A knitting needle and its application

Abstract

This invention belongs to the technical field of knitting machinery parts, specifically relating to a knitting needle and its application. It includes a needle body, a needle bar, and a needle hook connected in sequence. A needle tongue with a reversible, closable needle hook is hinged to the needle bar. The needle body and needle bar are respectively provided with an arc-shaped guide groove and a needle-turning groove. The needle-turning groove communicates with the arc-shaped guide groove, and their bottoms transition smoothly. A limiting plate and an elastic sheet are fixed on the needle bar. The surface of the limiting plate facing the bottom of the needle-turning groove is parallel to the bottom of the groove. The elastic sheet and the limiting plate are arranged side-by-side along the width direction of the needle bar, with a gap between them. This invention achieves a compact structure, high-density knitting compatibility, and long-term durability while ensuring smooth and reliable needle turning and loop transfer. It overcomes the technical biases of existing technologies, such as rigid grooves lacking elasticity and traditional springs occupying large spaces and being prone to failure. It possesses excellent process adaptability and versatility.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the technical field of knitting machinery parts, specifically relating to a knitting needle and its application in a computerized flat knitting machine. It is specifically applicable to the needle grooves of the front and rear needle beds of a flat knitting machine, and can cooperate with the knitting needles in the corresponding needle grooves to complete knitting actions such as loop shifting and needle flipping, and can adapt to high-density knitting needs. Background Technology

[0002] The flat knitting machine is the core equipment in knitted fabric production. It has a symmetrically arranged front and rear needle bed, with corresponding needle slots on each bed. Knitting needles are fitted into these slots to complete the knitting operation. The knitting needle, as a key actuating component of the flat knitting machine, typically includes a needle hook, a rotatable and closing needle latch, and a needle shank consisting of a needle bar and a needle body wider than the needle bar. The junction of the needle bar and needle body forms a concave transfer section, which is the basic structure for loop knitting and transfer. When a loop transfer is required, the needle hook of one needle needs to enter the transfer section of another opposing needle to complete the loop transfer.

[0003] To achieve this process, current knitting needles typically have a raised spring plate on the needle bar. This spring plate forms a channel or guide gap between itself and the needle bar body, allowing the hook of the opposing needle to pass through. Simultaneously, the spring plate also assists in opening the needle latch, ensuring smooth needle flipping. However, current knitting needles with spring plates have several technical drawbacks in practical applications: First, the protrusion on the spring plate is always higher than the corresponding side of the needle bar, resulting in a large overall space occupied by the knitting needle. The needle plate steel sheet needs to be machined with a relief groove to match the protrusion, which not only increases the complexity of steel sheet processing and needle plate installation, reduces production efficiency, and increases manufacturing costs, but also makes it impossible to manufacture fine-pitch needle plates, making it difficult to adapt to higher-density knitting requirements. Second, to ensure the coil smoothly slides onto the protrusion to achieve loop expansion, the slope of the front and rear slopes of the protrusion needs to be designed to be relatively gentle, resulting in an excessively long protrusion with insufficient rigidity. It is prone to deformation when pulled obliquely or horizontally by the coil, affecting the reliability of the hook insertion. If the slope is increased, the coil is prone to "scratching." To improve rigidity... Adding height to the protrusion will cause the coil to be excessively stretched, further reducing the knitting density; thirdly, during the transfer process, the needle tongue of the receiving coil is usually passively opened by the transfer coil, and the front end of the needle tongue is prone to piercing into the knitting thread composed of multiple strands, causing "monofilament" defects and affecting the quality of fabric formation; fourthly, the spring structure of traditional knitting needles and the design of the needle shank are fixed, with poor deformation adjustment ability, unable to flexibly adapt to the expansion requirements of different knitting processes, and lacking versatility; fifthly, the free end of the spring structure of traditional knitting needles works in repeated elastic deformation for a long time, which is prone to plastic deformation or fatigue failure, causing the guide gap between it and the needle bar to change, thereby affecting the smoothness of the needle hook passing through and the reliability of the needle turning action when turning the needle.

