Circular knitting machine for knitting pile knitted fabric with narrow inter-needle pitch

Abstract

To knit a knitted fabric with narrow inter-needle pitch by a circular knitting machine.SOLUTION: Each operation locus of crochet needles (25) intersects with operation locus of one of these knitting needles (24). Each operation locus of these cutters (27) intersects with the operation locus of one of these crochet needles (25). Each of these crochet needles (25) has a foot part (251), a hook part (252), and a shoulder part (253) interposed between the foot part (251) and the hook part (252). A hole part is formed at the shoulder part (253). A loop on one of these crochet needles (25) is extended by each shoulder part (253) of these crochet needles (25). Consequently, one of these cutters (27) cuts the loop at the hole part and forms a pile.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a circular knitting machine, and in particular to a circular knitting machine for realizing pile knitting with a narrow needle pitch using a crochet hook with a shoulder and an eye. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent documents 1 and 2 each disclose a technical solution that allows a circular knitting machine to directly form pile during the knitting process. However, both require multiple hook needles and multiple cutters that are spaced apart in parallel, which reduces the number of needles that can be inserted within one inch, making it impossible to knit fabrics with narrow needle pitches with the circular knitting machine.

[0003] Patent Document 3 discloses another technical solution, which realizes pile cutting by a circular knitting machine with a pile forming part (reference number 1) and a cutting part (reference number 2) having a special structure. In one embodiment, the pile forming part is made by combining two parts, and a space for the cutting part is formed between the two parts, and one of the two parts is formed with a cutting blade interlocked with the cutting part. In practice, the cutting part swings toward the pile forming part, and when it enters the space, it cuts in conjunction with the cutting blade, and the loop is cut. Since one of the two parts of the pile forming part has elasticity, the cutting part deforms when it enters the space. This requires a great deal of accuracy in controlling the circular knitting machine, otherwise the pile forming part is likely to accidentally hit the cutting part, which is very disadvantageous for high-speed knitting of the circular knitting machine. Furthermore, in Patent Document 3, the tension of the loop is not changed during the cutting process, and the yarn is flexible, so that it is often impossible to cut. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] UK Patent No. GB988865A [Patent Document 2] US Patent No. US9890486 [Patent Document 3] US Patent No. US4592212 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The main object of the present invention is to solve the problems related to needle pitch that arise from the need for conventional circular knitting machines to be implemented with multiple hook needles and multiple cutters.

[0006] Another main object of the present invention is to solve the problem that the conventional arrangements are not suitable for circular knitting machines. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a circular knitting machine for knitting pile knitting with a narrow needle pitch, the circular knitting machine comprising a dial, a needle bed, a gap determined by the dial and the needle bed, a plurality of knitting needles provided on the dial, a plurality of crochet hooks provided on the needle bed, a cutter bed, and a plurality of cutters provided on the cutter bed opposite the gap. The movement locus of each of the crochet hooks crosses the movement locus of one of the knitting needles, and the movement locus of each of the cutters crosses the movement locus of one of the crochet hooks. Each of the crochet hooks has a foot part, a hook part, and a shoulder part interposed between the foot part and the hook part, and a hole part is formed in the shoulder part, and the shoulder part of each of the crochet hooks expands a loop in one of the crochet hooks, so that one of the cutters can cut the loop at the hole part to form a pile.

[0008] In one embodiment, each of these crochet hooks is formed by assembling two needle plates, each of which has a bent section for forming the hole portion, and each of which has a boss and a slope connected to the boss and extending toward the hook portion in the bent section.

[0009] In one embodiment, the slope comprises a turning point, and the slope of the slope on either side of the turning point is different.

[0010] In one embodiment, the opening of the hook portion of each of the hooks and the boss are located on the same side of each of the hooks.

[0011] In one embodiment, the circular knitting machine includes a plurality of crochet needle selector devices for determining the movement trajectories of the crochet needles, a plurality of crochet needle cams for guiding the crochet needles, and a plurality of cutter cams for guiding the cutters. Effect of the Invention

[0012] The present invention implemented as described above has the following features compared to the conventional configuration. 1. The circular knitting machine of the present invention does not require multiple parallel and spaced apart hook needles and multiple cutters, so more needles can be inserted in the same distance, resulting in a narrower needle pitch.

[0013] 2. Instead of the traditional technical solution of cutting with two cutting blades to form pile, the present invention uses these hooks to expand the loops for forming pile with the shoulder of one of these hooks before cutting it with one of these cutters, changing the tension so that one of these cutters can cut the loops more smoothly to form pile.

