US703973A - Knitting-machine. - Google Patents

Description

No. 703,973. "Patented July I, I902.

0. F. SULLIVAN.

KNITTING MACHINE.

(Applicationflled Aug. 20,v 1901.) I

3 Sheets-Shet I.

(No Model.)

INVENTOR BY m, ATTORNEY WITNESSES.

No. 703,973. Patented July I, I902.

D. F. SULLIVAN. r

KNITTING MACHINE.

v (Application flled Aug. 20, 1901.|

(No Model.) 3 sheets shpat 2.

WITNESSES. INVENTOR yw g w 9M TK BY No. 703,973. Patented July I, I902.-v

n. r. SULLIVAN.

KNITTING MACHINE. (Application fl 1ed Au 20. 1901.,

woman.) 3Sheets- Sheet3.

I p Jlf g 5 I 2' WITNESSES. lNvENToR Awoauav.

NITED STATES DANIEL F. SULLIVAN, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO MICHAEL J. SULLIVAN, OF RANDOLPH, MASSACHUSETTS.

KNITTING- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 0. 703,973, dated J'u1y 1,1902.

Application filed August 20, 1901:. Serial No. 72,657. (No model.)

of the lap or joining when a new thread is introduced to insure the new yarn being caught by the loop-wheel and needles before the yarn being knit is thrown out of action and to avoid making a holeat the point where the yarns are changed and to operate the opening and closing of the shears and the guiding and severing of the yarn bypositive means.

In the accompanying drawings on three sheets, Figure 1 is a right-side elevation of a part of the cylinder and needles of a circularspring-needle knitting-machine with my improvement attached thereto; Fig. 2, aplan of the same; Fig. .3, a front elevation of said improvement; Fig. 4, a frontelevatio'n of theshears and holder and their supporting and operating parts; Fig. 5, an enlarged right-side elevation of the shears, guide, and closed holder; Fig. 6, same as Fig. 5, except the holder being open; Fig. 7, an enlarged rightside elevation, partly in vertical section, of parts of the devices shown in the right-hand portion of Fig. 1, including the pattern-wheel and immediately-connected parts.

The cylinder A, needles B, and loop-wheel C are of any usual construction and operation and are in practice used with a presser-wheel, landing-wheel, and other well-known parts not necessary to be herein shown or described.

The yarn-guides may be substantially as shown and described in United States Patent No. 668,025, granted February 12, 1901, to my assignee for an improvement in the same class of inventions and are represented as having yarn-tubes d d, mounted on ends of an glelevers d (i which are pivoted at (1 d to the upper ends of otherleve'rs d (1 having their common fulcrums d on the upper part E of a two-part vertically-adjustable stand, the

'lower part E of which stand is secured on the bed or table which supports the knittingmachine, said angle-levers having at the ends farthest from the tubes d d slots 01 d to receive a stud e, rigidlysupported on the stand part E, so that when any angle-lever is carried by the corresponding lever 01 d toward the center of the cylinder'A the corresponding yarn-tube is lifted over the needles B substantially as shown and described in said patent, but by a different mechanism herecrowded inwardthat is, toward the cylin- I der-by pattern-pins f f carried by a rotary pattern-diskF and projecting from the opp0* site flat faces thereof, striking against swinging cams G G, arranged between said levers and the centerof said disk and projecting into the path of said pins on opposite faces of said disk, said'cams both swinging on a commonfulcrum-stud H, which projects horizontally from the upper stand part E and which is adjustable by obvious means in the vertical slot h to vary the distance above the fulcrum d at which said swinging cams bear upon the levers (1 W, and consequently to regulate the amount of movement of said levers and of the angle-levers, so that the yarn shall be carried over the needles to the proper distance inside the needle circle to enable said yarn to go between the holder I and movable shearblade N, both hereinafter described.

