US3002366A - Circular hose knitting machines - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 3, 1961 F. BRASACK ET AL 3,002,366

CIRCULAR HOSE KNITTING MACHiNES I Filed Feb. 1, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor FRITZ BRASACK WILHELM BRALL t orney Oct. 3, 1961 Filed Feb. 1, 1960 F. BRASACK ET AL CIRCULAR HOSE KNITTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a g Q I Inventors FRITZ BRASACK WILHELM BRALL United States Patent 3,002,366 CIRCULAR HOSE KNITTING MACHINES Fritz Brasack and Wilhelm Brall, Rheydt-Odenkirchen,

Germany, assignors to G. Stibbe & Co. Limited, Leicester, England, a company of Great Britain Filed Feb. 1, 1960, Ser. No. 5,837 Claims priority, application Germany Feb. 14, 1959 9 Claims. (CI. 66-42) This invention appertains to circular single cylinder hose knitting machines, and has reference particularly to such machines of the type furnished with an inturned welt mechanism including a circular series of loop retaining and transferring instruments accommodated in a dial associated with the single needle cylinder.

Two-feed circular hose knitting machines of the type having a rotary needle cylinder and stationary cam systems at both feeds are, of course, well known. Such machines are capable of producing heel and toe pouches by reciprocatory knitting, and the stationary cam box incorporates a cam for bringing back into commission the needles which are raised and idle during the knitting of either a heel or a toe pouch.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide, in a conventional two-feed circular hose knitting machine as just described, a simple arrangement of additional mechanism whereby the machine is converted to a three-feed machine.

This primary object is realised, according to this invention, by the provision, at a location between, on the one hand, the end of the second feed and, on the other hand, the aforementioned cam for bringing back into commission needles which are idle during the knitting of either a heel or a toe by reciprocatory knitting, of a third feed including a clearing cam and a withdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam being constituted by a cam piece which is movable into and out of an operative position within a space provided by a modification of one of the already existing cams at this location, and both the clearing cam and the stitch cam at this third feed being adapted to be controlled from a control unit of the machine.

The movable cam piece may advantageously be fitted in a gap formed in an upthrow cam conventionally used for raising needles to a normal run-through, e.g. tucking level after they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch cam at the second feed.

The withdrawable stitch cam included in the third feed may be slidably mounted in the stationary cam box for movement into and out of its operative position.

A further object of the present invention is to provide, in a conventional two-feed circular hose knitting machine of the type referred to converted to a three-feed machine as hereinbefore described, simple additional mechanism enabling two-feed splicing to be produced.

To this end, an additional jack raising cam is provided in conjunction with the second feed for action on selected needle-actuating jacks for the purpose of raising the corresponding needles to splicing height at the said second feed; moreover, to facilitate splicing at the second feed, the normal clearing cam at the latter is adapted to be withdrawn and substituted by a minimum height clearing cam in the form of a cam piece which is movable into and out of an operative position within a space formed by gapping the conventional upthrow cam located in advance of the said normal clearing cam.

In carrying out the invention, it is advantageous to provide at the added third feed a plurality of interchangeable yarn guides arranged to be selectively operated under control exercised from the control unit.

At the added third feed, moreover, there is provided a sinker retracting part which may conveniently be so arranged as to be actuated from drum-controlled connections serving also to actuate a corresponding sinker retracting part at the second feed.

During withdrawal from action of the third feed, in company with the second feed, prior to the commencement of a heel, the movement of the relevant yarn guide towithdraw its yarn from knitting at the said second feed may advantageously cause a yarn-engaging finger associated with the guide to sweep the withdrawn yarn into a trapper.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried into practical efiect, specific constructional examples of the various modifications of, and additional attachments applied to, a conventional two feed circular hose knitting machine to convert it into a three-feed machine capable of splicing at two feeds will now be described with reference to the accompanying purely diagrammatic drawings, wherein,

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary and exploded mainly perspective view of the necessary additional cams and attachments and the connections for operating the same under the control of the control drum of the machine,

FIGURE 2 is a developed layout of the conventional needle and needle-actuating jack cam systems of a twofeed circular hose knitting machine of the type concerned,

FIGURE 3 is a similar developed layout of the needle cam system per se showing the modifications and additions necessary to provide the third feed, and

FIGURE 4 is a development of the jack cam system illustrating the addition of the jack raising cam necessary to provide the two feed splicing.

