Circular knitting machine with sinker cams facilitating high-speed operation

A sinker cam ring for a circular knitting machine, comprising a plurality of sinker cam segments arranged edge-to-edge to form the sinker cam ring, the sinker cam ring defining a first sinker cam track having first working surfaces that include first sinker-advancing surfaces and first sinker-retracting surfaces for engaging first sinker butts of sinkers, the first sinker-advancing surfaces and first sinker-retracting surfaces being made up of linear portions and curved portions, each sinker cam segment defining a portion of the first sinker cam track, and wherein breaks between adjacent sinker cam segments are located in the linear portions of the sinker-advancing surfaces and/or first sinker-retracting surfaces, where substantially only frictional forces act on the sinkers and radial acceleration of the sinkers caused by the first working surfaces is substantially zero.

A sinker cam ring for a circular knitting machine, comprising a plurality of sinker cam segments arranged edge-to-edge to form the sinker cam ring, the sinker cam ring defining a first sinker cam track having first working surfaces including first sinker-advancing surfaces and first sinker-retracting surfaces, the sinker cam segments further defining an additional sinker cam surface radially spaced from the first sinker cam surfaces, the additional sinker cam surface defining additional working surfaces, each sinker cam segment defining a portion of the first sinker cam track and a portion of the additional sinker cam surface, there being breaks in the first working surfaces and in the additional working surfaces where opposing edges of the sinker cam segments confront one another, and wherein the breaks in the additional working surfaces are circumferentially staggered relative to the breaks in the first working surfaces.

A sinker cam ring for a circular knitting machine, the sinker cam ring comprising a plurality of sinker cam segments arranged edge-to-edge to form the sinker cam ring, the sinker cam ring defining first and second sinker-advancing surfaces that are radially spaced apart and located such that a given sinker simultaneously engages both the first and second sinker-advancing surfaces, there being breaks in both the first and second sinker-advancing surfaces where opposing edges of the adjacent sinker cam segments confront one another, and wherein the breaks in the first sinker-advancing surfaces are circumferentially staggered relative to the breaks in the second sinker-advancing surfaces.