Patent ID: 8028546

Claim:
A pick-up device for picking up a tubular knitted article from a circular knitting machine for hosiery and for transferring the article to a unit adapted to perform additional work thereon, comprising an annular pick-up body that supports pick-up members that can slide with respect to said pick-up body along radial directions, said pick-up body being arrangeable coaxially around a needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine for hosiery so that each one of said pick-up members faces laterally a needle of the machine; actuation means being provided which act on said pick-up members to move them toward or away from the axis of said pick-up body, for the engagement or disengagement of each pick-up member with the needle of the machine that it is made to face, and each of said pick-up members being adapted to pick up the loop of knitting retained on said needle, wherein the end of each one of said pick-up members that is directed toward the axis of said pick-up body has a seat that can engage a region of the stem of the needle that is arranged proximate to the latch of the needle on the opposite side with respect to the head of the needle, and in that said actuation means comprise elastic means that act on said pick-up members for their sliding toward the axis of said pick-up body and radial pushers that act on said pick-up members for their sliding away from the axis of said pick-up body in contrast with the action of said elastic means.