US2533061A - Warp knitting machine - Google Patents

Description

F. C. SORTON WARP KNITTING MACHINE Dec. 5, 1950 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 13, 1948 FIG.I.

' INVENTOR.

/4 T TORNEX Dec; 5, 1950 WARP KNITTING. MACHINE Filed April 15, 1948 F. C- SORTON 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 5, 1950 F. c. SORTON WARP KNITTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 13, 1948 I INVEN R.

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Patented Dec. 5, 1950 WARP KNITTING MAGI-HN E Fred Charles Sorton, Whitinsville, Mass, assignor to Whitin Machine Wor s, Whitinsville, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application April .13, 1948, Serial 'No. 20,723

This invention relates to warp knitting machines.

In warp knitting machines as heretofore constructed the threading of the guide bars is a somewhat dimcult operation. The present invention provides an arrangement whereby the guide bars can be threaded more readily than heretofore.

i s peaking enerally, this is accomplished by, as it were, hinging the guide bars to the brackets or swing hubs, .so-called, by which the guide bars are-connected to their rock shafts. This permits the guide .bars to be swung to positions in which the guides are accessible for rethreading. Preferably the .hins ne is at the slide brackets that are interposed between the guide bars and the rock shaft swing hubs. Provision may be made for locking the hinged guide bars in normal operation positions, i. e. in their knitting positions with respect to their rock shafts, and ,for interlocking the guide bars with the Source of power by which the knitting machine is driven so that a guide bar can be swung to its threading position only when the machine is inoperative. Aholder may also be provided to hold the guide bar in a threading position. In the case of knitting machines having two or more guide bars, one in front of the other, both may be hinged to swing in the same direction to threading positions. With such arrangements it is sufficient to interlock only the outer guide bar with the source of power of the knitting machine directly, inasmuch as this hinging arrangement requires that the inner ,guide bar or guide bars be in ..knitting position when the outer guide bar is in knitting position, and hence one interlocking connection will serve for all the guide bars.

The foregoing is illustrated in the accompany..- ing drawings which show the preferred form of the invention. In those drawings Fig. l is a rather sketchy perspective view of a warp knitting machine of conventional form to which my invention has been applied. Fig. 2 is a larger view at two of the slide brackets supporting the inner and .outer guide ,bars of the machine of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section of the pertinent parts of the machine adjacent two such slide brackets, the guide bars being shown inkm'tting positions relative to their mountings. Fig. 4 is a front elevation at one of the slide brackets .of the outer guide bar. Fig.5 is a rear elevationofone of the slide brackets of the inner guide bar. Fig. 6 ,is a vertical section generally similar to that .of Fig. 3 but showing .the guide bars in threading position and also showing the 8 Claims. (Cl. 66-86) interlock between the hinged gui e bars and the control mechanism .of the machin Fig. 7 is a detail of the blocks of the interlockin mechanism.

In general the machin illustrated in $1 3 drawings comprises .a supporting fram on s ing of .a number of vertical members -,i and hori.- zontal members, some of which are shown at 2, i y coupling the verticals i together, two parallel yarn tea-ms. one of which is shown a .3. for carrying the warp threads on spools (shown p y in the d w ya n tensionins devices a part of one of which is shown at 5,, a guide bar rock shait l reciprocatable gui e bars 7 and .18 mounted on the rock shaft 5 and carrying the thin yarn guides indicated at la and 8a which wrap the yarns around the needles, a needle bar 5 carrying the needles (which are bearded needles), a sinker bar to carrying the sinkers which operate between adjacent needles, a presserlll serving the various needles, a cloth beam i.2't o receive ,the cloth from the needles, two pattern wheels -i'i and i3 for shifting the guide bars El and 8 longitudinally in accordance with a pre determined pattern, links 19 connecting the guide bars l' and 8 .to the pattern wheels re.- spectively, and mechanism, for the most part not shown,,forrocking the guide bar ,rockshaft sand for actuating the needle .bar, sinker bar, presser and cloth roll in manners that will "be understood from prior practices with machines of the kind illustrated. The machine is power driven by power supplied through a master switch located at, say, 1.3 and opened and .closedby longitudinal movement of a controller or control bar it extending across the frontof the machine, Fig. 11, and provided with a number ,of .oonveniently .reachedhandles It by which the operator can shift the control bar It to the right to open the master switch to stop the machine or place it out of operation, or shift the bar to the left (position shown in Fig. 1) to close the switch [3} to operate the machine to knit cloth. The con-.