The-levers d d" are locked when their upper ends are swung toward the needle-cylinder B by a locking-lever K, pivoted at 70 on the stand part E, the inner arm of said lever K being forced upward by a spring 70, which presses a push-rod 10 against the under side of said inner arm, the inner end of said lever K carrying a horizontal projection 70?, which engages notches cZ d in the lower ends of the levers (Z (Z when said lower ends are swung outward sufficiently. The lower ends of said levers (Z (Z are beveled at (Z (Z to allow them in their outward movement to ride over the projection k depressing the front arm of the lever K, which immediately after is raised by the spring 7c to lock said said levers (Z (Z out of operative position.

Only one of the levers cZ 6Z7 and the corresponding yarn-tube d or (Z is in operative position or unlocked at the same time, the lever cl and the tube (Z being representedin this position in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 7, except during the short interval when the change from one yarn to the other is being made, during which interval both yarn-tubes are in operative position for a few stitches to make the lap or joining.

I of the needle-cylinder A, said cylinder carrying a cam a, which strikes an antifrictionrollj, vertically journaled in the inner end of a horizontal bar J, which slides longitudinally in suitable bearings jj in the upper standpiece E, forcing said bar J outward. Said bar J carries a pawlj pivoted thereto at its lower end atjin a slot in the top of said bar and pressed upward by a spring j, which presses a pin 7' against the under side of said pawl.

The outward movement of the bar J may be limited by a stop-pin 7' which projects from said bar and strikes against the bearingj, and the return movement or movement toward the cylinderAof said bar is accomplished by the expansion of a coiled springj", which surrounds said bar between the bearingj and a collarj on said bar.

The outer arm of the lever K, has adjustably secured thereto a lifter L, made in two parts Z Z, the lower, Z, of which is adjustable longitudinally on said arm, being secured thereto by screws Z which pass through longitudinal slots Z in said part Z into said arm, and the upper part Z of which is secured in a similar manner to said lower part bya screw Z which passes through a slot Z in the part Z into the part Z, the part Z carrying at its upper end an incline Z which normally stands in the path of the unlocking-pins f When an unlocking-pin passes under the incline Z, the outer arm of the lever K is raised, and the lever (Z or d", as the case may be, is unlocked and moves to operative position.

The shears, consisting of a fixed blade M and a movable blade N, are supported upon a bracket E, which is secured .to or integral with the upper stand part E, the fixed blade M being rigidly secured to the inner side of a sleeve m, which is held by a set-screw in such manner that by slightly turning said sleeve the blade M may be placed at the best angle for receiving the yarn, and by moving said sleeve longitudinally the distance of said fixed blade and of the guide m tintegral with said fixed blade) from the needles may be so adjusted that said fixed blade and guide will not be struck by the needles and, on the other hand, that the yarn will be prevented from passing between said blade and the needles without being caught by the shears.

The shape of the combined shear blade and guide M m is indicated in the drawings, the same consisting of a plate of metal supported, as above described, and arranged at theinside of the circle of needles and provided with a notch m the side of which notch nearest the loop-wheel is beveled on the face nearest the needles to form a knife-edge m the lower curved edge m at the side of the notch farthest from the knifeedge m serving as a guide to direct the yarn as drawn by the loop-wheel'and needles up into said notch, said edge m codperating with the curved outside guiding edge 19 of a plate 1?, arranged on the outer side of the needles at the same height and angle with said edgep, pressing against and closing the beards of the needles to prevent the yarn being caught by said beards before entering the loop-wheel. The outer guide is substantially as shown in said previous patent, except that it is adjustably secured on the upper stand part E instead of the loop-wheel stand.

The movable blade N is rigidly secured to a shaft 'It, which turns in the sleeve m, above mentioned, and is held in contact with the fixed blade by a spring, represented as a spiral spring n, which surroundsthe shaft 17., and is compressed between the end of the sleeve m ICC and the hub n of the lever 02 which hub surrounds said shaft and is retained thereon by a set-screw 01 Fig. 5, in an obvious manner. By loosening said screw 71. the lever 17. may be adjusted lengthwise of the shaft 01 to vary the tension of the spring at andto compensate for the wear of the blades.

