AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSTERY
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
HOSTERY "A communication.
Sealed the 19th June 1857, and dated the 20th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on .
the 20th January 1857.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
HOSIERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a certain mode of operating to form the heel of a
piece of hosiery, and also the toe, if desired, of a properly rounded or partly
spherical form without a seam, by knitting continuously from the leg towards
the foot or from the foot towards the leg without removing the work from the
needles.
The Invention may be carried out by means of either the circular or straight

page_text: knitting machine, but with more advantage by means of the circular machine,
as by it a perfectly seamless well-shaped stocking may be produced. In the
circular machine the leg is knitted in the usual manner to the point where
the heel commences, and a row of stitches, or two or more rows, if the
machine is constructed to knit two or more rows together, as is sometimes
the case, is knitted half round the leg and at the back thereof, leaving the other
half of the stitches on the needles. A second row of stitches is then knitted
in the opposite direction on the row just completed, one or more loops or
stitches being dropped at each end thereof. A number of rows is then pro-
duced in like manner (the last stitch being left on the needle on which it was
formed) until a piece of knitting forming a quarter or other requisite portion
of a sphere is produced which conforms to the natural shape of the human
heel. After the knitting in the above manner has been carried on as far as
desirable, which is generally till the row is reduced to a very small number of
stitches, the knitting commences again all the way round the needles, which
can be done at the end of any row knitted in the aforesaid manner, as there is
always the same number of stitches on the needles.
The narrowing of looped fabrics in the manner above referred to may also
be applied to the manufacture of drawers, leggings, knitted shirts, and
other articles of hosiery where such an operation of narrowing is required.
The like effect may be produced by commencing the loops or stitches for
the heel as before described, and extending the first row a little beyond the
centre of the back of the leg. A second row is knitted on the first row, but
terminated, as before described, on the last stitch; but one of the first row and
a third row is commenced on the second stitch of the second row, and carried
one stitch beyond, and knitted to that stitch on the cylindrical part of the
knitting next beyond where the first row terminated. A fourth row is com-
menced on the next stitch still further on and so on until the heel is formed.
The toe may be produced of a spherical form in cither of the ways above
described.
Hosiery with seamless toes may be produced on the same principle by
knitting the toe first. The same result may be obtained in a straight knitting
machine by making the seam up the front of the hose instead of up the back,
as is the common practice.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 20th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF HOSIERY," being a communication from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
relates to a certain mode of operating to form the heel or round part of a piece
of hosiery, and the toe also, if desired, without a seam, by knitting continuously
from the leg towards the foot or from the foot towards the leg, the advantage
of which is, that the work in its progress need not be removed from the
needles, and therefore the operation of knitting will be expedited, and also a
better and neater article will be produced.
The Invention may be carried out by means of either the circular or straight
knitting machine, but with more advantage by means of the circular machine,

page_text: as with that machine it enables a perfectly seamless well-shaped stocking to
be produced.
I will first describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner
in which the Invention is performed by the circular machine, and then a few
words of explanation will suffice to shew how it may be performed on a straight
machine.
b
Fig. 1 exhibits a side view of a sock. The leg is knitted in the usual
manner as far as the line a, b, c, where the heel commences. It must be
observed, that before the heel commences, this line is perfectly straight all the
way round the stocking; but when the heel and foot are knitted on, it is made to
appear in side view of the form shown. When the leg is thus completed, a row
of loops or stitches, or two or more rows, if the machine is constructed to knit
two or more rows together, as is sometimes the case, is knitted from the point b
round past a to a corresponding point 6 on the opposite side of the sock, which
is supposed to be exactly half-way round, leaving the other half of the loops
or stitches from 6 round past c to the opposite corresponding point 6 upon the
needles. A second row of loops is then knitted in the opposite direction on to
the last-mentioned row, but is commenced at one end on the second loop, and
carried only to the last loop but one of the former row, leaving the last loop
on the needle on which it was formed. A third row is then knitted in the
reverse direction on the second row, commencing on the second loop, and pro-
ceeding only as far as the last loop but one of the second row, leaving the last
loop on the needle on which it was formed. A fourth row is knitted on the
third row in the same way, and in this way the knitting is always continued.
back and forth to the last loop but one of the preceding row, which is always
left on the needle, thus reducing the number of loops in every successive row
of knitting, but always keeping the same number of loops on the needles.
Instead of dropping only one loop at each end of the row, two or more may be
dropped in the same way. By the above means, a piece of knitting of the
form of a portion of a sphere, or a rounded form approximating thereto, is
produced which conforms very nearly to the natural shape of the human heel.
After the knitting in the above manner has been carried on as far as desirable,
which is generally till the row is reduced to a very small number of loops or
stitches, the knitting commences again all the way round the needles, which
can be done at the end of any row knitted in the aforesaid manner, as there is
always the same number of loops on the needles. The line d, b, c, represents
the line where the knitting is commenced all round again to form the foot, and
the part included between the lines a, b, and d, b, shews the spherically-knitted
part constituting the heel.