trol'bar is .carried ,ina number .of brackets Lt fastened to theframework of the machine. One

of the warp threads guided by the guides of guide described.

Somewhat as heretofore the outer guide .bar 1 is carried by ,a number of slide brackets 15 mounted .on a similar number of brackets .Qor

swing hubs 26, so-called, which are mounted non-rotatably and non-slidably on the rock shaft 6. Similarly the inner guide bar 8 is carried by a number of slide brackets 28 mounted on a similar number of swing hubs 29, likewise non-rotatably and non-slidably mounted on the rock shaft 6. In accordance with the present invention however the upper slide bar 33 of each bracket 25 is cylindrical, and is carried, and also is both slidable and rotatable, in a bearing 3| projecting from a plate 32 carried by the adjacent swing hub 26. Each bearing 3| is held to its plate 32 by bolts 33 which pass through vertical slots 34 in the plate 32; the slots are to permit the bearing to be adjusted vertically along their plates 32 somewhat. A projection 35 rigidly mounted on the respective plate 32, carries a threaded bolt 36 which is screwed into the bearing member 3| of the plate and positions the bearing, or helps the bolts 33 to position it, along the plate. The purpose of this is to provide for adjusting the guides la vertically with respect to the needles; that is to say, by turning the bolts 36 one way or the other the bearing members 3| can be raised or lowered, and thereby the guide bar I raised and lowered carrying its guides la with it. Each bolt 36 may be provided with a set nut below its projection 35 as illustrated. As customary, a second Slide bar 31 is provided on each slide frame 25. Guide members 38 on the swing hubs 26 provide upwardly open slide ways for the slide bars 37.

Each plate 32 is slotted vertically at each of its two (upper and lower) ends as indicated at 43 and 44, Figs. 3 and 4, a, block 45 is provided to span each of these slots, and bolts 46 pass through these blocks and slots and are threaded into the respective swing hub 26. These serve to hold the plates 32 to the swing hubs 26 while permitting them to slide vertically on the hub faces as will be understood. The slots 43 and 44 are made long enough to permit each plate to slide from a position where its slide bar 31 is well within its slide way provided by the member 38,- Figs. 3 and 4, to a position where the slide bar is well above the member 38. Latches in the form'of sliding bolts 4! set in the swing hubs serve to releasably lock the slide plates 32 in their low positions in .Wh.ch their slide bars 31 are within the slide ways of the guide members 38; the outer end of each of these bolts is tapered to enter a tapered seat 48 in its plate 32, Figs. 3 and 6, and each is urged toward its locking or latching position, Fig. 3, by a spring 49 back of it.

