Knitting

Cams
Knitting Technology
Details

Apoorv Mohan
4/19/2011

1
 Acknowledgments

This is to express our heartfelt gratitude to Mr. Shakeel Iqbal, faculty in-
charge (knitting technology) for his constant guidance and support
throughout the course of the study. We would also like to thank our friends
for all their help and assistance.

Apoorv Mohan

Roll Number – 8

Foundation Programme

Technology Group

Data Compiled and Presented By Apoorv Mohan (Foundation Programme Technology II) 2
 Semester II

Index of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION........................................................4
2. KNITTING CAMS…...................................................8
3. USAGE OF CAMS IN VARIOUS KNITTING
MACHINES...............................................................................15
4. ANNEXURES...........................................................19
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................20

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 1. INTRODUCTION
A cam may be defined as a machine element having a curved outline or a curved
groove, which, by its oscillation or rotation motion, gives a predetermined specified
motion to another element called the follower. The cam has a very important function in
the operation of many classes of machines, especially those of the automatic type, such as
printing presses, shoe machinery, textile machinery, gear-cutting machines, and screw
machines. In any class of machinery in which automatic control and accurate timing are
paramount, the cam is an indispensable part of mechanism. The possible applications of
cams are unlimited, and their shapes occur in great variety.
The transformation of one of the simple motions, such as rotation, into any other
motions is often conveniently accomplished by means of a cam mechanism. It is a
rotating or sliding piece in a mechanical linkage used especially in transforming rotary
motion into linear motion or vice versa. A cam mechanism usually consists of two
moving elements, the cam and the follower, mounted on a fixed frame. Cam devices are
versatile, and almost any arbitrarily-specified motion can be obtained. In some instances,
they offer the simplest and most compact way to transform motions. A common example
is the camshaft of an automobile, which takes the rotary motion of the engine and
translates it into the reciprocating motion necessary to operate the intake and exhaust
valves of the cylinders.

A CAM has two parts,

Fig 1.1CAM WITH NOMENCLATURE

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TYPES OF FOLLOWERS
There are different types of follower but they all slide or roll on the edge of the cam.
Follower Configuration:
1. Knife-edge follower (Figure 1-2a)
2. Roller follower (Figure 1-2b,e,f)
3. Flat-faced follower (Figure 1-2c)
4. Oblique flat-faced follower
5. Spherical-faced follower (Figure 1-2d)

Fig 1.2 TYPES OF FOLLOWERS

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CLASSIFICATION OF CAM MECHANISMS :

We can classify cam mechanisms by the modes of input/output motion, the

configuration and arrangement of the follower, and the shape of the cam. We can also
classify cams by the different types of motion events of the follower and by means of a
great variety of the motion characteristics of the cam profile.
Cam classification on the basis of cam shape
1. Plate cam or disk cam: The follower moves in a plane perpendicular to the axis of
rotation of the camshaft. A translating or a swing arm follower must be constrained to
maintain contact with the cam profile.
2. Grooved cam or closed cam :

This is a plate cam with the follower riding in a groove in the face of the cam.

Fig. 1.3 Grooved cam

3. Cylindrical cam or barrel cam (Figure 1.4a): The roller follower operates in a groove
cut on the periphery of a cylinder. The follower may translate or oscillate. If the
cylindrical surface is replaced by a conical one, a conical cam results.
4. End cam (Figure 1.4b): This cam has a rotating portion of a cylinder. The follower
translates or oscillates, whereas the cam usually rotates. The end cam is rarely used
because of the cost and the difficulty in cutting its contour.

Fig 1.4 Cylindrical cam and end cam

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Cam classification on the basis of follower arrangement
1. In-line follower: The center line of the follower passes through the center line of the
camshaft.

2. Offset follower: The centre line of the follower does not pass through the center line of the
cam shaft. The amount of offset is the distance between these two center lines. The offset
causes a reduction of the side thrust present in the roller follower.

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2.KNITTING CAMS

All needles have a reciprocating action .In knitting technology cams are the devices
which convert the rotary motion drive into a suitable reciprocating action for the needles
and other elements.
The needle displacements necessary for knitting together with the closing element
displacements in the case of compound needles and the sinker movements are all derived
from cam systems that traverse the machine and are located within the carriage.
In essence the butts of the needle are caused to impact with the inclined plane of the cam
system and the reaction forces cause the needle to move in the required direction for the
required displacement.
The angular knitting cams act directly onto the butts of needles or other elements to
produce individual or serial movements in the tricks of a latch needle weft knitting
machine. The knitting cams are hardened
steels and they are the assembly of different
cam plates so that a track for butt can be
arranged. Each needle movement is
obtained by means of cams acting on the
needle butts.
In the diagram the cam moves from the
right and strikes the projecting butt of the
needle. The normal reaction force r
between the butt and the cam generates a
vertical component of force upwards of (Fr
cos a ) together with a vertical component
downwards of (Fr sin a). The cam angle “a”
is designed in such a way that Fr cos a > Fr
sin a and the needle moves upwards.
However the balance of forces within the
knitting zone is complex and the choice of
cam angle has a profound effect on the
quality of the fabric.

