US2485747A - Knitted fabric and process of making the same - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 25, 1949. R. F. w. KRUEGER 2,485,747

KNITTED FABRIC AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 25, 1946 INVENTOR. Rc/qnd Frank VVf/l/m Kru er Patented Oct. 25, 1949 KNITTED FABRIC AND PROCESS OF MAKING THE SAME Roland Frank William Krueger, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to Bamberger-Reinthal Company, a

corporation of Ohio Application September 23, 1946, Serial No. 698,849

4 Claims.

My invention relates to knitted fabrics in general, and relates more particularly to knitted fabrics having elastic strands knitted therewith.

Broadly stated, my invention comprises the improved arrangement of elastic strands with strands of yarn to produce a knitted fabric having a face side portion and a rear side portion.

An object of m invention is to provide a fabric having elastic strands therein, which fabric will contract smoothly without producing a wrinkled surface.

Another object of my invention is to provide a knitted fabric having elastic strands extending along one side thereof.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a knitted fabric having a face side and a rear side produced by a plurality of strands, with one portion of each strand forming a portion of the face side, and a second portion of each strand forming a portion of the rear side, and having elastic strands along the rear side only of the fabric.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide a knitted fabric having a face side of all yarn, and having a rear side including elastic strands.

Another object of my invention is to provide a double-knitted fabric having a face side portion and a rear side portion with connecting strands leading from the rear side portion to the front side portion, and having elastic strands interwoven with the rear side portion to compact the stitches of the rear side portion without materially affecting the face side portion.

Other objects and a fuller understanding of my invention may be had by referring to the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 of the drawing is a greatly enlarged showing of one fundamental element of a doubleknitted fabric showing the face stitch of one strand and the cross stitches between two adjacent strands with an elastic strand interwoven in chain stitches with the cross stitches;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic illustration illustrating the relationship of the face stitch and the cross stitches;

Figure 3 is a greatly enlarged illustration of the complete fabric showing the intermeshing of two of the fundamental elements of Figure 1 to produce a double-knitted fabric; and

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic illustration showing the relationship of the face stitches and the cross stitches, and the intermeshing of the two fundamental elements to produce the double-knitted fabric.

In producing my knitted fabric, I use the type of knitting machine which has guide bars and needles which move alternately to one another; that is, the guide bars move between and around the needles. Such machines are of various makes and are constructed with needle bars which are long bars having a plurality of needles at regularly spaced intervals therealong. These machines are characterized by guide bars which carry the thread to the needle bars. The needle bars are moved by cams and the guide bars are moved by chains or pattern wheels consisting of lengths of different heights which through associated mechanisms control the movement of the guide bars and cause the needles to create loops Which form the knitted fabric.

Although various types of knitted fabrics are made on this type of machine, the fabric to which my invention pertains comprises a plurality of columns each produced by a single strand of yarn. Although the needle bars, comprising a front and a rear needle bar, have a plurality of knitting needles, each strand of yarn is knitted on only three needles. The strand of yarn is first directed to a needle on the front needle bar and knitted; it is then directed to a second needle which is on the back needle bar, and is then knitted; the strand is then directed back to the first needle on the front bar and is then knitted; the yarn is then guided to a third needle on the back knitting bar and is again knitted. This series of operations is repeated indefinitely to the desired length of the fabric being knitted. In other words, the fabric is built up of single strands which are continually looped back and forth between two lateral side limits. The strands are sharply looped at the lateral side limits to return the strand to the opposite side. These lateral side loops are knitted in a cross stitch with similar loops of adjacent strands in order to bind the plurality of columns into one continuous fabric. Intermediate the two lateral sides, and produced on the second needle on the front needle bar, each section of the strand, as it proceeds from one lateral side limit to the other, is interlooped With an adjacent section of the same strand in a straight stitch.

To more fully explain my invention and the type of fabric to which it is'preferably applied, I refer to the Figure 1 of the drawing illustrating the basic stitch of the fabric, and Figure 3 of the drawing illustrating the completed fabric of two of the basic stitches illustrated in Figure 1 intermeshed together. In the Figure 1 of the drawing, the reference character It indicates one continuous strand of the yarn used in knitting the the front needle bar and looped. The guide bar then directs the strand I to a needle on the back needle bar. Here the strand III is guided around the needle on the back needle bar and looped. The strand I0 is then directed again to the needle on the front needle bar and wrapped around the needle and looped. .Then the strand I!) is directed to the second needle on the back bar. The two needles on the back needle bar are spaced apart a predetermined distance to produce a pleasing appearance in the finished fabric. The needle on the front needle bar is of course spaced a lateral distance from the two needles on the back needle bar and is equi-distant from the two needles. Thus, the three needles used in producing the basic stitch, illustrated in the Figure 1 are in a triangular relationship, with the two needles on the back needle bar constituting the base of the triangle, and the one needle on the front needle bar constituting the apex of the triangle.

