Horizontal selector jacks and their actuation

Claim 2

A circular knitting machine comprising a knitting needle cylinder rotatable through a plurality of knitting stations, a plurality of knitting needles carried by said cylinder, a needlemoving jack pivotally connected with each respective needle and movable in a needle-raising stroke and a needle-lowering stroke to effect a needle raising and lowering, each needle-moving jack having at least one butt thereon, cam means at each knitting station defining a cam track for receiving the butts of each of said needle-moving jacks, said cam track having a needle-raising portion which operates on said butts to raise the associated needle-moving jack as the needle-moving jack moves therethrough to thereby raise the needle associated therewith and a needlelowering portion which operates on said butts to lower the associated needle-moving jack as the needle-moving jack moves therethrough to thereby lower the needle associated therewith, a support means fixedly connected with said needle cylinder for rotation therewith about a common axis, a horizontally disposed selector jack carried by said support means and operatively associated with each needle-moving jack and movable linearly in a horizontal direction transverse to the axis of rotation of said needle cylinder, and a pivotally supported actuator jack interconnected between said needle-moving jack and said selector jack so that linear horizontal movement of said selector jack effects pivoting of said jack actuator which in turn effects pivoting of said needle-moving jack to thereby move the butt of said needle-moving jack out of said cam track.

Claim 3

A circular knitting machine as defined in claim 1 wherein said electromagnetic means comprises a plurality of electromagnetic actuators at each knitting station, each of said electromagnetic actuators being operatively associated with only certain of said selector jacks.

Claim 4

A circular knitting machine as defined in claim 2 wherein said selector jacks are arranged in a series equal in number to the number of electromagnetic actuators, each of said selector jacks in said series having a butt thereon so as to pass adjacent only one of said electromagnetic actuators and said electromagnetic actuators at a knitting station having a member engageable with said butt to effect the control of the selector jack in that station.

Claim 5

A circular knitting machine comprising a knitting needle cylinder rotatable through a plurality of knitting stations, a plurality of knitting needles carried by said cylinder, a needle-moving jack pivotally connected with each respective needle and movable in a needle-raising stroke and a needle-lowering stroke to effect needle raising and lower, each needle-moving jack having at least one butt thereon, means defining a cam track for receiving the butts of each of said needle-moving jacks, said cam track having a needle-raising portion which operates on said butts to raise the associated needle-raising jack as the needle-moving jack moves therethrough to thereby raise the needle associated therewith and a needle-lowering portion which operates on said butts to lower the associated needle-moving jack as the needle-moving jack moves therethrough to thereby lower the needle-associated therewith, a support means fixedly connected with said needle cylinder for rotation therewith about a common axis, a selector jack carried by said support means and operatively associated with each needle-moving jack and movable linearly in a direction substantially transverse to the axis of rotation of said cylinder, interconnecting means for interconnecting said selector jack with said needle-moving jack so that movement of said selector jack effects pivoting of the butt of its associated needle-moving jack relative to said cam track, and electromagnetic means at each knitting station selectively actuatable to control said movement of the selector jacks at each knitting station to thereby control movement of the butts of said needle-moving jacks relative to said cam track at each knitting station, said electromagnetic means comprising a plurality of electromagnetic actuators at each knitting station, each of said electromagnetic actuators being operatively associated with only certain of said selector jacks.

Claim 6

A circular knitting machine comprising a knitting needle cylinder rotatable through a plurality of knitting stations, a plurality of knitting needles carried by said cylinder, a needle-moving jack pivotally connected with each respective needle and movable in a needle-raising stroke and a needle-lowering stroke to effect needle raising and lower, each needle-moving jack having at least one butt thereon, means defining a cam track for receiving the butts of each of said needle-moving jacks, said cam track having a needle-raising portion which operates on said butts to raise the associated needle-raising jack as the needle-moving jack moves therethrough to thereby raise the needle associated therewith and a needle-lowering portion which operates on said butts to lower the associated needle-moving jack as the needle-moving jack moves therethrough to thereby lower the needle-associated therewith, a support means fixedly connected with said needle cylinder for rotation therewith about a common axis, a selector jack carried by said support means and operatively associated with each needle-moving jack and movable linearly in a direction substantially transverse to the axis of rotation of said cylinder, interconnecting means for interconnecting said selector jack with said needle-moving jack so that movement of said selector jack effects pivoting of the butt of its associated needle-moving jack relative to said cam track, and electromagnetic means at each knitting station selectively actuatable to control said movement of the selector jacks at each knitting station to thereby control movement of the butts of said needle-moving jacks relative to said cam track at each knitting station, said electromagnetic means comprising a plurality of electromagnetic actuators at each knitting station, each of said electromagnetic actuators being operatively associated with only certain of said selector jacks.

Claim 7

A circular knitting machine as defined in claim 4 wherein said selector jacks are arranged in a series equal in number to the number of electromagnetic actuators, each of said selector jacks in said series having a butt thereon so as to pass adjacent only one of said electromagnetic actuators and said electromagnetic actuators at a knitting station having a member engageable with said butt to effect the control of the selector jack in that station.

Claim 8

A circular knitting machine as defined in claim 5 wherein said selector jack is reciprocable to effect pivoting of said needle-moving jack, and said interconnecting means includes a jack actuator interposed between said selector jack and said needle-moving jack and operable to effect pivotal movement of said needle-moving jack upon said reciprocation of said selector jack.

Claim 9

A circular knitting machine as defined in claim 6 further including a means defining a selector jack cam track to effect said reciprocating movement of said selector jack.

Claim 10

A circular knitting machine as defined in claim 6 further including a cam means for ensuring that each of said selector jacks are located in a predetermined selected position so as to be acted upon by its associated electromagnetic actuator.

Claim 11

A circular knitting machine as defined in claim 5 wherein each of said electromagnetic actuators comprise an electrical coil and a cam member pivotal into the path of movement of a butt on a respective selector jack upon energization of the coil and which cam member effects movement of the selector jack upon its passing thereby.

Claim 12

A circular knitting machine as defined in claim 7 wherein said each of said electromagnetic actuators comprise a cam member movable upon energization of an electrical coil and said cam member at least in part defining said selector jack cam track and effecting said reciprocating movement of said selector jack upon movement thereof.