US2239457A - Fire repellent pile fabric - Google Patents

Description

April 22, 1941. w. A. G'IBBONS 2,239,457

FIRE REPELLENT PILE FABRIC Filed Feb. 10, 1939 ATTORNEYS Patented Apr. 22, 1941 FIRE REPELLENT PILE FABRIC Willis A. Gibbons, Montclair, N.

United States Rubber Compan J., assigner to New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 10, 1939, Serial No. 255,592

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a fire repellent pile fabric consisting of a non-combustible ground fabric provided With a pile surface, and 'also to .a cushion or` the like of inflammable material which is covered withsuch fire repellent fabric. Cushions formed of rubber, textile fibers and other organic materials are `extensively used in automobiles and'in airplanes and for various other purposes and such cushions are commonly provided `with a protecting covering fabricl consisting of a woven ground fabric having a pile surface. These .protecting fabrics as constructed heretofore constitute an ornamental covering for the underlyingcushion material and serve to protect the same from wear, but when such covering fabrics are formed of wool, cotton, or other textile fibers as heretofore they are inammable, and therefore do not afford the underlying cushion material any substantial protection against combustion in case of fire.

When the underlying cushion is constructed of inflammable material and a fire occurs of sufficient intensity to ignite this material, then the cushion simply supplies added fuel to thereonflagration. The present invention contemplates a simple and practical construction whereby the fire hazard caused by the combustible nature of the cushion material may be greatly reduced, and also contemplates a fire repellent pile fabric which may be employed for various purposes.

One important feature of the present invention resides ,in a. fire repellent pile fabric comprising,

a non-combustible ground fabric formed of asbestos threads, spun glass filaments or other inorganic (threads, and having a pile surface provided atone face thereof.

Another important feature of thepresent yinvention residesin a cushion or the like formed of rubber, textile fibers or other organic material which is more orless inflammable, and which` cushion is provided withy a protecting fire repellent cover consisting of a non-,combustible ground, fabric formed of spun inorganic threads or of non-metallic inorganic threads and lvhaving a pile or other soft ornamental surface adaptedA to protect the underlying ground fabricfrom l wear.

known manner to producefa pile fabric such as commonly used heretofore as an upholsteryv cover for cushions and the likeexcept that the ground fabric in accordance with the present invention The 4fire repellentpile fabricherein conterni plated may be Woven inany preferred orl WellA A is formed of `non-combustible threadssuch as" spun asbestos threads, 'spurrglass threads or other threads formed of inorganic fibers or filaments of non-continuous length arranged so that the ends of the filaments overlap and are formed into a thread by a, spinning or twisting operation. It is also contemplated that said ground fabric may be made in whole or in part of unspun or continuous glass filaments.

The non-combustible ground fabric just described, in accordance with the present invention, is provided with a much softer protecting wear surface, which in most cases constitutes a pile formed of wool or other textile bers commonly used heretofore to form the pile tufts of a pile fabric. The present invention, however,V

contemplates that in some cases, the pile tufts as well as the ground fabric may be formed of non-combustible threads or filaments. I

If a cushion formed of rubber or other inflammable material is covered with the `fire repellent pile fabric herein contemplated, and ls thereafter exposed to re, the wool or other organic fibers forming the pile surface of the covering fabric will be burnt or charred if the temperature to which it is subjected is sufficiently high. But the non-combustible ground fabric will remain intact to form a protecting screen overlying the combustible material of the cushion, and while such non-combustible ground fabric may not in all cases prevent the underlying inflammable material from catching flre, it will nevertheless afford ythe cushion material a large amount of protection against combustion, thus greatly reducing the fire hazard.`

The above and other features of theinvention will be further understood fromthe following description when-read in connection with the accompanyng` drawing illustrating good,v practical forms of the invention.

In the drawing- Fig. 1 on an enlargedy scale isav longitudinal sectional viewthrough a piece 'of pile fabric con- Fig. 2 is a `front view of a cushionA such asis commonly vused as `an automobilefseat, havin the present invention applied thereto; and l sectional view Fig. 3 on a larger scale is'a through the jcushionof Fig. 2.

The 'firerepell'ent pile fabric fof" thep-resent may as above stated, be constructed invention,

.in any suitable or well known manner-"so far as f V,the interweaving ofthe warp-and weft threads is concerned and thesecuring of the'pile tuftsA thereto, provided'the threads used inmaking the I ground fabric are sufliciently non-combustible to afford the protection lagainst fire contemplated by the present invention.

The fabric` illustrated in Fig. 1 is constructed of a ground fabric formed of the interwoven warp threadsl l and weft threads I I. This ground fabric is shown as provided with the pile forming tufts I2 which are secured to the ground fabric by the weft threads Il about which the tuft loops lare bent in a well known manner. This showing of the fabric, however, is to be considered as more or less conventional since in the simple construction illustrated the pile forming tufts I2 wouldnot be firmly anchored to the ground fabric unless some form of binding material were employed to help hold them in place.

