Patent ID: 7980100

Claim:
A knitting machine with latch needles, comprising a needle holder having on one face thereof a plurality of side-by-side slots which are open at one of their longitudinal ends on one side of the needle holder that defines the knitting forming plane, each slot accommodating a needle actuatable with reciprocating motion along the corresponding slot composed of extraction and retraction motion, the extraction motion for extracting the needle with its tip and with a portion of its shank from the needle holder through said longitudinal end of the corresponding slot in order to unload onto its shank the loop of knitting formed previously and/or to take up the yarn or yarns dispensed at a feed or drop of the machine, and the retracting motion for retracting the needle with its tip into the corresponding slot in order to form a new loop of knitting, lowering the previously formed loop of knitting to form knitting, further comprising knitting retainers, each of which has a body which is composed of at least two side-by-side laminar elements which are connected to each other, said at least two laminar elements of each knitting retainer being arranged in a same slot or in two contiguous slots of said slots, at least one of the laminar elements that compose a knitting retainer having a retention portion which forms a stop shoulder for the knitting, each knitting retainer being movable on command from a first position, in which the retainer does not interfere with the knitting being formed, to a second position, in which the retainer is inserted, with said retention portion, between two contiguous needles, in a region which faces said knitting forming plane, in order to retain the portion of knitting that lies between two contiguous needles, contrasting the transfer of the knitting along the needles during the extraction motion of said needles, actuation means being provided for actuating said knitting retainers for their transition from said first position to said second position and vice versa in a manner which is coordinated with the actuation of the contiguous needles.