitting will highly be increased. Although each of the carriages 1, 2, and 3 in the first embodiment enters a standby state after running in the same direction, the left carriage 1 situated on the left of the center carriage 2 for knitting the body portion 6 may be returned to the original position after carrying out a leftward and rightward movement and then, stay in the standby state. Second Embodiment A second embodiment is provided for knitting the body portion 19 of a vest garment, as shown in Figs.7 and 8, using a like flat knitting machine 8 as of the first embodiment which comprises a pair of front and rear needle beds 10 having a multiplicity of knitting needles 9 arranged thereon for advancing and retracting movement, three, left, center, and right, carriages 1, 2, and 3 mounted on each needle bed 10 for sliding movement, each having a couple of control cams A and B, and a controller device 11 which is identical in the arrangement to that of the first embodiment. For knitting the body portion 19 of the vest, the two, center and right, carriages 2, 3 only are used while the left carriage 1 remains inactivated at a leftward stationary position outside the area for accepting the carriage 2 when it is off a working range 20. In operation, a start signal from the man/machine interface 15, a program signal from the program unit 16, and position detecting signals from the two, center and right, carriages 2 and 3 are supplied to the calculator 17 which in turn produces an output signal. The output signal of the calculator 17 actuates the center carriage 2 to start moving from left to right with its cam B for casting on at Course 1 as shown in Fig.8. At Courses 2 to 4, plain knitting is performed by the cam B of the carriage 2 which travels leftward and rightward. At Courses 5 to 8, rib knitting is carried out for knitting to a given length using the knitting needles 9 of the two, front and rear, needle beds 10. Then, loops of yarn on the knitting needles 9 of the rear needle bed are transferred onto those of the front needle bed 10. At the time, the carriage 3 remains inactivated and stays off the right end of the working range 20. When the carriage 2 moves to the right, its cams B and then, A form loops of yarn at Course 9. At Course 10, the carriage 2 then moves back to the left and its cams A and B form loops of yarn in a sequence. This procedure is repeated until a number of stitch rows (the height of a belly region of the vest) predetermined by the program unit 16 are fabricated at Course 11. As understood, two rows of loops are formed at almost the same time during one, rightward and leftward, cycle motion of the carriage 2 at Courses 9 and 10. At Course 12, the center carriage 2 moves to the left and its cam B forms loops of yarn throughout the working range 20. Also, its cam A forms a chain of loops extending to about a half the length of the working range and in other words, starts to knit a V-neck region of the vest. As the carriage 2 travels leftward at Course 12, the right carriage 3 actuated by an output signal of the calculator 17 follows the carriage 2 up to a location off the left end of the loop chain knitted by the cam A of the carriage 2. At Course 13, while traveling to the right, the two carriages 2 and 3 fabricate a left half 21 and a right half 22 of the V-neck region respectively. Also, two loops at the right end of each V-neck region are transferred from the front knitting needles to the knitting needles of the rear needle bed 10 for starting to form a right arm hole. At Course 14, the rear needle bed 10 is displaced by 2 stitches to the left. Then, while the two carriages 2 and 3 travel to the left, the loops transferred onto the rear knitting needles at Course 13 are carried back to the knitting needles 9 of the front needle bed 10. The two carriages 2 and 3 now move to their respective standby positions situated off the right end of their working areas at Course 15. At Course 16, while traveling to the left, the two carriages 2 and 3 fabricate the left half 21 and right half 22 of the V-neck region respectively almost concurrently. Also, two loops at the left end of each V-neck region are transferred from the front knitting needles to the knitting needles of the rear needle bed 10 for starting to form a left arm hole. At Course 17, the rear needle bed 10 is displaced by two stitches to the right. Then, while the two carriages 2 and 3 travel to the right, the loops of yarn carried on the rear knitting needles are transferred back to the knitting needles 9 of the front needle bed 10. At Course 18, the two carriages 2 and 3 are moved to their respective standby positions situated off the left end of their working ranges. Then, the procedure at Courses 14 to 18 is repeated a given number of times from Course 19 to Course 22 for completing the left and right arm holes and the V-neck region of the vest. Since the left carriage 1, one of the three carriages, remains inactivated throughout the operation of the second embodiment, it will be possible to knit a vest with the use of a specific