US2583748A - Stocking construction - Google Patents

Description

1952 s. REINSTEIN STOCKING CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 4, 1950 INVENTOR SOL REMSTEIH ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 29, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,583,748v

STOCKING CONSTRUCTION Sol Reinstein, Philadel hia Pa. Application February 4, 1950; Serial No. 142,371

5 Claims. I

This invention relates generally to womens hosiery and more particularly to a new and use- 'ful improvement in the construction of full fashioned hosiery and such seamless hosieryas is provided with a. rear leg seam in simulation of that which characterizes full-fashioned hosiery.

Women wearing either full-fashioned hosiery or circular knit hosiery with mock leg seams have lon experienced difiiculty. in centering the seams lengthwise along the rear of the legs. Although the unsightly appearance of an improperly placed stocking seam is distasteful and embarrassing to fastidious women, it is difilcult and often impossible to. maintain the seam properly centered due to the absence of any readily observable indication that the stocking is improperly fitted on the leg. Even though the stocking may be applied originally with care to properly aline the scam, the variable pull upon the stocking welt of the conventionally employed hosiery supporters and even the flexing of the leg muscles during wear of the stockings soon causes disarrangement of the stocking leg seams, often without any knowledge thereof by the wearer.

Having in mind the foregoing, it is among the objects of the present invention to provide worn ens hosiery with indicia upon the front of the stocking leg which is readily discernable by the wearer of the stocking to indicate the condition of the leg seam, such indicia bein however of such inconspicuous character as to be observable onlyby the wearer of the stocking and then only by such wearer looking downwardly along the front of her leg.

A further object of the present invention is to provide in a conventionally seamed stocking such seam-straightening marking means ast-will not mar the appearance of the stocking and which may be incorporated in the stocking with out increasin its cost of manufacture.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully hereinafter, it being understood that the present invention consists in the combination, construction, locaall) 2 cable, sal'd stocking being characterized by the provision of a longitudinally extending rear seam, such as the normal seam of full-fashioned hosiery or the mock seam of circular knit seam-l less hosiery;

Figure 2 is a perspective of the stockingthe leg of which is frontally provided with longitudinally' spaced seam-straightening indicia in accordance with the principles of the present invention; and

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are greatly enlarged fragmentaryviews of the knitted fabric of the stock ing illustrating several different forms of stitches which may be employed to produce the seamstraightening indicia of the present invention.

As has been previously indicated, the present invention is applicable to all wome-ns hosiery wherein the leg portion is plain knit in the form of a flat fabric (full-fashioned) adapted to have its opposite edges united to form a longitudinally extending rear seam or in the form of a circular knit fabric (seamless) having a mock seam formed alon its rear in simulation of the full fashioned seam. Figure l is illustrative of such conventionally knit hosiery, the le portion l0 thereof being provided with the usual welt l l' and with a longitudinally extending rear seam l2, either full-fashioned or simulated.

In accordance with the present invention, the leg portion ill of the stocking is frontally provided with a series of vertically spaced minute indicia [3 arranged along a vertical line in diametric opposition to and paralleling the longitudinally extendin front seam. These indicia may" be incorporated in the knitted web ofthe stocking leg portion in the form of vertically spaced single tuck stitches I4 of the kind illustrated in Figure 3, or vertically spaced single picots or laterally transferred needle-formed loops or stitches, l5 of the kind illustrated in Figure 4, or vertically spaced single laterally transferred sinker wale loops 16 as shown in Figure 5. In lieu of the foregoing, any other special individual stitches or loops different from the plain knitted loops of the le fabric may be incorporated therein at vertically spaced points along a single wale fronting the rear seam, the vertical spacing of such marking stitches or loops I3 being about two to three inches apart along a line extending approximately from the knee to the instep regions of the stocking.

Where the stocking is knitted of synthetic yarn havin thermo-setting characteristics, such as nylon, the indicia marks l3 may be not only in the form of special stitches or loops as above described, but also may be formed by enlarging or stretching selected stitches of the leg fabric through the use of a suitably pointed die which, wheninserted into a given loop of the knitted fabric while the same is subjected to heat, imparts to the loop a set configuration which is distinguishable from the surrounding knitted loops of the fabric. By varying the cross-sectional shape of the fabric-penetrating end of the die, a correspondingly shaped opening may be provided in the fabric at each of the predeterminedly selected points I 3.

The character of these seam-straightening marks I3 is such that while they are individually inconspicuous and not discernable when the stocking is viewed on the leg by a person other than the wearer thereof, to the wearer of the stocking the several marks, when viewed lengthwise of the stocking from the knee toward the instep regions thereof, become readily discernable and provide a clear and definite indication as to the condition of the leg seam. Obviously, so long as the guide marks 13 are alined along a line of sight extending centrally down the front of the leg, the leg seam 12 will be correspondingly centered along the back of the leg. Should any of the guide marks be laterally displaced from the hosiery wearer's line of sight, there would be indicated a corresponding displacement of the rear seam, which could be immediately corrected by the simple expedient of shifting the stocking on the leg to properly aline the displaced guide marks, all without necessitating any eifort on the part of the wearer of the stocking to directly view the rear seam.

It will be understood that the present invention is susceptible of various changes and modifications which may be made from time to time without departing from the general principles or real spirit thereof, and it is accordingly intended to claim the invention broadly, as well as specifically, as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed as new and useful is:

1. In a stocking having a plain knitted leg portion of regular stitches provided with a seam extending longitudinally along the rear thereof, indicia for indicating the condition of the seam along the leg of the wearer of the stocking,-said indicia being in the form of barelydiscernible marks arranged in vertically spaced relation along a frontal line of the stocking extending walewise of the stocking and in diametrically opposed relation to the rear seam thereof.

. 2. In a stocking having a plain knitted leg portion of regular stitches provided with a leg seam extending longitudinally along the rear thereof, means for facilitating straightening of the seam lengthwise along the leg of the wearer of the stocking comprising a series of barely discernable special stitches distinguishable from the regular stitches of the plain knitted fabric of the leg portion of the stocking, said special stitches being disposed at selected points spaced longitudinally along a frontal wale of said fabric located in diametrically opposed relation to the rear seam of the stocking.

3. In a knitted stocking as defined in claim 2 wherein said special stitches are in the form of tuck stitches.

4. In a knitted stocking as defined in claim 2 wherein said special stitches are in the form of picot stitches formed by laterally transferred loops.

5. In a stocking knitted of a synthetic yarn having thermosetting properties, said stocking having a plain knitted leg portion of regular stitches provided with a seam extending along the rear thereof; a series of enlarged loops formed in Wale-wise spaced courses of the knitted stocking fabric at selected points alined along a line substantially diametrically opposed to the stocking seam and disposed substantially in the vertical median plane of the stocking, said loops being set under heat and pressure to provide openings in the fabric constituting seam-straightening indicia which are most readily discernible only when viewed Wale-wise of the stocking.

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

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 976,555 Costello Nov. 22, 1910 1,431,643 Fisher Oct. 10, 1922 1,721,390 Hadfield July 16, 1929 2,278,277 Mendelsohn Mar. 31, 1942 2,338,375 Donner Jan. 4, 1944 2,338,648 Sheppard Nov. 6, 1945 2,424,124 Seemuller July 15, 1947 2,469,961 Gottschalk May 10, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 350,638 Italy July 19, 1937 408,143 Great Britain Apr. 5, 1934 455,979 Great Britain Oct.,30, 1936

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