75

CHAPTER 5
DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A CIRCULAR
KNITTING MACHINE FOR KNITTING JUTE AND
JUTE/COTTON BLENDS

5.1

INTRODUCTION
The knitting machines that are available in the market now are made

mainly for knitting cotton. It is a well known fact that knitted cotton goods are
popular world-wide and that they count for half of the worlds needs in
clothing.
While knitting jute, due to its inextensibility, hairiness, and
harshness, the friction would be much more compared to cotton yarns and
hence can never be knit in the machines that are readily available that are used
to knit finer yarns. So, there was a necessity to design knitting machines
suitable to knit 100% jute and jute/cotton blended yams. Hence, some
modifications, improvements and adjustments had to be made in order to knit a
flawless single jersey fabric from 100% jute and jute/cotton blended yarns. The
main factors that influence the circular knitting are needle, positive feed system,
the take down system, and the cylinder and sinker cam designs. Other factors
that have to be taken into account are:
i.

The machines should be of a lower gauge as compared with

cotton knitting machines.

76

ii.

The needles should be thicker and stronger as there is always a

tendency for needle breakage due to the properties of jute.

iii.

The speed of the machines should naturally be lower than those of

conventional ones.
Bearing these main points in mind, the feeders, guides, needles,

gauges were all altered and a compatible prototype machine was developed in
the model of the circular knitting machine.
5.2

PARTS OF THE MACHINE

The main features of the circular knitting machine are: i.

Needle bed

ii.

The machine control and drive system

iii.

Yarn feed control

iv.

Tension device

V.

Yarn feed carriers; guides

vi.

Fabric length control device

vii.

Fabric take down mechanism including fabric tensioning,

wind-up and accommodation devices.

viii.

Stop motions, fault detector, lint removers (the quality

control systems).

5.2.1

Needle
The most important point to be considered while knitting is the gauge

of the machine. The gauge in defined as number of needles in one inch.

The thickness of the needle also should be taken care of; otherwise,
the knitting of jute will be unsuccessful due to the breakage of thinner needles,

while knitting the coarse yarn. Also, the latch and hook portion should be
strong. The needle hook clearance should have enough width to accommodate
the jute yam. Figure 5.1 gives the details of the needle used.
The needle type selected was BEHA - 88. 171 G01, manufactured by
M/s Groz - Beckert. The height of the needle is 88 mm. The latch opening
from the hook top is 17 mm. The hook width is 4 mm and the clearance
between hook is 2.5 mm. The back sinking provided in the needle enables the
needle hook to catch the yarn from the yarn feeder without missing it.
A finer yarn can be knitted in a machine with larger gauge, that is,
with more number of needles in an inch; jute is a coarse material and hence, a 3
gauge cylinder was prepared; (i.e.) the cylinder contained three needles in one
inch, the thickness of the needle being 1.71 mm. This particular cylinder of 3
gauge was successful in knitting jute. But as the study also involved jute/cotton
blended yarns, and as the latter were finer than 100 % jute yarns, the gauge had
to be finer. So, another cylinder was manufactured with 5 gauge which proved
suitable for jute/cotton blended yams. The number of needles used for the 5
gauge cylinder for knitting jute/cotton blended yarns were 260 and for the 3
gauge cylinder, the number of needles were 160.
5.2.2

Feeders
A yam feeder, as the name suggests, is a yarn presenting device

arranged to produce one course per revolution of the machine when the cylinder
rotates knitting a fabric.
The machine produced for this study had a stationary single feeder, as
jute is very coarse and the production rate was considered not so important.

78

Fig 5.1 Details of the needle used in the circular knitting machine

Sinkers

5.2.3

A sinker is a metal plate, placed between two needles, around the

cylinder. Their main functions are:
i.

Loop formation

ii.

Holding down

iii.

