Claims
- 1. An electric device for selecting the needles of a rectilinear knitting machine, comprising a carriage which is displaced in front of the needles, said carriage being provided with an electro-magnetic member for successively operating the needles during its displacement in response to an electrical signal, a memory member containing data for supplying an electrical signal to activate the electro-magnetic member to operate the needles in relation to a determined width of a knitting, an installation for scanning the memory member synchronously with the displacement of the carriage, said installation including electrically conducting sectors radially distributed in circumferentially spaced apart relation, first electrical connection means electrically connecting each of said sectors to the memory member, a rotatable member adjacent said sectors mounted for rotational movement relative to said sectors, drive means rotating said rotatable member synchronously with the displacement of the carriage, said rotatable member carrying at least one electrical contact stud movable along a circular path with the rotation of said rotatable members and electrically contacting successive ones of said circumferentially spaced sectors, and a plurality of electrical contact connecting strips of different lengths, second electrical connection means electrically connecting each of said strips to the electro-magnetic member which operates the needles, and said movable contact stub being electrically connected to one of said strips as said stub moves along said circular path whereby said data is electrically transmitted from said memory member through said sectors and said stub and said strip to said electro-magnetic member.
- 2. A device according to claim 1, wherein the installation comprises several electrical contact stubs distributed in concentric circumferences on an insulating support disc which synchronously rotates with the displacement of the carriage, the circumferential spacing of the contact stubs of a same circumference being identical, the contact connecting strips of a different length being arc-shaped, the length and radius of which are different from each other, made on an insulating rotative support, the radius of each of the connecting strips in the form of an arc of a circle corresponding to the radius of one of the concentric circumferences of the electrical contact stubs.
- 3. A device according to claim 2, wherein the contact stubs consist of metallic balls embedded in the concentric perforations of the disc, the said disc and balls being arranged between the radial sectors and the connecting strips.
- 4. A device according to claim 1, wherein the electrically conducting sectors radially distributed are connected to a second group of close sectors, also radially distributed, each sector of the first group being connected to a sector of the second group, according to a symmetrical arrangement.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 338,845, filed Mar. 7, 1973 and now abandoned.
In an already known device for selecting needles, of the same type as the precedent one, date are successively scanned according to a cycle. The width of the pattern of the knitting is then determined, and can anyway be modified but by changing the support of the program. Now, such a change is onerous.
It is already known to use, as a program support, an endless film made of an insulating material, which is displaced synchronously with the displacement of the carriage and on which perforations are provided along a spiral line. These perforations are successively scanned so as to produce impulses for selecting the needles. In that case, the width of the pattern is determined by the width of the film, and it is then necessary to change the support of the program when the width of the pattern is to be modified. This operation is also onerous.
The purpose of the present invention is to allow to change the width of the pattern without modifying the program support.
To this end, the installation comprises an assembly of electrically conducting sectors, radially arranged and connected to the memory member, at least an electrical contact stud which moves synchronously with the displacement of the carriage, which applies successively on the sectors, and several connecting strips for producing electrical contacts, movable and of a different length, and electrically connected to the electro-magnetic means which operates the needles, and which apply onto the movable contact stud.
It is then possible to each time bring the connecting strip corresponding to the width of the pattern desired into a position where it is connected to a contact stud scanning the sectors.
When the contact connecting strips extends over all the sectors, the width of the pattern is then maximum.
On the other hand, when a contact connecting strip shorter than the distance between the two extreme sectors is selected in association with contact studs, one portion only of the sectors is scanned, so that the width of the pattern is shortened accordingly. It is then easily possible to modify the width of the patterns to be made without being necessary to either modify or change the contact support.
Thanks to its simple construction, the installation according to the invention is particularly quite suitable for family rectilinear knitting machines.
The pattern is determined by the presence or absence of a potential difference on each of the sectors, so that continuous impulses for selecting the needles are produced, the period of which determines the ratio of widths.
US Referenced Citations (5)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
| 1,435,132 |
Oct 1968 |
DT |
| 1,165,368 |
Sep 1969 |
UK |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
338845 |
Mar 1973 |
|
Patent Grant
3995453
