Patent Publication Number: US-6212912-B1

Title: Method for the manufacture of designed knitwear on circular stocking knitting and knitting machines

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention pertains to the field of circular stocking knitting and knitting machines and specifically pertains to a method for the manufacture of designed knitwear on such machines. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Various methods for the manufacture of designed knitwear on circular stocking knitting and knitting machines have already become known. One method, for example, consists of knitting with the needles of the machine at least one base thread with, alternately, two natural yarns or two yarns of different color and with a dual selection of the needles that must form the design of the knitwear. Another method consists of knitting, in the missed stitch form, at least one base yarn with another yarn of a different color or type by means of a single selection of the needles, which must form the design. However, the design that will thus be created in the knitted article has never been defined well and clearly, with the yarn of a different color or type being mixed together with the base yarn. 
     SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
     Thus, the object of the present invention is to provide a novel method for the manufacture of designed knitwear with only one selection of the needles, starting from a first base yarn (coarser), a second base yarn (or weft, finer than the first one) and a dyed yarn for the design. This method provides for knitting the dyed yarn together with the second base yarn, discarding the first base yarn in such a manner that the design becomes better defined, clearer and has a solid color. The object is accomplished by selecting the needles that must form the design of the knitwear in such a way that each of them picks up and knits the dyed yarn and the second base yarn, dropping, or discarding, the first base yarn, while the remaining needles pick up and knit both of the base yarns, excluding the dyed yarn of the design. 
     The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is a view, in developed form, showing parts of the cams for controlling the needles in a circular stocking knitting machine; and 
     FIG. 2 is a diagram, which is indicative of the course of the needles for manufacturing the designed knitwear according to the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to the drawings in particular,  10  denotes the plane of the sinkers of a circular stocking machine,  11  denotes one of the needles selected and intended to form the design of the manufactured knit article,  12  denotes one of the needles that usually knit as not selected,  13  denotes a first base yam, which is fed with a respective yam guide  13 ″,  14  denotes a second base yam coming from a respective yam guide  14 ′, and  15  denotes a dyed yam for the design. The dyed yam  15  is fed by a respective yam guide  15 ′. The yam guide  15 ′ is arranged at a level higher than the base yams corresponding to each feeding station of the needles. 
     FIG. 1 of the drawings also shows the cams for the ascending and descending operating movements of the needles selected and not selected and the arrow F denotes the direction of rotation of the needles in relation to the cams. 
     In particular, in FIG. 2,  16  denotes an empty zone of stitches previously made by all of the needles selected and not selected. In this zone  16 , the needles are all equally raised to a level l on the plane of the sinkers  10  and their blade is open and rotated, i.e., downwards against the shank of the needle for the opening of the hook of the needle. Such an empty zone  16  is followed by a zone  17  of partial lowering of the needles, from which the needles selected  11  then follow a different course than the unselected needles  12 . 
     A first solid line A and a first dotted line A′, which are parallel to one another, indicate the course of the hook  11 ′ and of the end of the blade  11 ″, respectively, of the needles selected  11 ′. A second solid line B and a second dotted line B′, which are parallel to one another, are, in their turn, indicative of the course of the hook  12 ′ and of the blade  12 ″, respectively, of the needles which are not selected. Of the different course A, A′; B, B′, the first ones are a level higher than the second ones and come from the zone  17 , which follows the empty zone  16 , to the usual pulling-down zone  18 , which is downstream from the station for the feeding of the base yams and of the design. From the zone  18 , all of the needles then follow a common course up to the next empty zone  16 . The needles of the design are, therefore, selected corresponding to a single zone S of the course of the needles (FIG.  1 ). 
     Having stated all this, to carry out the method according to the present invention, each of the needles  11  selected in S is controlled and raised to follow, with its own hook  11 ′, the course A until it reaches the level L above the plane of the sinkers  10 , which is higher than the empty level l, and, at any rate, a level higher than that reached by the hook of the unselected needles  12 , which usually follow the course B. More precisely, the height L reached by the book of the selected needles  11  is fixed beforehand in such a way that said hook is able to pick up the dyed thread of the design  15  (cf. FIG.  2 ), which is positioned at a level for feeding the said needles. On the other hand, the open blade  11 ″ of each needle selected  11  follows the course A′ to a level such as to pass above the first base yarn  13  coming from the yard guide  13 ′ and such that this yarn  13  is arranged behind the blade proper. 
     Therefore, the needles selected  11 , when they are subsequently lowered towards the stitch-pulling-down zone  18 , pick up and knit the dyed yarn of the design  15 , and then the second base yarn  14 , while they are not able to pick up the first base yarn  13 . This first base yarn  13  is thus excluded from the knitting by the needles selected  11 . Actually, the blades of said needles  11  will be closed by said first base yarn, which thus cannot be picked up by the hooks of the needles proper. 
     On the other hand, the needles that are not selected, following the course B with their hook  12 ′ and B′ with their blade  12 ″, usually pick up the first base yarn  13  and the second base yarn  14 , while they do not arrive at the level of the dyed yarn of the design, thus failing to pick up same. 
     The design of the knit article is thus obtained by picking up and knitting only the dyed yarn with the result as stated above of a clearer and more solid design. 
     While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.