Pocketed fabric with rib knitting and its knitting method

Abstract: A pocket knit fabric with a rib knitted portion comprising a front fabric (2), a pocket (3) extending from the front fabric, and a pocket face portion (4) knitted with side edges formed from a bottom of the pocket (3) and braided into the front fabric (2). The rib knitted portion is formed continuously from the face portion in an upper portion of the pocket, and the portion of knitting fabric inside the pocket facing the rib knitted portion is formed in such a way that its loops at prescribed intervals are once lapped with the side loops.

Description: The present invention relates to a knit fabric and its knitting method in which a pocket is formed, for example, in the front body portion of knit clothes such as a sweater and cardigan integrally, the upper opening part of the pocket being reinforced by rib knitting or the like. In order to provide a knit fabric having an integrally knitted pocket with a rib knitting portion in its upper opening part and its knitting method without sacrificing the productivity, the present applicant previously proposed those disclosed in U.S.Patent No. 5,127,242. In U.S.Patent No. 5,127,242, a pocket having a rib knitted portion in its upper part is knitted at the same time as a front body portion is knitted. However, in the invention, a heat shrinkable yarn, which is supplied to the knitting needles used in knitting the front fabric at the upper end position of the pocket, needs to be heat treated after casting off from the knitting needles, and therefore, there exists a problem that it is inevitable to avoid high costs and low productivity. In US-A-1572434 a knitted fabric is disclosed having a pocket knit directly to the body of the sweater so that the sweater and pocket portion constitute a single piece of knit fabric having an integrally knit branch forming the pocket portion. In the method disclosed in US-A-4040275 a tubular fabric is knit at each pocket location. The tops of the pockets are finished by providing a long, knitted loop on each end of the top corners of the pockets. The present invention provides a pocketed knit fabric with a rib knitted portion comprising a front fabric, a pocket extending from the front fabric, a pocket face portion knitted with side edges formed from a bottom of the pocket and braided into the front fabric, the rib knitted portion is formed continuously from the face portion in an upper portion of the pocket and is characterised in that the portion of the front fabric inside the pocket facing the rib knitted portion is formed in such a way that its loops, at prescribed intervals, are once lapped with the side loops. The invention further provides a method of knitting a knit fabric having a pocket with a rib knitted portion comprising, in a flat knitting machine having multiple knitting needles positioned parallel on at least a pair of confronting needle beds in a longitudinal direction, knitting the front fabric with front and rear knitting needles, knitting the front fabric inside the pocket by the knitting needles at one of the pair of the needle beds, and knitting a pocket face portion by knitting needles at the other of the pair of needle beds, with side edges of the pocket braided into the front fabric, characterised by emptying, in the position of formation of the rib knitted fabric at the upper part of the pocket, the knitting needles placed at prescribed intervals among the knitting needles working on the front fabric inside the pocket by transferring the loops held on them to the knitting needles by their side, transferring the loops of the pocket facing the empty needles concerned to said empty needles, knitting rib knitted fabric by means of the knitting needles holding the loops of the pocket and said empty needles, shifting, at the terminal end of the rib knitted fabric, the loops knitted after being transferred to said empty needles to the knitting needles working on the pocket by providing protection against loosening to empty the former needles, knitting the front fabric inside the pocket with the knitting needles working on the pocket concerned by transferring the loops of the knitting needles working on the pocket to the empty needles concerned, and then, knitting the front fabric with the knitting needles on one of the pair of the needle beds. The invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a pocketed knitted fabric having a rib knitted portion knitted according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a knitting drawing of the portion 101 of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a knitting drawing of the portion 101 to the portion 102 of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a knitting drawing of binding off the portion 102 of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a knitting drawing of binding off in the portion 102 of Fig. 1 and split-knit made to knit the fabric inside the pocket; Fig. 6 is a knitting drawing of the portion 103 of Fig. 1; and, Fig. 7 is a plan view indicating the texture of the knitted fabric in the state where the preparation of the rib knitted fabric formed at the top end of the front part of the pocket is completed. Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be explained hereunder based on drawings. The knitting machine used in this embodiment is a flat knitting machine in which multiple knitting needles are provided slidably back and forth on the top face of needle beds (not indicated in the drawing) arranged in the shape of an overturned "V" facing each other in the side view. Fig. 1 indicates a knitting fabric used as the front body of a sweater, etc., for example, in which a pocket having a ribbed fabric at the upper part is formed at the same time with the knitting of the fabric of the body. This knitting fabric 1 is knitted with the front knitting needles from the bottom part of the body portion (front fabric) 2 and, at the position of forming the bottom of the pocket, as shown in the method indicated in said U.S. Patent No. 5,127,242, the loops of the portion to form the pocket 3, which are among the loops knitting the fabric of the body portion 2, are also held on the rear knitting needles, and the front knitting needles knit the fabric on both sides of the pocket and the fabric 4 on the front part of the pocket 3 and the rear knitting needles knit the portion of fabric 5 inside the pocket respectively. The portion before and behind the rib knitted fabric 6 are knitted by the method indicated in Fig. 2 and after. Namely, Fig.2 and Fig. 3 mainly indicate the knitting course of the portion 101 while Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 indicate the knitting course of the portion 102 and Fig. 6 indicates the knitting course of the portion 103 respectively. The figures given in the margin on the left side of Fig. 2 to Fig. 4 are symbols indicating the knitting course where loops are formed with the yarn fed by a feeder with the movement of a carriage (neither of them is indicated in the drawing) while the arrow marks at the left end inside the frame indicate the direction of movement of the carriage. In Fig. 2, the yarn is fed from the feeder to the front knitting needles among the knitting needles working in the body knitting area (a) on the left side of the pocket 3 to knit the body portion on the left side of the pocket 3 when the carriage moves to the right in block 1, and the feeder is shifted to outside the pocket knitting area (b) when the carriage moves to the left an block 2. When the carriage moves to the right in block 3, the yarn is fed to the rear knitting needles in the pocket knitting area (b) and to the front knitting needles working in the body knitting area (c) on the right side of the pocket 3, and the fabric 5 inside the pocket is knitted by the rear knitting needles and the body portion on the right side of the pocket is knitted by the front knitting needles respectively. In block 4, the yarn is fed from the feeder to the front knitting needles in the pocket knitting area (b) as the carriage moves to the right and, after the fabric 4 in the front part of the pocket 3 is knitted, the feeder is shifted to outside the body knitting area (c) on the right side of the pocket 3. After the body portion on the right side is knitted with the feeding of yarn to the front knitting needles in the body knitting area (c) in block 5, the feeder which fed the yarn to the knitting needles working on the fabric 4 in the front part of the pocket 3 and the feeder which fed the yarn to the knitting needles working on the body portion on the right side of the pocket 3 are shifted to outside on the right of the pocket 3 in block 6. At that time, as the feeder feeding yarn to the knitting needles working on the fabric 4 in the front part of the pocket 3 and the feeder feeding yarn to the knitting needles working on the fabric 5 inside the pocket 3 are shifted to outside the knitting area in a crossed state as shown in block 6, the right edge of the fabric 4 in the front part of the pocket 3 is knitted in the state entwined with the border portion between the body portion on the right side of the pocket 3 and the fabric 5 inside the pocket 3. Moreover, the left edge of the fabric 4 in the front part of the pocket 3 is knitted in the state entwined with the border portion between the body portion on the left side of the pocket 3 and the fabric 5 inside the pocket 3 when the feeders are shifted to outside the knitting area in about the same way as said right edge in block 2 and 10. After loops are formed on the knitting needles working on the fabric 5 inside the pocket 3 and the knitting needles working on the body portion on the left side of the pocket respectively as the yarn is fed to both of them with the shifting to the left of the carriage in block 7, loops are formed on the front knitting needles working on the fabric 4 in the front part of the pocket in block 8. After loops are formed on the knitting needles working on the body portion on the left side of the pocket 3 in block 9, the feeder in shifted to outside the pocket knitting area (b) in block 10. After that, loops are formed on the knitting needles working on the fabric 5 inside the pocket 3 and the knitting needles working on the body portion on the right side of the pocket respectively with the yarn fed to both of them with the shifting to the right of the carriage in block 11, loops are formed on the knitting needles working on the fabric 4 in the front part of the pocket with the feeding of yarn from the feeder in block 12, and then the feeder is shifted to outside the body knitting area (c) on the right side to rest. The fabric of the body portion on the right side of the pocket 3 is knitted with the feeding of yarn to the knitting needles working on that portion in block 13 and the feeder feeding the yarn to the knitting needles working on the body portion on the right side is shifted to outside on the right of the pocket 3 in block 14. the shifting of the feeder to outside the knitting area is not necessarily required as it is apparent from the right side position of the fabric 4 in the front part of the pocket 3 indicated in block 15, the carriage density (cam setting the size of knitted loop) is adjusted during this shifting in this embodiment. Thereafter, the carriage density is adjusted in the same way as above also during the shifting of the feeder to outside the knitting area performed in block 16, block 19, block 21 and block 26 to be described later. After the feeder feeding yarn to the knitting needles working on the body portion on the right side of the pocket 3 is shifted to the right to outside the knitting area in block 14, preparation is made for performing rib knitting in the course of the passage from block 14 to block 15 in Fig. 3. Now, we explain this preparation for rib knitting by putting