Method of making boots from knitted tubular stock

2,467,237

R. E. SHERMAN ET AL

METHOD OF MAKING BOOTS FROM

KNITTED TUBULAR STOCK

Filed March 18, 1946

April 12, 1949.

<img file="US2467237A_D0001.tif" />

Patented Apr. 12, 1949

2,467,237

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE

2,467,237

METHOD OF MAKING BOOTS FROM KNITTED TUBULAR STOCK

Roy E. Sherman and Ludwig P. Hanson, Mishawaka, Ind., assignors to Mishawaka Rubber and Woolen Manufacturing Company, Mishawaka, Ind., a corporation of Indiana

Application March 18, 1946, Serial No. 655,144

Claims.

Our invention relates to boots and a method of making same, and has reference more particularly to a construction and method wherein the boot is made from an initially straight tubular section.

Boots of the character to which this invention relates are usually made of knitted material, a blank therefor being knitted in substantially the shape of the boot but in a very large size, somewhat like a large knitted sock, and then fulled and shrunk to the required boot size, thus compacting the material into a thickened, dense felt-like mass, after which the sole, heel, fastenings, and reinforcings are applied to form the completed boot.

The making of such blanks is relatively slow, however, because of the sock shape or boot form in which each blank is knitted, and moreover, quite complicated knitting machines are required to knit the blanks in the boot form with the foot portion knitted at an angle to the leg portion and closed at the toe.

The principal objects of our invention are to simplify and facilitate the making of knitted wool boots; to utilize straight tubular stock for making the blanks from which the boots are made: and to produce a knitted wool boot more economically than heretofore and which is as serviceable as those heretofore produced, these and other objects being accomplished as more fully pointed out hereinafter and as shown in the accompanying drawing in which,

Fig. 1 is a side view of the blank employed for making the boot and showing fragmentarily in dotted lines a length of stock from which the blank is cut;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the open end of the boot blank;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the adjustable form on which the blank, after fulling and shrinking, is shaped into the boot form, the form being shown in the straightened out position and the blank being shown in dotted lines thereon;

Fig. 4 is a similar view of the form adjusted to the boot shape and showing the foot formed blank thereon in dotted lines, and

Fig. 5 is a side view of the completed boot.

In making a boot in accordance with the present invention, no sock shaped blank is required, but. instead the material from which the boot is (Cl. 12—142) to be made is knitted in continuous straight tubular form, a fragmentary portion of the length thereof being represented in Fig. 1 by the full line portion 10 and the dotted line extensions 11 5 thereof, a coarse wool yarn being employed and the material knitted in sufficiently large tubular form so that blanks cut therefrom, when fulled and shrunk, as hereinafter explained, will be of the proper size for the boot that is to be 10 made therefrom.

Thereafter the knitted tube is cut into suitable lengths for making the boots, such as the length between the lines 12 and 13, and then each length is stitched around one end, as in16 dicated at 14 in suitable shape to form the toe of the finished boot and the surplus material trimmed off beyond the stitching along the line 15, which latter trimming operation may be performed simultaneously with the stitching by a 20 suitable trimming device attached to and operable conjointly with the stitching machine as is well known in the art.

Preferably the stitching extends along the sides of the tube substantially beyond the ends 16 25 of the trimmed edge 15, as indicated at 17, so as to avoid any possibility of breaking open of the stitching at these ends in the subsequent manufacturing operations or in the use of the boot, and thus a secure connection is assured and 30 the seam portion is so completely incorporated in the structure in the subsequent operations that it substantially disappears and becomes invisible.

After the blank 10 has been prepared as above described, the blank is turned inside out so that 35 the edge of the seam is at the inside and then the blank is fulled and shrunk to the size required for the boot.

This fulling and shrinking is performed by filling a wooden tub containing dilute sulphuric 40 acid with these blanks 10, all turned inside out as aforesaid, and beating them in this sulphuric acid bath, this being an operation that is well known in the art and the same operation that has been employed for fulling and shrinking the sock 45 shaped blanks which were previously employed in making felt boots of this character.

In this fulling and shrinking operation, the blank 10 is greatly shrunk in size and the knitted wall thereof compacted to such density that the 50 appearance thereof is changed to that of a dense2,467,237 ly compacted felt of appreciably greater thickness than the original knitted material.

After this fulling and shrinking operation, the blank is then steamed so that the fibres are pliable, and after steaming it is placed on a form on which it is stretched and shaped in the boot shape.

This form, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, is of a semicollapsible type which may be adjusted to an elongated form as shown in Fig·. 3 to facilitate application of the straight shrunken blank 10 thereon, after which it is adjusted to the foot shape form of Fig. 4 to stretch and shape the blank as required for the boot.

Thus, this form is made with front and rear leg portions 18 and 19 respectively, properly shaped or rounded to correspond substantially to the front and rear of the leg and connected by spaced links 28 and 21 so that they are relatively movable longitudinally, and the link 2 i, which is pivoted to the front leg portion 18 approximately at the instep bend, has attached thereto an extension 22 of instep and toe form with a rearwardly extending part 23, which in the normal Fig. 4 position of the form, projects toward the lower end of the rear leg portion 19 which is shaped at its lower end as at 24 to correspond to the required heel shape, the heel portion 24 being arranged to cooperate with the extension 23 of the instep and toe portion 22 to form the bottom or sole portion of the boot.

Thus, by relative adjustment of the two leg portions (8 and 19, the instep and toe portion 22 may be adjusted to project upwardly as shown in Fig. 3 to facilitate application thereon of the shrunken and steamed blank 19 which is then pulled down thereon as indicated by the dotted lines at 10 in Fig. 3, it being desirable in this operation of applying the blank 10 to arrange the blank thereon so that the seam produced by the stitching 14 extends transversely across the toe of the form so that in the finished boot it will lie in a plane substantially parallel with the bottom of the boot.

After the steamed and shrunken blank 10 has been applied on the collapsed form of Fig. 3, the form is then adjusted to the normal foot shape of Fig. 4, this being preferably accomplished by a machine which engages the outer ends of the leg portions 18 and 19 and relatively adjusts same so as to force the angle and toe portion 22 of the form to the 90 degree position of Fig. 4, and thereby stretch and shape the blank to the required boot shape as indicated by dotted lines at 19 in Fig. 4.

After the blank is dried and set on the Fig. 4 form in the required boot shape, it is removed from the form and the counter strip 25 and counter 26 secured thereon, also the sole 27 and heel 28, and it is slitted down the front and provided with the usual closing means, such as eyelets 29 and lace 39, all in the same manner as in previous felt boots of this type.

In the shaping of the steamed blank 10 on the form of Figs. 3 and 4, there is some thinning out of the material around the heel area because of the stretching thereof to the heel shape, but this thinning out is of no consequence because the material is covered and amply reinforced at these places by the counter strip 25 and counter 26 and also the heel portion of the sole 27.

While we have shown and described our invention in a preferred form, we are aware that modifications can be made therein without departing from. the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is to be determined by the appended claims.