US2407397A - Fabric take-up and tension means for circular knitting machines - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 10, 1946 R. H. CARHART 2,407,397

I FABRIC TAKE-UP AND TENSION MEANS FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES I Filed Jan. 21, 1944 1 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 sepfl 1o, 194s.

R. H. CARHART 2,407,397 FABRIC TAKE-UP AND TENSION MEANS FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MAOHINES FnQd Jan. 2'1, 1944 s Shuts-Sheet; 2 u

I w I .S ept;.10,1946. RH, CARHART v 2,407,397

FABRIC TAKE-UP AND-TENSION IEANS FOR CIRCULAR KNITTiNG MACHINES mm Jan. 21, 1944 a Sheets-Sheet :s

Patented Sept. 10, 1945 FABRIC TAKE-UP AND TENSION MEANS. FOR- CIRCULARv KNITTING MACHINES Raymond H. Carhart, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to H. Brinton 00., Frankford, Philadelphia, Pa, a. corporation of Pennsylvania Application January 21, 1944, SerialNo. 519.174

' 4 Claims. (01. {is-149).-

1 My invention relates to combined fabric takeup and tension means for circular knitting machines, the sam being directed mainly to knitting machines of the type having astationary needle cylinder and a rotary cam ring, but not necessarily limitedto that type, and. it is an object of the invention to provide means of the character indicated, which shall be simple and inexpensivein construction, positive in operation, and not liable to get out of order. 7 Another obj ct is to provide in one unit a fabric take-up, a tension control, and a fabric reel, all located underneath the machine so as to require'no additional floor space. and where at the same time it is readily accessible.

Various devices have been proposed. for main-' taining a fabric under tension while being knitted, and for winding or otherwise collecting the fabric during the-knitting operation. Thus it has been. proposed. to provide, in circular knitting machines of; the stationary needle cylinder type, take-up tension rollers below the cylinder in combination with a reel located off to one side of the machine. An important. objection to this is the excessive floor spac required. Another familiar expedient is to provide such rollers close to the bottom of the needle cylinder, the cloth being permitted to accumulate beneath the machine, either in a basket or the like, or directly on the floor, and. being cut off and removed at suitabl intervals. This is quite unsuitable for wide fabric such as knitted on. body machines, though used for narrow fabrics; such as stringwork hosiery. Other expedients have been proposed, but are open to various objections, one of the principal objections to many such devices being. that the machine must be stopped whenever fabric is removed therefrom. Another object of my invention therefore is to provide simple and easily operated means for removal of either a full wound roll of cloth or a partially filled roll.

Another object of my invention is to provide combined fabric tensioning and reeling means directly underneath the needle cylinder of acircular knitting machine, so constructed and arranged that the maohinecan knit continuously and that a filled or partly filled roll of cloth can be removed without stopping the machine.

.Another object of the invention, is to maintain a'close control on the tension of the cloth being knitted. I

Anotherobject of the inventionis to wind the cloth on a roll in such manner as to make an exceptionally uniform mass of cloth, evenly laid andwith square ends, the shape of such ajroll being due largely to the closely controlled ten sion. and to the. use. of effective means for holding. the. tubular fabric in well-spread-out position as it approaches the cloth r011;

Another object is toprovide reeling means such that theroll of fabric will automatically remove itself. from the machine. when the roll of cloth reaches a predetermined diameter.

Still. anotherv object is to provide reeling means so constructed and arranged that the periphery of the roll of cloth approaches the floor as the roll grows larger, wherebythe roll becomes easier to handle as it increases in size and weight, since length of the. lifting and lowering movements necessary to remove it from the machine and toplace it onthe floor or other support de creases, with increasing size of the cloth r-oll.

