New Surgical Knitted Ware.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 31st Jan., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New Surgical Knitted Ware.
ARTHUR FREDERICK LONGDON of Agard Street, Derby, England, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
In surgical fabrics used hitherto, as for instance india-rubber stockings,
scarfs, arm-bandages and the. like the india-rubber threads which formed the
warp were held in their proper position with regard to each other by weft-
threads, as used in linen and similar fabrics; or, besides, the warp threads
were tied one to the other, so that a stretching of the paralled threads could
be only attained one in all, because the cross-threads did not admit an extension
of a single thread, which, if brought violently into another position did not
return any more in its original position. These connections of the rubber-threads
with each other neither give sufficient play to the single rubber-thread nor the
necessary motion which they ought to have for hygienic purposes, as the cross-
binding has no elasticity in itself at all. But in case a knitted tissue be used
as cross-binding for the rubber-threads, and the latter be inclosed by the knitting-
meshes intermittingly on the right and left side, not only a perfect covering of
the rubber-threads on both sides will be attained by this arrangement, but also
the most free mobility of every single rubber-thread, independent of the neigh-
bouring ones, as such cross-binding executed and employed in the manner of
knitting-meshes affords the greatest pliability and ductility even in the direction
of the rubber-thread itself.
Thus, the peculiarity of the new tissue consists in the combination of rubber-
threads running parallel to each other in the circumference of the stocking, with a
knitting-tissue, the rows of meshes of which are rectangularly to said rubber-
threads, ie. in axial direction of the stocking. This knitting-tissue has in its axial
direction but a very slight ductility, whilst the latter in the direction of the
rubber-threads is extremely great, and thus offers no resistance to the extension of
the rubber-threads. The resistance of the knitting-tissue against any extension in
axial direction of the stocking is sufficiently great to prevent a derangement of the
stocking from its proper shape.
The perfect and always equal clasticity in the circumference of a rubber-stocking
is alone the factor which has led to the introduction of them for hygienic purposes.
This new rubber-stocking replaces not only the old one in a highly perfect manner,
but also the common knitted stocking, as the new rubber-stocking unites the
advantages of the common knitted stockings with those of the old rubber-stocking,
in consequence of its consisting of animal fibrins as well as of vegetable
ones. This great extensibility and returning of the single rubber-threads into their
former position is necessary for cross-binding, especially at the narrowest part of
the stocking, i.e. at the instep, as a comparatively great extension takes place every
time the stocking is put on or off. This frequent change of circumferential
extension caused in old stockings a deformation of the shape of them, and rendered
them perfectly useless in a very short time.
The above mentioned improvement is very important for the manufacture and
sale of rubber-stockings, as the usefulness of the stockings is considerably enlarged.
Hitherto a large number of rubber-stockings had to be manufactured for the
various forms of feet, whilst a stocking made according to the new principle will
fit on feet of quite different shape and size.
This kind of knitting will not only have such considerable advantages in the
form of stockings but also in that of ribbons or stripes as used for scarfs or bandages

page_text: of any shape for the different parts of the human body. It must be pointed out a³
another peculiar feature of the above described arrangement, that the rows formed
by the meshes are placed alternately on the left and on the right side of the rubber-
thread; thus, in stockings for instance, they are placed alternately on the interior
and on the exterior side. This is done in such a manner, that the interior rows are
opposite to the clearings of the exterior rows, whilst the rubber-threads are placed
directly into the middle of the meshes.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :—
As a new article of manufacture: a surgical knitted-ware consisting of meshes
knitted in the usual manner, and combined with rubber-threads laid across the rows
of meshes, and held by them parallel to each other, substantially and for the purpose
as described.