Definition
In 1589, the Englishman William Lee invented the first mechanical stitch-forming process — the hand frame knitting machine. The first mechanically produced stocking was created by transferring the manual stitch-forming process to a mechanical one. The hand frame knitting machine achieved a production output sixteen times higher than hand knitting.
Use in the textile industry
The hand frame knitting machine was historically used primarily for the production of stockings and fine-gauge knitted fabrics, and it formed the technical foundation for later industrial knitting. As a manually driven machine, it was suited to cottage industry work and small manufacturing operations, and it produced a significantly more uniform loop structure than hand knitting alone. In the modern textile industry it has no practical relevance, but it is recognized as the direct predecessor of today's flat and circular knitting machines.
Learn textile knowledge in context
You have just looked up a single technical term. In textil trainer, you learn how textile materials, processes, and contexts are connected.
The free learning platform teaches textile fundamentals step by step in interactive online courses. Each online course includes its own glossary with the most important terms of the respective topic. Across all courses, more than 600 textile terms with narrated explanations are available.
textil trainer is developed together with the Chair of Textile Technologies at Chemnitz University of Technology, chemmedia AG, and companies and educational institutions from the textile sector.