US3529443A - Process and device for shooting in filling yarns for warp knitting machines - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 22, 1970 w. PALANGE 3,529,443

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SHOOTING IN FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KNITTING MACHINES Filed June 7, 1968 9 sheets-shag 1 Fig I U7 I54 I 5 v Sept. 22, 1970 w. PALANGE 3,529,443

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SHOOTING IN FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KNITTING MACHINES Filed June '7, 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet :3

Sept. 22, 1970 w. PALANGE PROCESS AND DEVICE FDR SHQOTING IN FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KNITTING MACHINES 9 Sheets-Sheet Filed June 7, 1968 Sept. 22, 1970 w. PALANGE PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SHOOTING IN FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KNITTING MACHINES Filed June 7, 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet (p p 2 1970 w. PALANGE 3,529,443

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SHOOTING IN FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KNITTING MACHINES Filed June 7, 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 f i I 4 Q Q FT 6 n "I s l 3 m E y Q ct J .5 CE qi M l) g N as p r i Sept. 22, 1970 w. PALANGE 3,529,443

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SHOOTING IN FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KNITTING MACHINES Filed June 7, 1968 9 Shee'tsSheet e,

Sept. 22, 1970 w. PALANGE 3,

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SHOOTING IN FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KNITTING MACHINES E Filed June 7, 1968 9 SheetsSheet '7 Se t. 22, 1970 w. PALANGE 3,529,443

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SHOOTING'IN FILLING YARNS FDR WARP KNITTING MACHINES Filed June 7. 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 g I y! (/16 a M M 1s Sept. 22, 1970 PALANGE 3,529,

PROCESS AND DE E FOR OOTIN N FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KN ING M INES Filed June 7, 1968 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 Fig 10d 135" /0a" United States Patent 3,529,443 PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR SHOOTING IN FILLING YARNS FOR WARP KNITTING MACHINES Walter Palange, Oisterwijk, North Brabant, Netherlands, assignor to Jean Gusken, Dulken, Germany Filed June 7, 1968, Ser. No. 735,459 Claims priority, application Germany, June 7, 1967, 1,635,809 Int. Cl. D04b 23/00 US. Cl. 66-86 18 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A process and a device for the shooting in of filling yarns for warp knitting machines of the type wherein two rows of guide needles face each other and form a links-links knitted fabric through reciprocal takeover of stitches. The warp threads run from the needle holes to the fabric and form an open shed alternatingly toward the front end and the rear of the machine. Filling yarns run from a supply bobbin through a feed position located approximately in the middle of the machine to the rows of the needles. A tied up filling yarn at one edge of the fabric is pulled out in the opposite direction to form a loop, the apex of which moves on a path parallel the rows of needles, up to and beyond the longitudinal extent of the rows of needles. The loop strand running from the apex to the tied up loop is then swung into the knitting shed opened at this point.

BACKGROUND Field of the invention The invention concerns a process and. a device for the shooting in of filling yarns for warp knitting machines, with two rows of guide needles forming a links-links warp knitted fabric through mutual takeover of stitches, transposable in relation to one another and facing each other, where the warp threads delivered from the needle holes to the fabric will form an open shed alternatingly toward the other longtitudinal side of the machine after each takeover of stitch.

Description of the prior art Placing of the filling thread in the production of knitted fabrics has been known heretofore. Differing from woven cloths, however, the filling in most cases do not extend all the way across the fabric but only across (or to be more precise, underneath) a limited number of needles in the stitches in which the filling yarns have been tied up. This limitation of the length of the filling is necessary in order to attain a sufficiently high knitting speed which should be several times higher than the weaving speed, without injuring the threads during the drawing off of the fabric.

Placings of fillings underneath a limited number of needles requires an additional guide needle bar. The insertion of such a guide bar does not cause any particular difficulties in the case of raschel knitting machines; However, conditions are different in the case of links-links warp knitting machines of the type to which this invention pertains. Here, the formation of the stitch is accomplished exclusively by two guide needle rows passing alternatingly with their heads through the paths of needles lying opposite each other. A third row of guide needles of placing of filling yarns would not only bring about a considerably increased expenditure by way of construction but, beyond that, it would decrease considerably the knitting performance because of the periods of disuse 3,529,443 Patented Sept. 22, 1970 ICC cross the entire 'width of the fabric without being limited for the tentering of these filling yarns to the time period of the opening of the shed. Rather, it will be possible to tenter the filling yarns during the preceeding formation of stitches or, preparatorily, even prior to that, and then to shoot them in to the open shed in the transverse direction. Nevertheless, an interruption in the drawing ofi of the filling yarns from the supply bobbin for the duration of. the shooting in of the filling yarn has not been avoided, so that during the drawing off itself very high drawing off speeds must occur. Further, the lengthwise drawing off of the filling yarns used in the case of weaving machines and the subsequent transverse movement of said yarns into the shed in the path raises construction problems, which, heretofore, were impossible to solve economically as well as technically in a satisfactory manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve these problems and to provide a process for shooting in the filling yarn in the case of warp knitting machines of the kind mentioned above, wherein the drawn off filling yarn is conserved as much as possible.

