A knitting machine is a device that produces knitted fabric in a semi-automated or fully automated way, ranging from simple hand-operated frames to complex electronically controlled systems, capable of producing both flat fabric and continuous tubular fabric depending on its design. William Lee of Calverton, near Nottingham, England, invented the first knitting machine, the stocking frame, in 1589, using low-carbon-steel bearded needles moved back and forth on a wooden frame to imitate the motions of hand knitting; his original frame carried eight needles per inch for worsted fabric, and he later refined it to sixteen needles per inch for silk. The stocking frame spread slowly at first, since Lee struggled to win patronage in England and moved to France, but its descendants multiplied rapidly after his death around 1614, reaching roughly 14,000 frames in England by 1750 and over 25,000 by 1812, and the same underlying mechanism later diverged into flatbed machines that knit back and forth and circular machines that knit continuously in the round to produce tubular fabric.
Facts
SignificanceLee's stocking frame began the mechanisation of the textile industry, which led to the Industrial Revolution. 1 FAQs
Why did Queen Elizabeth I refuse William Lee a patent for his knitting machine?
Her refusal was driven by protectionism rather than doubts about the machine.
Lee presented his first stocking frame, which made coarse wool for stockings, to Queen Elizabeth I and asked for a patent, and she refused it. He then refined the machine to knit silk, and again she denied him the patent. According to Encyclopedia.com, her refusal had nothing to do with concerns over the quality of the machine or of the garments it produced. She was motivated instead by protectionism. Lee then took his invention to France, where King Henry IV arranged for him to set up a factory in Rouen, and he prospered there for many years under the king's patronage.
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Source William Lee (inventor), Wikipedia
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Source William Lee (inventor), Wikipedia
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1. William Lee (inventor), Wikipedia
Stocking frame knitting machine section, passage beginning: The quatercentenary of the invention was
The quatercentenary of the invention was celebrated in 1989 with the publication Four Centuries of Machine Knitting: Commemorating William Lee's Invention of the Stocking Frame in 1589, a book of historical studies on the evolution of knitting technologies and the history of the knitting economy.
Lead section section, passage beginning: Framework knitting, as the use of Lee's
Framework knitting, as the use of Lee's machine in stocking production was called, was the first major stage in the mechanisation of the textile industry, a process that 200 years later precipitated the Industrial Revolution.
- In Group: Knitting and Lace Machinery, Lead section: Framework knitting, as the use of Lee's machine in stocking production was called, was the first major stage in the mechanisation of the textile industry
In Field: Textile Engineering, Categories
Textile workers
Invented By: William Lee, Lead paragraph
who invented the stocking frame knitting machine
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