Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The pre~en-t inven-tion r~late3 tn an lntrgra] ~ir of
tight~ or a brief of the tight panty type, and to a m~thod of
making such a pair of tights. In the following description
all the~e articles will often be designated by the term "lower
body garment~" for the 3ake of simplicity.
In more preci~e terms, the invention relate~ to tights
manufactured on a circular knitting machine by formation of a
tubular article beginning with a leg followed by the pantie~
and finishing with the other leg. ~he opening of -the belt9 the
position of which i9 raised by mean~ of an extension if formed
laterally by intermediate operations carried out in partial rows
between the knitting of two halves of the panties~ the upper
portion of which has a greater number of rows than the lower
portion which forms the crutch.
The aim of the invention is to manufacture a pair of
tight~ of thi~ type in such a manner a~ to en~ure that the ar-
ticle falls from the knitting machine in the completely finished
~tate. `
According to the present invention, there is provided
an integral pair of tights or a bxief of the tight panty type
including a pair of leg~ ~oined by a panty9 the panty having a
lower crotch portion and an upper hip portion each formed of two
half portions, an e~tension part e~tending upwardly from the
upper end of the panty and also formed of two half portions, and
a belt formed of two half portions each attached to the upper
end of a different one o~ said half portion~ of said extension
part.
According to the pre~ent invention there i~ also provided
a method of knitting an integral pair of tight~ or a brief of
the tight panty type on a circular knitting machine including a
needle cylinder, the pair of tights or the bxief including a pair
of legR joined by a panty, the panty having a lower crotch portion
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and an upper hip portion eac~ folloc~d of two half portionl, an
e~ten~ion part extending upwardly ~rom the upper end of the
panty and al~o formed of two half portions, and a belt formed
of two half portions each attached to the upper end of a dif-
ferent one of the half portions of the extension part, -the
method comprising the following steps performed in a continuous
~equence a~ follows: circular knit1;ing one leg from the lower
end to the upper end thereof, circular knitting a fir~t half
portion of the lower crotch portion with tuck stitches simulta-
neously with a first half portion of the upper hip portion inconventional stitche~ from the upper end of the one leg, putting
out of action the needles employed in knit.ting the first half
portion of the lower crotch portion when the center of the panty
i9 reached, reciprocatory knitting a fir~t half portion of the
extension in semi-cylindrical shape in partial rows with a de-
crease of one stitch in predetermined row~ and knitting the
first half portion upwardly from the upper end of the first half
portion of the upper hip portion, reciprocatory knltting ~ ~irst
half portion of the belt on the upper end of the first half
portion of the exten~ion in partial rows corresponding to the
partial row~ in the first hal~ portion of the exten3ion and uslng
the same needle~ as used in knitting the first half portion of
the extenæion, employing elastomer yarn for at least a par-t of
the yarn forming the fir~t half portion of the belt, knitting
a stopping border of stitches on the upper end of the first half
.. portion of the belt, releasing most of the stitches used in knitting
the first half portion of the belt for forming an opening to the
pair of tights or brief,-reactivating the needles from which the
stitches have been relea~ed in knitting the first half portion
o~ the belt and reciprocatory knitting a lo¢king border for com-
mencing the second half portion of the belt, completing the knit-
ting of the belt by knittin~ the second half portion of the belt
: and automatically at~
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-taching the second half por-tion ol` the belt to -th~ first half
poxtion thereof and employing elastomer yarn for a-t least parl;
of the yarn for~ing the ~econd half portion o~ the belt and
effec~ing the knitting in partial reciprocating rows using the
same needles as used in knitting the ~ir~t half portion o~ the
belt, reciprocatory knitting the second half portion of the ex-
tension in partial rows downwardly f~om the second half por~
tion of the belt using the same needles a3 used for the second
half portion of the belt and increasing by one stitch in prede-
termined rows corresponding to the row~ knitted wi-th a decrease
of one ~titch in the irst half portion of the e~ten~i~n, reac-
- ti~ating the needles employed in knitting the first half portion
of the crotch portion, circular knitting the second half portion
of the lower crotch portion with tuck-~-titches ~imultaneously
with the second half portion of the upper hip portion in con-
ventional stitches in the reverse manner utilized for knittlng
the first half portion of the lower crotch portion and the first
half portion of the upper hip portion and u~ing the same needles,
and cixcular knitting the other leg downwardly from the lower
ends of the second half portion of the lower crotch portion and
of the second half portion of the upper hip portion.
A preferred e~bodiment of the invention will now be
described havi~g reference the accompanying drawings in which the
~- single figure illustrate~ an integral pair of tights provided
with a raised extension of the belt in accordance with the invention.