According to the present invention this problem is solved by drawing out a filling yarn running from a supply bobbin through a feed position located approximately in the middle of the machine, spaced transversely from the rows of needles, and running to a tied up filling at one edge of the fabric. The filling yarn is drawn in an opposite direction to form a loop whose apex moves on a. path which is located parallel to and is spaced transversely distant from the rows of needles, up to and beyond the longitudinal extent of the rows of needles, whereupon the looped strand running from the apex to the tied up filling is swung into the knitting shed which is open at this time. Since in the case of the process according to the invention the apex of the loop develops gradually from a filling yarn running to the tied-up filling at the edge of the fabric, drawing off the thread starts very gently and can then be increased by a correspondingly quick movement at the apex of the loop to a very high drawing-off speed Without any impermissably high stresses of the filling yarn occurring.

Effectively, swinging that looped strand running to the tied-up filling into the knitting shed takes place through a continuous movement of the loop apex transversely to the lengthwise extent of the rows of guide needles. It is also advantageous to control the stitch forming movements of the rows of guide needles in such a manner that the swinging-in movement of the looped strand running to the untied filling takes place in a knitting shed which is open in the direction of the swing-in side, whereby the knitting shed, for practical purposes, will close immediately after completion of the swing-in movement. But it is also possible for the filling yarn to be shot into a knitting shed pointed oppositely to the shooting-in side, whereby the filling yarn is then guided above the heads of the guide below said needles.

A device for carrying out the process according to the invention comprises two drivers, movable back and forth alongside the rows of guide needles and transposed in the longitudinal direction of the rows of guide needles, each time through whose lagging driver at least one filling I yarn arriving from a supply bobbin can be drawn out to form a loop. The drivers at the ends of the back-and-forth movements, running along the rows of guide needles, carry out movements which are additional to these former movements whereat the lagging driver moves in a direction away from the rows of guide needles.

According to another feature of the invention, a filling yarn feed and exchange arrangement, which can be operated by control chains, and which and is known per se, is arranged at the feed position of the filling yarns, through which arrangement a number of filling yarns can be brought singly or several of them into the path of the lagging driver in a sequence which can be controlled as desired.

Preferably the drivers are carried by two endless chains revolving around end wheels staggered in relation to one another in a longitudinal direction. In place of the chains, of course, it is also possible to use bands, belts or the like. On one longitudinal side of the machine all chain strands effectively run parallel and at a small distance from one another. It will also be advantageous if the two end wheels which drive the chains are located at the lengthwise ends of rows of guide needles around which the chain is looped. Since the drivers complete the shooting in of the filling yarns during their turn around these driving gears a tensing of the filling yarns takes place simultaneously as a result of this choice of rotational direction of the driving wheels.

According to another feature of the invention, given by way of example, maneuverable thread retarders are arranged at the ends of the rows of guide needles, around which, in the operating state, the filling yarns emerging at the pertinent edge of the fabric will loop.

Thus, it is an object of this invention to improve shooting-in of filling yarns in a links-links knitting machine. Other objects and the advantages will become apparent from the detailed description to follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to a preferred embodiment as shown in the drawing 'by way of example, whereby further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent.

FIG. 1 shows a perpendicular section through a linkslinks warp knitting machine in the area of the knitting tools,

FIG. 2 shows a section of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale and turned clockwise by 30.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a part of a needle bar with the guide needles attached to said bar in actual size, and wherein the parts, lying one on top of the other, have been broken away at varying lengths.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along line IV--IV in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross section through the shaft of a guide needle, taken along line V-V in FIG. 4, but shown on an enlarged scale.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal section through a swing bearing of the sinker combs, taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a top view of the machine obliquely from above taken along line VIIVII in FIG. 1, wherein the chains of the shooting-in arrangement for the filling are shown schematically.

FIGS. 8a to 80 are symbolic drawings of the vertical movements (as reviewed in FIGS. 9a to f) of the guide needles, the forward movement of the rear guide needle bar from a reference position, and the traverse movement of the sinker combs, respectively.

FIGS. 9a to 9 show one guide needle each of the front and rear rows of the needles, as well as the sinker combs, in various working positions during one-half revolution of the main shaft of the machine.

FIGS. 10a to 10f show various stages in the operation of the device for shooting in the filling yarn of the warp knitting machine according to the invention during two revolutions of the main shaft of the machine.

. 4 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the present invention as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the warp knitting machine of the preferred embodiment has a machine frame 10, which in the conventional manner has two parallel frame walls connected by several bars, between which walls there are two warp beams 11, 12 as well as the knitting tools and between which the finished knitted fabric is drawn off.

A first needle bar 15 is articulated to a bar 13 through a stationary axis and slidable to a limited degree. The bar 13 is U-shaped in its cross section and has several axial thrust joints 14, distributed along its length. The bar 15 is located in front (when viewed from the operating side of the machine which is the left side in FIG. 1). A second bar 16, U-shaped in its cross section, is articulated to a rear needle bar 18 through an axis which has axial thrust joints 17. The bar 16 is swingable and axially slidable to a limited degree on said axis. The axial thrust joints 17 are not attached to the bar 13, as is the case with the first needle bar 15, but they are carried by connecting rods 19, which are slidable through the bar 16 within guide bushings 20. A spiral spring 21, mounted on each connecting rod 19, is supported between the guide bushing 20 and a disk 23 which, in turn, is secured by a resilient ring 22. A cam follower roller 24, mounted at the other end of the connecting rod 19, continuously rests on a cam disk 26 which is mounted on cam shaft 25.

During operation and in a manner which will be explained in more detail further below, this cam causes the bar 18 to be moved periodically and by a small amount toward the front needle bar 15 and back again.

