the crank mechanism drive 5 the beam carrier 2 and the devices held by the beam carrier 2 so that reference is made to the above description as opposed to the exemplary embodiment shown in fig1 the guiding device 14 in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig2 is formed above the beam carrier 2 between the crank drives 6 1 and 6 2 in this exemplary embodiment the steering transmission 17 of the guiding device 14 is formed by an eccentric shaft 18 and a rocker 28 the eccentric shaft 18 is held in the frame rotary bearing 19 in the machine frame 20 and is coupled to a drive system not illustrated here a connecting rod 21 connects the eccentric shaft 18 to the steering rod 15 by means of a swivel joint 16 2 the rocker 28 is held on the machine frame 20 by means of a rotary bearing 29 and a free end thereof is coupled to the steering rod 15 by means of an additional swivel joint 16 3 when the eccentric shaft 18 is driven by a drive system synchronously to the crankshafts 9 1 and 9 2 a translatory motion is superimposed on the steering rod 15 by means of the rocker 28 and this translatory motion results in a superimposed horizontal movement of the beam carrier 2 by means of the swivel joint 16 1 with a constant horizontal stroke the beam carrier 2 and thus the needle beam 1 carry out an elliptical movement the rotational speed of the eccentric.