' The low positions of the plates 32 and guide bar I, i. e. their positions in Fig. 3, are their operative or knitting positions, or rather are their operative or knitting positions with respect to, say, the rock shaft 6. While the machine is operating to knit fabric therefore, it will be observed, the slide brackets 25 with their slide bars 30 and 31 permitthe guide bar I to be reciprocated right and left by the pattern mechanism, e. g. wheel [7, in quite the same manner as the slide brackets employed heretofore. In addition however the cylindrical slide bars 30 and their bearings 31 constitute hinges for the guide bar 1, the axes of which are in line with each other and substantially parallel tothe axis of the rock shaft 6. During the knitting operations, and accordingly while the bars 3'! are within the slide ways of the guide members 38, these guide members hold the bars 31 to the swing hubs 2B and thus pre vent swinging on the hinges at 303l. When the machine is at rest however, i. e. while the 4 knitting operations are discontinued, the latches 4'! can be released and the plates 32 raised safely, along the faces of the swing hubs 23, until the slide bars 37 are lifted completely free of the guide members 38. The guide bar I having first been freed of its pattern links I9, may then be swung on the hinges 3i-3l toward one side of the machine and to a position whereat the guides la are conveniently accessible for threading; for example, it may be swung to substantially a horizontal position as shown in Fig. 6. The bar 1 may be held in such a threading position, while being threaded, by, say, a holder in the form of a hook or hooks 53 hooked to one or more of the slide bars 3? and to some conveniently located bar or shaft 56a of the machine. After threading is completed the guide bar I can be restored to its operating or knitting relation of course by again swinging it down until its slide bars 31 come to the slide ways of the guide members 38, and then lowering the plates 32 to engage these bars in these slide ways. The pattern link or links 19 may then be restored to the guide bar, and the latches all again allowed to enter their keeper recesses 48.

Obviously the plates 32 and their latches 41, whatever form they may have, can be operated in the foregoing manner in various ways, and either separately or as a unit. Preferably however I interlock them with the control bar or controller id as before indicated, and preferably I do this in the manner shown in the drawings. That is to say, a rock shaft 50 is provided extending substantially the full length of the machine; it may be mounted in, say, the swing hubs 26, or in separate brackets fixed firmly to the rock shaft 3 so as to shift therewith. At each swing hub 23 the rock shaft 58 is provided with a member 5i firmly afiixed to the rock shaft 50 so as to rock therewith. Each of these members 5! has an arm engaging with the adjacent bolt 41 in such a manner as to be able to withdraw the respective bolt 4'? from its seat 48 in the adjacent plate 32 as indicated at 52, Figs. 3 and 6, and a projecting linger 53 extending into a slot 54 of the adjacent plate 32. When the shaft 50 is rocked in such a manner as to withdraw the bolts 17 from the various slide plates 32, the projecting fingers 53 serve to raise the slide plates 32, as shown in Fig. 6, to thereby withdraw the guide bars 3? from their notches in the guide members 38. The fingers 53 may have enough play in the slots 54 to permit the bolts 4'! to be fully retracted from their keepers or recesses 48 before the fingers begin to raise the plates 32, as

will be understood from Figs. 3 and 6. One or more arms 53 are affixed to the rock shaft 50 to, the guide bar rock shaft 5, and which is hinged to a connecting rod 62. connecting rod is hinged at 33 to one end of a bell crank lever, or one corner of a triangular plate 34, which is hinged at 35 to one of the vertical frame members i of the machine; the

other end, or third corner, of 64 is hinged by a connecting rodbt to an arm .61 fixed to the controller or control shaft H4. The two bars 62 and 36 may be adjustable in length as indicated by the screw threads on them, in order to be read1ly adapted to the operation desired. Also the connections of the connecting rod 66 to 61" and B4 are loose so as to permit the sliding of the control shaft before mentioned, or the The opposite end of this,

eii n r arms 61 ay be mounted slidably on the control bar i l but keyed to the bar so as to rock with it An elongated block it, partly encirclin the control bar is and attached to this bar at some convenient place, and a second elongated block II, also partly encircling the control bar but affixed to the frame of the machine to the left of and adjacent the block it, Figs. 1 and '7, complete the interlocking mechanism. Fig. 7 shows the relative positions of these two blocks when the master switch It is open so-that the machine is at rest and the guide bar I is in its knitting position, Fig. 3.

