US2307608A - Stocking, knitted fabric, and their method of production - Google Patents

Description

H. B. SNADER Jan. 5, 1943.

STOCKING, KNITTED FABRIC, AND THEIR METHOD OF PRODUCTION Original Filed Nov. 29, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR HOWARD B. SNADER BY q 4 i 5 ATTORNEY Jan. 5, 1943. H. B. SNADER STOCKING, KNITTED FABRIC, AND THEIR METHOD OF PRODUCTION Original Filed Nov. 29, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Huh -lg ll |-u- BlTVENTOR HOWARD NADER ATTORN EY Patented Jan. 5, 19 43 STOCKING, KNITTED FABRIC, AND THEIR METHOD PRODUCTION Howard B. Snader, Temple, Pa. assignor to Vanity Fair Silk -Mills, Readln Original application November 29, 1939, Serial No. 306,617. Divided and this application December-12, 1940, Serial No. 369,695

6 Claims. The present invention relates to stockings,

articles of wearing apparel, and .to the fabric incorporated therein andits method of producton, and has for its primary object the incorporation in an article of wearing apparel of a strain absorbing zone or sectionthat will yieldably absorb the stresses created in the use of the article.

' Another object of the invention resides in .the construction of, the strain absorbing section of elastic yarn in a manner that the normal tendency thereof to curl is eliminated.

Another object of the invention resides in knitting into a knitted article of wearing apparel as a continuous knitting operation. a knitted strain absorbing fabric or section that is capable of yieldable stretch in two directions, and which will not curl.

Another object of the invention resides in a method of knitting fine gauge elastic yarn into a knitted fabric under predetermined tension and relieving the yarn (after knitting the same into courses (of a predetermined amount of tension so as to eliminate the tendency of the knitting fabric to curl.

Besides the above, my invention relates to a method whereby certain loops of certain courses that are knitted of elastic yarn are displaced or spread out of normal position so as .to change the direction of elastic pull of the loops formed from the tensioned yarn, or to relieve the same of tension, thereby eliminating the tendency 'of 'the fabric knitted from the elastic yarn to curl.

With these and other objects in view, my invention will be better-understood from the fol lowing detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a sideelevation of a stocking constructed'in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of a knitted fabric incorporating a strain absorbing section consisting of a plurality of succeeding interlooped courses of elastic yarn, alternate courses having loops transferred so as to allow the spreading of associated loops for unte'nsion-.

ing the yarn in the various courses;

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of a lmitted fabric incorporating astrain absorbing section consisting of an alternating arrangement of courses of elastic yarn and inelastic yarn, certain loops in the courses of inelastic yarn being transferred to allow the spreading and untensioning of associated loops in the courses of elastic yarn;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of a portion of ing section consisting of a plurality of succeeding interlooped courses of elastic yarn, each having loops transferred in a single direction to change the direction of elastic elastic loops;

Figure 5 is a plan view of a knitted fabric incorporating a strain absorbing section which may be provided with'finished selvedge edges or with unfinshed selvedge edges;

Figure 6 is a plan view of a fashioned knitted fabric incorporating a strain absorbing section which may be provided with finished selvedge edges or unfinished selvedge edges;

Figure '7 is an enlarged diagrammatic view of a portion of the fabrics illustrated in Figures 5 and 6.

The present application, which is a division of my application Serial Number 306,617, filed November 29,-1939, illustrates and describes a stocking and piece goods fabrics, with or without selvedge edges, and fashioned or unfashioned, but I wish it to be understood that the invention'is adaptable to various types of fabrics and various types of wearing apparel, such as corsets, bras- 'sires, dresses, etc., the main purpose of the invention being to provide a two way elastic,

stretch knitted 'strain absorbing' section in an article of w'earing apparel capable of elastically stretching in two directions so as to relieve the article of successive strains in the use thereof.

In the knitting of fine gauge elastic yarn into a knitted fabric so as to provide a. strain absorbing 'section, (the section has a tendency to curl along its paralleling upper and lower edges, which produces an unsightly appearance, and materi-.

ally reduces the sales appeal thereof. I have discovered, over an extendedperiod of experimentation, that this tendency of the strain absorbing a knitted fabric incorporating a strain absorb-s5 section to curl is due .to many unavoidable conditions, such as the use of very fine gauge elastic v yarn, the knitting of elastic yarn under tension,

and the tendency of the elastic loops to contract in size after the knitting operation.

