US1104348A - Stocking-form. - Google Patents

Description

A. B. EASTWOOD.

STOCKING FORM APPLICATION FILED D30. 24, 1913.

Patented July 21, 1914.

ALBERT 33. EASTWOOD, OF EOGHESTEBI, NEV] YORIL,

STOCKING-FORM.

Application filed December 24, 1913.

Specification of Letters Patent.

yatented July $31, Serial No. 808,691.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT B. EASTWOOD, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stocking- Forms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a form upon which a dampened stocking may be stretched and dried, either in connection with the manufacture of the stocking, or in connection with subsequent laundrying or accidental wetting. Y

it has been found desirable, for orthopedic reasons, that a stocking when ready for wear, be so stretched or shaped, particularly at the toe-portion, that it will not cramp or confine the foot of the wearer or require any stretching by use. Accordingly, the stocking, after manufacture or laundrying, should have the full width and length in the foot-portion, for which it is designed and which is necessary to permit the foot to expand freely in a horizontal direction. It is also desirable, however, for the sake of neat appearance and convenience in packing, that the stocking, after manufacture or laundrying, be ironed or folded in'a smooth and flat condition.

Tn order to preserve the proper form of a stocking when it is dried after having been Wet, either accidentally or in the process of manufacturing or laundrying, a stockingform has heretofore been employed comprising a comparatively thin and wide piece of sheet-material, such as a wooden board, of which the forward end is shaped to approximately the outline or horizontal contour of the foot, while the rear part is shaped to fill the leg of the stocking so that when the stocking is dried upon this form the material isprevented from shrinking so as to become shorter than it should be.

While a stocking-form of this type will preserve the width and shape of the toe and leg of he stocking, and will cause the stocking to dry in such a sha e that it may readily be folded or ironed at after stretching, such forms, as heretofore employed, have not been adapted to determine and maintain the proper length of the foot of the stocking from heel to toe, so that after shrinking this length may be insufficient and the stocking may cause cramping of the wearers toes. To obviate this disadvantage,

it has also been proposed to employ stockingforms having parts for filling both the leg and the foot of a stocking, these parts including a member adapted or intended to fit into the heel of the stocking, so as to determine the length of the foot. Such previous devices, however, have been of complicated construction, and have not been adapted to stretch the stocking with the leg and foot extended. in straight and transversely flattened condition.

The object of the present invention is to improve a stocking-form, of the type first described, in such a manner as to cause it to maintain the length of the foot-portion as well as the width, and to this end I use, in addition to the flat body-portion of the stockin -fori'n, having the orthopedic right or left shape, a member which. may be described as a heel-filler, and which is fixed to the lower surface of the body-member. This heel-filler is of greatest depth. at its rear extremity, so as to provide a salient projection or angle adapted to fit into the recess of the heel-part of the stocking. The heel-filler is located, preferably by means of adjustable connecting-devices, in a position in which the distance of its rear extremity from the toeextremity of the form is equal to the required length of the foot-portion of the stocking, and accordingly, when the stocking dries upon the form it is prevented from shrinking lengthwise so as to become shorter than this required length. At the same time the stocking is dried and stretched with the leg and the foot laterally extended and flattened, and lying, except for the heelportion, in the same plane, so that after stretching the stocking may be readily folded or ironed in the desirable flat form.

In the accompanying drawings :-Figure 1 is a bottom-view of a stocking-form embodying the present invention; and Fig. 2- is a longitudinal, vertical, sectional view of the same.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a stocking-form having a body-member 5, made of thin sheet-material such as a wooden board, and comprising a part 6 which fills the toe of the stocking, and a part 7 which fills the leg. This body-member is shaped as hereinbefore described, the toeend 6 having an outline which, as will be apparent, corresponds substantially to the normal outline of the foot.

The heel-filler consists of a block 8, which is provided with a tongue 9 fitting in a slot in the body-member, and secured therein by a bolt 10. The heel-filler terminates, rearwardly, in an angular portion 11 adapted to fit into the angle of the heel of a stocking, and the block is so placed that the distance between this angle and the forward extremity of the body-member is such as to stretch the foot of the stocking to the required length.

he connections between the heel-filler and the body-member are such as to permit lengthwise adjustment of the heel-filler, to adapt the form for use with stockings having feet of various lengths but uniform width..- The heel-filler is somewhat narrower than the body-member, for the purpose hereinbefore described. Accordingly, when a stocking has been stretched and dried upon the form, the material of the stocking is drawn into two parallel fiat portions, both in the leg and at the toe-end of the stocking, while the material is bent around the lateral edges of the body-member throughout the length of the stocking. so that after the form has been withdrawn it may be readily ironed or folded flat, With creases corresponding with these bends in the material. The heel-portion of the stocking constitutes an exception to the flat form to which the other parts of the stocking have been stretched, but this heel-portion, after the stocking has been dried on the form, maybe folded down and flattened upon the rest of the material, without sacrificing the useful results secured by the use of the form.

The construction of the body-part of the form of thin sheet-material not only permits it to be manufactured in an inexpensive and simple manner, but also facilitates the folding of the stocking in the novel manner hereinbefore described, that is, with creases at the side of the stocking, instead of in the central vertical plane. This general shape of the body-1nember also secures acompactness of which the advantages will be apparent, particularly where the form is to be packed and sold in quantities.

While my invention is preferably embodied in a structure in which the heelfiller is longitudinally adjustable with respect to the body, the invention is not necessarily limited to this construction, since the heel-filler may be permanently fixed inthe position suitable length of foot.

claim 1. A stocking-form having a fiat, and comparatively wide and thin body-member, adapted to stretch both the foot and the leg of a stocking and shaped at one end to ap'-,

proximately the outline or horizontal contour of'the foot, and a heel-filler fixed t0 the lower surface of the body-member and of greatest depth at its rear extremity, where it terminates in a pronounced angle adapted to retain the heel of the stocking at a definite distance from the, toe-extremity.

2. A stocking-formhavinga flat, and comparatively wide and thin body-member, adapted to stretch both the foot and the leg of a stocking and shaped at one end to approximately the outline or horizontal contour of the foot, and'a heel-filler projecting from the lower surface of the bodymember and of increasing depth toward its rear extremity, where'it terminates in a pronounced angle, said heel-filler being adjustable toward and from the toe-extremity of the body-member to adjust the form for stockings having feet of different lengths.

ALBERT B. EASTWOOD.

\Vitnesses: V

D. GURNEE', ELLA M. WALKER.

for stockings of a given

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