The outer end of the lever n is connected by the rod 72 to the free end of another arm or lever n, fast on the shaft N, which turns in the stand part E and has at its outer end an arm n Figs. 4: and 7, the free end of which enters'a fork o in the end of the outer arm 0 of a bell-crank lever O, pivoted at 0 on the stand part E. The outer end of the lever K is connected by a link 0 to the arm 0 of the lever 0, so that when said outer end of said lever K is raised by the above-described action of an unlocking-pin f on the lifter L the said arm 0 is raised, the shaft N is rocked, lifting up the rod 01 and the shears are opened at the same time that the lever 6Z6 or (Z as the case may be, is unlocked.

The yarn-holder I is rigidly secured to a shaft 1', capable of turning slightly in the same bracket E which supports the shaft 92 of the movable blade N, these shafts 2' n being at right angles to each other. The shaft iis provided with a broad bearing-flange t", which rests against one face of said bracket E and said shaft is surrounded by a spiral spring t compressed between the other face of said bracket F. and an adjustable collar t which may be moved longitudinally on said shaft 't' to vary the compression of said spring and may be turned on said shaft to vary the force of torsion of said spring, the ends of said spring being secured to said bracket and to said collar, respectively, the expansive force of said spring holding the flange 2" against the bracket and the torsional force of said spring causing the lower end of the holder I to press against the movable knife N. The movable knife N is provided with a rounded cam projection n which when said blade opens or swings away from the cutting edge of the fixed blade M presses the holder away from said blades, as shown in Fig. 6, and allows the yarn to pass freely between said holder and the blade N through the notch m at the same time releasing the yarn previously held between the holder and said movable blade.

Although the spring 7; may be made strong enough to raise the inner end of the lever K into locking position, I have thought it advisable to use a positive means of restoring said lever to its normal locking position, because of the considerable force required to overcome the friction of the movable blade on the fixed blade and holder and of the shafts n 2' in the bracket- E and of the shaft N in its bearings and the resistance of otherparts connected with said lever K. I therefore provide the bar J with a pin or projectionj Fig. 1, which strikes the inner arm of the bellcrank lever 0 when the bar J is moved outward next after the opening of the shears and restores the lever K to locking position and closes the shears.

The shears are never looked, either in their open or closed position, and the holder is not locked, butis merely held by its spring against the movable blade and moves outward when the cam projection 91 on said movable blade swings under said holder.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of a fixed blade, a movable blade and a holder, arranged in contact with said movable blade and adapted to be opened by a cam projection, with which said movable blade is provided, when said movable blade is opened, said movable blade being normally closed.

guides, said blades and first-named 2. The combination of a fixed blade, a holder, arranged parallel with said blade, a movable blade, arranged between and in contact with said fixed blade and said holder, means for pressing said holder against said movable blade, said blades constituting a pair of shears and said movable blade being provided with a cam projection, to crowd said holder away from the body of said movable blade when said shears are opening and to permit said holder to'press against said movable blade when said shears are closed, said shears being normally closed, and means of opening said shears to receive one yarn and to release another yarn.

3. In a striping attachment for circularknitting machines, the combination of shears, a needle-cylinder, and positive means actuated by said pattern-wheel for opening said shears, and positive means actuated by said needle-cylinder for closing said shears.

4. The combination of the needle-cylinder and needles, the shears arranged inside the circle of needles and stationary guides arranged opposite each other,one within and the other Without said circle, to guide a yarn into said shears.

5. The combined fixed blade and guidepiece, provided witha notch, and a movable blade, in combination with a needle-cylinder and needles and another guide, arranged outside of said needles, opposite said first-named guide being arranged inside of said needles.

6. The combination with the needle-cylinder and needles of yarn-carrying levers,swinging cams to operate said levers, a patternwheel adapted to engage said cams, a locking-lever, adapted to engage said first-named lovers, to hold them out of operative position.

7. The combination with the needle-cylinder and needles of yarn-carryingle vers,swing ing cams to operate said levers, a pattern- Wheel adapted to engage said cams, a locking-lever, adapted to engage said first-named levers to hold them out of operative position, an incline carried by said locking-lever, unlocking-pins, carried by said pattern-wheel and engaging said incline, to move said locking-lever tounlock said first-named levers, and springs, to restore said first-named levers to operative position. I

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL F. SULLIVAN.

Witnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, ANNA T. HALLORAN.

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