HOSIERY 



813 



1153 



the required shape. Thence it passes between another pair of dies, where it is stamped, 

 and by an ingenious arrangement is flattened from the curled shape which the wheel 

 gives it as it falls at the mouth of the machine. The shoes thus made are remarkable 

 for their exactness in shape and in the position of the holes a most important point 

 with regard to the safety of horses' feet ; and they can be produced, when the machine 

 is in proper order, at the rate of 60 per minute, which is more than two men can 

 forge in a day ; their superiority over shoes forged by hand is very striking. As 

 the bar is bent before being pressed in the die, the pressure at the crown is in the 

 direction of the width, and hence the widening is readily effected. 



HOSIERY. (Bonneterie, Fr. ; Strumpfweberei, Ger.) The stocking -frame, which 

 is the great implement of this business, though it appears at first sight to be a com- 

 plicated machine, consists merely of a repetition of parts easily understood, with a 

 moderate degree of attention, provided an accurate conception is first formed of the 

 nature of the hosiery fabric. This texture is totally different from the rectangular 

 decussation which constitutes cloth, as the slightest inspection of a stocking will show; 

 for this, instead of having two distinct systems of thread, like the warp and the weft, 

 which are woven together by crossing each other at right angles, the whole piece is 

 composed of a single thread united or looped together in a peculiar manner, which is 

 called stocking-stitch, and sometimes chain- work. 



This is best explained by the view in fig. 1153. A single thread is formed into a 

 number of loops or waves, by arranging it over a number of parallel needles, as shown 

 at B ; these are retained or kept in the form 

 of loops or waves, by being drawn or looped 

 through similar loops or waves formed by the 

 thread of the preceding course of the work, s. 

 The fabric thus formed by the union of a 

 number of loops is easily unravelled, because 

 the stability of the whole piece depends upon 

 the ultimate fastening of the first end of the 

 thread ; and if this is undone, the loops formed 

 by that end will open, and release the subse- 

 quent loops one at a time, until the whole is 

 unravelled, and drawn out into the single 

 thread from which it was made. In the same 

 manner, if a thread in a stocking-piece fails, or breaks at any part, or drops a stitch, as 

 it is called, it immediately produces a hole, and the extension of the rest can only be 

 prevented by fastening the end. It should be observed that there are many different 

 fabrics of stocking-stitch for various kinds of ornamental hosiery, and as each requires 

 a different kind of frame or machine to produce it, we should greatly exceed our limits 

 to enter into a detailed description of them all. That species which we have repre- 

 sented in fig. 1154 is the common stocking-stitch used for plain hosiery, and is formed 

 by the machine called the common stocking-frame, which is the groundwork of all the 

 others. The operation, as we see, consists in drawing the loop of a thread succes- 

 sively through a series of other loops, so long as the work is continued, as is very 

 plainly shown for one stitch in fig. 1155. 



The first kind of frame, which forms the foundation of all the others, is that for 

 knitting plain hosiery, or the common stocking-frame. 



Of this valuable machine, the invention of Mr. Lee of Cambridge, a side elevation 

 is given in fig. 1155, with the essential parts. The framing is supported by four 

 upright posts, generally of oak, ash, or other hard wood. Two of these posts appear 

 at A A, and the connecting cross rails are at c c. At B is a small additional piece of 

 framing, which supports the hosier's seat. The iron-work of the machine is bolted or 

 screwed to the upper rails of the framework, and consists of two parts. The first rests 

 upon a sole of polished iron, which appears at D, and to which a great part of the 

 machinery is attached. The upper part, which is generally called the carriage, runs 

 upon the iron sole at D, and is supported by four small wheels or trucks, as they are 

 called by the workmen. At the upper part of the back standard of iron are joints, 

 one of which appears at Q ; and to these is fitted a frame, one side of which is seen 

 extending to H. By means of these joints the end at H may be depressed by the 

 hosier's hand, and it returns, when relieved, by the operation of a strong spring of 

 tempered steel, acting between a cross bar in the frame, and another below. The 

 action of this spring is very apparent in fig. 1156. In the front of the frame, im- 

 mediately opposite to where the hosier sits, are placed the needles which form the 

 loops. These needles, or rather hooks, are more or less numerous, according to the 

 coarseness or fineness of the stocking ; and this, although unavoidable, proves a very 

 considerable abatement of the value of a stocking-frame. In almost every other 

 machine (for example, those employed in spinning or weaving), it is easy to adapt any 



