Plush fabric knitting apparatus

In a circular knitting machine having cylinder and dial latch needles and a multiple of six feeder positions, the improvement for the production of plush pile fabrics which comprises the provision of the following in each group of six feeder positions:

• at the first feeder position a yarn feeder to feed plush yarn to selected cylinder and dial needles, and an auxiliary feeder to feed ground yarn to the said dial needles;
• at the second feeder position a yarn feeder to feed ground yarn to the dial needles;
• at the third feeder position a yarn feeder to feed plush yarn to the remaining cylinder and dial needles and an auxiliary feeder to feed ground yarn to the said remaining dial needles;
• at the fourth feeder position a yarn feeder to feed ground yarn to the said remaining dial needles;
• at the fifth feeder position no feeder;
• and at the sixth feeder position a latch opening device to open the latches on the cylinder needles as the latter rise and a latch control deflector to maintain the cylinder needle latches in the open condition as they fall.

In a circular knitting machine having cylinder and dial latch needles, the improvement for the production of plush fabric comprising:

• a yarn feeder mounted on said knitting machine to feed plush yarn to cylinder and dial needles;
• an auxiliary yarn feeder disposed to feed ground yarn to the dial needles only, whereby long plush yarn loops and short ground yarn loops are formed;
• at least one vacant feeder position whereat the cylinder needles execute a knitting movement without feeding and thereby release the long loops from the cylinder needles;
• a loop clearer device mounted between the cylinder and dial needles to guide loops released from said cylinder needles through the gap between the dial and the cylinder;
• and a latch opener device disposed to open all the cylinder needle latches after the plush loops have been cleared therefrom, including frame means adjustably mounting said loop clearer device and latch opener device and further including a latch control deflector adapted to maintain the latches of the cylinder needle in the open position after they have passed the latch opener stage and before selection of the cylinder needles for the next operation.