Lesson 14

Automatic power flat knitting

14.1 History

1867 Henri Edouard Dubied aquired the European

rights for Lambs machine during the Paris Exhibition
and established his knitting machine building
company.

1873 Heinrich Stoll, a German engineer, began to

build and repair Lamb machines and by the early
1890s he built improved versions of the rib machine
and flat bed purl machines of a similar standard of
perfection.

The company founded by Stoll continues to play an

important part in the development of flat knitting
machinery including:
1926, the first motor-driven jacquard flat machine.
1975, the first fully-electronic flat machine.
1987, the first of the CMS series machines.
In the1960s, the Japanese company Shima Seiki under
its president Masahiro Shima, pioneered the development
of the automatic V-bed seamless glove-knitting machine.

14.2 The MacQueen concept

The idea was to use the Basque beret
technique of knitting wedge-shaped garment
parts in a sideways manner with held loops,
part course knitting, and sections separated
by waste yarn segments.

14.3 Power fiat machines

The main difference between the simple handcontrolled flat and the automatic power flat is that the
latter can be programmed to automatically knit a
garment length sequence with little or no further human
intervention.
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14.4 The versatility of V-bed

power flat knitting

It was able to knit rib or plain garment panels in

jacquard, racked stitches, rib loop transfer, links-links,
cable stitch, needle-out, and relief designs.
Jacquard steels provided individual needle selection
across the whole needle bed (with the possibility of
selection on the back as well as on the front needle
bed).
Computer-controlled, highly efficient and versatile
knitting machine, not only for cut-and-sew knitwear but
also for integrally-shaped panel and whole garments.

14.5 Electronic controls replace

mechanical controls
The electronically-controlled power flat
machine offers quick response to size, style
and pattern changes with versatile and
infinitely variable adjustment of its
electronically-controlled functions under the
guidance of the main computer software
programme and the back-up support of its
memory.

14.6 The garment sequence

programme
The garment sequencing programme
is the most important requirement of a
garment-knitting machine because it
has overall control of the functioning of
the machine whose automatic operation
follows the specified programme.

14.7 Mechanical jacquard selection

Figure 14.1 illustrates the arrangement of elements in

the needle bed of a machine having full mechanical
selection. A separately-controlled arrangement may
also be available on the other needle bed. In the
tricks beneath each needle are selectors (two in the
case of the double-cam system machine) whose tails
are supported by a jacquard steel that extends
across the full width of the needle bed.

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14.8 The Shima Seiki electronic

selection system

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Figure 14.2 illustrates the front (F) and back (B)

cam systems of a Shima Seiki two (knitting) system
model SEC. It is indicated that the cam carriage is
traversing from right-to-left so that the butts of the
knitting elements enter from the left, passing
through four system:

From the left, the first system is transferring loops

from the back bed to the front bed. 4 is a loop
transfer cam and 6is a loop receiving cam.

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2,3 The next two systems contain knitting cams, 2

being clearing cams and 3 being stitch cams.
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Finally, the right system is transferring loops from

the front bed to the back bed. Delivering cam 5 is
introduced to raise butts onto transfer cam 4.

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alatch needle
sselection butt
bneedle jack
cpresser jack
epattern selector jack
ttail butt
rbutt
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The presser jack is selectively positioned so that its

pressing butt is aligned with one of three presser cam
paths (A,H or B), where it can also be pressed
downwards by a presser cam in the cam-carriage.
The needle jack can also be sunk out of action by
manually pushing it under wire ().

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There are 4possible combinations of knit, tuck and miss:

1 Tuck presser cam tipped (A knit). Miss presser cam
untipped (H knit, B miss).
2 Tuck presser cam tipped (A knit). Miss presser cam tipped
(H miss, B knit)
3 Tuck presser cam untipped (A tuck). Miss presser cam
untipped (H knit, B miss).
4 Tuck presser cam untipped (A tuck). Miss presser cam
tipped (H miss, B knit)

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14.9 The take-down system

The conventional V-bed machine relies on the
two sets of needles, together with the takedown
rollers, to hold the fabric down. The fabric is
drawn downwards from the needle beds and
passes between the grip formed by the roller
and counter roller.

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14.10 The fixed-stroke carriage

traverse
Mechanically-powered cam-carriages are driven by
a chain to traverse a constant width. This includes an
over-throw to take the cam-carriage clear of the
needle bed so that striking plates controlled by the
machine programme can contact the slides on the
carriage to re-set the cams as required. There is thus
wasted time if the knitting width is less than the
maxmum.

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14.11 Meeting the requirements of a

shaping machine
14.11.1 The shaping control programme
The shaping control programme needs to have sufficient
memory to include the data for all the parts of a garment,
whether integrally knitted or sequentially knitted shapedpieces, in the complete range of size.

14.11.2 Variable-width carriage traverse

One of the most important features of shaping is keeping
the cam-carriage traverses to the minimum width using a
lightweight compact cam-carriage and belt drive,
combined with knitting/transfer cams, and needle butts
that are sunk when out of action.
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14.11.3 The shaping method

Fashion shaping using loop transfer is the most
satisfactory method of introducing shape into
garment blanks.
The most common method is to use the needles to
rib loop transfer from needle bed to needle bed,
combined with needle bed racking to move the
selvedge loops inwards or outwards.

