US3576115A

US3576115A - Loop-retaining arrangement for a circular knitting machine

Info

Publication number: US3576115A
Application number: US843377A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gerhard Schmidt
Original assignee: Franz Morat GmbH
Current assignee: Franz Morat GmbH
Priority date: 1968-07-24
Filing date: 1969-07-22
Publication date: 1971-04-27
Anticipated expiration: 1988-04-27
Also published as: BE736530A; GB1251282A; CS160107B2; DE1760955B2; FR1600182A; DE1760955A1; CH491229A; DE1760955C3; AT307607B; ES370676A1; NL6911039A

Abstract

The loops hanging on the cylinder needles and/or dial needles of a circular knitting machine, are retained by holding members so that they cannot be dragged along by needles moving to an advanced knit position and disturb the knitting operations.

Description

United States Patent Inventor Gerhard Schmidt [56] ReierencesCited Stuttgart-Willing, Germany UNITED STATES PATENTS g g- 33 716,767 12/1902 SCOtt d i 1971 1,506,800 9/1924 Wilcomb 1 2,276,920 3/1942 Bromley 6161 Ass1gnee FranzMorat GmbH Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany FOREIGN PATENTS Priority July24, 1968 1,458,789. 10/1966 France Germany 189,138 8/1907 Germany.... p 17 955 1 234,330 /1911 Germany LOOP-RETAINING ARRANGEMENT FOR A Primary Examiner-Wm. Carter Reynolds Attorney-Michael S. Striker 66/ 19X 66/ 19X 66/ 104UX CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Claims, 13 Drawing Figs. US. Cl 66/19, ABSTRACT: The loops hanging on the cylinder needles 66/25, 66/90, 66/1 and/or dial needles of a circular knitting machine, are retained Int. Cl D04b 9/06 by holding members so that they cannot be dragged along by Field of Search 66/ 19, l 15, needles moving to an advanced knit position and disturb the 90, 104, knitting operations.

III! I.

ll I lvlml FIG. 3

Ge-MMIy .(mm r PATENTED APR 2 7 I97! SHEET 3 BF 5 ObC I 1:. gh lk FIG. 6

h m- T x L BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is known to provide a flat bed knitting machine with strippers mounted on a carriage for the purpose of preventing the raising of the loops hanging of the needles by the advancing needles. It is also known to provide flat bed knitting machines with wire members on the carriage which press against the loops in the region between the needle beds.

The loop-retaining devices according to the prior art cannot be used for circular knitting machines of the type including a needle cylinder and a dial. If a circular knitting machine has a stationary cam box, the required stationary pressure on the knitted fabric requires a very complicated mechanism. It cannot be applied to knitting machines with rotating cam box since the stripper would produce a sliding friction on the yarn which would damage the same and increase the pull exerted by the loops on the needles when the same move to the knit position.

In circular knitting machines, the upward dragging of loops on the needle stems against the pull exerted on the finished fabric, has the disadvantage that, particularly in the castoff position of the dial needles, the loops slide over the open latch of the needle, and are either caught by the hook, or penetrated by its point so that the loop is not cast off over the newly formed loop, and no stitch is made. There is also the danger that the loop hanging on the needle stem skips the open needle hook. This is no particular disadvantage for a plain-knitted.

fabric, but causes faults if a relief pattern is knitted with burlings or tuck stitches on a double-rib fabric.

A tuck stitch is formed of a plurality of tuck loops or tuck floats in connection with a holding loop. Depending on the yarn thickness and gauge of the machine, a tuck stitch may include up to five tuck loops which, together with the holding loop, are cast off in the seventh course. In the event that a holding loop of a tuck stitch skips the needle hook, the relief pattern is interrupted since the tuck stitch is not tensioned.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is one object of the invention to prevent the undesired displacement of loops hanging on the needles which may be caused by the dragging along of the loops by the needles moving to an advanced position.

Another object of the invention is to retain the needle loops by an extremely simple device requiring only a few changes of an existent knitting machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a loop retaining device for a circular knitting machine which retains the loops in such a manner that the dial loops and the cylinder loops have the same small size.

