WEFT KNITTING MACHINE

Abstract

 A flat knitting machine capable of suppressing a vibration of a knitting operation butt when the knitting operation butt comes into contact with a lowering inclined plane is provided. The flat knitting machine is provided with a cam system including a cam plate 100, a needle raising cam 2, a bridge cam 3, and a stitch cam 4, and is further provided with a pair of in-and-out cams 1. Each in-and-out cam 1 is configured to freely go in and out from the cam plate between a rising inclined plane 8 and a lowering inclined plane 9. The in-and-out cam 1 is in an in-state so as not to inhibit movement of the knitting operation butt 70 on a side where the knitting operation butt 70 is raised by the rising inclined plane 8, and is in an out-state so as to make an up and down vibration margin of the knitting operation butt small at a guide inclined plane 10 facing a rear end of the knitting operation butt 70 on a side where the knitting operation butt 70 is lowered by the lowering inclined plane 9.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a flat knitting machine for driving knitting needles arranged in columns in needle beds to carry out a knitting operation.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] A flat knitting machine is a device including needle beds and a carriage that reciprocates in a longitudinal direction of the needle beds to knit a knitted fabric by advancing and withdrawing a plurality of knitting needles arranged in parallel in the needle beds in a longitudinal direction of a needle groove. (See, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2). The knitting operation of the knitting needles includes knit, tuck, and miss as three basics, and is controlled by operating a plurality of butts, arranged in each of the knitting needles, with a cam system arranged in the carriage.

[0003] Fig. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing a correspondence state of a knitting needle 7 and a cam system in a case where knit is selected for the knitting operation in a conventional cam system. In Fig. 1, for the sake of convenience of the explanation, only a needle raising cam 2, a bridge cam 3, and a stitch cam 4 of the cam system are illustrated, and the knitting needle 7 viewed from a direction different from the actual arrangement direction is shown.

[0004] The knitting needle 7 normally includes a needle main body 71 with a hook (not shown), a needle jack 72, a select jack 73, and a selector 74. Among such members, the needle jack 72 includes a knitting operation butt 70, and when a cam system, to be described later, acts on the knitting operation butt 70, the needle jack 72 advances and withdraws in a needle bed gap 0 direction and as a result the needle main body 71 advances and withdraws in the needle bed gap 0 direction.

[0005] The knitting operation butt 70 of the knitting needle 7 in which knit is selected for the knitting operation follows a route indicated with a chain double-dashed line arrow in Fig. 1. Specifically, the knitting operation butt 70 passes a thin-walled portion 43 of the stitch cam 4 on the left side in the plane of drawing, and is pushed up toward the needle bed gap 0 by a rising inclined plane 8 of the needle raising cam 2 with the movement of the carriage. When the carriage is further moved, the knitting operation butt 70 is pushed down to the opposite side of the needle bed gap 0 by a lowering inclined plane 9 including a first inclined plane 91 of the bridge cam 3 and a second inclined plane 92 of the stitch cam 4. The stitch cam 4 is configured to be slidable in the direction along the second inclined plane 92, and changes the-position of the lower end of the second inclined plane 92 by sliding to adjust the drawing amount of the knitting needle 7.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS

PATENT DOCUMENTS

[0006] 

Patent Document 1: Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 2-10262

Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-183182

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION

[0007] As shown in Fig. 1, a gap with a width greater than the length of the knitting operation butt 70 is sometimes formed between the rising inclined plane 8 and the lowering inclined plane 9 in a certain type of flat knitting machine. There are a few reasons why a wide gap is formed. One of the reasons is that the rising inclined plane 8 is positioned distant from the lowering inclined plane 9 to adjust a timing of moving both a needle main body and a slider in a compound needle (see for example, Patent Document 2). Another reasons is that the inclination angle of the rising inclined plane 8 is made gradual with respect to the inclination angle of the lowering inclined plane 9 to alleviate an impact when the knitting operation butt 70 and the rising inclined plane 8 come into contact and to reduce wear of the knitting operation butt 70 and the rising inclined plane 8 by such contact.

[0008] In such a flat knitting machine, consideration is made in recent years to realize speeding up of the knitting speed, that is, speeding up of the movement speed of the carriage to improve the production efficiency of the knitted fabric. If the speed of the knitting operation is increased, when there is a large gap between the rising inclined plane 8 and the lowering inclined plane 9, the knitting operation butt 70 may jump in the direction (direction of black arrow shown in the figure) orthogonal to the advancing direction of the butt 70 and vibrate to a position displaced from a regular route at the portion of the gap when the knitting operation butt 70 comes into contact with the cams 2, 3, 4. Such a vibration is generally not a problem when the knitting operation butt 70 is rising, but may cause unevenness of the drawing amount of the knitting yarn to the needle bed when lowering, which may adversely affect the outcome of the knitted fabric.

