Introduction
Socks are a necessity in daily life, and their production process cannot be separated from the support of sock manufacturing equipment. From the initial hand-knitting to today's highly automated mechanical equipment production, sock manufacturing equipment has gone through a long development process, and has been constantly innovating to meet the market's demand for sock production, quality and diversified designs. In the textile industry, sock manufacturing equipment plays a core role, and its technical level directly affects the competitiveness of sock manufacturers and the development direction of the entire industry.
Development History of Sock Manufacturing Equipment
Before the 18th century, sock production mainly relied on hand knitting, which was inefficient and had limited output. In 1589, the Englishman William Lee invented the first knitting machine, which used hook knitting to knit formed socks. This was an important milestone in the development of sock manufacturing equipment and opened the precedent for mechanized production of socks. However, early knitting machines could only produce relatively simple socks, and a large amount of manual processing was still required in the future.
In the 19th century, with the advancement of the Industrial Revolution, mechanical manufacturing technology made significant progress, providing strong support for the development of sock manufacturing equipment. In 1849, latch needles were applied to small-caliber circular knitting machines, and single-cylinder circular sock machines came into being. Initially, they produced cut socks. In 1857, they began to knit socks with bag-shaped heels and toes, making the production of socks closer to modern styles. In 1864, the Englishman W. Cotton invented the Cotton sock machine (crochet flat knitting machine), which further enriched the types of sock manufacturing equipment.
In the 20th century, science and technology developed rapidly, and electricity was widely used in industrial production. Electric sock machines began to become popular in the middle of the 20th century, greatly improving production efficiency. During this period, sock manufacturing equipment continued to improve in terms of automation and knitting accuracy. In 1900, double-headed latch needles were applied to small-caliber circular knitting machines, and double-cylinder circular sock machines appeared for knitting ribbed socks, enriching the styles of socks. Since then, the equipment has been continuously improved and gradually has the functions of automatically controlling knitting patterns and adjusting sock density.
Entering the 21st century, automation and intelligent technology have become the main theme of the development of sock manufacturing equipment. Modern sock machines incorporate advanced automation and intelligent functions, such as automatic line control, automatic detection, and automatic adjustment. With the help of sensors, computer control systems, etc., the equipment can monitor the production process in real time, discover and solve problems in a timely manner, and ensure the stability of product quality. At the same time, with the increasing demand of consumers for personalized products, sock machines also have more customized functions, which can quickly adjust the knitting program according to the design to produce a variety of unique sock products.
Types and working principles of sock manufacturing equipment
(1) Flat sock machines
Flat sock machines have a higher machine gauge and mainly produce flat socks. Its working principle is through the coordinated operation of loop forming parts such as knitting needles, yarn bending pieces, yarn dividing pieces, loop stripping pieces, yarn guides and pressing pieces. The knitting needles are fixed on the needle bed, and the needle bed drives the knitting needles to move together. The yarn guide moves along the needle bed to pad the yarn, and other loop forming parts cooperate to complete the knitting action. During the knitting process, the width of each section is changed according to the shape of the foot and leg to weave ergonomic socks, which are then stitched to form seamed socks. Since flat sock machines require more manual intervention during the production process and have relatively low production efficiency, the proportion of applications in the market is gradually decreasing, but they are still used in some cases where there are special requirements for sock styles and small production batches.
(2) Circular sock machines
Circular sock machines are currently the most widely used sock manufacturing equipment with a wide range of machine gauges. It is mainly composed of yarn feeding mechanism, weaving mechanism, needle selection mechanism, control mechanism, transmission mechanism, density adjustment mechanism and pulling mechanism, and some hosiery machines also have starting and folding mechanisms.
Yarn feeding mechanism: responsible for leading the yarn from the bobbin into the weaving area, divided into negative and positive types. Negative yarn feeding relies on the yarn's own tension to lead it from the bobbin. Although it is equipped with a tensioner and a tension compensation device, the yarn tension varies greatly; positive yarn feeding uses a special device to feed the yarn into the weaving area at a constant line speed. The yarn tension is more stable, which can effectively improve product quality and is widely used in modern circular hosiery machines.
Weaving mechanism: The yarn is woven into a tubular sock blank through the work of knitting needles, sinkers, yarn guides and triangles. The knitting needles are arranged on the needle cylinder, and the yarn guide is fixed around the needle cylinder. When the needle cylinder rotates, the latch needle moves up and down under the action of the triangle, and the yarn guide pads the yarn to complete the weaving. When knitting the heel and toe of socks, the needle picker and needle presser collect and release the needles to form a bag shape. The number of routes (number of thread entry points) of circular sock machines is generally 1-12, and the more routes, the higher the productivity.
Needle selection mechanism: The pre-designed patterns can be arranged in the needle selection device, and the knitting needles are controlled by the transmission mechanism to knit according to the program, so as to produce socks with various patterns.
Control mechanism: In the process of knitting a sock, the working state of the relevant parts is controlled, such as entering or exiting the work, and the speed, direction of the needle cylinder, and the length of the socks are controlled at the same time.