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Two cam arrangements exist in Knitting Machine:

1. REVOLVING CYLINDER MACHINE:

The needle butts pass through the stationary cam system and the fabric hanging from
the needles revolves with them.
REVOLVING CYLINDER CAM SYSTEM CONSISTS OF:

2. RECIPROCATING CAM-CARRIAGE FLAT MACHINES OR

ROTATING CAM-BOX CIRCULAR MACHINE:
The cams with the yarn feeds pass across the stationary needle beds.
In weft knitting, the yarn feed position is fixed in relation to the cam system.The yarn
feed moves with or remains stationary with the cam system ,as do the yarn packages and
tackle.( except in the case of flat machines where the cam-carriage only reciprocates away
from and towards the stationary yarn packages and does not revolve).
In the past, most garment length knitwear and underwear machines have had revolving
cam boxes because changes to the cam settings during the garment sequence can be
initiated from a single control position as the cam boxes pass by; also the garment lengths
are stationary and may be inspected or removed whilst the machine is knitting.

Fig. 2.1 SIMPLEST CAM DESIGN

2. RECIPROCATING CAM-CARRIAGE FLAT MACHINES OR

ROTATING CAM-BOX CIRCULAR MACHINE:
The cams with the yarn feeds pass across the stationary needle beds.
In weft knitting, the yarn feed position is fixed in relation to the cam system.The yarn
feed moves with or remains stationary with the cam system ,as do the yarn packages and

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tackle.( except in the case of flat machines where the cam-carriage only reciprocates away
from and towards the stationary yarn packages and does not revolve).
In the past, most garment length knitwear and underwear machines have had revolving
cam boxes because changes to the cam settings during the garment sequence can be
initiated from a single control position as the cam boxes pass by; also the garment lengths
are stationary and may be inspected or removed whilst the machine is knitting.
Now, most new electronically- controlled garment-length machines are of the revolving
cylinder type as electronics have removed the need for the complex arrangement of the
rods and level found, for example, on mechanically-controlled half-hose machines.
Knitting cams are attached, either individually or in unit form, to a cam-plate and,
depending upon machine design, are fixed, exchangeable or adjustable. In the last case,
on garment-length machines this might occur whilst the machine is in operation.
Elements such as holding-down sinkers and pelerine(loop transfer) points are controlled
by their own arrangement of the cams attached to a separate cam-plate.
At each yarn feed position there is a set of cams consisting of atleast a raising cam, a stitch
cam and an upthrow cam whose combined effect is to cause a needle to carry out a
knitting cycle if required. On circular machines there is a removable cam section or door
so that knitting elements can be replaced.

ROTATING CAM-BOX CIRCULAR MACHINE OR DIAL CAM

SYSTEM CONSISTS OF:

-over cams

-over cam

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THE NEEDLE CAM RACE CONSISTS OF
1. CLEARING CAM

Clearing cam is a cam which displaces needles to clearing height.

– a modified clearing cam that raises needles part-way to clearing height
such that the old loop remains on the opened latch when a new loop is taken –
technically known as tucking in the hook;
-knit cam – a modified clearing cam that causes no displacement of the needles at
the point where clearing would take place so that the needles neither clear their old loop
nor take a new loop into the hook.
2. STITCH CAM

Stitch cam is that cam which displaces cleared needles to the knock over position. The
stitch cam controls the downward movement of the needles by adjusting its vertical
movement. If the stitch cam is raised then a shorter loop is drawn below the sinker level
and a tighter fabric will result. With lowering of the stitch cam, a stitch length will
increase and a flimsy fabric will result. It controls the depth to which the needle
descends, thus controlling the amount of yarn drawn into the needle loop; it also
functions simultaneously as a knock-over cam.

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3. UP-THROW CAM (which are vertically adjustable together for
alteration of stitch length.)
The upthrow or counter cam takes the needles back to the rest position and allows the
newly formed loops to relax. The stitch cam is normally adjustable for different loop
lengths and it may be attached to a slide together with the up throw cam, so that the two
are adjustable in unison.

