Shoe Upper Knitting Machine with Dynamic Needle Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current shoe upper manufacturing machines are limited in using yarns with varying physical characteristics, leading to inadequate mechanical and comfort features, increased production costs, and material waste, making them unsuitable for sports or heavy-duty applications.
Innovation Solution
A machine with a reel holder rack, dial, sinker crown, and needle cylinder with adjustable selection means and braking systems allows for the use of any yarn type, enabling simultaneous production of the upper, eyelets, and tongue, with features like pre-selection and lifting cams for normal and tuck stitches, and elastic thread management to achieve optimal fit and comfort.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional knitting machines are used to make shoe uppers, then production time is reduced and stitching is minimized, but the machines cannot use yarns with different physical characteristics and textures
Solution Approach 1:
The machine employs dynamic selection means including pre-selection cams and lifting cams that can adjust needle selection and stitch type in real-time during the knitting process. This dynamic control system allows the machine to adapt to different yarn characteristics and produce varied mechanical properties in different areas of the upper simultaneously
Solution Approach 2:
The knitting machine is designed with universal feeders and selection means that can handle any type of yarn regardless of its physical characteristics. The machine can produce uppers with different mechanical properties, elastic sections, eyelets, and tongues using the same equipment without requiring changes to the basic machine structure
2Ease of manufacture
If circular hosiery machines are used to make shoe uppers, then production is simplified, but the upper requires further processing and cannot achieve optimal mechanical characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The machine performs preliminary actions by forming eyelets, tongues, and reinforcement areas directly during the knitting process itself. The selection means are programmed to create these features in-situ, eliminating the need for subsequent separate processing steps and achieving precise conformation from the start
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple parts are assembled by stitching or gluing, then different materials can be used, but manufacturing costs increase and production time lengthens
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges multiple separate manufacturing operations into a single knitting process. Different materials and yarn types are fed through the same machine simultaneously, and the selection means knit together parts that would traditionally require separate assembly operations, including eyelets, tongues, and reinforcement areas, all in one continuous process
4Adaptability or versatility
If pre-selection and lifting cams are used for stitch execution, then normal and tuck stitches can be produced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The selection means are segmented into distinct functional components: pre-selection cams that determine which needles are active, lifting cams that control the stitch formation, and feeders that supply yarn. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently while working together to produce varied stitch types
Data Source
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AI summary
The machine (1) for making an upper (2) for a shoe (3) comprises a reel holder rack (4), a dial (5) and a sinker crown (6), a needle cylinder (7) with a vertical axis and forward and backward movement having a plurality of grooves (8), inside of which the needles (9) are slidable, controlled by selection means (10) thereof, a cup element (11), at least four feeders (12) assembled along the circumference of the machine, guide means (13), first braking means (14), first recovery means (15) for recovering each of the threads (18) to be fed to said needles (9) for forming the upper and a suction bell (16) for unloading said upper (2), said selection means (10) of said needles (9) comprising a pre-selection cam (95) defining a working path and a non-working path of the heels (85a) of the elastic jacks (89) of the corresponding needles (9) and sub-needles (84) of said cylinder (7) and a lifting cam (96) defining a first path for the execution of working stitches and a second lowered path with respect to the first path for the execution of tuck stitches.