Another object of the invention is to retain the holding loops of tuck stitches of a double-rib fabric in such a position on the respective needles that they are caught by the needle hooks during the movement of the needle from the tuck position to the castoff position.

With these objects in view the present invention provides holding members alternating with the needles and having holding edges confronting the needles spaced from the same so that the loops on the needles are retained by the holding edges of adjacent holding members when the advancing movement of the needle tends to drag the loops along.

One embodiment of the invention is used in a circular knitting machine which has cylinder needle means and dial means with needle-supporting surfaces bounded by circular edges, respectively, and a set of needles mounted on each needle-supporting surface for movement in a knitting direction beyond the circular edge of the respective needlesupporting surface to and from an advanced knit position.

In accordance with the present invention, a set of holding members is secured to at least one of the needle-supporting surfaces in a position alternating with the needles mounted on the same. Each holding member has a holding portion projecting from the respective circular edge, and having a holding edge connecting the free end o'fthe projecting holding portion with the respective circular edge. At least in the region of the free end of the projecting holding portion, the holding edge is spaced from the respective needle-supporting surface and from the respective adjacent needles in a direction transverse to the respective needle-supporting surface. As a result, portions of the loops on the needles, are engaged and retained by the holding edges of adjacent holding members and are not dragged away from the circular edges by needles moving to the advanced knit position.

The projecting holding members are particularly efficient if provided on the needle-supporting surface of the dial alternating with the dial needles, but it is also possible to provide the holding members on the cylindrical needlesupporting surface of the needle cylinder alternating with the cylinder needles, or to provide both, the dial, and the needle cylinder with a set of holding members, which alternate with the dial needles and the cylinder needles, respectively.

Since the needle-supporting surfaces of the dial and of the needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine are conventionally provided with guide ridges between the needles for the purpose of guiding the needles, the improvement of the present invention can be provided in a very simple manner by replacing he standard ridges with the projecting holding members of the invention.

The holding edge of a holding member according to the invention can be constructed in different ways. In one embodiment, a straight holding edge extends between the free end of the projecting holding portion, and the circular edge of the respective needle-supporting surface, and is slanted to the same. In another embodiment, the holding edge is curved and concave toward the needles and the respective needlesupporting surface. The curve is preferably parabolic and has its apex located in the circular edge of the respective supporting surface. In another embodiment, the holding edge has in the region of the free end of the projecting holding portion, an edge portion spaced from the respective adjacent needles and being parallel to the respective needle-supporting surface, and this edge portion is connected by a shoulder with the circular edge of the respective needle-supporting surface.

The holding members of the dial have projecting portions projecting in radial direction from the circular peripheral edge of the dial. The holding members of the needle cylinder have holding portions projecting from the upper circular edge of the needle cylinder upward and parallel to the axis of the same.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are fragmentary vertical sectional views illustrating a first embodiment of the invention in three operational positions, parts of the knitting machine which have no bearing on the present invention being omitted for the sake of clarity and simplicity;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary elevation illustrating the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3 in the operational position of FIG. 2, but on a reduced scale;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the loop formation of a relief patterned knitted fabric incorporating tuck stitches;

FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are fragmentary vertical sectional views illustrating the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3 applied during the knitting of the relief-pattemed fabric, showing three different operational positions;

FIG. 9, FIG. and FIG. 11 are fragmentary sectional views illustrating three different embodiments of holding members according to the invention which can be used in the embodiments of FIGS. 2 and 6;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary front elevation illustrating the embodiment of FIGS. 6 to 8 at a reduced scale; and

FIG. 13 is a fragmentary view illustrating the holding member of FIG. 11 cooperating with a dial needle in the tuck position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIGS. 1 to 4, cylinder needles I are mounted on the peripheral circular needle-supporting surface 3a of a needle cylinder 3 for movement in axial direction between the retracted position in FIG. I, the intermediate position shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, and the advanced knit position shown in FIG. 3. Guide ridges 6 alternate with cylinder needles I, and have upper ends adjacent the circular upper edge 3b of needle cylinder 3.

A dial 4 has a planar needle-supporting surface 4a on which dial needles 2 are mounted for radial movement between the retracted position shown in FIG. I, the intermediate position shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, and the advanced knit position shown in FIG. 3. Instead of guide ridges, holding members 5 are secured to the needle-supporting surface 40 alternating with dial needles 2.

