US2947058A - Ornamentation of sheet material - Google Patents

Description

19460 G. LANDELLS ETAL 2,947,058

ORNAMENTATION OF SHEET MATERIAL Filed Feb. 7, 1956 In ventom A ttorheyo United States Patent ORNAMENTATION F SHEET MATERIAL George Landells, Leeds, andWilliam Bragg, West Ardsley, near Wakefield, England, assignors to The Bradford Dyers Association Limited, Bradford, and Bleachers Association Limited, Manchester, England Filed Feb. 7, 195 6, Ser. No. 564,081

Claims priority, application Great Britain Feb. 10, 1955 i 9 Claims. '(CI. 26-69) Patented Aug. 2, 1960 is the pre-treatment of the material with an agent which will set by heat applied during or after the ornamenting, or by the action of a chemical reagent applied after the ornamenting and setting the agent orbringing about a reaction with the chemical reagent to maintain the ornamentation.

If the compressively shrinkable material is of nylon, a polyethylene terephthalate or other thermoplastic which when deformed while heated will retain its deformed shape until it is heated to a higher temperature the ornamentation is advantageously fixed by heating the material to an appropriate heat-setting temperature during the ornamenting, the elfect of the heating being to fix or stabilize the ornamentation against mechanical action at a temperature lower than that reached during the treatment.

For example a cotton fabric may be impregnated'with a thermosetting resin in aqueous solution and then dried.

-It is"then ornamented according .to the invention and heatedat a temperature to complete the condensation of the resin, thus fixing the ornamentation. I Preferably,

' one of the rollers or other elements of the shrinking surface, e.g. against a rubber belt, while that 'surface contracts, sothat the materialcontracts with the surface.- Such materials include, as well as fabrics, leather, regenerated cellulose and plastic sheets and coated textiles such as bookcloth, imitation leather cloth andflthe like.

It is an fobjectiof the present invention to ornament compressively shrinkable sheet material by changing the configuration of the material by the random formation of buckles, crinkles or .the like. I H

It is a further object of the invention tocompressively shrink sheet material and at the same' time to form an ornamentation thereon.

A compressively shrinkable sheet material is ornamented in accordance. withthis invention by compressively shrinking the material in contact with a second buckable sheet material so that the buckles formed'in the second material are transferred to the first material; The invention is particularly applicable to the ornamentation of fabricspthe second sheet material may advantageously be paper. 7 Y 5 The nature of 'the eifect produced on a fabric under given conditions with the same second sheet material depends on the fabric under treatment- .Fabrics pos apparatus is heate'd to a temperature sufiicient to set theresin used,'but the time of contact with the heated roller'is usuallvinsufiicient to complete the condensation and an additional heating step is then required. Eventher-moplastic materials may" also be subjected to this resin treatment, having the effect in thisinstance of stiffening the material rather than fixing the ornamentation. i Where the material is composed wholly of cellulose acetate or contains a high proportion of cellulose ace tate', thematerial may be. temporarily plasticised by water or solutions of swelling agents to render the. material are sectional views through two shrinking machines of different types operating acc'ord ihg to this invention; t i

Figures 3 and 4 are views showing two different ornamentations obtained according tothe invention.

Referring first to Figure l, which shows the preferred machine for carrying out the invention, a thick endless sessing smooth shiny surfaces, such as satins or sateens, respond particularly well. Fabrics may beprepared for w the process with advantage by calendering or pressing to produce a smooth or glossy surfaces The effect. pro duced varies from a random distribution of coarse buckles or puckers, running generally across the .width of the material, to finer buckles or ripples.

