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Weft
Warp

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Warp Knits--the
possibilities

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Needle Technology
Until relatively recently warp knitting

machines used four types of needle:

The
The
The
The

bearded needle
latch needle
compound needle
carbine needle

Bearded and compound needles were

used on tricot machines, the latch

needle on raschel and crochet machines
and the carbine needle on crochet
machines.
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Knitting Technology
Recently the bearded needle has

been dropped and development has

focused on the compound needle
due to its greater rigidity and ability
to withstand higher yarn lapping
forces (see Loop formation) than the
bearded or latch needle.

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Knitting Technology
Furthermore at the highest speeds

(above 2,500 cycles/minute) the issue

of latch impact on the hook starts to
become a problem with latch needles.
In contrast the compound needle can

be closed gently in a controlled

manner even at the highest knitting
speeds.
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Warp Knitting Technology

Warp knitting machines--needles are

mounted collectively and rigidly in a

horizontal metal bar (the needle bar
that runs the full knitting width of the
machine).
Equally the yarn guides are also set
rigidly into a horizontal metal bar
(the guide bar that runs the full
width of the machine).
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Knitting Element
Displacements
The diagram

summarizes the
somewhat
confusing
displacements
made by the guide
bar. The front of
the machine lies to
the right of the
diagram.
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Knitting Element
Displacements
The diagram shows

the individual yarn

guides set in a solid
bar. The front-toback movements are
called swings. The
first swing from front
to back is followed
by a lateral shog:
the overlap, which
wraps the yarn in
the needle hook.
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Knitting Element
Displacements
The next

movement is a
swing from back to
front followed by
the underlap that
may be from 0 to 8
needle spaces
depending on the
fabric structure
being knitted.
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Tricot Knitting
In diagram (1.3 a &

b) the guide bar

swings from the
front of the machine
(on the right hand
side of the diagram)
to the back of the
machine taking the
yarn through the
gap between two
adjacent needles.
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Tricot Knitting
Diagram (1.4 c) shows the

guide bar moving laterally

towards the observer. This
is known as a shog
movement, specifically the
overlap that wraps the yarn
around the beard of the
needle.
Diagram (1.4 d) shows the
second swing in the cycle
taking the yarn between
adjacent needles back to
the front of the machine. At
this time the needle bar
moves upwards to place
the overlap below the open
beard on the shank of the
needle.
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Tricot Knitting
Diagram (1.5 e)

shows the presser

bar moving forward
to close all the
needles and in (1.5
f) the closed needle
passes down
through the old loop
and the sinkers
move backwards to
release the old
loops so that knockover can take place.
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Tricot Knitting
In figure (1.6 g) the

sinker bar moves

forward to secure the
fabric prior to the
needle rising in the
next cycle and at this
stage the guide bar
makes a second shog,
this time an overlap
which may be of 0 to 8
needle spaces
depending on the
structure being knitted.
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Tricot Knitting
The machine type in this series of

diagrams is a tricot machine and on this

type of machine there is no continuous
knock-over surface.
The belly' of the sinker provides support to
the fabric by preventing the underlaps
from moving downwards.
For this reason it is not a good idea to knit
fabrics with few underlaps such as net or
lace on a tricot machine.
They are much better knitted on a Raschel
machine with a continuous knock-over
trick plate.
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Tricot Knitting
The diagrams you are about to see

illustrate a tricot machine with

compound needles.
The sequence of events is almost
exactly the same as for the bearded
needle with the exception that the
overlap lays the yarn into the open
hook and not onto the beard, and the
compound needle is closed by relative
displacement between the needle and
the closing element.
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Tricot Knitting

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Tricot Knitting

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Tricot Knitting

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Guide Bar Shog, Overlap

and Underlap
The displacements shown for the

needle, sliding latch, guide bar swing

and sinker bar are the same
irrespective of the type of fabric
being produced by the machine.

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Guide Bar Shog, Overlap

and Underlap
The shog movements determine the type of

fabric produced and they need to be changed

each time the fabric structure is modified.
Crucially the shog movements must place the
guides at the centre of the gap between
adjacent needles with 100% accuracy every
knitting cycle for the entire lifetime of the
machine.
If there was a failure in the shog displacement
and the needle bar moved by less than a full
needle pitch then in all likelihood the yarn
guides would collide with the needles during
the swing movement causing serious damage
to the machine.
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Warp Knit Structure

Warp knitting is defined as a stitch

forming process in which the yarns are

supplied to the knitting zone parallel to
the selvedge of the fabric, i.e. in the
direction of the wales.
In warp knitting, every knitting needle is
supplied with at least one separate yarn.
In order to connect the stitches to form a
fabric, the yarns are deflected laterally
between the needles.
In this manner a knitting needle often
draws the new yarn loop through the
knitted loop formed by another end of
yarn in the previous knitting cycle.
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Warp Knit Structure

A warp knitted structure is made up of

two parts. The first is the stitch itself,

which is formed by wrapping the yarn
around the needle and drawing it
through the previously knitted loop.

