Knitting Needle Shank With Plastic Damping Body
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current knitting tools on needle bars face issues with stable and precise mounting, leading to potential bending and defects in knitted fabrics due to material flexibility and varying stitch densities, which affect the quality of the fabric produced.
Innovation Solution
A knitting needle design featuring a shank with a plastic body that protrudes beyond its side faces to provide vibration damping and reinforcement, allowing adjacent needles to support each other and maintain precise positioning, with the plastic body anchored securely through openings in the shaft.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If knitting tools are made with flexible material properties to accommodate varying stitch densities, then adaptability to different gauges is improved, but stability and precision of mounting deteriorates due to temporary or permanent bending
Solution Approach 1:
The knitting tool is divided into a shaft portion and a working portion, with the shaft being held rigidly in the needle bar and the working portion maintaining flexibility for knitting operations. This segmentation allows the shaft to remain stable while the working end adapts to different knitting actions.
Solution Approach 2:
A plastic body is introduced as an intermediary element between the knitting tool shaft and the needle bar. This plastic body serves as a damping medium that absorbs vibrations and prevents both temporary bending during operation and permanent deformation, while allowing the tool to maintain its positioning stability across different gauge requirements.
2Manufacturing precision
If knitting tools are clamped securely in grooves to maintain precise positioning, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional positioning means
Solution Approach 1:
The complex groove-based positioning system is extracted and replaced by a simpler design where the plastic body itself provides the positioning function. The plastic body protrudes laterally to engage with the needle bar structure, eliminating the need for intricate grooves and clamping mechanisms while maintaining precise positioning.
3Manufacturing precision
If individual knitting tools and needle bars are manufactured for each specific gauge, then manufacturing precision for each gauge is improved, but productivity decreases due to multiple manufacturing processes
Solution Approach 1:
The knitting tool design with the plastic body enables a single tool configuration to function across multiple gauges. The plastic body can be adjusted or replaced to accommodate different needle bar structures and gauge requirements, allowing the same basic knitting tool design to be used universally rather than requiring gauge-specific tools.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design ensures stable and precise mounting of knitting tools, reducing temporary bending and deformation, enabling the use of knitting needles for coarser gauges intended for finer gauges, thereby reducing the overall system weight and improving fabric quality.
Implementation Method 1
The plastic body can be used for vibration damping and reinforcement
Implementation Method 2
The plastic body can be used for vibration damping and reinforcement
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~8
AI summary
A shaft (4) with two side surfaces is supported at the bar of the knitter. When the knitting tool (2) is mounted to the bar, the shaft is held by a shaft section (5) in the bar. The second shaft section (6) protrudes from the bar. A plastic body (15) is held and anchored at the shaft and is protruding beyond the first side surface of the shaft.