Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Discontinuous or differential coating – impregnation or bond
Patent
1992-05-18
1994-02-15
Bell, James J.
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond
5482, 428 68, 428 76, 428224, 428297, 428369, 428375, 428394, D04H 158
Patent
active
052865568
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
The invention pertains to fiber aggregates for use as shaped materials or fillers for textiles such as bedspreads, garments or the like. In addition, the present invention pertains to a shaped material or filler consisting of a plurality of such fiber aggregates, along with a method for making the textile.
STATE OF THE ART
Fillers for textiles such as bedspreads, garments or the like are widely known.
For centuries, bedspreads have been filled with down, feathers, animal hair and the like. Down fillers are very pleasant to use, being lightweight and providing good thermal insulation. However, down-filled bedspreads and garments are highly expensive.
Other fillers such as feathers or animal hair, such as camel-hair, are also known and are more economical than down, but are also harder than down.
Attempts have long been made to manufacture a down-like product consisting of synthetic fibers.
Illustratively, a ball of fibers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,599, which consists of spherically wound synthetic fibers. Essentially the fibers are arranged in a spherical shell with comparatively few fibers being present at the sphere center. By heat treatment, the fibers of this fiber ball are bonded to each other, so that a durable and stiff fiber ball is achieved.
German patent document B 2,301,913 discloses a filler consisting of shaped materials which are round in cross-section. This filler is made of fiber aggregates with individual filaments at least 200 nm long being used to manufacture the individual aggregates. These filaments are separated from each other by a gas jet and blown into a vessel having a perforated wall and are collected therein. The filaments are then rotated by means of a gas jet blown eccentrically into the vessel, thereby causing the filaments to form a spherical shaped fiber ball with spherically wound fibers. Each fiber ball evinces a higher density away from its center, with preferably no fibers being present at the center. Synthetic fibers such as polyamide, polyester, polyacrylic acid, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylidene chloride, polyurethane and polyvinyl chloride are used to form such fiber balls. However various synthetic fibers which differ in their thermoplastic properties also may be mixed.
Because the synthetic filaments bond at their contact points, these known fiber balls cannot hook into or penetrate each other. Even though such a fiber ball evinces similar properties to down when used as a filler, especially the characteristics of bulk, compressibility, softness, thermal insulation, low weight and good conformance to the body being enveloped, the fiber ball nevertheless incurs the drawback that the individual balls will easily shift inside a pillow or a bedspread. This is especially disadvantageous for bedspreads and garments because when such a textile is shaken or moved in some other way, the fiber balls shift inside the cover and, with time, few or even no balls will be left in some areas of the textile. This results in cold areas, wherein the material no longer insulates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,531 also discloses a polyester fiber ball serving as a filler, of which the fibers are spirally crimped. For these fiber balls, only very few fibers project beyond the ball surface. Therefore, the cohesion between the balls made by the method defined in this patent is about 6 Newtons. Therefore, the fiber balls can easily shift relative to each other. If such fiber balls are used as fillers, they will shift when pressure is applied to a particular spot in the filler mass. For example, when such a filler is used in a bedspread, shaking of the bedspread will result in zones or areas with a lot of fiber balls and other zones with few or no fiber balls. In the latter zones, there will be cold areas because of the lack of sufficient filler.
Such fiber balls therefore are poorly suited for bedspreads or the like, wherein the balls should be loose, but may shift because of their properties.
To prevent excessive shifting in textiles such as bedspreads, garments and the lik
REFERENCES:
patent: 4065599 (1977-12-01), Nishiumi et al.
patent: 4297404 (1981-10-01), Nguyen
patent: 4333976 (1982-06-01), Okamoto et al.
patent: 4413030 (1983-11-01), Tesch et al.
patent: 4618531 (1986-10-01), Marcus
patent: 4668553 (1987-05-01), Scott et al.
patent: 4820574 (1989-04-01), Tesch
patent: 4859516 (1989-08-01), Yamanaka et al.
patent: 4952265 (1990-08-01), Yamanaka et al.
LandOfFree
Fiber aggregates serving as shaped materials or fillers for text does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Fiber aggregates serving as shaped materials or fillers for text, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Fiber aggregates serving as shaped materials or fillers for text will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1205520