Abstract:
A circularly knit tubular hosiery blank and a garment formed therefrom, the blank having panty, thigh, knee, ankle and foot portions separated from each other by increasing and decreasing diameter graduation portions and a constant number of wales throughout. The blank is thereby configured to conform to the natural shape of the female lower torso and leg with gradually increasing and decreasing diameters to avoid abrupt diameter changes and maintain the integrity of the blank fabric&#39;s appearance.

Description:
This is a continuation in part application of application Ser. No. 09/195,017 filed November 18, 1998 now abandoned and entitled “A Continuously Knit Tubular Hosiery Garment Blank and Pantyhose Garment Formed Therefrom.” 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to a seamless knit hosiery blank and a garment formed thereby and more particularly to a contoured blank formed by a plurality of increasing and decreasing diameter portions configuring the blank so that it conforms to the natural shape of the female lower torso and leg. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Pantyhose and hosiery manufacturers have long searched for a construction that would enable leg covering hosiery garments to more precisely conform to the shape of the wearer&#39;s lower torso and leg, thus enhancing fit characteristics and garment appearance. Traditionally, some shaping has been possible on fixed needle circular knit hosiery machines through the use of reduced size graduated stitches whereby the top of the blank which conforms to the waist of the pantyhose formed from two such blanks starts at a given maximum diameter opening and then gradually is reduced in diameter as the garment is continuously knit toward the toe to thus more precisely fit the leg upper portion and the smaller leg lower portion to the foot. Graduated stitches are generally construed as stitches that have been reduced in stitch length, thus removing yarn from each course that utilizes the smaller stitches. While this technique has been for the most part effective to provide a garment with good fit characteristics through the tapering process in conjunction with the use of stretch yarn, there is still a desire to develop a technique to fully configure such a garment to both decrease and selectively increase the blank and garment made therefrom diameter where the lower torso and leg follows such a general shape. It is to this need that the present invention is directed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is for a circularly knit constant wale tubular hosiery blank having panty, thigh, knee, ankle and foot portions which are selectively separated by increasing and decreasing diameter graduation portions to configure the blank to conform to the natural shape of a female lower torso and leg. The blank for a pantyhose garment utilizing two such blanks joined together is usually knit starting at the welt or waist portion and then extending downwardly through the upper panty portion, the lower panty portion, the thigh portion, the knee portion, the ankle portion and finishing at the foot portion with the diameter of the tubular blank decreasing by the use of graduated stitches throughout the length. In the present invention, the blank is started at an upper panty portion on all of the needles of the machine, thus having a fixed number of wales and a constant diameter, and then extends to a panty graduation portion of increasing diameter, then to a lower panty/upper boot portion of constant diameter and thereafter to the thigh graduation portion having a decreasing diameter. Formation of the knee with a constant diameter follows with a lower leg graduation portion of decreasing diameter connecting the knee portion to an ankle portion of constant diameter. A final instep graduation portion extends to a formed foot portion of constant diameter. Thus, the blank experiences selectively positioned areas of at least two graduation portions of increasing diameter and two graduation portions of decreasing diameter. The number of needles and resulting wales remains the same throughout the blank. 
     In the panty graduation portion of increasing diameter mentioned earlier, the panty graduation portion of increasing diameter has been developed to provide additional yarn and fabric in the lower panty portion and crotch area to reduce the yarn and fabric stress at that location and thereby making the garment more comfortable to wear. Yarn and fabric stress in this location occurs because the provision of the U-shaped seam to join the blanks together, either with or without a gusset, reduces the amount of fabric in each of the blanks as they are sewn together. Providing a panty graduation portion of increasing diameter proximate that area replaces this lost fabric and reduces the stress to which the yarn and fabric is subjected when no increased diameter graduation is employed. 
     From this summary, it can be seen that a primary objective of the present invention is to provide a hosiery blank and garment made therefrom having superior fit and appearance characteristics brought about by the selective use of graduation stitches during the knitting process. 
     Another objective of the present invention is to provide a pantyhose garment utilizing two identically formed circularly knit tubular blanks which, when joined, form a panty portion and individual leg and foot portions. Additional fit characteristics can be provided by including a gusset of appropriate size along the juncture line formed when the tubular blanks are slit and sewn together along their slit edges. 
     Thus, there has been outlined in summary form, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are obviously additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. 
     It is also to be understood that the phraseology and terminology herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting in any respect. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the concept upon which this disclosure is based and that it may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is also to be understood that the abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor to limit its scope in any way. 
     This summary and these objectives of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a frontal view of the hosiery blank comprising the invention, illustrating in emphasized fashion the selective inclusion of a plurality of graduation portions of increasing and decreasing diameter separating the panty, boot, knee, ankle and foot portions; 
     FIG. 2 is a frontal view of a pantyhose garment comprising the present invention formed by joining two hosiery blanks like that shown in FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 3 is a plan schematic view of the pantyhose garment shown in FIG.  2 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     In describing the present inventive concept, the term “diameter” is used to reflect the distance between one edge of a flattened uncut tubular blank to the other edge. While this is standard terminology in the industry, it is to be understood that the reference to “diameter” also refers to the diameter of the garment if the two blanks are joined together. 
