Circular knitting machine
Also known as: Circular knitter, Cylinder knitting machine
Knitting machine with a rotating needle cylinder that produces tubular fabric — the standard machine for industrial production of jerseys, interlock, rib and fleece.
Description
A circular knitting machine consists of a vertical cylinder in which many needles (typically 1'000–3'800 depending on gauge and diameter) sit in tracks. The needles are controlled by a cam system while the cylinder rotates at 15–40 rpm and numerous yarn feeders (systems) form loops simultaneously. Each revolution therefore produces not just one but a row of courses — a 30-inch machine with 96 feeders can knit up to 800 courses per minute.
Types include single-jersey machines (cylinder needles only) for lightweight jerseys, double-jersey machines (cylinder + dial) for interlock, punto di Milano and rib, plus special machines for fleece, terry, jacquard or seamless underwear. Gauge is expressed in E (needles per English inch) — E14–E18 for T-shirts, E28–E36 for fine underwear. Leading machine builders are Mayer & Cie (Albstadt), Terrot, Santoni (seamless), Fukuhara and Pai Lung. A modern circular machine produces around 25 kg of fabric per hour — a multiple of any flat or warp-knit machine.
- Principle: rotating needle cylinder, multiple feeders in parallel
- Output: tubular knit fabric, either slit open or kept tubular
- Gauge: E10 (coarse) to E44 (extra-fine)
- Manufacturers: Mayer & Cie, Terrot, Santoni, Fukuhara, Pai Lung
Properties
| Principle | Rotating needle cylinder with multiple yarn feeders |
|---|---|
| Types | Single-jersey, double-jersey, fleece, jacquard, seamless |
| Gauge | E10 (coarse) to E44 (extra-fine) |
| Output | About 25 kg fabric/hour on a modern machine |
Related product categories
Sources & references
2- Mayer & Cie: Circular Knitting mayercie.com https://www.mayercie.com/
- Wikipedia: Circular knitting Wikipedia — Freie Enzyklopädie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_knitting