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the above situations, and an object thereof is to provide a flat knitting machine capable of suppressing the vibration of the knitting operation butt when the knitting operation butt comes into contact with the lowering inclined plane.

MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS

[0010] The present invention is a flat knitting machine provided with a cam system including a cam plate, a needle raising cam, a bridge cam, and a stitch cam. The cam plate configures one surface side of a carriage that reciprocates in a longitudinal direction of a needle bed in which a plurality of knitting needles are arranged in parallel. The needle raising cam is a substantially hill-shaped member arranged projecting out from the cam plate and including a rising inclined plane that acts on a lower end of a knitting operation butt arranged in each of the knitting needles to advance the knitting needle toward the needle bed gap on an upper end side of the butt. The bridge cam is a member arranged projecting out from the cam plate and includes a first inclined plane that configures one part of a lowering inclined plane that acts on the upper end of the knitting operation butt to withdraw the knitting needle to a side opposite to the needle bed gap. The stitch cam is a member arranged projecting out from the cam plate in a pair on left and right of the needle raising cam, and includes a second inclined plane that configures a remaining portion of the lowering inclined plane for determining a maximum drawing amount of the knitting needle. The flat knitting machine of the present invention having such a configuration further includes a pair of left and right in-and-out cams arranged in the cam plate between the rising inclined plane and the lowering inclined plane at both sides of the needle raising cam, and configured to freely go in and out in a direction intersecting a plane of the cam plate. The in-and-out cam is in an in-state so as not to inhibit the movement of the knitting operation butt on a side where the knitting operation butt is raised by the rising inclined plane, and is in an out-state so as to make an up and down vibration margin of the knitting operation butt small at a portion facing the lower end of the knitting operation butt on a side where the knitting operation butt is lowered by the lowering inclined plane.

[0011]  The in-and-out cam merely needs to be able to freely go in and out with respect to the cam plate, and the configuration thereof is not particularly limited. For example, the in-and-out cam may be configured to freely go in and out in a direction orthogonal to the surface of the cam plate, and the in-and-out cam may be driven with electromagnetic drive means such as a solenoid or mechanical drive means such as a motor. In addition, the configuration in which in and out of the in-and-out cam can be controlled without using the drive means dedicated to the in-and-out cam includes the following.

[0012] In the flat knitting machine of the present invention, the in-and-out cam is a substantially plate-shaped member that lies along the lowering inclined plane. The in-and-out cam has a configuration in which an upper end side of the in-and-out cam is axially supported so that a lower end side of the in-and-out cam can oscillate in an in-out direction, and the lower end side of the in-and-out cam is pushed in a direction of projecting out from the cam plate by an elastic body arranged between the cam plate and the in-and-out cam.

[0013] Furthermore, the stitch cam is preferably configured as below with respect to the in-and-out cam having the above configuration. In other words, the stitch cam includes a cam main body with the second inclined plane, and a receiving cam, coupled to a lower end side of the cam main body, for preventing excessive lowering of the knitting operation butt lowered along the lowering inclined plane, the stitch cam being configured to be slidable in a direction along the second inclined plane. The in-and-out cam is pushed to the in-state by one part of the receiving cam according to a slide position of the stitch cam.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0014] According to the flat knitting machine of the present invention, the lower end of the knitting operation butt is guided by the in-and-out cam when the knitting operation butt of the knitting needle is lowered by the bridge cam and the stitch cam, and hence the vibration of the knitting operation butt in the up and down direction of the cam system can be suppressed. As a result, a knitted fabric with a beautiful finish can be knitted since the knitting operation of the knitting needle is stabilized even in high speed knitting.

[0015] One end side of the in-and-out cam is axially supported so that the other end of the in-and-out cam can freely oscillate, and the other end side can be pushed in the projecting direction by the elastic body, so that the in and out of the in-and-out cam can be controlled without arranging the electromagnetic drive means with respect to the in-and-out cam. Specifically, the in-and-out cam is in an in-state by pushing the in-and-out cam toward the cam plate with the knitting operation butt on the side where the rising inclined plane acts on the knitting operation butt. In particular, the inclined plane is preferably formed in the in-and-out cam so that the knitting operation butt rides on without being stopped by the in-and-out cam when the knitting operation butt comes into contact with the in-and-out cam. Furthermore, the lower end of the knitting operation butt that jumped when brought into contact with the lowering inclined plane can be supported with the in-and-out cam from below since the in-and-out cam is in an out-state by the elastic body in the side where the lowering inclined plane acts on the knitting operation butt.

