Apparatus for knitting

Claim 2

A hand knitting machine having a needle bed; a plurality of sinkers forwardly protruding from the extremity of the needle bed and arranged in parallel and at regular intervals in a plane; a corresponding number of latch needles alternated with the sinkers and having a free sliding fit on the needle bed so as to project beyond and to retract from the neighboring sinkers; a stitch forming actuator movably supported on the needle bed so as to reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed and engage with said needles to have the needles project beyond and to retract behind the sinkers to form the stitches; and a loop transferring actuator movably supported on the needle bed so as to reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed; said loop transferring actuator comprising first cam means for causing the needles to protrude from and retract into the needle bed, and laterally shifting means adjacent to extremities of selected ones of the needles in abutably relation therewith in the protruding movement of the selected needles to thereby shift laterally horizontally said extremities substantially close to non-selected neighboring ones of the needles past but not over free ends of the neighboring sinkers, whereby the neighboring needle co-projects through the yarn loop on the selected needle and transferring of the yarn loop is performed from the selected needle to said neighboring needles by having the loop gotten behind the latch of the selected needle and then ridden over the closed latch thereof.

Claim 3

A machine as recited in claim 1, wherein the laterally shifting means includes a pair of rotatable wheels disposed at the forward extremity of the needle bed and spaced from the first cam means with a relation therewith such that the first cam means forces the selected needles to abut the periphery of the wheels and further excessively push the selected needles against the periphery until the needles are flexed due to a lift of the cam means which is higher disproportionally to the curvature of the periphery.

Claim 4

A machine as recited in claim 2 in which latch holding magnetic means is further provided at a position closely adjacent to the path of the extremity of the selected needles when the selected needles follow the cam track of the first cam means so that the latch of the selected needles is in its raised up position to thereby secure the loop yarn in front of the latch.

Claim 5

A machine as recited in claim 3, in which flux guiding means is further provided with its edge portion positioned at a position closely adjacent to the path of the extremity of the selected needle so that a concentrated flux is directed to the latch of the selected needle to insure holding the loop yarn in front of the latch.

Claim 6

A machine as recited in claim 1 in which is additionally provided a cam face the lift of which is in a direction perpendicular to the plane in which lies the needle bed to thereby press the top end of the butt of the non-selected needle whereby the extremity of the non-selected needle is accordingly raised up to prevent the loop from being drawn off out of the hooked portion of the non-selected needle when the non-selected needle is retracted.

Claim 7

A machine as recited in claim 1, wherein said second cam means is provided with a steeper cam face as compared with neighboring cam faces for engagement with the selected needle, the pressure angle of the cam face being so calculated that a side thrust developed against the selected needle is sufficient to flex thereof through a predetermined angle immediately before the extremity of the selected needle abuts the periphery of the wheel whereby the extremity of the selected needle engages the periphery of the wheel out of the bottom dead point on the periphery for insuring the predetermined rotational direction of the wheel.

Claim 8

A machine of claim 1, wherein said laterally shifting means is a stationary plate fastened to the extremity of the needle bed and inclined relative to the direction of travel of the actuator, the inclination of laterally shifting means being so calculated that the corresponding cam face of the first cam means provides a higher cam lift than that provided by the laterally shifting means whereby projection of the selected neeDle develops a side thrust of the laterally shifting means to flex the selected needle with its extremity positioned at a position closely adjacent to the neighboring needle.

Claim 9

A machine as recited in claim 1, wherein said loop transferring actuator further comprises second cam means to raise the extremities of the selected needles and their neighboring non-selected needles without raising the extremities beyond the neighboring sinkers for ensuring safety transferring of the loop.

Claim 10

A machine as recited in claim 8 wherein said second cam means is formed with a substantially steep cam face to laterally horizontally shift extremities of the non-selected needles toward the selected needles for assistance of the safety transferring of the loop.

Claim 11

A hand knitting machine having a needle bed; a plurality of sinkers forwardly protruding from the extremity of the needle bed and arranged in parallel and at regular intervals in a plane; a corresponding number of latch needles alternated with the sinkers and having a free sliding fit on the needle bed so as to project beyond and to retract from the neighboring sinkers; a stitch forming actuator movably supported on the needle bed so as to reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed and engage with said needles to have the needles project beyond and to retract behind the sinkers to form the stitches; and a loop transferring actuator movably supported on the needle bed so as to reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed; said loop transferring actuator comprising first cam means to axially move the needles on the needle bed, second cam means to move the extremities of the selected needles and their neighboring needles in corresponding planes both perpendicular to a plane in which lies said series of needles, and laterally shifting means for forcing the selected needles to flex with their extremities shifted closely toward the neighboring needle past the forward extremity of the neighboring sinker whereby the neighboring needle co-projects through the yarn loop on the selected needle and transferring of the yarn loop is perfomed from the selected needle to said neighboring needle by having the loop gotten behind the latch of the selected needle and then ridden over the closed latch thereof; said laterally shifting means including a pair of rotatable wheels disposed at the forward extremity of the needle bed and spaced from the first cam means with a relation therewith such that the first cam means forces the selected needles to abut the periphery of the wheels and further excessively push the selected needles against the periphery until the needles are flexed due to a lift of the cam means which is higher disproportionally to the curvature of the periphery.

Claim 12

A hand knitting machine having a needle bed; a plurality of sinkers forwardly protruding from the extremity of the needle bed and arranged in parallel and at regular intervals in a plane; a corresponding number of latch needles alternated with the sinkers and having a free sliding fit on the needle bed so as to project beyond and to retract from the neighboring sinkers; a stitch forming actuator movably supported on the needle bed so as to reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed and engage with said needles to have the needles project beyond and to retract behind the sinkers to form the stitches; and a loop transferring actuator movably supported on the needle bed so as to reciprocate along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed; said loop transferring actuator comprising first cam means to axially move the needles on the needle bed, second cam means to move the extremities of the selected needles and their neighboring needles in corresponding planes both perpendicular to a plane in which lies said series of needles, and laterally shifting means for forcing the selected needles to flex with their extremities shifted closely toward the neighboring needle past the forward extremity of the neighboring sinker whereby the neighboring needle co-projects through the yarn loop on the selected needle and transferring of the yarn loop is perfomed from the selected needle to said neighboring needle by having the loop gotten behind the latch of the selected needle and then ridden over the closed latch thereof; said laterally shifting means including a pair of rotatable wheels disposed at the forward extremity of the needle bed and spaced from the first cam means with a relation therewith such that the first cam means forces the selected needles to abut the periphery of the wheels and further excessively push the selected needles against the periphery until the needles are flexed due to a lift of the cam means which is higher disproportionally to the curvature of the periphery.