[0004] To address the aforementioned issues, existing technologies have attempted to eliminate the spring and employ a grooved guiding structure, such as the knitting needle and its needle plate assembly disclosed in patent document CN222631725U. This design replaces the spring's needle-turning guiding function by creating guide grooves on the needle body and needle-turning grooves on the needle bar. However, these springless knitting needles rely entirely on rigid groove walls for guidance, requiring extremely high precision in fit. Furthermore, they cannot utilize the adaptive characteristics of elastic elements to buffer and compensate for minor deviations during needle insertion. Under high-speed knitting or complex conditions, they still pose risks of rapid wear and needle collisions. Therefore, it is difficult to simultaneously ensure smooth and reliable needle turning and loop shifting while maintaining the compactness of the knitting needle structure, process adaptability, long-term durability, and compatibility with high-density knitting. Thus, a new technical solution is needed to address these technical problems. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The purpose of this invention is to provide a knitting needle and its application to solve the problem that the current solution proposed in the background art, which uses a rigid groove guide structure, is difficult to balance the compactness of the knitting needle structure, process adaptability, long-term durability and compatibility with high-density knitting while ensuring smooth and reliable needle turning and loop shifting. It also has stringent requirements for fitting accuracy, lacks elastic adaptive ability, and still faces problems such as accelerated wear and easy needle collision under high-speed or complex working conditions.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: a knitting needle, comprising a needle body, a needle shank, and a needle hook connected in sequence, wherein a needle tongue that can flip and close the needle hook is hinged to the end of the needle shank away from the needle body; an arc-shaped guide groove with a laterally open opening along the width direction of the knitting needle is provided on the side of the needle body near the needle shank; a needle-turning groove with a laterally open opening along the width direction of the knitting needle is provided on the side of the needle shank facing the arc-shaped guide groove; the needle-turning groove communicates with the arc-shaped guide groove and the bottoms of the two grooves smoothly transition; the bottom of the needle-turning groove is a plane. A limiting plate and an elastic sheet are provided on one side of the needle bar located at the opening of the needle groove. The surface of the limiting plate facing the bottom of the needle groove is parallel to the bottom of the groove. The elastic sheet and the limiting plate are arranged side by side along the width direction of the needle bar with a gap between them. The surfaces of the limiting plate and the elastic sheet facing the bottom of the needle groove together form the top limiting surface of the groove. The minimum normal distance between the top limiting surface and the bottom of the groove forms a guide gap for another knitting needle hook to pass through. The normal direction refers to the direction perpendicular to the bottom of the needle groove.

[0007] Furthermore, the bottom of the arc-shaped guide groove is an arc-shaped raised surface, and the height of the bottom of the arc-shaped raised surface gradually increases from one end to the other along the width direction of the needle. The side of the arc-shaped guide groove away from the needle bar is an arc-shaped transition surface, and the arc-shaped transition surface is smoothly connected to the outer surface of the needle body.

[0008] Furthermore, the side of the needle-turning groove near the needle body is connected to the side of the arc-shaped guide groove near the needle bar, and the connection point is smoothly connected; the groove wall on the side of the needle-turning groove away from the needle body is an arc-shaped transition surface, and the arc-shaped transition surface is smoothly connected to the outer surface of the needle bar.

[0009] Furthermore, the width of the limiting plate gradually increases from the needle body side to the needle hook side along the needle length direction, and the width of the elastic sheet gradually decreases in the same direction. The sum of the widths of the two at the same cross-section remains unchanged along the needle bar length direction. The end of the limiting plate facing the needle body and the end of the elastic sheet facing the needle body are located in the same plane perpendicular to the needle bar width direction. This plane forms the groove wall surface of the arc-shaped guide groove near the needle bar side.

[0010] Furthermore, the bottom of the arc-shaped guide groove is provided with an arc-shaped boss protruding towards the elastic sheet. The end of the elastic sheet facing the needle body is a free end, and the free end elastically abuts against the surface of the arc-shaped boss to limit the displacement of the elastic sheet towards the bottom of the groove. The end of the elastic sheet facing the needle hook is smoothly connected to the needle bar and integrally formed. The end of the elastic sheet facing the needle hook is curved away from the bottom of the groove to form a smooth guide arc surface.