The material which buckles is generally stiffer than the compressively shrinkable sheet material, and al though it may shrink slightly before it starts to -buckle, this is unimportant so long as some buckling takes place. For instance, some p-aper will shrink by-l er 2% but thereafter will buckle, The shrinking conditions must be'such-that the compressively shrinkable'sheet material not 'only'shrinks-but accepts thebuckle's"andthat the second 'sheefimaterialbuckles? Ifthe' first 'material is treated along-under the shrinking conditions in question;

itwill shrink but not buckle, whereas'the secondjmaterial treated alone-willbucklel a 7 The ornamentation i s resistantto normalhandling but may be'largely or wholly lost on wettingor-w'ashing thematerial unless steps areitakento fix it. Such step rubber or equivalent belt 11. passes around two rollers 12 and 13, the fabric or other material 16 being fed on to the belt between it and a third roller 14 at a point in advance of. that at which the surface of the belt begins to contract in reversing its curvature. I The roller 14 can be adjusted in the direction of the arrows C to vary the pressure between the roller and the belt. Movement can be impartedto the belt by driving any of the three rollers. Thesecond sheet material 17 is also fed into the nip between the belt 11 and the roller 14 on the side of the material remote from the beltl It can be fed between the fabric or the like and the belt, but this" is not generally so effective. The second sheet material 17 is fed into the nip betweerrthe roller 14 and the belt 11 from a roll 1 5 and passes around the roller 14 under tensiomf If the material 17 i s fed"directly. to the nip as shown by the dotted line 17"- there is a Itendency for the material to crease as it enters the nip, forming undesirable markings on the material 16. v,

It is Well known that the degree of shrinkage imparted by aconipressive shrinking machineto a'fabric can be varied, particularly by varying'the pressure, temperature or moisture content, andjthei'efore the. ornamentation. can

. bevaried; The greater the pressure, the more numerous and smaller are the buckles produced. Naturally the actual number of buckles produced under given conditions p nds on the na u e nd illness f e e cndme a i l- It is not only the pressurebutalsothe temperatures that must be appropriately adjusted. For instance-in treating one cellulose acetate fabric and paper together under a given pressure, substantially no ornamentation was produced at 200 F. but a good crinkled effect was produced at 275 F. Figures 3 and 4 show two different ornamentations obtained in the apparatus shown in Figure 1. The general surface of the material remains flat, but buckles 18. are formed. These are transferred from the second sheet material.

Figure 2 shows a machine of the kind in which there is a narrow passage between a roller and a curved bed plate and the material to be shrunk is fed into this passage at a higher speed than it is allowed to emerge. In the machine illustrated a roller 20 and an electrically heated bed plate21 form a feed nip and another roller 22 cooperates with the first to form an outlet nip. The compressively shrinkable sheet material 23 and the second sheet material 24 are fed into the inlet nip over a rail 25 and then pass to the passage 26 finally leaving the machine through the outlet nip. The roller 20 has a hard rubber surface and rotates at a faster speed than the roller 22 which has a soft rubber surface. The width of the passage is adjusted by moving the rollers 20 and 22 in the direction of the arrows A and B.

While we have described and illustrated two partic-v ular compressive shrinking machines for use in this invention any other type or construction of machine may also be used.

In a variation of the invention the compressively shrinkable sheet material is compressively shrunk in contact with a third sheet material which also buckles, such as that shown by broken line 24' in Fig. 2, the third sheet material being on the opposite side of the first sheet material from the second sheet material. The third material may or may not be the same as the second;

The compressively shrinkable sheet material may be subjected to two separate ornamenting processes, the conditions in each process preferably being different, so that two ornamental effects are superimposed on each other.

Instead of using paper as the second sheetrmaterial we may use cardboard, a plastic, thin sheet metal, a fabric stiffened by a resin, starch or other stiffening agent, or even a fabric so woven that it will not readily shrink, but rather tends to buckle, if compressively shrunk alone.

If either of the surfaces between which the two materials are pressed during the treatment is discontinuous the compressive shrinking is discontinuous over the sur@ face of the compressively shrinkable sheet material and ornamentation according to the invention takes place only in selected areas. The remaining areas which are not compressively shrunk will form ruffies, frills, puckers or the like between the compressively shrunk areas.

The sheet material which buckles may be discontinuous or have an embossed surface. In the first case no buckles will be formed in those areas not in contact with the second sheet material and in the second case the buckles will be superimposed on an embossed design.

