US1327217A - Stocking and method of making the same - Google Patents

Description

R. W. SCOTT.

STOCKING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7, I915.

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A n I JQQ 9L n are new ROBERT W. SCOTT, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

TO SCOTT 8; \IVILLIAMS, INCORPORATED, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

STOCKING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

mamas.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 7, 1916. Serial No. 108,069.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, ROBERT W. Soon, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Sufi'olk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Stockings and Methods of Making the Same. of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of stockings. I shall describe as one instance thereof a stocking and the method of making said stocking as a seamless tubular article having ordinary seamless toe and heel pockets, and having the leg portion knit with double the number of wales contained in the foot portion, the Whole fabric being comosed of non-rib stitches; that is to say, all of the stitches being drawn to the same face of the fabric. My invention relates to an improved procedure for making such an article, so as to form on a series of needles an improved structure at the toe portion of the stocking in aid of the operation of looping the toe seam, a leg of multiple course fabric 2 of the accordion type and an inturned welt at the top of the same fabric as the leg.

I have explained in my copending application Serial No. 94,232, [Letters Patent No. 1,194,675, dated August 15. 1916] the manufacture of such a stocking, my present invention relating to improvements upon the method and article of my said application, whereby I have provided loopers rounds preceding the position of the toe seam char acterizedby a selvage adapted to be easily raveled, and provided the article with an end-finish constituting an inturned welt of an improved structure, as well as provided an article and method adapted for advantageous making and practice by machines.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of the article completed except for the closure of the toe seam;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged diagram section longitudinally of the stocking through the welt;

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are comparative diagrams showing needles and the inner or back side of the fabric at the needles respectively at the beginning of thestocking, at the foot portion and at the end of the operation;

Fig. 6 is a diagram plan of a circle of needles illustrating one instance of an instrument upon which the manufacture can be carried out;

Fig. 7 1s a view similar to Fig. 6 showing the needles active and inactive at the toe,

foot, and heel;

Fig. 8 is a similar view illustratin the production of double-conrse'accordion fa ric Fig. 9 is a similar view illustrating the operation of taking bights for the welt; and Fig. '10 is a diagram illustrating the for mation of the Welt.

Referring now to Fig. 1, knitting is begun at the selvage S formedon the bare instruments .such as a closed row or series of needles, illustrated as a circle of needles n in Figs. 6 to 9. The initial yarn. 1, Fig. 3,

,may be taken by or supplied torecurrent needles n, the yarn passing behind intervening needles n until all of the needles 7:. are so supplied, and a second course 2 is then supplied to all of the needles, and the first course cast off, thereby forming a selvage; and one or more courses 3 may then be knit upon all of the needles (Figs. 3 and 6). The selvage structure is thus formed upon all of the needles. It is desirable that the selvage shall be formed so as to bejreadily raveled from the following waste-fabric or loopers rounds f, which for ease of looping and economy of wasted yarn should be of a number of needles wales less than the number of needles in the machine. The fabric f is in aid of looping the toe seam by sewing together the places indicated by the dotted lines 8. Such sewing takes place upon aselvage will not only have enabled the fabric- 7 to be started upon the bare needles, but the structure comprising the courses 1, 2, 3, in which the course 3 "has cast-off loops 0; formed at and cast ofi from the needles n,

whatever the instrument of manufacture,

will then constitute an edgeeasily raveled,-

for instance by pulling on the yarn'l or the yarn 2, wherebyto release the loops a from.

Patented Jan. c, 19220.

i the loops of.the yarn 2\engaged by them,

' needles n; The remainder of the fabric f skilled .knitters.