[0011] Furthermore, the end of the needle tongue away from the needle bar hinge is provided with an overlapping portion, which contacts the hook tail end of the needle hook. When the needle tongue flips, the overlapping portion faces the side of the needle flipping groove, and its dimension in the direction perpendicular to the rotation plane of the needle tongue is greater than the minimum normal distance of the guide gap. The minimum normal distance of the guide gap is set to allow the needle hook of another knitting needle to pass through. The overlapping portion is used to push and cooperate with the edge of the groove bottom near the needle hook side when the needle hook of another knitting needle enters the needle flipping groove, so as to push the needle tongue to flip.

[0012] In addition to the above technical solutions, the knitting needles described above can also be applied to computerized flat knitting machines, wherein the knitting needles are installed in the corresponding needle slots of the front or rear needle bed of the computerized flat knitting machine.

[0013] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are: 1. This invention, through its integrated structure of "rigid limiting plate + elastic sheet side by side + smooth transition between the needle turning groove and the arc-shaped guide groove," enables the knitting needle to achieve a compact structure, high-density knitting compatibility, and long-term durability while ensuring smooth and reliable needle turning and loop shifting. This overcomes the technical limitations of existing technologies, such as the lack of elasticity in rigid grooves and the large space occupied and easy failure of traditional spring sheets. Furthermore, by utilizing an integrated design of the needle turning groove, guide groove, and elastic limiting structure, no additional assembly parts are required, and the deformation adjustment capability adapts to different expansion... To meet the requirements of loop knitting processes, it can adapt to various knitting conditions without changing knitting needles, breaking through the limitations of poor adaptability and insufficient versatility of traditional knitting needle processes. Furthermore, the top limiting surface is formed by the use of a limiting plate and an elastic sheet, each facing one side of the bottom of the needle-turning groove. The vertical distance between this limiting surface and the bottom of the groove is precisely defined as a guide gap for the needle hook of another knitting needle to pass through. This "split" limiting surface structure can not only ensure the accuracy of the gap, but also automatically adapt to the entry angle of the needle hook by utilizing the slight deformation of the elastic sheet, avoiding jamming or scratching, and improving the smoothness of the needle-turning action.

[0014] 2. This invention utilizes a design where a fixed limiting plate and an elastic sheet are arranged side-by-side along the width of the needle bar, together forming a top limiting surface. This effectively avoids the drawback of traditional spring sheets, which must protrude significantly outward to form a guide channel. This allows for controllable overall needle width, eliminating the need for machining dedicated clearance grooves on the needle plate, thus reducing the complexity of needle plate machining and assembly. It can meet the needs of finer needle pitches and higher density knitting. The limiting plate provides a stable, rigid guide boundary for the hook of another needle, ensuring the basic dimensions of the guide gap. The elastic sheet provides elastic buffering and adaptive compensation when the hook is inserted, addressing minor deviations caused by high-speed knitting or fluctuations in operating conditions. It also avoids the problems of easy wear and needle collision associated with purely rigid groove structures, significantly improving the smoothness of needle turning actions and long-term operational reliability. Compared to a purely rigid groove structure, this knitting significantly reduces wear and the risk of needle collision, thus solving the problems of the stringent requirements for fitting precision and the ease of failure due to lack of buffering in purely rigid groove structures. Compared to the traditional single spring structure, this knitting reduces excessive deformation of the elastic sheet and extends its service life through the support of the rigid limiting plate.

[0015] 3. This invention employs a design where the arc-shaped lifting surface of the arc-shaped guide groove is smoothly connected to the needle-turning groove, achieving smooth coil sliding and gradual coil expansion. This ensures that the coil or the hook of another needle experiences uniform force and a smooth transition during the coil transfer process, effectively avoiding the risk of excessive coil stretching, yarn scraping, or jamming, and significantly improving the fabric forming quality. Furthermore, the needle tongue overlap can be actively pushed and turned by the needle hook, replacing the traditional passive opening method, preventing the needle tongue from piercing the yarn and causing single-filament defects, further improving the accuracy of the coil transfer action and the fabric quality.