Knocking over

Special types of sinkers were used for the knitting of 100% jute and
jute/cotton blends. This is because of the following reasons :
a. The needle raises to the tuck position to cast the loop. Since the jute yarn
has higher friction than that of cotton, the loop around the needle tends to
become tighter. This action will immediately make the knitted fabric lift up.
This tendency of lifting up would be arrested with the longer noose of the
sinker. Hence, the sinker used for this machine should be of a longer noose,
as shown in Figure 5.2.
b. The length and height of the noose press the casted loop downwards. This
holding down of loop by the sinker enables easy clearing of loop at the
clearing point for which the height and the length of the noose should be
ample, to knit jute and jute/cotton blends.
These sinkers were also made to the size and shape required, so as to fit
in the cylinder specially made to accommodate the needles and sinkers of the
particular size, to knit jute and jute/cotton blends. As the sinker spacing was
more, as a stop-gap arrangement, due to the non-availability of the required
sinkers of .75 mm and .5 mm thickness, 3 sinkers were used in the 3 gauge
knitting machine, and 2 sinkers were used in the 5 gauge knitting machine. The
details of the needles, calculated as depicted by Banerjee and Alaiban (1987),
and of the sinkers used for knitting 100% jute as well as jute/cotton blends are
given in Table 5.1.

80

Fig 5.2

Sinker used in the circular knitting machine

.75

9.4
1.71
__________ _

1.71

Needle
Thickness
(mm)

Needle
Height
(mm)

88

oc
oc

5.8

Sinker
Thickness
(mm)

Sinker
spacing
(mm)
i

R
(mm)
0.5

0.5

(mm)

4.84

0.5

0.5

R
(mm)

(mm)

(mm)

2.20

2.20

Needle Dimensions

00T

Machine
Gauge
(npi)

Table 5.1 Dimensions of the needle and sinkers used in

the circular knitting machine

81

o
o

oo
Tt-

82

5.2.4

Positive Feed
The positive feed (can also be referred to as storage feed) system is a

device used for measured and controlled feed of yarn. A positive feed ensures
proper, continuos, regular and a smooth flow of the yarn from the package to
the needle and also to guide the yam feed for just the required length for
forming a loop. It is fitted to each feeder in the circular knitting machine. The
positive feed that was used in the machine was tape nip type. The circular
knitting machine used for this study was fitted with a positive feed: MPF 20G2, manufactured by M/s Injectoplant, Kanpur, India in collaboration with M/s
Menninger - IRO , Germany.

The positive feed unit had a knot-catch

attachment of 2mm width to enhance the flow of the jute yarn. As this positive
feed unit worked satisfactorily, designing of a new one seemed unnecessary.
5.2.5

Take down system

As the jute fabric coming out of the knitting head would be heavy, it

should have more pulling tension while knitting. The take down arrangement
should be so arranged to have enough tension of the jute fabric. By adjusting
the eccentricity of cam ring, the take down tension can be increased or reduced.
The take down system used in the circular knitting machines used for knitting
100% jute and jute/cotton blends were of the usual type.
5.2.6

Cam design

5.2.6.1

Cylinder cam
The cams should be so designed to suit the needle latch movement

for three positions : knit, tuck and clear. The sinker cam also was designed to

suit the needle movement of the cylinder cam. To design the cylinder cam, the
needle parameters should be taken into consideration. For the knitting machine
designed for the study, the following details were to be considered:
a) clearing height for the needle - 24 mm
b) tuck height

- 16 mm

c) lowest level knitting point

- 5 mm

Also, the cam should have provision to close all 10 feeders except
one. As already mentioned, a single feeder was used for this study as it is for
the laboratory purpose. The bore dimension of the cylinder cam was 450 mm.
The cylinder cam shown in Figure 5.3 was designed based on the
following points:
i.

Stitch cam :
The stitch cam can be brought very near to the cylinder top, upto 1.55

mm from the top of the cylinder. In that case, the loop length would be small
and the fabric, tight. If the stitch cam is lowered as low as 5mm from the top of
the cylinder, then the loop length would be high and the fabric looser. For the
needle selected for the knitting of 100% jute and jute/cotton blends, the stitch
point can be lowered as low as 5mm. There is a provision in the cam to provide
the stitch cam, a travel of 5mm. With the help of a screw and a 5mm gap
beneath, the stitch cam can be fixed in any position that would be apt for the
knitting. Thus, as shown in the figure 5.3, the knitting angle (a) of 46 and
back angle (P) 27 were found to be suitable for knitting 100% jute and
jute/cotton blended yams, with the needle selected.
ii.

Tuck cam:
The tuck cam position, as shown in Figure 5.3, is 16mm from the

STITCH CAM

STITCH CAM

MOVES UP &VOWN

ADJUSTMENT POE

STITCH CAM
HOLDING SCREW
t- X X

X * X

13SC

24

it

SPRING

i
32
..........T ' -------

27

26

32-85

1)7>8S

CYLINDER CAM STEP

Fig 5.3

Cylinder cam

top of the cylinder.

iii.