The sets of three needles, as hereinbefore described, constitute a basic three needles for producing the stitch indicated in the Figure 1. This set of three needles may be considered as being repeated along the needle bars to a distance sufficient to produce the desired width of fabric. That is, although the needles on each bar appear to be in straight lines of evenly spaced needles, in their operation they function in sets of three. However, these sets of three are cooperative in their function. That is, the two needles on the back bar to which the thread It is directed are also used by the next adjacent strands I I and I2. Therefore, as the strand I 0 is directed to the first needle on the back needle bar, it produces a column indicated by the arrow and the reference character I3. As the strand I0 is then directed to the needle on the front needle bar to produce a stitch indicated by the arrow and the reference character I4, the strand I2 is directed to the needle producing the column I3. Thus, the strand I2 and the strand III are interwoven as indicated in the column I3 of the Figure l, The same operation is carried out between the strand I I and the strand II] and is indicated by the arrow and the reference character I5. It is to be noted, then, that the columns I3 and I are produced by cross stitching adjacent strands together, whereas the column I4 is produced by interlacing adjacent portions of the same strand together.

Although a fabric could be made as hereinbefore described, the fabric would be of only single thickness and would be somewhat ridged in form as indicated by the diagrammatic view of Figure 2. The diagrammatic view of Figure 2 is similar to a cross-sectional view. In the diagrammatic Figure 2, the column I4 is shown as a straight fiat line, and the cross stitch columns I3 and I5 are indicated by the concentric circles. The positions of the columns I3, I4 and I5 are similar to the relative positions of the needles on the needle bars producing the stitch. That is, the column I3 is produced on a first needle on the back needle bar, and the column I4 is produced on the apex needle on the front needle banand the column I5 in turn is produced on the second needle on the back needle bar. In this illustration of Figure 2, only the three strands I0, ,II and [2 are discussed, but the remainlngstrandsil- 4 lustrate the same process is carried out to the desired width of the fabric. The strand I0 is looped back and forth between the needles producing the columns I3 and I5 and is interlooped with itself in a straight stitch by a needle producing the column I4. Thus, each section of yarn illustrated between the concentric circles is one continuous strand of yarn looping continually back and forth laterally between the concentric circles.

Referring now to the Figure 3 of the drawing, I illustrate the complete fabric to which my invention is preferably applied. This fabric consists simply of two of the fundamental stitches illustrated in the Figures 1 and 2 intermeshed together. The Figure 3 is drawn in perspective and illustrates the respective forward and rear position of the columns [3, I4 and I5. In producing the complete fabric as illustrated in the Figure 3, a third needle is employed on the back needle bar intermediate the needles producing the columns I3 and I5. This needle produces the column I6. Also, two additional needles are employed on the front needle on either side of the needle producing the column I4, and these needles produce respectively the columns indicated by the arrow and reference character I! and the column indicated by the arrow and the reference character I8. Thus, the needles in sets of triangles are actually overlapping as indicated by the arrangement of the strands in the diagrammatic illustration of Figure 4. There, it can be seen, that the fundamental stitch as illustrated in the Figure 2 and producing the columns I3, I4 and I5 are overlapped by a similar set of basic stitches indicated by the reference characters I6, I1 and I8. This completed fabric amounts to two of the single knitted fabrics as indicated in the Figure 1 intermeshed together to form a complete fabric. The strand producing the column I! is indicated by the reference character 20 and the strand producing the column I8 is indicated by the reference character 2I. The strands 20 and 2| are cross stitched to produce the column I6, in exactly the same manner as hereinbefore described to produce the column I3 by cross stitching the strands Ill and I2 or the column I5 by cross stitching the strands III and II. I

My invention, as applied to the specific type of fabric illustrated comprises directing a strand of elastic material 22 to one of the needles on the back needle bar forming the cross stitches. I That is, whereas the strand I0, for example, is directed to three different needles including the needle forming the column I3 and the needle forming the column I5, I guide the elastic strand to one of these needles only. For example, as illustrated in the Figure 3, I have guided the elastic strands 22 to the needles forming the columns of cross stitches I3 and I5. Thus, the elastic strands 22 are chain stitched along with the cross stitches of the columns I3 and I5.

