Types of Latch Needle
The hook, latch, rivet, cheek, throat and stem are substantially the same except in size in all latch needles, but the balance of the needle may and does vary in shape to a marked degree in the various types and makes of machines. Fig. 15 shows many of the different types of butts and shanks made, as well as the variation in the sizes of the hooks and the thickness of the needles, but it should be understood that the type of the butt and shank has no bearing on the size of the hook and stem, as each type is made in the various sizes and is governed only by the size of the yarn to be used.
Fig. 16 is a very important illustration and the reader should study it well and mentally digest every position of the needles, for here is shown a complete cycle of the movements necessary to make the knitted loop on a latch needle machine of the type in which the needles slide back and forth, lengthwise of the needle, in what are called tricks, or more commonly expressed, slots. Probably 95 per cent. or more of the latch needle machines in use today are of the type in which the needle slides back and forth in slots in the operation of forming the loops.
Fig. 15.
Some of the Various Types of Latch Needles.
Explanation of Lamb Type Machine
A study of Fig. 16 should be made in connection with the photographic reproductions, Figs. 17 and 18. Fig. 18 shows substantially the whole knitting machine, while Fig. 17 is a close-up view of that part of the machine which actually does the knitting. Fig. 16 shows the principle used to operate the needles.
This type of machine was invented in 1863 by Isaac W. Lamb, a clergyman, and was made possible only by the invention of the latch needle in England about 1847. It is very simple in construction in the plain models and is the most versatile of all the knitting machines, it being possible to make on it a larger variety of stitches and articles of apparel than on any other machine. It is known as the flat or Lamb type of machine.
It has two flat or straight horizontal plates or beds about one-half inch thick by 6 inches wide, the length of which varies from 6 inches or less to 60 inches or more, according to the width of fabric it is designed to make. These plates are set in a frame, parallel to each other lengthwise, and at an angle of about 90 degrees to each other and 45 degrees to the horizontal. See Figs. 16, 17 and 20.
All flat machines of this type have two needle plates, but for our purpose of knitting jersey fabric we need but one, therefore we will imagine that there are two in Fig. 16 but the back one having no needles in it cannot do any knitting. The needles, as will be noted in Fig. 16, are placed in tricks or slots of which there may be any number from 2½ up to 18 in one inch, according to the size of the yarn to be used. The needles should fit in the slots close enough so that they will not have any chance to tip sidewise, yet they must move easily endwise. The gib c, c, is for holding the needles in the plate, and of course is removed by drawing out endwise when a needle is to be put in or taken out of the plate. The plate is secured in a frame indicated by the letter n in Fig. 16, and the frame is attached to a stationary stand or table.