US 4,052,865 AGranted

Thread-guiding mechanism for flat-bed knitting machine

OwnerGino Zamarcoinventor

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Abstract

In order to produce an inlay-type pattern on a flat-bed knitting machine, a plurality of thread guides carrying differently colored threads are mounted on respective slides which are movably supported, in pairs, on horizontal guide bars above a needle bed. Each slide coacts with a pair of adjustable stops limiting its reciprocation along the guide bar, another slide taking over the thread feed at the point where a previously active slide is arrested. In order to prevent the thread of the first slide from being engaged by the needles simultaneously with the thread of the second slide, the thread guide of the first slide is swung back from a leading to a trailing position upon reaching the end of its run in one or the other direction; this repositioning of the thread guide is accomplished by a pair of feelers contacting the associated stops. The position of each stop can be changed with the aid of a rack, slidable along the corresponding guide bar, which can be displaced after each machine cycle by a limited number of needle positions according to the pattern to be knitted.

Claims10

Dependent claims

In a knitting machine provided with a flat needle bed carrying a multiplicity of knitting needles, feed means for supplying thread to said needles, and reciprocating drive means for successively displacing an active group of said needles to draw the supplied thread into a row of loops during each machine cycle, the improvement wherein said feed means comprises:

a plurality of slides each provided with a thread guide;
support means enabling the displacement of said slides adjacent one another across said needle bed with entrainment of respective threads past said needles, each thread guide being movable on its slide between two positions relatively offset in the direction of slide displacement;
a pair of end stops for each slide;
transport means coupled with said drive means for entraining each slide during a machine cycle along a path limited by said end stops to extend over only a fraction of said row of loops, with presentation of the corresponding thread to less than all the needles of said group, the distances traveled by said slides complementing one another with limited overlap whereby said row of loops is formed from a succession of different threads;
and
switchover means on each slide controlled by the associated end stops for moving the thread guide thereof from one of said positions, advanced in the direction of slide displacement, to the other of said positions at the end of its path, with resulting removal of the corresponding thread from the reach of needles engaging the thread of another slide starting on a continuation of said path.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.