阅读说明：本技术 具有纬编功能的圆编机 (Circular knitting machine with weft knitting function ) 是由 J·M·埃普勒尔 于 2019-07-16 设计创作，主要内容包括：根据本发明的圆编机,其具有绕着一垂直轴线旋转的针筒(11)和与该针筒(11)一起旋转的板片环(19)。所述针筒(11)在其外缘范围中有垂直可控的尖针(2),所述尖针具有向下打开而作为成圈元件的针钩,对于在该针筒(11)上的每个尖针(2)而言,支持所述成圈的周围板片(3)在该板片环(19)上保持为在径向方向上可移动。此外,对于在该针筒(11)上的每个尖针(2)而言,压制板片(4)在该板片环(19)上保持为在径向方向上可移动,以便通过压着针轴上的针尖来封闭尖针(2)的针钩。所述压制板片(4)在此在板片环(19)上分别布置在相邻的两个周围板片(3)之间。借助根据本发明的圆编机能够降低针磨损；此外实现在单一机器内在纬编和经编之间选择作为成圈技术。(The circular knitting machine according to the invention has a needle cylinder (11) rotating about a vertical axis and a blade ring (19) rotating together with the needle cylinder (11). The needle cylinder (11) has vertically controllable needles (2) in the region of its outer edge, which have hooks that open downwards as loop-forming elements, and for each needle (2) on the needle cylinder (11) the surrounding web (3) supporting the loop is held on the web ring (19) so as to be movable in the radial direction. Furthermore, for each of the needles (2) on the needle cylinder (11), the pressing plate (4) is held on the plate ring (19) so as to be movable in the radial direction in order to close the hooks of the needles (2) by pressing against the needle points on the needle shafts. The pressed plates (4) are each arranged between two adjacent peripheral plates (3) on a plate ring (19). The circular knitting machine according to the invention can reduce needle wear; furthermore, the selection between weft and warp knitting within a single machine is implemented as a looping technique.)

1. A circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder (11) rotating about a vertical axis and a blade ring (19) rotating together with the needle cylinder,

wherein the needle cylinder has vertically controllable sharp needles (2) in the region of its outer edge, which have downwardly open hooks as loop-forming elements,

wherein for each sharp needle on the needle cylinder, the surrounding plate (3) supporting the loop is held on the plate ring so as to be movable in the radial direction,

wherein, again for each point on the needle cylinder, a pressing plate (4) is held on the plate ring so as to be movable in the radial direction in order to be able to close the hook of the point by pressing onto the needle shaft, and

wherein the pressed sheets are arranged between two adjacent surrounding sheets, respectively.

2. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1,

wherein the press plates (4) on the plate ring (19) are arranged on both sides between adjacent surrounding plates (3) substantially without clearance.

3. The circular knitting machine according to claim 1 or 2,

wherein the press plates (4) on the plate rings (19) are each guided on a separating web (18) which extends between the adjacent surrounding plates (3).

4. The circular knitting machine of any of the preceding claims,

wherein the peripheral plate (3) has two horizontal bearing planes (3a, 3b) in the side profile of the peripheral plate facing the needle (2), which have a nose (3c) projecting in the radial direction between them.

5. Circular knitting machine according to one of the preceding claims, further having control means for controlling the radial displacement of the single peripheral panel (3) and/or the single pressing panel (4).

6. The circular knitting machine of claim 5,

wherein the control device is designed for controlling the radial displacement of one or more selected surrounding plates (3) or all surrounding plates such that the surrounding plates guide a new yarn (1) onto the needle shaft before pulling down the respective pointed needle (2), whereby the pointed needle is able to form a stitch of the weft knit.

7. The circular knitting machine of claim 5,

wherein the control device is designed to control the radial displacement of one or more selected surrounding sheets (3) or all surrounding sheets such that the surrounding sheets guide new yarn over the needle axis before pulling down the respective needle tip (2) in the radial direction and thereby present a loop of yarn, whereby the needle tip is able to form a loop of warp knitting.

8. The circular knitting machine of any of the preceding claims further having a plurality of yarn feeders,

wherein the pointed needles (2) each form a looping system, which interact in a joint looping of the supplied yarn (1), and

wherein each stitch forming system can be adjusted in advance such that the needles of the stitch forming system form stitches according to the weft or warp knitting principle.