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14.11.4 Method take-down systems

Modern machines have a computer-programmed,
positively-driven takedown system whose operation
is synchronised with that of the requirements of the
knitting programme and provides pre-determined
fabric tension as required.
The roller drive speed can be selected from as many
as 31 possibilities and can be stopped during needle
bed racking and rib loop transfer, or it can be
reversed to achieve zero fabric tension whenever
required during the knitting programme.

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14.11.5 Control of the fabric during knitting

The production of width-shaped garment pieces requires
different or additional facilities to those used when knitting
constant-width garment pieces joined by draw-thread
separation.
The most common solution of the lack of takedown tension
is to employ a takedown comb in addition to the
conventional takedown rollers; this rises to engage its pins
with the set up courses of the new garment piece.
With separated garment piece knitting it is also necessary
to employ thread cutters and trappers, otherwise yarn ends
will wrap around the rollers.
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14.11.6 Stitch pressing-down devices

The object of the presser foot and other similar
devices (such as knock-over bits and holding-down
sinkers) is to keep the old (fabric) loops low down on
the needle stems.
The original presser foot consisted of a piece of wire
bent at either end to form a foot (Fig.14.5). The
center of the wire is carried on the underside of a
pivoted arm that hangs downwards from a cross
member so that it brushes against the upper surface
of the fabric loops as it moves with the cam-carriage.

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14.11.7 Needle bed racking

A maximum racking distance of 2 inches, in
some cases on both beds, is available. This
includes pitch and pitch. An over-racking
facility stretches the loops, making their
transfer easier.

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14.12 The multiple-gauge technique

Sophisticated fashion tastes have, on occasion,
required knitwear garments containing zones of both
coarse and fine gauge stitches- which can now
achieved on one machine using multiple gauges.
This involves a combination of techniques, including
half-gauging, using different numbers of yarn ends,
intarsia zoning, and blocks of different gauges of
needles each working with its corresponding count of
yarn and yarn carrier (Fig.14.6)

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Stoll ready-to-wear integrates many of the

laborious and time-consuming making-up
processes into the knitting process; for
example, pockets, button-hole panels, facings,
overlapping collars, bows, and loops.

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14.13 The split stitch

When knitting with a latch needle, a loop is

transferred to an opposite bed loop but immediately,
the delivering needle receives a new loop whilst at
transfer height and this is drawn through the
transferred loop.(Fig.14.7a)
When knitting with a compound needle, the receiving
needle takes and shares half of a loop on a delivering
needle in the opposite bed because that needle has
an open hook during transfer and does not cast-off its
loop.(Fig.14.7b)

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14.14 Multi-carriage flat machines

Introduced by Textima in 1950, the Diamant machine
has two separate pairs of needle beds, each 72
inches (183cm) wide, arrange parallel to each other
on a rib basis.
Each pair knits a straight cut edge garment blank by
means of 15 to 18 cam-carriages that complete 10-15
clockwise circuits of the machine per minute,
transporting their own yarn packages, stripers and
selection drums.

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14.15 Seamless glove knitting

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Each finger is knitted in turn from its tip, with its loops
then being held until the palm sequence commences.
The glove is completed and pressed-off with an
elasticated mock rib cuff.
Control of knitting across the varying width is assisted
by spring-controlled holding-down sinkers and a
variable traverse of the cam-carriage.

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14.16 The WholeGarment

knitting technique
A new feature of this technique is the ability to knit
tubular rib with a high wale density and therefore
improved extensibility and appearance.
The key concept of WholeGarment knitting is the
facility to knit seamless body and sleeve tubes of
virtually any type of plain, rib or purl construction,
plus the ability to increase or decrease the sizes of
the tubes and to move or merge them together as
and when required during the garment knitting
sequence.

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As the yarn passes across to the loops on the other

needle bed, at each turn round of the cam-carriage a
tubular course is knitted in plain fabric with the face
loops on the outside and the reverse stitches on the
inside of the tube.(Fig.14.9)
A number of tubular structures can be knitted at the
same time; these can form the start of sleeves and a
body.

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The knitting of tubular courses of rib on a V-bed rib

machine requires a carefully arranged sequence,
particularly if a commercially acceptable wale density
of rib is to be knitted.
The problem is that in each traverse, front and back
bed needles are required to knit the course of rib.
The objective is for the front bed needles to
eventually receive a complete traverse course of rib
loops and for the back bed to receive the return
traverse course of rib loops.

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The knitting of tubular rib on a conventional two

needle bed flat machine does not, however, produce
a rib that is very acceptable as far as extensibility and
appearance is concerned because it is essentially
knitted on only half the available needles.
A course of 11 rib is first knitted using both needle
beds and is then transferred off onto one single bed.

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14.17 The Shima model FIRST

The name FIRST is an acronym representing F (fully fashioning), I

(intarsia), R and T (rib transfer) and S (sinker). It employs a slide
compound needle that has a number of unique design features. Its hookclosing slide is split to form a pair of loop-holding pelerine points at its
forward edge.
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14.18 The Tsudakoma TFK machine

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The first automatic V-bed machine to operate

without cam boxes, the model TFK, was
demonstrated by the Tsudakoma Corporation
at the 1995 ITMA exhibition. The Asahi
Chemical Industry Co. supported its earlier
development. The model TFK has a working
width of 122cm (48in) in gauges 7,8,10 and
12, with a maximum variable speed of 1.2
m/sec.
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