Lonati, Fausto (Via Mediana 15, Brescia, I-25128, IT)
Lonati, Tiberio (Via Sera 24, Brescia, I-25121, IT)
Lonati, Ettore (Piazza Paganora 5, Brescia, I-25121, IT)
Lonati, Fausto (Via Mediana 15, Brescia, I-25128, IT)
Lonati, Tiberio (Via Sera 24, Brescia, I-25121, IT)
| 1. | A method for producing ladderproof knitting with knitting machines for hosiery and the like, characterized in that ladderproof weaves are produced during the production of the knitted fabric, each one of said ladderproof weaves being provided by means of the partial transfer of at least one loop of knitting (la, 3a, 5a, 2b, 4b, 6b, 1c, 3c, 5c) from a first needle (1,3, 5) to a second needle (2,4, 6) that is contiguous to said first needle, so that said loop (la, 3a, 5a, 2b, 4b, 6b, 1c, 3c, 5c) is carried simultaneously by said needles (1,2, 3,4, 5,6) before proceeding with the formation of new loops of knitting by means of the same needles. |
| 2. | The method according to claim 1, characterized in that in the production of a same row (A) of knitting said ladderproof weave is performed several times by partially transferring a loop (la) of knitting from one needle (1) to the contiguous needle (2) between the needles moved to knit at a feed or drop that dispenses the thread or threads used to form said row of knitting. |
| 3. | The method according to claim 1, characterized in that in the formation of multiple rows of knitting said ladderproof weaves are produced on at least two rows of knitting. |
| 4. | The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the formation of multiple rows of knitting said ladderproof weaves are produced for at least three rows of knitting. |
| 5. | The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that in a row (B) of knitting affected by said ladderproof weaves, said partial transfer of the loops (2b) of knitting from the needles (2, 4,6) to the contiguous needles (3,5) is performed by offsetting it by one needle with respect to the partial transfer of loops of knitting performed in producing ladderproof weaves on another row (C) of knitting. |
| 6. | The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that in a row (C) of knitting affected by said ladderproof weaves said partial transfer of the loops of knitting from the needles (1,3, 5) to the contiguous needles (2,4, 6) is performed by offsetting it by one needle with respect to the partial transfer of loops of knitting performed in producing ladderproof weaves on another row of knitting that directly precedes or follows said one row of knitting. |
| 7. | The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that in producing a row (B) of knitting that directly follows a row (A) of knitting in which said partial transfer of loops of knitting has been performed, the needles affected by said partial transfer of loops of knitting are actuated to produce dropped stitches. |
| 8. | The method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is performed with a machine of the type disclosed in the published patent document no. WO02/070799. |
| 9. | A ladderproof knitted article, characterized in that it has at least portions of knitted fabric with ladderproof weaves provided by means of the method according to one or more of the preceding claims. |
Background Art As is known, in the production of knitted articles there is the problem of locking the stitches at the end of the article or of portions thereof to prevent it from forming ladders, causing the gradual unraveling of the article.
This problem, in the production of knitted articles with circular or rectilinear machines, has been solved by using, in forming the last row of knitting or a few final rows of knitting, a heat-setting thread which, at the end of the production of the article, is brought, for example during ironing of the article, to a temperature that is sufficient to produce the partial melting of said thread, so that the loops of the last row or last rows are welded, together thus preventing the ladder from occurring.
This solution has been widely used in knitting because the heat- setting thread does not require particular refinements to be used in machines, since it can be treated substantially like the other threads used to produce the article and does not slow the operation of the machines in order to knit it. However, the use of the heat-setting thread suffers the drawback of stiffening the article, reducing the stretch of the rows of knitting affected by said thread.
In order to solve the problem of laddering at the end of the article, several types of weaves of knitting, obtainable by way of particular actuations of the needles of the machine during the formation of the last
rows of knitting, have also been proposed. These solutions, however, suffer the drawback of considerably complicating the actuation of the machines and of requiring very often a significant reduction in the actuation speed of the machine during the execution of said rows of knitting, with a consequent reduction in production.
The published patent document no. WO-02/070799 discloses a knitting machine, hosiery machine, or the like that is capable of transferring a loop of knitting from the needle that formed it onto a contiguous needle.