4. GUARD CAM
The guard cams are often placed on the opposite side of the cam-race to limit the
movement of the butts and to prevent needles from falling out of track A guard cam
when used in conjunction with a stitch cam at a feed in latch needle-knitting machines,
which, with the stitch cam, provides there between a confined path of travel for the
needless in their stitch-drawing movement and which, by itself, prevents undesirable
needle overthrow and provides proper paths of travel for needles moving at the tuck and
welt levels. The guard cam is adjustable in a direction at right angles to the direction of
adjustment of the stitch cam whereby a fixed distance may be maintained there between.

5. RETURN CAM

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Sinkers are supposed to move backward and forward in relation to needles. A separate set
of separate cams is contained in the sinker ring. Its time is synchronised to needle timing
and is called a return cam.

6. Raise CAM

The raising cam causes the needles to be lifted to either tuck, clearing, loop
transfer or needle transfer height, depending upon the machine design.
Sometimes, swing cams or auxiliary cams are placed between the rising
cams and the stitch cams to change the path of the needle butts to form a
raceway and the needle butts travel in this restricted path according to the
different stitch requirements.

7. SINKER WITHDRAWING CAM

8. SINKER-RETURN CAM (which is adjustable in accordance with the

stitch length.)

The swing cam is fulcrummed so that the butts will be unaffected when it is
out of the track and it may also be swung into the track to raise the butts.
The bolt cam can be caused to descend into the cam track to control the
element butts or be withdrawn out of action so that the butts pass
undisturbed across its face; it is mostly used on garment-length machines to
produce changes of rib set-outs.
Separate cam-boxes are required for each needle bed or associated element
bed and they must be linked together or co-ordinated. If the cam-box itself
is moving from right-to-left, the needle butts will pass through in a left-to-
right direction.
On circular fabric machines, the cams are designed to act symmetrically
arranged to act in both directions of cam-box traverse, with only the leading
edges of certain cams in action.
All cams systems are a compromise between speed, variety, and needle
control and selection systems.

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CARRIAGE MOVEMENT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON KNITTING:

The needle tracks through the cam system as shown by the blue line in the following
diagram.

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USAGE OF CAMS IN VARIOUS KNITTING MACHINES

PURL KNITTING MACHINE (LINKS-LINKS)

In purl knitting machines, there is a cam carriage which moves from right to left and left
to right alternatively, above the needle beds. The carriage has cams which activate the
needles in knitting action.

DOUBLE CYLINDER MACHINES

The double cylinder machine, has divided cams with internal holding down sinkers and
stationary cam boxes. The dividing cam is an internally profiled cut through recess in a
flat plate attached horizontally and externally to the cylinders at the position, half way
between them. There is a recess cam position for the top cylinder and another for the
bottom cylinder in a different position in the same plate. The principle of the dividing
cam operation is that it forms a wedge shape of increasing thickness between the upper
surface of the needle hook and the under surface of the extended nose of the delivering
slider, pivoting it away from the cylinder so that it disengages from the needle hook .

1) The delivering slider advances with its nose so that the nose of the slider enters the
profiled recess of the dividing cam so that the outer hook of the needle contacts the hook
underneath the head of the receiving slider pivoting it, out of the cylinder but it
immediately returns.

2) It engages with the needle hook

due to the pressure of the coiled
spring band, which surrounds each
cylinder, so that the slider heads are
depressed into contact with the
needle hook.

3) As slider revolves with the

cylinder, it passes along with the wall
of the dividing cam which when
increases in thickness causes the
slider pivot outwards and disengages
from the needle hook as shown in
this sketch. Slider then returns to its
cylinder while the slider retires into
its cylinder taking the needle with it,
ready for the next knitting head.

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FORMATION OF FLOAT AND TUCK LOOPS
To intermesh a newly formed loop, the needle hook in which the new looped yarn is
trapped should rise high enough to clear the old loop resting in the closed latch or needle
hook‟ by raising or clearing cam acting on the butt of the needle. The clearing cam is the
most important cam in the system because by simple modification or adjustment of this
clearing cam, a float (or miss) stitch and tuck stitch can be formed in addition to a knit
stitch‟.

FLOAT (OR MISS) LOOP:

If the needle is not raised by the clearing cam it does not receive the new yarn and the
yarn goes behind the needle. The yarn remains behind the needle and appears in the
fabric as a float .The knit loop not cleared is called the „held loop‟. When the needle is
raised on the subsequent course the new knit loop is pulled through the held loop only.