The needle bars 15, 18 comprise magnesium profiles,

whose free ends are directed essentially towards each other. Each needle bar 15, 16 carries a row of guide needles 27, 28 respectively. The guide needles 27, 28, as shown FIGS. 3 and 4, are not attached to the needles in the usual manner but are inserted into spaced apart recesses 29 in middle beds 30. The needles are kept in place with the help of a number of covers 31 which are attached above the needle beds 30 with the help of screws 32 on the needle bar. Preferably, the separating seams between the covers 31 run obliquely in relation to the guide needles to assure that all guide needles are covered by the covers 31. As FIG. 5 shows, each guide needle 27, 28 has a shaft 33 having a U-shaped profile above, which is followed by the needle head 35, and the needle shaft 33- aside from being straight has two approximately equally large opposing curvatures 36, 37 limited to relatively short areas, through which the needle head 35 attains a position parallel to shaft 33 and staggered toward the top in relation to the needle shaft 33. This parallel staggering corresponds approximately to half the swiveling path through which the needle head 35 passes in a perpendicular direction during the stitch formation.

The warp threads 38, 39, as shown in FIG. 1, after arriving from the warp beams 11, 12, are fed to the guide needles 27, 28 via thread tensioning rockers 40, 41 and guide rolls 42, 43. The warp threads running freely across the cover 31 are guided, as shown in FIG. 4, for needles 27, by two lengthwise staggered eyes 44 and 45 along guide wires 46, 47 inserted in the profile sides of the needle shaft 33 into the inside to the needle shaft profiled in a U-shape. The wires thus serve as guides for the warp threads up to the needle heads 35 and prevent the portion of the warp thread between shaft 33 and needle eye 34 from being seized by a needle 28 passing between the needle shafts 33 at needles 27. Such seizure would lead to an immediate break in the thread.

The swnging movements of the needle bars 15, 18 around the swinging axes on which are formed the axial thrust joints 14, 17, are controlled by cam disks, which are arranged on two main shafts 48 and 49 extending below the bars 13, 14. The main shafts 48, 49 mounted in a known manner in the walls of the machine frame 10, are driven from the same driving source (not shown) as the cam shaft 25 and at the same rotational speed. Such driving source would be located outside the walls of the frame 10. The main shafts 48, 49 each carry several pairs of cam disks 50-51 and 52-53, distributed over its length. 'Each pair of cam disks is enclosed by a box 58, 59 mounted on square pipe bars 54-55 and 56-57, in which box a three-armed compensating lever 60, 61 has been mounted to be swingable around a bearing axis 62, 63. Two arms of each compensating lever 60, 61 extending in opposite peripheral directions along the surface of the cam disks carry follower rollers 64, 65 and 66-67 on opposite sides, which roll, one each on the cam disks 50-51 and 52-53 and continuously contact their respective cam surface. The swinging movement of the compensating levers 60, 61 is thus dependent upon the shape and rotation of the cam disks.

The free third arm of each compensating lever 60, 61 is articulated to a bearing block 74, 75, which blocks are screwed to the undersides of the sides of the needle bars 15, 18 carrying the needle beds 30, via coupling links 72, 73 which are provided at both of their ends with ball joints 68-69 and 70-71, the length of which couplings are preferably adjustable. The ball joints 68-69 and 70-71, together with the axial thrust joints 14, 17 make possible the staggering movement of the needle bars 15 and 18 required for knitting, which movement is controlled in a known manner by a staggering arrangement placed outside one frame wall of the machine frame at a certain relationship to the swinging movement of the rows 27, 28 of guide needles, and brought about by the cam disks 50-51 and 52-53. Since such staggering arrangements are well known per se, a more detailed description is not thought to be necessary.

Between the boxes 58, 59 for the cam disks there is a fabric removing arrangement comprising two delivery rolls 76 and 77, as well as two pressure rolls 78 and 79 for the knitted fabric 80 produced by the guide needles 27, 28. The fabric winds around the delivery rolls 76 and 77 between the upper pressure roll 78. The delivery rolls 76, 77 are driven positively. The pressure rolls 78, 79 have been mounted to be shifted towards and away fram each other. The pressure roll 78 is drawn by the material 80 winding around it, into the wedge-shaped gap between the delivery rolls 76 and 77. However the pressure roll 79 is pressed against the delivery rolls 76, 77 by the force of a spring (not shown).

As becomes clear in FIG. 6, at the reduced crosssection ends of the delivery roll 76, a supporting lever 83 has been rotatably mounted on ball bearings 81, 82. Annular covers 84, 85, which are screwed to the ends of a hub formed on the supporting lever, hold the outside ball races of the ball bearings 81, 82 in position against spring rings 83, 84 inside a bore 86 in the hub. The inside ball races of the ball bearings 81, 82 are held in position between a shoulder shaped section 71 at the reduced end of the delivery roll 76 and a casing 88 fixed by a clamp screw 87 on the delivery roll 76.

The free ends of the supporting levers 83, strengthened on the outside by ribs, as shown in FIG. 6, have been broadened in the shape of a hammer in the tangential direction about the axis of roll 76 (see FIG. 2) and across their entire width they have a projection 89, projecting toward the other lever 83, the flat upper side 90 of said projection directed tangentially and serving as a guide surface for two sinker bars 90, 91 which have an angular shape in their cross section. The sinker bars 90, 91 have been attached at their front sides to the supporting levers 83 by means of screws 92, 93, which penetrate through an elongated slot 94 extending almost across the entire hammer-shape broadening of the supporting lever 83. By loosening screws 92, 93, it is possible to change the spacing between the sinker bars 90, 91 within a wide range.