It will be readily apparent from the Figure. 3, that the elastic strand 22 will draw the cross stitches of the columns I3 and I5 tightly together, but this efiect on the stitches of the columns will not materially affect the stitches of the columns I 4, I! or I8 on the face side of the cloth because of the relatively long strands leading between the column on the face side and those on the rear side. Therefore, when completely relaxed, the columns I3 and I5 will be closely compacted because of the effect of the elastic strand 22, but the face columns will :be substantially unaffected.

In actual practice, for sweater bands and like applications, I direct strands of elastic material 22 to every alternate column on the rear side of the fabric rather than to every column, because the desired elastic condition of the fabric is sufficiently brought about by applying the elastic strand only to every other cross-stitch column. In other words, if the elastic strand 22 were applied to every rear column of cross stitches, the fabric would be too strong in its elastic characteristics for most uses. Thus, the elastic strand 22 may be considered as being applied to one single basic stitch of the fabric, such for example as that illustrated in the Figure 1 of the drawings, and not being applied to the intermeshing portion as illustrated in the Figure 3.

I have found applying the elastic strand 22 longitudinally in chain stitches along with the column of cross stitches on the rear side of the cloth, that an improved fabric suitable for waist bands, tails, cuffs, and the like, of sweaters is produced. This fabric has the characteristic of being elastic in the direction of columns of stitches, but being only normally resilient and stretchable to a slight extent crosswise to the column. That is, in the double fabric as illustrated, Without the use of the elastic strand 22, the fabric would be loosely compacted and therefore would be somewhat resilient and stretchable either longitudinally or horizontally with respect to the columns of stitches. However, by placing the elastic strand 22 in chain stitches along with the columns of cross stitches on the rear side of the cloth, the columns on the rear side of the fabric become closely compacted, and the columns on the face side of the fabric become somewhat more closely compacted than normal, but the entire fabric is no more substantially closely compacted horizontally with respect to the columns than it would normally be. Therefore, the fabric is quite elastic in nature and may be extended for some distance in the direction of the columns of stitches, but is only normally stretchable in the lateral direction with respect to the columns.

Also, by placing the elastic strand 22 as described, I have found that the face side of the fabric is virtually unwrinkled. As before explained, this desirable condition is brought about because of the flexible nature of the portions of the strands between the cross stitches and the straight stitches on the face of the fabric. That is, the cross stitches on the rear of the cloth can be closely compacted by the elastic strand 22 without materially affecting the face stitches.

Although I have described my invention in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

What is claimed is:

1. A knitted fabric having a face side and a rear side, said fabric comprising a plurality of inelastic strands, a portion of each said inelastic strand comprising straight stitches forming said face side, a portion of each said inelastic strand comprising cross stitches with an adjacent inelastic strand and forming said rear side, and a plurality of elastic strands chain stitched with the cross stitches on the rear side.

2. A knitted fabric having a face side and a rear side, said fabric comprising a plurality of inelastic strands, a portion of each said inelastic strand comprising straight stitches forming said face side, a portion of each said strand comprising cross stitches with an adjacent strand and forming said rear side, and elastic strands interstitched with the portion of the inelastic strands comprising the cross stitches on the rear side.

3. Process of knitting an elastic fabric having a face side and a rear side, comprising the steps of knitting the face side and the rear side respectively with straight stitches and cross stitches of inelastic strands, and stitching an elastic strand with the cross stitches on the rear side.

4. Process of knitting an elastic fabric having a face side and a rear side, comprising the steps of knitting the face side and the rear side respectively with straight stitches and cross stitches of inelastic strands, and chain stitching an elastic strand with the cross stitches on the rear side.

ROLAND FRANK WILLIAM KRUEGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,054,233 Mueller Feb. 25, 1913 2,114,004 Reinthal Apr. 12, 1938 2,147,169 Mendel et al Feb. 14, 1939 2,150,133 Seidel Mar. '7, 1939 2,323,396 Hayto et al July 6, 1943 OTHER REFERENCES Lehrbuch fur Anfanger auf der Raschelmaschine, by Kunze and Knobloch, published by Robert Birkner, Evers and Co., Apolda, Thuringen, 1925, page '73.

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