US465678A - Stocking and method of making the same - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

H. O. RIGHTMIRE. STOCKING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

No. 465,678. Patented Dec. 22,1891.

Wi/bmom MM: a 1M MM Jam/m4 Units STATES PATENT Erica,

HARRY O RIGHTMIRE, OF IIAVRE DE GRACE, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR OF ONE HALF TO THOMAS A. PEARCE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

STOCKING AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 465,678, dated December 22, 1891.

Application filed July 27, 1891. Serial No. 400,851. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.- ing the instep and ankle, and it is also for the Be it known that I, HARRY C. RIGHTMIRE, same reason impossibleto introduce the extra a citizen of the United States, residing at thread high up on the rear part of the heel.

lIavre de Grace, in the county of Harford and lhe principal objects of my present inven- State of Maryland, have invented certain new tion are, first, to obviate the above-mentioned 5 5 and useful Improvements in Stockings and defects and disadvantages and to provide a in theMethod of Producing the Same, of which stocking or sock having a wide or full and the following is a specification. elasticinstep andahigh-spliced or re-enforced My present invention relates,in general, to heel adapted to fit the upper portion of the [O seamless hosiery, and more particularly to lball of the heel of the wearer and extending 60 certain improvements in the shape,-structnrc, well up to the ankle, and, second, to provide and properties of the ankle, heel, and instep a simple and expeditious method of producportions thereof. ing such stockings or socks.

An ordinary seamless stocking may be pro- In a stocking embodying features of my in- I 5 duced upon a round or circular knitting Illavention the upper portion of the foot and of 65 chine by first knitting a tubular leg; second, the heel-pocket are united to the leg by means knitting a heel onto said leg and shaping the of a gore knit onto certain of the stitches of heel by narrowing and widening the same, the leg and a full tubeknit onto the gore and and this widening or narrowing operation the remaining stitches of the leg and onto the may be accomplished by throwing half of the (foot and heel-pocket, whereby a full elastic 7o needles of the machine out of action and then instep and a high-spliced heel adapted to fit knitting back and forth on the needles rethe upper portion of the ball of the heel of maining in action and throwing out needles the wearer are attained. one at a time first on one side and then on My improved method of producing stockthe other at the formation of each course of ings embodyingmy invention may be carried 75 stitches during the narrowing operation and into effect by means of a round-knitting mathrowing needles into action in a similar chine in the following manner: A tubular leg manner during thewidening operation, and, is knit and properly shaped in the usual third, throwing all the needles into action and manner, and a gore is then knit onto certain 0 knitting the foot. Moreover, in the producof the stitches of this leg by first throwing 8o tion of such stockings it is customary to inone-half the needles of the machine, and in troduce an extra thread or heavier and addition thereto a certain numberfor exst-ronger threadinto the machine during the ample, seven needleson each side, out-of acoperation of knitting the heel, so that the tion, and then knitting a certain number of heel comprises a stronger and more durable courses of stitches and alternately throwing 85 web than the other portion of the stocking. one needle on each side into action at each It is welll known that the instep and ankle course of stitches until a certain number of portions of. a stocking should be as elastic and needles-for example, fourteen on each side full as poss gble and that the portion of the have been thrown into action, whereupon a stocking w 1ich fits into the hollow above full-knit tube is knit onto the stitches of said 0 the ball of the heel should be narrowed or gore and onto the remaining stitches of the contracted in order to conform. to the shape leg by throwing allthe needles of the machine of the foot. Moreover, the thickened or reinto action and knitting any nun1ber-f0rexenforced web should extend well up upon the ample, thirty full courses-of stitches. The

heel in order to provide for the wear which heel-pocket and foot are then knit onto the 5 occurs at the points where the upper portions stitches of said full-knit tube in the usual or of so-called Oxford ties or half-shoes in any preferred manner.

contactwiththestockings. Inordinarystock- The nature and characteristic features of ings it is impossible to narrow the upper rear my present invention will be more fully unportion of the heel'without unduly contactderstood from the following description,taken zoo 25 gore Zr.

in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, and in which- Figurel is an elevation of a stocking embodying features of my invention, showinga gore and a full-knit tube interposed between the leg and the upper portion of the foot and heel-pocket; and Figs. 2, 3, and a are diagrammatic views illustrating the position of the needles of a round or circular knitting machine corresponding to certain of the steps of my improved method.

Referring now to Fig. l, a isa tubular leg, either plain or ribbed and shaped or straight, as preferred. a is a heel-pocket of any pre- 1 5 ferred shape, and a is a foot.

Having thus indicated certain of the parts of a well-known stocking or sock, I will now proceed to point out the features comprising my improvements.

b is a full-knit tube-2'. a, a tube formed by all the needles of the machineinterposed between the lower portion of theleg and the upper portion of the foot and of the heelpocket and united to the leg by means of a It may be remarked that an extra or a heavy thread is employed in knitting the full-knit tube Z) and the heel-pocket a, so that the stocking is high-splioedi. 6., reenforced by an extra th read-for a consider- 3c able distance above the heel-pocket, and

thus is made more durable and less apt to become worn by contact with the upper portion of low shoes. Moreover, the gore serves to render the instep portion of the stocking 3 5 full and elastic, as at b, and also to accommodate the stoeking to the upperportion of the ball of the heel of the wearer, as shown at g.

Referring now to Figs. 2, 3, and 4t for a description of my improved method of making stockings embodying my invention, the last course of stitches of the leg at, if made on a rib-frame, are run onto the needles of a round or circular machine in the usual manner, whereupon one-half the needles of the ma- 5 chine plus certainfor example, seven-needies on each side of the machine, are thrown out of action, Fig. 2, in order to form the gore b; This gore is formed by knitting back and forth across the machine and throwing cer- 5o tain of the needles previously thrown out of ,[action one at a time and alternately on each side of the machine into action until a certain number-for example, fourteen needles on each side-have been thrown into action, Fig.

tain number of coursesfor example, thirty The heel-pocket a and foot 11 are courses. then knit onto the full-knit tube 1) and lower portion of the leg a. in the usual or in any preferred manner.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains that modifications may be made in the details thereof far example, in the number of needles and courses of stitches employed in making the gores-and hence I do not limit myself to the exact mode of procedure hereinbefore described; but,

Having thus described the nature and objects of my present invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. The herein-described stocking or sock,-

having a gore, and a full-knit tube interposed between the leg and the footand heel-pocket, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The herein-described stocking or sock, having a gore, and a f nil-knit tube interposed between the leg and the foot and heel-pocket and having said f ull-knit tube and heel-pocket re-enforced or high-spliced, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

8. The method of producing stockings or socks, which consists in knitting a leg, then knitting a gore onto certain of the stitches of said leg, then knitting a full-knit tube onto the stitches of said gore and the remaining stitches of the leg, and then knitting a heelpocket and foot onto the stitches of said tube, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The method of producing stockings or socks, which consists in knitting a leg, knitting a gore onto certain of the stitches of said leg, knitting a tube onto the stitches of said gore and onto the remaining stitches of said leg, knitting a foot and heel-pocket onto the stitches of said tube, and introducing an extra threadinto said gore and heel-pocket, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signaturein the presence of two subscribing I oo

Images