Method and apparatus for knitting hollow articles
OwnerHenri L. Estingoyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for manufacturing hollow knitted articles, particularly berets and other headgear, which method consists in first knitting a piece having an equal number of loops on its two ends using at least some of the needles in one bed of the knitting machine and then joining the two ends together. A first row of loops forming the one end of the piece are transferred to a support located underneath the needle bed while the remainder of the piece is knitted so the knitting is folded with its finished side on the inside. The loops on the other end are then transferred to a common support with the corresponding loops from the one end and the two ends are joined together by sewing. The method and apparatus enable the operation to be carried out entirely automatically.
Claims9
In a method of manufacturing a hollow knitted article including knitting a flat piece having opposite ends by using at least some of the needles in one bed of a flat bed knitting machine, said ends containing an equal number of knit loops, and then seaming the corresponding loops of said ends together by sewing, the improvement comprising:
- knitting a first row of loops to forme one end of said piece;
- transferring said first row of loops onto the points of a first support located underneath and substantially in vertical alignment with the front end of said needles in said needle bed in their knocking over position, said first support having a number of points equal to the number of loops in said first row;
- continuing the knitting of said piece until a row of loops forming the other end is completed while keeping said first row of loops on the points of said first support adjacent said needles to cause said piece to fold while being knit with its finished side on the inside;
- and
- upon completion of knitting of said piece, transferring the loops from said other end onto a second support having points arranged to retain loops from both said ends;
- transferring the first row loops from the points of the first support to corresponding points of the second support;
- bringing the corresponding loops of said ends adjacent each other on the points of said second support;
- and,
- joining said corresponding loops together on the points of said second support by sewing while the finished sides of the piece lie between the ends of the article facing each other.
In a knitting machine for forming hollow knit articles from flat knit pieces having opposite ends to be seamed by sewing and including a flat needle bed with knitting needles, means to periodically advance and retract said needles to carry out a knitting operation, means to lay yarn or thread over said needles as required to form said knit articles, a machine motion control means, the improvement comprising:
- a first support including a set of hooked points arranged adjacent and beneath said needle bed, said hooked points being equal in number to the number of loops formed by the knitting needles that are to be joined by sewing and being laterally offset from the needles along the needle bed so they lie intermediate the needles;
- means for moving the hooked points vertically towards and away from the knitting needles in synchronism with the motion of the machine;
- a second support means adjacent the needle bed including points corresponding in number to the number of loops formed by the knitting machine to be jointed by sewing;
- means for moving said points of said second support means towards and away from the hooked points of said first support means in synchronism with the motion of the machine;
- means for transferring the loops of the first knit row of said articles to the hooked ends of said first support means and causing said loops to be retained closely adjacent said needle bed;
- means for transferring the loops of the last knit row of said articles to the points of said second support and causing the last recited loops to be retained adjacent said needle bed;
- means for transferring the loops of said first support to said second support with loops to be sewn together disposed on a common point of said second support;
- and
- a sewing station forming part of the knitting machine;
- means for preventing the loop pairs to be sewn together to said sewing station while they are retained on said second support.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.