In FIGURE 1, the heads of a few of the latch needles of the machine are indicated at N. These needles are mounted and work is a rotary needle cylinder. The said cylinder is surrounded by a stationary cam box B of cylindrical form. In this cam box there are conventionally provided at the main feed F a forward or laggingstitch cam ST, and a reverse stitch cam RST for use when producing heel or toe pouches by reciprocatory knitting. GC' is a guard cam and immediately adjacent thereto, there is a feed cam for directing knitting butts KB of the needles on to the stitch cam ST.

For selectively raising needles to a height at which they can take a splicing thread at the main feed F there are provided beneath the needles nib jacks having operating butts JB. Jacks whose operating butts are landed on to a jack raising cam RC in advance of the main feed F are elevated to raise the corresponding needles to splicing height SH at the location where the splicing feeder (not shown) is provided at such feed. Selected jacks elevated in this way are immediately retracted to the level L by a jack return cam JR. At SC is indicated a withdrawable starting cam for initially raising the jack butts JB from a normally low inoperative level LL where they pass idly below the jack raising cam RC to the level L at which they are engaged by the last mentioned cam. PC is a finishing cam for acting on the butts SB of all the nib jacks to depress them to the level LL at the termination of a splicing operation.

Immediately beyond the second or auxiliary feed F there is provided in the cambox B an upthrow cam 1 for action on the knitting butts KB to raise the'needles to a run-through level corresponding to tuck height.

During the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch on the heel and toe group ofneedles by reciprocatory knitting, the needles of the complementary instep group are raised to an idle position as is well known. To bring the instep needles back into commission, after the knitting of a heel or a toe, the knitting butts KB on these needles are acted upon by a so-called heel and toe cam HC which depresses the needles to the aforementioned run-through level. As will be seen, the upthrow cam l is located 3 between the stitch cam end of the second feed F and the heel and toe cam HC.

There are provided in the cam box B at the second or auxiliary feed F an upthrow cam 3 for raising needle butts KB to tuck height, a withdrawable clearing cam CC adapted, when operative to further raise needles to clear loops from their latches, a guard cam GC and a stitch cam ST Thus in the machine so far described, which is well known, there are only two feeds F and F and splicing, e.g. sole splicing, can only be produced at the main feed F To convert this known machine into a three-feed machine, by the addition of a third feed F the upthrow cam 1 is vertically gapped at 1a and there is provided in the gap a vertically movable cam slide 2; the conversion also includes the provision, in the cam box B at P of a retractable stitch cam 5. When the slide 2 is raised to the position shown in dotted lines in FIG- URE 3, the upthrow cam 1 is converted into a clearing cam for raising the needles to such a height that the old loops drawn by the needles at the second feed P will be positioned under the latches of the said needles. The stitch cam 5, when moved into its operative position at the same time that the slide 2 is raised, retracts the cleared needles, which have taken into their hooks a new yarn presented at P so that this yarn is formed into new loops and the old loops are knocked-over.

