| Fig. 5.—Formation of a Loop on a Hand Frame. |
| 1, Bearded needle cast in the lead. A, Lead; B, Shank; C, Eye; D, Beard. 2, The thread is laid over the needles and formed into loops between the needles by means of the sinkers, those new-formed loops being brought under the needle beards (as at 3). 4, The beards pressed or closed to allow the old loops to be passed on to the top. 5, The old loops knocked off the needles and left hanging round the newly formed loops. |
| Fig. 7.—Eight at once, 130 gauge, full-fashioned, seamless bosom, sloped shoulder underwear frame, Cotton’s patents. (William Cotton, Ltd., Loughborough.) |
| Fig. 6.—A 1/1 Rib Stitch. |
A number of improvements had been made on Lee’s frame during the 18th century. The one of greatest importance was the rib machine invented by Jedediah Strutt of Belper in 1758. It was not what could be actually termed an improvement on Lee’s frame, but an addition to it. Lee’s frame was not altered in any way, Strutt’s machine being added to it, and the two being worked in conjunction produced a fabric of a more elastic nature and alike on both sides (fig. 6). Strutt’s machine consisted of a set of needles placed at right angles to and between Lee’s plain needles, with the result that, when knitting, the frame needles drew their loops to one side and the machine needles their loops to the opposite side of the fabric. The first offshoot from frame-work knitting was the invention of the hand warp loom in 1775. It was improved by the addition of the Dawson wheel by William Dawson in 1791. This machine is the origin of the various complex machines now working on this principle. Some of these have Jacquard mechanism attached, and nearly all of them are driven by motive power. About the middle of the 19th century close on 50,000 of Lee’s hand frames were in use, finding employment for nearly 100,000 persons. Many attempts had been made previously to transform Lee’s frame into a power or rotary frame. One of the first and most successful was that invented by Luke Barton in 1857. This frame was fitted with self-acting mechanism for fashioning, and was practically Lee’s frame having rotary shafts with cams added to give the various movements, this type of frame being known as straight bar rotary frames. In 1864 William Cotton of Loughborough altered this frame by reversing the positions of the needles and sinkers. Although made by various builders it is still known as the “Cotton Patent Rotary Frame” (fig. 7). Since 1864 a great number of important improvements and additions have been made to this frame. Single frames are built which will turn off one dozen pairs of hose at once, with the attention of one person. One of the most important inventions in connexion with the hosiery trade was the latch, tumbler, or self-acting needle invented by Matthew Townsend and David Moulding of Leicester in 1858. Previous to this Lee’s type of needle was the only one in use. This latch-needle (fig. 8) consists of a stem having a butt at lower end by which it receives its knitting action from cams, the upper end being turned into a hook. Near the hook end and attached to the stem by a pin is the spoon-shaped latch, which closes over the hook as required. Machines fitted with latch-needles have grooves in which the stem of the needle works. Cams, which act on the needle butts, give the needles their individual knitting action in rotation. This needle is self-acting, in that it is made to draw its own loop, sinkers being dispensed with.
| Fig. 8.—Various Shapes of the Latch Needle. |
| Fig. 9.—Individual Action of the Latch Needle. |
Fig. 9 shows the looping action of this needle. The needles when not knitting have a loop round their shank, thus holding the latch open. When about to knit, they are raised individually and in rotation (by the cams acting on the needle butts) to receive the new loop of yarn.
Down till almost the middle of the 19th century only a flat web could be knitted in the machines in use, and for the finishing of stockings, &c., it was necessary to seam up the selvedges of web shaped on the frame (fashioned work), or to cut and seam them from even web (cut work). The introduction of any device by which seamless garments could be fabricated was obviously a great desideratum, and it is a singular fact that a machine capable of doing this was patented in 1816 by Sir Marc I. Brunel. This frame was the origin of the French-German loop-wheel circular frame of the present day. Brunel’s frame was greatly improved by Peter Claussen of Brussels and was shown at an exhibition in Nottingham in 1845. This frame had horizontal placed needles fixed on a rotating rim. A few years later Moses Mellor of Nottingham transformed this type of frame by altering the position of the needles to perpendicular. This is now known as the English loop-wheel circular frame. After the invention of the latch-needle there was a revolution in the hosiery machine-building industry, new types of machines being invented, fitted to work with latch-needles. Among others there was the latch-needle circular frame, invented by Thomas Thompson, which was the origin of the English latch-needle circular frame, a frame largely used for the production of wide circular fabric.
A circular knitting machine of American origin is the type of machine on which is produced the seamless hosiery of to-day. Like the sewing machine it is largely used in the home as well as in the factory. From this machine all the circular automatic power machines for making plain and rib seamless hose and half hose have been developed. The “flat” or “lamb” type of machine, an American invention, was introduced by J. W. Lamb in 1863. This machine has two needle beds or rows of needles sloping at an angle of nearly 90°.
A great many varieties of this type of machine have been invented for the production of all kinds of plain and fancy hosiery. It is built in small sizes to be wrought by hand or in large power machines. A large variety of sewing, seaming and linking machines are employed in the hosiery industry for the purpose of putting together or joining all kinds of hosiery and knitted goods. These machines have almost entirely superseded the sewing or joining of the garments by hand.
The principle centres in Great Britain of the hosiery industry are Leicester and Nottingham and the surrounding districts. It is also an industry of some extent in the south of Scotland.