US3093916A - Stretchable footwear - Google Patents

Description

June 1963 P. E. HIESTAND ETAL 3,093,916

STRETCHABLE FOOTWEAR Filed June 20, 1955 INVENTORS PRESTON E. HI ESTAND EUGENE V. Mu s ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,093,916 STRETCHABLE FOOTWEAR Preston E. Hiestand and Eugene V. Mills, Princeton, Wis., assignors to Handcraft Company, Inc., Princeton, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed June 20, 1955, Ser. No. 516,576 1 Claim. (Cl. 36--9) This invention relates to footwear, and more particularly to a stretchable slipper adapted to fit a range of foot sizes.

In general, the invention resides in a slipper-type article of footwear formed of a unitary piece of stretchable fabric formed to provide a foot covering having a foot opening, but wherein the article is not preshaped to conform to the foot of the wearer. On the contrary, the slipper is made flat with both ends of substantially identical shape and configuration, but of such material and construction that it may be placed on the foot with either end at the toe or heel and readily conform to the foot with a neat, snug over-all fit.

Briefly, an elongated knitted strip of suitable stretchable fabric is folded at one end along its medial line and the folded strip is presented to a conventional combination stitching and cut-off machine to sew seams trausversely of the fold line and to sever the strip at the seams into separate slipper members. .The seams are formed in a manner to bind the edges of the fabric and also to permit stretching of the scam in the direction of its length.

The foregoing folding, sewing and cutting operations are repeated until the entire strip has been sewn into slipper members. i

The sewn slipper members are then turned inside out so that the edges opposite the fold line form an opening through which the foot may be inserted. In order to assure satisfactory retention of the slipper on the foot when worn, it is preferred to provide a band of elastic material around the foot opening, and in the embodiment disclosed herein, a border of elastic material is crocheted to the edges of the foot opening in a manner to contract the opening to less than its original size. The elastic material can be applied by hand-crocheting or by machine. The slipper then assumes a generally canoe-shaped appearance and may be placed upon the foot with either end at the toe or heel. The stretch of the material, combined with the stretchable seams and the elastic member at the edges of the foot opening, assures that the slipper will conform snugly to the shape of the foot of the wearer without causing any discomfort.

The slipper may be embellished by attaching thereto various ornamental items, such as small seashells, spam gles, beads, etc.

In general, the ornamental items are spaced around the foot opening and below the elastic edging material and secured to the article while in a stretched condition by a concealed, substantially inelastic filament such as a strong nylon thread.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a practical article of footwear that will fit any foot within a substantial range of foot sizes.

Another object is to provide an article of footwear which is attractive in appearance, of simple construction, and extremely easy and economical to produce.

A further object is to provide an article of footwear characterized by being wearable with either end at the toe or heel of the foot.

A still further object is to provide an article of footwear that occupies little space and is readily washable when soiled.

Still further objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description pro- 3,093,916 Patented June 18, 1963 ICE ceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary view of a strip of knitted fabric employed in making the article of footwear constituting the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the fabric of FIG. 1 folded along its longitudinal medial line;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the folded strip of FIG. 2, showing the first transverse seam sewed thereacross with the adjacent end portion severed from the strip and the strip extending in a direction toward the left from the point of sewing;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the main body portion of the strip extending toward the right of the point of sewing, and with the second transverse seam completed and the slipper member severed from the strip;

FIG. 5 illustrates the folded strip extending toward the left away from the point of sewing, with the third transverse seam' completed and a generally hourglass-shaped piece of waste material severed {from the strip;

FIG. 6 shows the slipper member of FIG. 4 after it has been turned inside out;

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the slipper member of FIG. 6 after a border of elastic material has been added around the foot opening;

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view illustrating the means and method employed in maintaining the foot opening stretched while applying ornamental devices to the slipper member of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken substantially along the line 9-9 of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the decorated slipper as it appears on the foot of the wearer.

FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of an elongated, continu- 'ous strip 2 of knitted fabric employed in making the article of footwear of this invention. Preferably, the material is knitted from 3 strands of 2-ply denier (semidull) conventional stretch-type nylon or other suitable yarn so that the knitting yarn is of about 600 denier. The knitting is done on a machine which produces a longitudinally ribbed fabric of a thickness of the order of about one-eighth of an inch and characterized by a twoway stretch, i.e., being stretchable both transversely and longitudinally. The edges of the strip are parallel and substantially straight, but the edges and ribbing may be given a slight wavy appearance, depending upon the shogging action which the knitting machine may be adjusted to produce. The edges of the strip are defined by a non-raveling selvage.