[0014] 3. In the present invention, the holes in the hooks allow the cutters to have appropriate tolerances for control. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a partial structure of a circular knitting machine according to the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a second schematic diagram of a partial structure of the circular knitting machine of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the crochet hook of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a partial structure of a crochet hook according to the present invention. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the movement trajectories of the knitting needle, crochet hook, and cutter of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the operation of the crochet hook of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a second schematic diagram of the operation of the crochet hook of the present invention. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a third schematic diagram showing the operation of the crochet hook of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a first schematic diagram of the operation of the circular knitting machine of the present invention. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a second schematic diagram of the operation of the circular knitting machine of the present invention. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a side view of the structure of the crochet hook of the present invention. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a second side view of the structure of the crochet hook of the present invention. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a second schematic diagram of the movement trajectories of the knitting needle, crochet hook, and cutter of the present invention. [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a narrow needle pitch pile knit of the present invention. [Figure 15] FIG. 15 is a third schematic diagram of the movement trajectories of the knitting needle, crochet hook, and cutter of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] The technical contents of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, the present invention provides a circular knitting machine 20, which can knit pile knitting with a narrow needle pitch in particular. The circular knitting machine 20 includes a dial 21, a needle bed 22, a gap 23, a number of knitting needles 24, a number of crochet hooks 25, a cutter bed 26, and a number of cutters 27. The gap 23 is determined by both the dial 21 and the needle bed 22, and the gap 23 is a place where sewing is performed in the circular knitting machine 20. These knitting needles 24 are provided on the dial 21, these crochet hooks 25 are provided on the needle bed 22, and these cutters 27 are provided on the cutter bed 26. In the present invention, these knitting needles 24 are implemented as latch needles. 3, 4 and 8, each of these crochet hooks 25 has a foot portion 251, a hook portion 252, and a shoulder portion 253 interposed between the foot portion 251 and the hook portion 252. A hole portion 254 is formed in the shoulder portion 253 of each of these crochet hooks 25, and when each of these crochet hooks 25 is observed from a direction passing through the hole portion 254, the shoulder portion 253 is wide in each of these crochet hooks 25, each of these crochet hooks 25 enters the loop 71 by the shoulder portion 253, and the loop 71 is expanded by the shoulder portion 253. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, 4 and 8, in one embodiment, each of these crochet hooks 25 is formed by assembling two needle plates 255, each of the two needle plates 255 has a bent section 256, and when the two needle plates 255 are assembled, the hole portion 254 is formed by the two bent sections 256. Furthermore, the width of the needle grooves 221 of the needle bed 22 for accommodating these crochet hooks 25 is adapted to the widest portion of each of these crochet hooks 25, that is, each of these crochet hooks 25 is not deformed when accommodated in one of these needle grooves 221. Also, the cutting edge 271 of each of these cutters 27 faces the tooth gap 23.

[0017] 2, the knitting needles 24, the crochet hooks 25, and the cutters 27 are each controlled to move within the gap 23, and specifically, the circular knitting machine 20 further includes a plurality of knitting needle cams 28, a plurality of crochet hook cams 29, and a plurality of cutter cams 30. The knitting needle cams 28 are used to guide the movement of the knitting needles 24, the crochet hook cams 29 are used to guide the movement of the crochet hooks 25, and the cutter cams 30 are used to guide the movement of the cutters 27. Also, the movement locus of each of the knitting needles 24 (reference number 40 in FIG. 2) intersects with the movement locus of each of the crochet hooks 25 (reference number 41 in FIG. 2), and the movement locus of each of the cutters 27 (reference number 42 in FIG. 2) intersects with the movement locus of one of the crochet hooks 25 (reference number 41 in FIG. 2).

