Patent GB-383957-A (GB)
Title: Knitting machines
IPC: D04B9/06
Filed: 1931-02-23
Abstract: 383,957. Knitting. MAY HOSIERY MILLS, Chestnut Street, Nashville, Tennessee, and HEMPHILL CO., 131, Clay Street, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, both in U.S.A. Feb. 23, 1931, No. 5606. Convention date, Feb. 21, 1930. [Class 74 (ii).] Relates to a machine for knitting a stocking &c. having a plain sole, ribbed instep, ribbed leg, and welt containing tuck courses w, w<1>. The rib knitting in the leg may be changed from six or four and one work to one and one work. The rib wales of the instep and leg are preferably spaced from the heel gore. The invention is described in connection with a rotary needle cylinder machine having a rib dial, in which the cylinder needles when knitting rib fabric measure their loops from the shanks of the rib needles, and when forming plain fabric draw their loops over the sinkers 6. The dial needles 10 are divided into three groups, having long, short and medium length butts 12, 14, 13 and are selectively moved into knitting position by a cam 15. The cam 15 is controlled by pattern mechanism so as to be adjusted vertically to engage the long, the long and medium, or all of the butts, and angularly to positions wherein it moves the needles 10 to knitting position or it is inoperative. The cylinder needles are of two forms, single-butted 24 for knitting ribbed fabric in conjunction with the dial needles and doublebutted 26, two or more lengths of lower butts 28 being provided upon needles 26. A needlelowering cam 32, Fig. 17, adjustable radially to two or more positions is provided for engaging the lower butts 28 of the needles 26, so that, e.g. when the instep and sole are being formed, the sole needles 26 which draw their loops f over the sinkers 6 may be lowered further than the needles 24 which co-operate with the rib needles. The guard cam 37 is pivoted about a point 128 so that it can be swung downwardly so that the butts 27 of the needles 26 do not foul it when the butts 28 are engaged by the cam 32. The cam 32 may be replaced by a cam 157, Fig. 42 (not shown), and means may be provided for preventing overthrow of the needles as they pass down the cam 157. When four and one rib work is to be made, the instep needles which are not adjacent a dial needle, may, in addition to the sole needles, be provided with a second butt. The dial needle-selecting cam 15 is moved angularly into and out of needle-projecting position by an arm 48, Fig. 24, controlled by a series of levers from a pattern drum, and is moved vertically to engage the needle butts by a cam 73 rotated by an arm 80 also controlled by the same pattern drum. The casting-off cam 21 for the dial needles is also controlled by this pattern drum, and is movable to a position in which the needles 10 do not cast off their loops, but retain them for forming the tuck courses w, w<1>. Means are also provided for preventing complete retraction of the cam 21 during rib knitting so that the dial needles are substantially in line with the cylinder needles as the cylinder needles rise to cast off their old loops. The cam 32 or 157 is preferably controlled from a second pattern drum. The formation of eyelet holes in the fabric upon introduction of dial needles, is prevented by raising, at the next succeeding course, the dial cam 15, which has been lowered to engage the butts 12, 13, 14 to introduce the rib needles, so that the corresponding dial needles hold their loops while the cylinder needles and those dial needles already in operation, knit a course. At the next course the cam 15 is again lowered. The needles 10 may be replaced by needles 385, all of which have butts 388 by which they are projected to the position shown in Fig. 81, and patterning butts 389 engaged by cams 392 which return selected needles to inoperative position. Other forms of dial needles, Fig. 86 (not shown), are described in which butts are provided for selection by a cam, so that the selected needles are projected so that other butts are brought into the path of a dividing cam. Jacks may be slidably arranged in tricks parallel to the needle tricks, and may be provided with concave upper ends to form seatings over which the yarn can be drawn. The height of the jack, and therefore of the position over which the yarn is drawn, can be adjusted by pattern mechanism. In the form shown in Fig. 95, the jack 443 is arranged to work within the sinker 440, which is formed in two parts. Means for operating the needle dial in time with the needle cylinder as described in Specification 373,279 may be provided. A stop motion and a belt-shipping device are described, the belt-shipping device being operated either by the stop motion, manually, or by pattern mechanism.