JP2024172375A - Flat-knitting machine - Google Patents

Abstract

A flat knitting machine capable of preventing collisions between members caused by errors in driving a needle bed and a bed-shaped member is provided.
[Solution] A flat knitting machine 100 is provided with a first driving source 10 that generates a driving force for moving front and rear needle beds 110 relatively in the longitudinal direction, a bed-like member 140 that is arranged to be movable relatively to the needle bed 110, and a second driving source 30 that generates a driving force for moving the bed-like member 140, the second driving source 30 being connected to the needle bed 110, and a control unit 160 that is capable of moving the needle bed 110 by driving the first driving source 10, and is capable of moving the bed-like member 140 integrally with the needle bed 110 in accordance with the movement of the second driving source 30 accompanying the movement of the needle bed 110, and is capable of moving the bed-like member 140 relatively to the needle bed 110 by driving the second driving source 30.
[Selected Figure] Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to technology for a flat knitting machine equipped with a needle bed and a bed-like member that is movable relative to the needle bed.

Conventionally, technology for flat knitting machines equipped with needle beds has been publicly known. For example, it is as described in Patent Document 1.

Patent Document 1 discloses a flat knitting machine that has at least two needle beds facing each other from the front and rear with a needle gap therebetween, and a large number of knitting needles are arranged on the needle beds so that they can move forward and backward freely. In such a flat knitting machine, the at least two needle beds facing each other from the front and rear are configured to be able to move (rack) relatively. In addition, auxiliary beds (bed-like members) such as loop pressers and transfer jacks may be provided in addition to the needle beds. It is possible to drive each of these beds individually, but there is a risk that errors in the drive of each bed (differences in responsiveness or errors in stopping positions) may cause collisions between the members or problems with knitting the fabric.

Patent No. 3044373

The present invention was made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and the problem it aims to solve is to provide a flat knitting machine that can avoid collisions between components and interference with knitting fabric caused by errors in driving the needle bed and bed-like components.

The problem that the present invention aims to solve is as described above, and the means for solving this problem will be explained next.

That is, the flat knitting machine of the present invention comprises at least two needle beds facing each other at the front and rear, a first driving source connected to the needle beds and generating a driving force for moving the front and rear needle beds relatively in the longitudinal direction, a bed-shaped member arranged to be movable relative to the needle beds, a second driving source connected to the bed-shaped member and generating a driving force for moving the bed-shaped member, and a control unit capable of controlling the operation of the first driving source and the second driving source, wherein the second driving source is connected to the needle bed, and the control unit is capable of moving the needle bed by driving the first driving source, and is capable of moving the bed-shaped member integrally with the needle bed in association with the movement of the second driving source accompanying the movement of the needle bed, and is capable of moving the bed-shaped member relatively to the needle bed by driving the second driving source.
With this configuration, it is possible to avoid collision between the members caused by errors in driving the needle bed and the bed-like member.

The range of relative movement of the bed-shaped member with respect to the needle bed may be smaller than the range of relative movement of the needle bed.
With this configuration, it is possible to prevent the bed-shaped member from colliding with other members and to prevent the knitting of the fabric from being hindered when the bed-shaped member is moved relatively to the needle bed.

The needle bed may further include a connecting member that is formed to extend along the needle bed and connects the needle bed and the first driving source, and the second driving source may be connected to the connecting member.
With this configuration, the second drive source can be connected to the needle bed via the connecting member, thereby improving the degree of freedom in selecting the location of the second drive source.

The second drive source may be disposed above the needle bed and to the side of the bed-shaped member.
With this configuration, the maintainability of the second drive source can be improved.

The effect of the present invention is to prevent collisions between components and disruption to knitting of the knitted fabric caused by errors in driving the needle bed and bed-like components.

1 is a schematic side view showing a configuration of a flat knitting machine according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control unit and a drive mechanism of the flat knitting machine. FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing an arrangement position of a drive mechanism according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the connection relationship of each member of the drive mechanism of the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a schematic front view showing an arrangement position of a drive mechanism according to a second embodiment.

