Method for producing tubular components for manufacturing hosiery or other clothing items with a shaping effect

The present invention relates to a method for producing tubular components for manufacturing hosiery or other items of clothing with a shaping effect by using circular knitting or hosiery-making machines, and to a tubular component obtained with said method, and items manufactured therefrom.

In recent years there has been an increasing demand, particularly on the part of women, for items of clothing having a shaping effect, i.e., which perform a supporting action in certain regions of the body, correcting and improving the aesthetics of the figure.

In the field of hosiery, particularly of the pantyhose type, hosiery items are commercially available which have regions, such as for example the region at the hips, the region directly below the buttocks, and the front region of the abdomen, knitted with reinforced or prestretched elastic threads, so as to effectively support these parts of the body, which are subject more than others to unaesthetic accumulations of fat.

However, the mere supporting effect of these items of clothing, by consisting merely of a compression of the underlying body tissues, is not able to achieve considerable shaping, since the tissues compressed in one region tend to expand in the neighboring regions at random, giving the figure a deformed appearance if the part of the item of clothing that is reinforced or knitted with prestretched elastic threads is limited to a single region of the circumferential extension of said item of clothing.

If instead the portion that is reinforced or knitted with elastic thread runs fully around the figure of the user, upon prolonged use the user is subject to discomfort caused mainly by the compression to which the body tissues are subjected, hindering normal blood circulation.

US-A-3 553 981 discloses an article of clothing, particularly in the form of a girdle, which includes a tubular body portion of generally conventional stretch fabric construction with relatively loosely knit form-fitting pockets of specialized stretch fabric construction integrally formed at predetermined locations in the body portion. Each of the body portion and form fitting pockets comprises a plurality of first alternating courses of non-stretchable textile yarn interknit with second alternating courses of combined non-stretchable textile yarn and stretch yarn. The fabric construction of the form fitting pockets differs from the fabric construction of the body portion in that the length of the stitches of textile yarn utilized in both the first and second alternating courses of the form fitting pockets is significantly greater than the corresponding textile yarn lengths utilized in the body portion. The respective stitch lengths of the stretch yarn utilized in both the first and second alternating courses do not differ in both the body portion construction and the form fitting pockets construction. The greater extent to which the fabric construction of the form fitting pockets can stretch, as compared with the extent to which the fabric construction of the body portion can strecht, will result in the exertion of substantially less of a flatting effect on the shape of the body portions of the wearer with which the former fabric construction is in contact.

US-A-3 566 624 discloses a panty hose garment having a loosened crotch stitch area with stitches having a length approximately twice the length of the stitches in the courses outside the loosened stitch area, thereby to relieve strain concentration at a seam of the garment adjacent the loosened crotch stitch area.

DE-A-26 11 981 discloses slacks composed of a pair of mutually connected tubular knitted fabrics. The fabric density in areas of the slacks, such as the seat part, to be stretched on molds according to the desired shape of the slacks is lower than the fabric density of those parts, such as the knee parts, of the slacks where no substantial extension by molding takes place.

A principal aim of the present invention is to provide a method that allows to produce components for manufacturing hosiery or other items of clothing that have a considerable shaping effect on the figure of the user.

Within the scope of this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a method that allows to produce components for manufacturing hosiery or other items of clothing in which the shaping effect is achieved without causing discomfort to the user.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method that can be performed with conventional circular knitting or hosiery-making machines.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided a method for producing tubular components, a tubular component, and a hosiery item including a tubular component, as defined in the appended claims.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the method according to the invention, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>figure 1 is a schematic view of a hosiery item of the pantyhose type, taken from the rear side and formed by joining two tubular components produced with the method according to the invention;</li><li>figure 2 is an enlarged-scale view of a detail of the portion A of figure 1;</li><li>figure 3 is an enlarged-scale view of a detail of the portion B of figure 1;</li><li>figure 4 is an enlarged-scale view of a detail of the portion C of figure 1;</li><li>figure 5 is an enlarged-scale view of a detail of the portion D of figure 1;</li><li>figure 6 is an enlarged-scale view of the portion E of figure 1;</li><li>figure 7 is a view of the shaping effect obtained with the pantyhose shown in figure 1.</li></ul>

With reference to the above figures, the method for producing tubular components on a circular knitting or hosiery-making machine according to the invention consists in producing, during the production of a tubular component 1, given portions of rows of knitting, for some rows, with a greater loop length than the preceding rows, the subsequent rows, and the remaining portions of said rows, so as to form at least one lateral pouch 2 along the extension of the tubular component.

More particularly, the method according to the invention consists in producing a tubular component 1, in a per se known manner, by providing, in given regions of the component, portions of rows in which the loops are longer. The increased length of the loops in the region that provides the lateral pouch 2 at the end of the production of the tubular component can be achieved by acting on the lowering cams of the circular knitting or hosiery-making machine by means of devices for adjusting the length of the loops, i.e., the tightness of the knitting being formed, for example by means of a device known from EP-A-0 185 226. This patent discloses a device that allows to vary as required the length of the loops of knitting being formed by moving the lowering cam related to a feed of the machine parallel to the axis of the needle cylinder. In performing the method according to the invention, this increase in the length of the loops, during the formation of a row of knitting, is limited to a portion of the row being formed.

