Circular knitting machines can be divided into single jersey circular machines and double jersey circular machines according to the number of needle cylinders. According to the structural characteristics of the machine and the characteristics of the knitted products, they can be divided into ordinary machines, auto striper machines, terry machines, fleece machines, loop transfer machines, jacquard machines.

1. Ordinary machines
Ordinary machines are the basic models of circular knitting machines, including single jersey machines, rib machines, and cotton wool machines. Among them, single jersey machines and rib machines have only one needle channel and can only weave plain weft fabrics and simple rib fabrics. Cotton wool machines have two needle channels on the upper and lower parts and can only weave simple cotton wool fabrics. Other models are formed on the basis of ordinary machines
At present, there are no ordinary machines in the true sense on the market. The ordinary machines generally mentioned are multi-needle channel machines. Multi-needle track single-sided knitting machine generally has 4 needle tracks, and can weave small flower-shaped fabrics through the arrangement of knitting needles and triangles; multi-needle track double-sided knitting machine generally has 2 needle tracks on the needle plate and 4 needle tracks on the needle cylinder. According to the different needle alignment methods, it can be divided into rib machine and cotton wool machine, and there is also a rib cotton wool interchangeable machine, which can weave various small flower-shaped double-sided fabrics. Ordinary machines can form high-speed machines by optimizing triangles and sinkers; by adding slitting equipment, it can form a slitting machine, which is suitable for producing spandex fabrics.

2. Auto striper knitting machine
The auto striper knitting machine can be obtained by adding a thread adjusting device to various single jersey and double jersey machines, a auto striper machine can be obtained. The auto striper machine is used to weave large color stripe fabrics and can be divided into 3-color thread, 4-color thread, 6-color thread, etc. Some special models can realize the switching of 3-color and 6-color thread functions through the combination of thread adjusting devices, which improves work efficiency.

3. Terry knitting machine
The terry knitting machine is a single jersey machine used to produce terry fabrics, which are divided into two types: positive package and reverse package. Some terry machines are equipped with terry scissors to directly produce cut terry fabrics.