| If you will examine a piece of knitted wear closely, you will see
that it is only a succession of slipknots. You can cut it anywhere and it will unravel
into a single piece of yarn. That is all there is to plain knitting; making slipknots.
This is the principal operation of the Knitting Machine.
For this purpose each needle in the machine is made with a hook and latch. Follow the illustration that shows progressively each step of the needle in making a stitch. When the hook catches the yarn the latch is automatically closed over the hook by the previous stitch pushing the latch up. The position of the needle in places 1 to 5 illustrates this. Positions 6 to 8 show how the latch permits tile new stitch to be pulled through the previous one and how the needle in rising forces the yarn to push down the latch and permits the stitch to slide out of the hook. One slipknot or stitch is now completed and the needle is ready for the next stitch. Thus the raising and lowering of the self-acting needles make the stitches. One row of stitches is made at every revolution of the cam shell around the needle cylinder. Although there are many needles in the cylinder, only one needle makes a stitch at a time. Two or three needles ahead of it always have stitches in process of completion but only one needle at a time actually finishes a stitch. Needles work as rapidly as the machine is turned. |