Abstract: The invention relates to a circular knitting machine for the production of knit goods with combed-in fibers, having a rotatable, needle-bearing needle cylinder and a card which has a means for feeding the fibers, a comb-in zone through which the needles pass for the purpose of contactlessly receiving the fibers, and a teasing cylinder rotating at high speed which takes the fibers from the feed means and yields them to the comb-in zone. To prevent thin areas or thick areas from being produced in the finished goods on account of the contactless fiber loading, the circular knitting machine has a protective device (60) which becomes active in the still state of the needle cylinder for the purpose of retaining the already combed-in fiber tufts (57) in the needles (3) which are in the comb-in zone in the still state of the needle cylinder.

Abstract: The invention concerns a process and a circular knitting machine for the production of knit goods with combed-in fibers, in which an amount of fibers synchronous with the needle cylinder rotatory speed is fed to a teasing cylinder rotating at high speed, transferred by the latter to the comb-in zone, and taken from the needles in the comb-in zone without contacting the teasing cylinder. To prevent the development of areas overfilled with fibers or short of fibers in the finished knit goods on account of the contact-less fiber feed, during or before abrupt reductions or increases in the rotatory speed of the needle cylinder, at least temporarily smaller or larger amounts of fibers are fed to the comb-in zone than corresponds to the synchronous amount of fibers.