9. Circular knitting machine according to claim 8, further having a blade lock (9) for guiding the control feet (7, 8) of the surrounding and pressing blades (3, 4),

wherein the plate lock can be changed such that the stitches at the stitch forming system are formed either according to the weft-knitting principle or according to the warp-knitting principle.

10. The circular knitting machine of any of the preceding claims further having a plurality of yarn feeders,

wherein the pointed needles (2) each form a looping system, which interact in a joint looping of the supplied yarn (1), and

wherein each looping system can be adjusted in advance such that the pointed needle of the looping system: forming loops, catching the fed yarn, or remaining in a circular motion.

11. Circular knitting machine according to one of claims 8 to 10, further having a control device for controlling the respective knitting system such that the needles (2) of the knitting system: -forming loops according to the weft or warp knitting principle, or-catching the fed yarn (1), or-remaining in a circular motion.

12. The circular knitting machine according to any one of claims 8 to 10,

wherein the needles (2) of the knitting system carrying out the catching process are retracted earlier than during the knitting process, so that the pressing plate (4) closes the hooks of the respective needles only when both the fed yarn (1) and the previous stitch are received in the hooks.

13. The circular knitting machine according to any one of claims 8 to 10,

wherein the pressing plate (4) belonging to the pointed needles (2) of the loop-forming system implementing the catching process does not move close enough to the hooks of the respective needles to close them, so that both the fed yarn (1) and the previous loop are received inside them.

14. The circular knitting machine of any of the preceding claims,

wherein the sharp needle comprises an upper needle part having a nose protruding at a side and a lower control foot part having a recess for receiving the nose of the needle part.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a circular knitting machine with less wear of machine parts, in particular to a looping element, and to a wider range of possible looping techniques.

Background

Conventional circular knitting machines use latch needles as the central knitting elements. The latch needles are guided on the rotating needle cylinder and are pushed out and retracted (moved upwards or downwards) in accordance with their guidance in the locking element.

When forming a stitch on the knitting system of such a circular knitting machine, the tongue of the latch needle that passes through and is pushed out upward is first opened by the previously formed stitch that slides down on the needle shaft relative to the needle shaft, and then closed again by the stitch that slides up on the needle shaft relative to the needle shaft when the needle is being tucked (kulierun) and retracted. The opening and closing process of the latch needle is performed through a tongue hinge. Due to the frequency with which they are constantly operated, there is the possibility of considerable influence of the yarn tension, the tongue hinge of the latch needle and the latch needle itself with said tongue hinge are naturally particularly wearing parts in the knitting machine.

Failure of the tongue hinge causes incorrect looping resulting in knit errors. Replacement of the affected latch needle requires the knitting machine to be stopped. Such failures can affect the operation of the knitting machine non-negligibly due to the large number of latch needles in the needle cylinder. However, the problem is not only that it leads to an interruption of operation, but also that the latch needle has a relatively high cost, and its manufacture is expensive due to the required mechanical load-bearing properties.

It is therefore of particular interest to use a simpler and less damaging needle pattern in the knitting machine. A needle version with a simpler structure, especially without a mechanically movable hinge, is the sharp needle (spitzenneadel), whose hook opens downwards at the top of the needle. The needle hook can be elastically closed by a pressure force directed outward in the direction of the needle axis.

Circular knitting machines of this type, which operate with sharp needles, are described in the documents DE 1635878A and DE 361135.

When the knitting process is carried out with sharp needles in a circular knitting machine, the hook must be closed elastically from the outside by means of the pressure wheel when the needle is pulled down (during sinking) so that it does not pick up the old loop except the new yarn. Such a pressure wheel is arranged outside the needle cylinder and, in order to minimize the friction between the passing hooks and the pressure wheel, is preferably arranged to be actively or passively rotated together. However, due to the different diameters of the large needle cylinder and the significantly smaller pressure wheel, tangential forces acting on the needles cannot be completely avoided. Since such a press wheel must be provided for each knitting system, the space requirement of the press wheel is also not negligible, which limits in particular the possible system density, i.e. the number of knitting systems per inch of the circumference of the needle cylinder.

