Textiles: knitting – Independent-needle machines – Straight
Patent
1992-01-10
1994-04-05
Crowder, Clifford D.
Textiles: knitting
Independent-needle machines
Straight
66 64, 66190, D04B 100
Patent
active
052994350
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to methods of knitting and in particular to the knitting of inlaid fabrics. The present invention is relevant to the knitting of fashion knitwear and to the knitting of industrial fabrics and structural composites, as will be explained hereinafter in greater detail.
In the knitting of fashion knitwear, it is well known to form aesthetic patterns by knitting the fabric on two beds of needles, (either on flat bed machines, V-bed machines or on circular bed knitting machines), and transferring stitches from selected needles of one bed to selected needles of the other bed. This knitting technique is often referred to as transfer stitch knitting. Whilst it is possible to produce some very pleasing effects with this technique, transfer stitch knitting tends to be very slow compared with other forms of weft knitting. Double jersey is knitted on twin bed machines and again some pleasing results can be obtained by transferring stitches from selected needles of one bed to selected needles of the other bed.
A further well known knitting technique is that of inlaying strands of another yarn to produce an inlaid fabric. An inlaid fabric consists of a ground structure of knitted looped threads which hold in position, a non-knitted thread, which is laid into the knitted structure during the same knitting cycle. The inlaid fabric is trapped inside a double needle bed fabric by the loops or overlaps and towards the back of the single needle bed fabrics by the sinker loops or underlaps.
Usually in double needle bed fabrics, the inlaid yarn is not very visible from the front or back of the fabric and is not knitted into the fabric (it can be pulled out of the fabric with little difficulty).
Laying-in a yarn offers the possibility of introducing fancy, unusual, inferior or superior yarns whose physical properties such as thickness, weakness, irregular surface or cross sectional area, elasticity or lack of elasticity render them difficult for knitting in the normal manner.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel inlaid double needle bed fabric in which an inlay thread or yarn is "interlaced" or "woven" into the fabric during the knitting cycle.
The terms "interlaced" and "woven" are taken to refer to the unique action of the present invention where during the knitting cycle, one course is knitted, an inlay thread is inlaid (in the sense as practised in the past) but is immediately interlaced into the fabric by cross transferring stitches from one bed to the other. Thus the inlaid thread or yarn is not knitted as part of the loops of the ground structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention as claimed in the following claim 1 produces a double needle bed fabric in which an inlay thread or yarn is first laid in and then interlaced or woven into the fabric by transferring stitches from the needles of one needle bed to the needles of the other needle bed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIGS. 1a to 5h illustrate schematically the stitch patterns of four fabrics made in accordance with the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In all of the following embodiments, the fabrics were knitted on double needle bed weft knitting machines. The machines were either conventional flat or V-bed machines or circular rib machines. All machines have needle to needle stitch transfer facility for transferring to and from the needle beds as will be explained in greater detail.
Referring to FIG. 1 a ground structure was knitted using 400 decitex polyamide aramid thread or yarn (such as "Kevlar", a trade mark of Du Pont). The needle beds B and F were set at half gauge and the first course was knitted on alternate needles 10 (the active needles) of the back bed of needles B and on the alternate needles 11 (the active needles) of the front bed F that lie opposite the inactive needles 14 of the back bed, as shown in (a) of FIG. 1. An inl
REFERENCES:
patent: 616524 (1898-12-01), Cartledge
patent: 782480 (1905-02-01), Benndorf
patent: 2069819 (1937-02-01), Diem
patent: 2108925 (1938-02-01), Raynor
patent: 2236758 (1941-04-01), Lumsden
patent: 3685316 (1972-08-01), Robinson et al.
patent: 3774412 (1973-11-01), Schichman
Calvert John J.
Courtaulds PLC
Crowder Clifford D.
LandOfFree
Locked inlay knit fabrics does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Locked inlay knit fabrics, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Locked inlay knit fabrics will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-504722