US1248019A - Method of knitting fine-gage fabrics. - Google Patents

Description

R. W. SCOTT.Y

METHOD 0F KNITTING FINE GAGE FABRICS.

APISLICATlON FILED HAY 15| 1915.

atemed Non ZTL W1? 2 SHEETS-SHEET E, M ,d E O. Q Q d RW. SCOTT. METHOD of Kwmm FINE GAGE mames. Y APPHCATON FILED MAYI, 1915.

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UNITED ieaneriir onirica ROBERT W. SCQTT. OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. ASSIGNOR. BY MESNE ASSCNMIEN'L'y TO SCOTT & WILLIAMS, INCORPORATED. A CORPORATION OF MSSACHUSETTSL METHOD OF KNITTNG FINE-GAGE 'FiBE/ICS.

teasers.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 2"?. 191'?.

Application ilod May 15, 1915. Serial No. 29AO.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I. Ronnirr lV. Scorr, a citizen of the United States. and resident ot' Boston. in the county ot Sutifolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and use't'ul Imnoi'ements in `Methods of Knitting- Fine-(rage Fabrics, ot' which the following;r is a specitication.

My invention relates to an improved art Yor method of knitting fabrics. including fine-gage or closely-spaced,fabrics, on a series ot' instruments. .Vhile my invention may be carried out upon any series ot hooked instruments. it is especially adapted to he practised in connection with any ot certain familiar types of knitting; machines. such as straight or circular machines employing movable hooked needles.

@ne object ot my invention is to so order the steps taken in manipulation of a yarn or yarns by or upon such a series of instruments as to produce fabrics characterized by a greater variation in width between their Widest and their narrowest portions, the number of knit wales remaining constant, than heretofore has been possible. Another object is to decrease the size of the loop knit by instruments such as knittingr machine needles relatively to the size and spacingw ot' the instruments. Another object is to provide for the making' upon a single series of instruments oi' seamless hosiery which shall be shaped or fashioned by variation in .the length ot stitch through a rature or to a degree heretofore impractimible by the use of said instruments.

4n thoaccompanyiugdrawings.

Figure l is a diagram showing fabric in he course of formation in the new manner with the aid of knocking-over instruments, such as Web-holders, and latch needles;

Fig. 2 is a similar diagram showingr the old mode of forming the fabric;

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating on a large scale certain movements of and tensional stresses given the, yarn at the time of torination of the new loop;

Fig. 4 is a comparative diagram illustrating needles;

Fig. 5 is an illustration of the seamless line gage Stocking of the prior art., and

Fig. 6 is an illustration ot a stockingr 'produced by my new method.

I will new explain my newmethod with reference to the instruments shown in Fig.

l as one example only of implements suit able to aid in per-formino the stepsof said method. The instruments n may be hooked needles and the instruments `zo may be tixed or movable web-holders or other knockingover devices having:` upper edges in a plane l. The size and distance apart, or gage, o'tneedles a may be determined by a grooved carrier or holder in which they are movable.

My new method will best be understood by comparison with the old procedure. Re-

iter-ring` now to Fig. 2, which shows a series ot' old instruments connorising` hooked needles n and web-holders tu. workingin the old way. previous courses having been knit on such instruments as at l and 2, the new course l is 'formed of yarn 3/ by drawing in turn a new loop through each loop of the' 'course 2 titi vWhen the instruments are operated in the usual manner just, described. I have observed that with the minimum draft, the finest needles and with the remainingn conditions ot the prior art as known to me at their best. that the narrowest or shortestloop t'ahrie which can be knit still has nee ille wales larger than the sinker wales joining them. each course containing more yarn than is necessary. l hare determined the canse ol the relatively wide fabric and large needle, loopsto be the freedom ot the oi a previous course such as the courtbe displaced downwardly by a needle 6 in the act of drawingP a new-course loop. The loop ot' a previous course 2 merely restingr upon the web holders w is carried downward by the stitchingl needle through a distance measured at least by the full length of a loop of said course 2. and a needle drawingA a new, loop o is required to be drawn a, vFurther distance still beneath plane P to cause its new loop o to penetrate the old loop a.

lite erringynow to Figi. it my new method lill!) und comprises manipulating the loops of a4 to tli'e vmotion of the .needlelpenetrating it,

and by sin'iultaneouslj7| placing the said loop of the previous course under lateral tension to draw it up tightly on to the neck of the new loop. Such a manipulation of the old or previous-course loop, by whatever means it may-be caused, results in the penetration thereof and'completion of the new loop at a point relatively near the knocking-over plane P as compared with. the operation of the needles of the prior art, and for this reason the amount of yarn taken into the new loop (the amount measured by the ree cession of the hooked' needles beneath the plane P and instruments w) is materially lessened.