Clearing cam:
The clearing height of the needle is 24 mm. The clearing cam is

designed to go up and down. When it is in the up position, it is called clear

position'; when it comes down, it is called tuck position. This is clearly
indicated in Figure 5.4. A gap of 9 mm is provided (Figure 5.3), which enables
all 9 feeders to be closed and the machine to run with one feeder.
5.2.6.2

Sinker cam
The sinker cam is designed based on the cylinder stitch cam length

and clearing cam length. It is designed to have proper timing adjustment.

Figure 5.5 shows the details of the sinker cam.
5.2.7

Selection of Machine diameter

The diameter of the machine made for knitting of jute was 17 inches

with 10 feeders.
The production rate depends heavily on another factor, which is
machine revolution per minute. The custom built circular knitting machine for
this study had an rpm of 18.
Full details of the bed assembly, roller set assembly, knitting
assembly, clutch unit, control panel board assembly and bobbin assembly are
shown in Figures 5.6 to 5.11.

Also, cylinder dimension and sinker ring

dimensions and the overall dimension of the machine are shown in Figures
5.12, 5.13 and 5.14 respectively.

86

Fig 5.4

Needle movement in the circular knitting machine

87

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SINKER PACK WAR'D ACTION

rAM WHILE YARN FED

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DESCRIPTIOI

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But
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Centre post
Sop Unit Ho.1
Stop Motion Box
Ring Support

P articu lare

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Knitting head Assembly

KN

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Pulley

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Handle Rod
Handle U Clamp

Clutch Unit

m
o

- K\ -

Fig 5.9

M
|

Handle Bracket
Bearing Bracket

Clutch Unit Support

M
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777

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Spring
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Control panel Assembly

r-

Catch Handle
Operating Handle
Release Lever Pin

* - -

Fig 5.10

Panel Board Bracket

Panel Board
Handle Support
Clutch Lever

10.

1
Coil

H
K

Magnet Plaper

at

92

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S teel rods Bottom

base ring

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1 m

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Cone Base

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Stop Hotion Boree

Middle atop motion support

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Tarn guide" p late

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5.11

o
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DESCRIPTION

93

429 7

Fig 5.12

Cylinder measurement

>1

(20

Fig 5.13

Sinker ring

95

1385

3250

96

Fig 5.14

Overall dimension of the circular knitting machine

98

Fig. 5.16

5 gauge cylinder

100

Fig. 5.18

A view of the 100% jute yarns being knit

101

Fig. 5.19

A view of the positive feed

102

Fig. 5.20

100% jute single jersey fabric

Fig. 5.21

Jute/cotton(rotor spun) single jersey fabric

Fig. 5.22

Jute/cotton(ring spun) single jersey fabric

105

Figures 5.15 to 5.19 show the circular knitting machine that has been
built to knit jute and jute/cotton blends and its different parts. Figures 5.20 :o
5.22 show the samples produced out of the machine.
Carpenter (1989) has discussed the relation between machine gauge
and linear density for knitting yarns and has given the following relationship:
G=(A/T) +B

(5.1)

where T is the Tex of the yarn, and A and B are constants for any given
machine class. (There is an error in the equation given by Carpenter (1989). In
that it is of the form
G = ( A / T ) - B,
which is incorrect, and should read as
G = (A / T ) + B
For example, for 30s cotton yarn, the value of A is 203.8 and value of T is
19.6. Thus
A/Tis 10.4.
and

(A / T ) + B = 25 which is a reasonable value).

It will be useful to determine the constants for A and B for knitting of

jute and jute/cotton blends.

106

The circular knitting machine was so built that it could have a same
body with changeable cylinders of different gauges so that the replaceable
cylinder of desired gauge could be fixed on to the body of the machine,
according to the yarn that has to be knit, either 100% jute or jute/cotton blended
yarns.
There is still scope for fitting non-linear cams and improving the
productivity of the knitting of jute and jute/cotton blends.
Although the description of single jersey knitting machine has been
given in this chapter, it is necessary to develop in future, an interlock, pique and
lxl rib knits with the circular knitting machines so that a wide range of knitted
jute fabrics could be produced for varied purposes, making them versatile.