US 4,608,840 AGranted

Method and machine for knitting garments having legs and a body portion

AssigneePaolo Conti and Meritex S.r.I.

InventorIvan Riccitelli

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Abstract

A circular knitting machine for simultaneously making several pairs of tights and the like, with two tubular legs and a body portion having a front and a back, comprises a movable unit carrying a cylinder with a circle of cylinder needles and a plate carrying an adjacent circle of plate needles. The movable unit moves with alternating rotary movement relative to several thread guides disposed around the circles of needles. In order to make several garments simultaneously, the circles are divided into as many arcuate groups of needles as there are garments. Each arcuate group is divided into two equal sub-groups separated by a middle group. The needles of each group are automatically brought into operation in a sequence to knit the toes and legs (on the sub-groups), then the crotch (using the middle group as well), then the body (still using two threads, one for the left-hand and one for the linked right-hand side).

Claims9

Dependent claims

In a circular knitting machine for making garments, such as pairs of tights, each garment constituted by a body having a front portion and a rear portion, and by two tubular legs, the machine having a needle cylinder capable of alternating rotational motion, a system for controlling the needles and a plate coaxial with the cylinder and rotatable with it, the improvement whereby the needle cylinder has a number of needles, arranged in arcuate groups, at least equal to that which is necessary for making one of the two portions of the body of each of a plurality of the garments, a plate with the same number of needles running along radial channels and formed in the said areas;

said cylinder and said plate being movable with a synchronous reciprocating motion over an angle of arc at least equal to the arc occupied by the groups of needles intended to form one half of said front or rear portions;
and a plurality of stationary thread guides distributed around the cylinder to supply to the needles of the cylinder and of the plate two threads for each said garment, for forming the two legs and the body of the garment;
and whereby the said control system comprises first stationarily located control means for the cylinder needles for forming the knitted garment and for the progressive insertion of different numbers of the cylinder needles in different strokes of the cylinder and plate, the first control means facing the needle arcs for each leg, and second stationarily located control means for the needles of the plate for forming the knitted garment and for the progressive insertion of corresponding different numbers of the plate needles in the said different strokes;
the first control means being actuable to form the garment during each stroke in one direction with only the needles of the cylinder, and the second control means being actuable to form the garment during each stroke in the reverse direction with only the needles of the plate, progressively to form with each thread each of the legs and then to form with the two threads the corresponding areas of the front and rear portions of the body.

1 more element

Method of production of garments such as pairs of tights, each garment having a body having a front body portion and a rear body portion, and two tubular legs, in which a plurality of complete garments of such type are made simultaneously without the need for additional after steps to complete the garments, using a knitting machine employing reciprocating motion of two member holding circular array type rows of needles, relative to stationary thread guides, wherein with respective threads from the thread guides, the toes of such plurality of garments are started simultaneously by corresponding portions of the needles at spaced areas along the members, forming rows of knitted loops which increase in length gradually with alternate strokes of said needle holding members to form toes and contiguous tubular legs;

wherein pairs of successive rows are knitted by said members to form right hand and left hand portions of the front and the rear body portions of each body, using for each garment two threads, with which threads also the legs are formed;
and wherein said pairs of successive rows are mutually engaged along a dividing line between the right hand and left hand portions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 06/651,605Filed 17 Sep 1984
Priority: IT 9518 A/8320 Sep 1983
Granted: 2 Sep 1986
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

D04B 1/243
Wearing apparel: upper parts of panties; pants
D04B 9/06
Circular knitting machines with independently-movable needles: with needle cylinder and dial for ribbed goods
D04B 9/42
Circular knitting machines with independently-movable needles: specially adapted for producing goods of particular configuration
D04B 15/14
Details of, or auxiliary devices incorporated in, weft knitting machines, restricted to machines of this kind: needle cylinders