Toyota K104 is one of those mysterious super vintage knitting machines that is hard to find information for.

Judging by the look and comparing designs of other knitting machines (clip-on row counter, detachable handle, only basic/manual capabilities) from the same era, I suspect that this machine was manufactured and first appeared on the market in the mid- to late-1950s.

I like how the text on the carriage buttons is in both, English and Japanese. It makes me think that the machine was spread not only in Japan but in the Western markets as well.

An interesting feature of the carriage is that the buttons are on the top of the carriage unlike a lot of other machines, where the buttons are at the bottom of the carriage. I think the manufacturers realized later that reaching over the handle is not super friendly and changed the position of the carriage buttons.

I love the robustness and simplicity of the vintage machines: look at the sinker plate and the underside of the carriage.

All metal parts are still in excellent shape, even the metal wheels.

Other basic/manual knitting machine vintage models manufactured by Toyota are the Toyota K106, Toyota K107 and Toyota K 108. Although these later models have an interesting feature on the side of the carriage (the functionality of this feature is still a mystery to me) that Toyota K 104 does not have. Similarly to the Toyota K107 model, the K104 has a retaining bar with a sponge strip.

If you have any other information on this machine, I would appreciate if you share it with me and the world.