Method for the formation of an article in the form of a pair of tights, that is to say pantyhose, and article thus produced

Abstract: On a two-bar knitting machine, the rows of stitches are alternately and successively formed by opposite zones of needles of the two bars, with the initial formation - by means of crossed needles of two first, spaced zones of needles - of at least one row of closure stitches (ACDB), followed by the formation of helical rows of stitches (Po and P) of gradually increas­ ing dimensions to form shaped toes and then tubular portions for the legs (T); then the formation of at least one closure row in the zone (Z) of the crutch with crossed needles, and subsequently the formation of tubular fabric for the body (Co), with all the needles of the said first two zones and of the crutch zone, with final belt (MM-NN)

Description: The invention relates to a knitting method including the following steps: initial formation, with needles of two spaced zones of needles, of two first closures with at least one row of connecting stitches; formation of two tubular portions for the legs of the tights with helical rows; at the end of the tubular portions of the legs in a zone for the crutch of the tights between said two, spaced zones of needles, the formation of at least one closure row; and subsequent formation of continuos helical rows of tubular fabric for the body of the tights, with all the needles of said two zones and of the crutch zone. Such a method is known from EP-A-0172145. A first object of the invention is to improve this method for the formation of an article in the form of a pair of tights (panty-hose). This method could be carried out with a two-bar knitting machine, in which the two rows of stitches are alternately and successively formed by opposite zones of needles of the two bars, with one or two yarn feeds. With this method, the formation of a virtually complete and fault-free article is obtained. The two bars are advantageously formed by a cylinder and by a plate or disc, in a knitting machine of circular type such as that disclosed in another simultaneous application by the same 15 applicant (IT Pat.1233164, IT Appl.N.9357 A/89; EP Appl. 0387.709) According to the invention, during the closure of the crutch, at least two contiguous needles which were previously active in forming the tubular portions of the legs are also crossed at each end of the crutch zone, in order to reduce and even eliminate the formation of eyelets at the ends of the closure zone of the crutch. Others advantageous features are defined in dependent Claims. A further object of the invention is to provide a garment in the form of a pair of tights, that is to say panty-hose, as defined in independent claim 4. The invention will be better understood by following the description and the attached drawing, which shows a practical, non-limiting embodiment of said invention. In the drawing: Fig.1 shows an overall view of an article in the form of a pair of tights, according to the invention. Fig.2 shows an enlarged detail of the formation of a toe; Fig.3 shows a detail of the formation of the article at the level of the closure zone of the crutch; Fig.4 is an analogous to Fig.3, but shows the arrangement in accordance with an improvement to the structure shown in Fig.3; Fig.5 shows the development of the article during the formation of the body, after the phase shown in Fig.4; Fig.6 shows a local section to illustrate the path of the crossed needles for the closure of the toe and the crutch zone; Figs.7 and 8 show a view of the finished article from below, with the legs spread for a fuller view of the crutch zone, with two conformations of the closure in the crutch zone; Figs.9 and 10 show diagrammatically an article in the form of a pair of tights or panty-hose, illustrating the longitudinal lines of stitches and the helical rows, respectively; Fig. 11 shows, analogously to Fig. 9, a modified conformation of the article; and Fig. 12 shows the article being worn in an antero-posteria section. In accordance with what is shown in the attached drawing, the line ACDB designates the end profile of each of the toe ends of the article in the form of a pair of tights or panty-hose. As can be seen in particular in Fig. 2, at the start of the formation of each of the two tubular areas to constitute the legs, designated T in Fig. 1, at least one row of connecting stitches is formed with the simultaneous activation of needles of the two needle-bars with which the tubular article is being worked at the level of each tubular area T of the legs; formation of this row or these few rows of connecting stitches is brought about by crossing of the needles which are activated, for example alternately on each bar and in a manner such as not to interfere with the needles of the other bar; the attitude is clearly shown in Fig. 6, where 10 and 11 designate the two bars of needles 13 and 15 respectively, it being possible for the two bars to be two circular bars; in particular with circular knitting machines one of the bars, for example, the bar 11, is a cylindrical bar and the other 10 is a discoidal bar. When the needles 15 are activated to grip the thread, they are raised into the position 15A and are then lowered for the formation of the stitch; the needles 13 of the bar 10 are pushed outwards into position 13A in order to grip the thread and then retract inwards for the formation of the stitch. When the needles have to be activated on both bars, they are activated only partially, for example, with a 1:1 selection, in a manner such that the needles of one bar do not interfere with the needles of the other bar at the crossing which takes place as shown in Figs. 6. With the arrangement - which is known per se - of the crossed needles, at least one connecting row is produced along the needle front for the formation of each of the tubular areas of the legs, that is to say along the line ACDB in Fig. 2, which represents the closure line of the toe. Immediately after, the formation of the tubular article T begins with helical rows formed alternately on the two bars. Then a start is made along a short intermediate part of the line ACDB, for example along the part CD, in order to form alternately and successively - with the needles of the two bars - helical rows Po which start with the dimensions of the front CD, then gradually increase with alternating insertion of needles at one end and at the other of the active areas of needles in the two bars, along the arcs from C to A and from D to B, in a manner such as progressively to increase the dimensions of the helical rows Po up to the maximum dimension between the ends A and B of the activated zone of needles, that is to say up to the dimension P of the front of needles intended for the formation of