The number of loops along a same row affected by the increase in length can vary according to requirements, so as to obtain larger or smaller lateral pouches 2, along the circumferential extension of the rows, according to the requirements.

Preferably, during the formation of the lateral pouch 2 the length of the loops of knitting at the lateral pouch 2, i.e., at the row portions that form said pouch 2, is increased gradually row by row at the beginning of the knitting of the pouch 2, which corresponds to the region 3 in figure 1, to blend the pouch 2 with the previously formed part 4 of the tubular component 1.

In the same manner, during the formation of the final part of the pouch 2, which corresponds to the region 5 in figure 1, the length of the loops of knitting, in the row portions that form the pouch 2, is decreased gradually, row by row, to blend the pouch 2 with the part 6 of the component to be formed after knitting the pouch 2.

During the formation of the part 7 of the component, which is arranged between the parts 3 and 5, the row portions that form the pouch 2 are knitted with loops the length whereof is increased but constant row by row.

In accordance with the invention as shown in particular in figures 2 to 5, during the formation of the pouch 2, row portions 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d are formed which are alternated, row by row, with row portions 9a, 9b, 9c, 9d having shorter or longer loops. In practice, during the formation of the pouch 2, during the formation of a row, a portion of said row is formed with longer loops than the remaining part of said row; during the formation of the very next row, once again a row portion is formed wherein the loops are longer than in the remaining part of the same row, at the longer loops of the previously formed row, but are shorter than the longer loops of the previous row; the following row is formed, at the portion with longer loops, so as to have loops that are longer than the other loops of the same row but longer than the longer loops of the previously formed row, and so forth. In practice, by analyzing the tubular component exclusively with reference to the pouch 2, there are row portions 9a-9d with shorter loops alternated with row portions with longer loops 8a-8d. These shorter loops, too, are in any case longer than the remaining part of the corresponding row, in order to cooperate with the loops of the other rows in forming the lateral pouch 2.

In forming the pouch 2, the row portions 9a-9d formed by shorter loops, which as mentioned are alternated with row portions 8a-8d having longer loops, are produced with a thread having a greater elasticity than the thread used to produce the row portions 8a-8d formed by longer loops, with which they alternate. In this manner, a controlled supporting effect is obtained at the pouch 2 owing to the fact that the shorter loops, being made of a more elastic thread, can adapt, during the use of the tubular component 1, to the greater length of the loops produced with a more rigid thread.

Furthermore, during the formation of the pouch 2, the row portions that form the pouch 2 are reinforced with an additional thread 10, which is shown only in figure 6 for the sake of simplicity. In this manner, control over the outward elastic deformability of the pouch 2 is achieved and the reduction in thickness and color of the hosiery item at the pouch 2, caused by the greater length of the loops that form it, is compensated.

Advantageously, the row portions and/or the rows that are contiguous to the pouch 2, which correspond to the regions 4, 6 and 11, 12 shown in figure 1, are produced with stretched and/or reinforced threads, in a per se known manner, in order to increase the supporting effect of the tubular component 1.

The supporting effect of the tubular component 1 in the regions close to the pouch 2 can also be achieved by knitting with held stitches in said regions.

The tubular component can be used directly to produce items of clothing such as hosiery, body stockings, or other underwear, or can be used, in a per se known manner, together with another tubular component 1, after cutting and sewing, with the optional insertion of a gusset 13 in the connecting region to form pantyhose-type hosiery, as shown in particular in figure 1.

In practice, the tubular component obtained with the method according to the invention has at least one lateral pouch 2 having the purpose of supporting and shaping the parts of the body that are subjected to a supporting action in regions of the component, such as for example the regions 4, 6, 11, and 12, that are close to the lateral pouch 2. In this manner it is possible, by means of a tubular component produced with the method according to the invention, to achieve a considerable shaping effect as a consequence of the combination of the supporting action applied by the portions 4, 6, 11, and 12 proximate to the lateral pouch 2 and of the controlled expansion allowed by said pouch 2.

Thus, for example, in the case of the production of pantyhose-type hosiery (see figure 1) it is possible to have a supporting effect in the region 6 directly below the buttocks and in the region 11 on the hips, which directs the parts of the body that are in excess in said regions towards the buttock region, whereat the pouches 2 are provided, with the effect of uplifting the buttocks that is particularly appreciated by users of these items of clothing.

Of course it is possible to provide one or more pouches 2 along the extension of the component in preset regions, according to the requirements, so as to obtain various kinds of shaping of the user's figure and also to have supporting actions alternated with less supporting regions, for example for the production of sports or sanitary-type hosiery.

In practice it has been observed that the method according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim, since it allows to provide tubular components, on circular knitting or hosiery-making machines, which can be used to produce hosiery, or other items of clothing, with a particularly conspicuous shaping effect.

It should be noted that the tubular component obtained with the method according to the invention does not cause discomfort to the user owing to the fact that it does not simply provide a supporting effect but provides a supporting effect in certain regions, shifting the excess part of the body to a region that is proximate to the compressed region and wherein the body parts can expand or at least be less compressed.

Although the method according to the invention has been conceived in particular for the production of tubular components meant to manufacture hosiery, it can nonetheless be used to produce tubular components meant for the manufacture of other items of clothing, such as for example body stockings, underpants, or the like, according to production requirements.

The method thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the inventive concept defined by the appended claims: all the details may furthermore be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.