US1450071A - Stop device fob full-fashioned stocking-knitting machines - Google Patents

Description

A. GEE

STOP DEVICE FOR FULL FASHIONED STOCKING KNITTING MACHINES Filed Oct. 29. 1920 5 sheets-sheet; 1

x r- I Mar. 27, 1.923

A. GEE

ST OP DEVICE FOR FULL FASHIONED STOCKING KNITTING MACHINES 29, 1920 5 sheets-sheet 2 I AEUDYI A. GEE

STOP DEVICE FOR FULL FASHIONED STOCKING KNITTING MACHINES 5 sheets-sheet, 5

Filed Oct. 29, 1920 Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

ALBERT GEE, OF OAK LANE, PENNSYLVANIA.

STOP DEVICE FOR FULL-FASHIONED STOCKING-KNITTING MACHINES.

Application filed October 29, 1920. Serial No. 420,584.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT Gan, a citizen of the United States, residing in Oak Lane, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Stop Devices for Full-Fashioned Stocking-Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

1 My invention relates to improvements in stop devices for knitting machines, the object of my invention being to'provide means for stopping themachine which is automatically operable when a predetermined length of the knitted material has left the needles, whereby articles of uniform length may be obtained regardless of the factors of variability which are always present in knitting operations of machines of the type involved.

In the attached drawings: 7

Figure 1, is a front elevation of a portion of a full fashioned stocking knitting machine equipped with a stop device made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2, is a plan view of that portion of the knitting machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig.2 3, isa vertical section taken on the line 3-3 Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4, is a view in perspective of the chain carrying sprocket showing the details of the clutch device associated therewith.

With reference to the drawings, 1 indicates the frame of the machine, and 2 the main driving shaft mounted in suitable bearings therein. Slidably mounted in the said frame 1 is a starting rod or lever 3, said rod being operably connected in the present instance with a belt shifter (not shown) adapted to shift the belt from a tight to a loose pulley in stopping the machine and fromthe said loose pulley to the tight pulley in starting. Also mounted in suitable bearings in the said frame 1 is a shaft 4: which carries a fabric reel 5 of the well known form, and also fixed to the said shaft 1 is a pulley 5 upon which may be wound a cord 6 which, in the present instance, passes over a fixed pulley 7 and has attached to the extremity thereof suitable weights 8, said weights by gravity and through the cord 6 exerting a force upon the pulley 5 tending to rotate the shaft 4 and the fabric roller 5 in a given direction. The free end of the knitted fabric is attached in the usual manner to the roller 5, said fabric as it leaves the needles being rolled up upon the roller and being kept taut with a constant tension by the aforedescribed action of the weights 8.

Fixed to the shaft 4 is a sprocket wheel 9 upon which rides an endless chain 10, said chain depending loosely from the said sprocket, while pivotally attached to the frame 1 at 11 is a member '13 having a downwardly extending lug or tooth 14 which normally rests upon the upper surface of the chain 10 where it passes over the sprocket 9, in the manner shown in Fig. 3.. In one or more of the links 10 of the chain 10 is a niche or recess 10*, said niche or recess being of such size as to accommodate the said tooth 14 on the frame 13. It will be clear from the foregoing that so long as the tooth 14 rests upon the surface of the chain the member 13 is retained in an elevated position, but when as the sprocket revolves a recessed link 10 is brought to the top, the said tooth 14 will enter the recess 10" with a resultant'depression of the member 13,

Securedto the rod 3 is a block 15, While loosely mounted and adapted to slide upon the said rod is a loose block 16, said block 16 having an arm 16 adapted tofit within a corresponding groove 15*" in the said block 15 whereby rotation around the rod is prevented. A coiled spring l7'carried upon the rod 3, is confined between a portion 1 of the frame 1 and the end of the block 16 and exerts a-force tending to keep the said block in contact with the said block 15. An arm 18 pivotally secured to the block 16 extends laterally and forwardly thereof, and carries upon its end a roller 19 overlying an arm 13 pivotally attached at 12,to the frame 1 and. having the free end thereof suitably supported by the member 13, said arm. 13 h'a-ving fixed thereto a suitable'lug 20, against the edge of which the roller 19 is adapted to lie, and which, when the said member 13 is in an elevated position, as it is when the tooth 14 rests upon the upper surface. of the chain 10, acts as astop preventing movement of the block 16 upon the rod 3 under the action of the spring 17. In the present instance, the member 13 has a laterally and downwardly extending outer end portion in which is an aperture 13, and a suitable extension 13 upon the end of the arm 13' fits loosely within said aperture, thereby establishing. the necessary connection between the member 13 and the arm 13. Extending from the side of the block 16 is a pin 29, while threaded in and extending through the Y roller 19, when the member 13 is depressed to insure the release of the roller, the device,

at the same time, not interfering with theupward movement of the arm to permit the roller to ride over the top of the lug 20 when the rod 3 is shifted to the starting position. The extent of the said downward movement of the arm may be regulated by adjustment of the screw 30. It will be clear that when the said member 13 is in the elevate-d position, the rod 3 may be s'hifted to the left without disturbing the block 16, which is retained in the normal position in the manner described above.

