Passap
= Brand History & Overview
Passap (an abbreviation of Patent Schnell Strick Aparat — Patented Quick Knitting Apparatus) is a Swiss brand of double-bed domestic knitting machines. Renowned for their heavy-duty, industrial-grade Swiss construction, Passap machines are widely regarded as some of the most advanced domestic knitting machines ever built.[1]
The brand was founded in Switzerland in 1939 by Ernst Luchsinger, who demonstrated the first portable hand-knitting machine at the Swiss National Exhibition. Under the parent company Madag, Passap developed a succession of highly popular double-bed machines, including the Duomatic series and the electronic E6000. Due to changing market conditions, production ceased in the late 1990s.[2]
Technical Design and "Stripper" System
Unlike Japanese single-bed machines (such as Brother or Silver Reed) which require a separate ribber attachment, Passap machines were designed from the ground up as double-bed machines. The front and back needle beds are built into a single solid frame.
Passap machines do not use claw weights or cast-on combs. Instead, they rely on a mechanical presser foot system called Strippers:[3]
- Orange (or White) Strippers: Used for double-bed ribbing, jacquard, and textured fabrics.
- Blue Strippers: Used for thicker yarns or double-bed patterns requiring high downward tension.
- Black Strippers: Used for single-bed stockinette or tubular knitting.
As the carriage (or "lock") passes across the bed, the strippers push the knitted stitches down, ensuring clean stitch release without heavy weights.
Passap / Pfaff =
Passap machines[4] (often branded as Pfaff in later years) are Swiss-engineered double-bed machines known for their weightless knitting system using "strippers."
Manual & Mechanical
- Passap Duomatic (also known as Duomatic Classic)
- Passap M-201 (historic manual latch-needle)
- Passap Goldy (portable manual latch-needle)
- Passap Duomatic 80 ("The Greenie")
- Passap Duomatic S/SD/GS (variants of the Duomatic 80, no pushers on the back bed)
- Passap Duomatic 5 ("The Pinkie")
- Passap Vario (Single-bed, chunky/standard, dual gauge)
Electronic
- Passap E6000
- Passap E8000 (Semi-industrial, fine gauge)
Accessories
- Passap Deco (punchcard unit)
- Passap Electra (motor drives)
- Passap JAC (handheld punchcard unit)
- Passap Tricofit (cast off device)
- Passap U70/U80/U100/U100E (transfer carriages)
Machine Accessory Compatibility Matrix
The following is a dynamically generated list of Passap accessories and their compatible knitting machines, populated directly from the wiki's database:
| Accessory | Type | Compatible Machines | Release Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deco | Punchcard Patterning Attachment | Passap Duomatic • Passap Duomatic 80 | 1980s |
| Passap Electra | Motor Drive Unit | Passap Duomatic series | |
| Passap JAC | Jacquard Attachment | Passap Duomatic / M-201 | |
| Passap U70/U80/U100/U100E | Transfer Carriage | Passap Duomatic / E6000 |