The Sock Knitting machine I used can be described as a Creelman “closed cam” home circular knitting machine. The basic working parts are a cog ring, cam cylinder, needle cylinder, needles and crank , but the catalogs of the period list over 100 parts. The Creelman Brothers started manufacturing knitting machines in Canada in the mid 1800’s. Though they manufactured about twenty types of machines, the one I have may be a prototype for an early light weight home use machine, built around 1880.
To operate, the handle is cranked and the cam cylinder rotates around the stationary needle cylinder or drum. As the cam cylinder turns an internal “V” cam pushes the needles up to the yarn held by a guide. As the needle rises the latch opens and the hook catches the yarn. The needle is then pushed down by the cam, the latch closes around the yarn and the needle drops through the existing stitch, creating a new stitch. This all happens very quickly as Maryellen found out, she knit about 7 inches of sock in a couple of minutes.
Weights are placed on the completed work as it comes out to keep tension on the stitches, allowing the needles to open and close. The tall “mast” holding the yarn over the work keeps an even tension on the yarn as it is fed into the machine by the yarn guide.
Pictures by Maryellen Pratt, taken at the 2012 Meeting of the Washington Historical Gunmaker's Guild with copy by Pam Skillman.
