ABSTRACT
technical developments in the fifties and sixties revolutionized the hosiery trade. Before the few successful experiments with new machinery that occurred in the forties, the hosiery frame was identical in principle with that which had been used for more than two centuries, a flat frame of about twenty inches in width which knitted one stocking at a time. The only important modification had been the construction of the new wider frames which could run to fifty inches and make several stockings at once. 1 In 1844 wide frames accounted for a fifth of all frames, but whereas the narrow frame produced a fully fashioned article by varying the length of the courses of rows used, the wide frame was less versatile; hence narrow frames continued to produce mainly fully-fashioned hose and wide frames made unfashioned stockings, outerwear, drawers, pants, shirting, and underwear. However, so long as hosiery frames remained flat the problem of applying power to the mechanism was much greater than in other textile industries.
