Yarn Carrier Stop
The reader will realize from what has gone before that when there are needles added to or taken from the edge of a fabric, while in the process of knitting on a machine, it would be necessary to arrange to change the stopping position of the yarn carrier in order to prevent it from stopping too far away from or too close in to the fabric as the widening operation progresses. This is done by the simple expedient of having the yarn carrier stop mounted on its bar or way so it will slide freely, and providing the lugs j and k, Fig. 54, on both sides of the lever f, so that it, with the lever f, and slide g, with stop h, will at all times move together. Therefore the needle on the edge of the fabric and the yarn carrier stops are always in the same relative position.
If the reader has stopped to ponder on the working of this machine, with the resultant fabric, he may realize that there should be more pull or tension on the fabric during the last part of it than when it is started. As there have been needles added it is wider. This has been provided for so that by placing high studs on the main chain at the proper point they will increase the tension on the take-up rollers where and as much as needed. When the widening needles are cast off, and the width of the fabric is reduced to its narrowest portion, this extra tension may be automatically released and the pull reduced to the proper strain for the narrower fabric.
These machines are made only in the double lock type, but there are means provided through the before described levers and slides to change automatically to single lock by raising one pair of the locks up out of operation. This is quite an advantage where one wishes to make some style of garment with a rack showing on both sides of the fabric such as the turned-up cuff on ladies’ sweaters, etc.
CHAPTER IX
Purl Stitch, or Links and Links Machine, for Hand or Manual Power
The purl stitch or links and links machine is a type which may be termed unique in the class of machinery built to make knitted fabrics. It is entirely a European development; in fact, to my knowledge there had been none of these machines built in this country until some time after the war started, when it was impossible to import them.
The chief individual characteristic of purl stitch machines lies in the fact that they have two needle plates, but only one set of needles, and the cams do not act directly on the needles, but act indirectly through what are called jacks. First we will try to get a thorough knowledge of the fabric this machine was primarily designed to make, and the stitch formation required to produce this fabric; then the mechanism and movements of the different parts of the machine will be more readily understood as we proceed with the explanation.