Knitting technology, Third Edition

21.2
Classes of hosiery machines
Except for the few 
Griswold
type hand-turned machines (Fig. 4.4), all hosiery
machines are of the 
revolving cylinder type
. This arrangement offers the advantages
of high revolution speeds, a simplified drive, and the possibility of selectively 
striping-in yarn from stationary packages placed at fixed feed positions around the
cylinder. The garment sequence control must, however, be linked by means of 
cables and rods (or electronics), using the shortest possible routes, to the various
mechanisms at the knitting positions around the needle cylinder without interfer-
ing with accessibility to the machine (Fig. 21.1).
The three types of hosiery machines, in order of their increasing complexity and
needle bed arrangement, are 
single cylinder
,
cylinder and dial
and 
double cylinder
.
Ladies’ fine-gauge seamless hose and tights are knitted in plain base structure on
single-cylinder machines with holding-down sinkers.
Men’s, ladies’ and children’s socks and half-hose in broad rib or purl (links-links)
base structure are knitted on double-cylinder machines. Men’s dress socks are broad
Fig. 21.1
Close-up view of the knitting head of a 4-feeder seamless hose machine (D 
=
Dial) [Walter Bullwer].

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258
Knitting technology
rib socks with a reciprocated heel and reciprocated toe that has been closed by
linking. A typical machine specification would be 4-inch diameter, 168 needles.
Sports and casual socks in a plain base structure are now usually knitted on
single-cylinder machines with holding-down sinkers.
More formal simple rib socks may be knitted on cylinder and dial rib machines
termed ‘
true-rib
’ machines. These machines have half the number of needles in the
dial as are in the cylinder, with every second cylinder needle opposite a dial needle.
For that reason only simple ribs such as 1 
¥
1, 2 
¥
1, 3 
¥
1, etc. can be knitted, not
broad ribs such as 6 
¥
3 rib. True rib machines knit a more balanced 1 
¥
1 rib than
double-cylinder machines, whose needles in the top cylinder do not draw their loops
with as strong a yarn tension as those in the bottom cylinder.