Claims
- 1. A method of packaging a hosiery article comprising a pantihose garment which involves use of a flat support having a pair of elongate limbs which extend side by side, a former is laid on one limb, the garment is drawn onto the support stretching its legs over the respective limbs of said support whereby said former is located inside one of the stretched legs, the garment is thereafter dismounted from the support with said former entrapped within said one leg whereby said former maintains at least a portion of said one leg in a stretched flat state, and the remainder of the garment is disposed to one side of the portion of said leg containing the former.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein before dismounting the garment, the two limbs with the garment thereon are moved into a face-to-face disposition thereby doubling a body part of the garment and placing the legs one over the other.
- 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein before said garment is drawn onto said flat support, it is mounted with its legs supported internally on a pair of hose carriers of a toe closing machine, toe closing seams are formed across toe ends of said legs, said carriers and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is actiavted to strip said garment off said carriers and draw it at least partially onto the flat support.
- 4. A method according to claim 2, wherein before said garment is drawn onto said flat support, it is mounted with its legs supported internally on a pair of hose carriers of a toe closing machine, toe closing seams are formed across toe ends of said legs, said carriers and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is actiavted to strip said garment off said carriers and draw it at least partially onto the flat support.
- 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein said flat support is heated to board or heat set the garment.
- 6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the garment is passed between a pair of rollers to press and flatten it, when dismounted from the flat support.
- 7. A method according to claim 2, wherein before said article is drawn onto said flat support it is mounted on a carrier of a hose processing machine which is operated to perform a preliminary hose processing operation, said carrier and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is activated to strip said article from the carrier and to draw it onto said flat support.
- 8. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the former and said leg portion containing it are folded in two, and the remainder of the garment is confined between the two parts of the folded former and leg portion containing it.
- 9. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein like formers for both legs are laid on both limbs and the garment is subsequently dismounted with a former entrapped inside at least a portion of each leg whereby respective leg portions are maintained in stretched flat states, and thereafter the remainder of the garment is sandwiched between said portions embracing their respective formers.
- 10. A method according to claim 6, wherein the garment is initially in an inside-out state and is everted to a right side out state while mounting it on said flat support.
- 11. A method according to claim 1, wherein before said article is drawn onto said flat support it is mounted on a carrier of a hose processing machine which is operated to perform a preliminary hose processing operation, said carrier and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is activated to strip said article from the carrier and to draw it onto said flat support.
- 12. A method according to claim 8, wherein before said garment is drawn onto said flat support, it is mounted with its legs supported internally on a pair of hose carriers of a toe closing machine, toe closing seams are formed across toe ends of said legs, said carriers and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is actiavted to strip said garment off said carriers and draw it at least partially onto the flat support.
- 13. A method according to claim 8, wherein before said article is drawn onto said flat support it is mounted on a carrier of a hose processing machine which is operated to perform a preliminary hose processing operation, said carrier and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is activated to strip said article from the carrier and to draw it onto said flat support.
- 14. A method according to claim 9, wherein before said article is drawn onto said flat support it is mounted on a carrier of a hose processing machine which is operated to perform a preliminary hose processing operation, said carrier and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is activated to strip said article from the carrier and to draw it onto said flat support.
- 15. A method according to claim 10, wherein before said article is drawn onto said flat support it is mounted on a carrier of a hose processing machine which is operated to perform a preliminary hose processing operation, said carrier and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is activated to strip said article from the carrier and to draw it onto said flat support.
- 16. A method according to claim 11, wherein said processing operation comprises joining two separate hose legs together to form a unitary pantihose garment.
- 17. A method according to claim 11, wherein said processing operation comprises insertion and seaming of a gusset into the crutch of a pantihose garment.
- 18. A method according to claim 9, wherein before said garment is drawn onto said flat support, it is mounted with its legs supported internally on a pair of hose carriers of a toe closing machine, toe closing seams are formed across toe ends of said legs, said carriers and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is actiavted to strip said garment off said carriers and draw it at least partially onto the flat support.
- 19. A method according to claim 10, wherein before said garment is drawn onto said flat support, it is mounted with its legs supported internally on a pair of hose carriers of a toe closing machine, toe closing seams are formed across toe ends of said legs, said carriers and said flat support are brought into operative juxtaposition and automatic transfer means is actiavted to strip said garment off said carriers and draw it at least partially onto the flat support.
- 20. Apparatus for packaging hosiery comprising:
- a hosiery processing machine, said machine having a flat support with a pair of elongated limbs extending side-by-side;
- means to dispense a former into at least one of said limbs;
- loading means for mounting a pantihose garment onto said flat support such that legs of said garment are drawn onto said limbs and over said at least one former laid thereon;
- means to dismount said pantihose garment while entrapping said at least one former within said garment leg; and
- means for disposing portions of said dismounted garment unsupported by said former to one side of said portion of said garment internally supported by said former.
- 21. Apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said support is articulated to permit the limbs to be disposed face-to-face and adjacent one another after mounting the garment thereon, for use to fold the garment in half in a lengthwise direction.
- 22. Apparatus according to claim 20, including a second hosiery processing machine having support means for hosiery articles to be processed thereby, said support means and said flat support being adapted to be juxtaposed while said loading means is operable between them (a) to strip a hosiery article from said support means, (b) to convey said article towards the flat support and (c) to mount said article thereon.
- 23. Apparatus according to claim 22, wherein said support means and flat support are mounted on their associated machines for movement about respective closed paths into operative juxtaposition with said loading means.
- 24. Apparatus according to claim 22 or claim 23, wherein the second machine is selected from a line closing machine, a toe closing machine and a gusset inserting machine.
