US 6,539,752 B1Granted

Fine gauge knitted fabric with open-work pattern

OwnerFrancesco Gavagnin Apollonioinventor

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Abstract

An openwork tubular knitted fabric formed of closely knitted, fine gauge yarns formed into knitted loops utilizing at least 11 needles per inch and having at least 25 courses per inch. The fabric is formed by using needles having a hook formed in a top end of a needle shank and a latch pivotally mounted on the needle shank below the hook for opening and closing the hook, and including a deflector for deflecting a loop of yarn being formed by a needle into the vertical plane of an adjacent needle, and a needle cam mounted for reciprocal movement between first and second vertically-spaced positions. The fabric is characterized by having a fine, dense background with small, closely-spaced holes which enable a highly-detailed pattern suitable for a wide range of undergarments and hosiery products. The density and fineness of the fabric provides both the comfort and lack of show through necessary for many garments of this type.

Claims24

Dependent claims

An openwork tubular knitted fabric, comprising:

(a) closely knitted, fine gauge yarns formed into knitted loops utilizing at least 11 needles per inch and having at least 25 courses per inch, wherein the fabric is formed according to the steps of:
(b) providing a tubular knitting machine having a plurality of needles mounted in axial needle slots in a needle cylinder at a spacing of at least 11 needles per inch, each of said needles having a hook formed in a top end of a needle shank and a latch pivotally mounted on the needle shank below the hook for opening and closing the hook, and including a deflector for deflecting a loop of yarn being formed by a needle into the vertical plane of an adjacent needle, and a needle cam mounted for reciprocal movement between first and second vertically-spaced positions wherein:
(i) in the first position the needle cam lowers successive needles to a position where the loop of yarn is released from a selected loop-forming needle and transferred to a transfer needle;
and
(ii) in the second position the needle cam lowers successive needles to a position where the loop of yarn is transferred to a transfer needle adjacent the selected loop forming needle without being released from the selected loop-forming needle to thereby form a no-run stitch in the knitted fabric;
(c) selecting a needle from which a loop is to be transferred;
(d) enlarging the loop on the selected needle by deflecting the loop out of the vertical plane of the selected needle laterally into the vertical plane of an adjacent needle while the adjacent needle is in a lowered, non-interfering position relative to the deflected loop;
(e) moving the adjacent-needle upwardly into the enlarged loop;
(f) when the needle cam is in the first position, removing the selected needle from the deflected loop, whereby the loop is transferred to the adjacent needle thus creating an opening in the fabric;
and
(g) when the needle cam is in the second position, retaining the deflected loop on the selected needle while the loop is also transferred to the adjacent needle thus creating an opening in the fabric.

8 more elements

An openwork tubular knitted fabric, comprising:

(a) closely knitted, fine gauge yarns formed into knitted loops utilizing at least 11 needles per inch and having at least 25 courses per inch, wherein the fabric is characterized by a dense ground of loops sufficiently closed to prevent showthrough, and a predetermined pattern of holes defined by transferred stitches formed according to the steps of:
(b) providing a tubular knitting machine having a plurality of needles mounted in axial needle slots in a needle cylinder at a spacing of at least 11 needles per inch, each of said needles having a hook formed in a top end of a needle shank and a latch pivotally mounted on the needle shank below the hook for opening and closing the hook, and including a deflector for deflecting a loop of yarn being formed by a needle into the vertical plane of an adjacent needle, and a needle cam mounted for reciprocal movement between first and second vertically-spaced positions wherein:
(i) in the first position the needle cam lowers successive needles to a position where the loop of yarn is released from a selected loop-forming needle and transferred to a transfer needle;
and
(ii) in the second position the needle cam lowers successive needles to a position where the loop of yarn is transferred to a transfer needle adjacent the selected loop forming needle without being released from the selected loop-forming needle to thereby form a no-run stitch in the knitted fabric;
(c) selecting a needle from which a loop is to be transferred;
(d) enlarging the loop on the selected needle by deflecting the loop out of the vertical plane of the selected needle laterally into the vertical plane of an adjacent needle while the adjacent needle is in a lowered, non-interfering position relative to the deflected loop;
(e) moving the adjacent needle upwardly into the enlarged loop;
(f) when the needle cam is in the first position, removing the selected needle from the deflected loop, whereby the loop is transferred to the adjacent needle thus creating an opening in the fabric;
and
(g) when the needle cam is in the second position, retaining the deflected loop on the selected needle while the loop is also transferred to the adjacent needle thus creating a no-run opening in the fabric.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.