US1036196A - Stocking. - Google Patents

Description

B. W. DECKER.

Patented'Aug. 20,

\ ll l I I gH/UC ntoz .ELIIEN W. DECKER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STOCKING.

Specification of Letters 1mm.

Application and m 11, 1911. Serial No. 828,480.

To all whom it may concern Be it lmown that I, ELLEN Batman, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Mariner Harbor, Staten Island, borough and county of Richmond, city and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Stockings, of which the following is a specification.

Prior to my invention it has usually been customary to connect a hose supporter or garter to a stockin b causing the fabric of the stocking to. be folded over the button, or equivalent device of the garter and then engaging the gripping device ofthe garter underneath the head of the button in such manner as to clamp the fabric of the stock ing between these two parts. Under this arrangement it is inevitable that the strain exerted by {the garter upon the stocking comes directly upon a small part only of the fabric of the stocking, and it frequently happens that this strain causes a rupture of the threads or loops of the fabric with which the garter device is immediately engaged, causing unraveling, or so called run downs .which usually extend the full length of the stocking, in all cases injuring and in most cases destroying the same.

Itis'the purpose of my invention to provide means whereby the garter may be engaged. with the stocking in an altogether different manner, so that the strains will be brought not upon a few threads or loops only of the stocking, but will be distributed over a large number of them, and moreover will be taken upon a reinforce piece, so that the objections above referred to are avoided.

Furthermore my invention embodies features whereby the engagement of the garter with the stocking can be adjusted circumferentially around the leg of the wearer and also vertically in an up and down direction.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates an elevation of a womans stocking embodying the invention; Fig. 2 illustrates a View of the top of the stocking as shown in Fig. 1, much enlarged, showing also the method of connecting the garter therewith, the reinforce pieces bein mostly within the hem; Fig. 3 illustrates t e top of a stocking of a slightly different construction, which is represented as having been cut down one side and opened out fiat; Fig. 4 illustrates in detail the method of constructing the openings. It is on an enlarged scale.

In the drawings, 1 represents a ladys stocking, 2 the usual hem at the top. It is shown as quite wide in the present mstance. Its width and in fact its presence at all are, however, immaterial.

3, 3, represent what I call the reinforce strips. They may be composed of any suitable non metallic and flexible material which will not be injuriously influenced by laundry work, preferably a strong tape. These pieces of tape are stitched at appropriate places to the leg of the stocking near the top and preferably on the inside thereof and if there is a hem in the stockin I prefer to locate the strips mostly, at-Ieast, on the hem, so .that the two thicknesses of stocking material may be present to afford a firm foundation upon which to stitch the Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

pieces of tape. In the drawings I show the larger part of the strips on the hem, the lower ends, however, extending below it onto the sin le thickness, to illustrate the feasibility of attaching the strips to stockings which have no hem. Suit-able openings 4, 4., are made in the strips 3, there being corresponding openings made through the fabric of the stocking. In the drawings I show in Figs. 1 and 2, one only of these openings in each reinforce strip, but in Fig. 4 I show two of them in each reinforce stri The advantage in having more than one is that the wearer can then engage the garter with such one of the openings asmay be preferred, thus securing adjustability. I show eight of these reinforce strips in Fig. 4 which, as stated, illustrates the top of the stocking cut down vertically and opened out flat, and they are so arranged that four of them will come on the inside and four on the outside of the leg of the wearer. If this number be present, then the wearer can engage the garter terminals with the openings ln such of the strips as may be preferred, both on the inside and outside of the leg, thus securing the preferred adjustment of the garter.

I call particular attention to an important feature of my invention. It is the special manner in which the openings in the reinforce strips and stocking fabric should be made in order to secure satisfactory results. I have discovered after many experiments and tests with different constructions that owing to the peculiar fabric of which stockings, particularly high grade stockings, are made and the fact that they are of a knitted fabric, that ordinary stitched button holes, or any eyeleted opening cannot beneficially be used, for a series of reasons, among them the following: The usual button hole stitchin will not hold under the considerable strain to which the openings are subjected by the garter devices, on the contrary, such button holes will almost immediately break away, resulting in producing the very run downs above referred to, which usually in a very short time extend quite to the foot of the stocking, and thus destroy it. Also if'the attempt be made to use eyelets as a reinforcing device for the said openings, then equally serious and destructive results follow, 2'. e., eyelets are made of metal, usually brass or tin, and I have found by extended experiments it is impossible to use them because if the threads of the stocking fabric be cut to allow the insertion of an eyelet, they at once spread or pull apart, so that it is practically impossible, in view of the necessary manipulations of the parts, to secure any considerable number of such threads under the flange of the eyelet and even if they could be in some way held until the flanges of the eyelet could be pressed down upon them, still, owing to their nature, they cannot be gripped by the eyelet with sufficient force to hold them permanently. They apparently have not sufficient substance or body upon which the flanges of the'eyelet can be compressed to afford the requisite secure and permanent holding action. The inevitable spring of the eyelet when released from its compression will be sufficient to release the thin flimsy threads of the stocking. I have even attempted to put small rubber rings beneath the flanges of an eyelet and to close the eyelet down upon the rings, so that such rings should act as a means to grip and hold the threads of the stocking, but withoutsuccess, the elasticity of the rubber precluding the holding of the threads. Furthermore the expense of this construction would be prohlbitory. The only way in which the openings can be made, or at least the only practically useful method is to first stitch to the stocking fabric the flexible reinforcing tape strips'described by me and then to make parallel lines of stitching, such as I illustrate at 7. 7, in Fig. 3, which are stopped off at each end by so-called bar stitching, as shown at 8, 8, which bar stitching spans across and firmly unites the parallel lines of stitching as shown, and then after this stitching is made, to cut an opening which I indicate by the reference character 9, with a knife, which does not extend quite to the bar stitching at either end. In this way, and in this way only, have I been enabled to make an opening which would be satisfactory in use and have the requisite permanence and strength.

It will be seen that under my invention the button of the garter device shown at 5, 5 in Fig. 2, does not have the fabric composing the' stocking bent over its top, so that it shall be clamped and strained over the button by the gripping device 6 of the garter, on the contrary, the button 5 passes bodily through the openings in the reinforce piece and in the stocking, and has no part either of the stocking or of the reinforce piece bent over its top, and the gripping device 6 of the garter'engages under the head of the exposed button merely as a holding device to securely retain the button within the opening. Therefore there is no strain brought as heretofore upon afew threads or loops which alone'are. clamped between the gripping device and the button; on the contrary, the strain is taken by the entire area of the reinforce piece and upon all parts of the stocking to which it is attached. Thus the strain is extended over a large area of the stocking fabric and rupture thereof is efficiently avoided.

As stated above, the invention is applicable to mens hose as well as womens stockings, but is especially important and valuable in connection with high priced goods of the latter class, because the life thereof is very greatly extended by the employment of my invention and one of the most prevalent causes of destruction is removed thereby.

I claim:

A stocking having a hem at the upper part of the leg, separate, flat, tape-llke and flexible, reinforcing pieces of fabric materlal attached to the inside only of the stocking and within the hem and an opening reinforced by stitching made through each of the reinforcing pieces and through both thicknesses of the hem of the stocking adjacent thereto, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELLEN W. DECKER.

lVitnesses ARTHUR DREYER,

MELVIN L. DECKER.

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