letters A - J in order from the left in the drawing to the knitting needles in the pocket knitting area (b) and a part of the body knitting area (a) adjacent to it. When the shifting of the feeder to outside the knitting area in block 14 is over, the loop held on the front knitting needle A is transferred to the rear knitting needle A first and then the loop of the rear knitting needle C is transferred to the front knitting needle A which became empty. The loop which has been transferred to the front knitting needle A is further transferred to the rear knitting needle B and lapped with the loop existing already on the rear knitting needle B and then the loop on the rear knitting needle A is returned to the front knitting needle A. As a result, the loop which was found on the rear knitting needle C gets in the state of side shifting and this knitting needle C becomes empty. The loop on the front knitting needle C is transferred to the rear knitting needle C which became empty to empty the front knitting needle C, and the loop on the rear knitting needle E is transferred to the front knitting needle C which became empty to empty the rear knitting needle E. After that, the loop which has been transferred to the front knitting needle C is further transferred to the rear knitting needle D. As a result, the loop which was found on the rear knitting needle E gets in the state of side shifting and this knitting needle E becomes empty. As is described in the above paragraphs, every other loop on the rear knitting needle is transferred to its next rear knitting needle, and a loop on the front knitting needle which faces the empty rear knitting needle is transferred to the empty rear knitting needle. When this operation is repeated a proper number of times, the loops of the rear knitting needles C, E, G, I which were working on the fabric 5 inside the pocket 3 are transferred and lapped on the rear knitting needles B, D, F, H as shown in Fig. 7, and the loops of the front knitting needles which were working on the fabric 4 in the front portion of the pocket 3 in block 11 get in the state of zigzag between the rear knitting needles C, E, G, I and the front knitting needles B, D, F, H above the knitting yarn 10 connecting the loops on the rear knitting needles B, D, F, H to complete the preparation for rib knitting. The yarn is supplied to the front knitting needles B, D, F, H, J and the rear knitting needles C, G, E, I to form rib knitted fabric in block 15. After the feeder is once shifted to the right in block 16, it feeds the yarn to the knitting needles working on the body portion on the left side of the pocket 3 to form loops in block 17 and block 18 respectively. After the feeder is once shifted to the left in block 19, it feeds the yarn to the front knitting needles B, D, F, H, J and the rear knitting needles C, E, G, I to form rib knitting fabric in block 20 and then it is once shifted to the left in block 21. After feeding the yarn to the knitting needles working on the body portion on the right side of the pocket 3 to form loops in block 22 and block 23, the feeder is once shifted to the right in block 24 as shown in Fig. 4. The yarn is supplied to the front knitting needles B, D, F, H, J and the rear knitting needles C, E, G, I to form rib knitted fabric in block 25 and the feeder is shifted to the right in block 26. Then, the yarn is fed to the knitting needles working on the body portion on the left side of the pocket 3 to form loops in block 27 and block 28 respectively and the feeder is shifted to the left in block 29. After that, this knitting of block 20 to block 29 is repeated a proper number of times and rib knitted fabric 6 of the prescribed length is formed at the upper part of the pocket 3. Next, block 30 to block 48 given in Fig. 5 indicate the course of treating the end part of the rib knitted fabric portion 6 of prescribed length formed at the upper part of the pocket 3 as mentioned above. Namely, after the yarn is fed to the front knitting needle B to form a loop in block 30 and block 31 and the loop is transferred and lapped on the rear knitting needle C, the loop is transferred to the front knitting needle C and then the yarn is fed to the front knitting needle C to form a loop. And the loop which was held on the front knitting needle B in block 25 is bound off while the loop on the rear knitting needle C is transferred to the front knitting needle C. After the feeder is once shifted to the left in block 33, the loop of the front knitting needle C and the loop on the front knitting needle C is also transferred and lapped on the rear knitting needle C, and then those two loops are transferred to the front knitting needle D. And, when the yarn is fed to the front knitting needle D and a loop is formed there in block 34, the loop which was held on the front knitting needle D in block 32 is bound off. When the feeder is shifted to the left in block 35, the loop held on the front knitting needle D is transferred to the rear knitting needle E, the loop on the rear knitting needle E is also transferred and lapped on the front knitting needle E in block 35, and then the yarn is fed to the front knitting needle E to form a loop in block 36, the loop on the front knitting reedle D is bound off. After that, in block 37 to block 44 given in Fig. 5, the course of block 33 to block 36 is repeated and, in block 45, the feeder is once shifted to the left and then the loop on the front knitting needle J is shifted to the knitting needle I and the loop on the front knitting needle I is also transferred and lapped on the rear knitting needle I. Those two loops are then transferred to the front knitting needle J. The yarn is fed to the front knitting needle J to form a loop in block 46 and the feeder is shifted to the left in block 47. And, as the loop held on the front knitting needle J is once transferred to a rear knitting needle in the body knitting area (c) on the right side