Bleaching and dyeing; fluid treatment and chemical modification – Fluid treatment – Combined liquid and gas or vapor
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-27
2004-03-09
Stinson, Frankie L. (Department: 1746)
Bleaching and dyeing; fluid treatment and chemical modification
Fluid treatment
Combined liquid and gas or vapor
C008S151000, C008S158000, C068S00500D, C068S00500D, C068S20500R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06702862
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a method for stabilizing a woven, knitted or other cloth, an apparatus for stabilizing the same, and a method for manufacturing the same.
BACKGROUND ART
A woven, knitted or other cloth for a sewing purpose undergoes a number of processes such as spinning, weaving or knitting, degumming, breaching, dying, and so on, before becoming the final product. During these processes, an individual fiber or yarn is forced to stretch or shrink. Part of the stretch or shrinkage appears as permanent dimensional change whereas the rest stays latent within the cloth as residual strain. When sewn, if the cloth is moistened or heated for ironing or thermally bonding an interlining cloth, then the residual strain is released, appearing as dimensional change, namely stretch and/or shrinkage, often resulting in a wrinkle or distortion in the cloth.
A reason for this is presumably that the moisture, heat and so on make inside of the cloth lubricated and swollen, promoting interaction among different forces such as partial release of the internal stress of the fiber, change in molecular movement, change in molecular cluster structure, change in fiber aggregate structure and so on, allowing the fiber or the yarn to return to a state of stabilization. In order to eliminate the stretch and shrinkage during or after the sewing process, a variety of dimension stabilizing treatments are performed before the interlining-cloth bonding process or the sewing process.
For example, a sponging treatment disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-228858 is one of the dimension stabilizing treatments mentioned above. The sponging treatment has been a mainstream of the dimension stabilizing treatments for a variety of cloths.
The sponging treatment disclosed in the above gazette is a combination of steaming treatment and steam-pressing treatment, and is considered to reduce an amount of dimensional change such as shrinkage and stretch during the interlining-cloth bonding process and intermediate/finish pressing process.
In the interlining-cloth bonding process, in which the stretch and shrinkage of the cloth is most intense, the cloth and the interlining cloth are heated up to about 130° C. in general so as to melt a thermally plastic binder on an bonding boundary surface. Thereafter, the cloth and the interlining cloth are pressed to bond together.
In recent years, with an increasing diversity in the cloth material, there is an increasing diversity in weaving structure and so on. Further, density of the cloth often varies from place to place. For these reasons, it is difficult to heat an entire cloth uniformly.
In such a case as above, in order to attain a guaranteed lowest temperature of a surface to be bonded with the interlining cloth, temperature of the heater is often increased. However, if the temperature of the heater is increased, inconsistency develops in heating temperature, and the cloth near the heater is subjected to a high temperature, which often exceeds 150° C.
Under such a temperature condition as above, the cloth develops significant stretch and/or shrinkage even after the sponging treatment as disclosed in the above gazette. Thus, the cloth must be pre-cut in an over size, and then re-cut into a desired size after the interlining cloth is bonded. This leads to a problem that a significantly increased number of steps must be necessary.
Even if the interlining cloth is not bonded, the cloth is often finish-pressed or ironed at a temperature of 140° C. or higher. If the cloth is subjected to such a high temperature even for a short time, the cloth develops significant shrinkage and/or stretch even after treated by the prior art sponging treatment, often resulting in a product with flaw such as a wrinkle.
Further, in the conventional stabilizing apparatus as described above, the cloth which is like a long ribbon is wound around a number of rollers while each of the steps as described above is performed. This means that the operations are made to the cloth which is under tension, and dimension stabilizing effect cannot be achieved sufficiently.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for stabilizing the cloth, an apparatus for stabilizing the cloth, and a method for manufacturing the cloth capable of solving the above problems, thereby stabilizing the size of the cloth to be bonded with the interlining cloth, to be finish-pressed or otherwise treated, as well as eliminating the development of the wrinkle and so on.
A method for stabilizing cloth according to the present invention comprises a moisture controlling step of adding water to the cloth, and a thermal pressing step of pressing the water-added cloth under heat, and further, each of the steps is performed while the cloth is supported on a belt running horizontally.
Generally, when the interlining cloth is thermally bonded in the interlining-cloth bonding process, pressing operation is usually performed under dry and hot condition. Further, in order to make sure that the entire surface to bond to the interlining cloth is maintained at a temperature higher than a melting temperature of the thermally plastic binder, the whole cloth is maintained at a high temperature for a predetermined time and then the pressing is made by a roller. Therefore, a surface of the cloth near the heater is subjected to thermal load greater than a temperature necessary for the bonding. The inventor of the present invention discovered that during the interlining-cloth bonding process or the finish-pressing process after sewing, the surface of the cloth is subjected to a temperature much higher than the temperature applied in the conventional sponging treatment and so on, and the pressing operation is performed under this high temperature. Another finding was that during these steps, moisture in the cloth is significantly reduced from a normal amount contained under temperature and humidity conditions of a room where the cloth is being treated.
The inventor of the present invention confirmed that if the cloth is pre-treated under conditions reflecting the temperature and humidity used in the above interlining-cloth bonding process and so on, the cloth does not overly stretch or shrink even when the interlining-cloth bonding process is performed by heating the whole cloth at a temperature higher than 150° C., and came to the invention of a method for stabilizing cloth according to the present application.
By adding moisture, it becomes possible to reduce friction thereby increase lubrication among fibers or yarns of the cloth. Further, it becomes possible to prevent damage to the texture of the cloth and deterioration in mechanical characteristics of the cloth caused by a high thermal load applied in a thermal pressing step to be described later. The moisture controlling step can be performed by spraying water to the cloth, or spraying steam from a boiler for example, to the cloth.
If no moisture is added, thermal conductivity decreases, making difficult to stabilize the cloth, increasing possibility for damage to the cloth when the cloth is heated to a temperature necessary for the stabilization.
There is no specific limitation to an amount of moisture to be added; however, it is preferable to allow the cloth to contain an amount of moisture at least greater than normally contained therein at a temperature of a room where the stabilization is performed. If the amount of moisture is less than normally contained, the cloth may be damaged when heated. In order to obtain dimension stabilizing effect, the amount of moisture to be added should be 5% or less of a weight of the cloth under the normal condition. Further, the effect can be expected in most of the cloths by adding 2% through 4% of moisture.
The cloth stretches/shrinks when added with even a small amount of moisture. Therefore, even the moisture controlling step is performed while supporting the cloth on a belt running horizontally, making sure that no extra stress is caused in the cloth.
In the thermal
Shikokuizumisenni, LTD
Westerman, Hattorri, Daniels & Adrian, LLP
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