Alternatively, each of the needles of such a circular knitting machine can be provided with a needle presser (nadelpress) extending parallel to the needle axis, which presses against the hook from the outside and closes it during the sinking. However, the presence of a large number of pairs of needles and needle pressers on the needle cylinder entails the problem of being prone to wear.

Disclosure of Invention

The problem underlying the invention is therefore to realize a circular knitting machine for pointed needles which operates instead of latch needles and which, by means of a construction which is as simple as possible (in particular in the case of such needles), has a lower susceptibility to wear than conventional circular knitting machines which operate with latch needles.

The task is solved by the circular knitting machine of the present invention defined in claim 1. Further advantageous embodiments are provided in the dependent claims.

The circular knitting machine according to the present invention has a needle cylinder rotating about a vertical axis and a blade ring rotating together with the needle cylinder. The needle cylinder is provided in its outer peripheral region with vertically controllable sharp needles, in particular upwardly pushable sharp needles, which have downwardly open hooks as looping elements and for each of which a surrounding web supporting a loop on a web ring is held on the needle cylinder so as to be horizontally displaceable in the radial direction. Furthermore, for each point, a pressing plate on a plate ring is held on the needle cylinder so as to be horizontally displaceable in the radial direction for closing the hook tip of the point by pressing the point onto the needle shaft. The pressing plates are each arranged between two adjacent peripheral plates on the plate ring in order to save space and have a small clearance or a minimum clearance.

In the circular knitting machine according to the invention, the loops are formed by mutually coordinated vertical or horizontal movements of the needles and the respective surrounding slats for pressing the yarn onto the needle shaft. Each peripheral plate has, in its profile facing the corresponding needle, two horizontal planes with a centrally placed nose projecting towards the needle. The lower of the two support planes serves as a knockover plane (Abschlagebene) on which the knitted fabric is placed, while the newly inserted thread of the upper support plane is guided in the direction of the needle shaft and rests on the latter. The vertical spacing of the two planes serves to separate the loop head of the old loop from the new thread on the loop-releasing plane in height and thus to establish a safety spacing by means of which the hook can be closed when the needle is pulled vertically, so that only the new thread can enter the hook.

Furthermore, the circular knitting machine according to the invention has a further bar for each needle, i.e. a press bar. The hold-down flaps serve to press onto the hook and to elastically close the hook when the needle is pulled down. The press plate rotates together with the needle and the surrounding plate so that there is no tangential force between the press plate and the hook when the hook is pressed.

The pressing plate is guided together with the surrounding plates on a ring of plates co-rotating with the needle cylinder. The alternately adjacent surrounding and pressing plates are as close to each other as possible, i.e. with the smallest possible clearance. The press plates can also be supported on the separating webs if separating webs are provided between the surrounding webs for improved guidance of the surrounding webs during pushing out and pulling down. The pushing out and pulling down of the surrounding sheet on the one hand and the pressing sheet on the other hand are controlled here independently of each other.

The outer structure of the circular knitting machine according to the invention differs from conventional circular knitting machines on the one hand by the use of pointed needles instead of latch needles and on the other hand by the additional insertion of the pressed panels into the intermediate spaces between the surrounding panels. Thus, in particular because the press plates are arranged closely between the surrounding plates (for example on the separating plates), a relatively small additional space requirement is required. The pressing plates are generally arranged without lateral clearance between two adjacent surrounding plates and, due to the co-rotation of the pressing plates with the needles, no tangential force is exerted on the needle tips when the pressing plates are radially pushed out against them. This therefore counteracts excessive wear of the needles and of the surrounding bars and of the press bars of the circular knitting machine according to the invention.

Another advantage of the circular knitting machine according to the invention is the availability of the circular knitting machine to produce knitted goods not only according to the weft-knitting principle but also according to the warp-knitting principle. In fact, the circular knitting machine is able to switch or at least preset these two knitting techniques. When the needle is in the pushed-out state, the stitch formed by the machine is produced according to the weft or warp knitting principle, depending on whether new yarn is guided from the surrounding plate only to the needle axis, or whether the surrounding plate is pushed out beyond the radial needle position and thus presents the stitch with yarn. In the case of weft knitting the yarn is held taut at the needle axis before the sinking, while in the case of warp knitting the loops of yarn are presented with less tension. Even in the sinking process itself, the yarn tension is smaller than in weft knitting.