[0016] For the configuration of pushing the in-and-out cam configured as above, by using one part of the receiving cam arranged on the lower end side of the stitch cam, the switch between the in-state and the out-state of the in-and-out cam can be controlled without additionally arranging a drive source for pushing the in-and-out cam. Moreover, the knitting operation butt and the in-and-out cam can be prevented from coming directly into contact, and the possibility of damage of both members can be reduced on the side where the rising inclined plane acts on the knitting operation butt.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] 

Fig. 1 is a schematic explanatory view showing a correspondence state of a knitting needle and a cam system when knit is selected for a knitting operation in a conventional cam system.

Fig. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an arrangement state of an in-and-out cam in a flat knitting machine according to an embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a schematic three-plane view of the in-and-out cam, where (A) is a front view, (B) is a view of (A) from a direction of an arrow, and (C) is a bottom view.

MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0018] Embodiments of the present invention will be hereinafter described based on the drawings. A flat knitting machine of the present invention has characteristics in including an in-and-out cam, which is not arranged in a conventional cam system, and the configurations other than the in-and-out cam are substantially the same as the conventional cam system already described with reference to Fig. 1. Therefore, in the following embodiments, the reference numerals same as Fig. 1 are denoted for the members same as in the conventional cam system to omit the descriptions thereof, and the points different from the conventional cam system will be mainly described.

[0019] Fig. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an arrangement state of an in-and-out cam 1 in a cam system according to the embodiment. In Fig. 2, in addition to a view of the cam system seen from a front surface, a partial cross-sectional view of a cam plate 100 at a position where the in-and-out cam 1 is arranged is shown in the vicinity of a stitch cam 4. A chain double-dashed line in the partial cross-sectional view indicates the position of the height of the knitting operation butt 70. Fig. 3 is a three-plane view of the in-and-out cam 1 on the left side in the plane of drawing shown in Fig. 2, where (A) is a front view, (B) is a view of (A) from a direction of an arrow, and (C) is a bottom view. The in-and-out cam 1 on the right side in the plane of drawing of Fig. 2 has a bilaterally symmetric shape of the in-and-out cam of Fig. 3.

[0020] As shown in Fig. 2, the cam system of the present invention includes a pair of in-and-out cams 1 fitted into the recess formed in the cam plate 100 at the position of the gap formed between the rising inclined plane 8 and the lowering inclined plane 9 (first inclined plane 91 and second inclined plane 92).

[0021] The in-and-out cam 1 is a substantially plate-shaped member that includes an oscillation shaft is formed on an upper end side and a spring seat 1g formed on a rear surface on a lower end side. A plurality of surfaces 11 to 16 are formed on the front surface side of the in-and-out cam 1, that is, the side facing the knitting operation butt 70 of the knitting needle 7. Furthermore, the in-and-out cam 1 includes on the side surface thereof a guide inclined plane 10 from the position of the upper end of the surface 11 to the position of the lower end of the surface 14.

[0022] The surface 15 of the in-and-out cam 1 is a surface that determines the upper limit of the projecting amount of the in-and-out cam 1 by being brought into contact with a thin-walled portion 22 of the needle raising cam 2, to be described later. When the surface 15 is brought into contact with the thin-walled portion 22, to be described later, the three surfaces including the surface 15, the surface 14, and the surface 12 become substantially parallel to the cam plate 100. With respect to the heights of such surfaces 12, 14, 15, the surface 12 is the highest and becomes lower in the order of the surface 14 and the surface 15 for the reasons described later. The surface 16 adjacent on the other end side of the in-and-out cam 1 with respect to the surface 15 lowers to the rear surface side toward the other end. Furthermore, when the in-and-out cam 1 is arranged in the cam plate 100, the surface 11 and the surface 13 are surfaces adjacent in the left and right direction of the cam system with respect to the surfaces 12 and 14, and become lower to the rear surface side toward the projecting portion of the oscillation shaft 1s from the surfaces 12, 14.

