Machine and method for the circular knitting of plush goods

Claim 2

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said spring needles are guided along different cam paths of cam systems in said circular knitting machine, the cam paths of the cam systems for the spring needles have special cam elements which are offset with respect to each other in the direction of rotation of the circular knitting machine, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, the improvement comprising a special configuration for all spring needles, wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to 15*, said cam systems include a special cam system for forming and holding plush loops with the formation of the plush loops being effected by adjustable stitch cam means of said special cam system while the holding of the plush loops is effected by stationary cam means of said special cam system, said latch and spring needles respectively having different distributions in said dial and needle cylinder, respectively, and stripping means operatively mounted in said circular knitting machine for assuring the displacement of the formed plush loops from the region of the needles and hooks.

Claim 3

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line one the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting a plush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly with latch needles, wherein at a first knitting system of the knitting machine every second spring needle works to form a plush loop and every second latch needle works to form a loop of plush and ground yarn, while at a next-following knitting system all of the spring needles remain idle and said every second spring needle holds the thus-formed plush loops and at least every second latch needle knits a loop of ground yarn only, and at the next-following third and fourth systems the remaining spring needles and latch needles operate in the same way, and in the fifth system all plush loops are cast off.

Claim 4

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line one the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting a plush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly with latch needles, wherein at a first knitting system of the knitting machine every second spring needle works to form a plush loop and every second latch needle works to form a loop of plush and ground yarn, while at a next-following knitting system all of the spring needles remain idle and said every second spring needle holds the thus-formed plush loops and at least every second latch needle knits a loop of ground yarn only, and at the next-following third and fourth systems the remaining spring needles and latch needles operate in the same way, and in the fifth system all plush loops are cast off.

Claim 5

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting a plush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly only with latch needles, said spring needles being alternately long and short, all of the long spring needles operating at the first knitting system of the machine to form plush loops at a position wherein said spring needles are moved upwardly into a thread receiving position and the short spring needles remain idle to hold the plush loops formed at the preceding knitting systems, while in a second following system of the machine all of the short spring needles operate to form plush loops in a position wherein said spring needles are moved upwardly into a thread receiving position after the plush loops previously held by them at the first system have been cast off, and the long spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loops formed in tHe first knitting system while all the latch needles operate in both systems at knitting positions to form knitted loops.

Claim 6

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting a plush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly only with latch needles, said spring needles being alternately long and short, all of the long spring needles operating at the first knitting system of the machine to form plush loops at a position wherein said spring needles are moved upwardly into a thread receiving position and the short spring needles remain idle to hold the plush loops formed at the preceding knitting systems, while in a second following system of the machine all of the short spring needles operate to form plush loops in a position wherein said spring needles are moved upwardly into a thread receiving position after the plush loops previously held by them at the first system have been cast off, and the long spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loops formed in tHe first knitting system while all the latch needles operate in both systems at knitting positions to form knitted loops.

Claim 7

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order to 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting plush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly with latch needles, wherein all the spring needles and latch needles are alternately short and long and wherein at the first knitting system of the knitting machine every short and long spring needle operatse to form plush loops and all short and long latch needles operate to form jointly with the plush yarn and ground yarn knitted loops, while at a second knitting system of the knitting machine, all of the spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loops formed thereon while again all of the latch needles operate to form loops only from the ground yarn, at the next following system all of the latch needles are held idle while all of the spring needles are raised slightly for casting off the plush loops formed thereon, and the operative cycle then repeats itself in the following systems of the knitting machine.

Claim 8

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order to 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting plush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly with latch needles, wherein all the spring needles and latch needles are alternately short and long and wherein at the first knitting system of the knitting machine every short and long spring needle operatse to form plush loops and all short and long latch needles operate to form jointly with the plush yarn and ground yarn knitted loops, while at a second knitting system of the knitting machine, all of the spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loops formed thereon while again all of the latch needles operate to form loops only from the ground yarn, at the next following system all of the latch needles are held idle while all of the spring needles are raised slightly for casting off the plush loops formed thereon, and the operative cycle then repeats itself in the following systems of the knitting machine.

Claim 9

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting a plush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly with latch needles, wherein all of the spring needles are alternately long and short and all of the latch needles are alternately long and short, and wherein there are disposed around the cylinder of the circular knitting machine twice as many spring needles as there are disposed latch needles around the dial of the circular knitting machine, at a first knitting system of the knitting machine all of the long spring needles form plush loops while at the next system of the circular knitting machine alL of the short spring needles form plush loops while all of the long spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loops formed at the first knitting system, all of the latch needles operating at each system to form both loops from the ground yarn and the plush yarn, whereby due to the fact that there are twice as many spring needles as latch needles the plush loops are always formed between a pair of adjacent latch needles.

Claim 10

In a multiple system circular knitting machine for manufacturing plush knitted fabric with a plush yarn and a ground yarn with spring needles disposed around a cylindrical needle bed and latch needles disposed around a dial bed, said latch needles and spring needles coacting to knit said plush fabric according to a predetermined pattern, said spring needles having special configurations wherein each spring needle has an upper hook end and a shank extending downwardly therefrom and provided with an innermost portion extending parallel to the axis of the cylindrical needle bed along a straight line which extends from the shank upwardly past the upper hook end of each spring needle, said upper hook end being situated beyond said straight line on the side thereof opposite from the cylinder axis and each hook terminating in a downwardly directed inclined tip which extends along a line which makes with the straight line extension of said innermost portion of said shank a relatively sharp angle on the order of 5* to 15*, the improvement comprising a method of knitting a plush fabric with said spring and latch needles, which includes the steps of operating on the plush yarn only with spring needles and operating on the plush yarn and the ground yarn jointly with latch needles, wherein all of the spring needles are alternately long and short and all of the latch needles are alternately long and short, and wherein there are disposed around the cylinder of the circular knitting machine twice as many spring needles as there are disposed latch needles around the dial of the circular knitting machine, at a first knitting system of the knitting machine all of the long spring needles form plush loops while at the next system of the circular knitting machine alL of the short spring needles form plush loops while all of the long spring needles remain idle and hold the plush loops formed at the first knitting system, all of the latch needles operating at each system to form both loops from the ground yarn and the plush yarn, whereby due to the fact that there are twice as many spring needles as latch needles the plush loops are always formed between a pair of adjacent latch needles.