US2123971A - Hosiery - Google Patents

Description

July 19,'1938. f A SALEMBIER, Jrg 2,123,971

HOSIERY Filed NOV. l, 1935 y. Q I 19 Patented `luly 19, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HOSIERY Maurice lbert Salembier, Jr., Plandome, N. Y. Application November 1, 1935, Serial No. 47,782

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved method of manufacturing silk stockings and to an improved stockingmade thereby.

In the prior manufacture of silk stockings, diiiculty has been encountered in the operationof the knitting machines because the knots in the yarn frequently failed to pass through the carrier or eye of the needle thereby breaking the yarn. Absence of thread due to breaks or to knots opening, automatically stops the machines and causes a press-off of the partially finished stocking which is usually a total loss. If the knots do pass thrcughnthe eye of the neeC;.'.-ir, they -cause such a visible thickening or spot in the fabric of the stocking which is usually so obvious on the leg of the wearer, that such stockings are rejects and sold either at a reduced price as seconds or discarded entirely. rllhe lowered emciency of machines which cannot deliver full production because ofv knots is also highly objectionable and costly. y The thread from which such stockings have been mader up to this time has a plurality of single strands., each of which is first wound on single strand bobbins from the silk skein. After winding, these single strands may be twisted, and several bobbins each containing one strand are then placed on a doubling machine or a machine of the doubler-twister type which machines form the multiple strand thread. At a single 'strand run-out or break in the doubling operation all strands were usually brokenA either automatically or by hand to insure against less than the full number of strands from entering the thread. Some of the doubled thread was then drawn back from the feed rolls and receiving bobbin until the full number of strands was found and a large knot common to all strands was then formed, such knot causing the press-offs and rejects. Knots common to all strands were also formed in making large packages from two or more small bobbins.

These objectionable features are overcome in accordance with the present invention by providing a thread in which the doubling knots and packaging knots which were common to all strands are eliminated and the knots necessary in case of breaks or run-outs in the doubling operation are tied in the individual Strands of the 5g thread or yarn. Such knots are tied, preferably prior to twisting the yarn so that although individual strands of the thread may be knotted at various places, there are no knots which are common to the entire number of Istrands of 55 thread, and no thickened portions which will fail to pass the eye of the needle to cause the pressois and no knotted or thickened portions to cause flaws or rejects in the finished stockings.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear from the following disclosure thereof, taken in connection with the attached drawing which illustrates a preferred form of embodiment of my invention and in which:

Figure 1 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of a partially untwisted length of silk yarn from which my improved hosiery is made, v

Figure 2 is an elevation of a blank for full fashioned hosiery,

Figure 3 a perspective view of a completed stocking, and, v

Figure 4 is an enlarged diagrammatic'view of several courses of knitted fabric composing the stocking.

Natural silk stockings as commonly made on knitting machines may be either full fashioned or of the seamless type, such stockings having a plurality of knitted courses of a multipleA strand, multiple twist thread generally known as hosiery tram. Such thread is commonly formed into a suitable package containing the desired amount of thread, such packages frequently being of a cone shape. For commercial knitting,`large size packages are preferable as they permit an increase production of the machines and a reductionof the number of stops and delays du'e to thread running out.

In order to obtain full production by the use of large packages and at the same time to eliminate press-offs and rejects occasioned by the knots which have heretofore been found in all large .packages, I carefully control the entire sequence of steps in the manufacture of the hosiery commencing preferably with the initial winding of the silk strands onto single strand bobbins from the silk skein. By such control I avoid the formation of knots common to all strands which prevent continuous operation and I thereby elim- -inate losses due to press-ous. I also produce stockings, all of which are free from knots common to all strands and therefore free from uneven spots or conspicuous knots although they have single strand doubling knots at the breaks or run-outs in the doubling operation. 'I'he i`nven- 'E tion is applicable either to the single carrier thread type of stockings or the multiple carrier type as desred. As a preliminary step in my improved method of producing stockings, I ilrst wind a length of single strand fiber which is equivalent in length to the total length of the thread from which the Lstockings-are to be made. Winding such a large quantity of thread on a single bobbin is not only highly advantageous from the standpoint of economy in time and labor in throwing, but it is one of the means of eliminating knots as will appear hereinafter.

