Forming a tubular knit fabric for a paint roller cover

A knitting apparatus for forming a tubular-shaped knitted covering for a paint roller having pile extending from an outer surface of the covering, the apparatus comprising:

• a dial needle knitting arrangement having a dial, a plurality of dial needles operatively disposed in the dial, a dial cam box disposed adjacent to the dial and operatively connected to the dial needles, a backing yarn feeding arrangement, a pile yarn feeding arrangement, and a take-down arrangement, all operatively mounted on a frame and driven through a drive arrangement by a common drive motor;
• the frame defining a main vertical axis of rotation and including an upper main bed and a lower main bed connected to and spaced axially from one another by a main bed support;
• the drive arrangement including an upper rotatable plate operatively attached to the upper main bed for rotation about the main axis of rotation, a lower rotatable plate operatively attached to the lower main bed for rotation about the main axis of rotation and a main drive shaft rotatably mounted for rotation about a second axis of rotation extending substantially parallel to the main axis of rotation, with the main drive shaft being operatively connected to the upper and lower rotatable plated for urging synchronized rotation of the upper and lower rotatable plates with one another in a fixed relationship to rotation of the main drive shaft, with the common drive motor being operatively coupled to the main drive shaft for rotatably driving the main drive shaft about the second axis of rotation;
• the dial being attached to and axially disposed below the upper rotatable plate for rotation about the main axis of rotation, and having a periphery thereof disposed about the main axis of rotation, and having a plurality of substantially radially directed dial needle slots opening in an upward direction;
• the dial cam box being non-rotatably mounted to the upper main bed above the dial, and having a downwardly facing and opening dial needle cam track therein;
• the dial needles each having a body thereof disposed in a respective dial needle slot of the plurality of dial needle slots, a hooked end thereof that is outwardly extendable beyond the periphery of the dial, and a dial needle cam lobe extending upward beyond the dial needle slot and into sliding engagement with the dial needle cam track, such that rotation of the dial causes the dial needles to be selectively movable radially within the dial needle slots through interaction of the dial needle cam lobes with the dial needle cam track;
• the backing yarn and pile yarn feeding arrangements being operatively disposed adjacent the periphery of the dial and adapted for feeding the backing yarn and pile yarn to the dial needles along selected segments of the periphery of the dial;
• the take-down arrangement being mounted to and axially disposed below the lower rotatable plate and lower main bed, and including a take-down drive roller operatively connected to be rotated by relative rotation between the lower rotatable element and the lower main bed.

A knitting apparatus for forming a tubular-shaped knitted covering for a paint roller having pile extending from an outer surface of the covering, the apparatus comprising:

• a cylinder knitting arrangement having a cylinder defining an upper end thereof and a dial needle knitting arrangement;
• the dial knitting arrangement having a dial, a plurality of dial needles operatively disposed in the dial, a dial cam box disposed adjacent to the dial and operatively connected to the dial needles, a backing yarn feeding arrangement, and a pile yarn feeding arrangement;
• the dial being rotatably mounted for rotation about a vertical axis of rotation at a distance above the upper end of the cylinder and having a periphery thereof disposed about the axis of rotation, and having a plurality of substantially radially directed dial needle slots opening in an upward direction;
• the dial cam box being non-rotatably mounted above the dial, and having a downwardly facing and opening dial needle cam track therein;
• the dial needles each having a body thereof disposed in a respective dial needle slot of the plurality of dial needle slots, a hooked end thereof that is outwardly extendable beyond the periphery of the dial, and a dial needle cam lobe extending upward from the dial needle body beyond the dial needle slot and into sliding engagement with the dial needle cam track, such that rotation of the dial causes the dial needles to be selectively movable radially within the dial needle slots through interaction of the dial needle cam lobes with the dial needle cam track;
• the backing yarn and pile yarn feeding arrangements being operatively disposed adjacent the periphery of the dial and adapted for feeding the backing yarn and pile yarn to the dial needles along selected segments of the periphery of the dial.