US3561233A

US3561233A - Fall plate mechanism

Info

Publication number: US3561233A
Application number: US841853A
Authority: US
Inventors: Karl Kohl
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1968-07-25
Filing date: 1969-07-15
Publication date: 1971-02-09
Anticipated expiration: 1988-02-09
Also published as: GB1238788A; JPS5030187B1; BR6910981D0

Abstract

THE FALL PLATE OF A RASCHEL KNITTING MACHINE IS MOVED TOWARD AND AWAY FROM THE NEEDLES BY A HINGED LINKAGE DRIVEN BY THE MAIN CAMSHAFT OF THE MACHINE. ONE OF THE PIVOT PINS IN THE LINKAGE IS RADIALLY SLIDABLE IN AN ELONGATED SLOT ARRANGED IN SUCH A MANNER THAT THE STROKE OF THE FALL PLATE CAN BE REDUCED AND THE FALL PLATE HELD INOPERATIVE BY SHIFTING THE PIVOT PIN IN THE SLOT IN SYNCHRONIZATION WITH THE CAM ACTION. A CONNECTING ROD ACTUATED BY THE PATTERNING MECHANISM SHIFTS THE PIVOT PIN.

Description

Feb. 9, 1971 K. l (OHL FALL PLATE MECHANISM Filed July 15, 1969 INVENTORI KARL Mam.

(1714 AGENT United States Patent FALL PLATE MECHANISM Karl Kohl, Offenbacher Landstrasse 20,

Hainstadt am Main. Germany Filed July 15, 1969, Ser. No. 841,853

Claims priority, application Germany, July 25, 1968, P 17 60 964.2 Int. Cl. D04b 27/00 US. CI. 66-86 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The fall plate of a Raschel knitting machine is moved toward and away from the needles by a hinged linkage driven by the main camshaft of the machine. One of the pivot pins in the linkage is radially slidable in an elongated slot arranged in such a manner that the stroke of the fall plate can be reduced and the fall plate held inoperative by shifting the pivot pin in the slot in synchronization with the cam action. A connecting rod actuated by the patterning mechanism shifts the pivot pin.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to Warp knitting machines, and particularly to a fall plate mechanism for such a knitting machine.

Fall plates are attached on the guide bar assembly for joint swinging motion with the guide bars, and are depressed by a fall plate mechanism at right angles to the common direction of guide bar elongation, the conventional mechanism mainly consisting of a cam shaft, usually the main cam shaft of the machine, a cam on the shaft, and a motion transmitting train of arms and levers which connects the fall plate assembly with a cam follower cooperating with the cam.

The known fall plate mechanisms are relatively complex and costly, and it is difiicult, if at all possible, to vary the pattern of fall plate movement.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a fall plate mechanism which is simpler than those in use heretofore, and which readily permits any desired control of the fall plate movements so that the fall plate may be employed for patterning purposes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention mainly resides in the fall plate mechanism, and particularly in the motio transmitting train of a warp knitting machine which connects the machine drive with a fall plate assembly, the machine being conventionally equipped with a frame, guide bars elongated in a common direction and mounted on the frame for joint swinging motion in a plane transverse to that common direction, and a patterning mechanism for longitudinally moving each guide bar. The fall plate assembly, which includes the fall plate proper, is mounted on the frame for swinging motion with the guide bars and is moved by the fall plate mechanism in a direction transverse to the common direction of guide bar mechanism.

According to this invention, the motion transmitting train includes a plurality of links connected by pivots in sequence to form a chain whose first and last links are pivotally connected to the fall plate assembly and to the drive. The group of pivotally connected elements constituted by the fall plate assembly, the chain of links, and the drive includes two elements of which one carries a pivot pin whereas the other one is formed with an elongated opening receiving the pin for rotation about its axis and for radial translatory movement. The pivot pin is connected to the patterning mechanism for causing 3,561,233 Patented Feb. 9, 1971 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 shows a Raschel knitting machine equipped with a fall plate mechanism in fragmentary front elevation; and

FIGS. 2 and 3 show respective modification of a detail of the apparatus of FIG. 1 in corresponding views on a larger scale.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring initially to FIG. 1, there is seen only as much of a raschel knitting machine as is needed for an understanding of the invention the non illustrated portion being entirely conventional.

An upright push-rod 1 is connected with a cam follower traveling over a cam on the main cam shaft of the machine in the usual manner, not shown, so that the push rod reciprocates longitudinally, as indicated by the double arrow 2, when the machine operates. A bellcrank lever 3 is rocked by the pushrod 1, as will presently be described in more detail, and is hingedly linked by a long connecting rod 4 to another bell-crank lever 5 on the guidebar assembly of which only a bracket 17 is seen in the drawing. A hanger bar 6 pivotally mounted on the lever 5 and guided in the bracket 17 carries the fall plate 7. The fall plate moves up and down as indicated by the arrow 8, when the push rod 1 is driven.

The push-rod 1 is connected with the lever 3 by a pivot pin 9 on the push-rod which engages a slot 10 in one arm of the lever 3. The slot 10 is elongated in a direction which is radial relative to the fulcrum axis of the lever and transverse to the direction of push-rod movement. The slot 10 is wide enough to permit rotation of the pin 9 about its axis with the necessary small clearance, and permits translatory movement of the pin transverse to the direction of push-rod movement and radial relative to the pin axis.

The head of the push-rod 1 to which the pin 9 is secured is hingedly linked by a rod 11 to a lever 12, identical in structure and function with the non-illustrated shogging levers of the machine which longitudinally move the guide bars omitted from FIG. 1 for the sake of clarity. The lever 12 is pivoted on the machine frame by a pattern chain 13 engaging a hardened steel roller 18 on the lever 12 and trained over a pattern drum 19 from which the shogging movements of the nonillustrated guide bars are also derived in a manner not illustrated and conventional in itself.