Each holding member 5 has a holding portion projecting from the circular peripheral edge 4b of dial 4, and in the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4, the projecting portion has a free end with an end face 5b, a shoulder 5a projecting upward from the circular edge 4b, and a horizontal edge portion 50 connecting the free end of the projecting portion with shoulder 5a so that a cutout is formed in each holding member 5 whose holding edge portion is located not only above the needle-supporting surface 40, but also above the highest points of the adjacent dial needles 2 when the same have been advanced as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The last loop 7 formed on cylinder needle I is connected with the last loop 9 formed on dial needle 2, and

loops

7 and 8 are respectively connected with a previously formed cylinder loop 8 and a previously formed dial loop 10.

In a circular knitting machine of the type illustrated in FIGS. l l to 4, the dial needles 2 are circumferentially staggered in relation to the cylinder needles I, and consequently a cylinder needle I and a holding member 5 are located in a common radial plane passing through the common axis of the needle cylinder 3 and the dial 4. In FIG. 3;

the holding member 5 which is located in the same radial plane as the illustrated cylinder needle 1, is omitted for the sake of clarity, and the holding member 5 is shown to be located behind the dial needle 2 which is behind the cylinder needle 1. Another cylinder needle 1 is located behind dial needle 2 in the same radial plane as the illustrated holding member 5.

During rotation of needle cylinder 3 and dial 4, cam tracks in a cam box, not shown, surrounding needle cylinder 3, and a dial cam, not shown, on top of dial 4, cause relative movements of the cylinder needles I and the dial needles 2 between the positions illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. Yarns are supplied to the needles a a plurality of knitting stations, but this conventional arrangement is not an object of the invention and consequently not illustrated.

When the cylinder needles I and the dial needles 2 move out of the position shown in FIG. I and assume the positions shown in FIG. 2, the

loops

7 and 9 are engaged by needle portions of increased thickness required for pivotally supporting the latch of the needle. Consequently, the cylinder needles and dial needles act on

loops

7 and 9 to push the same upward and outward, respectively, pulling on the finished fabric lla which is drawn off in the direction of the arrow 1!. Due to the pulling force exerted by the finished fabric Ila in downward direction, the legs of the loops 9 hanging on the dial needles, remain under the horizontal holding edge 5c of the two holding members 5 which are locatedon opposite sides of the respective dial needle 2. The loops 7 hanging on cylinder needles I can only drag upward to the position shown in FIG. 2 since the pull on the finished fabric in direction 11 holds the loops 9 tensioned, and since upward movement of the dial needle loops 9 is prevented by the horizontal holding edges 50 of the adjacent holding members 5. Dial needles 2 and cylinder needles 1 are simultaneously moved outward and upward, respectively, so that they are at the same time in the knit position. During this movement, the loop on the cylinder needle I may be dragged upward so that the loop hanging on the dial needle 2 is also raised to such a degree that the thick needle portion can slip through this loop, but cannot move higher than permitted by the horizontal holding edge 50 which, as best seen in FIG, I, is below the point of the hook of the dial needle. The loop hanging on the dial needle is thus reliably located behind the needle latch during the outward movement of the dial needle, in order to form a stitch with a new loop. When the holding member is provided between cylinder needles on members 6, the same effect is produced.

It is impossible that the cylinder needle loops 7 are raised by the thick needle portion la of the cylinder needles 1 all the way until the cylinder needle 1 is in the knit position shown in FIG. 3, which would cause a fault in the fabric, since the loops 9 are retained by the holding edges 50, and even the friction of the smallest possible loops 7 during the passage of the needle portion Ia through these loops along the entire path of movement of the cylinder needles cannot exert such a pulling force on the yarn and fabric as would be required to completely straighten the cylinder needle loop 7 and the sinker loop connected with the same and with the dial loop 9, and the same is true for dial loop 9.