This wrapping of the yarn is called an

overlap. The diagram shows the path

taken by the eyelet of one yarn guide
traveling through the needle line,
making a lateral overlap (shog) and
making a return swing. This movement
wraps the yarn around the needle ready
for the knock-over displacement.
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Warp Knit Structure

The second part of stitch formation is

the length of yarn linking together

the stitches and this is termed the
underlap, which is formed by the
lateral movement of the yarns across
the needles.

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Warp Knit Structure

The length of the underlap is defined in

terms of needle spaces.

The longer the underlap, the more it lies at
right angles to the fabric length axis.
The longer the underlap for a given warp the
greater the increase in lateral fabric stability,
conversely a shorter underlap reduces the
width-wise stability and strength and
increases the lengthways stability of the
fabric.

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Warp Knit Structure

The length of the underlap also influences the

fabric weight.
When knitting with a longer underlap, more
yarn has to be supplied to the knitting needles.
The underlap crosses and covers more wales
on its way, with the result that the fabric
becomes heavier, thicker and denser.
Since the underlap is connected to the root of
the stitch, it causes a lateral displacement in
the root of the stitch due to the warp tension.
The reciprocating movements of the yarn,
therefore, cause the stitch of each knitted
course to incline in the same direction,
alternately to the left and to the right.
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Warp Knit Structure

In order to control both the lateral and

longitudinal properties, as well as to produce

an improved fabric appearance with erect
loops, a second set of yarns is usually
employed. The second set is usually moved in
the opposite direction to the first in order to
help balance the lateral forces on the
needles. The length of the underlap need not
necessarily be the same for both sets of
yarns.

Run-in: the yarn consumption during 480

knitted courses
Rack: a working
courses

cycle

of

480

knitted

The run-in

.is the yarn consumption for one rack.

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Warp Knit Structure

For a given machine with a given

warp:
A longer run-in produces bigger stitches

and a generally slacker, looser fabric

A shorter run-in produces smaller and
tighter stitches
With more than one guide bar the ratio
of the amount of yarn fed from each
warp is termed the run-in ratio
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Lapping Diagrams
With the exception of

the
very
simplest
structures, it is too
time consuming to
represent warp knitted
fabric using stitch or
loop diagrams. For this
reason two methods of
fabric
representation
are commonly used.

Lapping diagrams
Numerical
representation
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Looping Diagrams
Actual Guide Movement

This is the symbolic

image
of
the
technological process
of
lapping.
This
diagram can also be
derived from a stitch
chart by not drawing
in the stitch legs but
only the head and
feet of the stitches.
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Looping Diagrams
The needle heads are

represented on paper as
dots. The path of the
guide bars is drawn in
front of and behind the
needles
The yarns will not lie as
straight in the fabric as
they do when they are
conducted through the
guide bars and around
the needles on the
machine. The yarn path
in the lapping diagram is
rounded off to represent
this
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Looping Diagrams
Each

dot represents
one needle and each
horizontal row of dots
a single stitch forming
process,
i.e.
one
course. Several rows
of dots from bottom
to top represent the
succession of several
stitch-forming
processes or courses
recording a complete
repeat of the fabric
structure.
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Numerical Notation Related to

Chain Link Height
The

numerical
notation is best
understood
in
relation
to
the
mechanical system
that is used to
generate the lateral
displacements
(shogs) of the guide
bars.
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Numerical Notation Related to

Chain Link Height
If the pattern drive is

on the right hand side

of the machine, then
the movement of the
guide bar from the
smallest chain link
height (0) is only
possible towards the
left. With a chain link
(1), the guide bar is
moved to the left by
one
needle
space
(division), with a chain
link (2) by two needle
spaces, etc.
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Numerical Notation Related to

Chain Link Height
On

dotted
paper,
therefore, the numbers
read from right to left and
are entered between each
needle
space.
The
numbering is done from
left to right when the
pattern drive is on the lefthand side of the machine.
The lateral movement of
the guides is initiated by
chain links of various
heights marked with 0, 1,
2, 3, 4, etc. This guide bar
movement is an especially
important part of the
pattern development.
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Chain Link Arrangement

The guide bar is positioned with the follower

roller on chain link 0'; it swings through,

then moves to the left as the roller moves
to chain link 1'. It swings back and returns
to its starting position (chain link 0').
The chain should read:

In the opposite direction:

