Method and apparatus for knitting sliver loop knit fabric

摘要

A sliver loop knit fabric comprising a base fabric formed of knitted courses and wales and anchoring a plurality of tufts of sliver fibers, the free ends of which are incorporated into at least two courses and two wales of the fabric to provide a generally loop pile fabric. The fabric is knit on a circular jersey fabric knitter equipped with a plurality of fiber feeding cards. The knitter also is equipped with pneumatic means for directing jets of compressed air generally radially outward of the needles of the knitting machine. The jets of compressed air blow the free ends of the tufts of sliver fibers on the needles outwardly of the needle circle, and onto the tops of the sinkers, preparatory to incorporating the ends of the tufts into the fabric during knitting. The bulk of the free ends are incorporated into the fabric in the form of knitted stitches. Stray ends or "tailings" of the tufts are pushed back between the needles, inwardly of the needle circle by reciprocal sinkers, whereby those ends are interlaced about the needles preparatory to their interlacement in the form of floats into plural courses and wales of the fabric.