The operation of the device in so far as described is as follows:

The usual provision being made for attaching the knitted fabric to the roller 5, the machine is started by shifting the rod ,3. to the right, the various elements assuming the positions in which the-y are shown in Fig. 2. The chain- 10 has previously been set, in a manner hereinafter described, in such manner that the shaft 4 must rotate through a predetermined angle before a link. 10 containing the said recess 10 is advanced to the topof the sprocket in position permitting the tooth 14 of the member 13 to enter the said recess, the tooth 14 in the meantime resting upon the upper surfaceof the chain whereby the member 13 is supported in the elevated position. In this position of'the member 13, the roller 19 abuts the lug 20 upon the arm 13 and thereby prevents movement of the block 16 under the pressure of the spring 17. When, however, the said tooth 14, as in the manner heretofore explained, enters the said recess 10*. the member 13 is depressed, thereby releasing the roller 19 from engagement with the lug 20 and permitting the block 16 under pressure of the spring 17* to move to the left, -said-block by abutment with the block 15 which is fixed to the lever 3, forcing the lever to the left and thereby shutting down the machine. If during the knitting operation and before the chain 10 has traveled sufficiently to carry the recess 1'0 into position to be entered by the tooth 14, it is desired to bring the machine to a stop, this may be done as previously explained, b manually shifting the rod 3 to the left whic will in no way disturb the automatic stop mechanism. Extending forwardly from the member .13 is a pin 21, said pin being adapted for engagement by cams 22 and 23 upon the shifting rod 3, the said cam 23 entering into'engagement with said pin to elevate the member 13 when the rodis shifted to the left or machine-stopping position, thereby. elethe shifting rod 3 is released and by reason I of the spring 17 assumes thenormal going position in which it is shown in Fig. 2,

whereby the pin 21 is released from engagement with the cam 22 and the tooth 14 permitted once more to rest upon the surface of the chain. It will be seen that in starting the machine the starting rod must be shifted to an extreme position and held there until the machine is under way. the rod then being released and automatically assuming an intermediate going position.

The sprocket 9 is loosely mounted upon the shaft 4, and connection between the said shaft and sprocket is effected by means of a collar 24 which is suitably secured, as by means of a set screw 25, to the said shaft 4, and which has extending from the face thereof which abuts the hub 9 of the sprocket 9, pins 26 which are adapted to enter corresponding recesses 27 in the said hub 9. A spring 28 is secured to the sprocket 9 and tends to retain the said sprocket in engagement with the said collar 24. It is clear the hub, the sprocket may be rotated freely that by shiftingthe said sprocket so asito remove the pins 26 from the recesses 27 in upon the shaft, 4 and the chain placed in any.

which lies nearest the 'tooth'in the direction opposite to that in which the chain travels, and the length of the knitted article can accordingly be controlled.

Where the knitted article, as in the case of a full fashioned stocking, is formed in a number of distinct and consecutive operations, the portions of the stockin formed in said operations hem of specific lengths the chain may be divi ed into a number 0 sections corresponding respectively to the lengths of the said sections of the stocking and united by recessedlinks 10, so that at the end of each operation the machine automaticallv stops down.

The device not only makes it possible to obtain articlesof exactly uniform lengths,

article will, of

but also effects a substantial saving in materials in that the exact desired lengths are always assured and there is no overrunning. The device similarly avoids serious loss due to the making of lengths so short as to be of no commercial value. i

Iclaim:

In aknitting machine, the-combination of a revolva'ble shaft, a fabric reel upon said shaft adapted to take up the fabric from the needles and to retain it under tension, a sprocket upon said shaft, a chain carried by said sprocket, one or more of the links of said chain having a recess therein, a pivotally mounted member having an element adapted to engage said chain whereby said said element enters the said recess, means for halting the operation of said machine, an operating member for said halting means, means operatively connected with said operating member for automatically shifting the said member to stop the machlne, means carried by said pivoted member forretaining said automatic shifting means in an inoperative position when the said pivoted member is elevated, said shifting means being released when the said pivoted member is depressed, and means carried by said 0perating member for elevating the said pivoted member when the said operating member is shifted either to the machine-halting or starting positions. member is retained in an elevated position, I said pivoted member being depremed when ALBERT GEE.

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