the leg T. This achieves, in each of the toes of the tubular legs T, a shaping of said toes by virtue of the progressive insertion of needles from the initial zone CD up to the complete zone AB for the formation of each of the tubular sections of the legs T. Work then begins on forming the two tubular sections T for the total length of the legs, or providing - after a certain portion of the tubular article is knitted - an increase in the cross-sectional dimension of each of the legs (in addition to the traditional, gradual increase of the length of the stitches), with the progressive insertion of a number of needles at the inner end of each working zone of the needles, starting for example from the points E and G indicated in Fig. 1. This results in a progressive increase in the dimensions of the article, corresponding to the thigh of the garment when worn. A working front is thus attained at the line KFHL; the zone FH forms the so-called crutch zone, which has to be closed in order then to continue with the formation of a single body zone Co, having a dimension corresponding to the entire working front KFHL. For the closure of the section Z between the two points F and H, that is to say for the closure of the crutch, the needles of the two bars are controlled, in line with this zone FH, as already indicated for the initial closing seam of the toes, with crossing of the needles. A closure row is thus formed, with connecting stitches, in the section FH, forming a closure line Z. After this, the entire front of needles of each of the two opposed bars, included in the line KFHL, is activated in order to form the body Co, which is then finished along a belt or seam indicated by MM and NN; this belt, in a conventional manner, may be produced with a double tubular seam, that is to say one of circular cross-section. In order to actuate the rows of connecting stitches along the initial closure lines ACDB of the toes and along the line F, H or F1, H1 of the crutch, with the crossed needles 13 and 15 of the two bars 10 and 11, the following procedure can be adopted. With a 1:1 selection, the needles 15 of the cylinder 11 are raised, no thread being supplied. This having been done, the needles 13, selected 1:1 and offset relative to the needles 15A which are kept raised, are progressively raised and lowered, and at the same time the thread is fed and is gripped by the needles 13A in order to form the stitches on the stem of the needles 15A which are kept raised. Subsequently, the thread is fed to the needles 15A which are lowered in order to form a stitch. A further row is then formed with the needles 13. This procedure can be repeated before formation of the tubular fabric begins. Using the method described hitherto, that is to say inserting needles of the two bars in the section FH of the crutch along the front Z, with crossing thereof, but this being limited to the section of needles comprised between those which have produced the end part of the two tubes T for the legs, irregularities may form at the ends of the section Z, as is clarified illustratively and diagrammatically in Fig. 7, as a result of the formation of small open eyelets O at the ends of the section Z, and hence in line with the above mentioned points F and H. In order to avoid this disadvantageous formation of eyelets O, according to a particularly valuable aspect of the invention, a front of needles is activated which is slightly greater than the abovementioned front FH for the working with crossed needles, in a manner such that the formation of the closure by means of the crossed needles is extended along a front F1-H1, indicated in Fig. 4, which is slightly greater than the front FH. This increase in the front can in fact be limited to a pair of needles, belonging to the two bars, which are inserted on the outside of each of the two ends of the section FH, this pair of needles belonging to the front of needles which has produced the corresponding tubular article T. In practice there is no change in the end dimension of the tubular article T of the leg, but this insertion of one or two pairs of needles on the outside of each end of the section FH offers the advantage of reducing, even to the point of elimination, the formation of those eyelets O shown in Fig. 7, which can represent a disadvantage in the finished article. A closure as shown in Fig. 8 is thus obtained, which is an improvement over that illustrated in Fig. 7. The control of the needles in order to cross them, and with an alternation - on each front - such as to avoid interference between them, may be obtained by any mode of selection of the type which is known on knitting machines. The article which is obtained is particularly well finished, with virtually no manual intervention on the article away from the machine. The article produced according to the invention possesses two tubular parts T of the legs, having helical rows of stitches Po and P (Fig. 10) and having lines R1 of stitches (Fig. 9) which extend longitudinally from the legs T into the body Co and as far as the edge or belt MM-NN; the body Co is formed by continuous helical rows of stitches P1 (Fig. 10); the lines of stitches of the body are formed by the extensions of the lines R1 of stitches of the legs T, and in the central zone - both at the front and at the back - by lines R2 of stitches (Fig. 9) which commence from a closure Z along the section F-H as far as the edge MM-NN. The so-called crutch is formed by a closure in the section Z along the line FH (or F1-H1) between the two legs; the closure in the section Z is obtained with connecting stitches formed by the crossing of the needles of the two bars with which are formed the lines R2 of stitches of the tubular structure of the body Co. No longitudinal seam is provided on the body, nor are there any seamed fabric inserts, such as the so-called gusset. The toes also possess a closure ACDB obtained by means of connecting stitches formed by the crossing of the needles of the zones of the two bars with which the tubular structures of the two legs T are formed. There is therefore no seam provided in the toes, either. The section between the points F and H in the crutch zone may be of variable length, depending on the requirements for putting on the garment, and also on manufacturing requirements; it extends transversely. The tubular structures of the legs T may possess additional stitches in the rows in the sections EF and GH (Figs. 1 and 11), and hence additional longitudinal lines R3 of stitches (Fig. 11) which commence along the sections EF and GH, as a result of bringing into operation needles at the inner ends of the working needle zones of the two bars during the formation of the legs T; these additional longitudinal lines R3 also extend up the body as far as the edge MM-NN.