Sinker comb leads 97, 98 are attached by screws 95, 96 to the outsides of the upward directed sides of the sinker bars 90, 91, into which the sinkers 99 (FIG. 6) have been inserted with the same spacing as with the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles. The sinkers 99 form two sinker cams 100, 101 running toward each other at a transverse distance from each other, between which the drawn oft fabric is guided. The outside bevelled edges of the sinker bars 90, 91 have been rounded in order to prevent damage to the fabric passing between them.

The entire sinker comb arrangement is driven through cam discs (not shown), which are located in pairs outside the cam disks 50, 51 on the front main shaft 48 and which have associated therewith three-armed compensating levers in the same manner as the cam disks 50, 51. Part of the outline of such a compensating lever 103 can be recognized in FIG. 1 behind the compensating lever 60. The compensating levers 103 are each connected through a coupling 102 with a second arm of the compensating lever 83 developed as toggle levers. Special ball bearings at the ends of the couplings, as in the case of the couplings 72, 73, are unnecessary in the case of couplings 102 since the sinker cam arrangement, differing from the needle bars, does not execute an axial stagger movement.

As becomes clear particularly in FIGS. 2 and 7, a base plate 104 of a hollowed out U-shape (when viewed from above as in FIG. 7), and which has its sides directed forward, rests on the frame walls 105, 106 of the machine. The plate 104 extends on three sides around the rows 27, 28 of guide needles at about the height of the upper sides of the needle bars 15, 18. A number of chain sprockets are mounted on the base plate 104 around which two endless chains 107 and 108 are wound to follow a path corresponding to the U-shape of the plate. The chain 107 extends with its strands 109 and 110 guided essentially in parallel from one driving wheel 111, located in the middle of the right-hand side of the base plate, following the shape of the base plate 104 around wheels 112, 113, 114, 115, as well as an intermediate wheel 116', to a tension wheel 117, located at the front end of the left-hand side of the base plate 104. The chain 108 also extends with its strands 118, 119 essentially parallel and outside of chain 107 and following the same general course, from a driving wheel 120, located in the middle of the left-hand side of the base plate, and around wheels 121, 122, 123, 124 and intermediate wheels 125, 126 to a tension wheel 127, located at the front end of the right-hand side of the base plate. Through different positions of the driving wheels and of the tension wheels on the sides of the base plate, a staggering of the two chains 107, 108 will be achieved for a reason that will be explained below.

The driving wheels 111, are driven via driving shafts and gears, not shown here, at such a ratio to the main shafts 48, 49 of the machine that during two revolutions of the main shafts the chains will each revolve once in the path determined for it by its sprocket wheels.

The rotational directions of the driving wheels 111, 120,

have preferably been selected in such a manner that the chains in the area where they wind around the driving wheels 111, 120 will move away from the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles as indicated in FIG. 7 by arrows.

Chains 107 and 108 each carry on one of its links an upright driver 128, 129 (FIG. 2), which consists of a sheetmetal tongue beveled in an upward direction and riveted onto a chain link, the upward pointing part of said tongue having been constricted in the middle. The drivers 128, 129 have been shown arranged on chains 107, 108, in such a manner that after each half turn of the chain alternatingly (a) the driver 128 of the inside chain 107 will be located at the foremost position of the right-hand driving wheel 111, and (b) the driver 129 of the outside chain 108 will be located at the foremost position of the left-hand drive wheel 120. The position of the drivers at position (a) has been indicated in FIG. 7 by circles designated in FIG. 7 by circles designated by 128' and 129', while the position (b) reached one-half rotation of the chain later has been indicated by circles designated by 128" or 129". At both points in time, the knitting tools are in the same position since the main shafts 48, 49 as well as the cam shaft 25 have executed a complete revolution in the meantime.

Two additional bars 130 and 131, U-shaped in their cross-section, carry the housing 132 of a filling yarn feed and exchange arrangement located at the upper rear part of the machine frame and in the longitudinal center of the machine. On the open upper end of the housing 132 is a horizontal axis 133, on which a number, for example eight, thread feed levers 134 have been mounted. The front ends of the thread feed levers 134 contain vertically opening guide eyes 135 to which the filling yarns are fed from yarn supplf bobbins 137 via a corresponding number of levers 136, which are resilient and which are likewise provided with eyes at their ends. The bobbins 137 are arranged on a bar 138 carried by the housing 132. The rear ends of the thread feed levers 134 are held by tension springs 139 against a corresponding number of control chains 140, which revolve around sprocket wheels 141, 142, 143, 144 inside the housing 132. Each one of the sprocket wheels 141, 142, 143, 144 is turned continuously via a driving connection, not shown, by the main drive of the machine. The links at various heights of the control chains are known per se, and for that reason are shown only schematically in FIG. 1. At certain times the links of chain 140 press against levers 134 to urge the front ends of the thread feed levers 134 downward in selected groupings, as will be explained subsequently with respect to FIGS. 10a to f. This movement of levers 134 moves the pertinent filling yarns into the path of revolution of the drivers 128, 129, which seize them and guide them in a manner described further below, to the rows 27, 28 of guide needles.