[0018] Next, the knitting operation of the circular knitting machine 20 of the present invention will be described, and the movement trajectories of the knitting needles 24, the crochet hooks 25 and the cutters 27 are shown in Fig. 5, where the reference numeral 50 in Fig. 5 indicates the movement trajectory of each of the knitting needles 24 guided by the knitting needle cams 28, the reference numeral 51 in Fig. 5 indicates the movement trajectory of each of the crochet hooks 25 guided by the crochet hook cams 29, and the reference numeral 52 in Fig. 5 indicates the movement trajectory of each of the cutters 27 guided by the cutter cams 30. Each of the knitting needles 24 is mainly used to knit and form the basic structure of the pile knitting, that is, each of the knitting needles 24 constantly hooks the yarn to form loops during the knitting process. As shown in FIG. 5, it is mainly these crochet hooks 25 and these cutters 27 that form piles in the present invention, and each of these crochet hooks 25 mainly operates in three positions, one is a needle retraction position (reference number 60 in FIG. 5), another is a thread hooking position (reference number 61 in FIG. 5), and still another is a thread cutting position (reference number 62 in FIG. 5). When observing the heights of the needle retraction position 60, the thread hooking position 61, and the thread cutting position 62 in the needle gap 23, the thread hooking position 61 is the highest, the next is the thread cutting position 62, and the needle retraction position 60 is the lowest. When one of these crochet hooks 25 protrudes from the needle retraction position 60 to the thread hooking position 61, the yarn 70 fed from the yarn feeder 32 is pulled by the hook part 252, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 9. Then, one of these crochet hooks 25 is displaced toward the needle bed 22, and the portion of the yarn 70 that one of these crochet hooks 25 pulls at that timing is used to form a pile, as shown in Fig. 7. One of these crochet hooks 25 may be set to return to the needle retraction position 60, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and at this time, the hook portion 252 of one of these crochet hooks 25 only needs to be lower than the yarn cutting position 62.After that, one of the hooks 25 with the yarn 70 hooked thereon is also guided by at least one of the hook cams 29 to move toward the yarn cutting position 62, during which the loop 71 formed from the yarn 70 is expanded and slightly tensed by the action of the shoulder 253 of one of the hooks 25 (i.e., the tension of the loop 71 is changed), as shown in Figs. 8 and 10. At the same time, the loop 71 is held by the shoulder 253, and one of the cutters 27 is guided to move toward one of the hooks 25, and cuts the loop 71 at the hole 254 of one of the hooks 25 to form the pile. In addition, during the process in which one of the hooks 25 pulls the yarn 70, one of the knitting needles 24 also participates in the knitting of the base fabric by the pulled yarn 70, i.e., the pile is connected to the base fabric.

[0019] Also, as shown in FIG. 11, in one embodiment, each of the two needle plates 255 assembled to form one of the crochet hooks 25 includes a boss 257 and a slope 258 connected to the boss 257 and extending toward the hook portion 252 in the bent section 256. In this embodiment, when one of the crochet hooks 25 is displaced from the needle retracting position 60 to the thread cutting position 62 after hooking the yarn (i.e., when the loop 71 is to be expanded in preparation for cutting the yarn), the loop 71 on one of the crochet hooks 25 is acted on by the slope 258 and expanded more accurately, which helps one of the cutters 27 to cut the yarn. As shown in FIG. 12, in one embodiment, the slope 258 may further include a turning convex point 259, that is, the slope 258 is not a straight surface, and the slope of the slope 258 on both sides of the turning convex point 259 is different. The turning point 259 makes the slope 258 non-flat, and when one of these crochet hooks 25 moves from the needle retracting position 60 to the thread cutting position 62, the loop 71 on one of these crochet hooks 25 is further restricted by the turning point 259, and is not erroneously displaced when one of these cutters 27 cuts the thread. Also, the openings (250 in FIG. 4) and bosses 257 of the hook portions 252 of each of these crochet hooks 25 are located on the same side of each of these crochet hooks 25.

[0020] In implementing the circular knitting machine 20 of the present invention, since there is no need for parallel spaced hooks and cutters, more needles can be inserted in the same distance (e.g. 1 inch) and a narrower needle pitch can be achieved. Also, instead of the traditional technical solution of cutting with two cutting blades to form the pile, the present invention expands one of the hooks 25 with a shoulder 253 before one of the cutters 27 cuts the loop 71 for forming the pile, changing the tension, so that one of the cutters 27 can cut the loop 71 more smoothly. Furthermore, in the present invention, the holes 254 of each of the hooks 25 provide the cutters 27 with a suitable control error.

[0021] In addition to the above, the embodiment of the present invention overcomes the limitations of knitting the pile fabric with a conventional circular knitting machine, and thus the pile is formed locally and directly during the knitting process of the pile fabric. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, in one embodiment, the circular knitting machine 20 includes a plurality of crochet needle selectors 31, each of which is connected to the foot 251 of at least one of the crochet hooks 25 to determine the movement trajectory of one of the crochet hooks 25. As shown in FIG. 13, in this embodiment, the movement trajectory 51 of each of the crochet hooks 25 may optionally include one of a threading stroke 511 and a non-threading stroke 512. Each of the crochet hooks 25 moves only in the threading stroke 511 or the non-threading stroke 512 in each operation. When one of these crochet hooks 25 moves in the threading stroke 511, the operations of Figs. 6 to 8 are performed in order, and finally, the pile is formed in conjunction with one of these cutters 27. When one of these crochet hooks 25 moves in the non-threading stroke 512, one of these crochet hooks 25 does not hook the yarn, and the pile is not generated. The knitted fabric is as shown in Fig. 14. 72 represents the pile, and 73 represents the base structure. This allows the secondary processing step (for example, singeing) to be omitted.