To enable splicing, e.g. sole splicing, to be produced at the second feed F as well as at the main feed F the jack cam system illustrated in FIGURE 4 is provided, immediately after the jack return earn 1 R, with a second jack raising cam 6. Thus, the butts JB of selected jacks which are landed on to the raising cam RC to efiect the selective elevation of needles to the splicing height SH at the main feed F are also automatically acted upon and raised again by the cam 6 with the same result at the second feed F Now needles, e.g. heel and toe needles, which are selectively raised to receive a splicing thread at either of the feeds concerned are, of course, automatically cleared. But the remaining unselected needles, e.g. instep needles at the feed must naturally also be cleared. However, in regard to the second feed F it would be disadvantageous to employ the normal clearing cam CC for this purpose because this cam raises needles too high. It is, in fact, essential that'at the feed F there shall be the maximum possible difierence in height between the hooks of the needles which are selectively raised to receive the relevant splicing thread, and the hooks of the remaining unselected needles which simply take and knit a ground yarn at this feed. To achieve this maximum difference in height, the normal clearing cam CC at feed F is withdrawn and substituted by another clearing cam 4 of less height, i.e. a minimum height" clearing cam. This cam must, of course, raise the relevant needles to the minimum height necessary to clear their loops-but no more. As shown in FIGURE 3, the cam '4, which is in the form of -a vertically displaceable slide accommodated within a gap 3a provided in the upthrow cam 3, serves to raise needle butts of unselected needles to the height CH. Thus, this clearing cam slide, when operative in its raised position, can be said to facilitate the taking of the splicing thread (presented at P by those needles having beneath them jacks raised by the cam 6.

Referring to FIGURE 1 it will be seen that the cam slide 2' is connected with a pivoted lever 11 which is adapted to-be pulled downwards, to raise the said slide, by means of a Bowden cable 1011. This cable is connected to a lever which is fulcrumed between its ends and is formed at its end remote from the cable 10a with a toe (not shown) arranged to. be acted upon by a cam on the main control, drum 12 .of the machine. The lever 10 is actuated to raise the slide 2 after the machine has produced the make-up or set-up courses and when the third feed F is brought into operation. At the same time the stitch cam 5 is projected into its operative position by means of a pivoted lever 16 which is controlled from the drum 12 through the medium of connections comprising a fulcrumed lever 13 having a toe to be acted upon by a cam 12a on the said drum, a rod 14 and a bell-crank lever 15. A tension spring 15a serves to connect the levers 15 and 16.

At the third feed F there are provided, in the illustrated example, two pivoted and interchangeable yarn guides 18 and 19 arranged to be operated selectively for feeding one of two alternative yarns to the needles at this feed. Levers 20 and 21, also controlled from the drum 12, are employed for operating the yarn guides 18 and 19 according to knitting requirements. The movements of the cam levers 20 and 21 are transmitted through vertical rods 22 and 23 to pivoted members 24 and 25 arranged for action upon the yarn guides 19 and 18 respectively.

At the third feed F there is'also provided a sinker retracting part 29 mounted in a ring 29a and this part is adapted to be withdrawn, to cause the conventional outside sinkers (not shown) to execute the necessary movements at the feed, by means of connections influenced by an existing rod 26 in the machine. This rod 26, controlled from the drum 12, is the one which serves to actuate a corresponding sinker retracting part at the second feed F As will be seen in FIGURE 1, a Bowden cable 27a clamped by means of a collar 27 upon the rod 26, is connected at its upper end with a centrally pivoted lever 28 arranged for actuating the sinker retracting part 29. Thus, as the rod 26 moves downwards, whenever the second feed is brought into commission, the bowden cable 27a will be pulled down to withdraw the sinker retracting part 29.

Prior to the commencement of a heel by rec-iprocatory knitting it is, of course, necessary first to withdraw from action both of the auxiliary feeds F and F During such withdrawal of the third feed F the yarn guide I19 (or 18) is raised to withdraw its yarn from knitting. According toa further feature of the invention, the said withdrawn yarn is automatically engaged and swept into a trapper 31. For this purpose there may conveniently be provided a yam-engaging finger such as 30 which extends into the needle cylinder, the arrangement being such thatpas the yarn guide 19 (or 18) is raised, the finger 30 will engage the partly withdrawn yarn and push it into the trapper 31. The movement of the said finger for this purpose is controlled by a fixed guide 32 supported upon the cam box B.

