Needle selection mechanism for circular knitting machine

Abstract

Spring jacks are supported for vertical movement in the grooves of the needle cylinder below the needles and select the needles for the control cam to move from the welting position to the knitting or tucking position and to return the needle to the welting position. Jack actuating cams move the spring jacks upwardly to move the needles into operative position with respect to the control cam. The spring jacks are resilient and deflect from an active position to an inactive position out of operative association with an actuating cam. A pattern mechanism selects individual spring jacks in accordance with a predetermined pattern. A selector jack is mounted in each groove in the needle cylinder below the spring jack for limited inward and outward movement and an upper end portion engages a lower end portion of the spring jack. A stack of selector slides operate with the pattern mechanism and each of the selector slides is mounted for individual movement from inactive positions to active positions. Inner end portions are positioned in the path of the selector jacks as they move with the needle cylinder when the slides are in their active position and have an inwardly inclined portion for moving the selector slides inwardly. A horizontal portion maintains the selector jacks in the innermost position for a predetermined time interval. An outwardly inclined portion controls outward movement of the selector jacks and the return of the spring jacks to their active positions.