US3234971A

US3234971A - Heat-setting of fabrics

Info

Publication number: US3234971A
Application number: US330294A
Authority: US
Inventors: Horne Ronald; Jr John L Marshall; Jr Paul M Neisler
Original assignee: Dicey Mills Inc
Current assignee: Dicey Mills Inc
Priority date: 1963-12-13
Filing date: 1963-12-13
Publication date: 1966-02-15
Anticipated expiration: 1983-02-15
Also published as: DE1535787A1; GB1084774A; BE656975A; LU47580A1

Description

Feb. 15, 1966 R. HORNE ETAL 3,234,971

HEAT-SETTING OF FABRICS Filed Dec. 15, 1963 INVENTORS' RONALD HORNE JOHN L. MARSHALL, JR.

PAUL M. NEISLER, JR.

ATT NEY 3,234,971 HEAT-SETTING F FABRlCS Ronald Home, and .iohn L. Marshall, In, Pensacola, Fla,

and Paul M. Neisler, Jr., Kings Mountain, N.C., assignors, by direct and mesne assignments, to Dicey Mills incorporated, a corporation of North Carolina Filed Dec. 13, 1963, Ser. No. 330,294 4 Claims. (Cl. 139291) The present invention relates to thermally setting newlyformed textile products. More particularly, the invention concerns thermally setting the product directly on the loom or knitting machine.

Newly-formed textile products are frequently somewhat unstable physically and may be susceptible to damage by disarrangement or displacement of the fibers or yarns during latex-coating, dyeing or other subsequent operations. This susceptibility to damage is particularly severe with certain fabric constructions, such as tufted-pile or loopedpile fabrics. Sections of the fabric in which the pile has been disturbed frequently must be discarded since it would be uneconomical to repair them; in some operations waste or losses from this cause are as high as or percent of the total yardage produced. According to the present invention, the fabric is heat-set while still on the loom and before the face of the fabric has been contacted by anything which might disturb the original and desired woven configuration.

Accordingly a primary object of the invention is to provide an efficient method for heat-setting of fabrics.

A further object is to provide a method of the above character which significantly increases the output of first quality fabric.

A further object is to provide heat-setting apparatus for practicing the above method.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a more complete understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which the single figure is a schematic view of fabric-forming apparatus incorporating the present invention.

Referring now to the drawing, the invention is illustrated on a generalized fabric-forming apparatus 20, which for simplicity of discussion will be considered to be a Jacquard loom producing a woven looped-pile fabric 22. Immediately after being formed at the needles or pick line (not illustrated), fabric 22 passes over a support member such as roll 2 and is laterally spread to the proper fabric width by a conventional temple mechanism 26. Fabric 22 next passes over a guide roll 28 and is wound on a take-up roll 30.

According to the present invention a heating element 32 is mounted on loom and extends transversely under fabric 22 to heat-set the loops in the woven position at some point before the fabric is taken up by take-up roll 30, i.e., before anything contacts or disarranges the loops on the face of the freshly-formed fabric. A temperature controller 34 is connected to heating element 32, and maintains the element at the proper temperature.

Generally speaking, the rate at which heat is applied to the fabric may vary over a wide range, being limited by the melting point of the filaments on the one hand and by the necessity of applying heat rapidly enough to set nited States Patent 0 3,234,971 Patented Feb. 15, 1966 the fabric as it is woven on the other hand. The proper temperature of element 32 will be determined by such factors as the fabric construction, the types of yarn employed, the spacing of the heating element from the fabric, the speed of the fabric past the heating element, and other similar considerations which will readily occur to those skilled in the art.

As a specific example of the practice of the invention as applied to a Jacquard loom, heating element 32 was mounted about inch below the lower or back surface of fabric 22, and extended across the entire width of the fabric. The backing fabric was of cotton and rayon construction and the looped-pile was continuous filament nylon yarn having a total denier of 840 and 136 filaments. With about 7 /2 linear inches of fabric being woven and passing over element 32 per minute, temperature controller 34 was adjusted to maintain element 32 at about C.

In normal operation of this particular loom without heat-setting provided by element 32, approximately 6 to 8 yards of fabric per 60-yard cut were damaged by displacement of the loops during the various finishing operations to which the fabric was subjected. in contrast, when element 32 was maintained at 165 C., the damaged fabric was reduced to about two yards per 60-yard cut. The practice of the invention thus produces a substantial reduction in damaged fabric and a consequent gain in efficiency.

While the invention has been specifically described as applied to a Jacquard loom producing a woven loopedpile fabric, and while the advantages of the invention are most fully realized when used for heat-setting woven tufted-pile or looped-pile fabrics such as carpets or upholstery fabrics, some degree of the advantages of the invention may be obtained by similarly heat setting other fabric constructions on the loom or knitting machine immediately after the fabric is formed and before the desired fabric construction can be disarranged.

It may be seen from the above description together with the accompanying drawing that the present invention provides for greatly increased efiiciency in the production of fabrics which contain thermoplastic yarns capable of being heat-set. By heat-setting the freshly formed fabric on the loom or knitting machine before the fabric has been disarranged by subsequent processes, the fabric is stabilized in the desired form and is much less subject to damage in later processing operations to which the fabric may be subjected. The invention may conveniently be practiced by mounting an electrical heater adjacent the freshly formed fabric at some point before the fabric is taken up. Since electrical heaters are conveniently available in compact physical dimensions, such heaters may readily be added to existing looms or knitting machines at a minimum cost. However, other heat sources may be installed in place of the specifically disclosed electrical heater, if desired.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in carrying out the above process and in the construction set forth without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following'claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of manufacturing stable pile fabrics, comprising in combination:

(a) forming said fabric with a thermoplastic yarn projecting from the face of said fabric in a series of unrestrained loops;

(b) heating the back of said fabric to a temperature higher than the drawing temperature of said yarn before the face of said fabric is contacted;

(c) and taking up said fabric.

2. A method of manufacturing stable pile fabrics, comprising in combination:

(b) heating said fabric sufiiciently to thermally set said yarn within said fabric before the face of the fabric is contacted;

(c) and taking up said fabric.

3. Apparatus for producing stable fabrics from yarn composed at least in part of thermoplastic filaments, said apparatus comprising in combination:

(a) yarn handling means for forming said yarn into a fabric with said thermoplastic filaments projecting from the face of said fabric in a series of unrestrained loops;

(b) fabric take-up mechanism for taking up said fabric in an orderly fashion;

(c) and heat-setting means located between said yarn handling means and said take-up mechanism for thermally setting said unrestrained loops before said fabric is engaged by said take-up mechanism.

4. A loom weaving a fabric composed at least in part of thermoplastic yarn, said loom comprising:

(a) yarn handling means for forming said yarn into a fabric with said thermoplastic yarn projecting from the face of said fabric in a series of unrestrained loops;

(b) a temple mechanism for spreading the freshly woven fabric to its proper width;

(c) heating means located adjacent said fabric at a point near said temple mechanism for heat-setting said spread fabric in its woven configuration while said projecting loops are unrestrained;

(d) and means for taking up said heat-set fabric in an orderly fashion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 270,321 1/1883 Lister et al. 139-292 X 1,305,373 6/1919 Koch 13921 1,835,316 12/1931 Mellor 139-397 2,101,286 12/1937 Theunissen 139398 2,769,222 11/1956 Southwell 139291 X 2,815,558 12/1957 Bartovics 2872 2,821,457 1/1958 Erlich 2872 X 2,973,018 2/1961 Finlayson et al 139391 2,983,288 5/1961 Metzler 139-291 3,061,907 11/1962 Nicholl 139291 X 3,078,543 2/1963 Bloch 139391 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,045,354 12/1958 Germany.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

RUSSELL C. MADER, Examiner.

Claims

3. APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING STABLE FABRICS FROM YARN COMPOSED AT LEAST IN PART OF THERMOPLASTIC FILAMENTS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING IN COMBINATION: (A) YARN HANDLING MEANS FOR FORMING SAID YARN INTO A FABRIC WITH SAID THERMOPLASTIC FILAMENTS PROJECTING FROM THE FACE OF SAID FABRIC IN A SERIES OF UNRESTRAINED LOOPS; (B) FABRIC TAKE-UP MECHANISM FOR TAKING UP SAID FABRIC IN AN ORDERLY FASHION; (C) AND HEAT-SETTING MEANS LOCATED BETWEEN SAID YARN HANDLING MEANS AND SAID TAKE-UP MECHANISM FOR THERMALLY SETTING SAID UNRESTRAINED LOOPS BEFORE SAID FABRIC IS ENGAGED BY SAID TAKE-UP MECHANSIM.