US2308506A - Full-fashioned stocking heel construction - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 19, 1943. A, GOODMAN 2,308,506

FULL-FASHIONED STOCKING HEEL CONSTRUCTION Filed May 24, 1946 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jfi. Goodman,

Jan. 19, 1943. .1. A. GOODMAN 25,308,506

FULL-FASHIONED STOCKING HEEL CONSTRUCTION 4 Filed May 24, 1949 zfsneets-sneet 2 resented asoascs dacob a. Goodman,

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This invention relates to full fashioned hosie y of the type formed with heel tabs having walewise extending front edges joined to the rear end courses of the sole portions of the stocking foot. It is directed to an improved heel construction for such a stocking adapted to more correctly fit the natural shape of the human heel, and further enabling the stocking to be formed with an area above the heel suficiently small to correctly fit the ankle.

In my prior Patent No. 1,935,502, dated November 14, 1933, is disclosed a heel construction differing from the conventional full fashioned heel wherein through suitable fashioning the rear selvage edges of the heel tabs are rounded so that when seamed together a heel pocket is formed which lacks a sharp corner where the rear seam meets the bottom of the stocking, and which more correctly fits the natural heel than full fashioned heel pockets of conventional construction. According to such patent the heel tabs are fashioned by the loop transfer method in recurrent courses beginning fairly high up in the heel tabs, and the fashioning is continued to narrow the heel tabs until at the bottom the tabs are half or less than the width of the tabs'prior to the commencement of the narrowing. In the preferred construction of the patent the fashioning is sufflclent to cause the rear edges of the heel tabs at their lower end to meet, or at least approach the vicinity of the front edge of the tabs, so as to eliminate the necessity of looping the bottom course of the heel and enable the edges of the leg, heel and foot of the stocking to be joined in a continuous seam.

While the patented construction provides a nicely rounded heel pocket, it is found that the same does not provide as goodfit as might be desired. In particular, in order to enable the heel tabs to be narrowed suiiiciently to suitably round the rear edges, from 20 to 40 fashioning steps may be resorted to. and this necessitates the narrowing operation beginning in a source heel tabs to begin to narrow at a substantially higher point than in the conventional full fashioned heel, and there is substantially less fabric in the lower half of the heel pocket. This is particularly true in the embodiments where the rear edges are fashioned to approach or meet the front edges of the heel tabs. The resultin heel pocket, while being rounded, is somewhat too small to accommodate the ball of the human heel. The lack of suificient fabric in the heel to National Silk Hosiery anus, apolis, End, a corporation of in Appiication May 2%, 19%, Serial No. 33?,d919

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a l-r fairly well up in the heel tab. This causes the too narrow around the instep arch with theresult that the fabric of the heelg a'nd izvarti'cularly the unreinforced instep fabric, is stretched excessively. Also, the heel pocket is tipped rear wardly in its lower portion with theresult-that the line of joinder of the front edge of the heel tabs with the sole portions of the stockingiootis inclined instead of extending vertically.

The present invention provides an improvement over the construction of my aforesaid Patent 1,935,502 and makes it possible to provide a suitably rounded heel construction which will correctly fit the ball of the human heel, and in which the objections just referred to are elimi nated or largely overcome. r

In forming a full fashioned stocking having heel tabs as a continuation of the lower portionof the leg, a certain minimum width must be-prc-- vided between the heel tabs to accommodate the. width of the high instep arch of the foot; The heel tabs themselves must be of a certain. minimum width. Under ordinary practice it has been found necessary to make the ankle portion ofthe stocking leg blank equal to the combined .width' of the two heel tabs and the instep fabric between the heel tabs, and this resultedin an ankle substantially wider than is desirable to. closely and correctly fit the human ankle. Some attempt has been made to obtain a slightlylesser width in the ankle by reducing the width of the heel tabs, but this resulted ina heel pocket which was too small. r 1

According to the present invention I not only provide a heel pocket of adequate sizeto proper- 1y fit the ball of the heel, but atrthe sametime it is possible to make an ankle which is narrower,- by any desired amount, than the combined width of the heel tabs and the instep fabric theretween. It is no longer necessary to make a stocking with an oversize ankle. v 1 y i.