Modified details of the pivotal connection between the push-rod 1, the bellcrank lever 3, and the rod 11 of the patterning mechanism are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

As shown in FIG. 2, the head of the push-rod 1 is linked by a pivot 9a to a slide 14 guided in the slot 10 for translatory movement radial to the axis of the pin 9a on which the rod 1 is pivotally secured. Links of the pattern chain 13, not explicitly shown, cause the slide 14 to move between the two ends of the slot 10 whereby the push-rod 1 may move between the two positions thereof illustrated in fully drawn and in broken lines, respectively. When the push-rod 1 is oscillated longitudinally by the machine drive, the lever 5 oscillates angularly, as indicated by curved arrows 16, 16a, the

3 amplitude of the lever oscillation at constant amplitude of push-rod oscillation being inversely proportional to the distance between the pin 9a on the slide 14 and the fulcrum of the lever 3.

In the further modified linkage seen in FIG. 3, the arm of the lever 3 to which the push-rod 1 is secured has a circular opening in which a disc 15 is rotatably mounted. A pivot pin 9b hingedly fastens the head of the push-rod 1 and one end of the rod 11 to a circumferential portion of the disc 15. The disc 15 is turned in the lever 3 by the rod 11 in response to engagement of a suitable link of the chain 13 with the roller 18 to shift the push-rod 1 toward and away from the lever fulcrum between the positions shown in fully drawn and in brokn lines.

The common mode of operation of the several illustrated embodiments of the invention will be described with specific reference to FIG. 2. Let it be assumed that the fall plate 7 is in its raised, inoperative position when the push rod 1 is in the position near the lever fulcrum shown in fully-drawn lines. As long as the slide 14 remains in the corresponding position, the fall plate 7 is depressed into its operative position when the push rod 1 moves upwardly and the lever swings as indicated by the arrow 16a. If a high link on the pattern chain 13 pivots the shogging lever 12 counter-clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 1, during the upward movement of the push-rod 11, the push-rod head is shifted into the position illustrated in broken lines, the resulting angular movement of the lever 3 in the direction of the arrow 16 at least partly cancels the effect of the push-rod movement, and the fall plate 7 either remains in its inoperative position, or does not move far enough toward the operative position to effect the knitted yarn.

The motion transmitting train in the fall plate mechanism of the invention thus permits the fall plate to be controlled by the pattern mechanism of the machine for activating the fall plate in each individual course of the fabric or leave it inactive to produce patterns not available with conventional fall plate mechanism which depress the fall plate in the knitting of each course or not at all.

The illustrated chain of hingedly connected

links

3, 4, has been found most convenient for achieving the objects of this invention in a simple manner, but it will be appreciated that a different motion transmitting mechanism may be similarly controlled by shifting a pivot pin between two pivotally connected elements radially to its axis in response to operation of the patterning mechanism. The latter may assume any conventional form other than that specifically illustrated, and the mechanism chosen for the purpose of the invention may be modified to shift a pivot pin remote from the push-rod 1 or its equivalent in the drive mechanism.

What is claimed is:

1. In a warp knitting machine having a frame, guide bars elongated in a common direction and mounted on said frame for joint swinging motion in a plane transverse to said direction, a patterning mechanism for longitudinally moving each guide bar, a full plate assembly mounted for swing motion with said guide bars and including a fall plate member, and a fall plate mechanism for moving the fall plate member in a direction transverse to said common direction, the fall plate m anism including drive means on said frame, and motion transmitting means connecting said drive means to said fall plate assembly, the improvement in said motion transmitting means which comprises:

(a) a plurality of links;

(b) a plurality of pivots respectively connecting said links in sequence to form a chain of links, and connecting the first and last link of said chain to said fall plate assembly and to said drive means, whereby said fall plate assembly, said chain, and said drive means constitute a group of pivotally connected elements,

(1) one of the pivots connecting two of said elements including a pivot pin having an axis and secured to one of said two elements, the other of said two elements being formed with an opening receiving said pivot pin for rotation about said axis and for radial translatory movement; and

(0) connecting means connecting said pivot pin to said patterning mechanism for causing said translatory movement in respose to operation of said patterning mechanism.

2. In a machine as set forth in claim 1, said one pivot including guide means guiding said radial movement transversely of the direction of movement of said one element when said drive means move said last link.

3. In a machine as set forth in claim 2, said patterning mechanism including a movable pattern chain and said connecting means including a rod member fastened to said pivot pin and a lever engaging said chain and operatively connected to said rod member.

4. In a machine as set forth in claim 2, said drive means including a push rod oscillating longitudinally r when said drive means operate, said last link being a lever having an arm and a fulcrum, said arm being formed with said opening.

5. In a machine as set forth in claim 4, said opening being elongated, and said guide means including a slide member longitudinally movable in said opening, said pivot pin engaging said slide member, said rod member being secured to said slide member for moving the same longitudinally in said opening.

6. In a machine as set forth in claim 4, said guide means including a guide member angularly displaceable in said opening, said pivot pin engaging said guide member, said rod member being secured to said guide member for angularly displacing the same in said opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,350,901 11/1967 Noe 6686 3,446,039 5/1969 Schmid 6686 3,469,419 9/1969 Kohl 6686X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,133,418 11/1968 Great Britain 6686 OTHER REFERENCES Co-We-Nit, B. Wheatley, Knitted Outerwear Times, vols. 37, No. 40, pp. 57 to 61, Sept. 23, 1968.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner