Fabric (woven – knitted – or nonwoven textile or cloth – etc.) – Knit fabric
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-27
2001-07-10
Morris, Terrel (Department: 1771)
Fabric (woven, knitted, or nonwoven textile or cloth, etc.)
Knit fabric
C442S307000, C442S312000, C066S195000, C066S203000, C066S08200S
Reexamination Certificate
active
06258738
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to covering shaped panels, i.e. panels that are not necessarily plane and which require the covering used to cover them to be deformed, e.g. by implementing a technique of the hot-forming type. The invention relates more particularly to a covering of this type that presents a textile-like outer appearance and that is easy to clean.
The purpose of such covering is to use material of pleasing appearance to hide some element. For example, in an aircraft cabin, the walls of the cabin are lined with panels made of material that has the qualities that are necessary for absorbing sound, for example melamine-formol type foam. Such panels match the inside shape of the fuselage and they are therefore not plane. When covering is applied to a shaped panel, it is necessary for it to be possible to deform the said covering locally so as to cause it to fit closely over the outside configuration of the panel. It is therefore important for the covering material to be capable of lengthening sufficiently to be able to match the outside shapes of the panel. Naturally, the above remarks concerning panels for aircraft cabins apply equally well to any type of shaped panel.
It is also desirable that such coverings should be pleasing in appearance and easy to clean. From the appearance point of view, it is often desirable for the covering to have a textile-like appearance, which is sufficiently opaque to hide the covered panel and which imparts a warm and comfortable visual effect to the covering, as contrasted with a smooth plastics covering. Nevertheless, a textile-like appearance is generally incompatible with ease of cleaning insofar as the fibers or filaments constituting the textile covering can easily absorb dust, dirty marks, etc.
The object of the Applicant is to propose a covering material for covering shaped panels, that has a good textile-like appearance, and that is easy to clean.
This object is achieved by the covering material of the invention which, in characteristic manner, is constituted by a knit obtained on a four-bar Raschel or warp loom having two ground threads feeding the first guide needle (I) (Raschel notation) and two appearance threads feeding the second and third guide needles (II and III) in the following arrangement:
I
II
II
x
x
x
0
x
x
—
—
—
x
x
x
x
2x
2x
—
—
—
x
x
x
2x
x
x
—
—
—
x
x
x
x
0
0
—
—
—
In addition, the outside face of the knit has a transparent coating of anti-adhesive material.
The particular structure of the knit gives it the desired textile-like appearance, opaqueness, and deformability; the coating in anti-adhesive material prevents stains being absorbed or becoming incrusted in the outside face of the knit; the transparent nature of the coating enables it to maintain its textile-like visual appearance.
Preferably, the value
x
in the arrangement of the Raschel or warp loom is two. The Applicant has observed that knitting in this way provides results of particularly high performance concerning deformability.
The knit obtained on the Raschel or warp loom preferably has a gauge of about 12. This thread density is suitable for giving the knit very good opaqueness, making it possible to mask as well as possible the panel on which the covering is applied.
In a first embodiment, the outside face of the knit is coated in a lightweight membrane that is transparent and highly deformable, and that is made out of an anti-adhesive material. The deformability of the membrane must be at least equivalent to that of the knit so that there is no damage to the covering while it is being applied to the shaped panels that are to be covered. The membrane must be lightweight so as to avoid excessively increasing the weight of the covering and so as to avoid changing its visual appearance and possibly also its feel.
Preferably, the membrane in question is a polyurethane-based membrane which is applied by transfer and is stuck to the surface of the knit by an adhesive that is likewise based on polyurethane.
This type of membrane gives the covering its easy-maintenance qualities insofar as the knit itself is no longer bare but is protected by the membrane which is firstly is difficult to stain and secondly is easy to clean using ordinary cleaning fluids.
In a second variant embodiment, each thread constituting the knit is sheathed in a transparent outer coating of anti-adhesive material. In this second variant, it is the sheathing on each thread constituting the covering that protects the outside face of the knit.
Compared with the first variant, sheathing in this way provides both drawbacks and advantages. To obtain an effect that is equivalent to having an outer membrane, it is necessary for the sheath on each thread to be sufficiently strong, thereby giving rise to a much larger overall increase in the weight of the covering material. Nor is there a total barrier preventing dirt from penetrating into the knit, so dirt can become incrusted between the stitches of the knit, from which it is difficult to clean. Nevertheless, this variant embodiment presents a significant advantage over a membrane when it is desired for the covering to be acoustically transparent (as opposed to acoustically reflecting) in order to avoid decreasing the sound-absorbing efficiency of the shaped panel it covers. This is particularly true when covering sound-absorbing walls, particularly in an aircraft cabin. It is true that a polyurethane membrane, described above as being the preferred embodiment of the invention, also possesses a certain amount of acoustic transparency because of its micropores; nevertheless, the presence of such a membrane still constitutes a factor that diminishes the effectiveness with which the sound-absorbing panel including the membrane in its covering actually absorbs sound.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3624179 (1971-11-01), Carroll
patent: 4026130 (1977-05-01), Gajjar
patent: 4215168 (1980-07-01), Yonemura et al.
patent: 4277527 (1981-07-01), Duhl
patent: 4688403 (1987-08-01), Gajjar
patent: 5638703 (1997-06-01), Callaway
patent: 484 309 (1970-01-01), None
patent: 0 631 004 (1994-12-01), None
patent: 1 092 385 (1966-01-01), None
Derwent Abstract, Japanese Publication AN 86-085470.
Morris Terrel
Texaa
Torres Norca L.
Wolf Greenfield & Sacks P.C.
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