Subsequent to the formation of the single strand, I perform the doubling operation by which I form a multiple strand, multiple twist thread from the desired number of single strands. While I prefer to carry out this step on a modification of a type of well known doubling machine known as the doubler-twister combined machine which simultaneously doubles the thread and gives it a relatively low twist, I can, of course, carry it out on other machines that will meet the necessary conditions. As the principal step in operating such machines, single strand knots are tied at breaks or runouts,urunouts being due to exhaustion of the single strand and breaks being due to loops or waste catching in the drop arms of the stop motion mechanism which stops the Winding bobbin when a thread strand breaks.

In using the larger single strand bobbins, the number of knots due to run-outs are materially reduced.

In order to tie single strand knots successfully and without waste, the winding of the doubled thread should be stopped at a single strand break so that the end of the broken strand does not reach a point of twist and become intertwined in the other continuous strands. The broken strand is then tied -without destroying the continuity of the other strands and none of the wound thread need be drawn back from the winding bobbin.

After the single strand knot is tied, the doubling operation is re-started and the separate strands are uniformly tensioned as they are entirely independent of each other. Uniformlty of tension in each strand is beneficial in that stockings are often stretched considerably and full elastic qualities are desirable. V

The package that is made from the doubled thread is usually made on some form of coning machine although in some cases, the bobbin on which the doubled thread is wound is used directly. As a rule, however, the doubled thread frequently is transferred through several operations after doubling including twisting and packaging. In each of these operations as well as in the winding and doubling operations, I prefer to make a spool for spool transfer. By this, I mean that one bobbin is completely transferred to fill another bobbin so that the final package is made without joining doubled threads from different bobbins.

The advantages of spool for spool transfer in making large packages is that there is no sudden demarcation between parts of the thread and no change in size, twist, or nature of the strands, In my package, there are no knots` common to all strands because I eliminate such knots in the doubling operation and in the packaging operation by spool for spool transfer even though the preferred package may be of any desired size. An eight ounce package, which is one convenient size as it usually will make twelve pairs of stockings, dependingr ori the denier and number of strands, "has none 'of vthe knots common to all strands rather than the three or more which exist in the best prior packages.

Certain operations which were heretofore thought necessary are also eliminated, particularly the redraw and cleaning operations. The multiple strand, multiple twist thread with knots in the single strands only and with no knots common to all strands, will pass the cleaner on the packaging machine and the redraw operation to break the former large knots is unnecessary. Furthermore, packaging is continuous as there are no wrapped strands and no need to tie knots at this point. This is also a considerable saving in time and labor and makes it possible to package mechanically with uniform tension and without hidden knots which heretofore caused knitting difficulties.

One form of the improved type of multiple strand, multiple twist silk thread suitable for hosiery tram, generally represented at I5 in Figure 1, has four strands generally indicated at Il, I1, I8 and I9, certain strands having knots 20. Such thread has each strand separate and continuous and with each strand under uniform tension and twist. It is especially suitable for knitting of hosiery which I carry out on a suitable i knitting machine of usual type, and I feed the which it is formed into the desired fabric or leg blank generally shown at 22 in Figure 2.

The carriersiand the eyes of the needles are the source of most dimculty in knitting. If a knot catches, the thread breaks or if the knots untie the partially finished leg blank is discharged or pressed-ofi the machine and that unit of the machine is stopped. As a leg blank may be partially finished, and as it is extremely difficult to continue knitting, the partially finished portion is either unwound and the thread partially lalvaged or the portion is discharged to waste. With the three carrier system of knitting, the losses are Very great.

In knitting from the improved yarn with no knots common to all strands, the entire thread, regardless of length, will pass the carriers and through the knitting needles so that I can continuously make the leg portions of the stockings 24 without press-offs or rejects due to knots, the welts 24a and foot portions 2lb being separately finished as is well known. As shownin Figure 4, the multiple courses 26 are laid in any desired pattern and in the single carrier system, each course will be made from the same thread, whereas if a three carrier system is used, each three courses will be formed from separate threads.

The single strand knots 20, of which there may be several in a thread long enough to make twenty-four stockings as is commonly practiced, then appear in the finished stocking somewhat as shown in Figure 4. Silk is known to have some variation in size anda single strand knot in a multiple strand, multiple twist thread is so insignificant that it will not be seen under normal conditions. They are also so small that they do not normally cause rejects or re-classication with the result that all stockings made from my thread are uniform in quality insofar as the thread is concerned.

