Knitting machine

A knitting machine is the machine and automated knitting. Differences are flat knitting machines and circular knitting machines.

Flat knitting machine

The first hand-operated flat knitting machine was used in 1863 by Isaac William Lamb in America. This results in rapid production of hose and left / right knits was possible. Due to the large cross- elasticity can be left / right -Ware up to 100% stretch. 1864 machine from Henry J. Griswold was further developed and used for the production of men's socks and children's socks. Another improvement made ​​it possible to Mitigate the stockings as well as the production of ribbed structures and circular knitted stockings. 1867 acquired Henri Edouard Dubied the patent and began the construction of knitting machines. At the same time we also started in Germany and France it ( Laue and Timaeus ). With the double latch needle by Durand in 1881, it was possible to produce left / right goods. The invention of the hose lock (Method for forming heel ) 1888 by G. F. Grosser, Chemnitz marker village ( 1871-1948 ), then on full stockings and socks on one machine could be produced.

With the introduction of the electric motor, it was also smaller farms possible to use efficiently operating machines.

Motor flat knitting machines have gained importance beginning of 1880. Initially these machines were semi-automatically. Operations such as widening or Mitigate had to be done by hand. It was only in 1910 triggered automatic machines lengths from the hand-operated flat knitting machines. However, the Strumpffuß had first created on Anfußmaschinen and then is knitted to the prefabricated stocking lengths in circular knitting process. In part, this production method remained the " standard stockings ", ie flat knitted stocking lengths with separately knitted feet, are still up in the 1970s.

Circular knitting machine

In circular knitting machines, stitch-forming elements ( needles and sinkers ) are arranged circular. A key distinguishing feature is the number of knitting heads ( needle beds, tracks on which the needles move ), a distinction einfonturige (single jersey ) and double quaint font (double jersey ) machines. Single Jersey is right / left knitted, double jersey left / right or left / right. But also play well diameter (usually specified in inches ) and fineness (usually needles per inch, even in " E" indicated [1E = one needle per inch ]) of the machines an important role.

In machine Circular knitting a knitting yarn is inserted into the latch needles, the needle is closed and the thread pulled through the loop that was already on the needle. Now, the needle is re-opened and pushed upwardly expelled. The boards, which are placed between the needles, must be thought of as lying Us. Your task is to keep the finished knitted loops horizontally at the same height. The fabric comes to rest inside of a U and is sunk ( stitch brought to the desired size ) before it is removed and wound up at the bottom of the circular knitting machine. The needles move when knitting upright in a circle.

Unlike the circular knitting by hand several threads can be involved simultaneously in automatic circular knitting. The process of loop-forming described above is repeated several times with a plurality of threads on the needle circle, so that each revolution of the needle multiple rows are formed. This reach today's circular knitting machines powers of several 10 kg / h

This fabric is called tubular goods because the goods produced leaves the machine as long hose. T- shirts and sweaters are made of tubular goods whose production is cheaper by eliminating the side seams. According made ​​from tubular fabric products to the lack of side seams are visible.

Feeder

Important for machine knitting is a constant tension of the yarn as possible. The function of the left little finger when knitting by hand must be replaced in machine knitting by a refined device known as a feeder (French supplier, suppliers). The feeders are mounted just before the knitting systems of the knitting machine. They are used for flat knitting machines, circular knitting machines, hosiery machines and even in weaving machines (only for the weft threads ).

History, production

Traditionally played English inventor and manufacturer of a key role in the development of the first circular knitting machines.

The technical perfection of machinery and industrial ripening was done by French and German engineers, and entrepreneurs essentially. Today, the German machine manufacturer Mayer & Cie controlled. the world market for circular knitting machines, but increasingly copied by competitors and imitators from the Far East, especially Taiwan, People's Republic of China and to some extent Korea.

The market for the core pieces of circular knitting machines, especially the latch needles and related boards, is dominated by German companies. There are films from the GDR, which show that Heinrich Mauersberger was the inventor of the new circular knitting process in the GDR.

Home knitting machine

For home and hobby Tricker had existed since the 1950s, a number of small mechanical knitting machines, since the 1970s, electrical, and later computer-controlled home knitting machines were offered. This offer compared to the hand knitting the advantage of being able to produce large, easy- patterned parts in less time. Home Tricker are for commercial use but only of limited use, since the handling is not quite easy to learn, and the remaining work on a knitted garment, adjusting, sewing, sewing the threads, unlike industrial production, still needs to be done by hand. Depending on the thickness of the yarns distinction is coarse, medium, - Fine, and Super Fine Tricker with a pin number from 180 to 240 patterns to knit some of the models have a mechanical punch card system; newer models are electronically controlled. A Einbettstricker generated only Purl or pattern based right mesh, with a double bed can also be Knit or right-left pattern produce. Furthermore, the double bed also allows for circular knitting, eg for socks.