Fabric (woven – knitted – or nonwoven textile or cloth – etc.) – Nonwoven fabric – Including an additional nonwoven fabric
Patent
1995-07-28
1998-12-15
Lee, Helen
Fabric (woven, knitted, or nonwoven textile or cloth, etc.)
Nonwoven fabric
Including an additional nonwoven fabric
442387, 442391, 442392, B32B 0516, D04H 1300
Patent
active
058496475
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a hydrophilic cotton lap and to novel products made from it, in particular, products in the form of pattern-cut units.
The laps of the invention are 100% cotton fibers and are used to make pattern-cut or pattern-precut packaged products, such as products in the form of an accordion-pleated band packaged in a pouch and removed from the pouch as needed. This type of product is mainly used in dermatology and surgery. Moreover, the lap can be cut into napkin form or into formatted units, such as round or square pads, for uses such as makeup removal or as sanitary baby paper. Furthermore, the cut cellulose composite products made from the lap of the invention can be used as cosmetic or eye pads, or as compresses. Presently many hydrophilic cotton-based products are commercially available. Applicant itself sells hydrophilic cotton products under the trademark LOTUS for formatted-unit, precut, packaged cotton.
Regarding packaged cotton products, conventional web fabrication treats undyed baled cotton by cleaning and opening, followed by batch treatment wherein grease and wax are removed by a soda-based boiling solution to make the cotton hydrophilic. This procedure is followed by rinsing and squeezing, then bleaching, all in the batch mode, for example using oxygenated water or hydrogen peroxide. The bleached cotton, where called for, is further treated with lubricants and/or softeners (sizing). The cotton is dried before being carded to align the fibers and to form webs. A lap is formed by combining several webs previously folded in the direction of production advance to achieve a desired width. Lastly, the lap is accordion-pleated and packaged. Such a lap can be precut before being conditioned. The final product is bulky. The specific weight of a lap is about 400 to 600 g/m.sup.2. The packaging takes up much space, resulting in storage problems and display difficulties when offered for sale.
The appearance of the cotton product so made is highly fuzzy. Also, the cotton product easily frays. Moreover, the precut or cut-out lap delaminates easily, the webs detaching from one another, especially in the case of cotton which is not precut.
Regarding formatted-unit cotton, the fiber treatment is the same as described above, i.e., chemical treatment and drying. Then synthetic fibers are admixed to the treated cotton in a ratio of synthetic-fibers:cotton of about 5:95 to 30:70. The synthetic fibers are heat-melting, for example, they are made of polyethylene, polypropylene or two-component fibers. They are incorporated into the cotton fibers in mixers or sizer-mixers. Next, a lap is formed on a pneumatic lapping apparatus and/or on cards. The lap then moves into a cross-flow air oven of sufficient temperature to melt the synthetic fibers. When they melt, these fibers form a binder between the cotton fibers and provide cohesion to the lap after cooling. Once cooled, the lap is cut into formatted units.
Another manufacturing procedure for a lap to make formatted products is described in French Patent Application No. 2,552,120. In this procedure, chemical boiling-off and bleaching solutions are applied to an undyed, already formed lap wound on a hollow cylinder perforated at its surface. This cylinder subsequently is placed in a collar. The treatment liquids are made to radially circulate through the turns formed by the lap inside an autoclave in such a manner that a pressure differential arises between the liquid entering the cylinder and the liquid leaving the cylinder. As a result of this pressure differential, lap cohesiveness is increased. The lap is then rinsed. Next, the lap is cut into round pad formats.
In light of the above description, cotton laps are manufactured differently depending on their use, namely, whether as a packaged product or as formatted units.
European Patent Application No. 0,405,043 describes cotton round pads comprising a central layer and at least one previously compressed external layer. Each layer corresponds to an already bleached cotton lap. Following cut-out, th
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Lee Helen
River James
LandOfFree
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