Knitting machines

Fabrics today have hand methods or machine manufacturing for creating different fabrics and materials. In this article I will explain the automated method. A knitting machine is a device utilized for creating fabrics in automated fashion.

There are many knitting machines around from the simple kind to high tech and complex machinery. They all produce many types of fabric, whether it is tubular form or flat form. There are labyrinthine byways of modern technology and most is in fact either semi-automated or completely automated. Today patterns can be hand stitched or by electronic cards or by push-buttons and dials. The ultimate reader is the computer today.

The simplest is the spool. This uses a spool and 4 nails to produce fabric in a tubular shape or form. The French called it French corking. These are used for small mats or shag rugs. If you add more nails to this spool you can make apparel . After the cork comes knitting boards and looms, which consist of basically two rows of pins mounted in two parallel rows approximately half an inch to an inch depending on manufacturer. Once you get to mass apparel and garments, it is much faster to use industrial machines with flat beds. These produce rectangular and tubular fabric as needed.

As time moved on in the 20th century, American models used 200-250 latch hook needles for a more refined gauge needle.. A cam box is passed over the bed of needles affecting the needle movements needed to produce each next stitch. Various methods were used; e.g. punch boxes or more high tech needles, which made pathways through the cam box. The needles will knit and the unknitted yarn lies under to be held by the latch hook. This is called a tuck stitch. Once this is done, it is held in place allowing short row shaping. These days it is replaced by computers. Automatic patterning machines are able to knit much faster for Fair Isle patterns. These machines have stitch pattern features as flat weaving or plating. Plating refers to knitting with two threads of yarn that are held so that one is in front of the other strand. Plated effects can be particularly striking in a ribbed fabric. Knit-weaving is a technique in which a separate piece of yarn, often heavier than the knitted fabric, is lifted along and caught between the stitching to give an effect like weaving. With knit-woven fabric, the chapper side is the right side of the fabric. The fine and normal gauge models have the option of a carriage of lace, where stitches can be transferred from one needle to the next. The yarn tergiversates through a tensioning mechanism and down through the weave carriage, which feeds the yarn to the needles as they knit strokes.

These Patterns are the forefront of the fashion industry as we see it today; however we all know how quickly a trend can last. New innovative technologies are here to stay and get more highly advance as time moves into the future.