The circular knitting machine according to the invention can therefore be equipped with control means for controlling the positioning of the individual surrounding panels, of the individual pressing panels or of both panel types. In this way, the radial displacement of the surrounding plates can be controlled so that they guide the new yarn to the needle shaft before pulling down the respective pointed needle, so that weft knitting is achieved at the respective knitting system. On the other hand, the peripheral plate can also be controlled such that it guides the new yarn in the radial direction over the needle axis and thus presents the loop before the corresponding needle is pulled down, so that warp knitting is effected at the knitting system.

By suitably controlling the yarn tension on the one hand and the radial retraction movement of the peripheral panel on the other hand, the machine can be operated as a warp knitting machine (the machine according to the invention is intended to operate also as a circular knitting machine, with a corresponding fixed adjustment of the lock of the peripheral panel). The selective switching between weft and warp away can be achieved, for example, by an adjustable slider which moves the surrounding plates correspondingly in radial direction. By corresponding adjustment of the slides and thus positioning of the surrounding plates in the radial direction, the circular knitting machine according to the invention is able to produce loops on its different systems, also simultaneously according to the weft-knitting principle and according to the warp-knitting principle.

The looping system of the circular knitting machine according to the invention can be preset or controlled or switched during operation so that the respective needles: from the correspondingly fed yarn, loops are formed, the fed yarn is caught or retained in a circular motion according to the weft or warp knitting principle.

During the catching process, the pointed needles of the respective loop-forming system are retracted earlier than during the weft or warp knitting process, so that the pressing plate closes the hooks of the respective pointed needles only when the fed yarn and the previous loop have been received in the hooks. Alternatively, the capture process can be implemented in the following manner: the pressing plate does not move too close to the hooks of the respective needles so as to close them, so that both the fed yarn and the old loop can be received in the hooks.

The results show that the use of a needle tip in the circular knitting machine according to the invention brings about further advantages. For example, the tip of a sharp needle is generally smaller than that of a latch needle, so that it is less of a problem that the coil is undesirably widened by the needle. Smaller coils are achieved at the same fineness. Furthermore, the loop is not damaged by the latch and its hinge, which open and close. Undesirable effects, such as fuzzing (Verflaumung), excessive pilling tendency, unequal hook-in (Henkeln) heights of plush or lining, and yarn twisting during plaiting (by smaller needles), are also avoided as far as possible on account of the lower yarn load.

The use of a sharp needle also allows to increase the rotation speed of the needle cylinder, since it is not necessary to ensure the absorption of the kinetic energy of rotation of the latch.

By using the sharp needle capable of being elastically closed instead of the latch needle capable of being closed by the tongue hinge, the knitting energy of the circular knitting machine can be reduced, and the total power consumption can be reduced.

The cost advantage is mainly that the price of the sharp needle is lower than that of the latch needle; however, the simpler, less fragile construction of the spike and longer needle life is another advantageous cost factor. In addition, the knitting process starting after the operation interruption is simplified when a sharp needle is used instead of a latch needle; finally, before the knitting process is started, it is necessary to check whether the tongue of the latch needle is in the correct open or closed state.

Drawings

Further advantages and details of the embodiments and of the invention are explained below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1a to 1h (together with the enlarged view of fig. 1 a) show the sequence of the stitch-forming method according to the weft-knitting principle in the circular knitting machine according to the invention.

Fig. 2a and 2b show correspondingly different positions of the knitting elements before the needles are pulled down during warp and weft knitting by means of the circular knitting machine according to the invention.

Fig. 3a shows the position of the looping element during the pulling-down of the needle during the catching process, while fig. 3b shows the needle movement profile during the catching process.

Fig. 4a shows a close-up perspective view of the edge portion of the needle cylinder with needles and the corresponding surrounding plate with a pressing plate and a corresponding plate lock (the plate lock and plate lock components are integrated here compared to the circular knitting machine of fig. 2a and 2 b). Figure 4b shows a detailed view of the weft or warp knitting system in figure 4 a.

Fig. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the plate ring and the surrounding plate and the pressing plate supported thereon in a parallel sectional direction parallel to the tangential direction on the needle cylinder.

