IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STOCKINGS
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STOCKINGS
" 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 the art of knitting stockings by machinery: and it
consists in an improved process of knitting and completing full fashioned stockings
which will be hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a web of tubular stocking-blanks
illustrating this invention.
Figure 2 is a modification of said web with the toe-bulge upon the same side of
the tube as the heel-bulge.
Figure 3 is a partial elevation of the stocking blank knit in accordance with
this method after it has been separated from the continuous tube shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a similar partial clevation of a stocking blank after it has been
separated from the continuous tube illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 5 is an elevation of the finished stocking.
L represents the leg, F the foot, T the toe and H the heel, of a stocking made by
this improved process.
This method of knitting stockings may be carried out upon a machine adapted
for making tubular work."
A portion of the tube having been knit of a width equal to the widest or upper
portion of the leg L, the needles containing the stitches from a to b, Figure 1, are
first thrown out of action and the stitches are cast off therefrom. Two or three
circular courses may then be knit with the remaining needles to afford a con-
venient space for cutting the stockings apart Then one half of the remaining
needles or those carrying the stitches from c to d are thrown out of action and with
the needles containing the stitches on the line d, e the toe-bulge T is knit
narrowing from c to f, and then widening again from f to g, and at the same time
uniting the narrowed and widened edges along the line d, h.
.
D

page_text: The needles carrying the stitches on the line c d are then brought into action,
and a tube is knit to form the foot F, said tube being knit of an even width until
the point, is reached, when the tube is gradually widened by bringing into
action some of the needles which were first thrown out, the widening being
continued from i to j, thus forming in the centre widthwise of the bottom of the
foot, the gusset k, for the purpose of increasing the width of the stocking at the
heel and making it conform more nearly in shape to the foot of the wearer.
The knitting has now progressed as far as the line j, l, m.
The needles which carry the stitches on the line l, m are now thrown out of
action, and the needles which carry the stitches on the line j l continue their
operation and knit the heel bulge H, which is formed in the same manner as
the toe-bulge T, the narrowing taking place from j to o and the widening from
o to p.
The needles carrying the stitches on the line l m are then brought into action
again and a straight tube of even width is knit to form the ankle portion until the
line q, is reached, when the widening of the leg is begun and continued
gradually by bringing into action the needles which carry the stitches on the
line a band were first thrown out, until the full width of the tube forming the
leg L is attained at the line 8, t; the remaining or upper portion of the leg is then
completed, being made of an even width and carried to the desired length.
The needles carrying the stitches along the line ab are then again thrown out
of action and the operation is repeated.
In knitting the stocking blank as above described, it is preferable to use two
threads or yarns, which are fed to the needles in opposite directions around the
'circumference of the tube of stockings being knit, in the manner set forth in
the specification filed with my application for Letters Patent No 14100 Dated
October 24th AD 1884.
These two yarns may be of different colors, in which cases the courses which
form the leg L and foot F, will be of alternate colors thus producing a series of fine
transverse stripes, the yarns crossing each other at the front and back of the foot.
In knitting the toe-bulge T the yarns are fed from the narrowed edge d h upon
one side around the edge ef to the corresponding narrowed edge upon the opposite
side of the toc, and then back again, the courses of the narrowed portion, running
parallel to the line d, e, and the two yarns starting simultaneously from the opposite
narrowed edges d h and crossing each other upon the line e f.
The other half or widened portion is knit in a similar manner, the two yarns
being fed in opposite directions back and forth between the widened edges d h upon
opposite sides of the toe T crossing each other upon the line f. g.
It will thus be seen that each yarn will be knit into two consecutive courses
upon either side of the toe T, and if the two yarns are of different colors the stripes
thus produced will consist of two courses each, instead of a single course as is the
case with the leg L and foot F.
By this improved method full fashioned stockings, or stockings which are shaped
to conform to the foot and leg of the wearer during the process of knitting may
be produced, which require but one short seam to be closed after the knitting is
completed and that extending around one half of the foot portion at the toe, said
stockings being knitted in a continuous tube or series by a continuous operation of
the machine without once severing the yarn, and thus a more rapid production
is effected. By the use of the two yarns, as above described, the knitting can be
performed twice as fast as when a single yarn is used, and if the two yarns are of
different colors an ornamental appearance is given to the stocking,
: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I Claim is
The process of forming full-fashioned stockings, which consists in taking up
the full number of stitches required to form the top of the leg, knitting a few
courses, dropping a portion of the stitches, knitting a few circular courses upon the

page_text: remaining needles, then throwing out of action one-half of the remaining needles,
knitting a toe-bulge by knitting a given number of courses back and forth and
narrowing and then a corresponding number of like courses, and widening, at the
same time uniting the widened portion to the narrowed portion, then throwing into
action the needles last thrown out of action, then knitting a sufficient number of
circular courses to form the greater portion of the foot, then widening for several
courses to form a gusset or gore in the bottom of the foot, then knitting the 'heel-
bulge in the same manner as the toe-bulge and upon the same side of the tube as
the gusset or gore, then knitting a series of circular courses to form the ankle, then
widening upon the same side of the tube as the heel-bulge till all the needles first
thrown out of action are again in operation, then knitting a series of circular courses
using the whole number of needles to complete the desired length of the leg, then
throwing out of action and dropping the stitches from the same needles that were
first thrown out (repeating the foregoing operations as many times as there are
stockings required) and then severing the sections and uniting by seaming the
disconnected side of the toe-bulge to the foot portion.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.