For efiecting upward displacement of the cam slide 4 in the upthrow cam 3 preparatory to carrying out twofeed splicing, an existing drum cam 33 is built up, by the addition of a portion 33a to an increased height whereby the conventional racking lever (not shown) is caused to make an additional movement. This movement is transmitted, through the medium of a rod 34 and a bell-crank 35, to another rod 36. To the rod 36 is secured a collar 37 in which is clamped one end of a draw cable 39 the opposite end of which is anchored to. a spring-controlled rocking lever 38 by which the cam slide 4 is raised.

I claim:

1. A circular hose knitting machine adapted to produce circular fabric by rotary motion as well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatory motion, comprising, in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needles with knitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam box surrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in the cam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitch cam in the said cam box at a second feed, a heel and toe cam in the cam box adapted, by action on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back into commission needles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch by reciprocatory knitting, an upthrow cam located between the stitch cam at the second feed and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, said upthrow cam having therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raise needles to a normal run-through height corresponding to tuck height after they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch cam at the second feed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and a withdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable into and out of an operative position within the gap in the upthrow cam and serving, when operative, to convert said upthrow cam into a complete clearing cam, and the withdrawable stitch camat the said third feed being between said upthrow cam and the heel and toe cam, a control unit, and operating connections between said unit and the clearing cam piece and the stitch cam at the third feed.

2. A circular hose knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the said movable clearing cam piece is in the form of a vertically displaceable slide.

3. A circular hose knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the withdrawable stitch cam at the third feed is mounted for movement slidably into and out of its operative position. I

4. A circular hose knitting machine adapted to produce circular fabric by rotary motion as well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatory motion comprising, in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needles with knitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam box surrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in the cam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitch cam in the said cam box at a second feed, selectively operable needle-actuating jacks with operating butts placed below the needles, a jack raising cam at the main feed for action on the butts of selected jacks for the purpose of elevating the latter and thereby raising corresponding needles to slicing height at the said main feed, a jack return cam for retracting said elevated jacks, a further jack raising cam in conjunction with the second feed whereby selected jacks elevated at the main feed are automatically and similarly elevated at the second feed to produce two-feed splicing, a heel and toe cam in the cam box adapted by action on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back into commission needles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch by reciprocatory knitting, an upthrow cam located between the stitch cam at the second feed and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, said upthrow cam having therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raise needles to a normal run-through height corresponding to tuck height after they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch cam at the second feed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and a withdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable into and out of an operative position within the gap in the upthrow cam and serving, when operative, to convert said upthrow cam into -a complete clearing cam, and the withdrawable stitch cam at the said third feed being between said upthrow cam and the heel and toe cam, a control unit, and operating connections between said unit and the clearing cam piece and the stitch cam at the third feed.

5. A circular hose knitting machine according to claim 4, wherein to facilitate splicing at the second feed the withdrawable clearing cam thereat is adapted to be substituted by a further clearing cam of less height whereby there is achieved a maximum difference in height between hooks of the needles which are selectively raised to splicing height at the second feed and hooks of the remaining unselected needles at said last mentioned feed.

6. A circular hose knitting machine adapted to produce circular fabric by rotary motion as well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatory motion comprising, in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needles with knitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam box surrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in the cam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitchcam in the said cam box at a second feed, selectively operable needle-actuating jacks with operating butts placed below the needles, a jack raising cam at the main feed for action on the butts of selected jacks forthe purpose of elevating the latter and'thereby raising corresponding needles to splicing height at the said main feed, a jack return cam for re tracting said elevated jacks, a further jack raising cam in conjunction with the second feed whereby selected jacks elevated at the main feed are automatically and similarly elevated at the second feed to produce two-feed splicing, an upthrow cam immediately in advance of the withdrawable clearing cam at the second feed, said upthrow cam acting on knitting butts andhaving therein a gap, an additional clearing cam which is movable into and out of an operative position, these movements being within the gap in the upthrow cam, and the additional clearing cam, when operative, replacing and being of less height than said withdrawable clearing, cam to facilitate splicing at the second feed by ensuring that there is a maximum difference in height between hooks of the needles which are selectively raised to splicing height at the second feed and hooks of the remaining unselected needles at said last mentioned feed, a heel and toe cam in the cam box adapted, by action on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back into commission needles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch by reciprocatory knitting, a second upthrow cam located between the stitch cam at the second feed and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, said second upthrow cam having therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raise needles to a normal run-through height corresponding to tuck height after they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch cam at the second feed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and a withdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable into and out of an operative position within the gap in the second upthrow cam and serving, when operative to convert said second upthrow cam into a complete clearing cam, and the withdrawable stitch cam at the said third feed being between said second upthrow cam and the heel and toe cam, a control unit, and operating connections between said unit, and not only the additional clearing cam at the second feed but also the clearing cam piece and the withdrawable stitch cam at the third feed.

