Patent GB-190413092-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Circular Knitting Machines
Filed: 1904-06-09
Granted: 1905-04-20
Abstract: 13,092. Lake, H. H., [Jenckes Manufacturing Co., E.]. June 9. Circular knitting-machines.- Relates to a machine in which the V-shaped needledepressing cam is immovable with respect to the cam-cylinder, so necessitating the movement of the thread-guide to give the proper lead to the thread during reciprocation, and also necessitating a corresponding alteration in the action of the sinker cams. The needle-operating cams are supported at some distance from the inside of the cam-cylinder, to allow broken needle butts to fall out, and to enable the fashioning needle-pickers to be mounted inside the cam-cylinder. The sinkers 19, Fig. 1, slide in radial grooves in the needle cylinder and in internal and external rings 20, 19<a>, and are reciprocated by cams on a ring 21. These cams consist of three blocks 25, 26, 27, Fig. 14, pivoted together and to the rib 24 on the cam-ring 21, which is moved with the needle-cam cylinder by means of a notched arm 38, Fig. 14, engaged by the shaft 41 carried on the needle-cam cylinder. The thread passes from the bobbin through an eye 30, Fig. 1, in a latch-guard ring 29 pivoted to a post 31 carried by a ring 33 frictionally connected to the cam-ring 21. When reciprocation commences, a slide 43, on an arm 44 projecting down from the post 31, is moved within range of a projection 42 on the ring 19<a> ; the frictionally-driven ring 33 is thus arrested at each end of the reciprotion, and the thread thus obtains the required lead of the cam. Cams carried on the ring 33 engage pins 47, 48 on slides 45, 46 connected to the pivots between the blocks 25, 26, 27 and act in such a way as to adjust the cam-track at the end of each reciprocation, and ensure the withdrawal of the sinkers at the points where the needles are falling, and the projection of the sinkers over the work at the points where the needles are rising. The latch-guard and thread-carrier are mounted on and can be removed with the needle cylinder. The needle pickers 61, 60, 51, 52, Figs. 8, 9, and 20, for use in putting the needles into or out of action in fashioning, have needle-engaging notches at one end, and slide and turn against the action of springs 54, Fig. 5, on horizontal rods 53. During fashioning, an active or an inactive needle strikes the picker 51 or 61 and moves it longitudinally ; the action of bevelled parts of the cams 55, 69, 57, 65 causes the pickers to turn on the rods 53 and so releases the needle which has been raised or lowered into engagement with cams 55, 69, 57, 65, which move the needles out of or into action. The depressing-pickers put two needles into action at once, so that the lifting-pickers remain in action during widening. The pickers are put into and out of operation by moving the guard-cams 69, 65, which have tails 83, 90, Figs. 5 and 20, engaging segmental slides 85, 91, Fig. 5, having radial slots 86, 92. The slides 85, 91 are moved to and fro by means of crank-pins 87, 93 on discs 88, Fig. 1. and 94. Fig. 5, which are rotated step by step by means of a four-toothed star-wheel 110, when a fixed projection 111 is brought within range of the star-wheel. The latter is carried on the shaft 89 on the cam cylinder. The long-butted instep needles are put into and out of action by a cam 95, Figs. 1 and 20, on a shaft 102 rotated by tappets and an arm from the shaft 89 ; the cam 95 is also given a radial movement. The slide 43, Fig. 1, for acting on the thread-carrier and sinker cams, is moved by a slotted plate 112, Fig. 1, which is rocked on the shaft 41 by a pin moved by the parts which move the guard-cams and pickers When about to transfer a rib top to the needles, they are all brought to one level, with their butts in the groove 123, Fig. 20, by raising the block 78, Figs. 1 and 20, carrying the cams, and rotating the cam-cylinders. The block 78 is moved by rotating the shaft 41 which carries a cam engaging a pin on the block 78. The needles are returned to their normal position, when the block 78 is lowered, by means of a cam 139. A spring-operated bridgepiece 141 between the cams yields when the needle butts pass up the cam 139. The pickers are mounted on the block 78 which is readily removable. In a modified machine, the sinker ring is provided with a tricked guiding-ring to prevent wear. The sinker cam blocks 25, 26, 27 are moved, when fashioning, by bell crank levers pivoted to the sinker cam-rirg, the driving-pin of which fits between the adjacent inclined faces of the bell-crank levers. The thread passes through a slot in the latch-guard ring, Fig. 37, and rests in the leading notch 42<a> or 43<a> ; after the thread has passed over the active needles in fashioning, further motion causes it to slide up the inclined bottom of the leading notch and into the rear notch, which becomes the leading notch when the motion is reversed. The method of connecting the guard cams to their operating-means is varied slightly. The cams for throwing the instep needles in and out of action swing radially on a vertical axis. In a modified form of machine, the sinker cams consist of four curved parts on a movable plate 290, Fig. 45. Pins 300 on this plate engage slots in a plate which is driven by the pin 41, Fig. 1. The lost motion of the plate 290 at the end of its reciprocation causes the requisite alteration in the cam-grooves.