the cam 82 with an 8 1 drive ratio there will be eight revolutions of the element 1 between one operation of the pawl 100 and the next under the conditions discussed above while under the preceding conditions with the disc 80 released one operation of the pawl 100 will occur every four revolutions of the element 1 this change in the operating frequency of the pawl 100 on the toothed rim 24 depending upon the presence or the absence of the pins 42 on the ring 38 in a predetermined arc of the cam drum 26 enables the length of the article knitted on the machine to be changed over this arc of the cam drum by modifying the arrangement of pins 42 the 34 size 34 of the article relative to the length which is knitted in the above mentioned arc of the cam drum is changed this working arc is defined between one or more pins 44 of greater length during all of those phases the micro switch 52 is maintained under a condition in which it effects high speed drive of the needle cylinder when the lever 46 is engaged by a pin 44 and is further moved the displacement of the arms 50 54 is greater this allows the head 50a to move away from the micro switch 52 by such a distance as to permit the micro switch to reduce the rotational speed of the needle cylinder also the longer displacement of the arm 54 causes release.