of the pocket adjacent to the front knitting needle J and then transferred back to the front knitting needle facing it, the loops of the knitting needles which formed the rib knitted fabric 6 at the upper part of the pocket 3 are all bound off. After that, the yarn is fed to the front knitting needles in the body knitting area (c) on the right side to form loops in block 48 and this feeder is shifted to outside the knitting area of the fabric. After the front portion of the pocket 3 is thus knitted, the feeder which was shifted to outside the body knitting area (c) on the right side at the end of block 12 gets in the knitting area of the fabric in block 49 indicated in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. In block 49, the rear knitting needles B, D, F, H holding the two loops which were suspended from knitting are made to advance to the yarn feeding position and the front knitting needles B, D, F, H facing them are moved to the transfer position with a smaller advance compared with the yarn feeding position. After the yarn is fed to the rear knitting needles B, D, F, H and J, the knitting needles on both sides are made to retreat. As a result, loops by the knitting yarn fed are formed on the rear knitting needles B, D, F, H and J while the two loops which were so far held on the rear knitting needles B, D, F, H are transferred to the front knitting needles B, D, F, H. After that, the loops on the rear knitting needles B, D, F, H are transferred to the front knitting needles C, E, G, I and the loop of the rear knitting needle J is transferred to the front knitting needle J. As a result, the back stitch loops which formed the fabric 5 inside the pocket 3 are transferred to the front knitting needles A to J. And, as shown in block 50 to block 52, the fabric portion 5 inside the pocket is knitted by front stitch following said back stitch loops inside the pocket 3. After the yarn is fed to the front knitting needles working on the fabric 5 inside the pocket 3 and the body portion on the left side of the pocket 3 in block 53, the block 54 and block 55 is repeated the prescribed number of times to knit the body fabric 2. Now, the transferring made between block 14 and block 15 and the split-knit, which is defined as knitting on both front and rear beds in the same course, made in block 49 produce holes spotted on a straight line in the knitted fabric of this part but those holes do not spoil the commercial value of the knitted fabric because they are covered with the fabric in the front part of the pocket. In the above embodiment, when the two loops held on the rear knitting needles B, D, F, H which were suspended from knitting are transferred to the front knitting needles B, D, F, H facing them, new loops made with the knitting yarn are held on the rear knitting needles and transferred to the front knitting needles to increase the number of loops in block 49. However, this is not the only method for increasing loops but it is of course possible to increase the number of loops by forming loops with a direct feed of the knitting yarn to empty needles. Moreover, although the pocket and the respective knitted fabrics on both sides of the pocket are indicated in a narrow width and a short length for the convenience of explanation in the above embodiment, the method of the present invention is not limited to such width or length but the width and the length of the pocket and the respective knitted fabrics on both sides of the pocket can be set freely as a matter of course.

Claims: A pocketed knit fabric (1) with a rib knitted portion (6) comprising a front fabric (2), a pocket (3) extending from the front fabric, a pocket face portion (4) knitted with side edges formed from a bottom of the pocket and braided into the front fabric, the rib knitted portion (6) is formed continuously from the face portion in an upper portion of the pocket, and characterised in that the portion of the front fabric inside the pocket (5) facing the rib knitted portion is formed in such a way that its loops, at prescribed intervals, are once lapped with the side loops. A method of knitting a knit fabric (1) having a pocket (3) with a rib knitted portion (6) comprising, in a flat knitting machine having multiple knitting needles positioned parallel on at least a pair of confronting needle beds in a longitudinal direction, knitting a front fabric (2) with front and rear knitting needles, knitting the front fabric (5) inside the pocket by the knitting needles at one of the pair of the needle beds, and a pocket face portion (4) by the knitting needles at the other of the pair of the needle beds, with side edges of the pocket braided into the front fabric, characterised by emptying, in the position of formation of the rib knitted fabric (6) at the upper part of the pocket (3), the knitting needles placed at prescribed intervals among the knitting needles working on the front fabric (5) inside the pocket by transferring the loops held on them to adjacent knitting needles, transferring the loops of the pocket facing the empty needles concerned to said empty needles, knitting rib knitted fabric by means of the knitting needles holding the loops of the pocket and said empty needles, shifting, at the terminal end of the rib knitted fabric, the loops knitted after being transferred to said empty needles to the knitting needles working on the pocket by providing protection against loosening to empty the former needles, knitting the front fabric (5) inside the pocket with the knitting needles working on the pocket concerned by transferring the loops of the knitting needles working on the pocket to the empty needles concerned, and then, knitting the front fabric (2) with the knitting needles on one of the pair of the needle beds.

Inventors: MITSUMOTO SHIGENOBU, MITSUMOTO, SHIGENOBU
Applicants: SHIMA SEIKI MFG, SHIMA SEIKI MFG., LTD.
Application year: 1992
Main classification: D04B1
IPC codes: D04B1, D04B7