The machine for making an upper for a shoe comprises a reel holder rack, a dial and a sinker crown, a needle cylinder with a vertical axis and forward and backward movement having a plurality of grooves, inside of which the (needles) are slidable, controlled by selection means thereof, a cup element, at least four feeders assembled along the circumference of the machine, guide means, first braking means, first recovery means for recovering each of the threads to be fed to said needles for forming the upper and a suction bell for unloading said upper, below said first braking means at least second braking means being present for braking or locking each thread for the formation of said upper during at least the first part of the return movement of said needle holder cylinder and second recovery means for recovering said thread from said cylinder, preventing its recovery by a reel of said reels, said second braking means being activated and deactivated by said second recovery means.

The machine for making an upper for a shoe comprises a reel holder rack, a dial and a sinker crown, a needle cylinder with a vertical axis and forward and backward movement having a plurality of grooves, inside of which the (needles) are slidable, controlled by selection means thereof, a cup element, at least four feeders assembled along the circumference of the machine, guide means, first braking means, first recovery means for recovering each of the threads to be fed to said needles for forming the upper and a suction bell for unloading said upper, below said first braking means at least second braking means being present for braking or locking each thread for the formation of said upper during at least the first part of the return movement of said needle holder cylinder and second recovery means for recovering said thread from said cylinder, preventing its recovery by a reel of said reels, said second braking means being activated and deactivated by said second recovery means.

An open-type circular knitting machine for the open and width-variable web production with a knitted fabric take-down and/or collecting assembly, including: a basement, knitting head and take-down and/or collecting assembly for the fabric. The head is equipped with a needle-holding element having a plurality of needles arranged around a central axis; a first and last active needle delimit a dead zone of the element without needles, and an arc-shaped operating zone with active needles. The head has a control device connected to the active needles to selectively actuate them to produce an open knitted fabric extending between two side edges making up two selvedges of the fabric. The assembly is downstream from the head with respect to feeding direction of the fabric, configured for rotating integral or coordinated with the element during production. Further, at least a first cutting device, configured for progressively cutting and/or trimming the produced fabric.

An open-type circular knitting machine for the open and width-variable web production with a knitted fabric take-down and/or collecting assembly, including: a basement, knitting head and take-down and/or collecting assembly for the fabric. The head is equipped with a needle-holding element having a plurality of needles arranged around a central axis; a first and last active needle delimit a dead zone of the element without needles, and an arc-shaped operating zone with active needles. The head has a control device connected to the active needles to selectively actuate them to produce an open knitted fabric extending between two side edges making up two selvedges of the fabric. The assembly is downstream from the head with respect to feeding direction of the fabric, configured for rotating integral or coordinated with the element during production. Further, at least a first cutting device, configured for progressively cutting and/or trimming the produced fabric.

The field of the present invention relates, in general, to apparatus and methods of knitting a material into a tubular form, where the length of such tubular form is not dictated by conventional distances between the knitting areas and the catch basins of integrated machines. In short, this invention increases the distal relationship between the needle-equipped element, which performs the knitting function, and the basin that catches the resulting tubular form of the material. The basin rotates synchronized with the rotation of the resulting tubular form. The separation facilitates the continuous production of a length of the resulting tubular form of the material. The tubular form thus can be longer than such length where, as taught in the prior art, the catch basin is fixedas part of integrated machinesin close proximity with the element that performs the knitting. As an inventive method, the steps include (A) feeding such material into the proximity of a needle-equipped element; (B) knitting such material with such needle-equipped element to produce such resulting tubular form; (C) catching such resulting tubular form in a basin that is physically disconnected from the needle-equipped element and distanced therefrom to produce a desirably longer length of the resulting tubular form; and (D) electronically controlling such feeding step, such knitting step, and such catching step (synchronizing the catching with the rotation of resulting tubular form), whereby the rates of the feeding, knitting and catching produce such resulting tubular form that is unbuckled.

The field of the present invention relates, in general, to apparatus and methods of knitting a material into a tubular form, where the length of such tubular form is not dictated by conventional distances between the knitting areas and the catch basins of integrated machines. In short, this invention increases the distal relationship between the needle-equipped element, which performs the knitting function, and the basin that catches the resulting tubular form of the material. The basin rotates synchronized with the rotation of the resulting tubular form. The separation facilitates the continuous production of a length of the resulting tubular form of the material. The tubular form thus can be longer than such length where, as taught in the prior art, the catch basin is fixedas part of integrated machinesin close proximity with the element that performs the knitting. As an inventive method, the steps include (A) feeding such material into the proximity of a needle-equipped element; (B) knitting such material with such needle-equipped element to produce such resulting tubular form; (C) catching such resulting tubular form in a basin that is physically disconnected from the needle-equipped element and distanced therefrom to produce a desirably longer length of the resulting tubular form; and (D) electronically controlling such feeding step, such knitting step, and such catching step (synchronizing the catching with the rotation of resulting tubular form), whereby the rates of the feeding, knitting and catching produce such resulting tubular form that is unbuckled.

A removal device for removing a knitted tubular manufacture from a circular knitting machine, comprising an annular removal body which supports a plurality of removal members arranged around the axis of the removal body, the removal body being arrangeable coaxially around the needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine, wherein the removal members are supported by a first annular portion and a second annular portion which can rotate with respect to each other about an oscillation axis to pass between a removal condition, in which they are arranged so as to form a circumference that is coaxial with the axis of the removal device, and a sewing condition, in which the annular portions are arranged so as to face each other.

An open-type knitting machine for the open and width-variable web production with a fabric take-down and/or collecting assembly, including a basement and a knitting head provided with a needle-holding element having a plurality of needles arranged around a central axis. A first active needle and a last active needle of the plurality delimit between them a dead zone of the needle-holding element without active needles, and an operating zone shaped as an arc of circle and provided with active needles for producing a partially tubular knitted fabric. A take-down and/or collecting assembly for the knitted fabric under production is arranged downstream from the knitting head with respect to a feeding direction of the knitted fabric. The knit-ting machine further comprises devices for adjusting the angular position of the take-down and/or collecting assembly with respect to the dead zone of the needle-holding element around the central axis.

An open-type knitting machine for the open and width-variable web production with a fabric take-down and/or collecting assembly, including a basement and a knitting head provided with a needle-holding element having a plurality of needles arranged around a central axis. A first active needle and a last active needle of the plurality delimit between them a dead zone of the needle-holding element without active needles, and an operating zone shaped as an arc of circle and provided with active needles for producing a partially tubular knitted fabric. A take-down and/or collecting assembly for the knitted fabric under production is arranged downstream from the knitting head with respect to a feeding direction of the knitted fabric. The knit-ting machine further comprises devices for adjusting the angular position of the take-down and/or collecting assembly with respect to the dead zone of the needle-holding element around the central axis.

The machine for making an upper for a shoe comprises a reel holder rack, a dial and a sinker crown, a needle cylinder with a vertical axis and forward and backward movement having a plurality of grooves, inside of which the (needles) are slidable, controlled by selection means thereof, a cup element, at least four feeders assembled along the circumference of the machine, guide means, first braking means, first recovery means for recovering each of the threads to be fed to said needles for forming the upper and a suction bell for unloading said upper, below said first braking means at least second braking means being present for braking or locking each thread for the formation of said upper during at least the first part of the return movement of said needle holder cylinder and second recovery means for recovering said thread from said cylinder, preventing its recovery by a reel of said reels, said second braking means being activated and deactivated by said second recovery means.