The preferred yarn is 600* denier, although other aggregate deniers may be used. For example, in a childs slipper, 2 strands of Z-ply 100 denier yarn may be used to provide a fabric that is somewhat lighter. Aggregate deniers above 600 tend to make the finished article too stiff.

The strip 2 is preferably knitted to a width of about 6 inches on a 6-cut machine (6 needles to the inch) but it could be knitted on a S-cut or 7-cut machine. As stated, the material is knitted to a width of about 6 inches and of any desired length compatible with convenient handling during subsequent finishing operations. After knitting, the fabric strip 2 is finished by conventional scouring, dying and drying operations. A softener is preferably applied to the material during the dying process, as is also conventional. During the scouring, dying and drying of the fabric strip 2, it shrinks in width about 25% and about 33% in length. Thus, the width of the strip material 2 employed for making the present article is only about 4 /2 inches. This width is preferred since it is suitable for making footwear that seamS' to form a separate slipper member 12.

will fit most foot sizes, but it may be varied more or less, if desired.

To form the stretchable article of footwear contem- -'plated by this invention from the strip =2, "a portion of one end of the latter is folded along its longitudinal medial line to forma folded strip portion defined by superimposed side panels joined integrally along a bottom fold line 4 and having adjacent free edges 6. The

end of the'thus folded strip portion is presented to the needle (not shown) of a conventional sewing and cutoff machine with the strip extending avway from the needle toward the left and is first stitched transversely,

"as shown at 8 in FIG. 3, and the extreme end portion 9 *of the strip is simultaneously severed closely adjacent the seam 8 by a conventional cutter attachment (not shown). Preferably, the seam 8 is formed by an overcast Z -ply-or 3-ply chain-stitch, which binds the edge and (right). The seamed end is placed in registration with one end of a gauge board convenient-to the needle, and the operator determines from the board where the second seam should be located by placing a finger at the approximate point as .the guide, and then presents the strip to'the needle to sew a second seam 8' (FIG. 4) across the folded strip.

'During the formation of the seam '8', the material is again severed from the folded strip outwardly of the After the member 12 has been cut from the strip, the operator again reverses the strip, folding it carefully so that its edges 6 are even and its free end extends to the left and sews a third seam 8" closely adjacent the end of the strip from which'the member 12 was severed (FIG. During this step the scrap end 10 is cut from the strip 2 close toseamb", as was end9 of FIG. 3, thus reducing Wasteto a minimum. The step described in connection'with FIG. 4 is then repeated to form asecond slipper member, and so on. Thus, the operator need only continue to fold the strip as it is being used up,

and sequentially reverse the direction of the main portion of the strip relative to the needle and pass the strip transversely through the sewing-cutting machine to produce successive slipper members 12 until the whole strip has been converted into slipper members. It will be observed from the drawings that the seams 8, 8' and=8 are all of substantially the same length.

While an overcast chain-stitch is preferred, such is not absolutely essential since a suitable lock-stitch may be used to sew the seams.

It is preferable, however, that a'form of stitching be used which permitsthe transverse seams to stretch in the direction of their length.

Preferably the scams 8, 8, etc., are bowed or curved outwardly away from each other and are so configured that the fold line 4 and the free edges 6 are of about the same length. In any event, it is contempl'ated'that the seams be of about the same shape, neither of them defining specifically ra'toe or heel-shaped portion.

The longitudinal spacing between the seams 8 and 8' is determined by the desired size of the finished article. For a size of slipper to'fit a foot of 9 to 11 hose size, for example, the flat article of FIG. 3 should be about 8 /2 inches over-all in length- 'After severance of the slipper member .12 from the folded strip of material, it is turned inside out'through the foot opening defined by the free edges 6 to thus place the seams 8 and 8' on the inside of the article as shown in FIG. 6.

The next step in the production of the stretchable slipper is the crocheting of a resilient border 14 around the foot opening defined by the edges 6, as shown in FIG. 7. The crocheted border 14 may be applied manually or by machine and is preferably formed of a continuous strand of elastic material which may be covered with any suitable decorative film or Wrapping. An elastic gold wrapped gimp has been found to be very satisfactory from both a functional and ornamental View. In crocheting the gimp border 14 to the free edges 6 of the slipper member, the material is secured to the edges 6 at spaced positions 16 by being passed through the fabric and in the crocheting step that portion of the gimp between the spaced positions 16 is looped upon itself in a well-known manner to form an attractive edging around the'foot opening. During the crocheting step, the gimp material contracts the foot opening defined by the free edges 6 of the fabric. Thus, the foot opening in the article, after crocheting the border thereon, is somewhat smaller than the original opening in the article shown in FIG. 6. Also, the fold line-4 and the edges 6 of the article assume a slightly upwardly curved shape, best shown in FIG. 7 so that the slipper then assumes a generally canoe-shaped appearance and may be placed per opening to stretch the same to substantially the size of the opening before application of the gimp border. The board 18 thereby holds the opening and the free edges of the fabric stretched the desired amount and during this time ornamental items 20' are secured to the'slipper 'at spaced positions around the foot opening. The ornamental devices, which may be shells, spangles, or other elements, are secured to the fabric of the slipper by a strong thread 22 of substantially inelastic nylon or the like. Preferably, the thread 22 is manually worked through the body of the fabric '2 by an ordinary needle between the positions at which the ornaments 20 are secured, so that the thread 22 is concealed within the body of the fabric 2 and extends between those positions in substantially taut but untensioned condition. After the ornaments 20 have all been secured in place, the board 18 is removed, whereupon the gimp border 14 causes the "foot opening to contract to the size of FIG. 7 and the ornaments 20 assume positions somewhat closer together than shown in FIG. 8. In this condition the thread 21 is quite loose between those positions.

The fabric 2 may be white or dyed any desired color 7 and the ornamental items may be of any desired nature and/or'cont-rasting color, or may be omitted entirely if desired. The article thus described may obviously be produced from a long strip of fabric at low cost and, due to its simple construction, may be produced in quantity at relatively high speeds.

While a single specific embodiment of the invention and method have been shown and described herein, it is to be understood that many modifications in types of material used and procedural steps may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claim.

We claim:

As a new article of footwear a strecthable slipper to be worn in lieu of a shoe, comprising: a pair of substantially flat elongated panels of longitudinally and transversely stretchable fabric having outwardly curved extremities and being of uniform width between said extremities and disposed in confronting relation, means joining said panels together along at least one of their longitudinal edges, the opposite longitudinal edges being free to define a foot opening, and stretchable seams of substantially similar configuration and length extending transversely of said panels and interconnecting the same adjacent their extremities from the ends of the joined edges to the ends of the free edges, said fabric being sufficiently stretchable to enable said article of footwear to fit a range of foot sizes, with either of said extremities conforming to the toe end of a font, a plurality of ornamental elements secured to said panels adjacent said free edges at positions spaced therealo-ng and around the foot opening, said ornamental elements being secured to said panels by a substantially inelastic continuous threads concealed within the body of the stretchable fabric, the length of said thread between said portions being greater than the distance between said positions when said article is relaxed so that said foot opening can be stretched in placing said article on a foot without breaking said inelastic thread.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,841,518 Bellak Jan. 19, 1932 2,001,293 Wilson May 14, 1935 2,252,315 Doree Aug. 12, 1941 2,274,085 Mitulski Feb. 24, 1942 2,335,210 Guinzburg Nov. 23, 1943 2,400,692 Herbert May 211, 1946 6 (2,467,237 Sherman et a1. Apr. 12, 1949 2,469,708 Alexander May 10, 1949 2,603,891 Cohn July 22, 1952 2,641,004 Whiting et a1 June 9, 1953 2,679,117 Reed May 25, 1954 2,688,810 Baumann Sept. 14, 1954 2,848,885 Goodman Aug. 26, 1958 2,896,339 Rabinowitz July 28, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 341,126 Italy June 112, 1936 605,825 Germany Nov. 19, 1934 OTHER REFERENCES American Cotton Handbook, by Gilbert R. Merrill and Alfred R. Macormac, at pages 83 and 84; published by Textile Book Publishers, Inc., New York, copy 1949. (Copy available in Division 2 1.)

Textile Fibers, by Mauersberger, published by John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1947 at pages 251 and 7 11. (Copy available in Division 211.)

Federal Standard Stock Catalogue, section IV (part 5), Federal Specification for Stitches; Seams; and Stitching, No. DDDs-75 1; March 4, 1930, pages '70 and 71. (Available in Division 24.)

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