traverse knitting machine provided with only two carriages. Third Embodiment A third embodiment is designed for knitting a stripe pattern of a garment, as shown in Figs.9 and 10, using a like flat knitting machine 8 as of the first embodiment which comprises a pair of front and rear needle beds 10 having a multiplicity of knitting needles 9 arranged thereon for advancing and retracting movement, three, left, center, and right, carriages 1, 2, and 3 mounted on each needle bed 10 for sliding movement, each having a couple of control cams A and B, and a controller device 11 which is identical in the arrangement to that of the first embodiment. More particularly, the stripe pattern is fabricated with each pair of the cams A and B carrying a thread of different color or type yarn. The stripe pattern 23 is knitted using one of the three carriages or more specifically, the center carriage 2 at Courses 1 to 8 while the other two carriages 1 and 3 remaining inactivated at their respective stationary positions outside the two, left and right, areas for accepting the carriage 2 when it is off its working range. In operation, a start signal from the man/machine interface 15, a program signal from the program unit 16, and a position detecting signal from the center carriage 2 are supplied to the calculator 17 which in turn produces an output signal. The output signal of the calculator 17 actuates the center carriage 2 to start moving from left to right with its cam A for casting on at Course 1 as shown in Fig.10. At Courses 2 to 4, plain knitting is performed by the cam A of the carriage 2 which travels leftward and rightward. At Courses 5 to 8, rib knitting is carried out for knitting to a given length using the knitting needles 9 of the two, front and rear, needle beds 10. Then, loops of yarn on the knitting needles 9 of the rear needle bed are transferred onto those of the front needle bed 10. When the carriage 2 moves up to the left end and the action at Course 8 is finished, the right carriage 3 is actuated by a control signal of the controller device 11 to move from its standby position situated off the right end of a working range 23 to a predetermined position (off the left end of its working range). At Courses 9 and 10, through the rightward and leftward action of the three carriages 1, 2, and 3 and their cams A and B carrying different threads, a stripe pattern of knitting is developed. The procedure at Courses 9 and 10 is then repeated until the stripe pattern is knitted to a given length determined by the program unit 16. As the result, a knitted fabric of six stripes is obtained with the cams A and B of the three carriages 1, 2, and 3. Although the carriage 2 moves out from the left end of the pattern range 23 upon finishing the action of Course 8 according to the third embodiment, it may rest at a position off the left end of its working range and in a working range of the carriage 1. Also, a stripe pattern of knitted fabric having a desired number of stripes can be fabricated using a corresponding number of carriages and their cams. The present invention is not limited to the embodiments employing a flat knitting machine provided with three carriages on each needle bed. It would also be understood that the number of carriages is two, four, or more and the number of cams on each carriage is three or more, depending on the requirements in knitting. Although the flat knitting machine employed in each embodiment has two, front and rear, needle beds, it may be provided with only one needle bed or more than two pairs of needle beds. For knitting a sweater like in the first embodiment or a vest like in the second embodiment with the use of a flat knitting machine having more than two pairs of needle beds, one pair of needles beds may be used for knitting a front portion of the garment and the other pair(s) are used for knitting a rear portion of the same. In addition, when a program is memorized into a program unit 16 for joining the two, front and rear, portions of the garment to each other, the finished garment will be a ready-to-wear product.

Claims: A method of knitting a garment (4,22) with a plurality of carriages (1,2,3) of a flat knitting machine provided on each needle bed (10) of the same for sliding movement and arranged to be controlled by driving means (12,13,14) respectively for independent action so that a single garment (4,22) can be knitted simultaneously, in which a number of discrete portions (5,6,7,21,23) of the garment (4,22) are knitted at approximately the same time by the corresponding actions of their respective carriages (1,2,3) which are controlled by the combination of a knitting program unit (16) and a calculator (17) so that each inactivated carriage located in the travelling direction of another actuating carriage is displaced and remains outside the working range of the actuating carriage for prevention of collision.

Inventors: SHIMA MASAHIRO, SHIMA, MASAHIRO
Applicants: SHIMA SEIKI MFG, SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: D04B1
IPC codes: D04B15, D04B7, D04B1