In accomplishing the objects of the invention the welt and leg of the stocking blank areiformedx in the usual manner down through the calfare rowing, except that a greater number loiwcalf narrowings are employed to provide a narrower width ankle than conventional. The ankle fab ric is then knit. Thereafter in the upper portions-1.: of the heel, beginning at a suitable point in -the high splice, the stocking blank is progressively widened at each side to form downwardly diversing selvage edges. f The widening of the blank in the upper heel portion may be carried out by the outward transfer of marginal groups of loops in selected pocket results in the stocking being somewhat courses. butthispractice is not preferredforthe,

reason that it tends to produce tight fabric areas at the back of the heel which may result in strain and breakage in the fabric when the stocking is warn. I prefer to widen by the addition of edge loops at each side of the upper heel fabric, and find that this may be accomplished in a very satisfactory manner by employing the process forming the subject-matter of Patent No. 2,230,- 986, granted February 4, 1941, on the copending application Serial No. 290,662, filed August 17, 1939, of Benjamin F. Somers. According to such process the yarn carrier stops of the fiat knitting machine on which the stocking blank is being knit are racked out, preferably a distance of two needles, incident to the laying of a course of yarn, preliminary to the time the course is sunk and the needle bank descends. It has been found that such process provides a loosely knit and elastic selvage edge along the widened fabric area.

The number of wales added in the widening operation will depend primarily on the width of the leg in the ankle portion, and the narrower the ankle fabric the greater the number of wales which will be added at the edges of the upper heel, in order that the heel tabs together with the instep fabric therebetween will at the point of maximum width be of suflicient dimension to accommodate the area of maximum width measured at a line extending from the apex area of the ball of the heel upwardly across the high point of the instep arch. The course frequency of widening will depend on the number of individual widenings necessary to obtain the desired width in the area just mentioned. For example, if the ankle be made 248 needles wide, and it is desired to have a width of 272 needles between the rear selvage edges of the heel in their area of maximum width, six widening steps may be employed, each adding two needles per course at the outer edge of each heel tab. The widening courses may be separated by intervals of 8 or 10 plain knit courses. The intervals between widening courses may be varied in different portions of the widened areas. According to the example, 12 needles will be added at each side of the blank so that the total width across the heel tabs will be 272 needles, whereas the width of the ankle is 248 needles.

After the stocking blank has been widened in the heel area preferably down to a point somewhat below the upper portion of the heel tab, a series of plain courses will be knit, and thereafter the heel tabs will be progressively narrowed. To obtain suitable rounding of the rear selvage edges of the heel, a substantial number of narrowing steps will be employed to obtain the features and benefits explained in my aforesaid patent 1,935,502.

The invention will be fully understood by reference to the following detailed description and the several embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In such drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view of a stocking leg blank formed with heel tabs incorporating the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of the heel and adjoining areas of a completed full fashioned stocking made from a stocking blank as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view corresponding to Fig. 2 showing a modified heel construction:

Fi 4 is a fragmentary view showing a further embodiment of my heel construction and Fig. 5 is a corresponding view showing a still further modification of the invention.

A full fashioned stocking blank embodying the invention, complete except for the foot section, is shown in Fig. 1. The same is knit in the usual manner with a top portion III, a main leg portion I I, and with calf narrowings I2 comprising laterally transferred marginal groups of loops in recurrent courses.

Preferably a. greater number of narrowings than in conventional two-unit stockings will be inserted in the calf area so that the ankle I3 may be made narrower than is possible according to usual practice, wherein the width of the calf is necessarily made as great as the width across the heel and instep. For example 34, more or less, two needle narrowings may be made in the calf, the number depending on the width of the leg above the calf, the gauge of the knitting machine and the desired width of the ankle, but not being governed by the width to be provided across the heel and instep.

Following the ankle, complementary heel sections III are knit at the sides of the blank spaced apart as usual the required width of the instep. The heel sections are formed with inner, or front, walewise extending edges I5, and with outer, or rear, selvage edges I 6. In the blank as shown the knitting between the heel sections is terminated at the instep line I1, and thereafter the blank is transferred to a footer machine. The instep portion of the foot will be knit on to the fabric along line H while simultaneously reinforced side sole portions I8 of the foot (see Fig. 2) will be'knit on to the front sides of the heel sections I4 along a topping line if a few wales back of the front selvage edges I5.

Of course through the use of a split needle bar machine the complete stocking blank may be knit as a single unit. The blank will be the same as just described except that the rear ends of theside sole portions of the foot will be joined in a seam to the front of the heel sections in a subsequent operation.

In forming the heel sections the high splice will be started as usual, beginning at point a (see Fig. 2). After 8 or so courses of the high splice have been knit the heel fabric will be widened at the rear selvage edge beginning at line b. Preferably this is accomplished by adding several locked loo s in the selected widened course at each side of the stocking blank.

