Sheer non-run hosiery

Abstract

 Sheer non-run hosiery (10) includes legs (14) each formed of a knit fabric (16) configured and dimensioned as a hosiery leg formed of 10-15 denier nylon yarn knit in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch. The knit fabric may have a run resistance of at least 15psi, i.e. 1.05 kg/cm² , (Better Fabrics Testing Bureau Method), and a sheerness about 25% greater than that of a conventional fabric formed with 7 filament 20 denier yarn in a non-run 1 X 1 lock stitch.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to hosiery, such as panty hose, and in particular to hosiery combining sheerness and non-run properties.

[0002] Whether it be ordinary hosiery consisting of a pair of legs or panty hose comprising a panty and a pair of legs knit together, women's hosiery represents a compromise between two competing considerations. The hosiery should be both sheer for aesthetic reasons and serviceable for practical reasons.

[0003] Sheerness, although technically measured in terms of light transmissiveness or transparency, also implies a degree of silkiness which is deemed attractive to both sight and touch because it is less coarse and rough than less sheer material. Serviceability is measured in terms of snag and run resistance. Snag resistance refers to the ability of the fabric to resist being cut or torn during normal wear, while run resistance refers to the ability of the fabric to localize a snag once it occurs so that the snag does not produce an unsightly "laddering" of the fabric as a result of the snag and the tension existing in the fabric when it is worn or otherwise placed under tension.

[0004] Non-run hosiery is well known in the art and has in fact enjoyed moderate success at the retail level. Typically the non-run hosiery is formed of 20 denier yarn knit in a 1 X 1, 1 X 3 or similar lock stitch. Although serviceable, it lacks sheerness and is thus not only unattractive on the wearer's leg but also possessed of a coarse feel. Accordingly, the non-run fabric, although moderately suitable for day wear, is not satisfactory for dress-up or evening wear. While it is recognized that the use of a fabric formed of a lesser denier yarn would probably result in a sheerer product, it is generally believed in the hosiery art that the enhanced sheerness would be obtained only at the cost of reduced serviceability because the sheerer fabric would afford less run resistance due to the thinner yarn.

[0005] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide hosiery affording high degrees of both sheerness and serviceability.

[0006] Another object is to provide such hosiery having a sheerness greater than the conventional 20 denier non-run hosiery without any diminution of the run resistance.

[0007] A further object is to provide such hosiery which is economical to manufacture, attractive to wear, and highly serviceable.

[0008] It has now been found that the above and related objects of the present invention are obtained in hosiery comprising legs formed of a sheer non-run fabric configured and dimensioned as a hosiery leg and formed of 10-15 denier nylon yarn knit in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the yarn is either 5 filament 15 denier yarn or 7 filament 10 denier yarn. The yarn is round in shape and dull in finish. A preferred yarn is nylon 66. The fabric is knit on a circular knitting machine and is characterized by a run resistance of at least 15.0 psi (Better Fabrics Testing Bureau Method) and a sheerness about 25% greater than that of a conventional fabric formed with 7 filament 20 denier yarn in a non-run 1 X 1 lock stitch. The hosiery may be either regular stockings or panty hose comprising a panty and a pair of legs of integral, one-piece, unitary construction.

[0010] The above brief description, as well as further objects and features of the present invention, will be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description of the presently preferred, albeit illustrative, embodiments of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of panty hose according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary schematic view, to a greatly enlarged scale, of the fabric thereof.

[0011] Referring now to FIG. 1, therein illustrated is a panty hose according to the present invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 10. The panty hose 10 includes a panty portion 12 and a pair of leg portions 14, these portions 12, 14 being together of integral, one-piece, unitary construction. Optionally the panty 12 may include a cotton crotch piece and a spandex reinforced waistband, as is conventional in the panty hose art. It will be appreciated that the principles of the present invention are equally applicable to regular hosiery as well -- that is, hosiery consisting of leg portions only, without any panty portion.

[0012] According to the present invention, the legs 14 are formed of a sheer non-run nylon fabric configured and dimensioned as a hosiery leg. While the illustrated yarn is round in shape and dull in finish, alternatively a non-round shaped yarn or non-dull finish yarn may be employed. While nylon 66 (polyhexamethylene) is preferred, other nylons (long-chain synthetic polymeric amides having recurring amide groups as an integral part of the main polymer chain) may also be used. Preferably the yarn has a Z twist formed therein by texturing.

[0013] Referring now to FIG. 2 as well, the legs 14 are fabric 16 formed of 10-15 denier nylon yarn knit in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch. Thus where there are four feeds, yarns 1 and 3 are knit 1 X 1 while yarns 2 and 4 are plain knit. Preferably, as illustrated, the yarn is either 5 filament 15 denier yarn or 7 filament 10 denier yarn. While any yarn having a denier of at least 10 and no more than 15 may be used, without regard to the number of filaments comprising the same, a 5-7 filament yarn is preferred. The yarn is knit in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch on, for example, a 402 needle circular knitting machine (not shown) available under the trade name Billy Ultra from the Billimater Company, Italy. As the micromesh stitch is conventional in the run-free hosiery art and well known to those skilled in the run-free hosiery art, further details concerning the same need not be set forth herein.

