STOCKING-FRAME. The machine with which stockings, singlet drawers, and other similar garments are woven, was first invented by William Lee of Woodbridge, Not tinghamshire. At first, it was a very simple affair, but has now become extremely com plicated, although the simple principle upon which it was first originated is retained as the essential. This can only be understood by reference to the art of knitting, which originated it. In knitting, only one thread is used, and this formed into a succession of loops on a knitting-needle; each of these loops, then, has in succession another loop .passed through it by means of another and similar needle, and this operation is carried on successively until the whole fabric is made. In the stocking-frame, instead of one needle to hold the stationary loops while those of the moving row are being inserted, there are as many needles as there are to be loops in the breadth of the web, and these are so made as to alternately form and give off the loops. Each needle terminates in a hook, a small indentation into which the bent point of the needle is easily pressed. The other end of the needle is fixed into a small casting of tin, formed to fit into a frame, and be screwed tightly in, side by side with the rest of the needles. Between the needles are
placed thin plates of lead or pewter, called sinkers in two rows; in one row, the sinkers move freely on an axis; in the other, they are all fixed to a bar, and move with it. The object of the loose ones, or jack-sinkers, is to make loops by pressing the thread down between the needles. The other row on the bar, or lead-sinkers, are brought down, so as to press simultaneously on the hooks of the needles, and press their points down into the little depression so that they will pass through the loops without catching one way, and take them up when opened and drawn in the contrary direction. These are the essential parts of a stoeking-frame, which contains so vast a number of needles and sinkers, and such nice mechanical arrangements for giving them their regular movements, that few machines have so complicated an appearance to the observer; and any attempt to extend this description, would only serve to puzzle rather than explain.