Transmission mechanism: Provide power for each mechanism to make it move according to a predetermined rule. The needle cylinder of the circular sock machine can not only rotate in one direction, but also rotate in two directions when knitting the heel and toe of the socks.
Density adjustment mechanism: By changing the relative position of the knitting needle and the sinker, the depth of the yarn bending is adjusted, thereby controlling the density of each section of the socks to meet the wearing needs of different parts.
Pulling mechanism: With the help of heavy hammers, rollers, airflow, etc., the formed coils are led out of the knitting area to ensure the continuity of the knitting process.
Starting and folding mechanism: At the beginning of sock knitting, when there is no coil, the starting and folding mechanism are used; when the sock opening is knitted to a certain length, the single-layer sock opening is folded into a double layer to make the sock opening have good elasticity and no curling, which is generally completed by the sock opening hook.
The tubular sock blanks produced by the circular sock machine can be made into seamless socks by closing the sock toe. Due to its high production efficiency and strong product adaptability, it can meet the needs of large-scale production and occupy a dominant position in the sock manufacturing industry.
The seamless one-piece molding sock machine is a high-end equipment developed on the basis of the circular sock machine. Its working principle is similar to that of the circular sock machine, but it has been optimized and innovated in knitting technology and equipment structure. Through special knitting technology and program control, the overall knitting of socks from the sock opening to the sock toe can be completed on one machine at one time, without the need for subsequent sewing processes. The socks produced have no side seams, are more comfortable and fit, and have better elasticity and shaping effects. Seamless one-piece sock machines are usually equipped with advanced computer control systems, which can accurately control every parameter in the knitting process to achieve complex pattern design and personalized customization.
(4) Intelligent jacquard sock machines
Intelligent jacquard sock machines focus on the knitting of sock patterns and can produce exquisite and complex jacquard patterns. It integrates advanced electronic needle selection technology and computer pattern design system. When working, the operator inputs the designed pattern into the sock machine control system through computer software. The control system controls the needle selection mechanism according to the pattern information, accurately selects the knitting needles for knitting, and makes different colors of yarn form specific patterns in the corresponding positions. Intelligent jacquard sock machines can achieve jacquard effects of multiple colors and multiple tissues, greatly enriching the appearance design of socks and meeting the market demand for fashionable and personalized socks. It is often used in the production of high-end fashion socks, gift socks, etc., bringing higher value-added products to sock manufacturing companies.
Technical characteristics of modern sock manufacturing equipment
(1) High degree of automation
Modern sock manufacturing equipment has a high degree of automation. Most of the operations in the whole process from yarn input to finished sock output can be completed automatically by the equipment. Functions such as automatic yarn feeding, automatic knitting, automatic thread cutting, and automatic sock dropping reduce human intervention, which not only improves production efficiency, but also reduces the impact of human factors on product quality. For example, some advanced sock machines can automatically detect the tension, color and thickness of the yarn during knitting. Once an abnormality occurs, the machine will immediately stop and alarm to avoid producing defective products. The automated production process enables enterprises to produce more products per unit time and enhances the market competitiveness of enterprises.
(2) Intelligent control
Intelligence is one of the significant features of modern sock manufacturing equipment. The equipment is equipped with an advanced computer control system, and the operator can easily set various knitting parameters such as sock size, density, pattern style, etc. through the human-machine interface. The control system can accurately control the operation of each component of the equipment according to the preset parameters to achieve high-precision knitting. At the same time, some sock machines have also integrated the Internet of Things technology, which can collect equipment operation data in real time, such as output, energy consumption, fault information, etc., and upload them to the enterprise management system. Through data analysis, enterprise managers can timely understand the operation status of equipment, optimize production plans, perform equipment maintenance in advance, and improve the scientificity and efficiency of production management. In addition, intelligent sock machines can also quickly adjust production processes according to market demand to achieve flexible production of small batches and multiple varieties.
(3) High-precision knitting
As consumers' requirements for sock quality continue to increase, modern sock manufacturing equipment has reached an unprecedented level of knitting accuracy. The equipment uses precise mechanical manufacturing technology and advanced electronic control technology to ensure that the knitting needles can accurately complete each knitting action during high-speed movement, so that the knitted socks coils are uniform, flat, and have high dimensional accuracy. When producing some high-end products, such as medical socks and sports functional socks, high-precision knitting can ensure that the socks have accurate pressure distribution and fit in different parts to meet special functional requirements. At the same time, high-precision knitting also provides technical support for the realization of complex patterns and fine patterns, making the appearance of socks more beautiful and exquisite.
(4) Energy saving and environmental protection
Under the background of global advocacy of energy saving and environmental protection, modern sock manufacturing equipment is also developing in this direction. On the one hand, by optimizing the transmission system and motor configuration of the equipment, the energy consumption of the equipment can be reduced. For example, high-efficiency and energy-saving servo motors are used to improve energy utilization and reduce electricity consumption. On the other hand, the design of equipment focuses on the use of environmentally friendly materials and the recycling of waste yarn. Some sock machines use degradable plastic parts to reduce pollution to the environment; at the same time, they are equipped with waste yarn recycling devices to collect and sort the waste yarn generated during the production process, which can be recycled and reused, reducing the waste of raw materials and achieving sustainable production.
