Apparatus for producing patterned deep pile circular knitted fabrics

Claim 2

In a pile fabric knitting apparatus of the type in which a rotatable needle cylinder carries an endless succession of reciprocable knitting needles and in which pile fiber feeding means deliver pile fibers from separate supplied to spaced apart zones adjacent the needle cylinder to be picked up by such of the knitting needles as are reciprocated into the respective zones, the combination which comprises: needle selector means spaced about the needle cylinder for selecting the individual needles which are to take pile fiber from individual ones of said zones; means for reciprocating the individual knitting needles selected by said needle selector means into individual ones of said zones to cause removal of pile fiber therefrom; controllable means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to the respective ones of said zones; and pattern means for controlling both said needle selector means and said controllable means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to the respective ones of said zones to correlate the quantities of pile fibers delivered to any of said zones with the number of knitting needles reciprocated into such zone.

Claim 3

Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said pile fiber feeding means includes a plurality of feeding and carding heads spaced about the circumference of the needle cylinder; each of said heads comprising a rotatable doffer having card clothing on axially spaced apart surface zones thereof adjacent the circumference of the needle cylinder for separately making available to the knitting needles the pile fibers supplied to the respective doffer surface zones, and means including independently controllable feed roll pairs for separately feeding controlled quantities of pile fibers to the respective ones of said doffer surface zones.

Claim 4

Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said controllable means includes multiple speed transmission means for regulating the quantity of pile fibers delivered to one of said zones, and wherein said pattern means is operative selectively to cause no fiber delivery to such zone, slow fiber delivery to such zone or fast fiber delivery to such zone.

Claim 5

In a pile fabric knitting apparatus of the type in which a rotatable needle cylinder carries an endless succession of reciprocable knitting needles and in which pile fiber feeding means deliver pile fibers from separate supplies to spaced apart zones adjacent the needle cylinder to be picked up by such of the knitting needles as are reciprocated into the respective zones, the combination which comprises: means for reciprocating selected knitting needles into individual ones of said zones to cause removal of pile fiber therefrom; controllable means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to the respective ones of said zones; and pattern means for controlling said controllable means to correlate the quantities of pile fibers delivered to any of said zones with the number of knitting needles reciprocated into such zone, said pattern means including a record bearing medium having indicia corresponding to the pattern produced and means responsive to said indicia for both selecting the individual needles reciprocated into one of said zones and controlling the means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to such zone.

Claim 6

In a pile fabric knitting apparatus of the type in which a rotatable needle cylinder carries an endless succession of reciprocable knitting needles and in which pile fiber feeding means deliver pile fibers from separate supplies to spaced apart zones adjacent the needle cylinder to be picked up by such of the knitting needles as are reciprocated into the respective zones, the combination which comprises: means for reciprocating selected knitting needles into individual ones of said zones to cause removal of pile fiber therefrom; controllable means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to the respective ones of said zones; and pattern means for controlling said controllable means to correlate the quantities of pile fibers delivered to any of said zones with the number of knitting needles reciprocated into such zone, said pattern means including a record bearing medium having indicia corresponding to the pattern produced and means responsive to said indicia for both selecting the individual needles reciprocated into one of said zones and controlling the means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to such zone.

Claim 7

Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said pattern means includes means for initiating the delivery of an increment of fiber to such zone prior to reciprocation of a selected needle into said zone to assure the presence in said zone at the time of passage of the needle of the quantity of fiber intended for such needle.

Claim 8

In a pile fabric knitting apparatus of the type in which a rotaTable needle cylinder carries an endless succession of reciprocable knitting needles and in which pile fiber feeding means deliver pile fibers from separate supplies to spaced apart zones adjacent the needle cylinder to be picked up by such of the knitting needles as are reciprocated into the respective zones, the combination which comprises: means for reciprocating selected knitting needles into individual ones of said zones to cause removal of pile fiber therefrom; controllable means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to the respective ones of said zones; and pattern means for controlling said controllable means to correlate the quantities of pile fibers delivered to any of said zones with the number of knitting needles reciprocated into such zone; said means for reciprocating selected needles into a particular one of said zones including individual needle selectors controlled by said pattern means, and said pattern means being operative to control said regulating means so as to cause an increment of fiber delivery to such zone for each needle reciprocated into that zone.

Claim 9

In a pile fabric knitting apparatus of the type in which a rotaTable needle cylinder carries an endless succession of reciprocable knitting needles and in which pile fiber feeding means deliver pile fibers from separate supplies to spaced apart zones adjacent the needle cylinder to be picked up by such of the knitting needles as are reciprocated into the respective zones, the combination which comprises: means for reciprocating selected knitting needles into individual ones of said zones to cause removal of pile fiber therefrom; controllable means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to the respective ones of said zones; and pattern means for controlling said controllable means to correlate the quantities of pile fibers delivered to any of said zones with the number of knitting needles reciprocated into such zone; said means for reciprocating selected needles into a particular one of said zones including individual needle selectors controlled by said pattern means, and said pattern means being operative to control said regulating means so as to cause an increment of fiber delivery to such zone for each needle reciprocated into that zone.

