CONTENTS

Chap. Page
I.Development of the Industry How Cloth is Constructed—Study of Loop.[9]
II.Latch Needle Knitting Making Jersey Cloth on the Lamb Type of Machine.[16]
III.Rib Fabric Group How Stitch is Made for Different Cloths.[26]
IV.The Rack Stitch Making Shaped Collars—Opportunities in Designing Fabrics.[35]
V.The Double Lock Flat Machine How Different Stitches Are Formed.[44]
VI.Fashioned Goods[51]
VII.Automatic Flat Latch Needle Machines Single Lock.[57]
VIII.Automatic Widening Machine Explanation of Mechanism Used.[78]
IX.Purl Stitch, or Links and Links Machine For Hand or Manual Power.[86]
X.Designs on Plain Purl Stitch Machines Automatic Jacquard Type—Details of Jacquard-Designing on Jacquard Machine.[97]
XI.Flat Latch Needle Automatic Narrowing Machine[113]
XII.The Flat Jacquard Machine How It Differs From the Purl Stitch Jacquard Machine—Type of Fabric Produced—Methods of Needle Selection—Difference Between Single Jacquard and Double Jacquard—Explanation of Design and Pattern Cards.[129]
INDEX[143]

FLAT MACHINE KNITTING AND FABRICS

CHAPTER I
Development of the Industry—How Cloth is Constructed—Study of Loop

Machine knitting is a much older industry than most people realize, the first knitting machine having been invented in England about the year 1590. In spite of this early start the knitting industry has not made as great progress as some other lines of manufacturing. The great obstacle to its progress, in comparison with that of its rival, the weaving industry, appears to have been the slow realization by people in general, and the producers of knitted goods in particular, of the possibilities of the looped fabric and the diversified uses to which it is suited.

For 250 years or more after the invention of the knitting machine, knitted fabrics were in a general way supposed to be fit only for hosiery. Then some enterprising knitter woke up to the fact that knitted fabric was the ideal fabric for underclothing to be worn next to the body, and there was developed a great industry in knitted underwear.

In very recent years, we have begun to realize that this fabric is suitable for outer garments of various kinds, making up into beautiful, comfortable and serviceable articles of apparel, and the industry is surging ahead by leaps and bounds on this line. The principal reasons for this are: first, the making of knit fabric does not require, in its present state of development, the technical skill required for the making of woven fabrics, notwithstanding the fact that many people not connected with the industry look upon machine knitting as a most mysterious operation; second, the initial investment for a given production is not nearly so great as for woven fabrics; third, knitted fabrics can be produced, yard for yard, or pound for pound, cheaper than woven fabrics.