Fig. 6 shows a variant of a two-part needle that can be used in a circular knitting machine in two views, one with two needle parts separated from each other and the other in the assembled state.

Detailed Description

In fig. 1a to 1h, a stitch forming according to the weft knitting principle on a stitch forming system of a circular knitting machine according to the invention is shown. Fig. 1a shows the sharp needle 2 in the needle cylinder in an enlarged view. The needle is pushed out and pulled in the vertical direction by a corresponding guidance of the control foot 6 of the needle in the cylinder lock part 14. In fig. 1a, the needle is in a pulled down state. In the hook tip of the needle there is a previously formed "old" loop of the knitted fabric that has been made. The needle 2 is now pushed upwards, while the old coil remains on the knockover plane (lower bearing plane) 3a of the surrounding plate 3 and is blocked by the nose 3c of the plate profile. Once the needle 2 has reached its uppermost position, the surrounding plate 3 stored on the plate ring 19 is guided outward (to the right in the drawing) by the control foot 8 of said surrounding plate in the plate lock part 10, see fig. 1 b.

In fig. 1c, the needle 2 now passes the thread guide 5 on its rotational path. The surrounding sheet 3 in fig. 1d is now moved out in the radial direction inwards (to the left in the drawing) in the direction of the needle, and the new thread 1 is pushed onto the shaft of the pushed-out needle 2 by the surrounding sheet 3 on its upper support plane 3b in the direction of this shaft.

The needles 2 are then pulled down in fig. 1e so that the thread lying on the upper support plane 3b of the surrounding panel 3 is received in the hooks. In fig. 1f, the press plate 4 is then moved out in the direction of the needle by the control foot 7, which correspondingly guides the press plate, so that it closes the needle hook elastically by pressure from the outside. Now, in fig. 1g, the surrounding sheet 3 is pulled back to the extent that its upper support plane 3b releases the new yarn 1, while the needles 2 are simultaneously pulled further downwards, so that the needle hooks and the old loops still on the knockover plane 3a are pulled through with the yarn 1 therein. Next, in fig. 1h, the press plate 4 is retracted and the pulling-down process (sinking) of the needles 2 is ended, whereby the looping process is completed and can start again in the position of fig. 1 a.

Fig. 2a and 2b show two snapshots of the weft or warp knitting process in a circular knitting machine according to the invention. Fig. 2b shows the position of the looping element during weft knitting directly before the needle 2 is pulled down, and thus corresponds approximately to the position in fig. 1d (in fig. 2a and 2b the needle and the plate of the machine differ slightly from those in fig. 1a to 1 h). In fig. 2a, the corresponding snapshot shows the warp editing process. In contrast to the weft knitting process, the surrounding panels 3 project further inwards (to the left in the drawing) and thus have loops of yarn that reach the upper support plane 3b from the needle axis. In the weft knitting process of fig. 2b, the yarn is maintained as continuously as possible under uniform tension by suitable means (e.g. a suitable yarn feeder, Fournisseur) in order to produce a good quality knit, while the yarn tension can be small and can be varied here also in the warp knitting process of fig. 2 a. The presentation of the yarn loops provides a reliable looping process by the further advancement of the surrounding panels.

In the case of the warp knitting process of fig. 2a and the weft knitting process of fig. 2b, in a subsequent step the hook is closed by the press plate 4, the needle 2 is pulled down and thus a new yarn 1 or presented loop of yarn on the needle shaft is received, so that it is subsequently pulled through the old loop.

The circular knitting machine according to the present invention is therefore suitable for weft knitting and warp knitting. In fact, the machine can have adjusting means 15 on the sheet lock 9, by means of which the sheet lock means 10 can be displaced, whereby the length of the removal path of the surrounding sheet 3 is switched between a longer warp knitting path and a shorter weft knitting path. The plate lock 9 is screwed to the plate lock support ring 12.

The circular knitting machine according to the invention allows an efficient and reliable processing of a large number of different yarns due to the switchability between the weft function and the warp function. In particular, the warp knitting function allows the use of more sensitive yarns (because of the lower yarn tension in the process). In fact, the looping in the warp knitting process of fig. 2a is carried out in two steps: presenting the loops and pulling the presented loops through the old loops. In a first step, the yarn tension in the yarn package is first increased from friction point to friction point by the principle of cord friction (seilreimbungspringzip) and then falls back to zero as the yarn package is presented. In a second step, the yarn loops are again rubbed against the respective yarn sections of the old loop while the yarn loops are pulled through the old loop, thereby again increasing the yarn tension.

