Knitting Action of Spring Bearded Needle

Last Updated on 30/12/2020

Knitting Action of Spring Bearded Needle

Rofiquzzaman Raju
knitting Technologist,
B.J.Group, Mawna, Gazipur

What is Spring Bearded Needle?
Spring bearded needle was the first type of needle to be produced. It is the cheapest and simplest type to manufacture as it is made from a single piece of metal. It has one needle bar, one sinker bar and one presser bar. It is not versatile in styling and designing like latch needle.

In spring bearded needle, knits up to 240 denier hard yarn or filament yarn and  Knits up to 140 denier spandex yarn. Bearded needles are mainly used in tricot type warp knitting machine. These needles are available in very finer gauge. An additional part called pusher is needed to close the hook during loop formation.

Parts of Spring-Bearded Needle:
The spring-bearded needles made of steel wire consist of the following parts:

1. The Stem: The stem around which the needle loop is formed.
2. The Head: Where the stem is turned into a hook to draw the newloop through the old loop.
3. The Beard: Which is the curved downwards continuation of the hook that is used to separate the trapped new loop inside from the old loop as it slides off the needle beard.
4. The Eye or groove: Cut in the stem to receive the pointed tip of the beard when it is pressed, thus enclosing the new loop.
5. Shank: Which may be bent for individual location in the machine or cast with others in a metal ‘lead’.

Knitting Action of Spring Bearded Needle
Loop or stitch formation on a single needle bed weft knitting machine with spring bearded needles consists of the following stages:

1. Yarn feeding
2. Yarn sinking or kinking
3. Under lapping
4. Pressing
5. Landing
6. Joining and casting-off
7. Clearing

The essence of these stages consists in the following operations:

1. Yarn feeding: The newly fed yarn is laid under the throats of kinking sinkers.

2. Yarn sinking: The sinkers fall down between the needles, with the yarn held in the Sinker throats. Depth of sinking determines the loop length, i.e, the yarn length used to form a knitted loop.

3. Under lapping: The yarn laid on the needle stems is withdrawn by the sinkers in direction of needle hooks and under the needle beards.

4. Pressing: Now, the needle beard is immersed in the needle groove by a presser disc. In this way the fed yarn is closed in the needle hook.

5. Landing: The knitted fabric resting on the needle stems at the needle bed is now pushed by cast-off sinkers towards the pressed needle beards, and the fabric loops (called old loops) land on the beards.

6. Joining and Casting-off: After passing the presser disc, the cast-off sinkers push further the knitted fabric towards the tips of the needles. At the same time the kinking sinkers leave the kinked yarn and the cast-off sinkers push the old loops off the needles on to the kinked lengths of yarn.

7. Clearing: At this stage the newly formed loops are pushed back along the needle stems, towards the needle bed; the knitted fabric enlarged by a new course of knitted loops, is drawn down by means of a take-down mechanism, and the process of loop formation may be started again.

References:

1. Knitting Technology by David J Spencer
2. Fundamentals and Advances in Knitting Technology by Sadhan C. Ray
3. Advances in knitting technology Edited by K. F. Au
4. Understanding Textiles for a Merchandiser by Shah Alimujjaman Belal

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1. Features and Uses of the Raschel Warp Knitting Machine
2. Difference between Raschel and Tricot Warp Knitting Machine
3. Plating Techniques in Flat Knitting Machine
4. Knitting Elements of Tricot Warp Knitting Machine

Mazharul Islam Kiron

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. Mr. Kiron is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.

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