OSCILLATING CONTROL DEVICE FOR LINEAR KNITTING MACHINES THREAD-GUIDE BARS

Abstract

An oscillating control device (1) for thread-guide bars (2) of linear knitting machines (60), comprising a support (5) that can rotate around a middle axis (6) to which at least one thread-guide bar (2) can be associated, movement means (10) for the support (5), and transmission means (20) operatively connected to the movement means (10) for imparting an oscillating movement to the support (5). The transmission means (20) are operatively associated to the support (5) on at least two separate actuating points (7a, 7b) for moving it with an oscillating movement in a balanced manner with respect to the middle axis (6) thereof. In particular, a pushing action and a pulling action are applied simultaneously on the two actuating points (7a, 7b) by the movement means (10) through the transmission means (20).

Description

FIGS. 1 and 2 show examples of known oscillating control devices for thread-guide bars of linear knitting machines;

FIG. 3 shows a side view of an oscillating control device for thread-guide bars of linear knitting machines in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 4 shows a first schematic front view of a knitting machine according to the invention in a first embodiment thereof;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic front view of a detail of the machine according to the invention;

FIG. 6 shows a top view of the machine according to the invention in the first embodiment thereof;

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of the device of FIG. 3 associated to a first end portion of the thread-guide bars;

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of the device of FIG. 3 associated to a second end portion of the thread-guide bars;

FIG. 9 shows a second schematic front view of the machine of FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 shows a schematic side view of the machine according to the invention in a second embodiment thereof.

Claims

1. An oscillating control device (1) for thread-guide bars (2) of warp linear knitting machines (60), comprising: a support (5) that can rotate around a central axis (6) to which at least one thread-guide bar (2) can be associated,movement means (10) for said support (5), andtransmission means (20) operatively connected to the movement means (10) for imparting an oscillating movement to said support (5);characterized in that said transmission means (20) are operatively associated to said support (5) on at least two separate actuating points (7a, 7b) for moving said support (5) according to said oscillating movement in a balanced manner with respect to said central axis (6).

2. The device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said actuating points (7a, 7b) are opposed with respect to a vertical plane containing said central axis (6).

3. The device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that a pushing action and a pulling action are applied simultaneously on said two actuating points (7a, 7b) by said movement means (10) through said transmission means (20).

4. The device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said transmission means (20) comprise main transmission means (21) operatively connected to said movement means (10), and secondary transmission means (25) operatively associated to said main transmission means (21) and moved by said main transmission means (21), said main transmission means (21) acting upon said support (5) at a first (7a) of said actuating points and said secondary transmission means (25) acting upon said support (5) on a second (7a) of said actuating points.

5. The device (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that said main and secondary transmission means (21, 25) exert simultaneously onto said support (5), by means of the corresponding actuating points (7a, 7b), said pushing action said the pulling action, respectively, or vice versa.

6. The device (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that said transmission means (20) further comprise connection means (30) between said main transmission means (21) and said secondary transmission means (25), designed to transmit synchronously to said secondary transmission means (25) the movement supplied by said movement means (10) through said main transmission means (21).

7. The device (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that said main transmission means (21) comprise a main shaft (22) operatively connected to said movement means (10), and a main connecting rod (23) operatively associated to said main shaft (22) and to said support (5) on said first actuating point (7a).

8. The device (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that said main transmission means (21) further comprise a main eccentric pin (24) associated to a portion of said main shaft (22), said main connecting rod (23) being associated to said main shaft (22) by means of said main eccentric pin (24).

9. The device (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that said secondary transmission means (25) comprise a secondary shaft (26) operatively associated to said connection means (30), and a secondary connecting rod (27) operatively associated to said secondary shaft (26) and to said support (5) on said second actuating point (7b) and designed to cooperate with said main connecting rod (23) for moving said support (5) according to said oscillating movement.

10. The device (1) according to claim 9, characterized in that said oscillating movement imparted by said main connecting rod (23) and by said secondary connecting rod (27) to said support (5) is sinusoidal.

11. The device (1) according to claim 9, characterized in that said secondary transmission means (25) further comprise a secondary eccentric pin (28) associated to a portion of said secondary shaft (26), said secondary connecting rod (27) being associated to said secondary shaft (26) by means of said secondary eccentric pin (28).

12. The device (1) according to claim 9, characterized in that said connection means (30) comprise a main pulley (31) integrally associated to said main shaft (22), a secondary pulley (32) integrally associated to said secondary shaft (26), and a connection belt (33) associated to the said main pulley (31) and to said secondary pulley (32) for transmitting the movement of said main pulley (31) to the secondary shaft (26) by means of said secondary pulley (32).

