forces so that the needle shank 1 is pressed on the side 19 of the latch needle 100 which is in the rear when seen in the direction of rotation 22 against the associated side wall of the needle bed due to the oblique orientation of the slot 8 however it remains ensured that the noucat 12 properly covers the tip 14 and that the longitudinal plane of symmetry 15 of the slot 8 cannot be pushed laterally beyond the longitudinal plane of symmetry 16 of the needle shank 1 in this way the noucat 12 is reliably prevented from brushing against an adjacent sinker or transfer jack even when the needles are arranged in very close proximity similarly in the embodiment of fig5 and 6 in a rest position of the latch needle 101 due to the tilted position of the slot 8 39 a latch corresponding to the latch 11 of fig2 is laterally guided in the slot 8 39 and comes to lie in such a position when closed that its noucat which corresponds to the noucat 12 of fig2 rests on the needle tip 14 39 while being displaced to one side when the latch needle 101 shown in fig5 and 6 is inserted for example into the needle cylinder of a circular knitting machine which rotates clockwise as indicated by an arrow 22 in fig5 the latch corresponding to the latch 11 in fig2 and the needle head 3 39 are somewhat bent laterally outwardly by attacking lateral forces so that the needle shank 1 39 is pressed on a side 19 of the latch needle 101 which.