Toe closing apparatus

An apparatus for closing a toe end of a tubular hosiery body knitted by a knitting machine, said apparatus comprising:

• a stitching device including a main body defining a longitudinal axis and having opposite top and bottom ends, a fixed reed fixed to said bottom end and having a plurality of first reed teeth, a movable reed pivoted to said fixed reed and having a plurality of second reed teeth, and a main drive assembly for driving said movable reed to rotate relative to said fixed reed between a juxtaposed position, where said movable reed is disposed side by side with said fixed reed in a same plane, and a stacked position, where said movable reed is stacked below said fixed reed, said stitching device further including a sewing needle for executing a stitching operation when said movable reed is in said stacked position, said first and second reed teeth mating with each other along an axial direction that is parallel to said longitudinal axis when said movable reed is in said stacked position;
• a transfer unit for transferring the toe end of the hosiery body from the knitting machine to said stitching device and for positioning the toe end on said fixed reed and said movable reed;
• and
• a rotary control unit including a support frame supporting said main body of said stitching device, a rotary disc attached to said top end of said main body and having a plurality of angularly spaced-apart engaging elements, a plurality of angularly spaced-apart detent members pivoted to said support frame and disposed around said rotary disc, and a plurality of control drive members respectively driving said detent members, each of said control drive members being operative to actuate a respective one of said detent members to drive a limited amount of rotation of said rotary disc, said engaging elements moving past said detent members when said rotary disc is rotated, each of said detent members camming one of said engaging elements that is closed thereto to drive the limited amount of rotation of said rotary disc when actuated by the respective one of said control drive members;
• wherein said control drive members consecutively operate to consecutively actuate said respective detent members such that said rotary disc together with said stitching device consecutively produces a limited amount of rotation in an intermittent manner.