[0022] Also, as shown in FIG. 15, in one embodiment, the movement trajectory 51 of each of these crochet hooks 25 may include two thread hook strokes 511, 513, and one of the two thread hook strokes 511, 513 is selected and performed, and the two thread hook points 514, 515 of the two thread hook strokes 511, 513 are different, and the two thread hook points 514, 515 correspond to the two yarn feeders 32, 33, and the colors of the yarns fed from the two yarn feeders 32, 33 to the needle opening 23 are different, so that the color of the pile fabric generated later differs according to the color of the yarns drawn in by these crochet hooks 25. In this way, the circular knitting machine 20 of the present invention realizes a technical solution for changing the color of the pile fabric by itself, and the secondary processing step for the knitted fabric may be omitted. Furthermore, the present invention may be implemented by combining the embodiments shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. 15. [Explanation of symbols]

[0023] 20...circular knitting machine, 21...dial, 22...needle bed, 221...needle groove, 23...tooth gap, 24...knitting needle, 25...crochet hook, 251...foot portion, 252...hook portion, 253...shoulder portion, 254...hole portion, 255...needle plate, 256...bending section, 257...boss, 258...slope, 259...conversion convex point, 250...opening, 26...cutter bed, 27...cutter, 271...cutting edge, 28...knitting needle cam, 29...crochet hook cam, 30...cutter cam, 3 1...crochet needle selection device, 32, 33...yarn feeder, 40...knitting needle movement path, 41...crochet hook movement path, 42...cutter movement path, 50...knitting needle movement path, 51...crochet hook movement path, 511, 513...yarn hooking stroke, 514, 515...yarn hooking point, 512...non-yarn hooking stroke, 52...cutter movement path, 60...needle retraction position, 61...yarn hooking position, 62...yarn cutting position, 70...yarn, 71...loop, 72...pile, 73...foundation structure

Claims

1. A circular knitting machine for knitting a pile knitted fabric having a narrow needle pitch, the machine comprising: a dial; a needle bed; a needle gap defined by the dial and the needle bed; and a plurality of knitting needles provided on the dial, The circular knitting machine comprises a plurality of crochet hooks provided on the needle bed, a cutter bed, and a plurality of cutters provided on the cutter bed opposite the needle gap, a movement locus of each of the crochet hooks intersecting with a movement locus of one of the knitting needles, a movement locus of each of the cutters intersecting with a movement locus of one of the crochet hooks, each of the crochet hooks having a foot portion, a hook portion, and a shoulder portion interposed between the foot portion and the hook portion, a hole portion being formed in the shoulder portion, and a loop in one of the crochet hooks being expanded by the shoulder portion of each of the crochet hooks, whereby one of the cutters can divide the loop at the hole portion to form a pile.

2. 2. The circular knitting machine for knitting pile fabric with a narrow needle pitch according to claim 1, characterized in that each of these crochet hooks is formed by assembling two needle plates, each of the two needle plates has a curved section for forming the hole portion, and each of the two needle plates has, in the curved section, a boss and a slope connected to the boss and extending toward the hook portion.

3. 3. The circular knitting machine for knitting pile fabrics with narrow needle pitch according to claim 2, wherein the inclined surface has a turning point, and the inclinations of the inclined surface on both sides of the turning point are different.

4. 4. A circular knitting machine for knitting pile fabrics with narrow needle pitch according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the opening of the hook part of each of these hooks and the boss are located on the same side of one of these hooks.

5. 5. The circular knitting machine for knitting a pile fabric with a narrow needle pitch according to claim 4, characterized in that the circular knitting machine is provided with a plurality of crochet hook selecting devices for determining the movement trajectories of the crochet hooks, a plurality of crochet hook cams for guiding the crochet hooks, and a plurality of cutter cams for guiding the cutters.

6. The circular knitting machine for knitting a pile fabric with a narrow needle pitch according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the circular knitting machine is provided with a plurality of crochet hook selecting devices for determining the movement trajectories of the crochet hooks, a plurality of crochet hook cams for guiding the crochet hooks, and a plurality of cutter cams for guiding the cutters.

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