Knitting tool

Abstract

In recent years, development in the field of knitting tools has seen a focus on the reduction of friction and wear. A knitting tool (1) and a knitting device (27) as described herein are better able to reduce friction in knitting machines and the accumulation of dirt (23) than conventional knitting tools. For this purpose, a functional portion (5) of the knitting tool (1) has subsections (7) in which the absolute value of the gradient of a center-of-gravity line (4) is greater than zero.

1 . A knitting tool comprising:
 a shank extending in a longitudinal direction between a proximal end and a distal end comprising a loop forming element, the shank having a length between the proximal and distal ends and having a shank height in an elevational direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction between a top surface and a bottom surface of the shank; and   at least one functional portion of the shank in which the top and bottom surfaces of the shank have a continuously varying height in the elevational direction along a length of the at least one functional portion such that the top surface and the bottom surface each have no portion that extends parallel to the longitudinal direction within the at least one functional portion;   wherein the length of the at least one functional portion comprises at least 20% of the length of the shank.   
     
     
         2 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein the top and bottom surfaces are parallel to one another within the at least one functional portion such that the shank height within the at least one functional portion is uniform. 
     
     
         3 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one of:
 a protuberance at a local height maximum of the top surface within the at least one functional portion configured for shifting dirt or debris proximally when the knitting tool is shifted proximally along the longitudinal direction; and   a protuberance at a local height minimum of the bottom surface within the at least one functional portion configured for shifting dirt or debris proximally when the knitting tool is shifted proximally along the longitudinal direction.   
     
     
         4 . The knitting tool of  claim 3 , wherein the protuberance comprises a distal surface portion and a proximal surface portion each having a gradient, wherein an absolute value of the gradient of the proximal surface portion is greater than an absolute value of the gradient of the distal surface portion. 
     
     
         5 . The knitting tool of  claim 4 , wherein an absolute value of the gradient of the proximal surface portion of the protuberance is between 0.57 and 2.75. 
     
     
         6 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , further comprising a butt raised in a positive elevational direction, wherein the butt is proximal to the at least one functional portion. 
     
     
         7 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , further comprising a butt raised in a positive elevational direction, wherein the butt is distal to the at least one functional portion 
     
     
         8 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , further comprising a butt raised in a positive elevational direction, wherein the at least one functional portion comprises a first sub-portion proximal to the butt and a second sub-portion distal to the butt. 
     
     
         9 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one functional portion comprises at least 25% of the length of the shank. 
     
     
         10 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein the shank comprises opposing lateral surfaces extending between the top and bottom surfaces and at least one of the lateral surfaces comprises a surface portion within the at least one functional portion that is raised laterally relative to a majority of the at least one functional portion. 
     
     
         11 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein within the at least one functional portion, the top surface comprises at least three local height maxima. 
     
     
         12 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein within the at least one functional portion, the bottom surface comprises at least three local height minima. 
     
     
         13 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one functional portion comprises at least two sub-portions, wherein at least one sub-portion of the at least two sub-portions adjoins at least one butt directly or is spaced apart from the at least one butt by a distance in the longitudinal direction which is less than or equal to 10% of the length of the shank. 
     
     
         14 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one functional portion comprises a plurality of triangular-shaped recesses formed by at least one of the top surface and the bottom surface. 
     
     
         15 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one functional portion comprises a plurality of wavelike recesses formed by at least one of the top surface and the bottom surface. 
     
     
         16 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , further comprising a butt raised in a positive elevational direction, wherein a majority of the at least one functional portion is positioned proximal to the butt. 
     
     
         17 . The knitting tool of  claim 1 , wherein the shank has, at every point along its length, a cross-sectional surface which extends orthogonally with respect to the longitudinal direction;
 wherein each cross-sectional surface has a centroid through which an imaginary center-of-gravity line runs that interconnects the centroids of all the cross-sectional surfaces along the longitudinal direction;   wherein in the at least one functional portion, the imaginary center-of-gravity line has a continuously varying height along the length of the at least one functional portion.   
     
     
         18 . The knitting tool of  claim 17 , wherein a height dimension of the cross-sectional surface in the elevational direction is smaller at every point along the length of the at least one functional portion than a maximum height dimension of the shank within the at least one functional portion, wherein the maximum height dimension of the shank within the at least one functional portion is a distance in the elevational direction between a lowest point of the shank in the elevational direction within the at least one functional portion and a highest point of the shank in the elevational direction within the at least one functional portion. 
     
     
         19 . The knitting tool of  claim 17 , wherein a proximal-most maximum of the imaginary center-of-gravity line of the at least one functional portion is a global maximum. 
     
     
         20 . The knitting tool of  claim 19 , wherein the proximal-most maximum of the imaginary center-of-gravity line of the at least one functional portion is spaced from the proximal end of the shank by 15 millimeters or less.