Abstract: A presser foot device for a knitting machine includes a blade-like support which, when mounted in the knitting machine, extends downwardly with respect to the needles of the machine, a presser element carried by the support near its lower edge, and a channel-like protective element which enfolds the lower edges of the blade-like support to protect it. The channel-like protective element may include two laminas one at each side of the blade-like support and extending at least as low as the lower edge of the blade-like support, and at least one connecting member joining the laminas and extending between them below the lower edge of the blade-like support.

Abstract: A method of knitting a blank for a garment comprises the steps, carried out in a sequence involving knitting from one waist line to the other in the blank, of (a) knitting two front panels for the garment body with courses extending lengthwise of each front body panel and wales extending in the direction across each front body panel, in the finished garment; (b) knitting two sleeve panels for the garment with courses extending lengthwise of each sleeve panel; and (c) knitting a single rear panel for the garment body with courses extending across the rear panel and wales extending lengthwise of the rear panel. During the knitting, joins are formed between the front panels and the associated sleeve panels by a process involving the procedures of taking needles out of action while holding knitted loops on those needles, and then reintroducing the inactive needles to knitting action, at least one of said procedures being carried out progressively so that suture joins are produced.

Abstract: A composite structure such as an aircraft brake disc has a matrix material reinforced by knitted panels of fabric arranged in a stack. The panels are knitted directly into the desired disc shape so that there is no fabric waste, by knitting a helix of fabric on a flat-bed weft knitting machine having a patterning mechanism which allows shaping and a presser foot or sinkers to hold the knitting down on the needles. The helix of fabric can be closed down to constitute the stack of disc panels directly or it can be separated into discrete disc panels by knitting in draw threads connecting successive windings of the helix. The disc panels may be knitted from oxidised acrylic yarn and then heated to carbonise the yarn. A stack of carbon fibre fabric panels may be embedded in a carbon matrix by carbon vapor deposition to form a brake disc.

Abstract: A method of knitting a blank for a sleeved garment wherein the blank is knitted in one piece in the form of a cross starting at the waist of a body panel, subsequently knitting fabric constituting a sleeve and shoulder region of the blank and finally knitting a further body panel in the direction from the neck region to the waist. In knitting the portion of the first body panel above the arm pit level, progressively shorter courses are formed and in knitting the portion of the further body panel above the arm pit level, progressively longer courses are formed, whereby the outer parts of the sleeve and shoulder fabric are inclined with respect to the courses in the body panels.

Abstract: A safety device for an electrode-type steam vaporizer having an electrode assembly enclosed in a protective housing allows access to the electrodes for cleaning or adjustment only when a key, preferably the electric plug for the vaporizer, is inserted through an opening in the protective housing to release an interlock mechanism normally precluding removal of the protective housing from the electrode assembly. When the protective housing is removed, the key is automatically locked in the opening in the protective housing by a spring-biased lock pin and cannot be removed until the electrode assembly is again repositioned in the housing with the electrode assembly and housing properly assembled relative to each other. The safety device can be used in other electrical appliances, such as a toaster, that have electrical elements enclosed in a protective housing.

Abstract: A method of knitting a blank for a sleeved garment on a knitting machine comprises the steps, not necessarily in the order specified, of knitting fabric for one sleeve and for an associated sleeve shoulder portion of a yoke for the garment, in which knitted courses extend lengthwise of the sleeve fabric and through the associated sleeve shoulder portion towards the neck of the garment, knitting front and rear body fabrics and associated front and rear body shoulder portions of the yoke, in which knitted courses extend in the waist-neck direction in the body fabrics and continue towards the garment neck through the body shoulder portions, and knitting fabric for the other sleeve of the garment and for an associated sleeve shoulder portion of the garment yoke, in which knitted courses extend lengthwise of the sleeve fabric and through the associated sleeve shoulder portion towards the garment neck, whereby the garment yoke comprises front and rear fabrics, each of which comprises a body shoulder portion and a p

Abstract: A method of knitting a blank for making up into a sleeved garment includes the steps of knitting a tube on opposed needle beds of a knitting machine to constitute a sleeve for the garment, each circular course of this tube being located partly on one of the needle beds and partly on the other, knitting fabrics each on a different one of the needle beds to form the front and rear of the garment, respectively, each of these two fabrics being knitted integrally with the aforementioned sleeve tube, having courses extending in the direction from the neck to the waist of the garment and having wales which are a continuation of the wales of the sleeve tube, and knitting a further tube on the opposed needle beds to constitute the other sleeve of the garment, each circular course of this further tube being located partly on one of the needle beds and partly on the other, this further tube being knitted integrally with the aforementioned two fabrics and having wales which are a continuation of wales in these two fabric