Claim 10

Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein a plurality of said needle selectors are arranged in a bank disposed adjacent the periphery of the needle cylinder in the vicinity of one of said zones; and wherein said pattern means includes a movable record bearing medium having in areas spaced along the direction of movement sets of indicia the individual ones of which are related to the control effects desired for each of the needle selectors in the bank, means for moving said medium in timed relation to the rotation of said needle cylinder, indicia reading means adjacent said medium for sequentially reading the indicia of the different sets of indicia spaced along the medium and for developing during each such reading operation a separate signal for each indication that a needle is to be reciprocated into such zone, and means for adding up the number of needle reciprocation operations signalled during a given reading operation and causing fiber delivery to such zone for a time interval corresponding to the sum of the signalled needle reciprocation operations.

Claim 11

Apparatus according to claim 7 including a number of needle selector banks corresponding in number to the number of said zones and wherein a single record bearing medium controls all of said selector banks.

Claim 12

Apparatus of the circular high pile knitting machine type for producing a pile fabric having a backing material during the formation of which pile fibers of different selected colors have been applied for retention thereby to produce a desired color pattern in the pile fabric, said apparatus comprising in combination: controllable pile fiber feeding means for conditionally dispensing fibers of predetermined selected colors for retention by the backing material; a record bearing medium bearing indicia depicting the relative positions on the backing material being formed where pile fibers of predetermined colors are to be retained thereby to produce a desired color pattern in the pile fabric; means responsive to said record bearing medium for effecting the retention by the backing material of different color fibers conditionally dispensed by said fiber feeding means in accordance with the indicia borne by said record bearing medium; and means responsive to said record bearing medium and being coupled to said fiber feeding means for controlling the quantities of each different color fiber at any time dispensed thereby in accordance with the amounts thereof to be retained by said backing material as defined by the indicia borne by said record bearing medium.

Claim 13

Apparatus of the circular high pile knitting machine type for producing a pile fabric having a backing material during the formation of which pile fibers of different selected colors have been applied for retention thereby to produce a desired color pattern in the pile fabric, said apparatus comprising in combination: controllable pile fiber feeding means for conditionally dispensing fibers of predetermined selected colors for retention by the backing material; a record bearing medium bearing indicia depicting the relative positions on the backing material being formed where pile fibers of predetermined colors are to be retained thereby to produce a desired color pattern in the pile fabric; means responsive to said record bearing medium for effecting the retention by the backing material of different color fibers conditionally dispensed by said fiber feeding means in accordance with the indicia borne by said record bearing medium; and means responsive to said record bearing medium and being coupled to said fiber feeding means for controlling the quantities of each different color fiber at any time dispensed thereby in accordance with the amounts thereof to be retained by said backing material as defined by the indicia borne by said record bearing medium.

Claim 14

In a pile fabric knitting apparatus of the type in which a rotatable needle cylinder carries an endless succession of reciprocable knitting needles and in which pile fiber feeding means deliver pile fibers from separate supplies to spaced apart zones adjacent the needle cylinder to be picked up by such of the knitting nEedles as are reciprocated into the respective zones, the combination which comprises: means for reciprocating selected knitting needles into individual ones of said zones to cause removal of pile fiber therefrom; controllable means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to the respective ones of said zones, said controllable means including multiple speed transmission means for regulating the quantity of pile fibers delivered to one of said zones, said transmission means including an electromagnetic clutch unit having low speed and high speed outputs; and pattern means for delivering electrical control signals to said clutch unit and being operative selectively to cause no fiber delivery to such zone, slow fiber delivery to such zone or fast fiber delivery to such zone, said pattern means additionally controlling said controllable means to correlate the quantities of pile fibers delivered to any of said zones with the number of knitting needles reciprocated into such zone.

Claim 15

In a pile fabric knitting apparatus of the type in which a rotatable needle cylinder carries an endless succession of reciprocable knitting needles and in which pile fiber feeding means deliver pile fibers from separate supplies to spaced apart zones adjacent the needle cylinder to be picked up by such of the knitting nEedles as are reciprocated into the respective zones, the combination which comprises: means for reciprocating selected knitting needles into individual ones of said zones to cause removal of pile fiber therefrom; controllable means for regulating the quantities of pile fibers delivered to the respective ones of said zones, said controllable means including multiple speed transmission means for regulating the quantity of pile fibers delivered to one of said zones, said transmission means including an electromagnetic clutch unit having low speed and high speed outputs; and pattern means for delivering electrical control signals to said clutch unit and being operative selectively to cause no fiber delivery to such zone, slow fiber delivery to such zone or fast fiber delivery to such zone, said pattern means additionally controlling said controllable means to correlate the quantities of pile fibers delivered to any of said zones with the number of knitting needles reciprocated into such zone.