BOB] 



803 



form ni Lee'a needle is shown in tin- oilier 

 The most promim nt ii.ini'- amongthe improvers of 

 hosiery machine* in coni|i;iiaiively recent time* It 

 tliiit nf \\ illi;uu Cut tun nf Longhborongb. Between 



1851 iiinl lS(i!> In- devised ai rjinxenients l>oth for 

 n;u rowing and widening llie faliric, ami in con- 

 junction with Attenboroagh imulu a niiiuler of 

 iiltiT.-ilions I'm tin- U-tter on tin- ^uneral arrange- 

 ments of the parts of the knitting-frame. Some 

 of i hi- liest hosiery machines driven by steam- power 

 now in MSI- are on Cotton's system. 



The names of two Americans appear in the list 

 of those who have contributed to the advancement 

 of knit t in- niiichinery. In 1858 an English patent 

 was taken out by W. C. Gist for a circular machine, 

 which, liy using several feeders instead of one, 

 i-nalili'il striped work with as many as sixteen 

 colours to be made at once. Another English 

 patent was taken out in 1877 by Almet Reid for a 

 circular knitting-frame for making automatically 

 articles of many different shapes, in which the 

 loops or stitches are so locked together as not to 

 unravel when cut or torn. 



A knitted fabric of -one colour consists of one 

 continuous thread instead of a warp and a weft 

 thread as in weaving, and the knitting done by a 

 machine is exactly of the same nature as that done 

 by hand. With the aid ftf the accompanying illus- 

 trations a brief description will suffice to explain 

 the principle on which a knitting-machine or 

 stocking-frame works. A perspective sketch of a 



round the loop O. The needle, in farther descend- 

 ing, pulU tlm loop through the butt-formed loop 



Fig. 2. 



part of a division of the machine is given in fig. 2. 

 The hooked needles ( Lee's ) are shown at A, B, C, 

 D, E. The 'sinkers,' J, K, L, M, N, are thin 

 plates of steel, which have a backward and forward 

 motion, each sinker passing between two needles. 

 When the sinkers are moved to the left of their 

 position in the figure a space occurs between them 

 and the needles, along which the thread or yarn is 

 laid. As the thread proceeds along the face of the 

 needles the sinkers one by one advance and thrust 

 the thread between them, thus forming a row of 

 loops, after which the sinkers retire. 



All the needles act simultaneously and in the 

 same way ; but to make the action of the machine 

 more easily understood, figs. 3, 4, and 5 show the 

 movements of a single needle. Fig. 3 represents, 

 in side elevation, the position of a sinker, a comli, 

 and a needle, at the moment when the needle has 

 sunk l>etween the sinkers, till the newly-formed 

 loop of thread, O, enters the hooked portion or open 

 eye. The needle, continuing its descent, is rocked 

 forward till, as shown in fig. 4, the * beard ' of the 

 hook comes against the ' presser bar ' P, which 

 presses for a moment the point of the beard into a 

 groove on the stem, and so forms a closed eye 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. 



Fig. 5. 



of the knitted fabric. It is in this closing of the 

 hook to enable the one loop to be drawn through 

 the other that the great ingenuity of Lee's inven- 

 tion lies. Fig. 5 shows the new loop just pulled 

 through, and then the needle, 

 rocking forward in the direc- 

 tion of the arrow, ascends, 

 while the loop slips down its 

 stem. The next loop is pulled 

 through in the same way. 

 The explanation just given of 

 the motion of one needle ap- 

 plies to all the needles, as they 

 are fixed in line on a rigid bar. 



Fig. 6 shows an enlarged 

 plan of five rows of loops, in 

 which the triangular dots, Nos. 

 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, in 

 the last-formed row are the needles with the 

 thread-carrier, T, in the position where it com- 

 mences to lay the thread in front of them. The 

 knitted fabric is wound upon a roller as fast as 

 it is formed. It would take up too 

 much space to describe the arrange- 

 ment for narrowing or widening the 

 fabric, to bring it to the shape of a 

 stocking for example. This is called 

 'fashioning.' The web, however, is 

 often not shaped in the process of 

 knitting, but cut, when finished, 

 into any form required, as is done 

 with ordinary cloth. 



Some of the most improved modern 

 knitting-frames work at a great speed. 

 One with six divisions of 480 needles each (a usual 

 size) has in all 2880 needles. Each of these forms 

 loops at the rate of 90 in a minute, so that the 

 whole machine forms 259,200 loops in a minute. 

 An expert hand-knitter, working with wires, can 

 hardly do more than 100 loops in a minute. 



Numerous hosiery or knitting machines, varying 

 much in their details, are now made both for 

 factory work and for domestic use. In the volumes 

 for 1886 and 1889 of t the Textile Manufacturer, 

 published at Manchester, several of the best of 

 these are illustrated and descril>ed. To the pages 

 of that journal we are indebted for the diagrams 

 given in this article. For the history of the knit- 

 ting-frame, see Felkin's Machine-wrought Hosiery 

 and Lace (1867). 



Nottingham and Leicester, especially the former, 

 are the chief centres of the hosiery manufacture 

 in the United Kingdom, but it extends into the 

 adjoining counties. It is also extensively carried 

 on in France, Germany, and other continental 

 countries. In the t'nited States hosier}- factories 

 are in active operation in New York, and in five 

 or six neighbouring states. The materials used 

 for hosiery are cotton, wool, and silk ; and the 

 number of different kinds of articles made, includ- 

 ing stockings, gloves, shawls, hats, bonnet*, and 



Fig. 6. 



