US3868834A

US3868834A - Portable knitting device for use at home or in like places

Info

Publication number: US3868834A
Application number: US356124A
Authority: US
Inventors: George Humphrey Tichenor
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1972-05-17
Filing date: 1973-05-01
Publication date: 1975-03-04
Anticipated expiration: 1992-03-04
Also published as: GB1361146A

Abstract

A knitting device has a needle bed, a plurality of needles and a sinker in which the needles are releasably or fixedly secured in inwardly projecting, equidistantly spaced, parallel grooves in the needle bed and the sinker comprises an elongate shaft with a hook at one end having one or a number of leading threads adjacent the hook such that on rotary motion of the sinker the leading threads cooperate with the needles and the hook sequentially draws working yarn from between the needles.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 [111 3,868,834 Tichenor Mar. 4, 1975 15 PORTABLE KNITTING DEVICE FOR USE 2,343,183 2/1944 Hieber et al. 66/2 ux AT HOME OR IN LIKE PLACES 3,584,480 6/1971 Zwingenberger et al. 66/114 [76] Inventor: George Humphrey Tichenor, 545 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Sutter St., San Francisco, Calif. 256,584 4/1964 Netherlands 66/114 94108 Primary Examiner-W. C. Reynolds [22] Flled' May 1973 Assistant E.\'aminerAndrew M. Falik [21] Appl. No.: 356,124 Attorney, Agent, or FirmD. Paul Weaver [30] Foreign Application Priority Data [57] ABSTRACT May 17. 1972 Great Britain 23195/72 A knitting device has a needle a plurality of dles and a sinker in which the needles are releasably 52 us. (:1. 66/1 A, 66/90 or fixedly Secured in inwardly projecting, equidiswmly 51 Int. Cl D04b 3/00 Spaced, parallel grooves in the needle bed and the [58} Field of Search 66/1 R, 1 A, 1.5, 2, 3, Sinker Comprises an elongate Shaft with a hook at one /4 104 114 117 1 end having one .or a number of leading threads adjacent the hook such that on rotary motion of the sinker 5 References Cited the leading threads cooperate with the needles and the 1 UNITED STATES PATENTS hook sequentially draws working yarn from between the needles. 1,326.55 12/l9l9 Wilkins 66/114 2.239.212 4/1941 Adams 66/1 R 2 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTED BAR 4 ms Fig. 3.

z r-\\\Ilv-- 3 5 Fig,5.

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2 20 10 12 ,4 mzrnra Fig4.

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PORTABLE KNITTING DEVICE FOR USE AT HOME OR IN LIKE PLACES FIELD OF THE INVENTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present device is a simplification of the old knitting frame where the needles are closely spaced and rigidly attached to the needle bed. However, instead of using a plurality of sinkers to form loops a single rotating sinker is used to draw the yarn from between the needles in succession. Such a procedure reduces the friction, previously encountered, in a bar machine and also it allows the needles to be disposed closer together with the result that the needle bed can be made much shorter and thus easier to handle. Conventional bar machines now in home use must have needles spaced widely apart in order to allow the necessary camming action and to secure loops of the desired size. The present device allows a closer spacing of needles than is possible with a knitting frame, since it dispenses with all but one of the sinkers, and it can be made a third the length of comparable cam-operated machines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention a knitting device comprises a needle bed, a plurality of closely spaced needles in a needle bed and a sinker adapted on rotation to sequentially draw working yarn or material from between the needles.

Preferably the sinker comprises an elongate shaft with a hook at one end having one or a number of leading threads adjacent the hook to cooperate with needles in the needle bed and make the forward rotary motion of the sinker more accurate.

More particularly the knitting device comprises a needle bed, a number of equidistantly spaced grooves formed in the needle bed, a plurality of needles adapted to be disposed one in each of the grooves in the needle bed, a needle cavity formed within each needle and a sinker including an arcuately curved hook disposed at one end of an elongate shaft, the arrangement being such that working year is disposed in the cavities of the needles and the sinker is rotated to draw yarn from between the needles in succession and to form and retain loops of a predetermined size.

The invention also includes a knitting device comprising a needle bed, a plurality of needles, means for locking or unlocking the needles in the needle bed in equidistantly spaced disposition and a single sinker adapted on rotation to sequentially draw working yarn or material from between adjacent needles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of a sinker partly broken away;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the sinker in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a side view of one means for rotating the sinker;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the device in operation;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a second embodiment of a sinker partly broken away;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a third embodiment of a sinker partly broken away;

FIG. 7 is an end view of the sinkers of FIGS. 5 and 6 and,

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of one needle bed in which the needles are releasably secured to the needle bed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the drawings a knitting device comprises a plurality of needles 1 equidistantly spaced and seated in a needle bed 2. The sinker of FIG. 1 is formed with a hook 3, a neck portion 4, a shaft 5 and a coupling 6. The hook 3 is arcuately curved about the longitudinal axis of the sinker as clearly seen from FIG. 2 and adjoins the neck portion 4 which is of a larger diameter than the shaft 5. The diameter of the neck portion 4 is a means of ensuring that the loops formed are of uniform size and the neck portion 4 may have threads cut into it to correspond to the spacing of the needles 1 preferably for the length of about four or five needle spaces. The shaft 5 of the sinker serves to transmit rotary motion to the hook and to retain the loops already formed. It is of reduced diameter in order to minimize friction and runs the length of the needle bed. The coupling 6 is disposed at the end remote from the hook 3 and allows the sinker to be used in conjunction with an electrical/mechanical drive as shown, for example, in FIG. 3. Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 5 7 the sinker shown in FIG. 5 has a tapered leading thread from a larger diameter adjacent the hook 3 to a smaller diameter adjacent the shaft 5. FIG. 6 is a variation of the sinker of FIG. 5 in which there are just enough leading threads to propel the sinker forward and then a smooth bushing 7 having a smaller diameter than the root diameter of the leading thread; the bushing 7 may be an integral part of the shaft 5 or may be free to rotate about it. The two variations of sinkers illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 have the shaft 5 lightly splined as at 8 to make it easier to twirl between the fingers and are provided with a latch needle 9 disposed at the end of the shaft 5 remote from hook 3.

