Different types of Needle in Knitting

Types of knitting needle

There are mainly three types of needle is used

1. Latch Needle

2. Compound Needle

3. Bearded Needle

Latch Needle

Matthew Townsend, a Leicester hosier, patented the latch needle in 1849. Townsend spent much of his time developing new knitted fabrics and he investigated a simpler way of knitting purl fabrics. Purl fabrics required two beds of bearded needles and pressers to alternate the face of loops between courses. A double-headed latch needle was developed as a result of the research to allow the alternation to be achieved on one bed of needles. A single-headed latch needle was also developed to provide an alternative to the bearded needle.The latch needle knitting cycle starts with the old loop trapped inside a closed latch. The needle is pushed up and the old loop slides down the stem, opening the latch in the process. A thread is then laid in front of the stem between the rivet and the hook. As the needle is pulled down the hook catches the thread and forms a new loop. The old loop now slides back up the stem, closes the latch and falls off the end of the needle. The cycle is then repeated. Latch Needle is mostly used needle in the knitting industry today. Latch needle were used on raschel and crochet machines.

Fif.Latch Needle

Latch Needle Characteristics:

1. Most widely used in weft knitting.
2. More expensive needle than the bearded needle.
3. Self acting or loop controlled.
4. Work at any angle.
5. Needle Depth determines the loop length.
6. Variation of the height of reciprocating produces knit, tuck or miss stitch.

Uses of Latch Needle: Latch needle are widely used in –

1. Double Cylinder Machine,
2. Flat Bar Machine,
3. Single Jersey Circular Knitting Machine,
4. Double Jersey Circular Knitting Machine.

Differents Parts of Latch Needle has been showed below:

1. The Hook: The hook which draws and returns the new loop.
2. The slot or Saw Cut: This slot receives the latch blade.
3. The Cheeks or Slot Walls: It is either punched or riveted to fulcrum the latch blade.
4. The Rivet: The rivet which may be plain or threaded. This has been dispensed with on most plated metal needles by pinching n the slot walls to retain the latch blades.
5. The latch blade: This latch blade locates the latch in the needle.
6. The latch spoon: The latch spoon is an extension of blade and bridges the gap between the hook and stem.
7. The stem: The stem of latch needle carries the loop in the clearing on rest position.
8. The Butt: Butt of latch needle enables the needle to be reciprocated.
9. The Tail: The tail is an extension below the butt giving additional supp9ort to the needle and keeping the needle in its trick.

The knitting action of the latch needle

Figure shows the position of a latch needle as it passes through the cam system, completing one knitting cycle or course as it moves up and in its trick or slot.

1. The rest position: The head of the needle hook is level with the top of the verge of the trick. The loop formed at the previous feeder is in the closed hook. It is prevented from rising as the needle rises, by holding-down sinkers or web holders that move forward between the needles to hold down the sinker loops.

2 Latch opening: As the needle butt passes up the incline of the clearing cam, the old loop, which is held down by the sinker, slides inside the hook and contacts the latch, turning and opening it.

3 Clearing height: When the needle reaches the top of the cam, the old loop is cleared from the hook and latch spoon on to the stem. At this point the feeder guide plate acts as a guard to prevent the latch from closing the empty hook.

4 Yarn feeding and latch closing: The needle starts to descend the stitch cam so that its latch is below the verge, with the old loop moving under it. At this point the new yarn is fed through a hole in the feeder guide to the descending needle hook, as there is no danger of the yarn being fed below the latch. The old loop contacts the underside of the latch, causing it to close on to the hook. 5 Knocking-over and loop length formation. As the head of the needle descends below the top of the trick, the old loop slides off the needle and the new loop is drawn through it. The continued descent of the needle draws the loop length, which is approximately twice the distance the head of the needle descends, below the surface of the sinker or trick-plate supporting the sinker loop. The distance is determined by the depth setting of the stitch cam, which can be adjusted.

Fig. Knitting action of the latch needle.

Compound Knitting Needle

The compound needle consist of two parts, needle body and slider.These two parts are moved independently.

Fig. Compound Needle

Compound Needle is used on most complex knitting:

Compound Needle consists of two separately controlled parts; these are- the open hook and the sliding closing element (tongue, latch, piston, and plunger). The two parts rise and fall as a single unit but at the top of the rise, the hook moves faster to open the hooks and at the start of the fall the hook descends faster to close the hook. It is easier to drive the hooks and tongues collectively form two separate bars as in warp knitting; than to move each hook and tongue individually as in weft knitting. Compound needles were used on tricot machines.

Fig. Knitting and Tucking action ofCompound needle.

Two types of compound needle have been employed in warp knitting machines:

The tubular pipe needle has its tongue sliding inside the tube of the open hook. The open stem “Pusher type” or slide needle has a closing wire or tongue that slides externally along a groove on the edge of the flat hook member.

Bearded needle

A fine steel needle for machine knitting that has a butt at one end and a long, flexible hook at the other that curves back to the shank of the needle. Also known as spring needle. Bearded needles were used on tricot machinesA bearded needle shown with the beard in the open and closed positions. The needle consists of five main parts.

Fig. Bearded Needle

The main parts of the bearded needle

Stem: The stem of bearded needle around which the needle loop is formed.

The Head: In the head section of bearded needle, the stem is turned into a hook to draw the new loop through the old loop.

The Beard: The beard is the curved downwards continuation of the hook that s used to separate the trapped new loop inside from the old loop.

The Eye or Groove: The eye of groove cut in the stem to receive the pointed tip of the beard when it is pressed.

The shank: The shank of bearded needle may be bent for the individual location in the machine or cast with others in a metal lead.

The knitting action of the bearded needle

The knitting action of the bearded needle has been illustrated in Fig. Depending upon the machine, the needles are set vertically or horizontally. The needle has the disadvantage of requiring a pressing edge to close the bearded hook and enclose the new loop. The presser may be in the form of a bar, blade, verge or wheel, with either the presser or the needle remaining stationary whilst the other element moves towards it.Another feature of bearded needle knitting is that individual loop formation has to be achieved by a loop forming element. This leads to a more complicated knitting action but also provides for a more gentle and careful loop formation.