Compression article

Abstract

A compression article and method for its production on a knitting machine, in particular a flat-bed knitting machine, wherein, in the compression article, respectively the number of stitches per stitch row is matched to the radial circumference of the body part to be treated by the compression article, and which compression article has a plurality of points which are distributed over its circumference and at which, in a stitch row, a stitch increase and/or a stitch reduction is realized, and wherein, moreover, the number of stitches in the wale direction varies over the circumference of the compression article and is matched, in the longitudinal direction of the body part, to the shape of the body part to be treated.

Claims

1. A compression article comprising a knitted fabric having stitch rows and wales, produced on a knitting machine having at least two needle beds, in which a number of stitches per stitch row is matched to a circumference of a body part to be treated by the compression article wherein, in order to match in a circumferential direction the shape of the body part to be treated, the compression article has a plurality of points which are distributed over its circumference at which, in a stitch row, a stitch increase or a stitch reduction is realized, wherein the fabric is a double-layered fabric comprising an outer layer formed of a first yarn and an inner layer formed of a second yarn and the inner layer of the fabric has spaced apart split stitches made of the first yarn.

2. The compression article as claimed in claim 1, wherein a central longitudinal axis of the article conforms to a central longitudinal axis of the body part to be treated.

3. The compression article as claimed in claim 2, wherein the fabric is flat knitted and closed at a longitudinal seam to form the compression article.

4. The compression article as claimed in claim 1, comprising a variation in a number of stitches in a wale direction around a circumference of the compression article whereby the compression article is matched, in a longitudinal direction of the body part, to the shape of the body part to be treated.

5. The compression article as claimed in claim 4, wherein the variation in a number of stitches in the wale direction comprises a gusset.

6. The compression article as claimed in claim 1, wherein the stitch increases and stitch reductions are located in a plurality of zones that are separated from each other by strip-shaped segments.

7. The compression article as claimed in claim 6, wherein at least some of the segments have a different number of stitch rows.

8. The compression article as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first yarn is a hydrophilic yarn and the second yarn is a hydrophobic yarn.

9. The compression article as claimed in claim 1, further comprising elastic inlay yarns extending between the inner layer and the outer layer.

10. The compression article as claimed in claim 9, wherein the elastic inlay yarns are hydrophobic or are covered with a hydrophobic material.

11. The compression article as claimed in claim 9, wherein the split stitches are wrapped around the elastic inlay yarn to fix it securely between the layers.

12. The compression article as claimed in claim 1, wherein the split stitches are distributed evenly over the fabric.

13. The compression article as claimed in claim 1, wherein heads of the split stitches are incorporated in the outer layer and legs and feet of the split stitches are integrated into the inner layer such that they contact the body part.

14. A compression article formed from a double layer knitted fabric for application to a body part to be treated, the fabric comprising an outer layer of hydrophilic yarn and an inner layer of hydrophobic yarn and having rows of stitches extending in a circumferential direction of the body part, wherein a number of stitches per stitch row is matched to a circumference of the body part and the compression article has a plurality of points which are distributed over its circumference at which, in a row, a stitch increase or a stitch reduction relative to an adjacent row is realized.

15. The compression article as claimed in claim 14, wherein the stitch increases and stitch reductions are located in a plurality of longitudinally extending zones that are separated from each other by strip-shaped segments in which no such stitch increase or stitch reduction is present.

16. The compression article as claimed in claim 14, comprising wales extending in a longitudinal direction of the article and a variation in a number of stitches in a wale varies around the circumference of the compression article whereby the compression article is matched, in a longitudinal direction of the body part, to the shape of the body part.

17. The compression article of claim 14, comprising uniformly distributed split stitches that join the inner layer to the outer layer.

18. A method for producing a compression article on a knitting machine, comprising: measuring the body part to be supported by the compression article by scanning of the body part or by measurement at individual measuring points; calculating a necessary number of stitches per stitch row in accordance with the measured circumference of the body part in that region of the body part that is covered by the stitch row; calculating points within each stitch row at which a stitch increase or decrease in comparison to the preceding stitch row is necessary, so that a central longitudinal axis of the compression knitted article conforms to a central longitudinal axis of the body part; knitting the compression article on a knitting machine having at least two needle beds, using the calculated stitch counts per stitch row and the calculated points of a stitch increase or decrease in the stitch rows wherein the compression article has a plurality of layers, which are connected to one another at certain points.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein knitting the compression article comprises: a. Forming of stitches with a first yarn with all needles of the first needle bed and with selected needles of the second needle bed; b. transferring the stitches of the first yarn formed on the selected needles of the second needle bed to needles of the first needle bed; c. immediately after transferring the stitches in step b. forming of stitches with a second yarn on the selected needles of the second needle bed as well as with all other needles of the second needle bed.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the first yarn is a hydrophilic yarn and the second yarn is a hydrophobic yarn.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The features and advantages of the invention will be appreciated upon reference to the following drawings. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the general description given above and the detailed description given below, explain the one or more embodiments of the invention.

