US3496737A - Knitting machine with independently adjustable thread guide - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 24, 1970 R. G. BASSIST 3,496,737

KNITTING MACHINE WITH INDEPENDENTLY ADJUSTABLE THREAD GUIDE Filed June 12, 1968 FIG.

INVENTOR: EUDOA PH 6'- 3155/5 7' United States Patent 3,496,737 KNITTING MACHINE WITH INDEPENDENTLY ADJUSTABLE THREAD GUIDE Rudolph G. Bassist, New York, N.Y., assignor of one-half to Travis Mills Corp., a corporation of New York Filed June 12, 1968, Ser. No. 736,339 Int. Cl. D04b 23/06, 23/08, 23/12 US. Cl. 66-84 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to machines for producing ornamental knitted fabrics, and more particularly to an improved thread guide adjustable with respect to the guide bar which carries it.

As is well known, a knitting machine, e.g., a warp knitting machine, comprises a vertically reciproca-ble needle bar carrying a large number of upstanding knitting needles, and guide bars above the needles carrying depending thread guides. During each knitting cycle, the needles move upwardly, the guide bars swing the thread guides through the needle bed, shift longitudinally, and swing back to wrap thread around the needles, and the latter descend to complete the knitting cycle. The guide bars are caused to move in different ways so that some threads produce a ground fabric, and others produce ornamentation.

Prior to the invention set forth in my US. Patent No. 3,074,259, issued Jan. 22, 1963, thread guides were always fixed to the guide bar which carried them, and hence for certain types of ornamental fabrics a large number of guide bars and substantial equipment for control ling them was required. The invention described in my above-mentioned patent overcame this problem by providing a guide bar with one or more thread guides movable longitudinally with respect to the guide bar. This arrangement gives a single guide bar great versatility, and permits the use of one guide bar in place of many, thus yielding obvious advantages.

According to my previous invention, an adjustable thread guide is moved in one direction by advancement of a wedge element, and upon retraction of the wedge element a leaf spring returns the thread guide in the opposite direction. While this arrangement has functioned satisfactorily in a variety of machines, it has been found that in certain circumstances, particularly when very high speed knitting machines are involved, the leaf spring does not shift the thread guide quickly enough in response to the control mechanism effecting the movement of the thread guide along the guide bar.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an adjustable thread guide with means for positively shift ing the guide in both directions along the length of the guide bar which carries it.

It is another object of the invention to provide such an arrangement with which the same simple control mechanism employed with my previous invention may be used.

To achieve these objectives, the invention provides a 3,495,737 Patented Feb. 24, 1970 wedge element adjacent to each side of a support block, slidably carried by the guide bar, and from which the thread guide depends. A transmission is provided between the wedge elements in the form of a pin pivoted at its center to the guide bar at a location between the wedges, and pivoted at its ends to the wedges. A spring serves to advance one of the wedge elements, to slide the block and thread guide in one direction, the pin serving simultaneously to retract the other wedge to make room for this movement of the block. Alternatively, the control mechanism can retract the first wedge, against the force of the spring, whereupon the transmission pin simultaneously advances the other wedge to move the block and guide in the other direction.

Additional objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic front elevational view of a knitting machine having a guide bar provided with mobile thread guide elements;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary front elevational view, partially in section, of a portion of the guide bar supporting one of the mobile guide elements;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG. 3.

-FIG. 1 illustrates a guide bar 10 carrying mobile thread guide elements. In front of and/or behind the guide bar 10 are additional guide bars of more conventional type carrying depending fixed thread guides 11. Beneath all the guide bars is a needle bar 12 supporting upstanding needles 13. The guide bars carrying the fixed guides 11 are moved longitudinally in the usual way by pattern Wheels or pattern chains 14. As is known, these wheels are driven continuously by the drive shaft of the knitting machine. The guide bar 10 is not moved longitudinally as are the other guide bars, but instead the mobile thread guide elements it carries are moved longitudinally with respect to the guide bar.

.As may be seen in FIGS. 2-4, the guide bar 10 has an inverted substantially -L-shaped cross-section, and includes a vertical leg 17, and an upper horizontal leg 18. The lower edge of leg 17 is formed with a ledge 20 supporting individual box-like holders 21 for mobile thread guides 22. Each holder 21 is formed by a rear wall 23 which may be fixed to the leg 17 of guide bar 10, a front wall 24, two side walls 25, and a bottom wall 26. The holder is open on top, and the bottom wall has a slot 27 through which the thread guide 22 extends.

Guided for horizontal sliding movement within each holder is a thread guide support, in the form of a block 30, from which one of the thread guide elements 22 depends. The block 30 has a generally rectangular shape, but its two upper corners are removed (FIG. 2) to form downwardly diverging rounded shoulders 31 and 32. The upper face of the block 30 slidably engages a guide plate 33 extending horizontally between the front and rear walls of the holder 21.

