Flat warp knitting machines

Claim 1

In a flat warp knitting machine comprising two parallel endless chains mounted for continuous revolution in the same direction and at the same speed, a plurality of hooks mounted on the chains in a plane, a weft yarn layer mounted for traversal between the two chains in a plane spaced slightly from a plane in which the chains lie and adapted to engage at least one weft yarn and lay said at least one weft yarn between said chains in a plane parallel to the plane of traversal of the weft yarn layer, and means adjacent each of said chains for pressing each of said weft yarns under a respective hook of one of said chains when the weft yarn layer is adjacent said one chain, the improvement comprising adjacent each of the chains in proximity to the points of reversal of the traverse of the weft yarn layer means for looping each weft yarn, said looping means being stationary in the direction of movement of the chains and each including means for retaining one of the weft yarns, each of said retaining means being positioned, when the weft yarn layer reaches the point of reversal in proximity to the retaining means, in a plane between the plane in which the weft yarn layer lays the weft yarns and the plane in which the chain hooks are mounted, and means adjacent each of said chains for casting off each weft yarn on the retaining means of one of said chains when the weft yarns are being fed to the hooks of the other transfer chain.