The present invention relates to a circular knitting machine jacquard needle equipped with a return structure and more particularly to a jacquard needle that is driven by a needle selected device in a circular knitting machine to drive a knitting needle in and out.
A conventional circular knitting machine generally has a needle selected device to form jacquard patterns on the surface of knitting fabrics. Through the needle selected device, a knitting needle can be driven out or in to form a knitted area or an un-knitted area on the fabric. More specifically, the needle selected device includes a plurality of needle selected sheets. Each knitting needle is connected with a jacquard needle. The jacquard needle has a fulcrum latched on the knitting needle and a needle selected section extended from the fulcrum. The needle selected section has a rear end formed a needle foot movable in a track formed by at least one cam. The needle selected section includes a plurality of needle butts. When the needle selected device is moved away from the needle selected sheets, the needle foot can drive the knitting needles outwards to hook and pull a yarn to form a yarn loop according to the track formed by the cam. While the needle selected device drives any one of the needle selected sheets to push the needle butts, the jacquard needle is pushed to escape from the cam, so that the knitting needle cannot be moved out to do knitting. Hence whether a knitting pattern is formed depends on whether the jacquard needle is being pushed by the needle selected device to escape from the cam. The jacquard needle is not driven by the cam, so that the knitting needle cannot be pushed out to do knitting.
To improve return mechanism of the jacquard needle, Applicant submitted a patent application in 1997 at R.O.C. patent No. 435457 entitled: “Circular knitting machine computer jacquard needle selected sheet automatic return apparatus”. The highlight is depicted in its abstract as follow: “A circular knitting machine computer jacquard needle selected sheet automatic return apparatus allows a needle selected sheet to automatically return to the path of a needle-pushing cam after being pushed downwards by a needle selected foot. The needle selected sheet has a return apparatus at a back side on a desired location. The return apparatus has an arched portion at one end butting an inner wall of an upper needle dial. After the needle selected sheet is pushed downwards by the needle selected foot of the needle selected device, the needle foot of the needle selected sheet escapes from the path of the needle-pushing cam. Meanwhile, the gap formed between the back side of the needle selected sheet and the return apparatus shrinks, and the needle selected sheet does not push the sinker outwards. Hence the yarn hooked and pulled by the knitting needle cannot form a yarn loop. After the needle foot of the needle selected sheet has slid over by the surface of the cam portion of the needle-pushing cam, the elasticity of the return apparatus pushes the needle foot back to the path of the needle-pushing cam”. As mentioned in the aforesaid abstract, the needle selected sheet is driven by the needle-pushing cam in normal conditions so that the knitting needle at the front end of the needle selected sheet hooks and pulls a yarn to form a yarn loop, or at least one needle selected sheet is pushed by the needle selected device to escape from the needle-pushing cam, so that the knitting needle cannot be driven by the needle selected sheet to form the yarn loop. More specifically, the needle selected sheet has the return apparatus that is an elastic plate, an elastic rod or an elastic strut butting the upper needle dial to provide an automatic returning force for the needle butts of the needle selected sheet.
However, R.O.C. patent No. 435457 mentioned above has some drawbacks in practice. First, the return apparatus is located on the needle foot of the jacquard needle, this limits the length of the return apparatus, and it also creates a longer movement distance when the jacquard needle is moved downwards. The longer movement distance of the return apparatus results in a greater stress it has to withstand. Since the interior space of a circular knitting machine is limited, the thickness of the return apparatus is difficult to increase, thus the lifespan of the return apparatus also is shorter. Moreover, the longer movement distance of the return apparatus also results in greater elastic force pushing the needle foot of the jacquard needle to return, and impact of the needle foot on the cam also is greater, this easily damages the jacquard needle after using for a long-term period of time.
Damage of the jacquard needle creates obvious defects on the knitted fabrics. As the circular knitting machine is quite bulky and consists of a great number of elements, it is difficult to inspect and identify the damaged elements, hence there is still room for improvement in terms of overcoming the wearing and loss problems caused by the return apparatus.
