Claims
- 1. Improved knitting apparatus for knitting terry loop fabric having terry loops knitted in on at least the technical front face of a base fabric, said apparatus comprising:
- needle means for forming a knitted base fabric;
- means for feeding ground and front loop yarns;
- a plurality of sinker elements cooperating with said needle means for supporting the fabric at a level sufficiently high so that loops can be formed in the front face of said fabric, each of said sinker elements comprising an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper and lower portions being spaced apart thereby defining a sinker throat therebetween, said lower portion having top and leading edges said leading edge having a throat provided therein for receiving a yarn, said upper edge of said lower portion having a recessed portion therein defining the bottom of said sinker throat;
- the upper portion of each of said sinker elements having top, front and bottom edges, said front edge being sloped downwardly toward said throat, so that as the fabric web is contacted by said downwardly sloped leading edge, the fabric is forced down into the sinker throat; and
- means for operating said needle means, and said plurality of sinker elements.
- 2. An improved knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said upper edge of said lower portion of each of said plurality of sinker elements supports the fabric at said sufficiently high level.
- 3. An improved knitting apparatus as claimed in claim 2 wherein the top of said sinker throat is defined by the bottom edge of said upper portion of each of said plurality of sinker elements, said top of said sinker throat being positioned at a level below the level of the supported fabric.
- 4. An improved knitting mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said needle means comprises a plurality of needles, and pattern selecting means for determining the actuation of said needles; and said means for operating each of said sinker elements further comprises pattern selection means for selectively actuating each of said plurality of elements.
- 5. An improved knitting mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of sinker elements consists of a one-piece element.
- 6. An improved knitting mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of sinker elements is comprised of two elements, one element comprising the lower portion and a second element comprising the upper portion, said one element being positioned adjacent said second element and each said element being independently movable with respect to the other.
Parent Case Info
This is a division, of application Ser. No. 698,213 filed June 21, 1976 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,038,838 and Ser. No. 569,742 filed April 21, 1975 now U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,216.
US Referenced Citations (9)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
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12,490 |
Feb 1881 |
DE1 |
5,518 |
Oct 1878 |
DE1 |
Related Publications (1)
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Number |
Date |
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569742 |
Apr 1975 |
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Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
698213 |
Jun 1976 |
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