IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MAKING UP OF PANTS, AND ALSO IN THE APPARATUS FOR KNITTING SUCH PANTS
Year: 1885

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
We, HENRY COOPER of the Firm of Henry Cooper and Sons, Roden Street,
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Hosiery Manufacturers, and RUEBEN STEELE of
the Firm of R. Steele and Company, Castle Gate, in the same town, Hosiery
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MAKING UP OF PANTS, AND ALSO IN THE APPARATUS FOR KNITTING
SUCH PANTS," and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement that is to say -
The object of this Invention is to produce a pant better fitting more convenient
and comfortable to the wearer than any hitherto made and also to render ordinary
pant knitting machines worked by power, capable of producing this special pant,
which is made with what is termed a "twisted leg," otherwise known as a
"twisted thigh" or ankle and which pants have hitherto been solely produced on
band frames, or on specially constructed and elaborate machinery.
And in order that our said Invention may be properly understood, we proceed
at once to describe the same with the aid of the accompanying sheet of drawings
hereunto appended and representing our improved arrangements. In these
drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts
wherever they are repeated.
In making up pants according to our Invention, the pants after being seamed in
the ordinary manner have a waist band fastened to them. This improved waist-
band (shewn in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings) has three (or more or
less narrow strips of material 7 fastened to one end of the band. These strips 7
have button holes in them for buttoning on buttons 8 stitched to the other end of
the waist band. There are preferably two vertical rows of buttons 8 on the
waistband and two button holes in each strip 7, and the wearer may button the
pant either as shown in the drawing or else increase the width of the band by
buttoning the end button hole of the first or top strip on the button nearest the
edge or the width may be decreased by buttoning the second button hole of the
strip on the second or farthest button.
Figures 2 and 3 show a method of securing the waist band round the person
by means of buckles; in this case there are narrow strips having each a button on
its inner end and a button hole in its outer end. Each strip is passed through a
rD...

page_text: buckle and then turned back and buttoned (as shown in Figure 3) thus holding the
buckle whilst on the other end of the waistband instead of buttons there are
narrow strips of material to correspond to the number of the buckles and the
band is tightened and secured by passing these strips through the buckles in an
ordinary manner. When the pants are required to be washed the buckles are by
this method easily removed and afterwards replaced. The improved waistband
has also formed on it near its upper edge four buttonholes or slits 9 two on each
side for passing the brace straps through instead of the usual strips of tape which
so speedily wear out or break. This improved waist band is obviously applicable
to every kind of pant but it has been specially devised for the kind of pant
herein before mentioned. In producing this special kind of pant according to our
Invention ordinary pant knitting machines driven by power such as "Cottons" may
be used and to form this "split hip" according to our improved method the first
portion of the hip part of one side of the pant is knitted in two operations. One
part forming one side of the "split hip" is formed as far as the length of the split
required by means of the usual thread carrier and stops when this part is
completed, then the part forming the other half of the hip of the pant is next
knitted in the same method. Or the part forming the front of the pant may be
knitted at one operation and this piece divided and each half run on as though
made separately and in the manner above described and the two parts forming the
back of the pant which require to be fashioned on both sides are formed separately.
The two portions are then run on side by side on the machine and the pant knitted
in an ordinary manner until a few inches of the thigh is formed when the portion
forming the "twisted thigh or "ankle" part is next knitted in the improved
manner hereinafter described. In adapting ordinary pant knitting machines
worked by motive power to produce this special kind of pant having a
" twisted
thigh" or ankle, additional stops which are independent of the usual thread carrier
stops are provided for acting on the thread carrier bars or tubes and so regulate
their length of traverse whilst that part is being knitted which forms the
"twisted thigh" part of the pant. Figure 4 shows two methods of applying these
additional stops to an ordinary pant knitting machine, which machine is also
shown as having a second thread carrier tube 10. Without this second thread
carrier tube the leg of the pant has to be knitted in two operations for a part of
its length, that is to say, the broader part of the leg, for forming the twisted thigh
is knitted first to the point where the narrower part is to be joined and when that
point is reached the narrower part is knitted. By the forementioned arrangement
of a second thread carrier tube 10 both the narrow and broad part of the leg may
be knitted simultaneously. The additional thread carrier tube stops are so placed
on the machine that they can be moved into position to act on projections on (or it
may be the end of) the thread carrier tubes at, and during such time as may be
required whilst knitting those parts for producing the "twisted thigh" part of the
pant. One of these stops is shown in Figures and 6, in the form of an arm or
fever 11 which may have set screws at its end and which is placed loosely on the
shaft operating and carrying the fashioning machine, being kept in position by a
collar on each side of it.
"
These collars are held by set screws and they can be moved along the fashioning-
machine shaft to admit of the stop lever being adjusted in position so as to stop
the thread carrier at the desired place. There is a similar stop lever fitted near
the other end of the fashioning machine shaft, both being capable of being thrown
back out of the way when not required to act. When this arm is thrown forward,
it rests on the thread carrier tubes and as the tubes traverse the arm end, comes
into contact with the projecting piece which may or may not have set screws (see
Figure 5) fastened on the tubes. Another method of fitting these stops is shown
in Figure 4 being a curved arm or bracket 12, 13 shown in dotted lines. This
arm 12, 13 is held by screws underneath the slur bar on which traverse tho friction
boxes, and it has at its outer end a sliding part 14 which may have guage screws
and this part is arranged so that it can be moved backwards out of the way when

page_text: not required to act. The gauge screws act as the stops and they can be adjusted
to suit the width of the pant being knitted. There is a similar bracket at the
other end of the frame and there are two projections fastened on the thread carrier
tubes. The position of the stop levers or arms is governed by the size of the pant
being knitted being so placed that when knitting that part which forms the
twisted thigh the additional stop at one end of the machine will stop the thread
carriers at certain needles each time and so form the straight edges of selvages.
The other, or fashioned sides of the leg are formed by the usual thread carrier
stops. To produce this "twisted thigh" the pant is first knitted on the machine
in the ordinary way with one thread carrier tube until about a few inches of the
thigh is reached when the additional thread carriers and the additional stops are
put into operation. The pant is then knitted in this method in two parts until the
part above the knee is reached when the pant is taken off the machine and replaced
on the needles with the two fashioned selvages side by side and the straight
selvages at the outsides. At this point, the additional thread carriers and stops
are thrown out of operation and the work continued in the ordinary manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
(1) The improved waistband for pants having slits or button holes for the brace
straps substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
(2) The improved waistband for pants having strips of material for buttoning
on buttons or for fastening on buckles as herein before described and as shown in
the accompanying drawings.
(3) The improved method of attaching buckles to pants so as to be removable
as hereinbefore described and shown in the drawings.
(4) The application of additional thread carriers and stops to ordinary pant
knitting machines driven by power for the production of fashioned pants as
herein before described and as shown in the drawings.
(5) The production of pants having twisted thighs or ankles on ordinary pant
knitting machines driven by power substantially as herein before described.
(6) The production of a pant with split hips on ordinary pant knitting machines
driven by power substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 17th den of Fahmum 100%