TUCK LOOP:

If the needle is not raised to its clearing position or not raised at all but is partially raised
by the clearing cam so that the old loop is not cleared from the latch of the needle but the
feeder has fed a new yarn into the hook then a tuck stitch is formed when the needle
moves down. In this case the new yarn and the held loop is in the hook of the needle.
This forms a „tuck stitch‟ when the needle moves down. The held loop and the new
yarn-both are in the hook.

THE SWING CAM:

In order to produce tuck/or float loop, the clearing cam must be modified. One common
way to this is to replace the solid „clearing or raising cam‟ with an adjustable swing cam.
Tuck stitches may occur singly or on the same needle at successive knitting cycles or
across adjacent needles.

many needle selection and controlling devices are required to be provided on a weft
knitting machine. These machines are complex in their mechanism, just as dobbies or
jacquards are, for woven structures.

swing cams for dial are used. The needles used are not only long and short needles but
needles to work in different cam tracks to form knit, tuck and float stitches in the same
course. With float or welt loops generally narrower and elastic fabrics than fabrics
comprised entirely of normal knit loops are produced. Tuck loop fabrics are generally
wider, thicker and shorter, than plain-knit ones.

CAMS IN SINGLE KNIT MACHINES

Plain knit or single jersey fabrics are made on machines having a single cam track. Cam
track is the guided that the needle butt takes through the group of cams. The adjustable
cams in the system are the stitch cam and the raising (clearing cam). This swing cam

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may be actuated to
cause all the needles to
knit, tuck or miss. Pre-
set positions are
indicated on the
exterior of the cylinder.
The swing cams act
only on long butts.
And the stitch cam acts
on both long butt
needles operating in
the track A and also on
the short butts
belonging to needles
running in the other
tracks. With these
multi-track machines
many non-jacquard
designs are produced.
Jack raising cam is also
used in multi-step
pattern drum.

THE CAM SYSTEM OF THE V-BED MACHINE

The single knitting cam-box is symmetrically designed for knitting a course of loops on
both the front bed and back bed needles during a right-to-left traverse and a second
course during the return left-to-right cam box traverse.
The cam system on a v-bed machine reciprocates and therefore the cam system must
allow the needle to travel through in either direction. For this reason v-bed cam systems
are essentially symmetrical.
The needle butts will enter the traversing cam system from the right during a left-to-
right cam box traverse and from the left during the right-to-left traverse. For each needle
bed there are two raising cams, two cardigans cams and stitch cams.
In the direction of traverse, the leading raising cam is responsible for knitting and the
trailing raising cam acts as a guard cam. The leading stitch cam is raised out of action and

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the trailing stitch cam is in operation. In the reverse direction of traverse, the roles of the
two raising cams and of the two stitch cams are reversed. A raising cam lifts the needle to
tuck the height, but if the cardigan cam above it is in action the needle is lifted to full
clearing height. Thus the cardigan cam is taken out of action if a tuck stitch is required.
To produce a miss stitch, both the raising cam and the cardigan cam are out of action .
To produce a course of tubular plain knitting, a pair of raising cams that are diagonally
opposite each other in each bed are out of action.

V-bed Cam geometry

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 ANNEXURES
KEY TERMS RELATED TO CAMS
ONE CYCLE one rotation/revolution of the cam
DWELL when the cam rotates but the follower does not rise or fall
THE RISE that part of the cam that causes the follower to rise.
RETURN is the motion of the follower toward the cam centre
CAM NOMENCLATURE
Trace point: A theoretical point on the follower, corresponding to the point of a
fictitious knife-edge follower. It is used to generate the pitch curve. In the case of a roller
follower, the trace point is at the centre of the roller.
Pitch curve: The path generated by the trace point at the follower is rotated about a
stationary cam.
Working curve: The working surface of a cam in contact with the follower. For the
knife-edge follower of the plate cam, the pitch curve and the working curves coincide. In
a close or grooved cam there is an inner profile and an outer working curve.
Pitch circle: A circle from the cam centre through the pitch point. The pitch circle
radius is used to calculate a cam of minimum size for a given pressure angle.
Prime circle (reference circle): The smallest circle from the cam centre through
the pitch curve.
Base circle: The smallest circle from the cam centre through the cam profile curve.
Stroke or throw: The greatest distance or angle through which the follower moves or
rotates.
Follower displacement: The position of the follower from a specific zero or rest
position (usually it‟s the position when the follower contacts with the base circle of the
cam) in relation to time or the rotary angle of the cam.
Pressure angle: The angle at any point between the normal to the pitch curve and
the instantaneous direction of the follower motion. This angle is important in cam design
because it represents the steepness of the cam profile.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Knitting Technology By David J.Spencer
Knitting Views
Www.Wikipedia.Com
Www.Knitepedia.Co.Uk/.../Cam_Technology.Htm

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