[0016] 4. This invention adopts a design where the overlapping part contacts the hook end of the needle hook, breaking through the traditional technical inertia of "the overlapping part is used to close the needle hook". This not only expands the closing space of the needle hook, allowing it to accommodate larger or more complex coils, thus improving the versatility of the knitting needle and its adaptability to different yarns and knitting processes, but also helps the coil slide more smoothly inside the needle hook, reducing the risk of yarn snagging or jamming. At the same time, it also achieves an active and stable opening action, thereby significantly improving the knitting quality, adaptability range and long-term reliability of the knitting needle.

[0017] 5. This invention, through the design of the free end of the elastic sheet elastically abutting against the surface of the arc-shaped boss limiting position, effectively restricts the excessive displacement of the elastic sheet towards the bottom of the groove, avoiding plastic deformation or fatigue relaxation during long-term repeated deformation, thereby maintaining the stability of the guide gap and extending the service life of the knitting needle. On this basis, the design of the width of the structural limiting plate and the elastic sheet changing in opposite directions along the length of the knitting needle, and the sum of their widths being constant, not only ensures the long-term stability of the guide gap and guarantees the smoothness and reliability of the needle hook during needle flipping, solving the problems of easy deformation and gap loss of traditional spring sheets, but also makes the guide gap uniform at different cross sections. At the same time, the elastic force of the elastic sheet is gradually distributed along the length direction, which can flexibly adapt to the requirements of different knitting processes for loop expansion force and guiding accuracy, enhancing the versatility of the knitting needle. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the knitting needle of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a partial structural diagram of the knitting needle of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the connection between the needle body and the needle shaft of the present invention; Figure 4 for Figure 3 A top-view structural diagram; Figure 5 for Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the side structure; Figure 6 The diagram shows a comparison of existing needle hooks and needle tongues with the needle hooks and needle tongues of the present invention (the left diagram shows the structure of existing needle hooks and needle tongues, and the right diagram shows the structure of the needle hooks and needle tongues of the present invention).

[0019] The components are: 1. Needle body; 2. Needle bar; 3. Needle hook; 4. Needle tongue; 401. Overlapping part; 5. Pin; 6. Arc-shaped guide groove; 7. Needle flipping groove; 8. First arc-shaped transition surface; 9. Second arc-shaped transition surface; 10. Limiting plate; 11. Elastic sheet; 1101. Guide arc surface; 12. Arc-shaped boss; 13. Guide gap. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The following examples are used to further illustrate the content of the present invention and do not limit the application of the present invention. Example 1:

[0021] Please see Figures 1-5 The present invention provides a knitting needle, comprising a needle body 1, a needle bar 2 and a needle hook 3 connected in sequence, wherein the end of the needle bar 2 away from the needle body 1 is hinged to a needle tongue 4 that can flip and close the needle hook 3 via a pin 5.

[0022] The needle body 1 has an arc-shaped guide groove 6 with a lateral opening along the needle width direction on the side near the needle bar 2. The needle bar 2 has a needle-turning groove 7 with a lateral opening along the needle width direction on the side facing the arc-shaped guide groove 6. The opening of the needle-turning groove 7 and the arc-shaped guide groove 6 are located on the same side of the needle (the opening is set downwards relative to the placement of the needle). The side of the needle-turning groove 7 near the needle body 1 is connected to the side of the arc-shaped guide groove 6 near the needle bar 2, and the connection is smoothly connected. The bottom of the grooves of the two are on the same plane. The groove wall of the side of the needle-turning groove 7 away from the needle body 1 is a first arc-shaped transition surface 8, and the first arc-shaped transition surface 8 is smoothly connected to the outer surface of the needle bar 2. The bottom of the arc-shaped guide groove 6 is an arc-shaped raised surface. The height of the bottom of the arc-shaped raised surface gradually increases from one end to the other along the width of the needle. The side of the arc-shaped guide groove 6 away from the needle bar 2 is a second arc-shaped transition surface 9, and the second arc-shaped transition surface 9 is smoothly connected to the outer surface of the needle body 1.