In order to avoid damage or fouling of the filling yarns seized by the drivers 128, 129, the chains may be covered up effectively by a protective plate, not shown, of the same general shape as base plate 104, which are provided with two circular slots in the shapes of chains 107, 108, through which penetrate the parts of the driver wheels pointing upwardly. The filling thread feed and exchange arrangement also includes four thread retarders 145, 146, 147, 148 (FIG. 7), arranged in pairs on the two front ends of the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles.

Referring to FIG. 2, each thread retarder includes a bar 149, beveled at one end, and adjustably clamped in a bore in the upper end of a swiveling lever 150, by a screw 151. The swiveling lever 150 is mounted in a mounting block 153 which serves in common for two thread retarders each, by means of a bolt 152, said mounting block 153 being screwed onto the upper side of bar 13. The end of bar 149 remote from the bevelled end is adjustably clamped to thrust piece 155 by screw 154. The thrust piece includes a cam follower roller 156 at the end, which, under the effect of a spiral spring 157 acting between the bar 149 and the mounting block 153, is held against a cam disk 158. The cam disks 158 of all thread retarders are mounted on a common cam shaft 159, the ends of which are supported in the walls of the frame 105, 106, in a manner similar to that of the main shafts 48, 49 and the cam shaft 25. This shaft 159 is driven by the main drive of the machine. In contrast to the above mentioned shafts, however, the cam shaft 159 revolves at only half the speed, so that a revolution of the cam shaft 159 corresponds to one complete revolution of the chains 107, 108. The ends of the bars 149 of the thread retarders 145, 146, 147 and 148, which have been bevelled downwards, will dip, in the working position, as shown in FIG. 2, into the plane of the protective plate above chains 107, 108, and they are staggered in pairs in relation to one another in the direction of the guide needles,

so that the bevelled ends of the inside thread retarders 146, 147, directly adjoining the guide needles, lie somewhat farther toward the rear of the machine than the bevelled ends of the outside thread retarders 145, 148.

The cam disks -51 and 52-53 on the main shafts 48, 49 are shaped in such a manner that during one revolution of the main shafts the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles carry out movement in a vertical plane around the center line M as shown in the crank circle diagram according to FIG. 8a, which corresponds to a field of traverse across an angle of about 7.5 and thus is below half the angle of traverse of known machines of this type. Starting from the point in time P in which the front guide needles 27 assume their lowest position and the rear guide needles 28 their highest position, the two rows of needles approach each other between the points P and P through equally large traversing movements up to only a small vertical distance (as viewed in FIGS. 9a to 9 and maintain said distance by one or several spacings of the needle between the points P and P for the duration of the stagger movement of the rows of guide needles, which now takes place. Subsequently, row 27 of the guide needles is raised to the highest position at point P and row 28 of the guide needles is simultaneously lowered to the lowest position at the same point P whereby the needle heads reciprocally pass through the needle paths of the opposing row of guide needles at the point in time of crossing P After a prolonged dwell time, the course of movements described previously is repeated, from point P in a reverse order, through points P P and P to the point P Between P and P a staggering of the rows of guide needles again takes place in the longitudinal direction and at point P the needle heads pass through the needle paths of the opposing rows of needles in the opposite direction.

As the crank circle diagram according to FIG. 8c shows, the sinker combs 100, 101, during one such revolution of the main shafts 48, 49, move from a rear end position at the point in time P first of all evenly up to the point of crossing P into a middle position and, from there, with increased speed and without interruption, to the front end position, which they reach at a point in time P which is somewhat behind point P and which they maintain up to point P Then the same course of movement is repeated in the reverse direction via the middle position at the point of crossing P up to the rear end position in a point in time P which is somewhat behind point P As mentioned above, row 28 of guide needles, in addition to its traversing movement and its stagger movement, carries out a third periodic movement which comprises forward movement toward the front row 27 of guide needles. This movement is controlled by the cam disk 26 on the cam shaft 25. This forwardly directed movement is shown in FIG. 8b as a schematic indication of such a guide needle 28. It begins at point P between points in time P and P it reaches its front end position at the point of crossing P which it maintains for a short time up to the point P and then it returns again up to a point in time P behind point P into the rear end position. The same process is repeated from a point in time P between points P and P to points P and P and up to a point in time P which coincides with the end of the crank circle diagram and which corresponds it its starting point P The knitting process which results from these movements has been illustrated for the second half of the crank circle diagrams of FIGS. 8a, b and c in the FIGS. 9a to 1. FIG. 9a shows the position of the guide needles 27, 28 and of the sinker combs 100, 101 within the area between the range of the points in time P and P The front guide needles 27 have been totally raised and the rear guide needles 28 have been completely lowered. The sinker combs 100, 101 stand completely in front, below row 27 of the guide needles. The knitted fabric 80, guided between the sinker combs 100, 101, is suspended from stitches 161, each of which form the last row of stitches formed from a warp thread 39, fed via a rear guide needle 28 after it passes over the straight root sector of shaft 33 of a front guide needle 27. There the stitch 161 loops around the warp thread 38, running into the needle hole of the front guide needle row 27 and subsequently passing to the knitted fabric 80 as stitch 162. This stitch 162 passes from the needle hole 35 freely like a cord below the bent guide needle 27 and, with the sector 163 of the warp thread 39 arriving from the needle hole of the rear guide needle 28 to the stitch 161, forms a knitting shed opened toward the rear, into which, during its opening, a filling yarn 164 can be shot in, in a manner explained in detail below.