It will be observed that the foregoing mechanism, from the rock shaft 50 to the controller 14;, permits the operator to actuate the slide plates 32 and their latches 41 by rotating the Controller 01' control bar 14. The full line position of this mechanism in Fig. 6 is its position when the latches l! are withdrawn and the slide plates 32 are raised, so that the guide bar I can be turned to and occupy its threading position, Fig. 6. The blocks 10 and H are so disposed that with the mechanism in this position, the block 10 is displaced angularly somewhat from its position in Fig. 7, so that the adjacent ends of ill and H face each other at least partially. As a result, the control bar l4 cannot be moved to the left to close the master switch l3 to start the machine in operation while the slide plates 32 are raised. However, when the threading of the bar I has been completed and this bar turned down on its hinges 30 -3I as before described, the operator can rotate the controller or control bar [4, say by grasping whichever handle l5 may be most convenient to him at the moment, and thereby shift the interlock or interlocking mechanism to its dotted line position in Fig. 6. This permits the slide plates 32 to move downward to confine the guide bar 1 to its operation relation to its rock shaft 6, Fig. 3, as before described; and permits the bolts 4! to return to their latching positions, Fig. 3. Also this turning of the bar I4 brings the block 70 to its position in Fig. '7. As a result the control bar can now be shifted longitudinally to the left to close the switch l3 to bring the machine into operation. When this is done however, block is carried to beside block ll, Fig. 1, so that as long as the machine continues in operation the guide bar I must remain in its operating or knitting position with respect to the rock shaft 6, and only by first stopping the machine can it again be turned to its threading position.

The inner guide bar 8, which guides such threads as 2|, also is hinged, and in quite a similar manner, so that it can be swung in the same direction as the guide bar and toward the same side of the machine, to a position where its guides also are accessible for threading, Fig. 6. I. e., to this end each of its swing hubs 29 is provided with a bearing 16 which is fastened to the back of the lower end of the hub by a bolt or bolts 11. Conveniently these bolts 11 can be passed through vertical slots 18 in the bearing members so that the height of the guide bar 8, and accordingly the guides 8a, can be adjusted at these bolts H with respect to the needles. The lower slide bar 19 of each slide bracket 28 of the inner guide bar 8 is made cylindrical, and both slidable and rotatable in its respective bearing 16. The upper slide bar 80 of each guide bar bracket 28 is held to the face of its respective swing hub 29 normally, i. e. during knitting, by a plate 8| which rests on a spacer 6; block 82 and in coop rat on with he fac of he hub providesv a sl d -way- .for the ide. bar durin knittin E ch late m y be e d, o the spacer block by a sin le bolt 83.

As in the case of the slide brackets 2 therefore, the slide brackets 28 provide for the reciprocation of the guide bar 8 by the pattern, e. g. [8, during knitting, and in addition provid for hinging of their guide bar. The platesv 8! have the same function as the guide members 38, that is to say they confine their slide brackets to the swing hubs during the knitting operations. In addition in the present instance the plates 8!, or their bolts 83, also perform the functions of the sliding bolts 41, in that they constitute latches by which the uide bar 8 is released for swinging. I. e. by loosening the bolts 83 the plates 8| may be swung, Fig. 5,, so as to uncover their respective slide bars 80. This permits the respective slide brackets 28 to rotate in their bearings 76 and thereby the inner guide bar 8 to swing to a convenient threading position, Fig. 6. By the reverse operations the guide bar 3 can be restored of course to its knitting position relative to its hinges 16, 19 and its rock shaft 6.

It will be observed from the foregoing that in arrangements where two or more guide bars are employed and all are arranged to swing in the ting relations, and similarly the inner guide bars,

cannot be placed in threading positions unless the outer bar has been placed in its threading position previously, a single interlocking mechanism for the outer guide bar serves as an interlock for all guide bars that may be mounted behind'it as well.

It will be understood that my invention is not limited to the details of construction and operation illustrated and described above except as appears hereafter in the claims, nd that the claims are intended to include equivalents of the various elements mentioned in them.