I have further discovered that these heretofore unavoidable conditions 'can be overcome 'by changing the direction of elastic pull of the loops after the knittingthereof, or by allowing certain loops to spread beyond their normal size and shape after knitting, to relieve the elastic yarn in the various courses of its. abnormal elastic tension.

I have still further discovered that it is of the pull of the transferred H rection of pull of the elastic loops, or the spreading of the other loops beyond their normal size and shape, will not properly relieve the elastic yarn of the requireddegree of initial tension, and thus their strain absorbing section will have a certain degree of curl. f

This initial tension of the yarn during the knit ting thereof on high gauge knitting machines (such as full-fashioned hosiery knitting machines) can be reduced to the necessary low degree .by relieving the pull of the yarn from the cone, such as by the use of the device shown in issued Patent No. 2,030,477. This will relieve the tensioning of the yarn in its feed from the source of supply. However, I have discovered that the sinkers and dividers of the knitting machine are another source of tensioning. In the use of the sinkers and dividers, the elastic yarn is crimped, and to perform this crimping operation, it is necessary that the. yarnbe forced between the needles in a lateral direction a predetermined degree. In forcing the yarn, the same will stretch, and when this stretched yarn is knitted into loops, the loops are under an elastic strain which tends to contract the size of the loops in the flninshed fabric, thereby creating a pull walewise of the strain absorbing fabric, causing the upper and lower edges thereof to curl.

A very important feature of my invention is to change the direction of the elastic pull of the loops so as to reduce the curling action and, in most cases,entirely eliminate the same. This desired result can also be accomplished by allowing certain loops of the elastic courses to spread beyondtheir normal size and shape to untension the yarns in the various courses.

Referring particularly to the drawings illusdegree so that the action of the transferred loops trating several of the many forms of my invention, the numeral I designates a stocking consisting of a welt fabric 2, a leg fabric 3,'and a foot fabric 4. The welt fabric 2 may be of the single or double ply type well known in the art, and just below the welt fabric is located my. improved strain absorbing section or zone 5. This zone 5 may be knitted of an alternating arrangement of elastic and inelastic yarns, or entirely of elastic yarns, and the courses of yarn may be knitted in various ways, such as illustrated in the drawings.

Figure 2 diagrammatically illustrates a few courses 8 of the welt fabric, a group of courses I of the leg fabric, and the strain absorbing fabric 5 which, in this particular instance, consists of a number of succeeding interlooped courses of elastic yarn 8 alternating courses 9 of which have predetermined loops i0 transferred so as to allow associated loops Ii in associated courses to spread beyond their normal size and shape to untension the elastic yarn in thetvarious courses.

In Figure 3, I have eliminated the curling of the strain absorbing fabric by transferring a PIG? determined number of loops H of the courses l3 knitted of inelastic yarn so that the associated loops l4 of the courses knitted of elastic yarn may spread beyond their normal size and shape to relieve said courses of elastic yarn of their initial tension during the knitting operation. Attention is called to the fact that, although I have shown single courses of inelastic yarn alternating with single courses of elastic yam in Figure 3, any desired number of succeeding'interknit courses of elastic yarn may be positioned in alternating arrangement with any desired number of succeeding interknit courses of inelastic yarn.

Referring to Figure 4, I have illustrated an arrangement whereby the direction of elastic pull of the loops in their attempt to relieve themselves of the abnormal elastic tension is changed so as to minimize the tendency of the strain absorbing section to curl. To accomplish this desired result, a predetermined number of loops IS in succeeding courses are transferred into overlapping arrangement with the plain loops it of associated wales I1. Thus it will be appreciated that these transferred loops extend at an angle to the plain loops of the wales l1; and I have discovered that when the direction of pull of the loops is angularly disposed in relation to the walewise aligna wa'lewise' direction, that is to say,'in a direction i at right angles to the edges of the fabric section 5. Thus the maximum elastic mill is in a di-,

rection to create a curling action of the edge por tions of the fabric section.

Due to thefact that only certain of the loops are transferred, there is. a walewise stress of .certain loops of the fabric section and an angularv stress ofotherloops ofthe fabric section, and the coaction of these elastic stresses reduces the tendency ofthe entire fabric section to curl.

It is a very important feature of the invention that the initial elastic tension of the loops after the knitting thereof is reduced to a relatively low can fully neutralize the initial tension of all loops of the fabric section.

