drum in a circular knitting machine there is provided a device comprising a ratchet wheel rigid with the drum and having five rows of teeth axially spaced thereon five pawls are movable back and forth for engagement with the teeth of a respective row a primary pawl can be disengaged from the ratchet wheel under control of the main chain and four secondary pawls reciprocate in regular succession so as to perform two back and forth movements in the span of two revolutions of the needle cylinder the secondary pawls have a front end wider than the axial width of the teeth between the rows of teeth there are arcuate members having a circumferential length depending on the knitting program and a height such as to disengage the pawls from the respective teeth the arcuate members may be easily replaced to provide further advancing sequences for the main drum application_number US 2815479 A description in the drawing figures the various ratchet wheels are represented as only partially toothed for simplicity but it will be understood that the teeth extend all along the circumference of the wheels themselves with reference first to fig1 the device 1 for advancing the main drum 2 of a circular hose or the like knitting.