Improvements in the Manufacture of Stockings or Socks.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Dec.. 1894-Accepted, 15th June, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Stockings or Socks.
We, SAMUEL SILLS, Clerk, and JOHN EDWIN WOOD. Machinist, both of
Thornton, in the County of Providence, and State of Rhode Island, United States
of America, do hereby declare the nature of our invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention has reference to improvements in stockings or socks.
The object of the invention is to construct a stocking, or sock, in which no side
seams are used.
Another object of the invention is to construct a sock, or stocking, formed from
the material without boarding or stretching.
The invention consists in continuing the knitting from the leg portion to the sole
portion of the foot in unbroken lines.
The invention also consists in adding to the material extending from the leg
portion to form the sole, at the curve between the two, material which forms a
rearwardly-extending heel-pocket.
Figure represents a portion of a stocking indicating our improved
construction.
Figure 2 represents an enlarged view of the heel-portion of the improved
stocking to more clearly indicate the lines of knitting.
Figure 3 representing a similar view of a portion of an ordinary stocking.
Figure 4 represents a diagram of the lower portion of one side of the improved
stocking, indicating the points at which material is stopped out or added.
Figure 5 represents a diagram of the lower portion of the improved stocking as
it comes from the knitting-machine.
Similar numbers of reference designate corresponding parts throughout.
Stockings and socks have heretofore been constructed with heel portions, similar
to that illustrated in Figure 3 of the drawings, in which the lower leg-portion 5
was stopped at the under surface of the heel and joined together by a heel seam,
the sole 6 being joined to this heel portion by the scam 7 and to the instep-piece 8
by the seam 9; variations of this construction have been made, but in all of them
the seam 9 and seams extending therefrom toward the heel of the stocking are
prominent.
In order to produce a better appearance in the lower portion of the stocking
which is not secured by the knitting, the stockings are stretched or boarded to
produce what is known as the fashioned heel, giving a narrow appearance to the
ankle portion by forming a rearwardly-extending heel-pocket, and dressing or
stiffening preparations are sometimes applied to preserve this appearance for a
time, when the stockings are wet the material returns to its natural positions and
a baggy appearance is produced at the back of the ankle.
Our desire has been to form a stocking in which no seams 7 and 9, or their
equivalents, are necessary, and to add to the heel portion sufficient material to
form a rearwardly-extending heel-pocket, or fashioned heel, which will retain its
shape after washing. In our construction we continue the lines of knitting 10-10
from the leg-portion 5 to the sole 6-6 and also to the instep 8, curving these lines
to correspond with the general direction of the stocking and by the introduction or
.מ

page_text: withdrawal of extra wales in places to secure the fashioning of the heel. The
heel-pocket 5 is formed by interknitting with the lower leg portions material
which extends in the same general lines, as at 11-11, and furnishing the edges
with the seam-strip 12 of the same material, after the knitting operation the seam-
strips or selvages of the opposite portions of the fabric are joined together by
sewing.
This stocking is knit on a machine having a single row of needles and provided
with mechanism for narrowing, or widening, by skipping the predetermined number
of needles as the carriages move across, or by adding these needles. The knitting
of the stocking is started, in the usual way for flat knitting, at the top, after a
piece about two inches long is knit it is doubled over to form the welt, the knitting
then proceeds as usual until it becomes necessary to narrow below the calf from
13 to 14, Figure 4; this is done by stopping the yarn from two needles near each
side of the row and at cach traverse of the carriage between the wide part of the
calf and the narrowest portion of the ankle, the stopping being effected by the non-
delivery of the yarn to the needles, these needles from which the yarn is stopped
not being the end needles but adjacent to the ends of the row on which the seam-
strip, or selvage, 12 is being knit, this selvage conforming to the outline of the
knitted fabric, the yarn stretching across the unused needles tending to draw the
selvage as it is knit towards the narrowing portion of the material.
When the knitting has reached the points 14-14 two additional carriages are
brought into play, one at each side, and these traverse back and forth between the
line 15 and the edge of the blank to reinforce these portions by extra threads. On
reaching the narrowest portion of the ankle an extra needle, within the selvage 12,
is taken up on each side at every traverse of the carriages to widen for the heel-
pocket, at 17-17 an even width is continued for a short distance and then the
material is stopped from two needles on each side, as in the first narrowing, until
the lower curve of the heel is formed, at about the same time that this last
narrowing commences, two needles at each side of the centre row are dropped on
every traverse of the carriages, from 18 to 19 Figures 4 and 5 subsequently two
more needles are similarly dropped at each side from 20 to 21 Figures 4 and 5,
the dots between 18 and 19 and between 20 and 21 indicating the points at which
the needles are successively dropped, of the centre row to reduce the amount of
material and shape the toe.
After being thus knitted, the blank, a lower portion of which is represented
in Figure 5, is folded lengthwise and the selvages, or seam-strips, 12-12 are
joined at their edges by sewing,-in actual practice it is found that when stockings
thus formed are pressed the wales 10 will be slightly curved.
The improved stocking thus formed is more comfortable than the ordinary one
from the fact that the only seam is at the back and in the centre of the sole and
this is not prominent, although necessarily shown so in the drawings, while the
fashioned heel is important to the fit and appearance.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
:-
Claim 1. The method herein described of forming the heels of stockings knit as
flat webs, said method consisting in adding extra wales to widen the fabric, in
withdrawing said wales to narrow, and then joiuing the edges, substantially as
described.
2. A stocking having a back seam and a heel-pocket consisting of additional
wales adjacent to said seam.
3. A stocking having a rearwardly-extending heel-pocket formed from
additional material added to the main portion of the lower leg-piece.
4. A stocking the material of the leg-portion of which extends in a curving
direction therefrom to form the sole and instep in one piece without side seams.

page_text: 5. A stocking the material of which extends in a curving direction, as on
lines 10-10, to form the sole-portion 6 and the instep-portion 8, together with
the heel-pocket 5' formed of material added to the main portion in the knitting
process, as described.
SAMUEL SILLS.
JOHN EDWIN WOOD.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.