page_text: .
Fig. 2 is a Diagram shewing the manner in which the heel is produced.
This Figure exhibits a back view of the leg of the stocking with a few rows
of the heel loops knitted on the leg, the same being represented in the inverted
position it occupies in the machine. Of course only the half of the leg which
is to have the heel knitted to it is visible in the back view.. The line where
the knitting of the leg in a complete circle ceases is. indicated by b, a, b, to
correspond with the letters of reference in Fig. 1. The line of loops e, e,
represents the first row knitted half-way round to commence the heel; the line of
loops ff, the second row; and the line g, g, the third row, and it will be seen
that each row has one loop less than its predecessor at each end. This Figure
does not give an absolutely correct representation of the heel-knitting as it really
appears, for the edge indicated by the red line would be held straight on the
needles and the heel-knitting would bulge out; but. this is the only way to
represent it so as to give an idea of the relative arrangement of the rows
of knitting. This mode of knitting the heel in a rounded form is, as far as
known to me, an entirely new feature in the manufacture of hosiery.
Fig. 3 exhibits another way of forming the heel on the same principle.
This is a back view, of similar character to Fig. 2. The leg is knitted as far
as the line a, b, c, as shown in Fig. 1, in the same way as before described, and
then a row of loops is commenced from the same point b, as before described,
and extended a little beyond the centre a of the back of the leg. A second
row is knitted on the first row back again towards b, but terminated, as before
described, on the last loop but one of the first row; and a third row is com-
menced on the second loop of the second row and carried one loop beyond, and
knitted to that loop on the line b, a, b, (which is the same line as a, b, c,
Fig. 1) next beyond where the first row terminated. A fourth row is com-
menced on the next loop still further along the line a, b, c, and carried back
again to the last loop but one of the third row. A fifth row is then knitted
back again from the second loop of the fourth row, and extended one loop
beyond the last loop thereof, and knitted to the next loop of the line a, b, c,
and so on.
In consequence of the difficulty of representing the piece thus
formed to produce the heel, owing to its bulging out, I have not shewn the
last loops at the left-hand end connected with the .row. of loops b, a, b, but
merely shewn dotted lines, to indicate which loops on the line b, a, b, the
several rows of heel loops connect with. When this piece.is knitted to extend
to the opposite point to that where it was commenced, a second piece of the
same form is commenced upon it from the last-named or left-hand point b, and
worked in the opposite direction, and by working two or more pieces in this
way the heel is completed, and. the foot may be commenced as described with
b

page_text: reference to Fig. 1. This last method of carrying out the Invention is inferior
to that first described, as it does not give so neat an appearance to the work,
and is only described to shew that the rounded piece may be produced in more
ways than one by the same principle of operation.
The toe may be produced of a rounded form in either of the ways above
described. The toe represented in Fig. 1, which has a seam at h, i, is
supposed to be produced after proceeding with the circular knitting of the
foot all round from the line c, b, d, to the line j, i, where the toe is to
commence, and then knitting half-way round, in either of the ways above
described, to produce a piece of the form of a portion of a sphere, or of a
rounded form approximating thereto, like the heel-piece, and then a piece of
similar form on the other half and knitting the edges together, thus leaving
the seam h, i, where the said edges meet; or by knitting half-way round
from one side to form a piece of nearly hemispherical form the seam may be
brought in the line h, j, or h, i.
Hosiery with seamless toes may be produced on the same principle by
knitting the toe first, commencing to knit on one half the needles in either of
the modes above described, of producing the heel till a piece is produced
forming a sufficient portion or bearing a sufficient resemblance to a sphere.
This piece is then put on the whole of the needles and the knitting is
proceeded with all round it to commence the foot, which is knitted all round
the needles as far as the line d, b, c, and then the knitting on one half the
needles only is commenced again to form the heel. After the heel is com-
pleted, the knitting all round the needles is proceeded with again to make
the leg..
I would remark, that although it is preferable to make the heel and toe of
the stocking of forms approximating to portions of spheres, yet the same mode
of knitting may be employed to produce heels of spheroidal or of only very
slightly rounded form, and also to bring the heel nearly or quite to a point.
The same results may be obtained in a straight knitting machine by making
the seam up the front of the hose instead of up the back, as is the common
practice; but the particular mode of operation need not be here described, as
the description of the application of the Invention to circular knitting will
enable persons skilled in the art to adapt it to a straight machine.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improvement in
the Manufacture of Hosiery," as communicated to me by my foreign corres-
pondent, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the use of
any particular machinery to produce the results herein described; but what I
claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent is, the production of the

page_text: rounded or heel and toe parts of hosiery by knitting a piece of a spherical or
other suitable form on the cylindrical or straight portions of the leg or foot, by
leaving certain of the loops of the cylindrical or straight portions upon the
needles while the knitting is proceeding, and taking them up again, substantially
as herein described, whereby the whole of the leg and foot is enabled to be
produced by a continuous operation of the machinery or devices employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)