It is to be understood that because I eliminate press-offs from threads breaking at knots or knots untying, I am able to get full production on the knitting machines and asvall hosiery is of uniformly high quality, reject and press-off losses are eliminated. Furthermore, my unit overhead costs for machines and labor isalso reduced with the result that I can save a high percentage of the cost of production by my improved knitting methods. 5

I am not limited in the type of thread as I can satisfactorily .knit from any multiple strand, multipletwist thread. The common hosiery trams are in the range of three to twelve strands, although I can knit other sizes equally as well. The lower number of strands are for the sheer leg portions of stockings which are especially satisfactory when produced by my methods. In the higher number of strands which are used for welts and foot portions, the absence of knots common to all strands is also desirable.

While it is preferable to tie the breaks in the individual strands in the throwing machines where the raw silk is manufactured into yarn suitable for knitting, the individual strands may be tied at any other point in the manufacture of the yarn up to the point where the yarn goes through the eye of the knitting machine needle. It is within the contemplation of my invention, for example, to repair breaks in the multiple ply thread which may occur at any time prior to the passage of the thread through the carrier of the knitting machine as by separating the individual strands of thread at the point of the break, tying the strands individually at spaced points along the thread and retwisting the thread so as to permit its passage through the eye of the needle.

It is also possible to tie two or more strands at the same time although I prefer not to as the more strands tied at one point, the larger the knot. I have found however. that if not more than two-thirds of the strands of four or more strand thread are tied at the same point, there is no material objection to the thread passing the usual knot detectors or the carriers or needles of the knitting machines.

Although my invention is especially suitable with natural silk as such fiber is usually of limited length and is commonly doubled and twisted and knotted to produce the minimum length thread suitable for commercial operation of knitting machines, it is also applicable to such other artificial silk fibers or mixtures of fibers which have substantially these same characteristics of natural silk.

While I have described a preferred form oi embodiment of my invention, I am aware that many other modications can be made thereto and I am desirous of obtaining a broad interpretation of my invention within the scope and spirit of the disclosure herein and of the claims appended hereinafter.,

I claim:

1. The method of continuously producing natural silk stockings without press-offs or rejects, such stockings having no knots common to all strands of the thread, single strands having knots at breaks or run-outs, which comprises the stops of winding separate strands of natural silk of a length sufficient to make a multiple number of Whole stocking leg portions, doubling similar strands, tying knots in case of breaks in not more than two-thirds of the strands at any one point during doubling and prior to a point of twist, packaging the multiple strand lthread with a spool for spool transfer to eliminate knots Common to all strands, and subsequently knitting the thread into a multiple number of whole stockings.

2. The method of continuously knitting hosiery which comprises the steps of winding, doubling, twisting, tensioning and packaging a continuous natural silk thread having no knots common to al1 strands, tying independent knots in the single strands at breaks or run-outs in doubling and prior to 'any twisting or tensioning, continuously feeding such thread through a carrier to needles and operating said needles tolay up a plurality of courses whereby a continuous knitted fabric consisting of a plurality of stocking leg portions is produced having no knots common to all strands in any course, separate strands having knots blended into the thread.

3. The method of continuously producing a multiple number of natural silk stockings having I no knots common to all strands of the thread. which comprises producing a package of silk thread equivalent to a predetermined number of stockings without a knot common to all strands by doubling a number of separate strands into a single thread and tying each strand broken during doubling solely to its own source, and knitting said thread into a Whole number of stockings. l

4. The method of continuously knitting a plu rality of natural silk stocking leg portions of the full fashioned type having no knots common to all strands, which comprises winding single strands of natural silk of a length substantially equal to but greater than the length of thread required for the plurality of leg portions, doubling said single strands into a doubled strand equivalent in length to the final thread, stopping the doubling at a single strand break before the broken strand reaches a point of twist, tying a single strand knot in the broken strand, subsequently continuing the doubling including twisting said knotted and unknotted strands for the remainder of their lengths with the knot adjacent continuous portions of more than one-third of the other strands and subsequently knitting said thread into a whole number of Stocking leg portions.

MAURICE A. SALEMBIER, JR.

Patent, No. 2,123,971 Grant/ed July 19, 1938 Y MAURICE ALBERT SALEMBIER, JR.

The above y'entitled patent, was extended February 26, 1952, undef the provisions of the 'act of June 30, 1950, for 6 years and 32 days from the expiration of the original term thereof.

Commissioner of Patents.

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