The needle bed 2 is preferably of rectangular shape and is formed with a plurality of equidistantly spaced inwardly directed grooves along one of the longer sides of the needle bed 2. Needles 1 are either permanently disposed within the grooves by, for example, a suitable adhesive or are removably secured in the needle bed 2 by the provision of a locking bar 20 (see FIG. 8). Although latch needles are shown in FIG. 4 for clarity it is to be understood that needles with either barbed or latched ends may be used. A suitable locking bar would extend the length of needle bed 2 and be movable from a position adjacent the longer side from which the spaced grooves are inwardly directed to a position remote from that longer side. With the locking bar back, needles 1 are easily slid out of their places on the bed as illustrated. The pointed sides of the needles are up permost so that shanks 10 rest flat in the grooves. The needle shanks 10 are kinked at 11 adjacent needle hooks 12 so that the kinked portion of each needle rests against lip 13 of the needle bed 2 when the needle is slid home.

To lock the needles in position the locking bar 20 is slid forward toward the said longer side so that kink 11 of each needle bears firmly on retaining lip 13. To remove one or more needles bar 20 is moved back, the

tip of each needle is elevated and the kink 11 pushed forward to release the needle from lip 13.

In operation the needle bed 2 and needles 1 are assembled as described above if not already formed as an integral unit. The first row of stitches is done without the aid of a sinker in the following manner: a slipknot is made over the first needle in the row and the working yarn is wound over the thickened portions of each needle (i.e., the hooks) in the form ofa loop. The loops are then pushed down the shanks of the needles to form a loose ruffle. The free end of the yarn (which now extends from the end of the needle bed remote from the end having the slipknot) is then passed back through the hooks of the needles either with the aid of a suitable loader (not shown) or by use of latch needle 9. The yarn is passed back through the hooks by holding the yarn away from the free end so that effectively two strands are passed through the hooks. It is important that the two strands of yarn should run side by side through the hooks with the strand to be retained uppermost; with this done the free end of the yarn can be pulled out to leave the needles loaded with a single strand.

Following this operation the slack in the yarn at the point where it joins the previous row is taken up and the first few stitches of the previous row are moved by hand part of the way up the needles 1 as shown in FIG. 4. The sinker is then taken in the operators hand (right for right-handed people) and the hook 3 placed in the space between the first and second needles of the row so as to engage the newly loaded yarn. The sinker is rotated slowly at first to pick up the first one or two stitches and is then grasped lightly at its far end and rotated more quickly between the fingers. Referring particularly to FIGS. 5 and 6 the completed loops are formed around the leader threads which allow the loops to slacken somewhat after they are formed due to the taper so that friction is reduced.

After all the loops have been formed the old loops are pulled over the new loops by hand, the sinker being removed before or after this step. The material is then pulled down on to the shanks of the needles so that the new loops are passed beneath the points of the needle barbs or latches. if the material is pulled the wrong way it is pulled off the open sides of the needles and consequently the row of stitches is lost. The device is then reloaded as described before except from the other end of the needle bed.

As an alternative to rotating the sinker by hand the sinker may be rotated by a suitable battery-operated device as shown in FIG. 3.

summarising, the first row of loops is formed over the needles by hand and the working yarn is then threaded through the needle hooks (with latch needles this is easily done but with barbed needles this is done by use of the latch hook 9 at the end of the sinker). The hook of the sinker is now used to pick out and form loops in sequence by rotation of the shaft of the sinker. At the conclusion of the row the old loops are pulled over the new loops, the sinker removed and the cloth pushed back to the bases of the needles. The cycle is then repeated.

The needle bed may be made by setting needles in a wooden needle bed or may be made as an integral plastics unit or of any other suitable material and the needles may be removable as previously described. The sinker is preferably made of metal but may be made of, for example, plastics material if so desired. The most preferable working yarn is three-ply wool or nylon yarn since these have the least amount of working friction.

The present invention may be used as a home knitting device or as a toy and is several times faster than ordinary hand knitting devices although not as fast as existing machines. Simplicity may be best achieved by combining hand and machine operations in such a way that overall sequence of knitting is done by hand while the precise and repetitive elements of the sequence are built into the device.

What is claimed is:

1. A knitting device comprising:

a needle bed;

a plurality of equidistantly spaced, substantially parallel needles in the needle bed; and

a sinker consisting of a shaft having a pair of opposed ends, a hook formed on one of said ends of said shaft, a bushing on said shaft in proximate relation to said hook, said bushing having a tapered leading thread, said thread having a larger root diameter adjacent said hook and a smaller root diameter as it approaches the other end of said shaft, whereby upon rotation of said sinker and movement of said sinker along said needle bed, working yarn or material can be sequentially drawn from between said needles.

2. A knitting device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said shaft of said sinker is splined.

Claims

1. A knitting device comprising: a needle bed; a plurality of equidistantly spaced, substantially parallel needles in the needle bed; and a sinker consisting of a shaft having a pair of opposed ends, a hook formed on one of said ends of said shaft, a bushing on said shaft in proximate relation to said hook, said bushing having a tapered leading thread, said thread having a larger root diameter adjacent said hook and a smaller root dIameter as it approaches the other end of said shaft, whereby upon rotation of said sinker and movement of said sinker along said needle bed, working yarn or material can be sequentially drawn from between said needles.