1
0
The smallest repeating unit (repeat)
extends over one course: height repeat = 1
stitch, width repeat = 1 stitch.
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Chain Link Arrangement

Application
Pillar

stitch
construction
can
be
employed in the production of outerwear
and for ribbed velour fabrics (corduroy).
Even in these fabrics, the open pillar
stitch is more popular as it provides the
necessary longitudinal stability and runs
freely. It is used in conjunction with the
binding element in-lay' in laces and
curtains, though always with a second
guide bar.
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Open and Closed Stitches

The stitch formed has an open

or closed character according

to the direction of the underlap
and overlap motions. The
underlaps can be of differing
magnitudes and directions:

If the underlap and overlap are in

opposite directions then the stitch

formed would have a closed
character
If the underlap and overlap are in
the same direction, then the stitch
formed will have an open character

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Open and Closed Stitches

The stitch is open when the

feet do not cross and closed

when the feet cross. The
structure of a warp knitted
fabric depends on the lapping
motion of the guide bars, and
therefore the structure could
be represented by:

Drawing a stitch or stitch chart

diagram, which takes time and

is difficult
Lapping diagram

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Yarn Threading Plan

In warp knitting a yarn

guide wraps the yarn

around the needle hook,
thus
forming
a
loop.
However, to form a fabric,
the yarn guide must wrap
the yarn around a different
needle during the next
course. The yarn guides,
therefore,
must
be
displaced laterally during
knitting. Different warp
knitted
structures
are
produced by varying the
magnitude of their lateral
displacement.
Therefore
warp knitted structures
can be described by noting
the
guide
bar
displacement.

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Yarn Threading Plan

The actual guide

bar motion
consists of an
underlap, swingthrough, overlap
and swing-back
movement, and
this motion is
known as lapping.

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Yarn Threading Plan

The yarn is wrapped

around the needle

hook due to the
swing-through,
overlap and swingback movement of
the yarn guide, and
this forms a stitch. A
warp knitted fabric is,
therefore, made from
stitches (overlap) and
connecting underlaps.
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Single Bar Structures

A plain warp knitted structure is produced

on a single needle bar. The resulting

structures are known as single face fabrics.
Rib and interlock warp knitted structures
are produced on double needle bars, and
these structures are known as double face
fabrics.
In single face structures (plain), stitches
are visible on one side, known as the
technical face, and on the other side
(known as the technical back) only
underlaps are visible.
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Pillar Lap
A pillar stitch (or chain

stitch) is a stitch
construction
where
lapping of a yarn guide
takes place over the
same needle.
As there are no lateral

connections between
the neighboring wales,
the stitches are only
interconnected in the
direction of the wales.
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Pillar Lap
Due

to the absence of
underlaps, a fabric is not
created, only chains of
disconnected wales.
Single bar pillar lap is
technically possible only
on
Raschel
machines
where the trick plate acts
a knock-over bed.
On a tricot machine the
sinkers are unable to
control the position of the
old loop when there is no
underlap (pillar stitch) and
so the knitting of pillar
stitch on its own is
impossible.
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Pillar Lap
Open

or closed
pillar stitches can
be
produced
depending on the
guide
bar
movement.

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1 and 1 Lap (Tricot Lap)

The laps are executed

in alternate overlap and

underlap motions on
two defined needles.
This stitch creates a
textile fabric as the
underlaps connect both
the courses and the
wales.
The simplest of this
group of structures is
made
between
two
adjacent needles.
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1 and 1 Lap (Tricot Lap)

Guide bar motions:
First course:
Under 1 needle to the
right

(UL
)

swing through

over 1 needle to the

right

(OL
)

Swing Back

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1 and 1 Lap (Tricot Lap)

Second course:
Under 1 needle to the
left

swing through

over 1 needle to the left

Swing Through

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1 and 1 Lap (Tricot Lap)

Result:
Therefore, the chain link

arrangement is:
1

0
1
2 closed 1 and 1 stitch
As

a result of the
underlaps, the diagonal
sinker loops are formed.
These pull the stitch
heads of each alternate
row
into
the
same
direction.

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2 and 1 Lap
Swing through 1
swing back
0
swing through 2
swing back
3
swing through 1
swing back
0

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3 and 1 Lap
Swing through
swing back

1
0

swing through
swing back

3
4

swing through
swing back

0
1

swing through
swing back

4
3

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4 and 1 Lap
Swing through

1
swing back 0

swing through

4
swing back 5

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Atlas Lap
The atlas construction

differs in that the laps

are continued over
two or more courses
in one direction and
then return in the
other direction to the
point where they
started.
Lapping movement

0-1/2-1/3-2/4-3/5-4/3-4/2-3/1-2/

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 video

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Stitch Diagram and

Notation?

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