METHOD FOR PROVIDING SEMI-FINISHED TUBULAR MANUFACTURED ARTICLES TO BE CLOSED BY STITCHING AT AN AXIAL END THEREOF FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SOCKS, AND SEMI-FINISHED TUBULAR MANUFACTURED ARTICLE OBTAINED WITH THE METHOD

Abstract

A method for providing semi-finished tubular manufactured articles to be closed by stitching at an axial end thereof for the production of socks, comprising a step of providing the body of the tubular manufactured article and a step of providing an end portion of the tubular manufactured article which comprises: —a step of providing an intermediate band connected to the body of the manufactured article and thinner than the thickness at least of the rows of knitting of the body of the manufactured article which are connected to the intermediate band; —a step of providing an end edge thicker than the thickness of the intermediate band; the height of the intermediate band, proximate to the regions that constitute the lateral ends of the two flaps of the end portion to be overlapped in order to stitch the axial end to be closed of the tubular manufactured article, is lower than the height of the remaining part of the intermediate band.

Claims

1-9. (canceled)

10. A method for providing semi-finished tubular manufactured articles to be closed by stitching at an axial end thereof for the production of socks, which comprises a step of providing the body of a tubular manufactured article and a step of providing an end portion of the tubular manufactured article which is intended to be removed during a subsequent stitching operation in order to close an axial end of the tubular manufactured article, said step of providing the end portion comprising: a step of providing an intermediate band connected to said body of the manufactured article and thinner than a thickness at least of rows of knitting of the body of the manufactured article which are connected to said intermediate band; a step of providing an end edge thicker than the thickness of said intermediate band; wherein a height of said intermediate band, proximate to regions that constitute lateral ends of two flaps of said end portion to be overlapped in order to stitch the axial end to be closed of the tubular manufactured article, is lower than a height of a remaining part of said intermediate band.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein said intermediate band is produced by providing some rows of knitting in succession; loops of knitting of at least part of said rows of knitting of the intermediate band, proximate to the regions constituting the lateral ends of the two flaps of said end portion to be overlapped laterally in order to stitch the axial end to be closed of the tubular manufactured article, being shorter than a length of loops of knitting of the same rows of knitting in the remaining part of said intermediate band.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said intermediate band is made of an elastically extensible thread.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein said intermediate band is made of a thread that has a smaller diameter than a diameter of the thread or of the group of threads used to provide the rows of knitting of the body of the manufactured article which are connected to said intermediate band.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein the provision of the tubular manufactured article is begun from the axial end of the tubular manufactured article that is opposite with respect to the axial end to be closed by stitching.

15. A semi-finished tubular manufactured article for the production of socks, which comprises a body of the manufactured article and an end portion of the tubular manufactured article which is connected to an axial end of said body of the manufactured article and is intended to be removed during a subsequent stitching operation in order to close an axial end of the tubular manufactured article, said end portion comprising: an intermediate band connected to said body of the manufactured article and thinner than a thickness at least of rows of knitting of body of the manufactured article which are connected to said intermediate band; an end edge thicker than a thickness of said intermediate band; wherein a height of said intermediate band, proximate to regions that constitute lateral ends of two flaps of said end portion to be overlapped in order to stitch the axial end to be closed of the tubular manufactured article, is lower than the height of the remaining part of said intermediate band.

16. The semi-finished tubular manufactured article according to claim 15, wherein said intermediate band is composed of a succession of some rows of knitting; the loops of knitting of at least part of said rows of knitting of the intermediate band, proximate to the regions constituting the lateral ends of the two flaps of said end portion to be overlapped in order to stitch the axial end to be closed of the tubular manufactured article, being shorter than the length of the loops of knitting of the same rows of knitting in the remaining part of said intermediate band.

17. The semi-finished tubular manufactured article according to claim 15, wherein said intermediate band is made of an elastically extensible thread.

18. The semi-finished tubular manufactured article according to claim 15, wherein said intermediate band is made of a thread that has a smaller diameter than a diameter of the thread or of the group of threads of the rows of knitting of the body of the manufactured article which are connected to said intermediate band.

