Knitting pattern and the like and electro-optic scanning mechanism therefor

Claim 2

A pattern adapted for the control of a knitting machine by being scanned line-by-line and point-by-point By an electrooptical scanning device wherein the pattern is scanned by scanning means in parallel strokes transverse to the length of the pattern and the pattern is indexed longitudinally relative to the scanning means between successive scanning strokes, said pattern having an elongated sheet body having a plurality of uniformly spaced transverse trace tracks, a plurality of uniformly spaced transverse scanning pattern lines, the scanning lines alternating with the trace tracks, the trace tracks having a plurality of uniformly spaced sets of alternating longer and shorter fields, the longer fields being of uniform length, the shorter fields being of uniform length, the longer and the shorter fields having different optical characteristics.

Claim 3

A pattern according to claim 1, wherein the pattern lines are composed of a plurality of serially arranged four-sided pattern fields, the trace tracks contain a number of sets of longer and shorter fields equal to the number of the four-sided pattern fields, and the shorter fields of said sets are generally longitudinally aligned with the center lines of the four-sided fields.

Claim 4

A pattern according to claim 1, wherein the longer and shorter fields of the trace tracks are of different colors, the dimensions of all longer fields being identical, and the dimensions of all shorter fields being identical.

Claim 5

The combination of an electro-optical scanning device and a pattern scanned by the device for the control of a knitting machine line-by-line and point-by-point, said pattern having an elongated body with a plurality of uniformly spaced trace tracks alternating with a plurality of uniformly spaced transverse scanning pattern lines, said scanning device including means for supporting said pattern and for indexing the pattern in the direction of its length, a pattern scanning means, and means for reciprocating the scanning means transversely of the pattern between indexing movements of the pattern and while the pattern is at rest, said scanning means having two scanning devices fixedly connected to each other, the trace tracks having a plurality of uniformly spaced sets of alternating longer and shorter fields, the longer fields being of uniform length, the shorter fields being of uniform length, the longer and the shorter fields having different optical characteristics, said two scanning devices being spaced longitudinally of the pattern so that one scans the trace tracks and the other scans the pattern lines, the two scanning devices being spaced from each other transversely of the pattern by a distance corresponding to the distance between the longitudinal center lines of the shorter fields of two transversely spaced sets of fields.

Claim 6

The combination of an electro-optical scanning device and a pattern scanned by the device for the control of a knitting machine line-by-line and point-by-point, said pattern having an elongated body with a plurality of uniformly spaced trace tracks alternating with a plurality of uniformly spaced transverse scanning pattern lines, said scanning device including means for supporting said pattern and for indexing the pattern in the direction of its length, a pattern scanning means, and means for reciprocating the scanning means transversely of the pattern between indexing movements of the pattern and while the pattern is at rest, said scanning means having two scanning devices fixedly connected to each other, the trace tracks having a plurality of uniformly spaced sets of alternating longer and shorter fields, the longer fields being of uniform length, the shorter fields being of uniform length, the longer and the shorter fields having different optical characteristics, said two scanning devices being spaced longitudinally of the pattern so that one scans the trace tracks and the other scans the pattern lines, the two scanning devices being spaced from each other transversely of the pattern by a distance corresponding to the distance between the longitudinal center lines of the shorter fields of two transversely spaced sets of fields.

Claim 7

The combination of claim 4, wherein some of the fields of the pattern lines are light and some are dark, some of the fields of the trace tracks are light and some are dark, the light fields on the pattern lines and the trace tracks are light reflective, and the scanning devices have light-sensitive means to receive the light reflected from the respective fields.