Disclosure of the Invention The aim of the present invention is to provide a method that by using the technique of transferring the loop of knitting from one needle to a contiguous needle allows to provide ladderproof knitting.
Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a method that can be used not only to ladderproof the last rows of knitting of articles but also to obtain portions of ladderproof knitting even for aesthetic and/or functional purposes, in the production of knitted articles.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method that allows to produce ladderproof knitting without penalizing excessively the productivity of the knitting machines or hosiery knitting machines that are used.
This aim and these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a method for producing ladderproof knitting with knitting machines for hosiery and the like, characterized in that ladderproof weaves are produced during the production of the knitted fabric, each one of said ladderproof weaves being provided by means of the partial transfer of at least one loop of knitting from a first needle to a second needle that is contiguous to said first needle, so that said loop is carried simultaneously by said needles before proceeding with the formation of new loops of knitting by means of the same needles.
Brief description of the drawing
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the method according to the invention, illustrated by way of nonlimiting example in the accompanying drawing, wherein the only figure is a highly enlarged view of a portion of a knitted fabric, taken from the reverse side, with ladderproof knitting weaves according to the invention.
Ways of carrying out the Invention With reference to the figure, the method according to the invention consists in performing, during the production of the knitted fabric, ladderproof weaves, each of which is provided by partially transferring at least one loop of knitting la, 3a, 5a, 2b, 4b, 6b, lc, 3c, 5c from a first needle to a second needle that is contiguous to the first needle so that said loop is carried simultaneously by said needles before proceeding with the forming of new loops of knitting by means of the same needles.
The ladderproof weaves can be produced during the formation of the last rows of knitting of an article or during the formation of specific portions of the article that one wishes to render ladderproof or to provide with an aesthetic appearance that distinguishes them from the contiguous portions or to provide with a more rigid structure that compresses, supports or massages a specific part of the body of the user.
The ladderproof weaves can be repeated continuously along a same row of knitting or can be alternated with traditional stitches, depending on the intended degree of ladderproofing and/or on other intended purposes.
The figure illustrates, merely by way of example, a portion of a knitted article with ladderproof weaves according to the invention.
In the description that follows, for the sake of simplicity and of greater clarity, it is assumed that the loops of knitting formed by each needle in the production of a row of knitting are provided by means of a single thread, but the method according to the invention can also be performed by forming loops of knitting in which each loop is composed of two or more
threads fed simultaneously to the needles.
Moreover, it should be noted that in performing the methocL according to the invention it is possible to produce ladderproof waves also by partially transferring simultaneously two or more loops of knitting from one needle to the contiguous needle if, as a consequence of previous knitting, the needle from which the loop of knitting is partially transferred carries two or more loops of knitting.
In the figure, the rows of knitting have been designated by uppercase letters. For the sake of simplicity in description, each needle is identified hereinafter by the reference numeral that designates, in the figure, the row of loops of knitting knitted by said needle. The thread of ea-ch row of knitting is designated by a lowercase letter that is identical to the uppercase letter that designates the row of knitting. The loop of knitting of a row of knitting formed by a needle is designated by the reference numeral of the <BR> <BR> row of loops of knitting to which it belongs (i. e. , with the number that also designates the needle that forms said row of loops of knitting) and by a lowercase letter that is identical to the uppercase letter that designates said row of knitting.
In the description that follows, it is assumed for the sake of simplicity that the needles that form the knitting are arranged vertically, as occurs in a needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine or hosiery knitting machine, and therefore one speaks of"needle lifting"to engage the thread and of "needle lowering"to form the loop of knitting, although the various processes described can also be performed by means of needles arranged horizontally or variously inclined with respect to the vertical.
During the formation of a row of knitting, for example during the forming of the row of knitting A, produced by using the thread a, when one wishes to form a ladderproof weave, starting from a first needle L, after said needle has engaged the thread a and has formed the loop of knitting 1 a, releasing the previously formed loop of knitting, said loop ofkiidtting la is
partially transferred to the contiguous needle 2, which during the forming of the row of knitting A has formed the corresponding loop of knitting 2a. In this manner, the loop 1 a is carried simultaneously by the needle 1 and by the needle 2, which is engaged simultaneously with the loops 1 a and 2a.