In contrast, in weft knitting, the feeding of a new yarn through the yarn guide and the pulling of the yarn through the old loop take place simultaneously, whereby corresponding yarn friction forces are added up and together result in a significantly higher yarn tension. Due to the time offset of the two processing steps during warp knitting, no increase in the yarn force occurs, so that the maximum occurring yarn tension is lower. The warp knitting process therefore offers greater protection for the yarn to be processed and for the looping elements of the circular knitting machine.

The presence of yarn loops in the warp knitting process also has the advantage of reducing the load on the sinking element in the drum lock. In which the sinking angle during warp knitting is not as steep as in weft knitting, thus reducing the load on the needles guided in the sinking section. By using a simpler sinking component, stitch breakage and needle breakage can be avoided.

In order to be able to add fancy, it should also be possible to adjust the weft or warp knitting system of the circular knitting machine that can be used for weft and warp knitting for circular motion (Rundlauf) and catching.

During the circular movement, the needle 2 is easily left in its circular movement position and is not pushed out at all by correspondingly controlling the locking element. The new yarn 1 is not even received by the hook.

Fig. 3a shows the position of the weft knitting system during the catching process, more precisely during the pulling down of the needle 2. After the needle 2 has been pushed out far enough that it receives the new yarn 1, the new yarn 1 remains in the hook with the old loop at the time of said pulling down.

The catching process can be controlled by pulling down the needles or by displacing the corresponding control of the press plate 4. It can therefore be adjusted to pull down the needle 2 earlier so that the pressing plate 4 closes the hook when the hook has passed the old loop on the knockover plane 3a (and therefore already inside the hook).

Fig. 3b shows the needle movement curves of the weft knitting process and the catching process side by side here. The solid line 16 represents the needle movement along the time axis during weft knitting, while the dashed line 17 shows the earlier pull-down of the sharp needle 2 during catching.

Another possibility of carrying out the catching process with the aid of the circular knitting machine according to the invention is not to move the press plate 4 for closing the hook at all on the selected weft knitting system, but to maintain it in the moved-in position without pressure contact with the hook. The corresponding control of the pressing of the slabs 4 is achieved, for example, by suitably adjusting the slab locks on the corresponding systems.

Fig. 4a shows a side perspective view of the needle cylinder 11 (in the variant shown here, the plate lock 9 and the plate lock part 10 are integrated). In fig. 4b, the section of the weaving system with the yarn guides 5 is shown in detail. In both figures, the sharp needles 2 arranged over the entire circumference of the needle cylinder 11 are shown only in a partial section of the cylinder circumference for reasons of clarity. Said figures, and in particular figure 4b, show, in addition to the needles 2 and the surrounding plates 3 and the pressing plates 4, also the thread guides 5 belonging to the knitting sites in selected partial sections of the cylinder edge. The surrounding webs 3 extend from the web ring 19 through between the needles 2 from the outside to the inside in web guides (platinen fur hung) arranged on the needle cylinder. The press plate 4 is accordingly arranged with maximum freedom from play between two adjacent surrounding plates 3 (see also fig. 5) and thus directly faces the corresponding spike. The sharp needles are also arranged between the surrounding sheets extending to the sheet guide, so that said surrounding sheets act as guides for the pressing sheet and the needles.

As shown in fig. 5, the pressed panel 4 requires a small amount of additional space in this manner because, even in a conventional circular knitting machine using latch needles without pressed panels, the peripheral panels 3 are spaced apart from each other (so that they can be guided past the needles during ejection). In such a conventional circular knitting machine, a spacer 18 is provided on the blade ring 19 in the intermediate space between the peripheral blades 3, usually in order to avoid a clearance between the peripheral blades 3. Such a machine can be modified to a circular knitting machine according to the invention in such a way that the pressing panel 4 is arranged on the dividing panel 18 with as little clearance as possible in an advantageous manner with respect to the adjacent surrounding panels 3. Alternatively, the respective surrounding and pressing plates can also share a groove bounded by the respective separating sheet. However, this has the following disadvantages: in view of the high degree of fineness, the separator should be as thin as possible, which entails an increased risk of rupture of the separator.

