KNITTING BY MACHINERY. It is probable that the first knitting-machine or stocking-frame was invented in less than a century after the art of knitting by hand had been learned. The inven tion was made by William Lee of Nottingham shire, England, in 1589. The first knitting-ma chine was a very simple affair, but its compli cated modern successor depends for its efficiency upon the same essential principle as Lee's stock ing-frame. This, in turn. was modeled after the process of hand knitting which originated it. In knitting by hand the thread is formed in a sue cession of loops on a knitting-needle; each of these loops has, in succession, another loop passed through it by means of another and similar needle, and this operation is carried on succes sively until the whole fabric is made.
In Lee's stocking-frame, instead of one needle to hold the stationary loop while those of the moving row are being inserted, there are as ninny 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 termi nates in a hook or small indentation. The other end of the needle is fixed into a casting formed to fit into a frame and be securely fastened, side by side with the rest of the needles. Between the needles are placed thin plates 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 jaek-sinkers, is to make loops by pressing the thread down beneath the needles. The other row on the bar, or lead sinkers, is brought down so as to press simultaneously on the hooks of the needles, and press their points down into the lit tle depression so that they will pass through the loops without catching one way, and take them up when opened and drawn in the contrary direc tion. The great ingenuity of Lee's invention lies in this arrangement for closing the hook in the needle so that one loop can he drawn through an other. No improvement of importance was made in Lee's stocking-frame until 1758. when Jedediah Strutt added a second series of needles, by the use of which it was possible to produce ribbed or reamed knitting. All the earlier machines pro duced a flat web: hut in 1810 Marc L. Brunel in vented a circular knitting-machine which pro duced a tubular web. Power was applied to the knitting-machine by Bailey in 1531. The latch needle was patented by a Frenchman named Jandean as early as 18011. A modification of
this needle was patented in the United States by Hihhert in 1863. In this needle a hinged latch folds back on the needle, so that the hook may take up the thread, and then closes down over the hook so that it may pass the loop through the preceding loop. movement of the latch is tegulated by the yarn as it passes through, actu ated by the machine.
Circular machines have largely superseded the earlier form, on account of their greater speed and capacity. In these inachincs"a circular series of vertical parallel needles slide in grooves in a cylinder. and are raised and lowered successively by an external rotating cylinder which has on the inner side cams that act upon the needles." Ac cording to Byrne, from whom the preceding sen tence is quoted, about 2000 patents on various forms of knitting machinery had been issued in the United States at the close of the nineteenth century. These patents included attachments fur shaping special parts, for finishing off work, and even for raveling waste work.
Gnow'rn ot."ruE INDUSTRY. The remarkable in crease in popularity of all forms of knitted fab rics is shown not only by the number of machines which have been invented to produce them, but also by the enormous increase in their produe tion, as shown by the United States Census for 1900. In 1850 there were only 85 establishments, with a combin«1 eapital of $554,734, and a com bined annual product of $1,028.102, engaged in this indtodry. During Die decade 1851-60 the \ Alio of the annual prodnet increased seven times, and in the following decades, 21/4, 11/4, 21h, and times respectively. in 1900 the number of factories for the production of knit goods in the country was 921, with a total capi tal of $81,860,604, and an annual product valued at $951,482,566. In 1871) the number of knit ting-machines reported to he in use was 5625; thirty years later it was 89,047. In the early days of the industry, wool was almost exclusively used for the production of knit goods. .A marked increase in the use of other fibres, especially cot ton and silk, occurred during the closing decade at the century. In 1890 :32,248,84!) pounds of cotton yarn were used in the manufacture of knit goods; in 1900 the amount so used had in creased to 131,820,068 pounds. The value of silk yarn used for the same purpose in 1900 is esti mated at $1,000,000.