' ing'their previous loops of the yarn from.

will also rav'el freely, as will be apparent to .The toe, foot, and heel are knit upon the needles at only, preferably as indicated in Fig. 7, the needles from which the loops were castoff subsequent to the selvage remaining idle and out of,action. At this. stage the knitting is preferably single-course knitting, as will resultfrom forming a knitting wave in the needles at and taking yarn from a single main yarn feed y. (See Fig. 7) The heel pocket 72. and toe pocket t may be knit upon a segment of the needles n only, as usual, by reciprocal operations with the yarn or any substituted or additional yarn fed from the yarn feed y to the needles n aving completed the foot F and the heel h and a few courses 0 above the heel by the usual operations 0'11- needles n only, the character of' the fabric is"-cha-nged by restoring the inactive needles n to action, sov

that all the needles will take thread and knit at the main yarn feed 3 while at a supplemental yarn feed as the needles are so manipulated that the needles n only take the yarn and knit, the intervening needles passing below the yarn receiving level, the arrangement of yarn feeds and active and inactive needles being that indicated in Fig. 8. This arrangement results in the production of. a fabric commonly known as accoifdion fabric, an instance of-which is shown in Fig. 10.

This fabric is produced to a sufficient extent to form the leg L of the stocking.

I have referred in my said application Serial No. 94,232, to alternative procedures for forming a welt after knitting such a leg, and I will now describe a preferred species of operation producing an improved structure in which the fabric of an in-turned welt W consists of accordion fabric like the 'eferri-ng now to Figs. 9 and-10, having completed the leg L to the course 2, preferably a course of the main yarn fed from main yarn feed 3 1" form in the course a bights w preferably by rendering the needles n inactive in a lowposition while withholdmain yarn feed y; The bights wmay be taken by transfer implements T, for instance ac'-' cording to the method disclosed in my 00- pending application Serial No.49,161, [Letters Patent No. 1,189,744, dated July 4,

1916,]filed September 7, 1915. This operation. may take place upon a machine knitting both at the yarn feed g and the yarn feed m the respective yarns forming the accordio-n fabric. Having taken the big/hts w the implements Tare manipulated to retain The bights 'w taken on the instruments T which they were removed, thereby fastening 'downthe welt w upon the knitting of subsequent fabric. In order to prevent free raveling of the subsequent fabric and release" of the welt, I prefer at this point .to cease operations at the yarn feed 00 inor- -der to'form plain fabric from yarn supplied at main feed 2 only for a few curling courses followingv the interknitting of the united course .2 w1th the subsequently formed welt fabric, as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6. The accordion fabric does not display any marked tendency to curl toward the face side thereof, but plain fabric as illustrated at C ifl Fig. 5, when freed from the needles, curls toward its face side or in the direction away from the observer in Fig. \5. Fig. 5 shows the juncture of the'welt' W with-the leg. L, viewed from the back or inside of the fabric. When a sufiicient extent of the fabric C has been formed the width as the leg lies in thus providing a welt having a retractile quality uniform with that of the leg, such stockings when finished having no tendency to flare outwardly at the welt. Y I

' rade requirements for stockings of the kind most suitable for making of the 'described fabric are not wholly satisfied by in turned or out-turned weltstructures of plain fabric because of the difficulty found in finishing the plain fabric welt in a state contracted laterally to conform to the width of'the finished leg.

By the described method of knitting, a satisfactory suture at the course zis formed without changing to a heavier yarn, the yarn fed at the main feed y. as the heavier elei ment of the accordion fabric being utilized for the uniting or suture course. By the described'method I have also provided for withholding loops, holding needles out of action and casting off during the making of the article upon the same intervening needles of only [except at the end of the operation when casting-off is accomplished at all of the needles by ceasing to 'feed yarn] and have thereby adapted'the article to beprodu'ced' and the'method to be practised upon amachine adapted to knit continuously upon needles n recurrent between the intervening dion fabric at the top thereof.

2. A stocking knit from toe to top comprising a seamless toe, foot and heel of plain fabric, a tubular leg continuous with foot and heel of multiple-course accordion fabric having a greater number of Wales than the foot, and having an integral welt of multiple-course accordion fabric having as many wales as the leg at the top thereof.

3. A stocking knit from toe to top comprising a seamless toe, foot and heel of plain fabric, atubular leg continuous with foot and heel of multiple-course accordion fabric having a greater number of wales than the foot, and having an integral welt of multiple-course accordion fabric at the top tfhgreof, followed by curling courses of plain a no.