[0023] When the in-and-out cam 1 is arranged in the recess of the cam plate 100, one end side of the in-and-out cam 1 is axially supported by the cam plate 100 with the oscillation shaft 1s so that the other end side can oscillate. A spring (elastic body) 19 is arranged between the spring seat 1g of the in-and-out cam 1 and the cam plate 100, and the other end side of the in-and-out cam 1 is constantly biased in the direction of projecting out from the cam plate 100 and brought into contact with the thin-walled portion 22 at the surface 15. The in-and-out cam 1 arranged in such a manner is compactly arranged without moving the positions of the cams 2, 3 in the conventional cam system in a space surrounded by the cam plate 100, the needle raising cam 2, and the bridge cam 3.

[0024] The stitch cam 4 is the same as the conventional art in that it is provided with a cam main body 41 including the second inclined plane 92 that configures the lowering inclined plane 9, a receiving cam 42 formed at the lower end side of the cam main body 41, and a thin-walled portion 43 for connecting the cam main body 41 and the receiving cam 42. However, the receiving cam 42 projects out toward the needle raising cam 2. Therefore, the thin-walled portion 22 for accommodating the overhang portion 420 of the receiving cam 42 is formed at a skirt portion of the needle raising cam 2 that is substantially hill shaped. The thin-walled portion 22 is formed by cutting out the back surface side (far side in the plane of drawing) of the needle raising cam 2.

[0025] A trajectory of the knitting operation butt 70 when driving the knitting needles to perform knit for the knitting operation by the in-and-out cam 1, the needle raising cam 2, the bridge cam 3, and the stitch cam 4 having the configurations described above will be described based on Fig. 2.

[0026] First, when the knitting operation butt 70 is introduced to the needle raising cam 2, the stitch cam 4 on the left side in the plane of drawing rises along the second inclined plane 92, and the thin-walled portion 43 is arranged in the track of the knitting operation butt 70. In this case, the overhang portion 420 of the stitch cam 4, that is, one part of the receiving cam 42 pushes the surface 16 of the in-and-out cam 1 toward the cam plate 100 and the other end of the in-and-out cam 1 is sunk into the recess of the cam plate 100. Lastly, the overhang portion 420 pushes the surface 15 of the in-and-out cam 15, and withdraws the surface 14 of the in-and-out cam 1 toward the cam plate 100 from the position of the height of the knitting operation butt 70 indicated with a chain double-dashed line. The height of the surface 15 of the in-and-out cam 1 is a height determined by the extent the in-and-out cam 1 sinks, and the height of the surface 14 is a height enabling withdraw from the position of the chain double-dashed line when the in-and-out cam 1 sinks.

[0027] The knitting operation butt 70 introduced to the needle raising cam 2 passes through the thin-walled portion 43 of the stitch cam 4, and then passes the position of the surfaces 14, 13 of the in-and-out cam 1 in in-state without coming into contact with the in-and-out cam 1, comes into contact with the rising inclined plane 8 and rises toward the needle bed gap direction. The knitting operation butt 70 passes the position of the vertex of the needle raising cam 2, comes into contact with the first inclined plane 91 (lowering inclined plane 9) of the bridge cam 3 and lowers in the direction opposite to the needle bed gap.

[0028] The stitch cam 4 lowers in the direction along the second inclined plane 92 so that the position of the lower end of the second inclined plane 92, that is, the position of the lower end of the lowering inclined plane 9 becomes the desired position before the knitting operation butt 70 comes into contact with the lowering inclined plane 9. The pull-down amount of the knitting operation butt 70, that is, the drawing amount of the knitting needle is determined from the position of the lower end of the second inclined plane 92. In this case, the overhang portion 420 of the receiving cam 42 of the stitch cam 4 is at the position of not acting on the surface 16 of the in-and-out cam 1, and hence the in-and-out cam 1 is pushed in the direction of moving away from the bottom surface of the recess of the cam plate 100 by the elastic force of the spring 19 and is stopped at the thin-walled portion 22 of the needle raising cam 2 at the portion of the surface 15.

[0029] The guide inclined plane 10 of the in-and-out cam 1 in out-state is arranged at a position facing the lowering inclined plane 9 (see in-and-out cam 1 on the right side of Fig. 2). Therefore, the knitting operation butt 70 is stopped at the guide inclined plan 10 and is lowered along the lowering inclined plane 9 without vibrating even if the knitting operation butt 70 jumps in the downward direction of the stitch cam 4 when the knitting operation butt 70 comes into contact with the first inclined plane 91. The guide inclined plane 10 at the relevant position is the highest portion and thus can reliably stop the knitting operation butt 70. Furthermore, the knitting operation butt 70 tends to jump in the downward direction of the stitch cam 4 also at the boundary of the first inclined plane 91 and the second inclined plane 92, but in such a case as well, the knitting operation butt 70 is stopped at the guide inclined plane 10. Accordingly, the knitting operation butt 70 is constantly stopped at the guide inclined plane 10 at the position where the knitting operation butt 70 is likely to jump to the downward direction of the stitch cam 4, whereby the degree of drawing of the knitting yarn is stabilized even if the speed of the carriage is increased, and a knitted fabric of satisfactory finish can be knitted.