In the following explanation, the directions indicated by arrows U, D, F, B, L, and R in the figure are defined as upward, downward, forward, backward, leftward, and rightward, respectively.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a flat knitting machine 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention mainly comprises a needle bed 110, a carriage 120, a yarn guide rail 130, a loop presser bed 140, a drive mechanism 150, and a control unit 160.

The needle beds 110 are arranged facing each other from the front to the rear with the needle gap S in between. The front and rear needle beds 110 are arranged in an inverted V shape in side view, sloping upward toward the front-rear center (the opposing sides). Each needle bed 110 is provided with a number of knitting needles 111 aligned along the longitudinal direction (left-right direction) of the needle bed 110. The front and rear needle beds 110 can move relatively in the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110 when transferring stitches between each other.

A pair of carriages 120 are arranged in front and behind so as to face the front and rear needle beds 110 from above. The front and rear carriages 120 are connected by a bridge 120a arranged to straddle multiple yarn guide rails 130. The carriages 120 can move back and forth along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110 by a servo motor (not shown). The carriages 120 are provided with a needle selection mechanism (not shown) and a cam mechanism (not shown) for selectively operating the knitting needles 111 of the needle bed 110.

Multiple yarn guide rails 130 are arranged above the needle gap S, extending along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110. A yarn carrier (not shown) that supplies knitting yarn is supported on the yarn guide rails 130 so that it can move.

Above the needle bed 110, there is provided a loop presser bed 140 in which numerous loop pressers 141 are supported so as to be freely movable forward and backward with respect to the needle gap S. The loop presser bed 140 is an example of a "bed-like member" of the present invention. The loop pressers 141 are configured to advance toward the needle gap S side to press down the yarn and inlay yarn that span between the stitches, preventing the knitted fabric and yarn from lifting up.

The loop presser bed 140 is provided with its longitudinal direction facing the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110. The loop presser bed 140 is provided so as to be movable relative to the needle bed 110 in the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110. The movement of the needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140 is performed by a drive mechanism 150. The configuration of the drive mechanism 150 will be described later.

The control unit 160 controls the operation of the flat knitting machine 100. The control unit 160 includes a memory unit such as a RAM, a ROM, and a HDD, and an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU. The control unit 160 controls the operation of the servo motor to move the carriage 120 back and forth along the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110. When moving back and forth, the carriage 120 carries the yarn carrier to be fed. At this time, a cam mechanism (not shown) mounted on the carriage 120 moves the knitting needle 111 back and forth relative to the needle gap S, thereby performing knitting operations such as knitting, tucks, and misses, and transferring stitches between the front and rear needle beds 110. By repeating such back and forth movement of the carriage 120, a knitted fabric is knitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 160 is electrically connected to the first drive motor 11 and the second drive motor 31 of the drive mechanism 150, which will be described later, and can appropriately control the operation of the first drive motor 11 and the second drive motor 31 based on the knitting program. The needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140 can be moved by the operation of the first drive motor 11 and the second drive motor 31.

The loop presser 141 is provided in a position overlapping a movable sinker (not shown) provided on the needle bed 110 in a side view, and is provided between the movable sinkers in a plan view. The range in which the loop presser bed 140 can move relative to the needle bed 110 is set to within one pitch. Here, one pitch is the length of the gap between adjacent knitting needles 111 in the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110.

In this way, the range of movement of the loop presser bed 140 relative to the needle bed 110 is set to a very short distance so that the loop presser 141 and the movable sinker do not collide. However, if the movement of the needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140 were controlled individually, there was a risk that the loop presser 141 would collide with the movable sinker due to the difference in responsiveness between the drive source of the needle bed 110 and the drive source of the loop presser bed 140, and the accumulation of errors in the stop positions of the needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140. Therefore, in the flat knitting machine 100 according to this embodiment, the loop presser bed 140 is configured to be movable integrally with the needle bed 110 by the drive mechanism 150.