Movable vertically along the inner faces of side walls 25 of holder 21 are wedge elements 34 and 35. Each wedge element has a relatively thin lower end, a thicker upper region, and a downwardly and outwardly beveled cam surface therebetween adapted to engage one of the shoulders 31 and 32 of block 30. Pivotally interconnecting the wedges 34 and 35 is a transmission including a pin 36 pivotally mounted at its 'center on the holder 21. An extension 37 projects forwardly from the rear wall 23 and is provided with a hole having arcuate wall surfaces when viewed in cross-section (FIG. 2). A ball 38 is rotatably arranged within the hole, and the pin 36 passes through the ball and is fixed to it. At each end, the pin 36 carries another ball 39 rotatably arranged within arcuatewalled holes in the upper regions of the wedges 34 and 35. The arrangement is such that as one wedge moves up the other moves down.

A rod-like actuating member 42 is fixed to, and extends upwardly from, the wedge element 34 and is slidably retained near its upper end within leg 18 of guide bar 10. A compression spring 43 surrounds the rod 42, and seats at its upper end against the lower face of leg 18 and at its lower end against a collar 44 fixed to the rod. The spring 43 urges the wedge 34 downwardly, and via transmission pin 36 urges the wedge 35 upwardly. The upper end of actuating member 42 terminates in an eye 45 to which is connected a wire 46 passing over a series of pulleys 47 to a double arm lever 48 (FIG. 1). This lever is periodically actuated by extensions 49 carried by a pattern chain 50 engaging a sprocket wheel 51. The wheel 51, like pattern wheels 14, are driven continuously by the drive shaft of the knitting machine.

By means of the chain extensions 49, which may be of different heights, the lever 48 is operated to effect movements of the wedges. Specifically, when no extension 49 engages the lever 48, the spring 43 moves the wedges 34 and 35 to the positions shown in the drawings, in which the cam surface of wedge 34 pushes the block 30 and hence the thread guide 22 toward the left. However, when lever 48 is pivoted by contact with an extension 49, the wedge 34 is raised, against the force of spring 43, and the wedge 35 moves downwardly pushing the block 30 toward the right. By suitable distribution of extensions 49 along chain 50, any desired periodical positioning of the mobile thread guides 22 can be effected to produce any desired ornamental pattern in the material being knit. It should be understood that each holder 21 on the guide bar contains a thread guide support block 30, with which is associated a wire 46' and a lever 48'. All the levers 48 and 48' may be controlled by the same chain 50, or separate sprocket wheels 51 and chains 50 may be furnished for controlling the various thread guides.

It will be appreciated that since the block 30 and its depending thread guide 22 is positively moved in each direction by a wedge element 34 or 35, the thread guide reacts very quickly to the movements of the lever 48,

and thus the present arrangement is admirably suited for use with knitting machines having the highest known operating speeds. If desired, the wires 46, levers 48, chains 50, and wheels 51 may be replaced with electro-magnetic operators, as described in my above-identified patent. Furthermore, to reduce the horizontal spacing between successive thread guides 22, the holders 21 may be arranged in two or more horizontal rows along the guide bar 10, the holders of each row being staggered with respect to those in the other row or rows.

The invention has been shown and described in preferred form only, and by way of example, and many variations may be made in the invention which will still be comprised within its spirit.

What is claimed is:

1. In a knitting machine, a needle bar having upwardly projecting needles, a guide bar cooperating therewith and having downwardly projecting thread guide elements, a mobile thread guide support mounted on said guide bar and movable relative thereto in the direction of the longitudinal axis of said guide bar, a mobile thread guide depending from said support, and means eifective during the knitting operation for moving said mobile thread guide in both directions along said guide bar, said means including two wedge elements arranged adjacent to opposite sides of said thread guide support, each wedge element having a cam face for engaging said support, and means for moving said wedge elements in opposite directions to effect movement of said support.

2. An arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said last-named means is responsive to movement of one of said wedge elements for moving the other of said wedge elements in the opposite direction.

3. An arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said wedge elements are spaced apart, and said last-named means includes a rigid transmission member between said wedge elements pivotally mounted on said guide bar, said member being pivotally connected to said wedge elements, whereby as one wedge element moves in one direction said transmission member causes the other Wedge element to move in the opposite direction.

4. An arrangement as defined in claim 3 wherein said wedge elements are arranged to move in parallel planes perpendicular to the direction of movement of said thread guide.

5. An arrangement as defined in claim 3 including a spring urging one of said wedge elements in one direction and via said transmission member urging the other wedge element in the opposite direction, and means for moving said wedge elements against the force of said spring in directions opposite to the direction of urgence of said spring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1963 Bassist 6684 2/1967 Bassist 6686

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