The warp threads l0 and weft threads Il are preferably but not necessarily formed of spun asbestos threads such for example as contemplated by the B. H. Foster Patent 2,089,021 granted August 3, 1937, for Asbestos yarn. It is contemplated, however, that other and coarserI asbestos threads than those covered by the patent just mentioned may be employed. It is also contemplated that other spun threads of non-combustible inorganic fibers or fllamcnts may be used in carrying out the present invention such for example as spun glass threads formed of non-continuous lengths of glass nbers or filaments arranged in overlapping relation and spun by a twisting operation into threads, which may be used as the warp threads l0 and weft threads I I.

' In some cases it may be desirable to form the non-combustible portions of the fabric of Fig. 1 of non-metallic inorganic threads such for example as continuous glass filaments.

The pile forming tufts l2 are preferably formed of wool or other textile threads such as have been commonly used pile tufts of the type of pile fabrics commonly used in upholstery work, but since wool and other textile fibers are more or less combustible, it may in some cases be desirable to form these pile tufts I2 also of non-combustible inorganic threads similar to those employed to form the warp 'threads Ill and weft threads Il.

vThe pile fabric of Fig. 1 may be used for various purposes but it has been developed more particularly for use as an upholstery covering for automobile cushions or the like, such as shown in Fig. 2 wherein the entire cushion is shown as covered with the pile fabric material of Fig. 1. This however is better illustrated in Fig. 3% wherein the rubber or other soft material of which the cushion is constructed is designated by I3 and this cushion material is shown as covered by the pile fabric of Fig. 1. The cushion material I3 may be formed of sponge rubber, cellular rubber or various textile materials capable of providing the desired softness. In the present construction the appearance and feel of the cover for the cush1on need not diifer from that of the pile fabric cover of the cushions commonly employed heretofore,

' since the pile tufts l2 in the present construction may be formed of exactly the same material as the pile tufts commonly vused heretofore, and while the non-combustible ground fabric IU, Il differs from that employed heretofore it is protected and concealed by the pile surface I2.

Should an automobile, airplane or the like equipped with cushions such as shown in Fig. 2 be involved in an accident resulting in a connagration, the textile fibers forming the pile tufts l2 may be quickly burned away but the remaining non-combustible ground fabric formed of the heretofore in forming the threads I0 and Il would afford the underlying combustible material I3 a large amount of protection. Such protection results in part from the confining of the cushion material by the ground fabric and in part to the filtering' or screening action of the woven non-combustible fabric which retards the penetration of -the ame therethrough to ignite the underlying cushion material. Even if the underlying material should catch fire the conflning and name retarding action of the non-combustible ground fabric, I0, Il would retard the spread of the combustion and tend to extinguish the ame.

It will be seen from the foregoing that through the present invention the re hazard resulting' from the usel of inammable materials in the construction of cushions may be greatly reduced without in any way detracting from the appearance, feel or wear protecting properties of the pile fabric upholstery material herein employed to cover such cushions. It will also be understood that the fire repellent material herein contemplated may be used as a covering or protecting fabric for various objects.

It is desired to point 'out that the word spun` has been employed herein in the specificationI and claims to describe the well known operation of forming a thread or yarn from non-continuous i overlapping fibers or filaments by a twisting operation which unites the fibers and holds them from slipping lengthwise of each other as in a spun cotton yarn, and that the word spun as herein used does not mean the production of a continuous filament by an extruding operation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desireto protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A re repellent pile fabric, comprising a woven non-combustible ground fabric formed of spun Warp and weft threads of non-metallic, inorganic bers and having pile threads interlocked therewith to form a protecting pile surface overlying the non-combustible ground fabric.

2. A fire repellent pile fabric, comprising a woven non-combustible ground fabric formed o! asbestos warp and weft threads and having pile threads interlocked therewith toform a protecting pile surface overlying the non-combustible ground fabric.

3. A non-combustible pile fabric, comprising a woven ground fabric formed of spun warp and weft threads of non-metallic, inorganic fibers and having spun pile threads of inorganic fibers interlocked therewith to form a protecting pile surface overlying the non-combustible ground fabric.

4. A fire repellent-upholstery fabric, comprising a woven non-combustible ground fabric formed of spun warp and weft threads of n onmetallic, inorganic bers and having pile threads interlocked therewith to form a protecting pile surface overlying the non-combustible ground fabric.

5. A nre repellent upholstery fabric, comprising a woven non-combustible groimd fabric Aformed of interwoven asbestos threads and having pile threads interlocked therewith to form a protecting pile surface overlying the non-combustible ground fabric.

6. A nre repellent upholstery fabric comprising a woven non-combustible ground fabric formed of interwoven asbestos threads and having a softer, wear-resisting surface formed of textile threads attached to the groxmd fabric to form a pile surface, that protects the ground fabric from wear.

7. A nre repellent -pile fabric, `comprising a woven non-combustible ground fabric formed at woven ground fabric formed of interwoven nonleast in part of non-metallic and non-combustible metallic, inorganic, non-combustible warp and inorganic threads, and having pile forming weft threads, and having pile forming threads itithreads interlocked with the ground fabric to proteriocked with the ground fabric to form a provide a protecting pile surface overlying the non- 5 tecting pile fabric overlying the ground fabric. combustible ground fabric,

8. A re repellent pile fabric, comprising a WILLIS A. GIBBONS.

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