The front guide needle 27, beginning with the point in time P is now lowered, the rear guide needle 28 is raised, and the sinker combs 100, 101 simultaneously move to the rear (that is, toward the right in relation to the series of FIGS. 91: to 1). At the same time, the fabric 80 is carried along by the lagging sinker comb 100, and the stitch 161 moves in the direction toward head 35 of this needle 27, on the back 165 of the front guide needles 27 or on the warp thread sector 166, where it runs in and is held in tension between the guide wire 47 and the needle hole 34 of this guide needle 27. At the point in time P the guide needles 27, 28 have approached each other to the point where the heads 35 of the rear guide needles 28 engage between the outcoming thread sections 162 of the front warp threads 38 whereby the shot in filling yarn 164 comes to lie below the head 35' of the rear guide needle 28. If heretofore the guide needle 28 is staggered relative to the point of view of FIGS. 9a to f, for example staggered rearwards by one half spacing of a needle in relation to the front guide needle 27, then, in the case of the staggering movement of the rear row of guide needles which now follows, the warp thread sector 162 emerging toward the viewer from the needle hold of the guide needle 27 is seized by the head 35 of the rear guide needle 28 and is forced away in a lateral direction by the front guide needle 27. This condition, which corresponds approximately to the point in time P according to FIGS. 8a, b and c, is shown in FIG. 9b.

From this position, the entire rear row 28 of guide needles is now shifted forward against the front row 27 of guide needles by cam disk 26 by a limited degree. With this shift, the upper curve 37 of the rear guide needle 28 is brought within the area of the needle hold 34 of the front guide needle 27, so that during the subsequent alternating passage of the needle heads through the needle paths at the point of crossing P which is shown in FIG. 90, the new stitch 167, formed by the thread strand 162, immediately reaches the inclined back sector 168 of the rear guide needle 28 receiving said stitch, on which the stitch 167, upon the further upward transverse movement of the guide needle 28 to the root sector of the needle shaft, is moved on by the sinker combs 100, 101 as shown in FIGS. 9d and 3. The warp thread 164 is now tied up in the new stitch 167.

With the formation or take over of the new stitch 167, the preceding stitch 161 is sloughed by the rear sinker comb 100 from the head of the front guide needle 27. This positive sloughing of the stitch is brought about according to FIG. 9e especially by the fact that as the front guide needle 27 lowers, the lagging sinker comb 100 comes ever closer to the guide needles 27 and, finally, dips in between them, whereby it directly seizes the stitches which are to be sloughed.

In the further course of the traverse movement of the sinker combs 100, 101, the lagging sinker comb presses the new stitch 167 completely into the end position on the root sector of the guide needle 28, as shown in FIG. 9 and, indeed, counter to the tension of both warp threads 38 and 39 which, with their running thread strands 162 and 163, now form a knitting shed open toward the front.

Center line M has been drawn in FIGS. 9a to 9 'to show the line around which the rows 27 and 28 of the guide needles with their needle holes are swung. By noting this center line M it becomes clear, that first of all the old stitch 161 and later on also the newly formed stitch 167, during their movement from right to left, for practical purposes, move always on this center line. This is a consequence of the movement of the stitch forced by the sinker combs 100, 101 and of the adaptation of the needle shape to the vertical movement (as viewed in FIGS. 9a to f) of the guide needles 27, 28 in relation to the movement of the sinker combs 100, 101, as well as of the small angle of traverse of the guide needles forming or taking over the new row of stitches to be swung so far back that they finally exerted a pull on the knitted fabric which sloughed the old row of stitches. This necessitated large angles of traverse and brought about a very unsteady operation of the machine. In the case of the present invention, the stitches are sloughed by the lagging sinker comb, which simultaneously moves the newly formed stitches to the root section of the shafts of the row of needles which form the new stitches. Sloughing of the old row of stitches and forming of the new row of stitches, as a result of the present arrangement, takes place without jerks in a smooth movement, as a result of which the knitting speed can be increased considerably. At the end of the sinker comb movement, the lagging sinker comb acts similarly to a weaving comb and heats up the stitches with the shot in fill thread. As a consequence, a very dense and firm fabric is obtained.

The operation of the device for shooting in filling yarns is best understood with reference to FIGS. 10a to f, in which the chains 107, 108 have been shown simplified in their principal course. Furthermore, for a better understanding, only three filling yarns 164, 164' and 164" and, correspondingly, only three thread feed levers with their guide eyes 135, 135' and 135" are shown in the fignres. The presentation of the guide eyes as a ring surrounding a white circular surface means that that particular feed lever is in its idle position according to the presentation in FIG. 1, in which the pertinent filling yarn has not been seized by the drivers 128, 129. If the ring is filled in with black, then the feed lever is pressed down by the pertinent control chain 140, and the pertinent filling yarn lies in the path of the drivers 128, 129. A corresponding characterization has been used for the bevelled bar ends of the thread retarders 145, 146, 147, 148 likewise drawn in merely as rings. If a thread retarder appears as a ring which is white inside, then it has been lifted, and it is therefore in an inactive position. If, on the other hand, the ring has been filled with black, then the thread retarder will clip with its bevelled bar end below the plane of the surface of the protective plate (not shown), which covers up the chains 107, 108 in the manner described above. The dot in the ring of the thread retarder 145 in FIG. indicates that this thread retarder is just being raised from its active position to its inactive position, while the X in the ring of the thread retarder 146 in the same figure represents that a lowering of this thread retarder is just taking place.

