1、英文文献 Precision knitwear Dipl.lng.AJurenak of Steiger gives an overview of the Swiss companys latest technical developments which are pushing back the frontiers of knitwear production. At the last ITMA exhibition in Paris, Steiger had on show a new four-head multi-compact flat knitting machine. That
2、was presented to the knitting industry as offering a completely new development. The machine was the first multi-head model on the world market with features that gave increased reliability, enhanced productivity and made operation much more user-friendly. Separation of the front bed and back bed ca
3、m carriage by eliminating the usual cam carriage bow is amongst the most important new features of the machine. However, both cam carriage sections are driven in full synchronization. By eliminating the traditional bow of the cam carriage, which has been an inconvenient feature on more conventional
4、machines, it is now possible to ensure a direct passage of the yarn above to the needles in the needle beds. Another new development is the fact, that the yarn carriers have no direct mechanical connection with the cam plates, each carrier being driven individually by its own motor. During knitting,
5、 as the two carriage-sections reciprocate across the carriage sections in a synchronized arrangement. The yarn carriers are controlled by special software and can be moved as required either in the direction of the cam carriage travel or in the opposite direction. These new automatic features mean t
6、hat there is no need to consider programming the yarn carriers and the yarn feed when the machine operates with variable cam carriage traverses and that the best possible operating conditions will always result. This gives a substantial rise in productivity and an improved overall machine ratio. The
7、 motorization of the yarn carriers gives them their own individuality and makes it possible to adapt their movements in the highest degree to any given knitting process. The yarn carriers are automatically engaged or disengaged as required by the knitting programmer and adapt to the fabric selvedges
8、 with maximum precision. This also has particular relevance to the formation of fabric selvedges since the active yarn feeders are automatically nearest to the knitted panel, thus avoiding the formation of slack yarn loops along the selvedge. The knitting of intarsia patterns is carried out without
9、the use of swing yarn carriers, since it is possible to re-align the yarn carriers away from a particular area even between the can systems. Since the arrival of the machine on the world market, steiger reports that the “multi” has shown itself as a highly productive automatic flat knitting machine,
10、 which in addition to everything else has a multiplicity of patterning facilities which have not previously been available-at least to the same extent, particularly with regard to intarsia patterns. Here steiger offers up to 24 individually motor driven yarn carriers. Following the success of the st
11、eiger “multi” it was quickly realized that not every knitting company needs the large production of which this machine is capable. This prompted the steiger company during 2001, to bring on the market a compact version of the “multi” with a single knitting head, namely the Aries 3. Aries 3 Three-sys
12、tem machine Aries 3 uses the same technology as theses a three-system “multi” but instead of a twin-cam system carriage uses a three-system cam carriage. The 106cm long needle beds from the “multi” have been replaced by needle beds 130cm long. The Aries 3 model is thus particularly suitable for knit
13、ting small lots of exclusive high fashion knitwear. The steiger Aries 6 has been in full production since the beginning of this year. The machine is a double compact version of the Aries 3 machine, that is to say, a machine where, in a way, two Aries 3 models are linked together, although drive, sha
14、re the yarn carriers and the electronic control. The machine frame is a self-supporting welded structure, produced in the tried and tested steiger tradition and very stable. The total length of the machine is 535cm and there are two separate knitting heads. Each of the two separate knitting heads.ea
15、ch of the two heads has a knitting width of 130cm and each has a three system cam carriage. Like the “multi” and the Aries 3, the Aries 6 has no conventional carriage bow so that front and rear cam plates are separate but are driven in synchronization, with the yarn being fed from above the knitting
16、 point in a straight line directly into the yarn carriers. Each of the knitting systems in the three system cam carriage is of identical design, each having two selection points and able to knit in the three way technique, I.e. knitting, tucking and non-knitting. When the stitch transfer unit is act
17、ivated, loops can be transferred from the front bed needles to the back bed needles or vice versa either simultaneously or not. Without needing a re-alignment of the cam races the split-stitch technique can be used at any time in order to avoid a stitch transfer hole. Aries 6 capability The Aries 6
18、machine has a standard equipment of either 12 or 24 motorized yarn carriers for each knitting head so that even very demanding high fashion and exclusive intarsia designs-either as single or double-face fabrics can be knitted or combined with structure patterns. The Aries 6 (like the Aries 3) has pn
19、eumatic yarn trapper and cutter units as standard components on the left and right-hand side of the needle beds. The well knownsteiger friction fabric take-down is positioned close to the knitting area of the machine (about 20mm), which ensures a straight and torsion-free fabric take-down. The new t
20、echnologies, which steiger originally developed for the “multi” machine for the first time, are also included in the design of the Aries 3 and are original and further developed in the Aries 6 model having attracted many compliments by industry technical experts. It shows without doubt, that these d
21、evelopments were following a path in the right direction. this made it possible, by way of simple solutions, to obtain greater reliability, higher production and exclusiveness in the pattern scope. However, in modern fully electronic flat machines, simplicity, productivity and machine reliability is
22、 not the only feature that counts. Software for controlling the machine and pattern preparation equipment are of equal importance. Software for knitting Since introducing the Vesta range of machines to the market in 1993, steiger also introduced simultaneously a pioneering programming system, which
23、runs on a compatible PC computer. The system known as “model” software works with symbols, where a symbol can represent either a simple stitch or a complicated knitting process(such as a face loop which has been transferred to the back bed and then returned to the front bed but on a neighboring need
24、le). Thus it is possible to use symbols for a wide range of stitch combinations and store them in a library of stitch and patterns. The “model” software already contains a comprehensive library of a wide rang of pattern combinations which is continuously enlarged. By combining different symbols it i
25、s possible to produce a part repeat and after this a full pattern repeat. The presently popular pattern repeats too are also included already in the library and the rang can be extended in accordance with the aid of different design repeats, it is possible to show graphically on screen a complete knitted garment part. This also applies to the production of shapes.