In the illustrated figure, ladderproof weaves are also produced with the needles 3,4, 5,6, which during the formation of the row of knitting A form respective loops of knitting 3a, 4a, Sa, 6a, partially transferring the loops of knitting 3a, 5a onto the needles 4 and 6.
In order to form the subsequent row of knitting B, produced by using the thread b, the needles 1,2, 3,4, 5,6 are raised to engage the thread b at a level that corresponds to the dropped stitch, so that the loop of knitting la, on the needle 1, passes below the latch of the needle, the loops of knitting la, 2a, on the needle 2, pass below the latch of the needle, the loop of knitting 3a, on the needle 3, passes below the latch of the needle, the loops of knitting 3a, 4a, on the needle 4, pass below the latch of the needle, the loop of knitting 5a, on the needle 5, passes below the latch of the needle, and the loops of knitting 5a, 6a, on the needle 6, pass below the latch of the needle.
The subsequent lowering of said needles forms new loops of knitting 1b, 2b, 3b, 4b, 5b, 6b and releases the previously formed loops of knitting together with the partially transferred ones.
Preferably, ladderproof weaves are formed also during the formation of the row of knitting B. Preferably, the ladderproof weaves along the row B are offset with respect to the ones provided along the preceding row of knitting A. This is achieved by partially transferring the loops of knitting 2b, <BR> <BR> 4b, 6b formed by the needles 2,4 and 6 to the contiguous needle, i. e. , to the needles 3 and 5 and to the needle that is contiguous to the needle 6 on the opposite side with respect to the needle 5, not shown. In this manner, the loops of knitting 2b, 4b, 6b are engaged simultaneously with the needle that formed them and with the contiguous needle on which they have been
partially transferred.
At this point, a new row of knitting C is formed by means of a thread c, and in said row of knitting the needles 1,2, 3,4, 5,6 form new loops of knitting lc, 2c, 3c, 4c, 5c, 6c, releasing the previously formed loops of knitting together with the partially transferred ones.
Preferably, ladderproof weaves are formed also during the formation of the row of knitting C, and the ladderproof weaves on the row C are offset with respect to the ones provided on the previous row of knitting B. This is done by partially transferring the loops of knitting lc, 3c, 5c formed by the needles 1,3 and 5 to the contiguous needle, i. e. , to the needles 2,4 and 6. In this manner, the loops of knitting lc, 3c, 5c are engaged simultaneously with the needle that formed them and with the contiguous needle on which they have been partially transferred.
At this point, knitting can continue, depending on the requirements, by forming additional rows with ladderproof weaves or one or more rows with conventional stitches, for example one or more rows of plain knitting.
The presence of the partially transferred loops of knitting in the ladderproof weaves has the effect of locking the loops of knitting affected by said weaves, achieving the ladderproof effect.
The last row of knitting of an article, performed after one or more rows of knitting with the above described ladderproof weaves, can be formed with plain stitches, releasing the previously formed loops of knitting and the partially transferred loops of the previous row of knitting. The partially transferred loops of knitting have the effect of also locking the loops of knitting of the last row, making it ladderproof. This ladderproof effect is increased by the presence of the ladderproof weaves possibly provided in the previous rows of knitting.
The presence of the partially transferred loops of knitting in the ladderproof weaves also has the effect of making the knitting less extensible in a direction that is parallel to the extension of the rows, achieving other
functional effects, such as for example containment and/or support and/or massage effects for the regions of the body of the user that are in contact with the portions of the article affected by said weaves.
The above description of the method has been limited to the execution of the ladderproof weaves. The knitting that is not affected by the ladderproof weaves can be provided in a per se known manner by means of various stitches, although preference is given, in the vicinity of the ladderproof weaves, to plain knitting, as shown in the figure.
The method according to the invention is preferably performed with a machine of the type described in the published patent document WO- 02/070799, but can in any case be performed with other machines that allow the partial transfer of a loop of knitting from one needle to a contiguous needle.
In practice it has been found that the method according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects, since it allows to produce articles with ladderproof knitting without having to resort to the use of heat-setting threads or to complicated knitting weaves.
The method and the ladderproof knitted article obtained with the method, thus conceived, are susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims; all the details may further be replaced with other technically equivalent ones.
In practice, the threads and the counts of the threads used may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.
The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MI2004A000304 from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.
Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.