Some examples will now, be given.

Example 1 Example 2 These crinkles were transferred to the leather which also shrank 7.5%.

v Example 3 The roller 14 of a conipriessive'shrinkage machine of 1 the type shown in Figure l was heated to 340 F. The

roller was pressed against the rubber belt 11 and a test length of paper 0.003 inch thick passed through the machine. The paper shortened, essentially by buckling, by ti /2%, A cellulose acetate satin fabric was led from a roll and superimposed on a paper sheet of the same material 'as'the test length, also delivered from a roll so that the satin face of the fabric was adjacent to the paper. The two sheet materials were led between the roller 14., and the belt 11 with the paper next to the roller. Shortening and buckling of the paper took place and the numerous buckles were simultaneously reproduced in the satin'fabric to give an attractive decorative effect. a The fabric was found to have shrunk by 9 /z%.

Example 4 A specimen of aplain weave cotton fabric was impregnated .with a solution of 7.5 parts (all parts are by weight). of a methylated trimethylol melamine precondensate and 0.5 part of ammonia dihydrogen phosphate 1 in 92 parts of water and mangled to contain 90 parts of Theornamented fabric emerging'from the machine was of the paper card, buckles being transferredto-the plastic sheet,.which also shrank slightly.

The plastic sheet did not buckle .whenpassed-through the machine alone.

separated from the buckled paper and heated in a hot airoven for 3 minutes at 300 F. The ornamentation wasthus rendered resistant torepeated washing in a soap solution. 7 Example 5 A cellulose'acetate satin fabric was fed into the passage between the roller 20 and the bedplate 21 of a machine of the type illustrated in Figure 2 together with paper 0.0025 inch thick, the paper being adjacent the bedplate. The bedplate was maintained at 250 F. The roller. 20.was driven at a surface speed of 11.7 feet per minuteand the roller. 22 at a surface speed of 6.0 feet per minute. The satin fabric emerging from the confining passagecarried innumerable-small lateral ripples. The satin fabric was'passed through the machine alone and itlsh'runk, but no ornamentation was obtained.

We claim:

1. An ornamenting process in which ornamental buckles are formedin a compressively shrinkable sheet material which'comprises compressively shrinking said material .while in surface contact with a compressively bucklable sheet material on each side of said compressively shrinkable sheet material. f 1 r 2. An ornamenting process in which ornamental buckles; are, for-med in a compressively shrinkable sheet material which comprises compressiyely shrinking said material while in surface contact with a compressively bucklable sheet materialin selected areas over the surface of said compressively shrinkable sheet. material.

3. A process for ornamenting compressively shrinkable sheetmaterial'which normally shrinks but does not buekle when subjected to the action of a compressive shrinking machine, which process comprises producing ornamental buckles in the shrinkable sheet material by subjecting said material to the action of a compressive shrinking machine While in surface contact with comprespressively shrinkable sheet material is polyvinyl chloride.

7. A process for ornamenting compressively shrinkable sheet material which normally shrinks but does not buckle when subjected to the action of a compressive shrinking machine, which process comprises producing ornamental buckles in the shrinkable sheet material by subjecting said material to the action of a compressive shrinking machine while in surface contact with compressively bucklable sheet material which normally buckles when subjected to the action of a compressive shrinking machine, and treating the. shrinkable sheet material to retain the ornamental buckles.

8; A process according to claim 7 wherein the compressively shrinkable material is thermoplastic.

9. A process according to claim 7 wherein the compressively shrinkable sheet material is .polyvinyl chloride.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,643,147 Angier Sept. 20, 1927 2,078,904 Gluett Apr. 27, 1937 2,079,273 Angier u May 4, 1937 1 2,146,694 Wrigley et a1. Feb. 7, 1939 2,667,910 Grettve Feb. 2, 1954, 2,825,117 Evans et a1. Mar. 4, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 165,590 Australia Oct. 13, 1955 376,040 Great Britain July 7. 1932

Images