US2475845A - Method of knitting hosiery - Google Patents

Description

Jy E2, 14. R. H. LAWSON 2,475,845

METHOD OF KNITTING HOSIERY Filed July 5, 1946 41.1. v ,Ljjiif ji p'v ROBERT H. LAWSON 39 his afZ-Z-orneys Patented July 12, 1949 UNITED STATEEi hATENT OFFICE METHOD OF KNITTING HOSIERY Application July 5, 1946, Serial No. 681,547

8 Claims.

This invention relates to the knitting of fabrics and more particularly to the knitting of hosiery on circular knitting machines and it is an object of this invention to provide a method of knitting hosiery toes on circular knitting machines which will facilitate the placing of the hosiery on the points of a looping machine for the looping of the toe.

In knitting a hosiery toe, upon completion of the narrowing and Widening, a loose course or courses of lengthened stitches is knit to be placed upon the points of the looping machine and the loopers rounds or waste courses are then knit. Where the courses are all knit of the same yarn, the placing of the loose course on the points of the looping machine is a slow and costly process. Efiorts have been made to make a contrast between the stitches of the loose course and those of prior knit courses but this necessitated a yarn change exactly at the beginning of the loose course in order to insure correctly placing the longer loops of the loose course on the points of the looping machine and such yarn change was found to interfere with the correct and rapid placing of the loops on the points of the looping machine.

To overcome the difficulties of prior methods of knitting the toe and attempts to facilitate the placing of the longer loops on the looping machine, the hosiery, including the heel and toe, is to be knit by two-feed knitting, two-feed reciprocatory knitting being provided for the knitting,

of the heel and toe. Irrespective of the yarns used in knitting the body of the stocking this permits of a contrast being efiected which distinguishes the loose course and facilitates looping of the toe, preferably the contrast being effected by the yarns of which the entire toe is knit so a yarn change at the looping course is avoided. Reciprocatory knitting of a toe of contrasting yarns provides, throughout the reciprocatory knitting, pairs of adjacent courses of the same yarn separated by pairs of adjacent courses of the contrasting yarn and, when the reciprocatory knitting is completed, the first complete circular course, which will be a loosecourse knit of yarn fed at the main yarn feed, will be of the same yarn as the last reciprocatory knit course. The second circular knit course, which will also be a loose course will be knit of the contrasting yarn feed at the auxiliary yarn feed. Thereafter alternate courses will be knit of the sam yarn so that the last reciprocatory knit course and the first circular knit course form the last pair of adjacent courses knit of the same yarn and provide a means for the expeditious identification of the loops of a loose course and the opposite ends of the last pair of successive courses of the same color serve to locate the adjacent loops at which the turns in the looping are made.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a partial diagrammatic View showing the loop arrangement in the narrowing and widening of a hosiery toe in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is a partial view in elevation showing a hosiery toe before the looping operation is performed; and

Fig. 3 is a partial view in elevation showing a hosiery toe with the looping operation completed.

In the drawing there is shown a toe portion T of circular knit hosiery having the toe knit by reciprocation of the contrasting yarns Y and Y and formed of pairs of adjacent courses knit of the same yarn and spaced by pairs of adjacent courses knit of the contrasting yarn. The last reciprocatory knit course I is knit of the yarn Y which is fed at the main yarn feed and immediately upon completion of the course I the first complete circular course 2 is knit of the same yarn Y. The course 2 is a loose course having the long loops and the second complete circular course 3, knit of the yarn Y is also a loose course. Thereafter, the circular loopers or waste courses are knit of the yarns Y and Y in alternation.

Being the last course of the pairs of successive or adjacent courses the first circular knit loose course 2 and the second circular knit loose course 3 of the contrasting yarn are readily identified and followed in placing the loops of a loose course on the points of a looping machine. In placing the long loops on the points, the wales 4 at the opposite ends of the last pair of adjacent courses of the same yarn serve to identify the adjacent loops which mark the turning point or end loops in placing the loops on the points of the looping machine. While the toe has been shown as closed on the top of the stocking foot it is to be understood the toe may be closed at the bottom of the stocking foot without departing from this invention. The yarns may be rendered contrasting by the use of suitable fugitive dyes which 'are removed in the finishing operations on the hosiery leaving the finished hosiery of one color as well as by the use of dyes which permanently dye the yarns in contrasting colors. While loose courses knit at each feed have been shown and described, it is to be understood that a single loose course knit at one feed could be provided by the use of the movable stitch cam shown in the U. S. patent to H. N. Sheppard No. 2,200,209, and still be within the scope of my invention.

