Hook for single-cylinder circular knitting or stocking machines with cylinder and circular or semicircular plate

A hook in combination with a knitting or stocking machine with circular or semicircular plate, the hook comprising:

• a flat body with a longitudinal extension and including a lateral face and a first claw-shaped tip disposed at an end of said flat body;
• an elastic-lamina element having a second claw-shaped tip disposed at an end of said lamina element, said lamina element being associated with said lateral face of the flat body such that said second claw-shaped tip faces said first claw-shaped tip of the flat body and such that said second claw-shaped tip of said lamina element is laterally spaced from said first claw-shape tip of said flat body in a non-elastically deformed inactive condition of said elastic-lamina element and such that a passage is formed between said second claw-shpaed tip of said lamina element and said first claw-shaped tip of said flat body in said non-elastically deformed inactive condition of said elastic-lamina element and such that said pasages is crossable by a machine needle being insertable into and extractable from said passage in a direction substantialy perpendicular to said longitudinal extension of said flat body when said elastic-lamina element is in said non-elastically deformed inactive condition for depositing a loop thread from the machine needle onto the first claw-shaped tip of said flat body;
• said second claw-shaped tip of said lamina element being elastically flexible towards said first claw-shaped tip of said flat body for closing said claw-shaped tips togather for retaining the loop thread between the claw-shaped tips mutually closed together;
• the machine plate having a hook insertion groove with a groove width adapted to allow said hook to be inserted in and extracted from said groove, said first claw-shaped tip of said flat body and said second claw-shaped tip of said lamina element being mutually spaced apart in said non-elastically deformed inactive condition of said lamina element so as to define a maximum thickness region, said maximum thickness region having a width which is greater than said groove width, thereby approaching of said second claw-shaped tip of said lamina element to said first claw-shaped tip of said flat body for closing said claw-shaped tips together for retaining the loop thread between the claw-shaped tips mutually closed together occurs upon insertion of the hook in said groove, and spacing of the second claw-shaped tip of said lamina element from the first claw-shaped tip of said flat body occurs upon extraction of the hook from the groove.