In the early 1980′s, when Silver-Reed changed the style of the mainbed knitting machine needles, they also introduced a Lace Carriage for their machines.
The needles were made more flexible to accommodate the transfer of the stitches more readily. They are identified by a curved area on the bottom of the shaft about and inch from the hook.
The reason the lace carriage documentation says, that the electronic lace carriage is for the 560 model only, is that, the 580 and 800 series had not been INVENTED YET. The Model 560 uses the newer style needles than prior models. The newer models as were introduced , use the flexible needles to this day.
Again, the lace carriage that is meant for the Model 360 and up (700 series)standard gauge punchcard machines is the same even though the Model # is slightly different.
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Machines prior to the 360, (model number is lower that 360), DID NOT have a lace carriage. At the time of the introduction of the Model 360, the shape of needles in the standard gauge machine were changed to a more flexible needle, to accommodate lace knitting.Same needle for both the electronic and punchcard machines.
Unfortunately, the larger gauge models, don’t have the range of accessories that were introduced for the standard gauge.