The integral tight~ ~hown in the drawing are formed
by mean~ of two leg~ 1, 2 ~oined togethe~ by a pair of pantie~
3, the lower portion 4 of which is intended to form the crutoh
and i~ ~urther provided with a ~maller number of rows than its
~- 30 upper portion 5; the pair of pantie~ 3 is provided with a belt
13, the position of whi¢h i9 rai~ed by mean~ of an extension 11.
The entire pair of tights is obtained by knitting a
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tubular article beginning with thl~ ~eg 1 and en~in~ ~,ritl~ e
leg 2, the opening 7 of the belt 13 as well as the exten~,ion 11
being formed by mean~ of i~-termediate operations carrie~ out on
the portion 5 of the pair of panties 3.
The initial operation accordingly consists in knitting
the leg 1 either with an open or closed tip in accordance with
any suitable and conYentional technique. The first portion o~
the pair of panties 3, namely -the half shown on the left-hand
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side in the drawing, is then knitted by forming a bottom portion
4A which is rendered opaque by means of loaded stitches. The
upper portion 5A of the pair of panties contains a larger number
of rows than the portion 4~ of the crutch. In the opacified bottom
portion, it proves advantageous to add a reinforcing thread of
cotton or any other material which has an absorbent or decorative
effect such as, for example, a yarn having two components which
- take the dye in a different manner, such as nylon-rilsan or nylon-
polyester.
In order to form the opacified botton portion, it is
possible for example to employ 50 to lO0 needles and the knitting
operation is carried out in continuous circular motion. Each
needle can be threaded from 5 to 14 times, for example, before
the drawing-off. The other needles are fed normally and knit
in uniform stitches or form a pattern as desired. A different
material can also be employed for this portion of the tights.
In order to form the extension 11, a first half llA
- of said extension will first be knitted; the other half llB will
be knitted after formation of the belt 13 as will be explained
hereinafter.
For the purpose of forming the half portion 11~ of
the extension, the needles for forming the bottom portion 4 of
; the panties 3 are put out of action when reaching the centre of
the panties ; the first half-extension llA-of semi-cylindrical
shape is therefore }cnitted in alternating motion and in partial
rows with decreases of one stitch in some rows only. The number
of needles rcquired for forming the extension can be greater than
the number of needles for forming the bottom portion of the
; panties ; this depends on the size of the tights to be knitted.
Furthermore, it would in any case not be impossible
to knit said half-extension in continuous circular motion but it
wo~lld in that case be necèssary to feed the needles through the
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centre of the machine.
A first corresponding lateral haLf 13A of the belt 13
is knitted ei-ther entirely or partly in elastomer yarn and a
stopping border of stitches is formed on the end portion of said
first half-belt. Said stopping border can be constituted by
several rows of stitches, for example 10, 20 or 30 rows as may be
re~uired.
Most of the stitches corresponding to the knitting of
the first half-belt are released in order to form the opening 7
of the article and a locking border which is also constituted by
several rows of stitches (10, 20 or 30 rows, for example) is
knitted with the needles which have thus been fxeed. As mentioned
in the foregoing, this border is optional.
Using the same needles as those employed for the first
half-belt 13A, the second half-belt 13B is also knitted in partial
rows and either wholly or partly of elastomer yarn. It is also
worthy of note that it is also possible to raise the double belt
by knitting a plain stitch beneath this latter. This can of
course also be performed in intermedia~e operations. ~;-
The belt is essentially knitted in elastic material,
that is, natural or synthetic rubber. These materials are
preferably employed in a mixture with a textured polyamide yarn.
The same needles are employed to knit the second half-extension
llB with increases of one stitch in the rows corresponding to the
rows formed with a decrease of one stitch in the manufacture ;
of the first half-éxtension llA. It can thus be mentioned by
way of cxamplc -that, in the formation of the first half-oxtcnsion
llA with stages of decrease during four rows, one needle retains
its stitch a each end of the extension and then, during two rows, -
a needle loses its stitch at each end of the extension. Losses of
needles result in the presence of holes in the extension. In
order to form the second half-extension llB, the same cycle is
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resumed by restoring the needles which have reserved four rows,
thus falling back into the same holes in two rows.
Knitting of the second half portion 4B, 5B of the
panties 3 is finally carried out under the same conditions as in
the formation of the first half portion 4A, SA but in the reverse
order and the operation is completed with the other leg 2 and its
- tip 10.
It is readily apparent that the invention is not limited
to the mode of operation described in the foregoing and that,
depending on the applications which are contemplated, modifica-
tions or alternative forms can accordingly be devised without
thereby departing either from the scope or the spirit of the
invention.