13. The device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises at least one secondary support (8) to which one of said thread-guide bars (2) can be associated, said at least one secondary support (8) being associated to said support (5).

14. The device (1) according to claim 7, characterized in that said movement means (10) comprise at least one dedicated motor (11).

15. The device (1) according to claim 14, characterized in that said main shaft (22) is connected integrally to said dedicated motor (10), and in that said main connecting rod (23) is designed to convert a rotational motion of said main shaft (22) generated by said dedicated motor (11) into said oscillating movement for said support (5).

16. The device (1) according to claim 14, characterized in that said dedicated motor (11) is a brushless motor.

17. The device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that said movement means (10) can be operatively associated to a central motor (13) of said machine (60), designed to move the needles of said machine (60).

18. The device (1) according to claim 17, characterized in that said movement means (10) comprise a first movement pulley (14) operatively associated to said main shaft (22), a second movement pulley (15) that can be operatively associated to said central motor (13), and a movement belt (16) operatively connected to said first (14) and to said second (15) movement pulley for transmitting to said first movement pulley (14) the movement of said second movement pulley (15).

19. The device (1) according to claim 17, characterized in that said movement means (10) further comprise first means (17) for varying the rotational speed of said main shaft (22) with respect to the rotational speed of said central motor (13) associated to said movement belt (16).

20. A warp linear knitting machine (60) characterized in that it comprises at least one oscillating control device (1) for thread-guide bars (2) according to claim 1.

21. The machine (60) according to claim 20, characterized in that it comprises at least two of said devices (1), one of said devices (1) being positioned on a first end portion (3) of said at least one thread-guide bar (2) and one being positioned on a second end portion (4) opposite said first end portion (3), so as to prevent torsions of said at least one thread-guide bar (2).

22. The machine (60) according to claim 21, characterized in that it further comprises at least one intermediate support (9) associated to said at least one thread-guide bar (2) on an intermediate portion (2a) thereof located between said first (3) and said second (4) end portion, for supporting said at least one thread-guide bar (2), said intermediate support (9) being movable according to said oscillating movement around said second middle axis (6).

23. The machine (60) according to claim 20, characterized in that it further comprises control means (40) designed to ensure the synchronism between said oscillating movement of said supports (5) of said devices (1) and to ensure the continuity of movement for said at least one thread-guide bar (2) in case of failures.

24. The machine (60) according to claim 23, characterized in that said control means (40) comprise an auxiliary shaft (41) operatively associated to said secondary shafts (26) of said two devices (1) associated to said at least one thread-guide bar (2), designed to stiffly connect said secondary shafts (26).

25. The machine (60) according to claim 20, characterized in that it further comprises coordination means (50) between said central motor (13) and said dedicated motors (11), designed to adapt the movement of said dedicated motors (11) to the movement of said central motor (13) for synchronizing the movement of said at least one thread-guide bar (2) to the movement of the needles.

26. The machine (60) according to claim 25, characterized in that said coordination means (50) comprise a first detection element (51) associated to said central motor (13) and designed to detect the angular position of said central motor (13), at least one second detection element (52), said at least one second detection element (52) being associated to each of said dedicated motors (11) for detecting the angular position of said dedicated motors (11), and an electronic adjustment element designed to process signals transmitted by said first (51) and by said second (52) detection element for synchronizing said dedicated motors (11) with said central motor (13).

27. The machine (60) according to claim 26, characterized in that said first (51) and said second (52) detection element comprise transducers of angular position.

28. The machine (60) according to claim 25, characterized in that said coordination means (50) further comprise at least one first coordination pulley (53), associated to each of said dedicated motors (11), a second coordination pulley (54) associated to said central motor (13), and a coordination belt (55) operatively connected to said first (53) and to said second (54) coordination pulley so as to move said first coordination pulley (53) according to the movement of said second coordination pulley (54).

29. The machine (60) according to claim 28, characterized in that said coordination means (50) further comprise second means (56) for varying the rotational speed of said first coordination pulley (53) with respect to said second coordination pulley (54).

30. The machine (60) according to claim 28, characterized in that said dedicated motor (11) has two shafts, the first one made up of said main shaft (22) and the second one made up of a coordination shaft (57) operatively connected to said first coordination pulley (53).

31. The machine (60) according to claim 20, characterized in that said central motor (13) has two shafts made up of movement shafts (12) operatively connected to said second movement pulleys (15) for the two devices (1), associated to said first (3) and to said second (4) end portion of said at least one thread-guide bar (2), respectively.