- 25. Apparatus according to claim 22, wherein in addition to first and second machines respectively incorporating said flat support and said support means, the apparatus includes another hosiery processing machine and a transfer means operable to transfer pantihose articles processed thereby from said other machine to said second machine.
- 26. Apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said second machine is a toe closer and said other machine is selected from a line closing machine and a gusset inserting machine.
- 27. Apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said second machine is a gusset inserting machine and the other machine is selected from a toe closing machine and a line closing machine.
- 28. Apparatus according to claim 25, which includes a further hosiery processing machine and an associated transfer means operable to convey pantihose articles processed thereby from said further machine to said other machine.
- 29. Apparatus according to claim 28, wherein said second machine, said other machine and said further machine are operable to provide different processing functions and said machines each comprise a different one of a line closer, a toe closer and a gusset inserting machine.
Priority Claims (1)
| Number |
Date |
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| 8621957 |
Sep 1986 |
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Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/073,017, filed July 14, 1987.
The present invention relates to improvements in pantihose packaging and manufacture.
There is a desire to present hosiery at point of sale in packaging which permits ready inspection of the hosiery, at least visually, by prospective purchasers. In some cases too, it may be desired that the hosiery is packaged so the prospective purchaser can feel the quality of the hosiery. More particularly, but not exclusively, these desires apply to patterned hosiery, for instance where the pattern in a single-colour hose is created by an appropriate manipulation of the knitting process.
It is known to mount finished socks individually on suitably stiff moulded plastics formers. Ordinarily, each sock is pulled onto its respective former by hand. This slow, laborious process is clearly unsatisfactory in an industry where production rates may be of the order of some hundreds of dozens of pairs of hose per working shift. There is, also, a substantial risk of damaging otherwise perfect hose while mounting them on their formers. Further, this process is not ideally suited for the packaging of pantihose.
An object of this invention is to devise an improved method of packaging and manufacturing pantihose which can minimise labour-intensive, manual operations and which are well suited to implementation by various hosiery manufacturing machines.
According to the present invention, there is provided a pantihose garment packaged for sale, wherein a former inserted inside one of the legs of the pantihose maintains at least a portion of that leg stretched flat thereon, and the remainder of the garment is placed behind the portion of the leg containing the former so that a layer of the leg is exposed to view, stretched flat and backed by the former. The former may be a card or like board stiff enough to keep the said leg stretched flat. The former inside the said leg can be long enough to be folded in two, when the remainder of the garment is disposed between the two parts of the folded former within the said leg. The garment can be enveloped by a wrapper, e.g. inside a transparent wrapping to protect it from damage before sale.
Supporting formers could be placed inside a portion of each leg of a pantihose garment, and the remaining parts of the garment will be sandwiched between the former-supported portions.
Also according to the present invention, there is provided a method of packaging a pantihose garment which involves use of a flat support having a pair of elongate limbs which extend side by side, a former is laid on one limb, the garment is drawn over the support so its legs are stretched over the respective limbs and so that the former is located inside one of the stretched legs, the garment is thereafter dismounted from the support with the former entrapped within the said one leg and maintaining at least a portion thereof in a stretched flat state, and the remainder of the garment is disposed to one side of the portion of the leg containing the former.
Before the garment is mounted on the flat support, it may be in an inside-out state, and so preferably, it is everted to a right side out state in the course of mounting it on the flat support, so that when later dismounted therefrom it is right side out.
The method according to the invention can be readily integrated with other hose processing operations such as line closing, toe closing and gusset insertion, as will be described hereafter.
When performing the present method, the garment can be boarded and indeed the flat support can be part of a hosiery boarding machine.
The invention has for another of its objects the provision of apparatus for performing the method as hereinbefore defined. Accordingly, the present invention provides apparatus for performing the said method, comprising a hosiery processing e.g. boarding machine having a flat support including a pair of elongate limbs that extend side by side, means to dispense a former onto at least one of the limbs, a loading mechanism to mount a pantihose garment body first onto the support such that the legs of the garment are drawn onto the respective limbs and over the or each former laid thereon, means to dismount the garment such that the or each former is entrapped with the or each leg as the garment is dismounted, and means for disposing portions of the dismounted garment unsupported by the or a former to one side of a portion internally supported by the former.
In one embodiment of the invention, the apparatus includes a second hosiery processing machine having support means for pantihose articles to be processed thereby, the support means and flat support being juxtaposed while the loading mechanism is operable between them (a) to strip a pantihose from the support means, (b) to convey the pantihose towards the flat support and (c) to mount the pantihose thereon. Usually, the flat former will be juxtaposed with the said support means such that former and support means are aligned end-to-end, ends adjacent. The garment is stripped in a forward direction from the support means across to the adjacent former and is drawn with eversion thereof onto the former.
The second machine can, for instance, be a toe closer or gusset inserting machine.
One preferred embodiment of the invention is a hosiery finishing and packaging machine comprising, in combination, a boarding machine, a toe closer including two supports for the legs of pantihose to be toe closed, and a transfer, conveying and loading mechanism operable to strip the pantihose from the toe closer, to convey it to the flat former and to place it, with eversion, in an encircling relationship on the flat former, the said mechanism being movable between operatively-juxtaposed supports of the toe closer and the flat former and having a hose engaging element which is positioned and operative to engage a waistband area of the pantihose on the said supports.
Apparatus according to the invention can form part of an integrated, extensively-automated hosiery processing apparatus comprising e.g. three or four separate processing machines having automatic transfer devices for delivering processed articles from one machine to another.
US Referenced Citations (16)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
| Number |
Date |
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| 493489 |
Aug 1977 |
AUX |
| 2168089 |
Jun 1986 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
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| Parent |
73017 |
Jul 1987 |
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Patent Grant
4922685