During the knitting of the remainder of the upper heel between b and 0 further widened courses will be formed at recurrent intervals. Between the widened courses a number of straight courses will be knit. The course frequency of widening and the number of widenings will depend on how many wales it is found desirable to add in the heel, and as before explained this will depend on the width of the stocking blank at the ankle. The extent of narrowing in the lower portions of the heel is also a factor, since it is important that the stocking have adequate width at the area around the apex of the heel and the high part of the instep arch, as represented by the broken line in Fig.2. If, for example, 6 widening courses are formed each adding 2 loops the width of the heel sections at each side of the blank will be increased by 12 wales in the widened portion w between b and c. The rear selvage edges IS in such portion will be caused to incline outwardly in divergent relation to the front edges I5 of the sections (Fig. 1) and the topping line t (Fig. 2)

along such edges at which the foot sole portions are joined to the heel sections.

In the intermediate apex portion of the heel sections between and d, wherein the sections are of maximum width, a series of straight courses are knit. Thereafter the heel sections in their lower portion are progressively narrowed down to their lower ends to incline the rear selvage edges inwardly. The narrowing will preferably be accompli'shed by the transfer of marginal groups of loops inwardly in recurrent courses to the extent of 2 needles, although 1 needle transfer may be resorted to if desired. The fashioned areas along the rear selvage edges may be narrow through their length, or wide throughout their length, or may be varied in width in different longitudinal areas, all as will be understood from the embodi- I ments illustrated in the drawings.

The beginning point (I of the narrowing will be determined by the number of wales to be eliminated. The number of narrowing stepsand the course frequency of narrowing will be controlled accordingly. For reasons fully explained in my prior Patent 1,935,502, it is desirable to narrow the heel at least by more than half its width as in the embodiment of Fig. 3 of such patent so as to bring the lower ends of the rear selvage edge well around transversely to the region of the front sides of the heel sections. Preferably the narrowing is carried over to the front edges, or approximately so, so that the lower ends of the rear selvage edges may meet, or approximately so, the rear ends of the edges of the foot sole portions and be joined in a continuous seam therewith, as in the several embodiments of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 of my said prior patent. In the latter case as many as about 60 wales may be removed at each side, necessitating narrowing by 2 needles in about 30 recurrent courses of each of the heel sections, and in the former case a somewhat lesser number of narrowings will be used. The two factors determining the number of narrowings will in all cases be the maximum width of the heel sections obtained as a result of the widening, and the point to which it is desired to bring the lower ends of the rear selvage edges in relation to the vertical line defined by the front edges of the heel sections.

Returning again now to Figs. 1 and 2, I have therein illustrated narrowing in area 11 between point d and the terminal course at point e, the narrowing being carried over to the front line of the heel. As best shown in Fig. 2, fashioned areas I9 of laterally transferred groups of marginal loops will be formed along the rear selvage edges. In this embodiment the fashioned areas are relatively wide, say 12 or 16 wales and their inner boundary defined by lines of fashioning marks 20 extends parallel to the rear edges for the major portion of their length. The fashioned areas are tapered in the region of the lower end of the heel sections inclining part 2| of the fashioning lines towards the rear selvage edges. Preferably at the terminal course at e the rear selva e edges, the lines of fashioning marks and the front heel edges l5 meet, or nearly so. Thus the narrowing fashioned areas of the heel are of negligible width at the bottom, and when the foot is knit the lower ends of the rear selvage edges of the heel will meet the rear ends of the bottom edges 22 of the foot sole portion i8 and may be joined in a continuous seam therewith.

In order that the narrowing shall not commence too high up in the heel it is preferable that the narrowing be carried out at relative short course intervals. By increasing the course frequency as the bottom of the heel is approached, the angle of inclination of the rear selvage edges inwardly relative to thefront sides of the heel may be increased. In the finishedstocking after seaming the pocket will present a nicely rounded shape, and despite the relative large number of narrowings employed, and the consequent elimination of substantial fabric in the lower heel, there will, nevertheless, be adequate fabric in the area across the apex of the heel and th high part of the instep arch due to the Width of fabric preliminarily added by the widening. Furthermore, the outward inclination of the rear part of the heel in the widened area will'conform to the outward inclination of the back of the human heel, whereas in the conventional heel, and in the heel of Patent 1,935,502, where the rear edges of the upper heel section are knit parallel to the front sides thereof, the heel pocket is tilted rearward when the stocking is worn because of the outward slope at the back of the heel, or if the fabric stretches sufliciently to in whole or in part compensate for this, an undue strain is imposed across the unreinforced instep fabric with a noticeable unsightly distension of such fabric.

