The previous post shows the advert for a machine of this type. I was away when preparing that post and have now got the machine out of store and revelled in its simplicity and the ingenuity of its design. I just love it.
The machine in its original box
I have hoovered it thoroughly, gently wiped the wonderful green enamel and put ballistol oil on the knitting mechanism
The machine bed.
Note the ends- the numbers represent the tension, a simple 'blob in a dent' system which works amazingly well.
Very simply the machine works by enabling the 'gate pegs' to come out by moving the inner slider to the opposite end of the carriage, the yarn is placed in the resulting horizontal groove, the other slider is moved along and the yarn is pulled towards the needle bed. The stitch formation action is completed by moving the front lower section around in a specified circuit ( towards you and round away from you ) and then you are ready to begin again.
I was very lucky in that I had in the box, 2 cast on combs and a bristle brush; clear instructions accompanied by photographs on how to work the machine ; instructions on knitting garments ; a supplement of fancy stitches and a superb double sided advert describing clientele suited for using the machine - including 'war wounded men'!
I have knitted samples on the machine but not an item yet!
I have owned it for several years (35?) - it was bought at a local auction . One has just been for sale on eBay for £300- which is a LOT more than this cost ! ( I don't know if it was sold for that!)
The interesting thing to me is finding out more about the machine. Further research of my own and help from a lady in the Vintage Knitting Machine FB group has established:
The machine was made in Italy.
The first model came out in 1938, it seems without the end tension dials
The model I have went by many other names' the miniknitter' being a common one, it seems to be model 2 - having the end tension dials.
It was made between 1949 and 1959, so it looks as if my machine is about the same age as me!
The lady (Pia) who has provided some of the extra information is the proud owner of one of these machines as well as a Passap ST120. She believes that the Passap is older still as it has some wood contained in the machine. The sliders in the Lanofix are clearly made from early 'plastic'.
Again if you know more about a Lanofix Miniknitter machine then do get in touch.
I have just bought a Minitex which only has one slider. Also Italian it’s a Negri Milano machine but sold by Paramount in Bradford UK.I believe in the fifties. In pretty fair condition albeit grubby and a seized needle bar, I’ve cleaned it up and cleaned all the needles but having huge difficulty getting past the mesh row cast on. The rubber / sponge strip is completely shot so need to figure out which screws are involved. I think without it the intersectors are too far from the needle bar. I don’t have any instructions but Maggi from the vintage museum has kindly sent me some photos of the first few pages. Hopefully tomorrow will see more progress!
ReplyDeleteFurther to the above I have now successfully cast on and knitted three rows! The problems I was having were purely down to the decayed felt (not rubber or sponge) strip which meant the gap between the intersectors and the needles was too large. A length of thick draught excluder did the trick. I have a mininitter (no k) instruction book but it isn't very detailed. So I'm wondering if yours is a much later model and the book I haver came with an early machine. Certainly not like the extracts I have seen from the Minitex instructions with are very clear with plenty of photos. That said it shows the two tension dials. Anyway I agree about the design. It's ingenious. I'm hopeful of getting a Minitex manual before too long! Chasing two leads at the moment. Fingers crossed.
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