Improvements in Stockings and Method of Making the same.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Feb., 1892-Accepted, 26th Mar., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Stockings and Method of Making the same.
1, JOSEPH ALBERT BURLEIGH, a Citizen of the United States of America,
residing at Gilford, in the County of Belknap, and State of New Hampshire,
United States of America, Machinist, do hereby declare the nature of my
invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN STOCKINGS AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME,
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to a stocking which has a fashioned foot or a foot which
is knit in a shape to conform to the human foot as distinguished from the class of
stockings in which the leg and foot are knit in tubular form and do not conform in
shape to the shape of the human leg or foot except as they are shaped or stretched
upon formers.
The objects of the invention are to reduce the cost of stockings of this
character, increase the strength and durability thereof, and avoid transverse seams
therein.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a side elevation of this
improved stocking, the leg of which is composed of tuck stitch knitting.
Figure 2 represents a side elevation of a portion of this improved stocking, the
leg thereof being composed of plain stitch knitting.
Figure 3 represents a side clevation of the fashioned foot of this improved
stocking after being folded, and before the leg is knit thereon.
Figure 4 represents a side elevation of the foot blank as it comes from the
machine.
•
Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different
figures.
This improved stocking comprises a fashioned foot 10 and a leg 20, said leg and
foot being knit together in one continuous fabric.
The foot 10 comprises an upper foot portion 11, an upper toe portion 12, a lower
toe portion 13, a lower foot portion 14, preferably provided with integral gores 15,
a front heel portion 16 and a rear heel portion 17.
The leg 20 comprises a tubular fabric, seemlessly united with the upper foot
portion 11 and the rear heel portion 17.
The method of making this stocking is as follows. The blank for the foot is
knit in a flat web preferably on a flat bed knitting machine. The knitting begins
at the point a, a few courses above the upper end of the upper foot portion, and a
web of a width suitable for the upper half of the foot is produced. At a point a',
at the upper end of the foot portion about the fourth or fifth course of the knitting,
a loose course or courses having elongated loops is formed in the fabric to serve as
a guide in the subsequent transfer of the foot to a circular machine for knitting
the leg. A straight web is then knit from the point a¹, to the point b, comprising
a sufficient number of courses to produce a stocking of the length desired, say 100
to 120 courses, more or less. Then the thread may be shifted if desired to a
thread of a different color or character to produce the toe. Then the fabric is
narrowed in the usual manner of narrowing knit fabric for about twenty-six loops
on each side from the point to the point e, the narrowed portion of the fabric
embracing about fifty-two courses, more or less. Then the fabric is widened in the
toe thread in the usual manner of widening from the point c to the point d to form
the lower portion of the toe, which also includes about fifty-two cour-es, more or
less, the edges of the narrowed and widened portion being knit together as the
Then the toe thread is thrown out and
widening proceeds forming a seamless toe.
the original thread brought into use, and a flat web of uniform width is knit from the
oint d to the point e to constitute the lower foot portion or bottom of the foot. Then

page_text: the fabric is widened for about twelve courses from the point e to the point f forming
the integral gores 15 to constitute the enlargement of the instep and bottom of the
foot. Then the thread is again changed, if a heel of different color or character
is desired, and the fabric is narrowed from the point to the point g, to form the
front portion of the heel, the narrowing including about thirty-two loops, more or
less, on each side, which makes the heel larger than the toe. Then the fabric is
widened thirty-two loops, more or less, on each side, from the point g to the point /
forming the rear portion of the heel, the edges of the narrowed and widened
portions being knit together as the widening proceeds, forming a seamless heel.
Then the original thread is fed to the needles and four or five courses, more or less,
are knit in a straight web above the top of the heel to form a margin for
attachment to the circular machine. If the heel be composed of a thread of a
different color from that of the body of the stocking, the top of the heel forms a
guide line for attachment to the circular machine; if of a thread of the same color,
a loose course will be knit at the top of the heel corresponding to that at the top
of the instep.
The foot blank is then removed from the straight knitting machine and its two
opposite ends are run onto a circular knitting machine, the slack
or loose
course at the top of the instep and the similar loose course or the color
line at the top of the heel, serving as guide lines on which the needles of
the circular machine are made to pierce the fabric, the meeting edges of the upper
foot portion and rear heel portion being slightly overlapped. The fabric is then
raveled down to the needles of the circular knitting machine and a tubular fabric
constituting the leg is then knit onto the foot, the knitting proceeding upward from
the top of the foot to the top of the leg.
The transverse lines at the points b, d, f, and h do not indicate seams, but the
color lines between the heel and toe of one color and the foot and leg of another
color. The point where the leg is knit onto the foot is invisible in the completed
stocking.
The partially finished stocking is then placed on a stocking seaming machine,
and the selvages of the upper and lower foot portions are sticthed together in the
ordinary manner.
The stocking is then washed or dyed in the usual manner and dried on a
former.
The stocking so constructed can be produced very economically and comprises
a leg and a foot seamlessly united in one continuous fabric without transverse
seams, said foot being fashioned for the instep as well as for the heel and toe.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A stocking composed of a seamless leg and a fashioned foot seanilessly united
in one continuous knit fabric, said foot consisting of a seamless selvaged upper
foot portion, a seamless toe, a seamless selvaged lower foot portion, gores at the
sides for the instep enlargement and a seamless heel, all of said parts of the foot
being in one piece, and the selvages of said upper and lower foot portions being
stitched together, substantially as set forth.
2. The method of making a stocking which consists in knitting a foot portion on
a straight knitting machine; then transferring said foot portion to a circular
knitting machine; and then knitting a leg onto said foot portion, substantially as
described.
3. The method of making a stocking which consists in knitting on a straight
knitting machine two selvaged flat webs constituting the upper and lower foot
portions, a seamless toe connecting said portions and a seamless heel connected to
the lower foot portion; then transferring said foot to a circular knitting machine
and knitting a leg thercon, then transferring the work to a seaming machine and
stitching together the selvaged upper and lower foot portions.

page_text: 4. The method of making a stocking which consists in knitting on a straight
knitting machine two selvaged flat webs constituting the upper and lower foot
portions, a seamless toe uniting said portions and a seamless heel, and forming
loose courses near the opposite ends of the work, then transferring the work to a
circular knitting machine along said loose courses and knitting a leg thereon and
stitching the edges of the selvaged foot portions.
5. The method of knitting a stocking, which consists in knitting on a straight
knitting machine, a flat selvaged web to constitute the upper foot portion, then
narrowing and widening forming a seamless toe, then knitting a straight web to
constitute the lower foot portion and widening at the outer end thereof forming
gores for the instep enlargement, then narrowing and widening forming a seamless
heel, then transferring the work to a circular knitting machine and knitting a leg
thereon.
Dated this 30th day of December 1891
JOSEPH ALBERT BURLEIGH.
Witnesses:
E. H. BLAISDELL,
Lake Village, N.H., Cigar Manufacturer.
JOHN H. Dow,
Lako Village NH Cool Dealer