7. A circular hose knitting machine according to claim 6, wherein the said additional clearing cam at the second feed is moved and controlled from a portion of increased height on a cam on a control drum through intermediate connections.

8. A circular hose knitting machine adapted to produce circular fabric by rotary motion as Well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatory motion, comprising, in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needles with knitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam box surrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in the cam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitch cam in the said cam box at a second feed, a heel and toe cam in the cam box adapted by action on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back into commission needles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch by reciprocatory knitting, an upthrow cam located between the stitch cam at the second feed and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, said upthrow cam having therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raise needles to a normal run-through height corresponding to tuck height after they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch cam at the second feed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and a withdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable into and out of an operative position within the gap in the upthrow cam and serving, when operative, to convert said upthrow cam into a complete clearing cam, and the withdrawable stitch cam at the said third feed being between said upthrow cam and the heel and toe earn, a plurality of interchangeable yarn guides at the third feed, a control unit, operating connections between said unit and the clearing cam piece and the stitch cam at the third feed, and further connections between the said control unit and the yarn guides at the third feed whereby these guides are selectively operated under control.

9.,A circular hose knitting machine adapted to pro duce'circular fabric by rotary motion as well as heel and toe pouches by reciprocatorymotion comprising in combination, a rotary needle cylinder, needles with knitting butts working in said cylinder, a stationary cam box surrounding the latter, forward and reverse stitch cams provided in the cam box at a main feed, a withdrawable clearing cam and a stitch cam in the said carn box at a second feed, a heel and toe cam in the cam box adapted, by action on appropriate knitting butts, to bring back into commission needles which are idle during the knitting of a heel or a toe pouch by reciprocatory knitting, an upthrow cam located between the stitch cam at the second feed, and the aforesaid heel and toe cam, said upthrow cam having therein a gap and acting on knitting butts to raise needles to a normal run-through height corresponding to tuck height after they have been retracted to knocking-over level by the stitch cam at the second feed, a third feed including a clearing cam piece and a withdrawable stitch cam, the said clearing cam piece being movable into and out of an operative position within the gap in the upthrow cam and serving, when operative, to convert said upthrow cam into a complete clearing cam, and the withdrawable stitch cam at the said third feed being between said upthrow cam and the heel and toe cam, a plurality of interchangeable yarn guides at the third feed, a control unit, operating connections between said unit and the clearing cam piece and the stitch cam at the third feed, further connections between the said control unit and the yarn guides at the third feed whereby these guides are selectively operated under control, a yarn-engaging finger associated with the yarn guides at the third feed, and a trapper to receive and clamp a yarn withdrawn from knitting at the last mentioned feed, the arrangement being such that whenever a yarn guide at the third feed is moved to effect withdrawal of the yarn from knitting, as when said feed is being put out of action prior to the commencement of knitting a heel, the yarn-engaging finger engages said withdrawn yarn and sweeps it into the trapper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,146,647 Page Feb. 7, 1939 2,544,829 Gilbreath Mar. 13, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 792,760 Great Britain Apr. 2, 1958

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