Flat-bed knitting machine and method of knitting
First Claim
1. A flat bed knitting apparatus for knitting ultra high quality, substantially defect free fabric from yarn comprising:
- a pair of opposing flat needle beds arranged in operative relation, said needle beds having a multiplicity of parallel needle grooves in the upper surfaces thereof, said needle grooves being spaced apart a predetermined distance and the grooves in said opposing beds being offset by one-half of said predetermined distance,a latch needle mounted in each of said needle grooves in said needle beds for sliding movement between a plurality of positions, including an upper knitting position and a lower stitch forming position,means for selecting and actuating individual needles for movement between their various positions independently of any other needles and for varying the length of movement of the needles as required for substantially uniform stitch formation, andmeans for feeding a yarn to said needles under tension for substantially uniform stitch formation.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A flat bed knitting apparatus and method of knitting are provided in which needles movably carried in opposing needle beds are selected and actuated for movement between various positions required for stitch formation independently of any other needles while completing the formation of a stitch on each selected needle prior to the actuation of the next needle in sequence and while varying the length of needle movement to its stitch forming position as required for uniform stitches throughout the fabric and in which a covered spandex yarn is fed to the needles while varying the tension thereof for uniform stitch formation. The needle selection and actuation further includes tapering the knit fabric by transferring stitches from selected needles in one needle bed onto adjacent needles in the other needle bed so that the knit fabric formed is a tapered, tubular knit product.
-
Citations
32 Claims
-
1. A flat bed knitting apparatus for knitting ultra high quality, substantially defect free fabric from yarn comprising:
-
a pair of opposing flat needle beds arranged in operative relation, said needle beds having a multiplicity of parallel needle grooves in the upper surfaces thereof, said needle grooves being spaced apart a predetermined distance and the grooves in said opposing beds being offset by one-half of said predetermined distance, a latch needle mounted in each of said needle grooves in said needle beds for sliding movement between a plurality of positions, including an upper knitting position and a lower stitch forming position, means for selecting and actuating individual needles for movement between their various positions independently of any other needles and for varying the length of movement of the needles as required for substantially uniform stitch formation, and means for feeding a yarn to said needles under tension for substantially uniform stitch formation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A method of knitting a fabric from a yarn on a flat bed knitting machine having a pair of opposing needle beds and banks of knitting needles slidably mounted in the needle beds, said method comprising
selecting individual needles for actuation to form knit stitches in accordance with a predetermined pattern, moving each such individual needle independently of any other needles between its various positions required for stitch formation independently of the selection and actuation of the next needle in sequence, while varying the length of movement of individual needles to the stitch forming position to form stitches of uniform size and length in the knitted fabric, and feeding a yarn to the needles under such tension as to assist in the formation of stitches of uniform size and length.
Specification