My invention" is not limited to any particular means for applyingupward stress and tension tojthc previous-course loop,but I have also devised and .will now explain one effective means for producing the said stress and the said tension. For this purpose I utilize the obstacle tothe free movement of a yarn loop ,always present in latch needles, and constituted by the exterior face of the needlel cheeks and the closed latch and the point ofthe hook. Whatever the form of such needles, there is some part of them at which the loop tends to hang, and on which the loop in which a needle is moving is' detained and carried along with the needle. rjhis point may be, and usually is, the spoon or enlargement at the tip of the latch. I therefore provide i'iecdles, as shown at it, Figs. l and l with hooks 7l. and latches (Z meeting at a peint separated from the tip of the needle by a distance suilicient to bring the obstaclev to free passage of the loopsl materially beneath the tip. 'lhe said distance depends somewhat upon the form of the needle-wave and the gage of the needles, but in any instance I place the obstacle at one needle following another down the 1e tracting slope S of the wave of movement so that its end will be materially beneath the tip of the preceding needle. By'preference, the obstacle-on each needle culminating at latch spoon nl", ends at a point substantially as unich beneath the tip of a preceding needle as the tip of said preceding needle is beneath the'f tip ofthe following needle.

in Fig.' l, in which the needle at VI has` drawn barely enough yarn y for new course 3 beneath plane P determined by the instruments fw. Before this time (see needle VII) needle VI willhave passed the end of its obstacle at el through the loops@2 of previous course 2, and the following needle VII wil-l still engage and continue to drag down-v wardly its loop w by engagement with its latch (l, as shown. Yarn for the enlargement and displacement of loop is taken from the preceding loop :c2 now lfree upon its needle `V i Owing to the relatively fixed abutment w,

loop ,x2 is moved upwardly in the directionon thc needle following the stitching needle is made available to lift and tension the' loop being penetrated by the new stitch c of new course 3. The old or previous course loop is thereby independently moved in opposition to the needle to a point near the plane P.

The draft to bc given the needles may now be reduced to a point at which the loop c is long enough, and only long enough, when extended by robbing its neighbors, to pass around the widest part of the needle, the tip of 'a needle at the lowest position being materially nearer the plane I than has heretofore been possible.

It will now be apparent that with respect to a series of needles of a given gage my new method provides for decreasing thc least width of the fabric without in any 'way limiting capacity to increase the width fashioning and seaming, with the aid of lixcd spring needles and by an expensive series of operations includin r yarn-sinking and loop-transferring, have heretofore been defective by reason of too-wide heels, toes and feet, as illustrated in Fig. 5, which shows such a seamless stocking after finishing. Said stocking, in order to have enough width at its wide parts without too loose and sleazy a texture, necessarily is made upon so many needles that the phenomena pointed out above prevent a proper narrowing by shortening the stitches to make wellshaped ankles, heels, toes and feet. Such stockings, made as narrow as possible at said parts, are finished by stretching and shrinking on a shaped board, but this opera` tion can not be applied to decrease the length in direction `L of the heel and toe or L for the heel, it being necessary to stretch the foot originally knit too short for that purpose and `heel and toe therewith) in direction L to shrink the foot in width; and to stretch the ankle and heel in direction L to shrink the ankle. Both heel and toe loeing already too wide, the heel and toe pockets in the finished stocking are so much over size as to prevent-sale in competition with flat-fashioned stockings of the same quality.

My new method enables a stocking having the same number of needle-wales throughout to belknit at"the narrowest parts of coursesvso short as to avoid stretching ein cept for smoothing the fabric, and with heel and toe fabrics partaking of the same quality. For comparison, Figs. 5 and 6 have been supplied with dimensions in inches taken respectively from a finished stocking of the prior art and from an unfinished stocking produced by my said method, both having throughout the same numbell of needle wales knit of the same yarn, and exactly similar legs and tops (not shown).

What I claim is:

1. The art of knitting on a series of hooked needles comprising forming a previous course of loops and thereafter placing each of said loops successively under stress to move it -o its needle during format-ion of a loop for a new course at said needle.

9. The art of knitting on a series of hooked needles comprising forming aprev-ious course of loops and thereafter placing each of said loops successively under stress to move it oft' its needle and under lateral tension during formation of new course at said needle.

The method of knitting on series of needles comprising drawing a loop for a new course at a certain needle, and simultaneously acting upon a loop of a previous course at a neighboring needle only to move another loop ol said previous course on said certain needle over said new loop.

4l. lf he method of forming on knitting' needles a course of short loops comprising iirst forming a previous course loop on each of said needles, and then in succession moving said loops with respect to each needle over a new loop formed thereat, during` maintenance of tension said previous loop.

5. The method of knitting on a series of needles, fabrics characteri' d by abnormally short courses comprising acti upon a pre viens course loop at cach needle in turn to displace said loop at said needle, whereby to knock over and laterally tension another loop of said previous course, and thereafter forming a new loop of yarn at said needle 6. The method of knitting fabrics having short loops on a series of needles and a. series ofknocking-over members such web-holders defining a yarn detaining snrface, comprising pulling upon the yarn of a previous course to move a loop of said course toward said surface at the time of pulling a. new loop through said previous course loop. i

7. The method of knitting seamless stockings comprising first forn'iing a tubular leg portion in any known or usual manner, and. thereafter knitting tubular ankle, heel, foot and toe portions of fabric narrowed by decreasing the length of stitch, said narrowing operation including moving and tena loop a series o -sioning cach loop of a previous course at the time of drawing a new loop through it, sub stantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

ROBERT W. SCTT.

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