KNITTING PRODUCTION

TECHNOLOGY I
BNH
Chapter 2
Needles

Mrs. Nurul Zakiah Binti Zamri Tan

SEM 2 2016/2017
Type of Knitting Needles
 NEEDLES
Fundamental elements as they make loops
Make with fine steel
Place in the groove/tricks of the cylinder

To ensure the effectiveness and the accuracy of the knitted fabric

needle should be :

Highly polished allowing the yarn and the loop to slide free
Have high strength and toughness to give durability
Manufactured to perform knitting for millions of time

Three Type of Needle

Bearded needle Compound needle Latch needle

The first needle Most used in

The most
warp knitting
popular needle
 Type of Knitting Needles

Latch Needle Bearded Needle Compound Needle

 Bearded Needle

Part Usage
Stem used with the jack sinkers to
form new loops
Head the stem is turned into a hook to
draw the new loop through the old
loop
Beard The beard is used to trap new
loops while old loops are pushed
over the top
Eye/ cut in the stem to receive the
groove pointed tip of the beard when
it is pressed, thus enclosing the
new loop
Shank which may be bent for individual
location in the machine or cast
with
others in a metal lead
Bearded Needle

The knitting section occupies a
considerable amount of space, thus
limiting productivity
The needles can set vertically or
horizontally
The needle has the disadvantage
of requiring a pressing edge to close
the bearded hook
High wear and tear and can
break easily
Strain on the yarn is less
Most of the warp knitting
machines use beard needles
No possibility of fluff or lint
accumulation on the needle

The presser may be in the form of a

bar, blade, verge or wheel

Finer in Cross Section, therefore,

more needles in unit space. Hence
Finer Gauge (60 needles/per inch)
can be achieved
 The action of bearded needle

Loop New New

Cleared Yarn loop
Rest from Is fed Hook
Position Hook closed

Loop Trap Old loop

Lowered new is drawn
Down loop to the
To stem old loop Ready
Old loop to next
is Knock cycles
outside over
the action
hook
 Latch Needle

Part Usage
Rive
Hook Grasp a new yarn. Draws and t
retains the new loop.
Rivet Grip the latch blade.
Latch- Locates the latch in the needle.
Blade
Latch- Covering the hook when it close
Spoon
Butt enables the movement of the
needle to be controlled by a cam
mechanism. A track raises and
lowers the needle

Tail Used to provide support to the

needle
Latch needle

Most widely used in weft knitting Latch needles are thick and rigid

More expensive than the Patented by Matthew Townsend,

bearded needle. Because the 1849
assembly of needle and the
latch

Self-acting or loop-controlled or
term automatic needle

Needle Depth determines the

loop length

Variation of the height of

reciprocating action produces
knit, tuck or miss, stitch

The Latch needle takes a

longer time to knit a loop and
hence the knitting machine is
generally found slower
 The action of latch needle

Clearing height

Latch
opening
The rest Yarn feeding and latch closing
position
Knocking
over
Rest position- The needle is in the rest position
with the old loop in the hook of the needle.

Latch opening- the needle is raised and old loop

is on the latch of the needle.
Clearing position - The needle is raised higher
to clear the loop from the latch. The needle
reached at the top of the cam and old loop is on
the stem of the needle.

Yarn Feeding Position - The needle is lowered

with old loop new yarn is being fed to the open
hook of the needle.
Latch Closing position - The needle is lowered
further and the old loop closes the latch
trapping the new yarn inside the hook.

Knock over position ( loop forming) -the needle

is lowered still further and old loop slides over
the trapped new yarn inside the hook, forming a
new loop by completing the knitting cycle.
 Compound Needle

Part Usage
Stem Used to hold the course of old
loops
Hook The hook is used to catch a thread
and form loops
Rivet Holds the latch in place and allows
it to pivot Closing element
Latch The latch combines the task
performed by the presser bar and
the beard of the bearded needle
Butt The butt enables the movement of
the needle to be controlled by a
cam mechanism. A track raises
.
and lowers the needle
Butt .
Tail Used to provide support to the
needle.
Compound Needle

Expensive

Offers a much shorter, smoother and

simpler knitting action in comparison
to
other needles
Both members of Compound Needle
have a straight moment, thus the
knitting speed can be increased

There is no strain on the yarn

Tubular pipePusher type
 Hook to take & hold newly fed yarn

Closing mechanism
to allow the held
loop to leave the
needle

Stem

Control Butt for individual or collective movement

 Loop formation process

1
hook is opened
to release the retained old loop
To receive the new loop
Then enclosed in the hook
2 new loop is then drawn by the hook
through the old loop which slides
on the outside of the bridge of the enclosed
hook
3
All needles must therefore have
some method of closing the knitting
needle hook to retain the new loop
and exclude the old loop
Machine Gauge
 Able the needles with hook
and butt turned upward slide
NEEDLE
BED
2 type needle bed
Operating width
Maximum working area
Flat-bed
First and the last needle
Circular
Diameter of cylinder
Equipped with needles
circular
2 type needle
bed flat
Made up of a steel
With milled
grooves/tricks which
guide
theneedlesduring the
knitting process.
Gaug
e
Certain length of bed
English Gauge (E)
Use for al weft and warp knitting machine
2.54 needle-bed centimetres/ 1 inch
Other types of gauges:

The English Raschel Gauge

For Raschel looms
ER
2 inches /5.08cm

GG Gauge
For flat-bed full-fashioned machines
and for English circular machines.
GG
1.5inches/3.81 cm

French Gauge
Loop wheel circular machines
Gros
1.5 French inches/4.16 centimetres
 Related to the density of needles in each bed of the machine.

Gauge is the number of needles per inch on the needle bed

(flat/circular)

Knitting machines fineness is the number of needles in a measured

space on the knitting machine

Higher-gauge fabrics Lower -gauge fabrics

more stitches lownumberofneedles
perinch
made with finer needles
made with coarser
Yarn is typically finer
or larger needles
thinnerfabrics
Coarser Yarn
Heavier Fabrics
Example
A 4-inch diameter sock machine has 168 needles. The circumference of
a circle is d where = 22/7 and d = the diameter.

The circumference
4 x 22/7 = 12.57 inches.

The gauge

= 168/12.57

= approximately 14 needles per inch.

This may be expressed as E 14, E being the number of needles per

inch

The closeness of the stitches determines whether a knit fabric will be

lightweight and open, or heavier and denser