Brief introduction to various knitting machines

The entire knitting industry can be divided into the following four production divisions: full fashion knitting, flat knitting, circular knitting and warp knitting. In the wool industry, full fashion knitting and flat knitting are widely used, circular knitting is limited to some specific markets, and warp knitting is rarely used.

1.1 Fully formed knitting machine

Traditionally, this machine has produced wool knitwear in a plain 'classic' style, with the panel style 'formed' during knitting. After knitting, the front and back panels and sleeves are sewn together to make the garment. The fully fashioned knitting machine is sometimes called a shift knitting machine, flat knitting machine, "Cotton's patent machine" or "Cotton's knitting machine" because the patent for this knitting machine was granted to William Cotton as early as the mid-19th century . The fully formed knitting machine uses bearded needles, a long row of bearded needles is installed on the straight rod, and the whole straight rod reciprocates under the drive of the rotating cam, thus forming a knitting motion. The knitting yarn is placed horizontally on the knitting needle, and the back of the knitting needle is the sinker/yarn splitter, and the sinker firmly presses the yarn on the needle bar of the knitting needle, ready to form a loop. Generally, full fashion knitting machines have only one set of needles and can only process plain weaves, which requires special rib knitting machines for bottom circumference/cuffs. Depending on the age of the machine, the ribs are placed on the "non-stop" loom and either manually transferred to the full-shape knitting machine or automatically. The patterning capabilities of fully-formed knitting needles are limited to plain fully-formed knit pieces. Machines with rotary needle and intarsia can weave the famous "diamond" pattern. Due to the gentle knitting process of these machines, even very fine fine wool yarns can be run faster where possible and the knitting efficiency is high. Fully formed knitting machines range in gauge from 9gg per course (needles per 1.5 inches) to an extra fine 33gg.

1.2 The flat knitting machine is sometimes called "flat bed" or "V-bed" knitting machine due to the nature and arrangement of its knitting bed. There are two needle beds in opposite directions on the knitting bed. An inverted "V" shape. The needles in the slots slide up and down on the bed of needles, called "snaps," and gauge in this case refers to the number of needles per inch. The carriage or "cam" traverses the bed of needles, selecting the needles for knitting as they reciprocate from side to side. When the carriage passes through the two needle beds, it actually raises or lowers the knitting needles on the two needle beds simultaneously according to the desired pattern. Needle bed lengths can range from 1.0m width to 2.2m width. The reason why these machines are so versatile in each length is that apart from their almost unlimited pattern design capabilities, the coils can be produced from a The needle bed moves to another needle bed, and the needle bed can move linearly relative to each other. This not only creates knit pieces, but also creates a very wide range of pattern design possibilities, such as the "Aran" pattern used on sweaters. Also, pockets, collars, trims, and V-necks, etc., which are garment accessories that would have been added during the sewing process, can now be woven as part of knitted panels. Advanced technology has now made it possible for machines to weave complete garments without any sewing process. This complete knitting technique is applied in two ways, either with a modified V-bed or with a special machine with four needle beds.

1.3 Circular knitting machines

Circular knitting machines come in many types and produce very long circular fabrics that are often produced with a very specific end use in mind. Single jersey machines Single jersey machines have only one "cylinder" of needles, about 30 inches in diameter, and are used to process plain weave (single ply). The production of wool fabrics on single jersey machines is often limited to a gauge of 20 or thicker, because such gauges allow the use of double-ply wool yarns and produce knitted fabrics without course skew. Another inherent characteristic of wool single jersey is that the edges of the fabric tend to roll inward. This is not much of a problem when the fabric is in a cylindrical shape, but once cut it can cause problems if the fibers are not well organized. Other single jersey-based machines include: terry knitting machines, which are the basic equipment for pile fabrics, which are made by threading two yarns through the same loop, one for the ground yarn and one for the pile. One is boucle yarn. These protruding loops are then brushed or napped during the finishing stage to form the pile fabric. A sliver knitting machine is a modified single jersey knitting machine that grabs a sliver of wool fiber and weaves it into a knitted structure.