[0030] When the carriage is moved after the knitting needle is manually operated in maintenance or the like, the knitting operation butt 70 sometimes comes into contact with the in-and-out cam 1 in a state of being lower than the position of the upper end of the guide inclined plane 10. For example, the knitting operation butt 70 may come into contact with the in-and-out cam 1 at the height of the surface 11 or the height of the surface 13 of the in-and-out cam 1 in Fig. 2. In such a case, the knitting operation butt 70 rides on the surface 11 or the surface 13, which is an inclined surface that lowers toward the left side in the plane of drawing, and sinks the in-and-out cam 1, so that the impact of contact between the knitting operation butt 70 and the in-and-out cam 1 can be prevented from directly acting on both members. The knitting operation butt 70 that rode on the surface 11 or the surface 13 passes the surface 12 or the surface 14 and reaches the gap between the guide inclined plane 10 and the lowering inclined plane 9, and then lowers along the lowering inclined plane 9.

[0031] The knitting needle provided with the knitting operation butt may be a latch needle or a compound needle including a slider. The configuration of the present invention is also applicable to a complex cam system including a transfer cam.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0032] 

0

needle bed gap

100

cam plate

1

in-and-out cam

1s

oscillation shaft

1g

spring seat

19

spring

10

guide inclined plane

11 to 16

surface

2

needle raising cam

22

thin-walled portion

3

bridge cam

4

stitch cam

41

cam main body

42

receiving cam

43

thin-walled portion

420

overhang portion

7

knitting needle

71

needle main body

72

needle jack

73

select jack

74

selector

70

knitting operation butt

8

rising inclined plane

9

lowering inclined plane

91

first inclined plane

92

second inclined plane

Claims

1. A flat knitting machine comprising:

a cam system including

a cam plate that configures one surface side of a carriage that reciprocates in a longitudinal direction of a needle bed in which a plurality of knitting needles are arranged in parallel,

a substantially hill-shaped needle raising cam arranged projecting out from the cam plate and including a rising inclined plane that acts on a lower end of a knitting operation butt arranged in each of the knitting needles to advance the knitting needle toward a needle bed gap on an upper end side of the butt,

a bridge cam arranged projecting out from the cam plate and including a first inclined plane that configures one part of a lowering inclined plane that acts on the upper end of the knitting operation butt to withdraw the knitting needle to a side opposite to the needle bed gap, and

a pair of stitch cams arranged projecting out from the cam plate on left and right of the needle raising cam, and each including a second inclined plane that configures a remaining portion of the lowering inclined plane for determining a maximum drawing amount of the knitting needle,

the flat knitting machine characterized by:

a pair of left and right in-and-out cams arranged in the cam plate between the rising inclined plane and the lowering inclined plane at both sides of the needle raising cam, and configured to freely go in and out in a direction intersecting a plane of the cam plate, wherein

the in-and-out cam is in an in-state so as not to inhibit movement of the knitting operation butt on a side where the knitting operation butt is raised by the rising inclined plane, and

the in-and-out cam is in an out-state so as to make an up and down vibration margin of the knitting operation butt small at a portion facing the lower end of the knitting operation butt on a side where the knitting operation butt is lowered by the lowering inclined plane.

2. The flat knitting machine according to claim 1, wherein the in-and-out cam is a substantially plate-shaped member that lies along the lowering inclined plane,
an upper end side of the in-and-out cam is axially supported so that a lower end side of the in-and out cam can oscillate in an in-out direction, and
the lower end side of the in-and-out cam is pushed in a direction of projecting out from the cam plate by an elastic body arranged between the cam plate and the in-and-out cam.

3. The flat knitting machine according to claim 2, wherein the stitch cam includes
a cam main body with the second inclined plane, and
a receiving cam, coupled to a lower end side of the cam main body, for preventing excessive lowering of the knitting operation butt lowered along the second inclined plane,
the stitch cam being configured to be slidable in a direction along the second inclined plane so that the in-and-out cam is pushed to the in-state by one part of the receiving cam according to a slide position of the stitch cam.

Drawing