Description

[0019] Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the method according to the invention, which is illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0020] FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a portion of a semi-finished tubular manufactured article at an axial end thereof that is intended to be engaged with a feeding guide of a sewing machine for executing the closing of such axial end of the semi-finished tubular manufactured article;

[0021] FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a feeding guide of a sewing machine for executing the closing of one axial end of semi-finished tubular manufactured articles with a semi-finished tubular manufactured article, produced by way of the method according to the invention, inserted between the two blades of the feeding guide;

[0022] FIGS. 3 and 4 are schematic cross-sectional views, taken along a central plane passing between the two blades of the feeding guide shown in FIG. 2, of the advancement along the feeding guide of the semi-finished tubular manufactured article obtained with the method according to the invention;

[0023] FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a portion, enlarged and laid flat, of the semi-finished tubular manufactured article obtained with the method according to the invention, proximate to its end portion intended to be engaged with the feeding guide of the sewing machine;

[0024] FIG. 6 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 5;

[0025] FIG. 7 is a view of one of the two flaps of the end portion of the tubular manufactured article which are mutually paired and flattened prior to being inserted into the feeding guide in FIG. 2;

[0026] FIG. 8 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 7;

[0027] FIG. 9 is another enlarged detail of FIG. 7.

[0028] With reference to the figures, the semi-finished tubular manufactured article which is obtained with the method according to the invention is generally designated by the reference numeral 1.

[0029] FIGS. 2 to 4 show the feeding guide 2 of a conventional sewing machine which comprises two blades 3a, 3b arranged mutually side by side on a substantially horizontal plane so that, between them, a passage 4 is defined in which the semi-finished tubular manufactured article 1 to be subjected to stitching is inserted.

[0030] On each of the mutually facing sides of the blades 3a, 3b, which laterally delimit the passage 4, there is a plate 5 which extends, with one of its inclined portions, from the upper face to the lower face of the corresponding blade.

[0031] Above the two blades 3a, 3b and below the two blades 3a, 3b there are means for gripping and advancement which can engage the tubular manufactured article 1 and which can be actuated so as to entrain the tubular manufactured article 1 along the passage 4. In the feeding guide 2 shown, these means for advancement, which are shown only schematically, are constituted by pairs of chains 6, 7 which are arranged mutually side by side along the passage 4 and are made up of links provided with claws 20 which can engage a portion of the tubular manufactured article 1 which protrudes above or below the blades 3a, 3b.

[0032] The method according to the invention comprises a step of providing the body of the tubular manufactured article, designated with the reference numeral 1a, and a step of providing an end portion 1b of the tubular manufactured article 1 which is intended to be removed during the subsequent stitching operation in order to close an axial end of the tubular manufactured article 1.

[0033] This step of providing of the end portion 1b comprises a step of providing an intermediate band 8 which is connected to the body 1a of the manufactured article and is thinner than the thickness of the rows of knitting of the body 1a of the manufactured article, at least with regard to the rows of knitting of the body 1a of the manufactured article adjacent to the intermediate band 8.

[0034] The step of providing the end portion 1b also comprises a step of providing an end edge 9 with a thickness that is thicker than the thickness of the intermediate band 8.

[0035] According to the invention, the height of the intermediate band 8 proximate to the regions that constitute the lateral ends of the two flaps of the intermediate band 8 to be flattened and paired in order to execute the stitching of the axial end to be closed of the tubular manufactured article 1 is lower than the height of the remaining part of the intermediate band 8.

[0036] More specifically, the intermediate band 8 is produced by providing some rows of knitting in succession, which can be equal in number to the number of rows of knitting usually provided in making intermediate bands in conventional methods, with the contrivance of making the loops of knitting 10, which are located proximate to the regions that constitute the lateral ends of the two flaps of the intermediate band 8 to be overlapped laterally i.e. to be paired and flattened in order to stitch the axial end to be closed of the tubular manufactured article 1, shorter than the length of the loops of knitting 11 of the same rows of knitting in the remaining part of the intermediate band 8, as shown in particular in FIGS. 5 to 9.

[0037] The different length of the loops of knitting 10 of the intermediate band 8 which are located proximate to the lateral ends of the two flaps of the intermediate band 8 to be paired can be obtained by suitably actuating, in a way that is known per se, the devices for varying the density of the knitting which are provided on practically all circular hosiery machines currently on the market. These are devices that move the transfer cam parallel to the axis of the needle cylinder relative to the complex of cams for actuating the needles, so as to vary the extent of the descent of the needles inside the needle cylinder after these have taken up the thread supplied to them at a feed or drop of the machine during the formation of loops of knitting. As a consequence of this movement of the transfer cam, the needles form loops of knitting of greater or lesser length, as is well known to the person skilled in the art. The movement of the transfer cam and therefore the variation of the length of the loops of knitting at determined regions of the tubular manufactured article during its formation, in modern circular hosiery machines, can be inserted, according to the various requirements, in electronic programs for actuating the machine.

