Apparel – Body garments
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-24
2004-10-12
Caldarola, Glenn (Department: 1764)
Apparel
Body garments
C002S069500, C002S097000, C002S164000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06802081
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to clothes, caps, shoes, bedclothes and bedding, and other various articles to be put on humans. More specifically, it relates to moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating heat-retaining articles which develop a heat-generating property by absorbing moisture, an intermediate material used therefor, and a method for producing the intermediate material.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, heat-retaining articles such as clothes, bedclothes and bedding which require a heat-retaining property have generally utilised feather as an intermediate material.
Recently, Japanese Patent No. 2028467 discloses a heat-retaining article using a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber as an intermediate material, which generates heat by absorbing moisture in the vapor phase or the liquid phase discharged from the human body.
The former prior art has provided feather products which are employed under a generic name down. However, when used for sports clothes for skiing, mountaineering, etc., they suffer from dampness, because feather does not have an appreciable moisture-absorbency on its own.
Besides, in such feather products, heat is not generated by the feather on its own. Rather, they retain body heat without a loss in an immobile air layer, which is attributable to a high bulkiness (air content) peculiar to feather and which is secured within an intermediate material itself to impart a heat insulation effect. Inevitably, a feather product with an excellent heat-retaining property employs a greater amount of feather and becomes bulkier as a whole.
On the other hand, according to the latter prior art, the moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating heat-retaining articles which utilise a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber are lacking in bulkiness (air content) equivalent to that of feather. To our inconvenience, even when the moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber generates heat by absorbing moisture in the vapor phase or in the liquid phase discharged from a human body, it cannot hold the heat without a loss.
Besides, this moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber absorbs and releases moisture, not only in a large amount but also at a fast rate. Therefore, the fiber weight is unstable and varies to about twice its weight, depending on the moisture-absorption/release conditions of the moment. Nonetheless, in the factories where such a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber is handled, the fiber is usually handled under a humidified atmosphere for the purpose of avoiding generation of static electricity. This only increases a factor of destabilising the fiber weight. To our inconvenience, it is therefore impossible to blend a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber with a fiber of another species at a stable blending ratio.
The present invention has been made in view of these circumstances and intends to provide a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating intermediate material, which is capable of optimising the function of a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber, a method for producing the same, and a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating heat-retaining article using the intermediate material.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the above objects, a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating intermediate material of the present invention is inserted between an outer material and a lining, both having a moisture-permeable/waterproof property, a windproof property and other desired properties, thereby to constitute a heat-retaining article, wherein the intermediate material comprises a heat-retaining fiber including an air layer of not less than 50 ml per 1 gram and a moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber, each being dried to an inherent minimum moisture content and prepared in a prescribed weight ratio, and wherein the moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber is homogeneously blended and dispersed in the heat-retaining fiber, whereby the moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber generates heat by absorbing moisture in a vapor phase or in a liquid phase discharged from a human body, and an immobile air layer formed by the heat-retaining fiber retains the heat.
Since the outer material and the lining applied to the present invention only need to have a moisture-permeable/waterproof property, a windproof property and other desired properties, their materials are not limited strictly. A variety of materials can be used including polyesters, nylons, acrylic fibers, polypropylenes, polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, rayon, acetate and other chemical fibers; wool, cotton and other natural fibers; natural leather, artificial leather and synthetic leather, and the like. Likewise, there is no strict limitation as to the form of the outer material and the lining. A material may be worked into woven fabric, knitted fabric, non-woven fabric, felt, sheet and film, or may be employed in an unprocessed state.
As for the heat-retaining fibers of the present invention including an air layer of not less than 50 ml per 1 gram, there may be natural fibers including sheep wools, animal wools, clothing wools (merino wool, Corriedale wool, Leicester wool), goat wools (mohair, cashmere, goat wool), camel wools (camel wool, llama wool, alpaca wool, vicuna wool), others (angora rabbit hair), silks (cultivated silk, wild silk), feathers, etc. Further, there may be bulky processed fibers such as hollow fibers, multilobal cross-section fibers and ultra-thin fibers including conjucate fiber. Examples of these heat-retaining fiber products are Dacron (manufactured by Du Pont de Nemours and Company, trade name), Hollofil (manufactured by Du Pont de Nemours and Company, trade name), Thermolite (manufactured by Du Pont de Nemours and Company, trade name), Shrape (manufactured by Toyobo Co., Ltd., trade name), etc.
As for the moisture-absorbent/releasable heat-generating fiber of the present invention, there are mentioned blends of various fiber materials and fine powders of a desiccant which generates absorptive heat in absorbing moisture or water, examples of which include synthetic silica gel, natural silica-alumina-series desiccants, and ceramic-series desiccants such as molecular sieves, etc., and there may also be crosslinked acrylic fibers. The crosslinked acrylic fiber used herein is a fiber comprising an acrylonitrile-series polymer containing 40% by weight or more, preferably 50% by weight or more, of acrylonitrile (hereinafter mentioned as AN) as a starting fiber. It is applicable in the form of staple, tow, yarn, knitted/woven fabric, non-woven fabric, etc. Intermediate fibers obtained in the production process, waste fibers or the like are also applicable. Due to the necessity of the subsequent cutting step, it is preferable that an acrylic tow has 0.1 to 50 denier as the single yarn denier and 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 denier as the total yarn denier.
The AN-series polymer may be either of AN homopolymers or AN copolymers with monomers of other species. The monomers of other species are not particularly limited, so long as they are copolymerizable with AN. Examples of these monomers may include vinyl halides and vinylidene halides; acrylic esters; sulfonic group-containing monomers and salts thereof, such as methallyl sulfonic acid and p-styrenesulfonic acid; carboxylic group-containing monomers and salts thereof, such as methacrylic acid and itaconic acid; and other monomers such as acrylamide, styrene and vinyl acetate.
A process applied herein comprises introducing a hydrazine compound, as a crosslinking agent, into the above acrylic fibers. In an industrially preferable process, treatment is conducted within five hours, with the nitrogen content increase adjusted to 1.0 to 10.0% by weight, in a hydrazine compound concentration of 5 to 60% at 50 to 120° C. Herein, the nitrogen content increase refers to a difference in nitrogen content between the starting acrylic fibers and the acrylic fibers introduced with a hydrazi
Aoyama Shigeru
Ogino Takeshi
Caldarola Glenn
Heller Ehrman White and McAuliffe LLP
Mizuno Corporation
Wachtel Alexis
LandOfFree
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