US691327A - Stocking. - Google Patents

Description

N0. 69|,327. Patented Jan. [4, I902.

J. SHELTON.

STOCKING.

Applicatign filed Apr. 18, 1901.) (No Model.)

Mizm

THE scams 9ETERS (.0 warau'mq, wAsmNnmN, u. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

JAMES SHELTON, OF TOI/VANDA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALE TO JAMES SHELTON, JR., OF TOWANDA, PENNSYLVANIA.

STOCKING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,327, dated January 14, 1902.

Application filed April 18, 1901.

T0 at whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES SHELTON, a citizen of the United States, and ai'resident of Towanda, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Stockings, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce in an ordinary machine for knitting'tubu-lar fabrics a shaped or fashioned stocking simulating what is known as a full-fashioned stocking, but having a seamless heel instead of the seamed heel in such full-fashioned stocking. hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents part of a stockingolank made in accordance with myinvention; and Fig. 2 is a view representing the calf, ankle, and foot portion of the stocking after the same has been completed.

The ordinary process of making what is termed a full-fashioned stocking by narrowing operations upon a fiat web, theedges of which are afterward united to form a stocking, is objectionable because of the slow and expensive method of manufacture and because of the presence of a seam in the heel portion of the stocking. that stockings of this character are usually made abroad, where labor is cheap, the stockings produced in this country being almost entirely of the character known as,seam less stockings-that is to say, those in which a heel and toe pockets are formed upon the knitted tube, the toe-pocket being subsequently closed by seaming together the courses of stitches at the end of the tube. The objection to this class of stockings is that the calf, ankle, and foot portions of the same are not shaped or fashioned, a seamless stockingbeing shaped by subjecting it to heat and pressure while stretched upon a board or former of the desired contour, so that some portions of the knitted tube are stretched while others are not. Hence it does not retain its shape after being used and Washed. My invention has therefore been designed with the view of producing upon an ordinary machine for making tubular fabric a shaped or fashioned stocking having a seamless heel.

In carrying out my invention I first pro- This object I attain in the manner The consequence is Serial Nd. 56,443. (No model.)

duce upon the machine a tubular web, such as shown at 1 in Fig. 1 of the drawings, ofva proper length for the leg of the stocking above the calf, and when this has been done 5; I

I change the knitting operation from roundand-round knitting to to-and-fro knitting, so

as to produce a fabric having opposite sel-.- vage edges, gradually narrowing the fabric by dropping out needles at each end of the set until the shaped portion 2 has beeu'completed, proceeding then upon the remaining needles to form a straight portion 3, and then gradually bringing needles at the end of the set into action again,so as to widen the fabric and produce the shaped portion 4 or narrowing and widening to produce any other desired formation of this portion of the stock ing-blank. When the fabric has been widened sufficiently to form the heel portion of the I blank, round-and-round. knitting is resumed until a tubular fabric 5 of sufficient length for the desired heel has been produced, whereupon to-and-fro knitting is again resumed and a narrow portion 6', straight portion 7,

and narrow portion 9 of selvage-edged web is produced or a selvage-edged web of other desired contour for the foot of the stocking results, the work when cast off of the needles of the machine presenting a course of stitches at the end 10 of the blank.

In completing the stocking the selvageedged portions 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 are united together by any available form of seaming or looping machine, so as to form the shaped .85:

portions 2, 3 4, 6, 7, and 9 of the stocking, as shown in Fig. 2, the tubular portion 5 of the blank forming the seamless heel 5 and the course of stitches at the end 10 of the blank being united bya seaming or loop- 0 ing machine, so as to close the toe by a transverse seam 10, the result being a stocking 'shaped as to calf, ankle, and foot in accordance with any desired contour of these parts,

but having a heel without seam and therefore 5 free from this objection to an ordinary fullfashioned stocking.

In some cases the shaping of the foot or of 1 both foot and ankleportions of the -stocking may be effected by cutting a tubular web and then seaming together the out edges; but in such cases the transverse toe-seam formed by uniting the course of stitches at this end of the blank will be retained, the square toe thusproduced without gore or seam at the side, together with the seamless heel, distinguishin g my stockiu g from previous stockings which have been shaped by cutting the web.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- 1. A stocking-blank having a shaped selvage-edged calf and ankle portion, tubular heel portion, and shaped selvage-edged foot portion, substantially as specified.

2. A stocking-blank having a tubular leg portion, shaped selvage-edged calf and ankle portion, tubular heel portion, and shaped selvage-edged foot portion, substantially as specified.

' 3. A stocking havinga seamlessheel portion, and a calf, ankle and foot portion composed of shaped selvage-edged webs-having said selvage edges united, substantially as specified.

4. A stocking having a seamless tubular leg portion, and seamless heel portion, and a calf, ankle and foot portion composed of shaped selvage-edged webs having said selvage edges united, substantially as specified.

5. A stocking having a seamless heel portion, shaped calf, ankle and foot portions consisting of fiat webs'having their edges united,

tion, calf, ankle and footportions formed by shaped selvage-edged webs having their selvage'edges united, and a transverse toe-seam formed by unitinga course of stitches at the toe end of the web, substantially as specified.

, 8. A stocking having a seamless tubular leg, a seamless heel portion, calf, ankleand foot portions formed by shaped selvage-edged Webs having their selvage edges united, and a transverse toe-seam formed by uniting a course of stitches at the toe end of the web, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES SHELTON.

. Witnesses JAMES SHELToN, J r., HARRY T. INGHAM.

Images