Next, the configuration of the drive mechanism 150 will be described with reference to Figures 3 and 4. Note that in Figure 3 and Figure 5 described later, the needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140 are hatched to clarify the components.

The drive mechanism 150 is for moving the needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140 in the longitudinal direction. In this embodiment, one drive mechanism 150 is provided for the front needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140, and one drive mechanism 150 is provided for the rear needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140. The drive mechanism 150 mainly includes a first drive source 10, a first sliding plate 20, a second drive source 30, and a second sliding plate 40.

The first drive source 10 generates a drive force for relatively moving the needle bed 110 in the longitudinal direction. The first drive source 10 is disposed inside the main bed 112 (see FIG. 3) of the needle bed 110. The first drive source 10 includes a first drive motor 11 and a ball screw 12. When the first drive motor 11 is driven, the ball screw 12 rotates, and the nut 13 screwed onto the ball screw 12 moves linearly in the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110.

The first sliding plate 20 is a longitudinal plate-like member, and is arranged to extend along the main bed 112 of the needle bed 110 with its longitudinal direction facing the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110. One end of the first sliding plate 20 is connected to one end of the needle bed 110 (the right end in FIG. 3). A nut 13 that screws into the ball screw 12 of the first drive source 10 is connected to the middle part of the longitudinal direction of the first sliding plate 20 via an intermediate member 50.

In this way, the first sliding plate 20 connects the needle bed 110 and the ball screw 12 of the first drive source 10. This allows the needle bed 110 to move in the longitudinal direction when the first drive motor 11 is driven. The first sliding plate 20 is an example of a "connecting member" of the present invention.

The second drive source 30 generates a driving force for moving the loop presser bed 140. The second drive source 30 is disposed inside the main bed 112 of the needle bed 110. The second drive source 30 includes a second drive motor 31 and a ball screw 32. When the second drive motor 31 is driven, the ball screw 32 rotates, and the nut 33 screwed into the ball screw 32 moves linearly in the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110. The second drive source 30 is accommodated in a housing (not shown), and the housing is connected to the first sliding plate 20 via an intermediate member 60. The second drive source 30 is connected to the first sliding plate 20 at a longitudinal midpoint of the first sliding plate 20.

In this way, the second drive source 30 is connected to the needle bed 110 via the first sliding plate 20, etc.

The second sliding plate 40 is a longitudinal plate-like member, and is provided so as to extend along the main bed 112 of the needle bed 110 with its longitudinal direction facing the longitudinal direction of the needle bed 110. The second sliding plate 40 is provided above the first sliding plate 20. One end of the second sliding plate 40 is connected to one end (the right end in FIG. 3 ) of the loop presser bed 140 via an appropriate member. A nut 33 that screws into the ball screw 32 of the second drive source 30 is connected to the middle part of the longitudinal direction of the second sliding plate 40 via an intermediate member 70.

In this way, the second sliding plate 40 connects the loop presser bed 140 to the ball screw 32 of the second drive source 30. This allows the loop presser bed 140 to move in the longitudinal direction when the second drive motor 31 is driven.

Next, we will explain how the needle bed 110 and loop presser bed 140 move.

When the control unit 160 drives the first drive motor 11 of the first drive source 10, the rotational motion of the ball screw 12 is converted into linear motion, and the first sliding plate 20 connected to the ball screw 12 moves left and right. As the first sliding plate 20 moves, the needle bed 110 moves left and right, and the housing connected to the first sliding plate 20 and the second driving source 30 accommodated in the housing move left and right. As the second driving source 30 moves, the second sliding plate 40 connected to the second driving source 30 moves left and right, and as the second sliding plate 40 moves, the loop presser bed 140 moves left and right.

In this way, by connecting the second drive source 30 and the needle bed 110, when the first drive source 10 is driven, the needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed 140 can be moved together. The second drive source 30 is not directly connected to the needle bed 110, but is connected via the first sliding plate 20 or the like. This improves the degree of freedom in the positioning of the second drive source 30, and for example, as in this embodiment, the second drive source 30 can be contained within the space below the needle bed 110, making the mechanism more compact.

