Production testing of a nonindustrial double bed flat knitting machine

Abstract

According to plan an electromotor-controlled double bed flat knitting machine E5 was designed whose needle bar is 90 cm long and on which 175 x 2 needles knit with one knitting system. The machine is intended for domestic use, i.e. it is used in cottage industry and various institutions. The machine running was tested with yarns of different counts, structures and raw material composition and at different sinking depths and different distances between the needle bars. All the samples were made as plain rib knit fabrics. Single and twisted yarns with counts of 102, 151, 184 and 194 tex were used for knitting. Each yarn was used to knit samples with sinking depths 3, 4, 5 and 6 and with needle bar spaces 3, 4, 5 and 6. A total of 64 knitted fabric samples were made. Stitch length ranged from 9.04 mm to 14.35 mm, and fabric mass ranged from 194 to 523 g/m2. Based on the experimental data mathematical equations for individual parameters of the knitted fabric structure were derived and described in linear equations with three or four unknowns. The knitted fabrics are generally used to make unconventional outerwear, various blankets and mats as well as for conventional knitted outerwear.