US3451232A - Knitted protective article for wearing in a prosthesis or orthopedic appliance and method of making the same - Google Patents

Description

June 24, 1969 BELZIDSKY 3,451,232

. KNITTED PROTECTIVE ARTICLE FOR WEARING IN A PROSTHESIS OR ORTHOPEDIC APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed April 5, 1 967 United States Patent 3,451,232 KNITTED PROTECTIVE ARTICLE FOR WEARING IN A PROSTHESIS OR ORTHOPEDIC APPLIANCE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME David Belzidsky, 191 Rue Saint Charles, Paris, France Filed Apr. 5, 1967, Ser. No. 628,688 Claims priority, application France, Apr. 8, 1966,

U.S. Cl. 66-171 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method and apparatus for making a protective article for wearing with a prosthesis or orthopedic appliance. The article comprises plated knitting having at least two different kinds of thread material, such as woolen and synthetic fiber. The method comprises the steps of arranging the knitting operation on a double needle bed or circular knitting machine with one kind of thread on an inner side normally forming the back side of the knitting and with the other kind of thread on an outer side normally forming the front of the knitting, and after the knitting operation turning the article over so that the knitting is arranged with the front forming the inside of the finished article and the back part of the knitting forming the outside of the article.

It is known that persons obliged to make use of an orthopedic or prosthesis appliance are accustomed to protecting their skin from direct contact with the appliance by wearing a knitted protective device.

For example, amputated persons, for protecting the stump remaining of their natural limb from direct contact with the prosthesis appliance, generally use a protective cap that is usually rather thick, which, for some time has been made of knitted material.

The stitch universally employed for making an article of this kind is the jersey stitch which, by means of machines in use, enables the obtaining, when two strands are utilized, of either an almost equal distribution of the two strands on both faces of the work, or a preferential dis tribution of one of the strands on one of the faces where it can be seen, and of course, a preferential distribution of the other strand on the other face.

This latter technique, called Vanisage or plating, is especially put into operation when two strands of different natures are employed, the one of wool, the other of synthetic fiber, for example.

Vanisage or plating has already been applied to the making of certain protective articles, such, for example, as caps for amputated persons, with a view to obtaining a finished article in which the woolen strand is predominant on the inner face, on contact with the skin, or with a sheath protecting the latter, whereas the strong tough synthetic fiber strand is predominant on the outer face in contact with the prosthesis appliance.

This distribution of strands on the two faces in the finished article directly corresponds to the same arrangement of these strands on the knitting machine, whether in the case of a two-needle bed machine or a circular machine.

Nevertheless, these articles, made entirely of wool or a mixture, do not give complete satisfaction to those who wear them.

The methods of knitting adopted up till now always lead to a relatively rough and uneven inner face, which is irritating after prolonged friction; in any case, this inner face does not possess all the softness desired by users.

In the particular case of vanised or plated articles as explained above, two faces of very different aspects are obtained. On the outside, on the synthetic fiber side, we find the right side of the knitting which has an assembly of parallel ribs close together, which extend longitudinally without continuity solution. On the inside, on the wool side, we find the back of the knitting, which occurs as a succession of parallel wavy rows, separated from each other by a slight depression, and which extend crosswise.

It is obvious that the inner face, which possesses the texture described above, is far from perfectly answering to the greatest facility of sliding in a longitudinal direction required for the greatest comfort of wearers of appliances.

A first object of the invention is to produce a knitting process for making protective sheaths for the benefit of amputated persons, whose inner face in contact with the mutilated limb shall be soft, with a low friction coefficient, whereas the outer face in contact with the prosthesis appliance will be relatively rough.

Another object of the invention is to produce a protective sheath of vanised knitting with a synthetic fiber and more particularly a woolen strand, the woolen strand having an assembly of parallel ribs in the longitudinal direction of the sheath and forming the inner face of this sheath, whereas the synthetic strand occurs as a succession of parallel wavy rows extending crosswise to the longitudinal axis of the sheath and forming its external face.

Other objects and advantages will be revealed by the description of the invention, the claims and attached drawing, in which is illustrated one embodiment of a knitted protective article conducted in accordance with the features of the invention.

To give an example of the application of the invention, the case is chosen of a protective cap intended to be used by amputated persons. Although the invention is perfectly adapted to articles acting to protect stumps, it covers all protective articles in general, placed under an appliance. This example is thus not restrictive:

The cap 1 is shown as it appears after operating the process of the invention, ready to be slipped on to a stump to be protected.

At the top right hand part of the cap 1, one of the halves has been partially cut away. We thus see simultaneously, on the one hand the outer face 2, the back of the knitting, appearing as a succession of parallel wavy rows 3, extending crosswise, essentially formed of synthetic fiber; on the other hand the inner face 4, the right side of the knitting, appearing as an assembly of longitudinal parallel ribs 5, essentially formed of woolen strand.

It can be clearly seen from the figure that rubbing on the inner face 4 is appreciably reduced as compared to that of the outer face 2, more particularly in a longitudinal direction. We thus clearly obtain the advantages sought for, referred to above.

It is obvious, as has been stated, that the invention is not restricted to the type of protective article described and shown, but that it covers all articles intended to be placed under any kind of prosthesis or orthopedic ap pliance. Also, it is not restricted to using a woolen strand especially; this designation has only been used as an example. Actually, it sufficies to make use of two strands of different natures for obtaining vanised knitting in accordance with the invention.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the examples of embodiment described and shown above, for which other methods and other forms of embodiment can be provided, without going outside of the scope of the invention for that purpose.

What I claim is:

1. A method of making a protective article for wearing with a prosthesis or orthopedic appliance, said article of plated knitting having at least two different kinds of thread material, said method comprising the steps of arranging a knitting operation on a double needle bed or circular knitting machine with one kind of thread on an inner side normally forming the back of the knitting and with the other kind of thread on an outer side normally forming the front of the knitting, and, after said knitting operation, turning over said knitting whereby said back forms the outside of a finished article and said front forms the inside thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said one kind of thread is knitted to predominate on the outside of a plurality of elongated ribs extending generally longitudinally of said article on said back of said knitting and said other kind of thread is knitted to predominate on the outside of a plurality of undulated rows transverse of the longitudinal axis of said article on said front side of said knitting.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said one kind of strand comprises woolen fibers and said other kind of strand comprises synthetic fibers.

4. A protective article for wearing with a prosthesis or orthopedic appliance comprising a plated knitting having at least two kinds of thread material, said article including an inner face formed essentially by a normal right side of the knitting having a plurality of longitudinally extending parallel ribs formed substantially of one of said thread materials and an outer face formed essentially by a normal back side of the knitting having a succession of wavy parallel rows formed of said other thread material and extending transversely of said longitudinal ribs.

5. The article of claim 4 wherein said one thread material comprises woolen fibers and said other thread material comprises synthetic fibers.

6. The article of claim 4 wherein said one thread material is softer than the other thread material and said other thread material is stronger and tougher than said one thread material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,321,966 11/1919 Witherell 66-171 2,412,087 12/1946 Herbert 2239 XR 3,259,915 7/1966 Dison 2-239 3,307,379 3/1966 Woolley et al. 66-182 XR 3,331,221 7/1967 Lawson 66170 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,445,063 5/ 1966 France.

WILLIAM C. REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 3l9; 66182

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