초록 ▼

A program-controlled knitting machine provides a method of knitting circular knit elasticized tubular goods, e.g., compressive stockings, in which the size of the goods and the amount of compression asserted when worn are controlled according to the specific size and needs of the individual using th

A program-controlled knitting machine provides a method of knitting circular knit elasticized tubular goods, e.g., compressive stockings, in which the size of the goods and the amount of compression asserted when worn are controlled according to the specific size and needs of the individual using the goods.

대표청구항 ▼

A method of making a tubular garment fabric forming the entire or some portion of a garment conforming to a selected part of the body such as the leg and in which the fabric is desired to assert some predetermined degree of compression at selected locations along the length thereof and with graduate

A method of making a tubular garment fabric forming the entire or some portion of a garment conforming to a selected part of the body such as the leg and in which the fabric is desired to assert some predetermined degree of compression at selected locations along the length thereof and with graduated and controlled changes in such compression between such locations, comprising the steps of: (a) knitting on a circular knitting machine having a complement of cooperable knitting elements a series of sample tubular fabrics in which from sample to sample a change is made in the setting of the knitting elements of the machine such that the limp and stretch circumferences and corresponding compression characteristics are changed from sample to sample in correspondence with the machine settings; (b) measuring the stretch-compression characteristics of each sample at each of a plurality of stretch positions and storing such measurements together with the corresponding machine settings for each such sample as first memory data; (c) measuring the actual circumference at each of some predetermined number of locations along the length of the part of the body on which the tubular garment fabric is to be worn and storing the circumferential measurements thereby obtained together with the compression pressure desired at selected said locations as second memory data; (d) operating on said first and second memory data with program means and producing therefrom third memory data representing a set of settings for said machine capable of producing a finished tubular garment fabric suited to the anatomic form of said selected part of the body and exhibiting compression characteristics at each of said selected locations thereon substantially equal to the said desired compression pressures and program determined machine settings corresponding to graduated pressures between said selected locations; and (e) operating said machine under program control utilizing said third memory data through control means on said machine adapted to control said selected machine settings under signal control established by said third memory data in timed relation to the operation of said machine whereby to produce a said finished tubular garment fabric having said compression pressures at said selected locations and said graduated pressures therebetween. A program method of selecting a new tubular fabric garment to be worn on a selected part of the body by a selected individual and requiring a desired compression profile, comprising: (a) determining and storing in memory first information representative of the pressure profile characteristics of a plurality of previously-made, tubular fabric garments corresponding to a range of body contours for the portion of the body on which the garment is to be worn and a range of pressure profiles for such contours; and (b) determining and storing other second information in memory representative of the contour of said individuals selected part of the body and desired compression profile; and (c) comparing said first and second information to select the previously-made garment closest in pressure profile to said new garment pressure profile.