Patents by Inventor Ikuhito Hirai

Ikuhito Hirai has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6802192
    Abstract: In a loop length controller for a flat knitting machine adapted to set a loop length of a knitting fabric by raising or lowering, via a raising and lowering device, a stitch cam attached to a carriage that slides on a needle bed to slidably operate knitting needles forward and backward, the raising and lowering device is provided with a driving motor and a converting mechanism for converting rotational motion of the driving motor into ascent and descent of the stitch cam, wherein the converting mechanism is configured such that the ascending and descending amount of the stitch cam with respect to the rotational amount of the driving motor differs between a side for a larger drawing-in amount of knitting needles for loops of longer length and a side for a smaller drawing-in amount of knitting needles for loops of shorter length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2004
    Assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshiaki Morita, Ikuhito Hirai
  • Publication number: 20040083765
    Abstract: In a loop length controller for a flat knitting machine adapted to set adapted to set the loop length of a knitting fabric by raising or lowering, by a raising and lowering means, a stitch cam attached to a carriage that slides on a needle bed to slidably operate knitting needles forward and backward, the raising and lowering means is provided with a driving motor and a converting mechanism for converting the rotational motion of the driving motor into ascent and descent of the stitch cam, wherein the converting mechanism is configured such that the ascending and descending amount of the stitch cam with respect to the rotational amount of the driving motor differs between a side for a larger drawing-in amount of knitting needles for loops of longer length and a side for a smaller drawing-in amount of knitting needles for loops of shorter length.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2003
    Publication date: May 6, 2004
    Inventors: Toshiaki Morita, Ikuhito Hirai
  • Patent number: 5469717
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for knitting a cross pattern texture on a flat knitting machine comprising front and rear needle beds, each needle bed having a plurality of needle grooves parallel and equally spaced along a length of the needle beds and each of such grooves having a needle therein, needle cams for selectively advancing and retracting the needles in the needle grooves transverse the needle beds for forming knit stitches on the needles in yarn fed to the needles as such needles are advanced and retracted in the needle grooves, a transfer jack supported above each of the needle beds and each moving transverse of the jack beds in jack grooves in the jack beds, a transfer cam for selectively moving each of the transfer jacks in the jack grooves, a lift cam protruding into a cam groove of the transfer cam and means for moving the lift cam into and out of the cam groove, wherein each of the transfer jacks is retracted in the jack groove or remains forward depending on the lift cam's position in the cam groov
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1993
    Date of Patent: November 28, 1995
    Assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takekazu Shibuta, Toshinori Nakamori, Ikuhito Hirai
  • Patent number: 5415016
    Abstract: A knitted fabric presser unit includes pressers corresponding to respective reciprocal directions and installed in a carriage. A first presser presses a knitted fabric when the carriage is being moved in a first knitting direction, during which a second presser is in a rest position. The first presser moves in conjunction with displacement in one direction of a sliding plate due to a follower engaged with a grooved cam. Similarly, the second presser moves in conjunction with displacement in another direction of the sliding plate due to a follower engaged with a grooved cam. Displacement of the sliding plate is caused by a rack engaged with a pinion fixed at a rotation axis of a motor. Movement traces of the first presser and the second presser are determined so that the two pressers are prevented from interfering with each other on movement thereof between a respective pressing and rest positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 1993
    Date of Patent: May 16, 1995
    Assignee: Shima Seiki Manufacturing Limited
    Inventors: Ikuhito Hirai, Toshinori Nakamori
  • Patent number: 5398527
    Abstract: A flat knitting machine with a transferring mechanism comprising a pair of needle beds arranged facing each other to form an inverted V-shaped form in a side view and to form an aperture between adjoining end portions of the needle beds, knitting needles arranged in needle grooves formed on the needle beds, a yarn feeder arranged above the aperture between the needle beds, each carriage being reciprocally movable on each of the needle beds and having cam surface on a lower surface of the carriage for moving the knitting needles forward and backward, each transferring jack bed is supported by a supporting member above each of the needle beds, a transferring jack having a transfer jack selected member and arranged swingably and movably forward and backward in a jack groove formed on each transferring bed, and a transfer jack selecting unit acting on the transfer jack selected member and arranged at an edge portion of the carriage, which is adjoining to the aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 1993
    Date of Patent: March 21, 1995
    Assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ikuhito Hirai, Takekazu Shibuta
  • Patent number: 5365756
    Abstract: A flat bed knitting machine has two beds supported on either side of a central knitting region. The upper bed is supported on the lower bed by a series of specifically shaped needle plates which extend upward from the a grooved plate bed. The shape of the plates allows the upper bed to slide in separate movement from the lower bed. The shape of the supports also allowing for mounting and removal of the upper needle bed from the lower bed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 1993
    Date of Patent: November 22, 1994
    Assignee: Shima Seiki Mfg., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshinori Nakamori, Ikuhito Hirai