The change in proportions of the heel through the progressive widening and narrowing is indicated by a series of arrows in connection with Fig. 2 in relation to the line defined by the front side of the heel sections. Arrow 12 represents the width at point I) in the upper portion of the high splice at the commencement of th widening.

Arrow q represents the width added to the heel in widening. between points b and c. As previously mentioned the width, as represented by arrow q, added will depend on the width of the ankle and the extent of narrowing'in the lower heel. The maximum width of the heel at the intermediate area between 0 and d is the total length of the two arrows p and q. Since far more narrowings than widenings are employed in any case the lower end of the heel will be substantially narrower than in the upper heel at arrow p, and in the present embodiment the width ofthe heel at the terminal course is negligible and approximates a point at e.

In the modification of the invention shown in Fig. 3 the heel is widened as before down to point e and an intermediate area of straight courses is again knit between c and d. In the lower heel the narrowing is carried out in a relatively narrow fashioned area 23 bounded by fashioning line 24, say from 3 to 6 wales wide, for a substantial distance along the rear edges. Thereafter the width of the fashionedarea is abruptly widened out to say 12 or 16 wales and then gradually reduced in width in subsequent narrowing steps as represented by the inclined fashioning marks 25. It will b obvious that this variation in the width of the fashioning area has no particular effect on the shape of the heel, and the form of the heel sections may be the same as in the embodiment of Fig. 2 if so desired.

In the further embodiment of Fig. 4 the heel sections are widened in their upper portion as As in Fig. 2 the narrowing fashioning fashioning marks again extends to, or within a few wales of the front side 28 of the heel. In this arrangement the relatively wide terminal course of the heel, as represented by broken line 29 is topped, together with the topping wale at line 28 at the front side of the heel, on the footer machine. In the knitting of the foot the terminal course of the heel is joined to the marginal wales of the foot sole 30 and the rear selvage edge 3| of the heel will form at its lower end f a continuous edge with the bottom edge 32 of the sole.

In the embodiment of Fig. the heel is again widened in its upper portion above point e. Narrowing of the heel will begin at point 9 and will continue down to the terminal course at h. Enough narrowings are employed to eliminate more than half the width of the heel in its portion of maximum width at the intermediate area between a and 9 represented by arrows r and 8. However, the narrowing is not carried over to the front side 33 of the heel as in previously described embodiments. As a result the terminal course 34 represented by arrow it between the lower end of the rear selvage edge 35 at h. and the front side 33 will be of appreciable width.

The narrowing fashioning area 36 along the rear selvage edge between points 9 and h is shown as being narrow throughout and bounded by a line of fashioning marks 31 parallel to the rear edge. Such fashioning area may vary in width in different longitudinal portions and may be shaped as in the embodiments of Figs. 2 and 3 or in some other manner. It is preferable, however, to avoid a pucker, or tit, at the region of meeting of the rear selvage edge with the terminal course, that, whether or not the fashioned area be made wide or narrow in its upper part, the lower end of the fashioned area at the terminal course should be quite narrow, say 3 to 6 wales wide, so that it may be gathered in the seam joining the rear selvage edges of the respective heel sections.

Where, as in the embodiment of Fig. 5, the end of the rear heel edge is not brought to a meeting point with the bottom edge 38 of the foot sole, the rounding of the heel will be less pronounced than in previously described embodiments and the terminal courses 34 of the two heel sections must be looped to prevent raveling. In this form, however, the number of narrowing steps is smaller, and not so much fabric is eliminated in the lower area of the heel pocket. Also, for this last reason, a lesser number of widenings may be used in the upper heel.

