Knitting Machine

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.