. From the foregoing, it will bev understood that I provide two methods of untensioning the courses: first, the spreading beyond normal size and shape of certain loops after they are knitted to untension the elastic courses; and second, the transferring of loops to change the direction of elastic pull of certain of the loops. I

Referring to Figure 5, I have disclosed a knit.-

ted piece goods fabric which may be provided with raw edges or finished selvedge edges, such a as indicated by the numerals l8 and I! in Figure.

7. In the knitting of pi'ece goods for any commercial purpose, such as incorporation in various articles of wearing apparel, the piece goods is provided with two fabricated end sections 20 and 2| connected together by a strain absorbing section which may beknitted in various ways, as

hereinbefore set forth.

I also wish it to be understood in relation to Figure 5 that the end sections 20 and 2| may be warp knitted, weft knitted, of lace construc- :tion, orof woven-construction but, in any case, the section 2? is fabricated as hereinbefore de-,

scribed.

Referring to Figure 6, I have shown a flat type of knitted fabric fashioned along lines 23 and 24. Thus the same, is provided with fashioned selvedge edges knitted, as shown at.l8 in Figure '7, in accordance with method well known in the art.

It is within the scope of my invention to knit .the strain absorbing fabric in the form of a nar-} row strip knitted, as hereinbefore set forth, and

having finished selvedge edges'which are attached to the fabricated sections, such as, sections 20 and 2| illustrated in Figure 5, by a seaming, topp 0r looping operation.

The fine ga ge yarn used in the utilization of my invention is preferably of the type disclosed in the Adamson Patent No. 1,822,847. It has been proven that the yarn must be of the fine type illustrated in this patent to be practical in the operation of fine gauge knitting machines now in use, particularly the type used for the production of sheer hosiery.

I am aware of the fact that, previous to the Adamson patent, heavy types of elastic yarns were knitted into fabric, but the gauge of the yarn was such that when knitted into the fabric, the fabric did not have a tendency to curl; also the size of the yarn was such that it was not knitted under tension, and thus the manufacturing difliculties which are characteristic in the knitting of fine gauge elastic yarns were not experienced. However, heavy gauge yarns cannot be practically knitted into sheer types of knitted fabrics, and as the present invention relates particularly to high gauge types of knitted fabrics involving manufacturing diillculties not characteristic of low gauge knitted-fabrics, it will be readily understood that my invention overcomes a specific problem in a specific art, which is substantiated by the fact that my invention has been successfully commercialized in large quantitles to date.

Having described my invention, what I claim 1. A stocking comprising a leg portion, a garter attaching portion at the top thereof, and a strain absorbing zone between said leg and arter attaching portions in which plain loop nating with single courses of fine inelastic yarn having loops of spaced wales laterally transferred and doubled with loops of other wales whereby loops of spaced wales of the single elastic courses of plain loops are spread.

3. A stocking comprising a legporti'on, a garter attaching portion at the top, and 'a strain absorbing section between said leg and garter attaching portions consisting of single plain loop courses of fine elastic yarn alternatingwith single plain loop courses of fine inelastic yarn in which loops of spaced wales are laterally transferred and doubled with loops of other wales whereby those locps of spaced wales of all the single plain loop elastic courses associated with the transferred loops are spread in size.

4. A fabric having a strain absorbing section consisting of single plain loop courses of fine elastic yarn alternating with single plain loop courses of fine inelastic yarn in which loops of spaced wales are laterally transferred and doubled with loops of other wales whereby associated loops in spaced wales of the courses of elastic yarn are spread in size.

5. A method of knitting in a stocking a strain absorbing section which comprises: knitting a single course ofloops of fine gauge inelasticyarn and, during the knitting of said course. transferring loops and doubling the transferred loops with loops of other wales; then knitting a second single course of loops of fine gauge elastic yarn and interlooplng the loops thereof with the loops of the first course wherein those loops associated with said transferred loops expand in size; and repeating the foregoing cycle of knitting throughout the width of the section.

6. A method of knitting in a fabric a strain absorbing section which comprises: knitting a single course of loops of fine gauge inelastic yarn and, during th knitting of said course, transferring loops and doubling the transferred loops with loops of other wales; then knitting a second single course of loops of fine gauge elastic yarn and interlooplng the loops thereof with the loops of the first course wherein those loops associated with said transferred loops expand in size; and repeating the foregoing cycle of knitting throughout the width of the section.

HOWARD B. SNADER.

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