[0038] Preferably, the intermediate band 8 is made with an elastically extensible thread, for example a nylon thread.

[0039] The intermediate band 8 is preferably made with a thread that has a smaller diameter than the diameter of the thread or of the group of threads used to provide the rows of knitting of the body 1a of the manufactured article which are connected to the intermediate band 8 and that is to say which border them.

[0040] Preferably, the tubular manufactured article 1 is produced by beginning its production from its opposite axial end from the axial end to be closed, at which the end portion 1b with the intermediate band 8 and the end edge 9 is provided.

[0041] Operation to close the axial end of the semi-finished tubular manufactured article 1 made with the method described above is executed as follows.

[0042] The axial end of the tubular manufactured article 1 which is provided with the intermediate band 8 and with the end edge 9 is flattened by overlapping and pairing the two flaps that make it up so that the regions of the intermediate band 8 which have a shorter height are at the lateral ends of the end portion 1b.

[0043] In FIGS. 5 and 7, two dotted lines 12 and 13 indicate the lines along which the two flaps of the tubular manufactured article 1, which need to be joined in order to close the axial end thereof, are folded and overlapped.

[0044] The end portion 1b, thus flattened, is inserted in the passage 4 defined between the two blades 3a, 3b so that the end edge 9 rests on the upper face of the two blades 3a, 3b and so that the start of the body 1a of the manufactured article which borders the intermediate band 8 is in the passage 4 below the plates 5 which, at the start of the passage 4, are at the level of the upper face of the blades 3a, 3b, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0045] The end edge 9 of the tubular manufactured article 1 is gripped by the pair of chains 6 which cause its progressive advancement along the passage 4 according to the direction indicated by the arrow 14. This advancement, owing to the fact that the plates 5, against the lower face of which the start of the body 1a of the manufactured article engages, descend progressively toward the lower face of the blades 3a, 3b, causes the tensioning, parallel to the axis of the tubular manufactured article 1, of the intermediate band 8 and brings the body 1a of the manufactured article below the blades 3a, 3b, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

[0046] More specifically, following the advancement of the tubular manufactured article 1 along the passage 4, the first row of knitting of the body 1a of the manufactured article, from which the intermediate band 8 extends, will be arranged against the lower face of the blades 3a, 3b and it will be this row of knitting that will be affected by the stitching.

[0047] The tubular manufactured article 1 is then engaged by the pair of chains 7 arranged below the two blades 3a, 3b which further entrain the tubular manufactured article 1 along the direction 14 so that it is stitched by a sewing head, which is conventional and not shown for the sake of simplicity. The stitching is carried out along the first row of knitting of the body 1a of the manufactured article. During the stitching, the tubular manufactured article 1 is cut along the first row of knitting of the intermediate band 8.

[0048] In this manner, the axial end of the tubular manufactured article 1, which constitutes the toe of the sock, is closed and the end portion, which has been used for stitching, is removed, thus obtaining the finished sock.

[0049] It should be noted that the shorter height of the intermediate band 8 in the regions located proximate to the lateral ends of the tubular manufactured article 1 prevents, during the advancement of the tubular manufactured article 1 between the blades 3a, 3b, these regions from protruding below the blades 3a, 3b and therefore it prevents the stitching from affecting portions of the intermediate band 8. In this manner, it is possible to obtain a correct stitching without having to resort to excessive reductions of the width of the passage 4 and without having to pretension the thread with which the intermediate band 8 is provided.

[0050] In practice it has been found that the method according to the invention fully achieves the set aim in that it makes it possible to obtain a completely satisfactory result of closing of the toes of socks, without requiring high precision in providing the end portion of the semi-finished tubular manufactured article to be engaged with the feeding guide of the sewing machine, or in adjusting the feeding guide of the sewing machine.

[0051] The method, thus conceived, is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, all the details may be substituted by other, technically equivalent elements.

[0052] In practice the materials employed, and the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

[0053] The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MI2015A000108 (102015902324061) from which this application claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.

[0054] 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.