Claims: A method for the formation of an article in the form of a pair of tights (panty-hose) on two-bar knitting machines, in which the rows of stitches are alternately and successively formed by opposite zones of needles of the two bars, with one or two yarn feeds, comprising the stages of: initial formation, with needles of two spaced zones of needles, of two first closures with at least one row of connecting stitches (ACDB); formation of two tubular portions (T) for the legs of the tights with helical rows; at the end of the tubular portions of the legs in a zone for the crutch of the tights between said two, spaced zones of needles, the formation of at least one closure row (Z); and subsequent formation of continuos helical rows of tubular fabric for the body of the tights, with all the needles of said two zones and of the crutch zone, characterized in that during the formation of the closure row (Z) of the crutch, at least two contiguous needles which were previously active in forming the tubular portions of the legs (T) are also crossed at each end (F-H) of the closure row, in order to reduce and even eliminate the formation of eyelets at the ends of the closure zone of the crutch. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, after the formation of said at least one row of connecting stitches (A C D B) for the two first closures, there are formed helical rows of stitches (Po) of gradually increasing dimension, in order to form shaped toes before starting the formation of the tubular portions (T) of the legs The method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein, after partial formation of the tubular portions (T) of the legs, needles are progressively inserted in each of the two needles zones (E-F; G-H) from the end nearest the other one of said zones, in order gradually to increase the size of the cross-section of said tubular portions (T). A garment in the form of panty-hose, that is to say tights, having two tubular parts (T) for the legs with helical rows of stitches and a tubular part for the body, wherein: lines (R1) of stitches in the legs (T) extend lengthwise from the legs (T) into the body (Co), as far as to a belt-type edge (MM-NN); the body (Co) is formed by continuous helical rows of stitches and by lines of stitches formed by the extensions of the lines (R1) of stitches in the legs (T), and in a central zone - both at the front and at the back - by lines (R2) of stitches which commence from a closure line (Z) along a section (F-H) of a crutch zone as far as to the edge or belt (MM-NN); the closure line (Z) is obtained by means of connecting stitches from which the lines (R2) of stitches in the central zone of the body (Co) commence; characterized in that, at each end (F, H) of the closure line (Z), additional connecting stitches are provided at the end of at least two lines (R1) of stitches in the legs, which reduce and even eliminate the presence of eyelets at the ends of the closure zone (Z) of the crutch. The garment as claimed in claim 4, wherein a toe of each of the tubular parts of the legs (T) is closed along a closure line (A-B) obtained by means of connecting stitches from which the lines (R1) of stitches in the legs commence, and wherein in the toe, helical rows of stitches gradually increase to reach the dimension of the tubular part (T) of the leg. The garment as claimed in claims 4 or 5, wherein the tubular parts of the legs (T) comprise, in sections (EF; GH) adjacent to the crutch, additional stitches in the rows, and hence additional longitudinal lines (R3) of stitches which commence along said sections (EF; GH); these additional longitudinal lines (R3) likewise extending into the body as far as to the belt (MM-NN).

Inventors: CONTI PAOLO, GARIBOLDI FRANCO, CONTI, PAOLO, GARIBOLDI, FRANCO
Applicants: LAMBDA SRL, LAMBDA S.R.L.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: D04B9
IPC codes: A41B11, D04B9, D04B1