On the other hand, when the control unit 160 drives the second drive motor 31 of the second drive source 30, the rotational motion of the ball screw 32 is converted into linear motion, and the second sliding plate 40 connected to the ball screw 32 moves in the left-right direction. As the second sliding plate 40 moves, the loop presser bed 140 moves in the left-right direction.

In this way, when the second drive source 30 is driven, the loop presser bed 140 can be moved relative to the needle bed 110.

The control unit 160 can selectively drive the first drive source 10 and the second drive source 30 based on the knitting program.

By driving the first drive source 10, the control unit 160 can move the loop presser bed 140 integrally with the needle bed 110 without driving the second drive source 30. By moving the loop presser bed 140 and the needle bed 110 integrally, the effects of differences in responsiveness and errors in the stopping position can be reduced. This makes it possible to avoid the loop presser 141 colliding with other components such as a movable sinker.

On the other hand, the control unit 160 can adjust the relative position of the loop presser bed 140 with respect to the needle bed 110 by driving the second drive source 30. This makes it possible to prevent the loop presser 141 that has advanced to the tooth opening S side from interfering with components such as a movable sinker provided on the opposing needle bed 110.

Specifically, depending on the relative positions of the front and rear needle beds 110 and the loop presser bed 140 relative to the needle bed 110, the front and rear loop pressers 141 may be positioned opposite each other and only one of the loop pressers 141 may be able to advance, or the loop presser 141 may be positioned opposite a movable sinker on the opposite side and may interfere with the movable sinker on the opposite side when the loop presser 141 is advanced toward the tooth gap S. In such cases, by adjusting the relative position of the loop presser bed 140 with respect to the needle bed 110, the loop presser 141 can be advanced toward the tooth gap S without interfering with other components.

Next, the configuration of a flat knitting machine 200 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 5. In the following, the same components as those in the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals and will not be described.

The flat knitting machine 200 according to the second embodiment is provided with a drive mechanism 170 instead of the drive mechanism 150, and the drive mechanism 170 is provided with a second drive source 80 instead of the second drive source 30. In addition, while in the first embodiment, the second drive source 30 is connected to the loop presser bed 140 via the second sliding plate 40, in the second embodiment, the second drive source 80 is directly connected to the loop presser bed 140. The second drive source 80 is arranged above the needle bed 110 and to the side (right side) of the loop presser bed 140. The second drive source 80 is arranged so that the second drive motor 81, the ball screw 82, and the loop presser bed 140 are linear. A nut 83 that screws into the ball screw 82 of the second drive source 80 is connected to one end of the loop presser bed 140. The second drive motor 81 of the second drive source 80 is connected to the first sliding plate 20 via an intermediate member 90, such as a base member, that supports the second drive motor 81.

As with the flat knitting machine 100 according to the first embodiment, in the flat knitting machine 200 according to the second embodiment, the control unit 160 can move the loop presser bed 140 integrally with the needle bed 110 by driving the first drive source 10. On the other hand, the control unit 160 can move the loop presser bed 140 relative to the needle bed 110 by driving the second drive source 80.

In the second embodiment, the second drive source 80 is disposed above the needle bed 110 and to the side of the loop presser bed 140, thereby improving the maintainability of the second drive source 80.

Although the above describes various embodiments of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and appropriate modifications are possible within the scope of the technical concept of the invention described in the claims.

For example, in the first embodiment, the first drive source 10 and the needle bed 110 are connected via the first sliding plate 20, etc., and the second drive source 30 and the loop presser bed 140 are connected via the second sliding plate 40, etc., but each component may be directly connected.

In addition, in each embodiment, the bed-like member of the present invention is a loop presser bed 140, but is not limited to this and may be, for example, a transfer jack bed provided with a transfer jack for transferring stitches between the front and rear needle beds 110.