[0014] As might be expected from the use of lower denier yarn than the conventional 20 denier yarn used for non-run fabric, the non-run fabric according to the present invention is sheerer than the conventional 20 denier non-run fabric. The non-run fabric formed of 5 filament 15 denier yarn in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch is approximately 25% sheerer than non-run fabric of the conventional 7 filament 20 denier yarn in a 1 X 1 lock stitch, while the non-run fabric formed of 7 filament 10 denier yarn is even sheerer. Unexpectedly, however, the sheerer non-run fabric according to the present invention has a run resistance which is at least equal to that of the conventional 20 denier non-run lock stitch fabric. The fabric knit in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch of 5 filament 15 denier nylon 66 yarn has a run resistance of at least 15.0 psi (Better Fabrics Testing Bureau Method) and a snag resistance of no more than 0.80 snags/sq. in. (American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists Method 65 Modified).

[0015] More particularly, the hosiery run resistance test (BFTB #302) uses a Stoll Universal Wear Tester. A five inch circular specimen of the fabric to be tested is carefully mounted in a smooth condition on a circular clamp over a rubber diaphragm by means of a clamping ring and a tightening collar. The air pressure is set under the diaphragm so that the specimen is inflated just to the point of being taut. A single running yarn at the center of the specimen is gently lifted with a pointer and snipped with small scissors. Air pressure under the diaphragm is then increased gradually until a run forms. The pressure required to cause a run is noted. Four additional specimens are tested in the same manner. The average pressure (psi) necessary to cause a run for the five specimens is calculated. Only a fabric which fails to run at 15 psi (the maximum that the test machine is capable of exerting) is deemed a non-run fabric. The fabric of the present invention failed to run under a pressure of 15 pounds and thus qualified as a non-run fabric.

[0016] The AATCC snag resistance test involves running a large specimen of the fabric over an abrasive surface and counting the number of snags developed per square inch of the specimen. The fabric of the present invention developed no more than 0.80 snags/sq. in., substantially less than the 2.0 snags/sq. in. deemed desirable.

[0017] It had previously been believed that a reduction in the yarn denier to achieve greater sheerness and hence greater aesthetic acceptability in the marketplace could be obtained only at the cost of a substantial decrease in serviceability, with a commensurate decrease in market appeal for the economically-minded consumer. Nonetheless, for reasons not fully understood at this time, the fabric of the present invention knit with the yarn of 15 or less denier in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch not only exhibits the increased sheerness which was expected, but also an equal or greater run resistance than would be found in a run-free yarn knit with 20 denier yarn in a 1 X 1 lock stitch. As with conventional run-free fabrics, the fabric of the present invention may be punctured and may wear out, but in the course of normal wear it does not permit snags to run. The criss-cross pattern of yarn in the micromesh 1 X 1 stitch pattern is believed to lock into place every thread of the fabric so that any puncture of the fabric is localized and does not ladder. It is theorized that the lower denier yarn permits formation of a greater number of stitches within a unit area of fabric so that any snag which occurs in the fabric is more closely localized than would be the case if the fabric had greater denier yarn and hence necessarily fewer stitches per unit area.

[0018] To summarize, the present invention provides hosiery affording high degrees of both sheerness and serviceability, the hosiery having a sheerness greater than the conventional 20 denier non-run hosiery without any diminution of the run resistance thereof. The hosiery is economical to manufacture, attractive to wear, and highly serviceable.

[0019] Now that the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described in detail, various modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention is to be construed broadly and limited only by the appended Claims, and not by the foregoing disclosure.

Claims

1. Hosiery comprising legs formed of a sheer non-run fabric configured and dimensioned as a hosiery leg and formed of 10-15 denier nylon yarn knit in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch.

2. The hosiery of Claim 1, wherein said yarn is 15 denier yarn composed of 5 filaments.

3. The hosiery of Claim 1, wherein said yarn is 10 denier yarn composed of 7 filaments.

4. The hosiery of any preceding Claim, wherein said yarn is round in shape and dull in finish.

5. The hosiery of any preceding Claim, wherein said yarn is nylon 66.

6. The hosiery of any preceding Claim, wherein said fabric is knit on a circular knitting machine.

7. The hosiery of any preceding Claim, wherein said fabric is characterized by a run resistance of at least 15.0 psi, i.e. 1.05 kg/cm, (Better Fabrics Testing Bureau Method).

8. The hosiery of Claim 1 or Claim 7, wherein said fabric is characterized by a sheerness about 25% greater than that of a conventional fabric formed with 7 filament 20 denier yarn in a non-run 1 X 1 lock stitch.

9. The hosiery of any preceding Claim, wherein said hosiery is panty hose comprising a panty and a pair of legs of integral, one-piece, unitary construction.

10. Hosiery comprising legs formed of a sheer non-run fabric configured and dimensioned as a hosiery leg and formed of 5-7 filament, 10-15 denier nylon yarn knit on a circular knitting machine in a micromesh 1 X 1 stitch, said fabric being characterized by a run resistance of at least 15.0 psi, i.e. 1.05 kg/cm², (Better Fabrics Testing Bureau Method) and a sheerness about 25% greater than that of a conventional fabric formed with 7 filament 20 denier yarn in a non-run 1 X 1 lock stitch.

Drawing