In view of the problems of the conventional return apparatus that cause severe wearing on the jacquard needles and shorten the life span thereof, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a return structure to push the jacquard needles back without causing heavy wearing and shortening the lifespan thereof.
The present invention provides a circular knitting machine jacquard needle equipped with a return structure adopted for use on a circular knitting machine. The circular knitting machine includes a plurality of knitting needles which are controlled by a plurality of cams and a plurality of computer needle selected devices. The computer needle selected device includes a plurality of needle selected sheets and a plurality of jacquard needles located on an upper needle dial. The jacquard needles are driven by the cams in normal conditions to drive the knitting needles. The needle selected sheets press the jacquard needles downwards to escape from the cams. Each jacquard needle includes a fulcrum, a neck extended from the fulcrum, a force received section connected to the neck, a needle foot extended from the force received section and a return structure extended from the neck. The jacquard needle is connected with the knitting needle through the fulcrum so that movement of the jacquard needle drives the knitting needle. The force received section has a plurality of needle butts pressed by the needle selected sheets and the needle foot is extended from the force received section. The needle foot is located in a slide track formed on the cam in normal conditions. The return structure has a distal end with a bend end formed thereon beneath the needle foot. The bend end butts an inner wall of the upper needle dial. The return structure and the force received section are interposed by a retraction gap to provide a movement space for the force received section while depressed by the needle selected sheet. The neck transmits the depressed force to bend the return structure and generate an elastic force to rebound the force received section to return back.
By means of the structural change of the jacquard needle and alteration of connecting position of the return structure, the stress born by the jacquard needle is reduced obviously, and the returning elasticity does not directly apply to the force received section, thus impact of the force received section against the cams during rebounding also is alleviated. As a result, the return function is achieved and the lifespan of the jacquard needles also is longer.
The foregoing, as well as additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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Compared with the conventional return structure, the invention provides many different features: first, the return structure 25 of the invention is not directly connected to the force received section 24 but connected to the neck 22, and the force received section 24 is connected to the neck 22 through the shoulder 23, hence the force received section 24 and the return structure 25 are connected to the neck 22 like a bifurcated fork so that the downward pressure of the force received section 24 and the elasticity of the return structure 25 can be buffered through the neck 22 without directly applying to the return structure 25 or force received section 24. The return structure 25 is connected to the neck 22 and the bend end 251 is extended beneath the needle foot 26, hence the length of the return structure 25 is obviously increased in an arched manner. As a result, stress occurred to the return structure 25 resulted from depressing or releasing the elasticity is much lower, and the lifespan also is longer. The aforesaid feature can alleviate the pressure and elasticity to prevent the needle foot 26 from hitting the cam 3 during returning and avoid damage. Moreover, with the arched notch 231 formed on the shoulder 23 towards the retraction gap 27, the inner edge of the arched notch 231 can disperse the received force during sinking of the force received section 24 to mitigate metal fatigue of the shoulder 23 or neck 22 after used for a long-term period of time. In short, the jacquard needle 2 of the invention provides the force received section 24, return structure 25, neck 22 and shoulder 23 to obviously reduce stress after long time of use. Not only the needle foot 26 is equipped with return function, wearing of the return structure 25 can be avoided to enhance the lifespan of the jacquard needle 2.
The return structure 25 previously discussed can be an elastic plate, an elastic rod or an elastic strut. While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.
In summation of the above description, the present invention provides a significant improvement over the conventional techniques and complies with the patent application requirements, and is submitted for review and granting of the commensurate patent rights.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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2025462 | Lombardi | Dec 1935 | A |
4112712 | Bini | Sep 1978 | A |
4570463 | Otto | Feb 1986 | A |
6014875 | Lonati et al. | Jan 2000 | A |
6178786 | Willmer | Jan 2001 | B1 |
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7739889 | Lonati et al. | Jun 2010 | B2 |
Number | Date | Country |
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435457 | May 2001 | TW |