Apparatus and method for knitting pile fabric

Claim 1

IN A CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE HAVING A COMPLEMENT OF INDEPENDENT NEEDLES, A SET OF STITCH FORMING CAMS FOR THE NEEDLES, A PILE YARN FEED AND A BODY YARN FEED, A PLURALITY OF PILE YARN LOOP FORMING IMPLEMENTS DISPOSED ADJACENT THE NEEDLES FOR RECEIVING AND MEASURNG THE PILE YARN PREPARATORY TO ITS FORMATION INTO KNITTED LOOPS, A PLURALITY OF BODY YARN LOOP FORMING IMPLEMENTS DISPOSED ADJACENT THE NEEDLES FOR RECIEVING AND MEASURING THE BODY YARN PREPARATORY TO ITS FORMATION INTO KNITTED STITCHES, MEANS FOR INDEPENDENTLY SELECTING THE AMOUNT OF PILE YARN MEASURED BY THE PILE YARN LOOP FORMING IMPLEMENTS AND THE AMOUNT OF BODY YARN MEASURED BY THE BODY YARN LOOP FORMING IMPLEMENTS AND MEANS FOR RELEASING THE BODY YARN FROM ITS LOOP FORMING ELEMENTS, WHILE RETAINING THE PILE YARN TAUT, WHEN THE BODY YARN IS FORMED INTO KNTTED STITCHES.