CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE

Abstract

A circular knitting machine with a needle cylinder (11), in which cylinder needles (13) are mounted to be longitudinally displaceable, and a dial (12), in which rib dial needles (14) are mounted to be radially displaceable, wherein auxiliary elements (15), in particular sinkers, associated with the cylinder needles (13) and auxiliary elements (16), in particular sinkers, associated with the rib dial needles (14), as well as separate thread feeds to the cylinder needles (13) and to the rib dial needles (16) are provided, wherein separate tubular knits (19, 20) can be produced simultaneously or one after the other with the cylinder needles (13) and with the rib dial needles (14).

Claims

1. A circular knitting machine, comprising: a needle cylinder in which cylinder needles are mounted to be longitudinally displaceable; a dial upon which rib dial needles are mounted to be radially displaceable; first auxiliary elements embodying sinkers, associated with the cylinder needles; second auxiliary elements embodying sinkers, associated with the rib dial needles; and separate thread feeds to the cylinder needles and to the rib dial needles; wherein separate tubular knits can be produced simultaneously or one after the other with the cylinder needles and the rib dial needles.

2. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein identical knits or knits in different fineness, can be respectively produced with the cylinder needles and with the rib dial needles.

3. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the tubular knits formed by the cylinder needles and the rib dial needles are removable jointly by a removal devise or by separate removal devices.

4. The circular knitting machine according to claim 3, further comprising a removal device equipped with a spreader and with a cutting device on both sides.

5. The circular knitting machine according to claim 3, further comprising a removal device with an open frame and a cutting device on one side.

6. The circular knitting machine according to claim 3, further comprising a first removal device with an open frame and a second removal device without an open frame.

7. The circular knitting machine according to claim 3, further comprising one, two or four folding devices for produced tubular knits.

8. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein on a raising movement of the cylinder needles during stitch formation, the associated first auxiliary elements embodying sinkers perform a retraction movement and that on a withdrawing movement of the cylinder needles during stitch formation the associated first auxiliary elements perform a raising movement.

9. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein on a raising movement of the rib dial needles during stitch formation the associated second auxiliary elements embodying sinkers perform a retraction movement and that on a retraction movement of the rib dial needles during stitch formation the associated second auxiliary elements perform a raising movement.

10. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, further comprising cylinder cam segments with needle cams for controlling the raising and withdrawing movement of the cylinder needles and sinker cams, with which the first auxiliary elements for the cylinder needles can be controlled to perform vertical movements, a swivelling movement or both around a horizontal axis.

11. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, further comprising dial cam segments, which have needle cams for controlling the raising and retraction movement of the rib dial needles and sinker cams, with which the second auxiliary elements for the rib dial needles, can be controlled to perform radial movements, a swivelling movement or both around a horizontal axis.

12. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the first and second auxiliary elements are mounted respectively in the needle cylinder and the dial or in separate devices.

13. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the first and second auxiliary elements are fixed knock-over bits.

14. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the cylinder needles, the rib dial needles or both are configured as bearded needles and the associated first and second auxiliary elements are configured as beard-closing elements.

15. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the dial is height-adjustable and the first and second auxiliary elements and the thread feed to the rib dial needles or the thread feed to the cylinder needles can be rendered inoperative, so that a fine rib tubular knit can be produced jointly with the cylinder needles and with the rib dial needles.

Description

[0028] A possible exemplary embodiment of a circular knitting machine according to the invention is described in more detail below with reference to the drawing.

[0029] FIG. 1 is a schematic partial view of a needle cylinder and a dial of a circular knitting machine according to the invention;

[0030] FIG. 2 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 of the circular knitting machine with lowered dial;

[0031] FIG. 3 is a detail view of a cylinder cam part of the circular knitting machine from FIG. 1;

[0032] FIG. 4 is a detail view of a dial cam part of the circular knitting machine from FIG. 1.

[0033] The detail view of a circular knitting machine 10 in FIG. 1 shows a needle cylinder 11 and a dial 12. Cylinder needles 13 are mounted to be longitudinally displaceable in the needle cylinder 11. Each needle 13 has an associated auxiliary element 15 in the form of a sinker for stitch formation. Analogously, rib dial needles 14 and associated auxiliary elements 16 in the form of sinkers are mounted in the dial 12.

[0034] A thread 17, 18 is fed respectively to both the cylinder needles 13 and to the rib dial needles 14. A first tubular knit 19 is produced from thread 17 by means of the cylinder needles 13. The rib dial needles 14 at the same time form a second tubular knit 20 from thread 18, which lies within the first tubular knit 19 and is removed together with this. Therefore, with the represented circular knitting machine 10 double the amount of fabric can be produced at the same time as on conventional circular knitting machines. It is, of course, also possible to produce the tubular knits 19 and 20 one after the other. In this case, the tubular knits 19 and 20 can even be produced in different fineness qualities, patterns and colours.

[0035] While FIG. 1 shows the circular knitting machine 10 with a dial 12 raised in relation to the needle cylinder 11, machine 10 in FIG. 2 is represented with the dial 12 in a lowered position. The sinkers 15 and 16 are in a non-operating position. Only one thread 17 is fed, from which the cylinder needles 13 and the rib dial needles 14 jointly produce a fine rib tubular knit 21.

[0036] Thus, as a result of the vertical adjustability of the dial 12 in relation to the needle cylinder 11, separate tubular knits 19, 20 or a joint double-faced tubular knit 21 can be produced with the circular knitting machine either on the needle cylinder 11 or the dial 12.

[0037] FIG. 3 shows a detail drawing of a cylinder cam segment 30 of the circular knitting machine 10 from FIG. 1. The movements of the cylinder needles 13 and the sinkers 15 are controlled with the cam segment 15. A needle control cam 32, into which the needles 13 engage with a butt 33, is provided to control the vertical movements of the needles 13 in the direction of double arrow 31.

[0038] The sinkers 15 perform vertical movements in the direction of double arrow 34 as well as a swivelling movement around a butt 35. The butt 35 is mounted in a control cam 36, which controls the vertical movements. Upper and lower swivel cams 37, 38 are provided for the swivelling movement. In this case, the cam segment 30 is configured in such a way that the needles 13 and the sinkers 15 are movable relative to one another, i.e. the sinkers 15 are retracted during a raising movement of the needles 13 and raised and swivelled during a retraction movement of the needles 13. This leads to relatively small vertical movements of both the needles 13 and the sinkers 15, which allows very high machine speeds.

[0039] FIG. 4 shows a dial cam segment 40 of the circular knitting machine 10 from FIG. 1 configured in a similar manner to the cylinder cam segment 30. The rib dial needles and the associated control cam for their radial movements have been omitted from this drawing for reasons of clarity.

[0040] The cam segments 40 are arranged above the dial 12 and have a first control cam 41 for the radial movement of the sinkers 16 on their underside. The sinkers 16 also perform swivelling movements, which are controlled by a front and a rear swivel cam 41, 43. In this case, the centre of rotation for the swivelling movements lies in the control cam 41. The dial cam segments 40 are also configured in such a way that the rib dial needles 14 and the sinkers 16 perform relative movements in order to shorten the relative movements of the needles.

[0041] The circular knitting machine shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 is merely a possible exemplary embodiment of a circular knitting machine according to the invention. Compound needles or bearded needles could also be used in place of the shown latch needles 13 and 14. The auxiliary elements 15 and 16 do not have to be sinkers, instead they can also be configured as beard-closing elements, for example. Moreover, it is possible to arrange the auxiliary elements 15, 16 outside the needle cylinder 11 and the dial 12. The simultaneous formation of knits on the needle cylinder and the dial is also possible with such variants.