Referring to the. drawings, which are made a part of this application and in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts:

Fig. 1, is a perspective of the lower portion of a circular knitting machine having my improved take-up applied thereto,

Fig. 2, a side elevation of from the right in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3, a rear elevation of the take-up, parts omitted,

Fig. 4, a detail view, showing on a larger scale certain parts also shown in Fig. 2,

Fig. 5, a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2, showing gearing forming part of the invention,

Fig. 6, a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 4,

Fig. 7, a detail illustrating the relative positions of eccentrics at opposite sides of the machine for driving, the take-up, and I Fig. 8, a section on line 8-3 of Fig. 3.

. In the drawings, reference character In indicates generally the base-plate of a circular knitting machine in which there is knitted a fabric indicated at H, which is wound on a fabric roll l2 to form a wound mass 13.

The. roll i2 is provided at its ends with gudgeons. l4 that are adapted to travel along inclined flanges 15, projecting inwardly from brackets 16 forming parts of, or secured to, the. main frame to. Slots, in the; brackets can, of course, 'be substituted for the flanges l5, if preferred. It will be evident that the roll of cloth can easily be liftedout ofthe machine when desired and an empty fabric r011 l2 can be moved down along flanges If! to the lowermost position, indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 8, to be filled in the subsequent operation of the machine. When the roll o cloth becomes of suflicient size so that the the take-up, viewed with gudgeons ride over the ends of the flanges |5, IS, the entire wound mass will automatically roll out on the floor and can then be separated from the cloth remaining in the machine and replaced by an empty fabric roll.

The cloth is guided in it path from the needles to the take-up roll by means of cloth guides, such as the pairs of guide rollers at l1 and 20. A spacer I8 is shown as connecting the brackets l6, but it has no guiding function,

For driving the fabric roll I provide means including a friction roller 2| against which the fabric roll bears as shown in Fig. 2, this rollerbeing driven from a shaft 22, which may be the main shaft of the machine, by means of an eccentric 23, a connecting rod formed in two parts 24 and 25, and a pawl and ratchet mechanism operated by said rod. The two parts of the connecting rod are yieldingly connected by means including abutments 26 and 21. clamped to the upper member 24 by screws 29, 29, said abutments being slidable on the lower member 25, a collar 28 fixed to the lower rod member 25, and a spring 30 on said member between the abutment 21 and collar 28. Preferably the abutment 26 is fixed in place, as by pinning it to rod section 24, whereas the abutment 21 is adjustable up and down on said rod section, the screw 29 acting as a set screw, or a rivet being substituted for it.

It will be evident that when the rod section 24 moves downward the abutment 26 will move without any effect on the rod member 25 until abutment 26 strikes collar 28, after which the rod member and parts operated thereby will be actuated positively, whereas on the return stroke the upper member moves positively with the eccentric but only lifts the lower member yieldingly through the spring 30 after the spring has been compressed sufficiently fo the purpose. Thus a full stroke of the pawl may rotate the fabric roll through only a small arc, or even not at all, depending on the tension of the forming fabric and the position of the abutment 27 with reference to the spring 30.

The pawl and ratchet mechanism at the side of the machine shown in Fig. 2 comprises an oscillatory lever 3| carrying a pawl 32 forced by a spring 33 toward a ratchet 34, and a holding pawl 35 serves to hold the ratchet against reverse movement. Suitable means for idling the pawls is provided, being here shown as including a disk 36 at each side of the machine, said disks being suitably notched to expose parts of the ratchets for engagement by the pawls 32 and 35 when the take-up is to operate, but arranged to lift both pawls out of active position at desired times, as when it is necessary to turn the roller 2| backward manually to release the tension on the cloth; e. g., when the cloth is first put on the machine, or for convenience in replacing the cloth on the needles after a press-on. For this purpose the disks 36 are rotated manually by means of bars 31 having hand grips at a convenient height and extending down through guides 38 on the frame to their pivotal connection with the disks 36. The bars have pins 37" adapted to enter either of a pair of holes in the adjacent side member l6, as best shown in Figure 1, showing the position of the parts when a pin 37" has been entered in the lower one of two such holes. The roller 2| is covered with emery to cause it to grip the cloth on the fabric roll, and so is another roller 46 underneath which the cloth passes prior to its engagement by the fabric roll 2|, 1. e., both rollers 2| and are drive rollers for taking up and tensioning the cloth. The roller 40 aids in tensioning the fabric evenly and firmly and in guiding the same to the fabric roll. Roller 40 is driven in constant relation with roller 2| by means of meshing gears 4|, 42, on the respective rollers.

