This invention relates to a sliver feeding device for high pile fabric circular knitting machines, designed to feed two or more separate rovings or slivers to the needles of the machine to produce patterned sliver knit high pile fabrics. Improved timing control means is provided for each separate sliver feed, to vary selectively the time interval during which each sliver is fed to the device, and also to vary selectively the points in time when feeding of each sliver commences and ceases during knitting of a fabric.
A great many patents have been granted directed to the knitting of patterned fabrics on sliver high pile fabric circular knitting machines. Among the U.S. Pat. Nos. directed to this subject are the following: 2,964,932, 3,010,297, 3,299,672, 3,413,823, 3,427,829, 3,709,002, 3,896,636, 3,896,637, and 3,918,273. These patents evince a steady progress in the improvement of, and extent of range of, designs in the knitting of patterned high pile fabrics. As a result of the improvements made in this art, it has become possible to knit fabrics having selectively variable pile densities, selected blends of pile fibers and various striped designs, extending either wale-wise (vertical) or course-wise (horizontal). The present invention is an improvement in the patterning techniques heretofore used in that it permits, for the first time, production of high pile fabrics having wale-wise extending or vertical designs having selectively variable zig-zag or staggered configurations extending course-wise or horizontally of the fabric.