AU2008201219A1

AU2008201219A1 - Sock

Info

Publication number: AU2008201219A1
Application number: AU2008201219A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Yael Carmeli
Original assignee: Pacific Brands Clothing Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Pacific Brands Clothing Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2007-03-15
Filing date: 2008-03-14
Publication date: 2008-10-02
Also published as: NZ566714A

Description

P/00/011 Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: Sock The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 004918259 2 Sock Field of the invention The present invention relates to socks. More particularly the present invention S relates to socks that include a welt band about the opening of the sock.

N 5 Background of the invention oO 00 0Socks are made up of several defined portions, including a toe portion and a heel and ankle portion. The heel and ankle portion is joined to the toe portion by a generally tubular body portion. The heel and ankle portion has a leg engaging portion extending upwardly from it, which includes an opening for inserting the foot. The opening sits, in 0 use, around the wearer's leg, at any position along the length of the leg and down to the heel. A band around the opening is called a welt and is formed from an elastic cuff that is formed integrally with the upper end of the ankle portion.

The welt is typically made from threads of relatively greater elasticity, such that it acts to hold the sock up by grasping the wearer's leg. Sock welts often exert pressure on the wearer's leg, resulting in a mark forming on the wearer's legs, which can remain for a time after the socks have been removed. To overcome the discomfort of sock welts, many manufacturers have begun knitting socks without welts in order to remove the occurrence of welt marks. However, this results in socks that do not stay up on the wearer's leg and have to be continuously pulled up.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved sock that at least in part alleviates some of the problems associated with standard sock welts.

004918259 00 Summary of the invention Accordingly, the present invention provides a sock that includes a toe portion, and a heel and ankle portion joined to the toe portion by a generally tubular body portion. A leg engaging portion extends upwardly from the heel and ankle portion and has an opening for inserting a foot into the sock, the opening sitting, in use, around the wearer's leg or ankle. A welt band is integrally knitted at or adjacent the opening, and includes a plurality of, preferably multiple, terry loops integrally knitted in the welt band 00 and projecting from the inside surface of the sock.

It is advantageous that the stitching used to form the band is what is commonly 0 referred to as Moss stitch. Such a Moss stitch is a lxl alternate rib knit, where in each row one stitch is raised and the next is lowered. In successive rows, the raised stitch is on the column that had the lowered stitch in the last row, such that the raised and lowered stitches are alternated across rows and down columns.

Preferably, the terry loops are between 3-7mm in length.

Brief description of the drawings The invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a representative perspective view of a sock according to an embodiment of the present invention on a wearer's foot, with a section of the band and leg engaging portion peeled back to view the inside of the sock; Figure 2 is a representative side view of a sock turned inside out according to another embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the thread stitching of regular sock fabric and welt bands according to prior art socks; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic representation of the thread stitching of a band according the present invention; 004918259 00 (Figure 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a cross-section of the threads forming the band according to prior art socks; and Figure 6 is a diagrammatic representation of a cross-section of the threads forming the band according to the present invention.

Detailed description of the embodiments (As can be seen from Figures 1 and 2, a sock 10 is provided and is formed in the 00 conventional manner using a standard circular knitting machine. The sock 10 has a toe portion 12 and a heel and ankle portion 14. The heel and ankle portion 14 comprises a heel sub-portion 16 and an ankle sub-portion 18. The heel and ankle portion 14 is joined 0 to the toe portion 12 by a generally tubular body portion 20. A leg engaging portion 22 extends upwardly from the heel and ankle portion 14 and has an opening 24 for inserting a foot into the sock 10, the opening 24 sitting, in use, around the wearer's leg 26 or ankle.

A welt band 28 is provided at or adjacent said opening 24. As can be seen in Figure 1, the welt band 28 is at the opening 24, at the edge 30 of the leg engaging portion 22. In Figure 2, the welt band 28 is positioned adjacent the opening 24, spaced down from the edge 30 by approximately The welt band 28 includes multiple terry loops 32 integrally knitted in the welt band 28 and projecting from the inside surface 34 of the sock.

To start the knitting of the sock 10, elastic is laid in and held on alternate needles for four revolutions of the cylinder. Thread of 2/30 ECC (English cotton count) cotton plated with 40/70 elastane/nylon begins to knit along with the elastic for conventional knitting on every needle and continues for eight revolutions of the cylinder. The knitting begins at the opening 24.

The terry loops 32 begin to be formed from the cotton thread, as represented in Figure 6, and continue for approximately 3cm of fabric while still knitting in the elastic.

The terry loops cease at the end of the welt band 28 and plain knitting continues to form 004918259 00 C- the remainder of the leg engaging portion 22. The terry loops are typically between 3- 7mm and project into the inside of the sock.

As can be seen by comparing the cross-section of the to the prior art welt band in Figure 5 and the welt band 28 in Figure 6, the inside of the welt band 28 is padded by the terry loops 32 to minimise both discomfort and the occurrence of a mark on the leg from the elastic in the welt band.

00oO The knitting stitch used to form the welt band 28 is referred to as Moss stitch. As can be seen in Figure 3, typically a welt band consists of lxl knit on the outside of the sock. In a row 40, one stitch 42 is raised and the next stitch 44 is lowered. This is 0 repeated for row 46 and subsequent rows to create a fine rib appearance. As can be seen from Figure 4, the present invention uses a lxl alternate rib knit, where in one row one stitch 52 is raised and the next stitch 54 is lowered. This is alternated in the next row 56 and subsequent rows to create a chequered or moss-like appearance.

The advantage of the moss stitch over the 1 x 1 rib construction in the welt band is that the pressure is more spread over the area of the welt creating a more stable fabric structure, stretch recovery is less intense, and the visual appearance is flatter and less distinguished compared to the 1 x 1 rib appearance.

The advantage of a sock 10 according to the present invention is that the elastic used to form the welt band grips the wearer's leg to ensure that the socks stay up, while the cushioning provided by the terry loops formed in the welt band reduce the discomfort and marking associated with typical elastic sock welt bands.

Claims

2. A sock according to claim 1 wherein there are multiple terry loops integrally knitted in said welt band and projecting from the inside surface of the sock
3. A sock according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the stitching used to form the band is a lxl alternate rib knit, where in each row one stitch is raised and the next is lowered, while in successive rows, the raised stitch is on the column that had the lowered stitch in the last row, such that the raised and lowered stitches are alternated across rows and down columns.
4. A sock according to claim 3, wherein the stitching is Moss stitch. A sock according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the terry loops are of a length in the range 3 to 7mm.