Positive type feeding apparatus

Claim 1

AN IMPROVED YARN FEED MECHANISM FOR A ROTARY KNITTING MACHINE OF THE TYPE COMPRISING A NEEDLE BED STRUCTURE AND A NEEDLE ACTUATING CAM ASSEMBLY STRUCTURE ONE OF SAID STRUCTURES BEING RELATIVELY ROTATABLY MOVABLE WITH RESPECT TO THE OTHER, SAID IMPROVED MECHANISM COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A YARN ENGAGING FEED MEANS FOR RECEIVING YARN FROM A SUPPLY SOURCE AND DIRECTING SAID YARN INTO A KNITTING MACHINE, A ROTARY DRIVING MEANS FOR SAID FEED MEANS AND OPERATIVELY CONNECTED THEREWITH, SAID ROTARY DRIVING MEANS CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED TO BE ROTATABLY SUPPORTED ON THE CAM ASSEMBLY STRUCTURE OF A ROTARY KNITTING MACHINE AND TO BE POSITIONED IN FRICTIONAL DRIVEN ENGAGEMENT WITH A NEEDLE BED STRUCTURE OF SUCH MACHINE SO THAT UPON RELATIVE ROTATION BETWEEN SAID STRUCTURE SAID DRIVING MEANS IS ROTATED TO ACTUATE SAID YARN FEED MEANS AT A RATE PROPORTIONAL TO THE RATE OF RELATIVE ROTATION; SAID DRIVING MEANS COMPRISING A FIRST ROTATABLE MEMBER MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT AN AXIS, A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED RESILIENTLY FLEXIBLE ELEMENTS SECURED TO SAID MEMBER, SAID ELEMENTS HAVING TERMINAL PORTIONS CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED IN AN ANNULAR PATH, THE PLATE OF WHICH LIES SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID AXIS, SAID TERMINAL PORTIONS CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED FOR CONTINUOUS FRICTIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH THE NEEDLE BED STRUCTURE OF A CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE TO YIELDINGLY IMPART ROTATION TO SAID FIRST MEMBER DURING RELATIVE ROTATION BETWEEN SAID KNITTING MACHINE STRUCTURES, SAID FEED MEANS PROVIDED WITH SUFFICIENT FRICTIONAL SURFACE FOR ENGAGING A YARN LINE TO PREVENT SLIPPAGE OF THE YARN LINE RELATIVE TO SAID SURFACE UNDER VARIATIONS IN THE TENSION OF THE YARN SUPPLIED THERETO.