In any event, the holding member 5 and its holding edge 50 prevents not only the dragging up of the loop of the dial needle 9, even if the loop is outward dragged along part of e holding edge 5c, but also obtains the result that the loops of the cylinder needles and the corresponding dial needles 7 have the same size. This is due to the cooperation of the horizontal holding edges 5c, whose position and length is suitably connected, with the needles and needle loops.

A disadvantage of forming the pattern by means of the cylinder needles is that, if no holding members 5 in accordance with the present invention are provided, the dial loops 9 are drawn out to be larger than the cylinder needle loops, and are pierced by the points of the hooks of the dial needles moving to the castoff position. The same disturbance occurs with the dial needle loops when the pattern is made by the dial needles.

The front elevation of FIG. 4 shows in connection with FIG. 2 that the two

loops

7 and 9 on the cylinder needles and dial needles, respectively, and the sinker loop between the same, cannot be deformed into a straight line. Since the needle loops and the sinker loops are small, the loops 7 on cylinder needles 1 can only be raised to the position shown in FIG. 3 located below the needle latch when the needles are in the advanced knit position.

FIG. 5 illustrates a relief pattern fabric which has courses a to n, cylinder needle wales A, C, E, G, J, and dial needle wales B, D, F, H, and K. Tuck stitches 14 are knitted on the cylinder needles, and tuck stitches 15 are knitted on the dial needles. Each tuck stitch has a holding loop 14, and 15 respectively, coming from the courses d, g, and k, and also has two tuck loops coming from the courses b and c, e and f, and h and i, respectively. The tuck loops 14a and 14b, respectively 15a and I5b of the tuck stitches 14 and 15, have the effect that the jersey loops of the wales A to K are bent rearward in the cour ses b, c, d and h, i, and k, and forward in the courses e,f, g and l, m, n so that a relief pattern is formed.

FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 12 illustrate the use of the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 4 for a relief-patterned knitted fabric, and for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that the relief-patterned fabric shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 and 12 has tuck stitches 15 only in the dial needle wales B, D, F, H and K. It is, of course, also possible to make tuck stitches only on the cylinder needles 1 corresponding to the tuck stitches 14 in the wales A, C, E, G and J. In either fabric, the outward bending appears only on one side of the fabric.

As in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3, holding members 5 alternate with dial needles 2 and have a cutout bounded by a holding edge portion 50 which is parallel to the needlesupporting surface 4a of the dial. Guide ridges 13 are located in the same radial planes as the holding members 5, but are separated from the same a distance y. Guide members 12 are located between adjacent cylinder needles I and are separated from guide ridges 6 a distance x, for reasons which have no bearing on the present invention. As shown in solid lines, the guide ridges 6 end in end faces 6a at the same height as the circular edge 3b at the upper end of the needle cylinder 3.

A modification is shown in broken lines in which the guide member 6 has a holding portion 6b projecting beyond the circular upper edge 3b of the needle cylinder 3, and having a slanted holding edge 17 cooperating with the needle loops of the adjacent cylinder needles I.

While FIGS. 6 to 8 illustrate a holding member 5 with a horizontal holding edge portion 5c, other embodiments are illustrated in FIGS. 9 to II. In FIG. 9, holding member 51 has a free end face 5b, and a straight holding edge 17 connecting the free end face 5b with the circular edge 4b of dial 4.

In the embodiment of FIG. 10, holding member 52 has a concave holding edge 18 connecting the free end face 5b with the circular edge 4b of the dial 4.

In the embodiment of FIG. 11, the holding member 53 has a concave parabolic holding edge 19 whose apex is located in the region of the outer circular edge 4b.

Each of the modifications shown in FIGS. 9 to II can be used instead of the holding member 5, or instead of the guide member 6 shown in -FIG,. 6, depending on operational conditions, the selected pattern, and the properties of the yarn.

In the position of FIG. 6, the needles move in the direction of the arrows P toward the knit position shown in FIG. 7. A loop hangs on a cylinder needle I, and two tuck loops a, 15b hang on a dial needle 2, together with the holding loop IS in order to form a tuck stitch 15 in the position of FIG. 8, corresponding to a tuck stitch I5 in the fabric of FIG. 5. However, as stated above, in the illustrations of FIGS. 6 to 8, it is assumed that tuck stitches are only formed on the dial needles, and that no tuck stitches are formed on the cylinder needles.