(2) FIG. 1 shows a top view of segments of a base pattern for a compression article;

(3) FIG. 2 shows the compression article from FIG. 1 after completion on a flat-bed knitting machine.

(4) FIG. 3 shows a knitting process diagram for a section of a fabric, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 4 shows a portion of a double layer knitted fabric that may be made by the method of embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(6) In the illustrated example, the compression article 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is produced on a flat-bed knitting machine and is divided in the design stage into four segments 11, 12, 13 and 14, which between them define zones 15-18 in which a stitch increase and/or a stitch reduction is carried out. The four segments 11 to 14 are knitted with common thread guides, so that the finished knitted fabric shown in FIG. 2 is obtained. The representation in FIG. 1 serves, however, to better illustrate the production method for the article 10.

(7) Each of the segments 11 to 14 is adapted in the zones 15 to 18 at the longitudinal margins of the segments 11 to 14 with respect to the stitch count in each stitch row such that the finished knitted compression article 10 is optimally matched in its shape to a body part to be supported. To this end, measurement data of the body part is first used to select a base pattern for the compression article 10 from a set of available patterns which already approximates to the required shape of the compression article 10. The patterns of the segments 11 to 14 of this base pattern are subsequently revised such that the fit of the compression article 10 composed of the segments is optimally matched to the shape of the body part. This revision is made by adapting the stitch count per stitch row in the zones 15 to 18 at the longitudinal margins of the segments 11 to 14 and by providing gusseting zones 19 at least in some of the segments 11 to 14. Also the length of the wales of the segments 11 to 14 is varied in accordance with the body part shape. There is thus formed the three-dimensional compression article 10 shown in FIG. 2, which has merely to be closed by a longitudinal seam.

(8) The diagram of FIG. 3 shows a sequence of courses knitted on a front needle bed V and a rear needle bed H of a flat knitting machine wherein the needles of these needle beds V, H are marked by dots 110. The knitting direction is indicated by an arrow 111.

(9) In a first course 101R stitches are knitted with a hydrophilic yarn 112 on all needles of the front needle bed V and on every second needle of the rear needle bed. On the front needle bed V an outer hydrophilic layer of the fabric is knitted and on the rear needle bed an inner and hydrophobic layer. In a second course 102R stitches are knitted with a second hydrophilic yarn 113 on all needles of the front needle bed V. This course 2R is optional. Instead of a different yarn 113 again yarn 112 could be used to knit this course 102R.

(10) In a third course 103R that is pictured as two separate courses just for reasons of clarity an inlay thread 114 is laid between the stitches formed in the previous courses 101R and 102R on the front and rear needle bed V, H. Immediately after placing the inlay thread 114 the stitches of the rear needle bed H formed in course 101R are transferred to the opposite needles of the front needle bed V and on all needles on the rear needle bed H stitches are formed with a hydrophobic yarn 115. The transferred stitches or split stitches fix the inlay thread 114 in the fabric. Their feet are still on the rear needle bed H and therefore part of the inner hydrophobic layer of the fabric. Thus, these stitches are able to move moisture from the inner layer to the outer layer of the fabric.

(11) The courses 104R to 106R are a repetition of courses 101R to 103R with the one difference that in course 104R stitches are formed with the hydrophilic yarn 112 on needles of the rear needle bed that have not formed stitches with that yarn 112 in course 101R. In further repetitions of courses 101R to 103R the knitting of these stitches on the rear needle bed H always alters between odd and even needles of the rear needle bed. Thus, the split stitches can be uniformly distributed over the surface of the inner layer of the fabric.

(12) It is also possible to knit only on every third needle of the rear needle bed H in course R1 with yarn 112. In further repetitions of course R1 each time the first needle on which a stitch with yarn 112 is formed is moved by one to the right in order to achieve a uniform distribution of the split stitches.

(13) The stitch pattern picture of a double layer knitted fabric in FIG. 4 shows a view onto the outer layer formed by hydrophilic yarns 112, 113 wherein the yarn 112 is formed by two yarns 112a, 112b. The inner layer is formed by stitches made of hydrophobic yarns 115a, 115b. Also, elastic inlay threads 114 are hydrophobic. In the center portion of FIG. 4 the inlay thread 114 is omitted and a split stitch formed by hydrophilic yarns 112 can be seen. Its feet are part of the inner layer while its head and legs are part of the outer layer. Thus, moisture can be moved from the inside of the fabric to the outer layer.

(14) The embodiments described above are descriptions of preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Various variations and modifications can be made by those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the design and scope of the present invention. The variations and modifications should all fall within the claimed scope defined by the claims of the present invention.