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a knitted garment to cover at least the upper body, for example a jacket, involves knitting two front panels to form the front of the garment, each of these panels being started from a non-run set-up, and incorporating each of these front panels in a garment so that the line of each of the non-run set-ups is located in the front of the garment and extends in an up-and-down line when the garment is worn, whereas the knitted wales of each of the panels extend from the set-up line of the panel, horizontally in the garment when worn, to an associated side of the garment front. Each front panel may incorporate a strip of fabric, disposed in an up-and-down direction when the garment is worn, which is distinguished from the main part of the panel by color and/or stitch structure.Methods of joining the front panels to sleeve panels, and the sleeve panels to one or more rear panels, on a knitting machine are described.

Abstract: A method of knitting a blank for a sleeved garment includes the steps of commencing knitting from an end of one sleeve and knitting in succession a single piece of fabric constituting this sleeve, a shoulder region of the garment and the second sleeve thereof with the wales of the knitting extending continuously through the sleeves and the shoulder region. Contemporaneously with the knitting of the first piece of fabric there is knitted a piece of fabric constituting the body of the garment which is started at an edge of the body part of the blank and has its wales extending across the body part. During the knitting of these pieces of fabric, at least a portion of the body part of the blank and the shoulder region are knitted so that courses are continuous between this body portion and the shoulder region, so that the blank comprises, in one piece of knitting, body, sleeve and shoulder parts of the garment.

Abstract: A method of knitting a blank for a sleeved garment includes the steps, in either order, of knitting a piece of fabric constituting the body of the garment having front and rear body parts with wales extending in the direction from the waist to the neck of the garment, and knitting another piece of fabric comprising sleeves for the garment with courses extending in the length direction of the sleeves, and also comprising a shoulder region of the garment located between the two sleeves with courses continuous between the sleeves and the shoulder region, the latter being knitted as an extension of the body of the garment with wales continuous between the body and the shoulder region.Various methods of knitting the blank are described which result in the sleeves, in the finished garment, either being disposed at right angles to the body or being downwardly inclined from the shoulder region, and which give various styles of the border lines dividing the sleeves from the shoulder region.

Abstract: A method of knitting a blank for making up into a sleeved garment includes the step of knitting fabric to form the sleeves and the front and rear body shoulder regions of the garment by forming knitted courses each of which extends the full length of each sleeve and across one of these body shoulder regions. Subsequent to, or prior to, this step, body fabric for the blank is knitted by forming simultaneously front and rear body portions of the blank by knitting courses which extend across these body portions in the finished garment, the body fabric being integral with the sleeve and body shoulder region fabric and having knitted wales which are continuous with knitted wales in the front and rear body shoulder regions.Different ways of performing the method on a knitting machine with opposed beds are described, with knitting commencing either at the upper edge line of each sleeve and the upper shoulder line of the body of the blank or at an underarm line in the blank.

Abstract: A method of knitting a blank for a sleeved jacket or cardigan having overlapping front body panels, on a knitting machine with opposed needle beds containing independently operable needles. The method includes the steps of knitting a set of sleeve fabrics for the blank on the two opposed needle beds and knitting a set of body fabrics for the blank on the two opposed needle beds, the body fabrics comprising two front body panels and a rear body panel.

Abstract: A method of knitting a body panel for a garment, for example a jacket, in which the panel is provided with a non-run set-up along at least one edge to serve as an edging for the panel. The method involves knitting an edge portion for the panel comprising a non-run set-up, knitting on from the edge portion on some only of the needles holding loops of the edge portion while maintaining inactive further needles holding loops of the edge portion, and introducing these inactive needles holding loops of the edge portion into knitting action subsequently during the knitting process, thereby shaping the panel. The edge portion may consist exclusively of the non-run set-up or it may have a non-run set-up followed by a further strip of fabric. This further strip of fabric may be distinguished from the fabric of the main part of the body panel by color and/or stitch structure. Methods of joining together two or more of such body panels on a knitting machine are described.

Abstract: A knitted sleeved garment is made from a blank comprising sleeves and body joined together on the knitting machine by sleeve and body shoulder portions knitted integral with one another and formed with wales of different lengths by taking successive needles out of action during knitting of the shoulder portions and reintroducing those needles in opposite sequence to cause the sleeves to lie at an angle to the body. The shoulder portions extend only part way from the arm pits of the blank to the neck and a shoulder region of the blank adjacent the neck is formed by extensions of the body shoulder portion and/or sleeve shoulder portions.