In FIG. 3, needles 1 and 2 are in the knit position, and cylinder needles 1 and dial needles 2 catch a new yarn, a yarn 16 being shown for the cylinder needle la. When the needle is moved to the castoff position and then to the position of FIG. 8, the new loops 7 are pulled through the old loops I0, and the new loop 9 formed by the dial needles 2 is pulled through the holding loop 15' and the

tuck loops

15a and 15b to form a tuck stitch 15.

The holding

edge

5c, 17, I8, or I9 of holding member 5 prevents a rising of the tuck loops 150 or 15b, or of the holding loop 15 in a direction perpendicular to the stem of the dial needle, as best seen in FIG. l2. The free end face 5c of holding member 5 ends at the horizontal holding edge 50. It is apparent from the drawing that the

loop portions

15a, 15b, 15c cannot rise upward because they are retained by the horizontal holding edges 50. The holding edges shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 have the same effect.

The wales knitted by the cylinder needles 1 and dial needles 2 are shown in adjacent positions in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8 in order to clearly show the interconnection between the cylinder needle loops and dial loops. Actually, the wales are located behind each other because they are pulled downward in the direction of the arrow 11 by conventional device.

The loop-retaining arrangement of the invention can not only be used for circular knitting machines in which the needle cylinder and dial rotate, and the cam box is at a standstill, but also for circular knitting machines in which the needle cylinder and dial are at a standstill, and the cam box rotates.

As already noted, holding members cannot only be provided on the dial, but also on the needle cylinder, or only provided on the needle cylinder, and omitted on the dial, in which even tuck stitches 14 would be made on the cylinder needles. If holding

members

5 and 6 with holding edges as explained above, are used in connection with the needle cylinder and the dial, the relief pattern shown in FIG. 5 having tuck stitches in adjacent dial needle wales and cylinder needles wales can be knitted efficiently on the circular knitting machine.

The number of tuck loops of which the tuck stitches are formed is immaterial, and it is only the purpose of the invention to prevent that the loops of which the tuck stitches 14 or 15 are formed, partially or all skip over the needle latch when the needles move from the position of FIG. 7 to the position of FIG. 8.

As shown in FIG. 13, the holding loop I5 of a tuck stitch should not be placed behind the latch 24, and it is therefore necessary to place the dial needle in the tuck position in which the holding loop 15 is disposed on the open latch 2a. Also after the formation of the

tuck loops

15a and 15b, the needle is in the position of FIG. 13 during the forward movement. Only when the holding loop and the

tuck loops

15a and 15b are to be cast off over the loop 9, as: shown in FIGS. 6 and 8 the needle moves in the direction of the arrow P to the normal knit position, as shown in FIG. 7, so that the holding loop 15 and the

tuck loops

15a and 15b are cast off over the closed latch and hook onto the loop 9, see FIG. 8, whereby the tuck stitch 15 is formed.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of loop-retaining arrangements for knitting machines differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a set of holding members projecting from the circular edge of the dial or needle cylinder, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since the various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

Iclaim:

l. Loop retaining arrangement for a circular knitting machine, comprising, in combination, needle cylinder means and dial means, each having a needle-supporting surface bounded by a circular edge, a set of needles mounted on each of said needle-supporting surfaces for movement in a knitting direction beyond said edge to and from an advanced position; a set of holding members secured to at least one of said needle-supporting surfaces in a position to at least one of said needle-supporting surfaces in a position alternating with the needles mounted on said one needle-supporting surface, each holding member having a holding portion projecting from the circular edge of said one needle-supporting surface, said projecting holding portion having a holding edge connecting the free end of said projecting holding portion with said circular edge, said holding edge being at least at said free end spaced from said one needle-supporting surface and from the respective adjacent needles in a direction transverse to said one needle-supporting surface whereby loops on said needles have portions engaged and retained by the holding edges of adjacent holding members and are not dragged away from said circular edges by needles moving to said advanced position.

2. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim I wherein said holding edge has a shoulder projecting from said circular edge of said one needle-supporting surface transverse to the same, and an edge portion extending parallel to said one needle-supporting surface from said shoulder to said free end.

3. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim I wherein said one needle-supporting surface is the needlesupporting surface of said dial means; wherein said holding members alternate with dial needles; wherein said holding edge is at least in the region of said free end of each holding member located above the adjacent dial needles.

4. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding edge is straight and connects said free end of said holding portion with a point of said holding member located at said circular edge of said one needlesupporting surface so that said holding edge is slanted to said one needle-supporting surface.

5. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding edge is concave toward said adjacent needles.

6. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding e'dge extends along a parabolic curve and is concave toward said adjacent needles; and wherein the apex of said parabolic curve is located at said circular edge of said one needle-supporting surface.

7. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein a set of holding members is secured to each of said needle-supporting surfaces alternating with said cylinder needles and said dial needles, respectively; and wherein each holding member of each set has a holding edge connecting the free end of said holding portion thereof with the respective circular edge whereby loops on said cylinder needles and on said dial needles are retained and not dragged along with needles moving toward said advanced position.

8. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 7 'wherein the holding members which are secured to said needle cylinder means have a holding edge slanted to the other needle-supporting surface; and wherein said holding members which are secured to said dial means have an edge portion of said holding edge located above the plane of said one needle-supporting surface in the region of said free end, and have a shoulder portion connecting said edge portion with said circular edge of said needle-supporting surface of said dial means.

9. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said one needle-supporting surface is the needlesupporting surface of said dial means; wherein said holding members alternate with dial needles; and wherein said holding edge has a shoulder projecting from said circular edge of said needle-supporting surface of said dial means transverse to the

Claims

1. Loop-retaining arrangement for a circular knitting machine, comprising, in combination, needle cylinder means and dial means, each having a needle-supporting surface bounded by a circular edge, a set of needles mounted on each of said needle-supporting surfaces for movement in a knitting direction beyond said edge to and from an advanced position; a set of holding members secured to at least one of said needle-supporting surfaces in a position to at least one of said needle-supporting surfaces in a position alternating with the needles mounted on said one needlesupporting surface, each holding member having a holding portion projecting from the circular edge of said one needle-supporting surface, said projecting holding portion having a holding edge connecting the free end of said projecting holding portion with said circular edge, said holding edge being at least at said free end spaced from said one needle-supporting surface and from the respective adjacent needles in a direction transverse to said one needle-supporting surface whereby loops on said needles have portions engaged and retained by the holding edges of adjacent holding members and are not dragged away from said circular edges by needles moving to said advanced position.

2. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding edge has a shoulder projecting from said circular edge of said one needle-supporting surface transverse to the same, and an edge portion extending parallel to said one needle-supporting surface from said shoulder to said free end.

3. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said one needle-supporting surface is the needle-supporting surface of said dial means; wherein said holding members alternate with dial needles; wherein said holding edge is at least in the region of said free end of each holding member located above the adjacent dial needles.

4. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding edge is straight and connects said free end of said holding portion with a point of said holding member located at said circular edge of said one needle-supporting surface so that said holding edge is slanted to said one needle-supporting surface.

6. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said holding edge extends along a parabolic curve and is concave toward said adjacent needles; and wherein the apex of said parabolic curve is located at said circular edge of said one needle-supporting surface.

8. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 7 wherein the holding members which are secured to said needle cylinder means have a holding edge slanted to the other needle-supporting surface; and wherein said holding members which are secured to said dial means have an edge portion of said holding edge located above the plane of said one needle-supporting surface in the region of said free end, and have a shoulder portion connecting said edge portion with said circular edge of said needle-supporting surface of said dial means.

9. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said one needle-supporting surface is the needle-supporting surface of said dial means; wherein said holding members alternate with dial needles; and wherein said holding edge has a shoulder projecting from said circular edge of said needle-supporting surface of said dial means transverse to the same, and an edge portion extending parallel to and above the plane of said needle-supporting surface of said dial means from said shoulder to said free end.

10. Loop-retaining arrangement as claimed in claim 9 comprising a set of guide members secured to the needle-supporting surface of said cylinder means and alternating with said needles on the same; and wherein said guide members have ends located at said circular edge of said needle-supporting surface of said needle cylinder means.