     Prior to describing the present invention in detail, reference is made to the blank shown in FIG.  1  and generally designated  16  and to the application of typical prior art practices. Blank is intended to be one which is to be paired with another blank of similar construction, slit and seamed along paired slit edges and formed into a pantyhose garment. According to conventional prior art practice, the blank will likely have a double welt tubular portion of say 144 courses which may be of stretch nylon or of stretch, elastic, or other combination yarns. This is followed by a second tubular portion of the same diameter having somewhere between 700 to 800 courses in a typical case. The measured diameter when measured as a “stretched diameter” might, in a typical case, be about 13 inches. While stitch type may vary, a plain jersey stitch is typically used. At the end of this tubular portion, the garment is narrowed in diameter by the utilization of graduated stitches so that the stitched length utilized in each course is reduced. The graduation stitches continue or selectively stop and recommence at locations down the leg until the smallest diameter area is reached at the ankle and foot portion. The same number of needle-formed wales are used throughout. 
     During conventional construction, yarn and fabric tension and stress occur in lower panty portion  2  where two blanks  16  are paired because a greater amount of fabric is required to encircle the two upper thigh portions  23  of the legs than is required to encircle the hip portion  48  just before the formation of the legs. This has long been a concern for pantyhose manufacturers since the stress and tension occurs inherently from the manufacturing process wherein a U-shaped seam typically joins paired slit edges of the blanks. Increased stress and tension at this location causes discomfort to the wearer and early failure of the garment. The problem has been a long suffering one since the 1960&#39;s commencing with the development and successful promotion of pantyhose garments. Details of improvements resulting from the present invention with this problem follow. 
     The present invention represents a significant departure from conventional practice and results in a garment having superior fit, comfort and appearance characteristics over those produced by conventional practice. The blank designated  16  (to be paired with an identical blank  16 ) is commenced with a double welt tubular portion  18  followed by an upper panty portion  20  having a substantially constant diameter d 1 , Upper panty portion  18  is followed by a graduation portion  22  of increasing diameter d 2  until the lower panty/upper boot portion  24  having a constant diameter d 3  is commenced. 
     The increased diameter of lower panty portion  24  formed by the pairing of the two blanks  16  like that described provides additional yarn and fabric at the critical location near the crotch of the garment where the two leg portions are commenced. A greater amount of fabric is required to encircle the two thigh portions  23  of the legs than is required to encircle the hip portion  48  just before the formation of the legs. This obvious requirement is illustrated best in FIG. 3 wherein the lower panty portion  24  is formed in a single tubular arrangement while the two thigh portions  23  are formed as two separate tubular members. Clearly, the amount of fabric required to form the two tubular members of the thigh portion exceeds the amount of fabric needed to form the single lower panty tubular portion. The ability to graduate stitches to increase diameter d 2  of blank  16  enables the provision of additional yarn and fabric to reduce yarn and fabric stress and provide more comfort to the wearer at the critical location. The fabric loss shown reflected in the drawings is a result of the joining seam (used to join opposing slit edges of each blank  16  together) which starts in a yarn wale wise or cross course downwardly direction along one slit edge and then gradually departs through a transition zone where it continues around the end of the slit in a cross wale direction until it then moves upwardly in a wale or cross course direction. The transition areas where the seam angularly extends over courses and wales is subtlety removing fabric so that a smaller diameter results in each of the blanks as fabric is removed. The provision of graduated stitches in the lower panty portion results in more yarn and fabric being provided to offset the loss of the yarn and fabric experienced during the seam sewing transition zones. 
     Upon completion of portion  24 , a thigh graduation portion  26  is commenced and formed with a decreasing diameter d 4 , and thereafter knee portion  28  having a constant diameter d 5  is formed and terminates with the commencement of a lower leg graduation portion  30  having a decreasing diameter d 6 . After portion  30  is completed, ankle portion  32  is formed with a constant diameter d 7 . Blank  16  is completed by the formation of an instep graduation portion  34  having an increasing diameter d 8  and foot portion  36  with a constant diameter d 9 . 
     The selectively positioned increasing and decreasing diameter portions d 2 , d 4 , d 6  and d 8  are done gradually so that fabric density changes normally associated with abrupt graduation changes are avoided. 
     Also, forming a part of the present invention is a pantyhose garment shown generally as  38  formed by joining two blanks  16  like that previously described along edges  40  formed from slitting each blank in a longitudinal direction and joining the two blanks  16  along those cut edges. Additional and favorable fit and comfort characteristics may be added to the garment by the provision of a gusset  42  of a preselected size. 
     In summary, the invention provides a new construction for forming a hosiery blank and pantyhose therefrom that includes technology resulting in a configuration that contours to the shape of the body for a superior fit, particularly in the lower panty portion, but totally from the waist to the toe of the garment. 
     In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth the best mode presently contemplated for the practice of the present invention. Although specific terms are employed, they are used in the generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.