Just as the spike 2 has a stitch 6, which during rotation runs through a correspondingly pre-set locking groove, the surrounding plate 3 and the pressing plate 4 also have plate feet 7 and 8, respectively, which are guided in corresponding grooves of the plate lock component 10. By appropriate presetting of the needle lock and the blade lock, the respective knitting system can be selectively adjusted such that it: forming loops according to the weft-knitting principle or according to the warp-knitting principle, catching only new yarns or remaining in a circular motion position. In fig. 4a and 4b, the switching between weft and warp knitting functions is performed by means of an adjusting device 15 on the sheet lock with integrated sheet lock means.

The space-saving arrangement of the pressing plates 4 between the surrounding plates 3 allows a relatively high fineness of the circular knitting machine, i.e. a large number of needles per inch on the circumference of the cylinder. Another advantage of this space-saving arrangement is that a large number of knitting systems can also be provided along the circumference of the needle cylinder. Thus, over 88 weaving systems can be provided in a circular knitting machine with a 30 inch cylinder circumference, which corresponds to a high system density of 2.9 systems per inch (higher system densities, e.g. to 3.2, are also conceivable).

Fig. 6 shows another possible simplification of using two-piece needles in a circular knitting machine. This two-piece spike has an upper spike part 2 'and a lower control foot part 6'. The spike member 2 'extends from the hook at the upper end along the needle shaft to a nose projecting at the side, while the control foot member 6' has intermittent recesses for receiving the nose and the required profile in the respective cylinder lock member for receiving and guiding. The needle member 2 'is then preferably formed by simply shaping a wire which is bent into a hook at the upper end and into a nose at the lower end, while other methods, such as stamping a plate member, may be used to control the foot member 6'. The nose of the needle part 2 'and the recess of the control foot part 6' cooperate with one another, but are not limited in their form apart from their fitting function; in particular, the recessed portion of the control foot member need not have a slot or slot shape.

Furthermore, the use of a two-part needle tip also brings the additional cost advantage that, after wear, only the needle part 2' of the needle tip, which can be produced more cost-effectively, has to be replaced. The entire needle device of the circular knitting machine can be produced more cost-effectively depending on the selection of the method of production of the needle components. The division of the needles into two parts, optionally combined with the interposition of the pressing bars 3 between the surrounding bars 4, also allows an even easier retrofitting of the circular knitting machine with warp knitting function into a traditional circular knitting machine and vice versa.

Alternatively, the present invention can also be applied to a circular knitting machine based on the principle of the so-called relative technology. In this machine, the surrounding plate is supported in the upper part of the needle cylinder between the needles. Thus, such machine types do not require a separate blade ring. The surrounding plates can be vertically controlled in height and at the same time perform a pivoting movement about the pivot point of the surrounding plates. This pivoting movement replaces the conventional horizontal movement of the surrounding panels. As pressing elements for closing the hooks, press rollers arranged outside the circumference of the needle cylinder (one press roller for each knitting system, respectively) can be used here.

The construction of the circular knitting machine according to the invention is based on an extension of conventional circular knitting machines. The circular knitting machine according to the invention can be manufactured as a stand-alone machine; however, it is also conceivable, for example, to extend a conventional circular knitting machine by simply adding the press bars into the already existing intermediate space between the surrounding bars and replacing the latch needles with pointed needles or replacing the corresponding two-part latch needles and the needle parts of the pointed needles.

In any case, the present invention provides significant advantages related to needle wear problems. Furthermore, the machine according to the invention enables the selection between weft and warp knitting within a single machine as a looping technique.

List of reference numerals

1 yarn

2 needles

2' needle component

3 peripheral plate

3a lower support plane

3b upper supporting plane

3c nose of sheet profile

4 pressing sheet

5 yarn guide

6-needle control foot

6' control foot parts

7 control pin for pressing plate

8 control feet of surrounding plate

9 plate lock

10 plate locking part

11 needle cylinder

12 plate lock support ring

13-cylinder lock

14 cylinder lock component

15 adjusting device for weft/warp knitting

16 weave curve

17 capture curve

18 division sheet

19 plate ring