In FIG. 1011, all three guide eyes 135, and 135" of the thread feed lever are raised. The filling threads 164 and 164 extend from the guide eyes 135 and 135 to the left end of the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles, and there they are guided around the lowered outside thread retarder 145. The filling yarn 164 extends from guide eye 135" to the right-hand end of the needle rows 27, 28 and there it is guided around the lowered inside thread retarder 147. The leading driver 129 of the outside chain 108 is just about to pass below the filling yarn 164.

Just as driver 129 has run under the filling yarn 164, the feed lever for yarn 164 is pressed down with the guide eye 135. As a result, the filling yarn 164 reaches the path of the lagging driver 128. After the leading 1 1 driver 129 has passed underneath the filling yarn 164", the feed lever for yarn 164" is also down and the filling yarn 164" likewise reaches the path of the lagging driver 128. The latter seizes the two filling yarns 164 and 164" and at first pulls them parallel to the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles and then pulls them out at a right angle to said rows in the shape of a loop (FIGS. b and 100).

During this loop-shaped pulling out, the loop sector of the filling yarn 164, running to the thread retarder 145, arrives in front of the left-hand inside thread retarder 146, which now is lowered, while the left-hand outside loop retarder 145 is raised (FIG. 10c). As a result, the left-hand thread retarder 146 releases the filling yarns 164, 164", 164. The filling yarn 164, however, is held immediately by the left-hand inside thread retarder 146, while the loop-shaped pulled out filling yarn 164 is released completely.

Simultaneously, the right-hand inside thread retarder 147 has also been raised and opens the way for the shooting in of the loop strand of the filling yarn 164, leading to the fabric, into the knitting shed opened toward the rear at this point, where this loop strand arrives below the heads of the rear row 28 of guide needles. In order to assure the shooting in of the filling thread it is possible to arrange metal guide plates 169, if need be, between the inside thread retarders 146, 147 and the front ends of the rows 27, 28 of the guide needles, as indicated in FIG. 9a: at 169 in a broken line. The guide plates will press the filling yarns downward in the final sector of the shooting and move them securely below the heads of the front row of guide needles.

As soon as the loop strand of the filling yarn 164 has been completely shot into the knitting shed, the feed levers with the guide eyes 135 and 135" return to their rest position and the right-hand outside thread retarder 148 is lowered, as shown in FIG. 10d. As a result, the filling yarns 164 and 164" have now been looped around thread retarder 148 by the driver 128 (which now leads), and they retain this state when the leading driver 128, according to FIG. 10c, releases the filling yarns 164 and 164". After release of these two filling yarns and after driver 128 has passed therebeneath, the guide eye 135 of the filling yarn 164 again is lowered and brings the filling yarn 164 into the path of the lagging driver 129. When subsequently the leading driver 128 has run underneath the filling yarn 164, the guide eye 135 is also lowered and moves this filling yarn likewise into the path of the lagging driver 129, which now pulls out the filling yarns 164 and 164' in the reverse direction, as described below, into a loop (FIG. 10 and at the end of this pulling out movement shoots in the strand 164 of this filling yarn, running to the fabric, into the again rearwardly opened knitting shed. At the same time, the raising and lowering of the thread retarder is repeated in a manner similar to the process described above, so that finally after competition of the shooting in of the filling and renewed running of the drivers 128, 129 toward the right, the state shown in FIG. 10a is again reached.

The preferred direction of rotation of the driving wheels 111, 120, which has been mentioned above in connection with the description of the structure of the device for shooting in the filling, is such that the chains 107, 108 move away inside the looping range of the driving wheels from the rows of guide needles and this assures that the shot in strands of loops of the filling yarn will lie tensed in the knitting shed and that no loose loops of the thread will develop at the edges of the fabric.

For proper functioning of the described device it is important that those filling yarns already extending to the end of the fabric towards which the drivers move always be moved into the path of the lagging driver. Only when this is taken into consideration will these leading filling yarns be resuspended by the lagging driver, from an inner retarder 146 or 147 to the outside thread retarder 145 or 148.

Otherwise, and particularly in the case of use of a larger number of filling yarns with correspondingly numerous feed levers, one or several filling yarns can be selected simultaneously in any desired sequence for shooting in, and it will not be necessary that the same filling yarn always be shot in twice in succession. Rather, under certain conditions, which one skilled in the art will easily recognize, one can through a suitable selection of the sequence, change the filling yarn, after each shooting in of the filling yarn so that one can operate therefore pic a pic.

Although the invention had been described in considerable detail with respect to a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that the invention is capable of numerous modifications and variations apparent to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A process for the shooting-in of filling yarns in a warp knitting machine of the type having two longitudinally extending rows of guide needles facing each other, the neeedles of each row being transposed in relation to the neeedles of the other row, for forming a links-links knitted fabric through reciprocal takeover of stitches wherein the warp threads running from the holes in the needles to the fabric form an open shed alternatingly toward the one and the other longitudinal side of the machine, comprising the steps of: running a length of filling yarn from a supply source located at a feed position approximately in the longitudinal center of the machine to one end of the facing rows of needles via first thread retarder located on the said one end of the facing rows of neeedles and being in an effective position for retaining the said filling yarn, engaging said length between the supply source and the said one end by driving means, pulling the length in the direction towards the other end of the facing rows of needles, thereby forming a loop, the apex of which moves on a path substantially parallel to and spaced from the facing rows of needles, continuing said pulling step until the strand of the loop between the apex and the said one end of the rows is swung into the knitting shed opened at this time, thus bringing the said first thread retarder to an ineffective position in which it releases the filling yarn and bringing a second thread retarder located on the said other end of the facing rows from an ineffective position to an effective position for retaining the said filling yarn as the said driving means returns to the opposite direction.