In order to insure proper positioning of the heel pocket on the ball of the human heel and prevent the same from sliding rearwardly, it is desirable to incorporate binding means'in the instep area of the foot sole portions. I have found that this may be done incident to the formation of the instep narrowings so that the foot fabric will be less stretchable and tightly fit the underside of the instep arch andaround the lower part of the top arch. Whereas ordinarily the marginal instep fashioned area along the bottom edges of the foot sole sections are made of uniform width and defined by lines of fashioning marks parallel to the edges, I have discovered that by tapering the width of the instep fashioning areas so that the lines of fashioning marks, where the innermost transferred loops of the marginal areas are doubled with the untransferred loops of the inner area of the sole fabric, extend angularly to the wales of the fashioned area and to the bottom edges, a very effective binding is secured along such fashioning lines. Such an arrangement is illustrated in connection with Fig. 2. Therein the instep fashioning area 40 of each side of the foot is progressively decreased in width in a forward direction so that the line of fashioning marks 4| extend at an inclination to the wales of the fashioned areas and to the bottom edge 22. The invention has been illustrated in Fig. 1 and explained with reference to the common method of knitting the entire heel sections in a continuous operation with the leg section on a legger machine, and knitting the foot section in a subsequent operation on a footer machine. However, the invention may also be employed in stockings according to the more recent method of knitting the foot section in a continuous blank with the leg section on a legger machine, and then forming the lower portions of the heel as so called inserts in a subsequent operation on a special heeler machine, or on a footer machine appropriately adjusted to knit the heel inserts.

According to the latter method the le section and the upper high splice portions of the heel section will be knit as before down to the instep line as represented at I! in Fig. l. The knitting will be continued in the instep area of the blank and at the sides the foot sole portions will be knit with their rear ends interconnected by a short group of loose courses to the last course of the upper heel portions. Following the completion of the foot the blank is then split along the loose courses between the upper heel portions and foot sole portions. The last course of the upper heel portion are transferred on to the second machine and the lower portions of the heel knit thereon. In some cases the front edges of the lower heel portions are knit free of the rear ends of the foot sole portions and later looped thereto. Where the lower heel inserts are made on the Reiner heeler machine the front edges of the inserts may be interconnected to the rear ends of the sole portions during the knitting thereof through the use of special transfer mechanism.

In utilizing the present invention under the -on the form of narrowing employed.

It has been found in thorough tests that the improvements herein disclosed provide a stocking far superior in fit to the usual stocking in the heel area; also, that while certain features here utilized are disclosed in my prior Patent 1,935,502, the additional features overcome certain abovementioned problems of fit experienced with my prior construction and greatly enhance the commercial value thereof.

I claim:

1. A full fashioned stocking including fashioned complementary heel sections knit with front and rear selvage edges, the rear selvage edges of the heel sections inclining outwardly for a distance in their upper portion outwardly away from .the front edges, and in their lower portion the rear selvage edges inclining inwardly and terminating at their lower end in the vicinity of the line defined by their front edges, the lowermost point of the outwardly inclined rear selvage edge porhl Us aeoasoe tions and the uppermost point of the inwardly inclined rear selvage edge portions being disposed vertically nearer the upper end of the front selvage edges than to the lower end of the front selvage edges.

2. A full fashioned stocking including complementary fashioned heel sections knit with front and rear selvage edges, said heel sections being progressively widened in recurrent courses along their rear selvage edges in their upper portion to incline the rear selvage edges outwardly away from the front selvage edges, and said heel sections being progressively narrowed in recurrent courses along their rear selvage edges in their lower portion to incline the rear selvage edges inwardly, there being a substantially greater number of narrowings than widenings and the number of narrowings being so multiplied that the lower end of the rear selvage edges meets the bottom line of the stocking in the v ity of the line defined by front selvage edges.

3. A full fashioned stocking including complementary heel sections knit to a terminal course and each having front and rear selvageedges, the upper portion of each section being progressively widened to incline the rear selvage edge outwardly, the lower portion of each section incorporating a fashioned area along the rear selvage edges defined by a, series of fashioning marks and inclining the rear selvage edges inwardly, there being a substantially greater number of narrowings than widenings and the number of narrow ings being so multiplied that the series of fashioning marks terminate in the vicinity of front selvage edges of the heel sections.

4. A full fashioned stocking including complementary heel sections knit with rear selvage edges and finishing on their forward side in a single Wale from which extend the side sole portions of the stocking foot, the rear selvage edges in the upper portion of the heel sections inclining outwardly relative to the front side of the heel sections to progressively increase the width ofithe heel sections to an area of maximum width intermediate the length of the sections, the rear selvage edges in the lower portion of the heel sections below the area of maximum width inclining inwardly sufliciently to meet the bottom course of the heel sections in the vicinity of the line defined by the front side of the heel sections.