[0023] A limiting plate 10 and an elastic sheet 11 are provided on one side of the needle bar 2 located at the opening of the needle groove 7. The surface of the limiting plate 10 facing the bottom of the needle groove 7 is parallel to the bottom of the groove. The end of the elastic sheet 11 facing the needle hook 3 is smoothly connected to the needle bar 2 and integrally formed. The bottom of the arc-shaped guide groove 6 is provided with an arc-shaped boss 12 protruding towards the elastic sheet 11. The end of the elastic sheet 11 facing the needle body 1 is a free end, and the free end elastically abuts against the surface of the arc-shaped boss 12 to limit the displacement of the elastic sheet 11 towards the bottom of the groove. The elastic plate 11 and the limiting plate 10 are arranged side by side along the width direction of the needle bar 2 with a gap between them. The width of the limiting plate 10 (which refers to the dimension in the needle width direction) gradually increases from the needle body 1 side to the needle hook 3 side along the needle length direction, while the width of the elastic plate 11 (which refers to the dimension in the needle width direction) gradually decreases in the same direction, and the sum of the widths of the two at the same cross section remains unchanged along the length direction of the needle bar 2; and the end of the elastic plate 11 facing the needle hook 3 is curved away from the bottom of the groove 7 to form a smooth guide arc surface 1101. The end of the limiting plate 10 facing the needle body 1 and the end of the elastic sheet 11 facing the needle body 1 are located in the same plane perpendicular to the width direction of the needle bar 2. This plane forms the groove wall surface of the arc-shaped guide groove 6 near the side of the needle bar 1.

[0024] The limiting plate 10 and the elastic sheet 11 each face one side of the bottom of the turning needle groove 7 to form the top limiting surface of the groove. The vertical distance between the top limiting surface and the bottom of the groove forms a guide gap 13 for another knitting needle hook to pass through. The needle tongue 4 is provided with an overlapping portion 401. The overlapping portion 401 is used to push and engage with the edge of the bottom of the groove near the needle hook 3 when the hook of another needle enters the turning groove 7, so as to push the needle tongue to turn. The overlapping portion 401 contacts the hook end of the needle hook 3 (the connection relationship between the needle hook 3 and the overlapping portion 401 in this invention is as follows). Figure 6 As shown in the middle right figure, and as Figure 6 Compared to the existing design where the tip of the needle tongue extends beyond the hook 3, as shown in the left-middle figure, the coil can slide more smoothly within the hook of the present invention, reducing the risk of snagging or jamming. The overlap 401 faces the flipping groove 7 when the needle tongue flips, and its dimension in the direction perpendicular to the rotation plane of the needle tongue 3 is greater than the minimum normal distance of the guide gap 13. The minimum normal distance of the guide gap 13 is set to allow the hook of another knitting needle to pass through.

[0025] The working principle and usage process of this invention are as follows: Figures 1-5 As shown, after the knitting needle is assembled, the operator installs the entire knitting needle into the corresponding needle slot of the front or rear needle bed of the computerized flat knitting machine (the functions and structures of conventional equipment such as the needle plate of the computerized flat knitting machine are well known in the field, and the connection settings are also common knowledge, so they will not be explained here and are not shown in the attached drawings). The needle then works with another needle in the opposite needle slot to complete the needle flipping (loop shifting) action.