This application is a continuation in part of my patent No. 2,440,280, dated April 27, 1948.

What I claim is:

1. In a method of knitting a stocking, the steps of knitting the toe of reciprocatory knit courses of separately knit contrasting yarns forming groups of courses of said yarns in alternation, knitting the last reciprocatory knit course and the first full circular knit course of the same yarn, knitting the immediately following full circular knit course of a contrasting yarn, knitting said full circular knit courses as loose courses, and knitting the subsequent full circular knit courses of said yarns in alternation whereby said first loose course and said last reciprocatory knit course form the last successive pair of courses of the same yarn and contrast with the immediately following courses to facilitate the engaging of the loops of a loose course on the points of a looping machine.

2. In a method of knitting a stocking, the steps of knitting the toe of reciprocatory knit courses of separately knit contrasting yarn forming groups of courses of said yarns in alternation, knitting thelast reciprocatory knit course and the first full circular knit course of the same yarn, knitting said first full circular knit course as a loose course, and knitting the immediately following full circular knit course of a contrasting yarn whereby said loose course and said last reciprocatory knit course form the last successive pair of courses of the same yarn and contrast with the immediately following course to facilitate the engaging of the loose course loops on the points of a looping machine.

3. In a method of knitting a stocking, the steps of knitting .the toe of reciprocatory knit courses of two separately knit contrasting yarns forming pairs of courses of said yarns in alternation, knitting the last reciprocatory knit course and the first full circular knit course of the same yarn, knitting said firstfull circular knit course as a loose course, knitting the immediately following full circular knit course of a contrasting yarn and knitting subsequent courses alternately of the two yarns whereby said loose course and said last reciprocatory knit course form the last pair of coursesof the same yarn and the opposite ends of said last pair of courses indicate the locations of the end loops for placing the loops of said loose course on the points of a looping machine for closing the stocking toe.

4. In a method of knitting a stocking toe, the steps of knitting the toe of reciprocatory courses of separately knit contrasting yarns forming groups of courses of said yarns in alternation, then knitting the first full circular-knit course of the same yarn as the preceding course and knitting an immediately following full circular-knit course of the other of said contrasting yarns, at

least one of this first pair of full circular-knit courses being a loose course, followed by knitting the contrasting toe yarns in single-course alternation, whereby engaging loops of a loose course on the points of a looping machine is facilitated.

5. In a method of knitting a stocking toe according to claim 4, the use of yarns which are fugitive dyed to cause the contrast between the yarns.

6. In a method of knitting a seamless stocking toe, the steps of knitting the toe from a plurality of stations whose yarns are contrasting, by reciprocatory knitting, thereby forming groups of courses of said yarns in alternation, knitting the last reciprocatory course and then a first full circular-knit course of the same yarn at the same feeding station, and knitting circularly at the difierent feeding stations in alternation thereafter, at least one of the first pair of circular-knit courses being a loose course, whereby the yarns in the circular courses give a single-course alternation so that the opposite ends of the last group of courses knit of the same yarn indicate the 10- cations of the end loops for placing the loops of a loose course on the points of a looping machine for closing the toe of the stocking.

7. In a method of knitting a stocking, the steps of knitting a toe reciprocatorily of a plurality of separately knit contrasting yarns by forming groups of courses of said yarns in alternation, in combination with the step of bounding the toe on the side to be looped with a series of circular knit courses of the to yarns in single alternation, in which at least one of the first two such circular knit courses adjacent the toe is knit loose, whereby engaging loops on the points of a looping machine is facilitated.

8. In a method of knitting a stocking toe, the steps of knitting the toe reciprocatorily of a plurality of separately knit contrasting yarns forming groups of courses of said yarns in alternation, and then knitting a loose, circular course of the yarn used in the preceding course, thereafter immediately forming continuing circular knit courses of contrasting toe yarns in single alternation, all without yarn change, whereby engaging loops on the points of a looping machine is facilitated.

ROBERT H. LAWSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 928,165 Wilson et a1 July 13, 1909 1,052,877 Ames Feb. 11, 1913 2,097,763 Hemmerich Nov. 2, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 258,600 Great Britain Oct. 27, 1927

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