Feeders for Textile Machinery

A feeder is the device that presents yarn to the needles at the right rate and tension, feed by feed, hour after hour. Knitting quality is largely decided here: loop length is set by how much yarn the feeder delivers, and most barré, stripes and tension faults trace back to feeding. Feeder types divide by principle — positive feeders that meter a fixed length, storage feeders that accumulate and release yarn at even tension, and dedicated units for difficult yarns such as Lycra — and the feeder trade supplies them as machine-specific spare parts.

Feeder Types and What They Control

Positive feeders drive the yarn — wrapped on a wheel or drum — so delivery is set by the drive, not by yarn demand; the Self Grip Wheel feed wheel from Inchlines, extensively used on large diameter fabric machines, is the classic example. Storage feeders wind a reserve of yarn on a drum and let the machine draw it off, ironing out the tension peaks of package unwinding. Plating, striper and jacquard machines need feeders that handle several yarns at different tensions at once, and elastane needs its own controlled feed. Around the feeder itself, yarn carriers — the guides that take yarn the last distance to the needles — wear with the yarn, which is why carrier refurbishing with a ceramic coating, as offered below, has become a service in its own right for machines knitting abrasive yarns.

Feeder Faults and Maintenance

Feeder problems announce themselves in the fabric: periodic barré from a slipping wheel or belt, tight and loose courses from a sticking tension disc, and fuzz from a worn carrier eye. Maintenance is mostly cleanliness and surface condition — spin finish and lint bake onto wheels and discs, changing their grip, and ceramic-coated or ceramic contact parts extend the intervals. Inchlines, the Leicester textile engineers listed below, design and manufacture feeders as part of their circular knitting parts range and are specialists in hosiery machine camboxes, cams, feeders, yarn carriers and accessories. Order feeders and parts by machine make, model and feed position, and by yarn type where the feeder is yarn-specific.

Companies Supplying Feeders