[0026] In the initial state, the needle tongue 4 of the knitting needle is hinged to the end of the needle bar 2 away from the needle body 1 via a pin 5, and can be rotated around the pin 5 to close or open the needle hook 3. When it is necessary to perform a turn-over knitting, the needle hook of the opposite knitting needle (hereinafter referred to as "opposite knitting needle") moves with the loop towards the turn-over groove 7 of this knitting needle; The hook of the opposing knitting needle first enters the guide gap 13 formed between the top limiting surface (comprising the limiting plate 10 and the elastic sheet 11) and the bottom of the flipping needle groove 7. The vertical distance of this guide gap 13 is precisely set to allow only the hook to pass through, while the overlapping portion 401 on the needle tongue 4 cannot enter because its dimension along the direction perpendicular to the rotation plane of the needle tongue 3 is larger than this guide gap 13. At this time, during the insertion process, the front end of the hook of the opposing knitting needle will preferentially contact and push against the bottom edge of the flipping needle groove 7 on the side closest to the hook 3, thereby pushing the overlapping portion 401 on the needle tongue 4, causing the needle tongue 4 to actively flip outwards and open. This avoids the problem in traditional structures where the needle tongue 4 is passively opened and easily punctures the yarn, causing a "monofilament" defect. As the needle hook continues to move towards the needle body 1, the needle hook of the opposing needle slides along the bottom of the needle-turning groove 7. Since the needle-turning groove 7 is smoothly connected to the needle bar 2 through the first arc-shaped transition surface 8, the needle hook is smoothly guided by the expanding circle when moving forward, resulting in uniform force and a smooth transition. At the same time, the limiting plate 10 provides a stable rigid upper boundary for the needle hook, ensuring that the basic size of the guide gap 13 does not change; while the elastic plate 11 undergoes a slight elastic deformation when the needle hook is inserted, adaptively compensating for the entry angle of the needle hook, avoiding jamming, scraping or impact caused by high-speed knitting or fluctuations in working conditions, and significantly improving the smoothness and reliability of the needle-turning action; As the needle hook moves further into the area of ​​the arc-shaped guide groove 6, the bottom of the arc-shaped guide groove 6 is an arc-shaped raised surface, the height of which gradually increases along the width of the knitting needle. Combined with the smooth connection between the second arc-shaped transition surface 9 and the outer surface of the needle body 1, this allows the loop or needle hook to naturally and smoothly transition from the area of ​​the needle bar 2 to the area of ​​the needle body 1, completing the final transfer of the loop. During this process, the free end of the elastic piece 11 always elastically abuts against the surface of the arc-shaped protrusion 12 provided at the bottom of the arc-shaped guide groove 6, effectively limiting the excessive displacement of the elastic piece 11 towards the bottom of the groove. This prevents the elastic piece 11 from undergoing plastic deformation or fatigue relaxation due to long-term repeated deformation, thereby maintaining the stability of the guide gap 13 over a long period. After the turn-over action is completed, the hook of the opposing needle exits the turn-over groove 7, and the elastic plate 11 returns to its initial position due to its own elasticity. The design that the sum of the widths between the limiting plate 10 and the elastic plate 11 is constant ensures that the guide gap 13 remains uniform at different cross-sections. The elastic force of the elastic plate 11 is gradually distributed along the length direction, which can flexibly adapt to the requirements of different knitting processes for loop expansion force and guiding accuracy. Under the push of gravity or the loop, the needle tongue 4 flips back to close the needle hook 3, and the knitting needle returns to the knitting state.

[0027] In summary, the knitting needle of the present invention, through the overall structure of "rigid limiting plate + elastic sheet side by side + smooth transition between needle turning groove and arc-shaped guide groove", achieves compact structure, high-density knitting compatibility and long-term durability while ensuring smooth and reliable needle turning and loop shifting. It overcomes the technical biases of rigid grooves lacking elasticity and traditional spring sheets occupying a large space and being prone to failure in the prior art, and has excellent process adaptability and versatility. Example 2:

[0028] Please see Figures 1-5 As another objective of the present invention, a computerized flat knitting machine is provided, wherein the above-mentioned knitting needles are provided in the computerized flat knitting machine. The knitting needles are installed in the corresponding needle slots of the front needle bed or the rear needle bed of the computerized flat knitting machine. Therefore, the computerized flat knitting machine can obtain any of the beneficial effects of the knitting needles described above, which will not be repeated here.