4. A stocking knit from toe to top com prising a seamless toe, foot and heel of plain fabric, a tubular leg continuous with foot and heel of multiple-course accordion fabric having a greater number of wales than the foot, and having an integral welt of multiple-course accordion fabric at the top thereof, followed by curling courses of plain fabric having as many wales aswelt and leg.

5. A stocking having a leg knit of a plurality of yarns as accordion fabric comprising wales of a single component yarn only intervening between wales in which successive courses are of different yarns, and having a welt comprising an extent of similar fabric continuous with the wales of the leg fabric at one end and united to the leg fabric at the other end by bights of the yarn of said single-yam wales engaged by loops of the welt fabric at said other end.

6. A stocking having a leg-knit of a plurality of. yarns as accordion fabric comprising wales of a single heavier component yarn only intervening between wales in which successive courses are alternately of lighter and heavier yarns, and havmg a'welt comprising an extent of similar fabric continuous with the wales of the leg fabric at one end' and united to the leg fabric at the other end by bights of the heavier yarn engaged by loops in said wales of heavier yarn at the other end.

7. A stocking blank knit from toe to top comprising a raveling selvage having loops in wales terminating in a free loop followed by a seamless toe, foot and heel of plain fabric, and a tubular leg continuous with foot and heel of multiple-course fabric having a greater number of wales than the foot.

8. A stocking blank knit from toe to top comprising a raveling selvage having loops in wales terminating in a free loop followed by ravehng smgle-course loopers rounds and a seamless toe, foot and heel of plain heel of plain fabric, all having a less number of needle wales than the selvage continuous therewith, and a tubular leg continuous with foot and heel of multiple-course fabrichaving'as many wales as theselvage, the wales of the selvage in excess of the loopers rounds terminating in cast-off loops, whereby the selvage is adapted to be raveled.

10. The art of knitting a seamless stocking on a series of needles comprising first forming a selvage on all of the needles, knitting one or more courses of fabric on-said needles, casting off the-loops at needles intervening between recurrent needles, and

thereafter knitting loopers rounds, a toe pocket, a tubular foot, and a heel pocket on said recurrent needles, and thereafter knitting fabric for the remainder of the stocking on all of the needles.

11. The art of knitting a seamless stocking on a series of needles comprising first forming a selvage on all of the needles, knitting one or more courses of fabric on said needles, casting off the loops at needles intervening between recurrent needles, and thereafter knitting on said recurrent needles singlecourse loopers rounds, a toe pocket, a tubular foot and heel pocket; and thereafter knitting a leg of multiple-course fabric on i all of the needles.

12. The art of knitting a seamless stocking on a series of needles comprising first forming a selvage on all of the needles, knitting one or more courses of fabric onsaid needles, casting off the loops except at recurrent needles, and thereafter knitting onsaid recurrent needles single-course loopers rounds, a toe pocket, a tubular foot and heel pocket, and thereafter knitting a leg and integral in-turned welt of multiple-course. accordion fabric on all of the needles.

13. The art of knitting 'a seamless stocking on a series of needles comprising forming a leg of' multiple-course fabric on the needles, detaining bights from one of the multiple courses of said fabric, knitting a further extent ofmultiple-course fabric of the same kind as the leg for a welt. transknitting curling courses ferring the detained bights to needles,' and un'tingcourse so formed.

4:. The art of knitting a seamless -stocking on a series of needles comprising forming a toe pocket, a tubular foot and heel pocket on needles intervening between recurrent unused needles, and thereafter knitting a leg of multiple-course fabric on all of the needles, detaining. bights from one of the multiple courses of said fabric, knitting a further extent of multiple-course fabric of following the ting single-course curling courses following 15 the same kind as the leg for a welt,= transferring the detained bights to needles, knitthe uniting-course. so formed, and casting o the completed product. I

Signed by ine "at" Boston, Massachusetts;- this fifth day of July, 1916.

ROBERT W. SCOTT.

Witnesses:

Amen A. MAcGBEqoR, MINNIE BROWN.

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