Improvements in Hose, Half Hose, and Socks, and in the Manufacture of the same.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Sept., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 14th June, 1893-Accepted, 15th July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hose, Half Hose, and Socks, and in the Manufacture
of the same.
I, JAMES HENRY WOODWARD, of Lee Works, Nottingham, Hosiery Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
--
According to my invention I construct hose, half hose and socks in the following
manner whereby they can be made without taking the fabric or any portion of the
fabric off the needles.
A flat piece of work with a selvage along each side edge is first made upon a row
or division of needles in the way usual in straight bar knitting machines and either
fashioned or not as may be desired. After the leg portion has been formed the
production of work upon the middle or instep portion of the division of needles is
arrested and work is continued upon the needles at the two sides only, a greater and
greater number of courses of work being produced upon the needles which are
further and further away from the centre of the division -the greatest number of
courses being produced upon the outermost needles. In this way an arched piece
of work is produced coming to a point at the innermost needle of each of the side
sections of the needles that are in work-these side pieces of work so produced are
to form the heel. Afterwards work is continued across the whole division of
needles and a selvaged flat piece of work produced for forming the foot. The toe
may be formed in any ordinary way or may be formed in a similar way to the
heel-work being produced on sections of the needles at the two sides until a
semicircular piece of work has been produced at each side the axis or centre
of which is on the innermost needle of each side section. The shape of the heel
and toe pieces may if desired be modified by forming widenings and narrowings
along their outer edges. The piece of work so produced is afterwards doubled over
along its centre and its selvaged edges are sewn together to complete its formation
into a sock or stocking or half hose.
The pieces of work can be produced upon rows or divisions of needles either upon
circular or straight bar knitting machines.
On a straight bar knitting machine with bearded needles such a piece of work
can be made in the following manner.
The presser used for closing the beards of each row or division of needles is
divided into sections which can be moved towards or away from one another.
Whilst the leg piece is being formed the presser acts upon all the needles-when
the leg piece is finished the sections of the presser are moved away from one
another so that the needles at the middle or instep portion of the division of needles
are left without any presser to act upon them and remain idle and the presser is set
to act in conjunction with two thread carriers upon the needles at the two sides
only. As the work progresses on the side needles the pressers are gradually moved
outwards away from one another so that the needles which are nearest to the centre
of the division go out of action one after the other until only a few needles on the
outside remain in work. Afterwards the pressers are gradually moved inwards
towards the centre so gradually again bringing into action those needles that were
before left out of action and the heel pieces are then complete. Or the heel pieces
may be made by commencing work on a few needles only on the outside and the
sections of the presser then moved inwards gradually to form a tapering piece of
work, afterwards moved outwards to their former position and again gradually
moved inwards and this may be repeated as many times as may be required.
When the heel pieces have been completed and the sections of the presser

page_text: are again in position for acting on all the needles, work is again produced upon all
the needles to form the foot piece.
When the foot piece has been completed the toe may as before stated be made in
any suitable known way or may be made by forming two pieces of work on the side
needles only just in the same way as described for forming the heel pieces.
In some cases the needles which are to remain out of action with their loops upon
them may be pressed back to keep them from being acted on by any section of the
presser bar.
Dated this 15th day of Sentember 1909
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Hose, Half Hose, and Socks, and in the Manufacture
of the same.
I, JAMES HENRY WOODWARD, of Lee Works, Nottingham, Hosiery Machinist,
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 :-
According to my invention I construct hose and half hose or socks in the
following manner whereby they can be made without taking the fabric or any
portion of the fabric off the needles until the formation of the piece of work
is completed. A flat piece of work is first made with a selvage along each side
edge upon a row or division of needles either fashioned or not along the side edges
as may be desired.
When the leg portion has been completed work is continued at the two ends of
the row or division of needles whilst the production of work on the middle or instep
portion of the division is arrested a greater and greater number of courses of work
being produced upon the needles which are further and further away from the
centre of the division-the greatest number of courses of work being produced upon
the outermost needles.
In this way an arched piece of work is produced upon each end section of the
division of needles coming to a point at the innermost needle of each of the end
sections of the division of needles-these pieces of work are to form the heel.
Afterwards work is continued across the whole division of needles and a flat
selvaged piece of work is produced for forming the foot. The toe may be formed
in any ordinary way or may be formed in a similar way to the heel. The shape of
the heel and toe pieces may if desired be modified by forming widenings and
narrowings along their outer edges.
The piece of work produced in the above manner is afterwards doubled over
along its longitudinal central line and its edges are sewn together to complete its
formation into a stocking or sock or half hose.
The above described piece of work may be produced upon rows or divisions of
needles, either upon circular or straight bar knitting machines.
The drawings annexed show a sock formed in the above manner and various
views of the piece of work from which it is made.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the piece of work. Figure 2 is an end view and
Figure 3 a side view of the same.
Figure 4 is a plan view on a larger scale of some of the parts of the piece of
work. The upper portion of the figure shews the lower part of the leg and the
heel pieces the lower portion shews the foot and toe end pieces.
Figure 5 shews the piece of work doubled over along its longitudinal central line
and
Figure 6 shews the completed toe end when the sock has been sewn up and
flattened.