' In order to maintain a close control on the fabric it is desirable to provide for steppin the fabric roll around between impulses received from that pawl and ratchet means which is best shown in Fig. 2, and therefore I have provided an additional pawling means at the other end of the fabric roll, as shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 7, this including another pawling means having a pawl 32 on a lever 35 operated by links 24, 25' from an eccentric 23' which is set at an angle of from the first-named eccentric, so as to rotate the fabric roll stepwise While the pawl 32 is being moved down preparatory to re-engagement with the ratchet. The parts for the second operating means (best shown in Fig. 1) are otherwise identical with those of the first operating means exsent that the pawls appear in reverse position as seen in said figure, being operated by a shaft 22' that is driven by gear connections to the cam ring, or in some other convenient manner, and therefore no further or more specific description is deemed necessary.

In the enlarged View of Fig. 8, cloth spreaders t5 and 46 are shown as arranged immediately above the respective pairs of guide rollers l1 and 28. The use of such spreaders is not new in itself, but by using two spreaders in succession above each of two pairs of guide rollers it is found that the roll of cloth is caused to be shaped very accurately, with square shoulders and flat ends, whereby the roll retains its shape, and whereby any wrinkles and the like are avoided in the cloth on the roll. The spreaders are shown as being made of wood, but metallic spreaders may be used. They may also be omitted, as in Fig. 2, but such omission is undesirable.

It will be evident that the roll of fabric may ride over the ends of the guides |5, |5 when the roll reaches a predetermined diameter, all without danger of injury to the cloth or of changing the shape of the roll detrimentally, since the periphery of the roll is close to the floor, and. in fact is closer to the floor when the roll is full than 0 at the beginning of the operation or at any intermediate stage in the winding. It is easy also to remove the fabric roll from the machine at any stage of the winding, since there is nothing to uncouple or to be dismounted or disengaged, and nothing to interfere with removal of the roll. Although the wound mass of cloth does not project to any considerable extent beyond the machine frame even when the cloth roll is full and about to roll ofi the tracks l5, it can obviously be reached easily by men standing near the machine for the purpose of lifting the roll out of the machine.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes may be made in the devices herein 0 disclosed, all without departing from the spirit of the invention; and therefore I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a knitting machine, a take-up for the forming fabric comprising a fabric roll, a roller in frictional engagement with said fabric r011, pawl and ratchet means at each end of said fabric roll for driving said roller, the driving pawl of .each of said means being constructed and arranged to act on said roller while the other driving pawl is making its return stroke.

2. A circular knitting machine comprising a table, legs supporting the table, brackets at 09- posite sides of the table and each located between a pair of legs, inclined tracks on said brackets extending upward and forward to the respective front legs of said pairs, a drive roller adjacent the lower ends of said tracks for driving a cloth roll located on said tracks, the relation of such parts being such that the periphery of the cloth wound on the cloth roll approaches the floor as the roll increases in size.

3. In a circular knitting machine having a stationary needle cylinder, the combination of inclined tracks at opposite sides of the machine,

6 i said tracks leading upward and towardv one side of the machine, a fabric roll underneath the needle cylinder and supported by said tracks, and means for driving the fabric roll in timed relation with the operation of the machine, said tracks being constructed and arranged so that the fabric mass will roll oif the tracks and onto the machine supporting floor when the mass reachesa predetermined size, and the driving means being so arranged and constructed with respect tothe roll and the tracks that the periphery of said mass approaches closer to the floor as the mass approaches such predetermined size. Y 4. A device as in claim 1, including independent manually-operable means for inactivating either or both of said pawls.

RAYMOND H. CARHART.

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