Patent GB-490513-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to warp knitting machines
IPC: B61L3/02
Filed: 1936-11-13
Abstract: 490,513. Knitting-machines. KAYLOOMS, Inc. Nov. 13, 1936, No. 31007. Convention date, Nov. 13, 1935. [Class 74 (ii)] A warp machine comprising one or more warp guide bars has one or more weft feeders that can be connected selectively to a flexible transmission band so as to lay one or more unknitted weft-threads across the whole or part of the width of the fabric in selected courses, means being provided whereby the stroke of the band can be adjusted. The thread is initially deposited in a bank of forked guides and then moved thereby to the rear of the needles to be enveloped by the knitted loops or chains. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, a number of warp guide or looper bars 25, positioned above two independently operable needle bars 30 are supported by a shaft 13 that can be rocked by a cam 17 on the main shaft 18, each bar 25 being movable longitudinally against spring action during the rocking movement by pattern controlled slides 39 so as to loop the warp yarn about the needles. The pattern drum 41 controlling the slides 39 is mounted on a shaft 43 that is intermittently rotated through pin and grooved gears 44, 45 and a shaft 46 from the main shaft. Weft feeding arrangements.-As shown in Figs. 3 and 11 the weft thread is supplied to a bank of forked guides 50 by two feeders 49 slidably mounted on parallel rods 62 and adapted to be connected selectively to an endless metal band 65 that is moved to and fro under control of pattern mechanism, the feeders being guided during their longitudinal movement by additional rods 62a. The band 65 is mounted on spiked pulleys 63, 64, Fig. 1, disposed at opposite ends of the machine and driven by a rack 66, connections 67, 70, and an adjustable lever 68 from a rock arm 71 mounted at one end on a shaft 72, Fig. 9. The other end of the arm 71 is formed as a bearing for a shaft 74 carrying a cam follower 75, Fig. 7, at each end and adapted to be displaced axially to bring the followers into engagement with adjacent grooved cams 79 of the same shape and arranged 180‹ out of phase on a shaft 77 driven from the main shaft 18. The movement of the shaft 74 is controlled by levers 83, 84 carried by the arm 71 and engaging with their tail ends 83a, 84a, hook shaped projections 90a, 90 on shafts 87, 86, having a pin and slot connection with bars 108, 115, Fig. 8A, respectively which can be moved vertically by rods 105, 106 and pattern controlled levers 125, 126, Fig. 1. On the side remote from the shafts 87, 86, the bars 108, 115 are furnished with two oppositely extending pins 112, 112a, and 118, 118a, respectively adapted to co-operate with one or other of two apertured members 98-98a and 101 which are rocked in opposite directions by their tail portions 98c and 102 engaging diametrically opposite portions of a cam 100 on the shaft 77. Selective engagement of the bars 108, 115 with the oppositely moving apertured members causes one or other of the shafts 86, 87 to be displaced axially so as to impart the requisite movement to the shaft 74. Accidental displacement of the bars 108, 115 from their adjusted positions is prevented by locking pins such as 121, Fig. 7. To ensure timely entering of the cam followers 75 into their respective grooves, arms 135a, 136a, Fig. 10, on the rods 105, 106, are alternately locked by a plunger 138 that is operated by the combined action of a spring 137b and cam segment 143 on one of the cams 79 and is supported by a bar 137 to which a reciprocating movement is imparted by the rock arm 71, any undesired movement of the pattern controlled levers 125, 126 being taken up as lost motion by a spring coupling connector 124, Fig. 1. The pattern drum 134, Fig. 4A, controlling the rods 105, 106, is loosely mounted on the main pattern drum shaft 43 and can be connected thereto, through the pattern drum 41, by a pin coupling 144, operated through a lever 146a, a sleeve 150, a lever 158 and a bar 152 from a cam 153 on the shaft 46. The sleeve 150, which is slidably mounted on the bar 152 is retained in coupling position, against spring action, by a spring latch 162 until the latter is withdrawn by a pin 168 on a bar 164 controlled by a chain on the drum 41. Movement and selection of weft feeders.- In the construction shown in Fig. 11 an upright 169 extending between the rods 62, carries two levers 170, 171 that are urged by springs into engagement with the feeders 49, and a rocking lever 174 for selectively disengaging the levers, the member 174 being operated by an arm 176 on a shaft 175 that is rocked by a cam lever 181 to which an oscillating movement is imparted by the action of a pattern chain on an arm 184a, Fig. 3. Selection of the feeders may be made at the end of each stroke by providing duplicate sets of crank arms 176. In a modification, Fig. 13 (not shown), each rod 162 carries two spaced weft feeders which are operated by spaced brackets 169 and associated levers 170, 171 under control of two sets of crank arms 176, the stroke of the band 65 being reduced by altering the fulcrum of the lever 68, whilst in a further modification the weft feeder operating and controlling mechanism is duplicated at the back of the machine for co-operation with a further set of needles. The mechanism operating the crank arms 176 may be replaced by an arm having a lever that can be rocked by pattern mechanism into engagement with one or other of two cam operated rods. In order to prevent undesired motion during non-weft feeding periods, the rock arm 71 is locked in the two extreme positions of its oscillatory movement by the engagement with a notched sector 194 of a plunger 197, Fig. 9, operated by one or other of two arms such as 199a, that are movable axially on a shaft 198 under control of arms such as 204a on the shafts 86, 87 and can be rocked into engagement with the plunger by a cam operated arm 205. Take-up mechanism.-The knitted fabric F is withdrawn by tensioning drums 208, 209, Figs. 1 and 3, and wound on a drum 210 driven through a clutch 227 and slip coupling from the drum shaft 209a, which is driven from the main shaft 18 by an eccentric and pawl and ratchet mechanism 214. Needle bars.-To facilitate replacement individual latch needles 253, Fig. 21, may be mounted in a grooved bed 251 with their bent ends engaging apertures 251a and secured in position by a grooved cover plate 253. Specification 287,224, [Class 74 (ii)], is referred to.