page_text: On a straight bar knitting machine with bearded needles and having its presser
bar divided at the centre into two sections which can be moved towards or away
from one another such a piece of work can be made in the following manner.
Whilst the leg piece a is being formed the two sections of the presser are made to
abut together end to end so that the presser then acts upon all the needles and
work is produced by a thread or threads laid to and fro across the row or division
of needles by a single thread layer in the ordinary manner. When the leg piece is
finished the sections of the presser are moved away from one another so that the
needles at the middle or instep portion of the division of needles between the
points c d (see Figure 4) are left without any presser to act upon them and they
remain idle with loops of work still upon them-at the same time two thread layers
are brought into action, one to be traversed to and fro over one end section b c of
the needles and the other over the end section d e.
As the work progresses on the end sections of the needles the two sections of the
presser are gradually moved outwards away from one another so that the needles
which are the nearer to the central section c d go out of action one after the other
until only a few of the outermost needles remain in work. For example supposing
there were 30 needles between the points d and e the needle at the point a being
numbered 1 and the needle at the point e numbered 30-the first course might be
made on needles 2 to 30 (the needle 1 retaining the loop)-the next on needles 3
to 30 (needles 1 and 2 retaining their loops) and so on until the length of the
course of work is only upon needles say 27 to 30. After that a course may be
made along the needles from 30 to 1, and the courses again gradually shortened as
indicated by the parallel lines drawn over the heel pieces in the upper half of
Figure 4. In this way a triangular piece of work is produced upon each end section
of the needles. Or these triangular pieces might be worked in the reverse way
commencing by making the shorter courses and gradually lengthening them.
Preferably before making the second of the triangular pieces of work I bring the
two sections of the presser together end to end and form say two courses of work
with a single thread layer across the whole division of the needles.
Afterwards the sections of the presser are separated as before and the second
triangular pieces of work formed in the same way as before on the outer sections of
the needles. The edges c f and d g of these pieces of work will then be on the end
sections of the row of needles. The two sections of the presser are now again
made to abut together end to end-one of the thread layers is put out of action
and the other made to traverse to and fro across the whole of the needles and a flat
piece of work is produced for forming the foot.
When the foot piece has been completed the toe may as before stated be made in
any suitable known way or it may be made by forming two segments of work i on
the two end sections of the needles just in the same way as when forming the heel
pieces. The piece of work produced in the above manner is afterwards doubled
over along its longitudinal central line and its edges are sewn together the seam
running down the back of the leg and heel from 1 to 2 in Figure 5 and underneath
the foot from 2 to 3 and from 3 to N. When the toe end has been formed in the
way shewn in that figure the edge M N (see Figure 5) of each segment is also
sewn to the edge M O after the knitting of the stocking has been completed. The
finished toe is shewn at Figure 6.
As before stated the piece of work may be narrowed and widened wherever
desired by point mechanism in the ordinary way for shaping the leg or foot or heel
or toe pieces.
In place of a presser divided into two sections being used to produce the piece of
work in the above described way an ordinary presser bar may be used and those
needles which are for a time to remain out of action may by other pressers acting
against their stems be held back so as to keep their beards from coming against
and being closed by the ordinary presser bar,

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A stocking or sock or half hose formed by joining together the edges of one
piece of knitted work the leg portion of which is a flat piece of work, the heel
formed by short courses of work extending inwards to varying distances from the
two side edges so as to produce as a continuation of the leg piece two segments of
work one at either side each large enough to form one half of the heel and the foot
of a flat piece of work suitably shaped at the end for forming the toe substantially
as described.
2. A stocking or sock or half hose formed by joining together the edges of one
piece of knitted work, the leg portion of which is a flat piece of work, the heel
formed by short courses of work extending inwards to varying distances from the
two side edges so as to produce as a continuation of the leg piece, two segments of
work one at either side each large enough to form one half of the heel the foot of
a flat piece of work and the toe similarly formed of two segments substantially as
described.
3. The hereinbefore described process of manufacturing on a straight bar knitting
machine a piece of knitted work for forming the leg, the heel and the foot of a
stocking or sock or half hose such process consisting in forming a flat piece of work
for the leg in the ordinary way then for a time putting out of action a central
section of the needles and forming on the two end sections a number of courses of
work of varying length extending inwards from the two side edges and thereby
producing on each of the two end sections a segment of work large enough to form
one half of the heel and afterwards again bringing into action all the needles and
forming a flat piece of work for the foot and toe.
Dated this 9th day of May 1893.
J. H. WOODWARD.