5. A full fashioned knit stocking having a heel pocket formed by complementary fashioned heel sections terminating at their front sides in a single wale, and being joined along their front sides to the side sole portions of the stocking foot, said heel sections having continuous rear selvage edges, said heel sections being progressively widened in their upper area and bounded by portions of the rear selvage edges inclined outwardly in divergent relation to the front side of the sections, and said heel sections being progressively narrowed in their lower area and bounded by portions of the rear selvage edges inclined inwardly in convergent relation to the front sides of the sections, the lower ends of the rear selvage edges meeting, or approximately so, the rear ends of theedges of the foot sole portions, and a continuous seam joining the rear edges of the heel sections and the edges of the foot sole portions.

6. A full fashioned knit stocking having a heel pocket formed by complementary fashioned heel sections having rear selvage edges and terminating in a single wale at their forward sides, and a foot section including side sole portions joined to the front sides of the heel sections, the heel sections being progressively narrowed in their lower selvage edges of the heel section curving to meet, 'I

or approximately so, the bottom edges of the foot sole'portio'ns, the foot sole portions being nar- 1 rowed at the instep by fashioned areas of laterally transferred loops along the bottom edges, said instep fashioned areas being of progressively changing width and being bounded by lines of fashioning marks inclined to the bottom edges along said fashioned areas, and a continuous seam joining the rear selvage edges of the heel sections and the bottom edges of the foot sole portions.

7. A full fashioned knit stocking having a heel pocket formed by complementary fashioned heel sections having rear selvage edges and terminating in a single wale at their forward sides, and a foot section including side sole portions joined to the front sides of the heel sections, the heel sections being progressively widened in their upper area and being progressively narrowed in their lower area by fashioned areas of laterally transferred loops along their rear selvage edges, the rear selvage edges of the heel section in their upper portion inclining outwardly in divergent relation to the front sides of the heel sections, and the rear selvage edges in their lower portion curving to meet, or approximately so, the bottom edges of the foot sole portions, the foot sole portions being narrowed at the instep by fashioned areas of laterally transferred loops along the bottom edges, said instep fashioned areas being of progressively changing width and being bounded by lines of fashioning marks inclined to the bottom edges along said fashioned areas, and a continuous seam joining the rear selvage edges of the heel sections and the bottom edges of the foot sole portions.

8. The method of knitting a flat full fashioned stocking blank which includes knitting top and leg sections, narrowing the leg section in the calf portion along the opposite edges and then knitting the ankle portion, the narrowing at the calf being sufiicient to provide a relative narrow angle having a width less than the width of the blank required across the instep and heel, then knitting on to the ankle portion complementaryheel sections with inner selvage edges and with outer selvage edges to a terminal course, gradually widening the heel sections in selected recurrent courses during the knitting thereof in their upper portion to incline their outer selvage edges outwardly relative to their inner selvage edges, thereby to reintroduce a part of the width of the blank eliminated in the calf narrowing incident to the formation of the ankle and render the blank wider across the heel'and instep area than at the ankle, and after the widening gradually narrowing the heel sections by the inward transfer of loopsin recurrent courses, thereby forming fashioning areas along the rear edges defined at their inner sides by lines of fashioning marks and inclining the rear selvage edges inwardly towards the front selvage edges, the narrowing being of substantially greater magnitude than the widen-' fashioning marks of each heel section at the terminal course lie relatively close to at least the intermediate point in their length and, following the knitting of an intermediate series of courses of uniform width, gradually narrowing the heel sections by the inward transfer in recurrent courses of groups of loops along the outer selvage edges, the number of narrowings being substantially greater than the number of widenings and being continued until the heel. sections at their lower end are less at most than half the dimension between the inner and outer selvage edges at the intermediate area between the widened and narrowed portions, and until the outer selvage edges at the lower end of the heel sections reach the region of the inner selvage edges.

10. A full fashioned stocking including fashioned complementary heel sections adjoining the ankle portion knit with front and rear selvage edges, the upper portions of the heel sections being progressively widened and defined by outwardly inclined portions of the rear selvage edges,

and the lower portions of the heel sections incorporating narrowing fashioning areas defined by inwardly inclined portions of the rear selvage edges, said fashioning areas at their inner sides being defined by lines of fashioning marks, the number of narrowings being substantially greater than the number of widenings and being so multiplied that the rear selvage edges of the heel sections at their lower ends are nearer at least to the front salvage edges than to the lines of the rear selvage edges at the ankle above the widening, the line of fashioning marks of each heel section at their lower end lying relatively close to at least the rear selvage edges of'its heel section so that the lower ends of the fashioning areas are narrow, and a gathered seam joining the rear selvage edges of the heel sections, said seam encompassing at least the major width of the lower ends of the fashioning areas.

JACOB A. GOODMAN.

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