Patent GB-844602-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to circular knitting machines and knitted articles produced thereby
Inventor: PEBERDY ROLAND
IPC: D04B9/10
Filed: 1955-06-27
Abstract: 844,602. Knitting. BENTLEY ENGINEERING CO. Ltd. June 27, 1956 [June 27, 1955], No. 18503/55. Class 74 (2). At the same knitting station of a superposed cylinder machine, mechanism selects needles in the bottom cylinder for non-transfer to the upper cylinder and other mechanism selects needles for non-knitting, these latter needles being only needles which are also selected for non-transfer; and all needles not selected by either mechanism are transferred to the upper cylinder. Needles in the lower cylinder are selected for float patterning or for links-links patterning at the main feed MF by pin drums acting through banks of levers at the points 11, 10, and for float patterning at the auxiliary feed AF by another pin drum acting through a bank of levers at the point 12. The levers act on patterning butts 4 on selectors 3. In each lower cylinder trick is a jack 1 rockable about a fulcrum point 2. As a jack approaches the point 11, a cam 19 ensures that its lower butt is buried in the trick and a cam relief 20 allows the upper butt to project. If the corresponding selector is now raised, its head 8 rocks out the lower butt of the jack, to be engaged and lowered by a cam 21 (the upper butt passing behind a cam 22) so that the knitting butt 32 of the corresponding slider LS passes below a cam corner 23 and the needle will neither clear its old loop nor take the main yarn. If, on the other hand, the selector is not raised, the lower jack butt passes behind the cam 21 and the upper jack butt, which is now positively held out, rises up cam 22 to land the slider knitting butt 32 above the cam corner 23, so that the needle clears and knits at the main feed; the jack of a needle so selected to knit is then lowered again by a cam 24 along with jacks associated with needles previously transferred to the top cylinder and now returned to the lower cylinder, to position them all for transfer selection. The jacks associated with those needles, which were selected to float cannot be selected for transfer, whatever the pattern set-out may indicate, because the level to which cam 21 has lowered them brings them into engagement with the heads of their selectors which ensures that their retracted upper butts pass behind a cam 26 whilst their projected lower butts pass under a cam 27. On the other hand, any jack lowered by the cam 24 is brought to a level which leaves the bottom of the jack just clear of the head of its selector so that, unless the selector is raised, the upper butt of the jack remains projected (a cam 25 being withdrawn during patterning) and rises up the cam 26, to raise the associated slider to a height where its transfer butt 33 will engage the bottom transfer cam 34. Thereafter the upper butt of the jack passes along track 35 to bring its slider to the correct height (with its knitting butt 32 above a cam corner 39) to transfer its needle, or to receive it as it is returned to the lower cylinder. If that selector should be raised, however, the lower butt of the jack will be projected and will pass under cam 27 so that its needle will not be transferred but, its slider LS being already in a knitting track will knit in the lower cylinder. The passage of the upper butts of the jacks along track 35 after having caused transfer of their needles to the top cylinder keeps these jacks out of reach of the selectors at the point 12 so that, whatever the pattern set-out, their corresponding sliders are raised to the needle receiving height. Further, only those jacks which are not raised by cam 26 are at the level to be affected by selectors at point 12 and only those which are not raised by cam 38 are at the level to be affected by the selectors at point 11; i.e. only those sliders which carry a needle can be selected to pass into a " float " track. Bottom latch guards are dispensed with. The raising of the jack upper butts by cam 38 takes the sliders high enough for their tails to hold back the rib latches of the needles until they are behind an upper latch guard 40, whereafter the sliders are lowered by cam 41. Similarly, after needles have been transferred to the top cylinder, the sliders are lowered by a cam 42, and hold open the latches until they are behind a latch guard 43, whereafter the sliders are lowered by cam 44. During patterning, the upper cylinder transfer cam 28 engages the transfer butts 31 of upper cylinder sliders to cause return to the lower cylinder of any needles held by these sliders, a dividing cam 29 separating slider from needle and a cam 30 supporting the lower cylinder sliders by their knitting butts 32. The selecting butts 4, and other butts 5-7 used for different rib formations may be carried on separate members haped to interlock with each other to provide the complete selector. At each feed there may be yarn selecting mechanism. Fig. 1 shows a sock having a narrow rib top T; leg and instep L comprising plain wales P and rib wales R, on which are superimposed diamonds D of plain loops and having inner and outer parts of contrasting colours, and bars B of rib or purl loops; and a foot bottom F of, say, 1 X 1 rib, in which the contrasting yarn fed at the auxiliary station is knitted only in the rib wales, thereby avoiding a striped effect on the outside.