Knitting and Lace Machinery

Knitting and lace machinery is the class of textile equipment that mechanizes the formation of looped and net-like fabric structures, from plain knitted cloth to patterned bobbin lace. The lineage traces to William Lee's 1589 stocking frame, whose bearded-needle knitting action was progressively adapted through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries into dedicated lace-making frames capable of imitating handmade pillow lace and net. Circular and warp knitting machines extended the same looping principle to tubular and run-resistant fabrics for garments and industrial uses. By the nineteenth century, purpose-built lace machines had taken over the commercial manufacture of lace from hand lacemakers, establishing a distinct branch of the textile engineering trade alongside general knitting production.