2. A process according to claim 1 wherein during the swinging of the loop strand into the knitting shed, the loop apex is located beyond the said other end of the longitudinal extent of the rows of guide neeedles and is moving transversely towards the said rows of needles.

3. A process according to claim 2 wherein the loop strand running from the apex to the said one end, which is swung into the knitting shed, moves into the shed below the neeedle heads of the row of guide needles pointin in the direction opposite to said transverse movement.

4. A process according to claim 1, wherein the stitch forming movements of the rows of guide needles are controlled to be synchronized with the swinging-in movement of the loop strand running to the said one end to form said knitting shed open toward the swing-in side as the loop is swung in.

5. A process according to claim 4, wherein the loop forming movement of the rows of guide needles are further controlled to close the knitting shed immediately after conclusion of the said swing-in movement.

6. In a warp knitting machine of the type having two longitudinally extending rows of guide needles facing each other, the needles of each row being transposed in relation to the neeedles of the other row for forming a links-links knitted fabric through reciprocal takeover of stitches wherein the warp threads running from holes in the needles to the fabric form an open shed, alternatingly towards one and then the other side of the machine, the improvement comprising: means for running at least one length of filling yarn from a supply source located at a feed position approximately in the longitudinal center of the machine to one end of the facing rows of needles, a driving means movable along a path back and forth along one side of the rows of needles for engaging at least one length between said source and said one end to pull the length towards the other end of the rows of neeedles, thereby forming a loop, the apex of which moves along said path toward the said other end of the rows of neeedles, and for swinging that strand of the loop between the apex and the said other end into the said knittting shed which is formed at this time.

7. The invention of claim 6 wherein said driving machine comprises two driver members, each movable along a separate path back forth along the side of the rows and mounted such that during said movement along the side of the rows, one of the driver members lags behind the other in the longitudinal direction, and means for placing said at least one length of filling yarn into the path of the lagging driver member to be pulled thereby.

8. The invention according to claim 7 wherein the path of the driver members at the ends of the back-andforth movement running along the rows of guide needles includes portions running transverse to the rows of needles, and means in said portions for moving the lagging driver member in a direction away from the adjacent end of the rows of guide needles.

9. The invention according to claim 7 including a filling yarn feed and exchange means located at the feed position, movable chains for operating the feed and exchange means for placing :a number of filling yarns, in any desired controllable number of sequence, into the path of a lagging driver member.

10. The invention according to claim 7 wherein the driving members are each carried by a separate endless chain, each chain being mounted to revolve about a set of ends Wheels, one set being staggered in a longitudinal direction in relation to the other set.

11. The invention according to claim 10 wherein all strands of the two chains run substantially parallel to one another along one longitudinal side of the machine.

12. The invention according to claim 11 wherein the said wheels of each set are located at the longitudinal ends of the rows of guide needles, and including reversing wheels for turning the chains to run transversely of said rows at the ends of their parallel longitudinal extent in relation to the rows of guide needles, towards their respective end wheels.

13. The invention according to claim 12 wherein one end wheel at each set is a drive wheel for driving its respective chain.

14. The invention according to claim 1'2 wherein each driving wheel revolves in a direction to move the chain away from the rows of guide needles.

15. The invention according to claim 8 including thread carriers positioned at the longitudinal ends of the rows of guide neeedles, wherein said lengths of filling yarn pass around said thread retarders and then pass into the edge of the fabric formed between the rows of needles.

16. The invention according to claim 15 wherein each thread retarder is mounted for swiveling movement and includes a hooked end.

17. The invention according to claim 15 including a pair of thread retarders at each end of the rows, each said pair including an inner and an outer thread retarder positioned closer to and farther away from the adjacent ends of the rows, respectively, and wherein the filling yarns running into the formed fabric pass around the hooked end of the outer thread retarder, and wherein the filling yarns to be shot into the knitting shed alternatingly pass around one and then the other of the inner thread retainers.

18. The invention according to claim 17 including a guide plate positioned between the inside thread carriers and the respective adjacent ends of the rows of guide needles, wherein the filling yarns are guided downwards through the plates at the end of the shooting-in movement below the needle heads of the guide needles facing the shooting-in side.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,286,349 12/1918 Kopp 66-87 XR 1,924,649 8/1933 Morton 66-87 XR 2,906,109 9/1959 Efland 66-1 3,134,248 5/1954 Kubelka 66-85 XR 3,143,868 8/1964 Palange 66-1 3,327,501 '6/ 1967 Bahlo 66-85 XR 3,390,439 7/1968 Kalwaites 28-1 3,422,511 1/ 1969 Seguin 28-1 FOREIGN PATENTS 44,426 7/1930 Denmark. 1,394,748 3/ 1965 France.

712,506 10/1941 Germany.

334,842 9/ 1930 Great Britain.

RONALD FELDBAUM, Primary Examiner

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