I claim:

1. In a warp knitting machine having knitting mechanism including needles, yarn'guides to feed yarns to said needles, a guide bar on which said yarn guides are mounted, and a rock shaft carrying said guide bar, characterized by the fact that said guide bar is hinged to the rock shaft on an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the rock shaft, for swinging movement to a threading position remote from the needles, and a holder is provided to hold said guide bar in said remote threading position 2. In a warp knitting machine having knitting mechanism including needles, yarn guides to feed yarns to said needles, a guide bar on which said guides are mounted, a rock shaft, swing hubs on said shaft, and slide brackets to which said guide bar is attached, characterized by the fact that said slide brackets are hinged to said swing hubs on axes paralled to the axis of said shaft, for swinging movement of said guides to a threading position remote from the needles, and a holder is provided to hold said guide bar in said remote threading position.

3. The subject matter of claim 2, each of said swing hubs and its associated slide bracket havassaoci mg, slidably rented, one a slide bar and the other abearing for the respective slide bar, characterized by the fact that said slide bars and bearings therefor constitute the hinges by which the guide bar is hinged to the swing hubs, for swinging movement of said guides to a threading position remote from the needles, and a holder is provided to hold said guide bar in said remote threading position.

4. In a warp knitting machine having knitting mechanism including needles, yarn guides to feed yarns to said needles, a guide bar on which said yarn guides are mounted, and a rock shaft carrying said guide bar, characterized by the fact that said guide bar is hinged to the rock shaft on an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the rock shaft, and a releasable latch is provided to lock the guide bar to the rock shaft in knitting relation thereto, release of the latch permitting the guide bar to be swung on its hinges, to move said guides to a threading position remote from the needles, and a holder is provided to hold said guide bar in said remote threading position.

5. In a warp knitting machine having knitting mechanism including needles, yarn guides to feed yarns to said needles, a guide bar on which said yarn guides are mounted, and a rock shaft carrying said guide bar, and a controller to start and stop the machine, characterized by the fact that said guide bar is hinged to the rock shaft on an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the rock shaft, and an interlock is provided between said guide bar and controller to prevent hinged movement of said guide bar to a nonknitting position when the controller is in machine-operating position.

6. In a warp knitting machine having knitting mechanism including needles, yarn guides to feed yarns to said needles, a guide bar on which said yarn guides are mounted, and a rock shaft carrying said guide bar, and a controller movable to start and stop the machine, characterized by the fact that said guide bar is hinged to the rock shaft on an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the rock shaft, a latch is provided to lock said guide bar in knitting relation to the rock shaft, a connection is provided through which said controller can actuate said latch, a

block on said controller, and a second block mounted apart from the shaft, said two blocks being so disposed relatively as to block movement of the controller to latch-releasing position while in machine-starting position and block movement of the controller to machine-starting ost tion when in latch-releasing position.

7. In a warp knitting machine having knitting mechanism including needles, yarn guides to feed yarns to said needles, at least two guide bars on which said guides are mounted, and at least one rock shaft carrying said guide bars, characterized by the fact that each of said guide bars is hinged to the rock shaft that carries it on an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the rock shaft, and both are movable around their respective hinge axes from their knitting positions, relative to the respective hinge axes, toward the same side of the machine, to move said guides to a threading position remote from the needles, and a holder is provided to hold said guide bars in said remote threading position.

8. In a warp knitting machine having knitting mechanism including needles, yarn guides to feed yarns to said needles, at least two guide bars on which said guides are mounted, at least one rock shaft carrying said guide bars, and a controller movable to start and stop the machine, characterized by the fact that each of said guide bars is hinged to the rock bar that carries it on an axis that is substantially parallel to the axis of the rock bar, one of said bars is movable around its hinge axis from its knitting position relative to its said axis toward the adjacent side of the machine, a second of said guide bars is movable around its own hinge axis from its knitting position relative to its said axis toward the other of said guide bars, and an interlock between said controller and the first mentioned of said two guide bars to prevent said first mentioned bar being moved from its said knitting position when the controller is in machineoperating position.

F. CHARLES SO'RTON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany Sept. 27, 1938

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