Single jersey knitting machines whose latch needle cylinder and sinker ring revolve through the satationary knitting cam systems that, together with their yarn feeders, are situated at regular intervals around the circumference of the cylinder. The yarn is supplied from cones , placed either on an integral overhead bobbin stand or on a free-standing creel, through tensioners, stop motions and guide eyes down to the yarn feeder guides.
The fabric made by single jersey knitting machines, in tubular from, is drawn downwards from inside the needle cylinder by tension rollers and is wound onto the fabric-batching roller of the winding-down frame. The winding-down mechanism revolves in unison with the cylinder and fabric tube and is rack-lever operated via cam-followers running on the underside of a profiled cam ring. As the sinker cam-plate is mounted outside on the needle circle, the centre of the cylinder is open and the machine is referred to as an open top or sinker top machine.
Compared with a rib machine, a single jersey knitting machine is simpler and more economical, with a potential for more feeders, higher running speeds and knitting a wider range of yarn counts.
When the plain single jersey fabric is cut, the loops are no longer held in this configuration so that the fabric curls towards the face at the top and bottom and towards the back at the sides. The same configuration causes face meshed wales of loop to be prominent in rib fabrics and the heads of loops and the sinker loops to be prominent in wales of purl stitches.