Claims

1. A knitting needle, comprising a needle body, a needle shank, and a needle hook connected in sequence, wherein a needle latch is hinged to the end of the needle shank away from the needle body, and a needle tongue capable of flipping and closing the needle hook is provided on the side of the needle body near the needle shank, the needle body having an arc-shaped guide groove that opens laterally along the width direction of the knitting needle, and the needle shank having a needle-turning groove that opens laterally along the width direction of the knitting needle on the side of the needle shank facing the arc-shaped guide groove, the needle-turning groove communicating with the arc-shaped guide groove and the bottoms of the two grooves smoothly transitioning, the bottom of the needle-turning groove being a plane, characterized in that, A limiting plate and an elastic sheet are provided on one side of the needle bar located at the opening of the needle groove. The surface of the limiting plate facing the bottom of the needle groove is parallel to the bottom of the groove. The elastic sheet and the limiting plate are arranged side by side along the width direction of the needle bar with a gap between them. The surfaces of the limiting plate and the elastic sheet facing the bottom of the needle groove together form the top limiting surface of the groove. The minimum normal distance between the top limiting surface and the bottom of the groove forms a guide gap for another knitting needle hook to pass through. The normal direction refers to the direction perpendicular to the bottom of the needle groove.

2. A knitting needle according to claim 1, characterized in that, The bottom of the arc-shaped guide groove is an arc-shaped raised surface. The height of the bottom of the arc-shaped raised surface gradually increases from one end to the other along the width of the needle. The side of the arc-shaped guide groove away from the needle bar is an arc-shaped transition surface, and the arc-shaped transition surface is smoothly connected to the outer surface of the needle body.

3. A knitting needle according to claim 2, characterized in that, The needle-turning groove on the side near the needle body is connected to the arc-shaped guide groove on the side near the needle rod, and the connection is smoothly joined at the connection point; the groove wall on the side of the needle-turning groove away from the needle body is an arc-shaped transition surface, and the arc-shaped transition surface is smoothly joined to the outer surface of the needle rod.

4. A knitting needle according to claim 1, characterized in that, The width of the limiting plate gradually increases from the needle body side to the needle hook side along the needle length direction, and the width of the elastic sheet gradually decreases in the same direction, and the sum of the widths of the two at the same cross-section remains unchanged along the needle bar length direction.

5. A knitting needle according to claim 4, characterized in that, The end of the limiting plate facing the needle body and the end of the elastic sheet facing the needle body are located in the same plane perpendicular to the width of the needle bar. This plane forms the groove wall surface of the arc-shaped guide groove near the side of the needle bar.

6. A knitting needle according to claim 5, characterized in that, The bottom of the arc-shaped guide groove is provided with an arc-shaped boss protruding towards the elastic sheet. The end of the elastic sheet facing the needle body is a free end, and the free end elastically abuts against the surface of the arc-shaped boss to limit the displacement of the elastic sheet towards the bottom of the groove. The end of the elastic sheet facing the needle hook is smoothly connected to the needle bar and integrally formed.

7. A knitting needle according to claim 6, characterized in that, The elastic sheet is bent in an arc shape at one end toward the needle hook, away from the bottom of the groove, to form a smooth guide arc surface.

8. A knitting needle according to claim 1, characterized in that, The end of the needle tongue away from the needle bar hinge is provided with an overlapping part. The overlapping part contacts the hook tail end of the needle hook. When the needle tongue flips, the overlapping part faces the side of the flipping groove and its dimension in the direction perpendicular to the rotation plane of the needle tongue is greater than the minimum normal distance of the guide gap. The minimum normal distance of the guide gap is set to allow the needle hook of another knitting needle to pass through.

9. A knitting needle according to claim 8, characterized in that, The overlapping part is used to push and engage with the edge of the bottom of the groove near the needle hook when the hook of another needle enters the turning groove, so as to push the needle tongue to turn.

10. An application of a knitting needle as described in any one of claims 1-9 in a computerized flat knitting machine, wherein the knitting needle is installed in a corresponding needle groove on the front or rear needle bed of the computerized flat knitting machine.

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