The bed-like member of the present invention may also be a sinker bed provided with a sinker (fixed sinker or movable sinker) for holding down the sinker loop when creating a stitch. Specifically, the sinker is usually provided on the needle bed 110, but the sinker may be provided on a sinker bed separate from the needle bed 110, and the sinker bed may be provided so as to be movable relative to the needle bed 110. In this case, the knitting needles 111 provided on the needle bed 110 are provided at positions overlapping with the sinkers provided on the sinker bed in a side view, and are provided between the sinkers in a plan view. The effects when the bed-like member is a sinker bed are described below.

When the knitting needle 111 is a latch needle, the knitting needle 111 on the opposing side is inserted between the wings (thin plate) on one side of the needle body to transfer the stitch, but the knitting needle 111 is positioned slightly offset from the center between the sinkers by the amount of the wings. For this reason, the stitches that are formed are not symmetrical.

Therefore, by providing a sinker bed above or below the needle bed 110 and allowing the sinker bed to move relative to the needle bed 110, the sinker bed can be moved relative to the needle bed 110 so that the knitting needle 111 is positioned in the center between the sinkers. This makes it possible to form stitches that are even on the left and right.

The bed-like member of the present invention may be the opposing needle bed 110. In addition, when the flat knitting machine 100, 200 is a four-bed machine equipped with two tiers of front and rear needle beds 110, the bed-like member of the present invention may be the upper tier needle bed 110, a loop presser bed that is arranged to be movable relative to the upper tier needle bed 110, or both the upper tier needle bed 110 and the loop presser bed.

In addition, in each embodiment, the range of relative movement of the loop presser bed 140 with respect to the needle bed 110 is set to within one pitch, but this can be any value depending on the type of bed-like member of the present invention. For example, the range of relative movement of the bed-like member with respect to the needle bed 110 may be set to be smaller than the range of relative movement of the needle bed 110.

For example, when the bed-shaped member of the present invention is a transfer jack bed, the transfer jack provided on the transfer jack bed does not overlap with the knitting needles 111 provided on the needle bed 110 in a side view, so that even if the transfer jack bed is moved relatively in the longitudinal direction, it does not intersect with the needle bed 110. Here, since the mechanism for moving the needle bed 110 and the mechanism for moving the transfer jack bed are in a parent-child relationship, the swing width of the transfer jack bed is realized by adding it to the swing width of the needle bed 110. Therefore, even if the relative movable range of the transfer jack bed is set smaller than the relative movable range of the needle bed 110, the swing width of the transfer jack bed can be secured. The same applies when the bed-shaped member of the present invention is the opposing needle bed 110, or when the flatbed knitting machine 100, 200 is a four-bed machine and is the upper needle bed 110.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 First driving source 20 First sliding plate 30, 80 Second driving source 100, 200 Flat knitting machine 110 Needle bed 140 Loop presser bed 150, 170 Driving mechanism 160 Control unit

Claims (4)

At least two needle beds facing each other in the front and back,
a first driving source connected to the needle beds and generating a driving force for relatively moving the front and rear needle beds in the longitudinal direction;
a bed-like member provided so as to be movable relative to the needle bed;
a second drive source connected to the bed-like member and configured to generate a drive force for moving the bed-like member;
A control unit capable of controlling operations of the first driving source and the second driving source;
Equipped with
the second driving source is connected to the needle bed,
The control unit is
the first driving source is driven to move the needle bed, and the bed-like member is moved integrally with the needle bed by the movement of the second driving source accompanying the movement of the needle bed,
By driving the second driving source, the bed-like member can be moved relatively to the needle bed.
Flat knitting machine. a range of relative movement of the bed-like member with respect to the needle bed is smaller than a range of relative movement of the needle bed;
The flat knitting machine according to claim 1. a connecting member formed to extend along the needle bed and connecting the needle bed and the first driving source,
The second driving source is connected to the connecting member.
The flat knitting machine according to claim 1 or 2. the second driving source is disposed above the needle bed and to the side of the bed-shaped member;
The flat knitting machine according to claim 1 or 2.

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