Textiles: weaving – Fabrics – Special shape
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-27
2001-12-11
Falik, Andy (Department: 3765)
Textiles: weaving
Fabrics
Special shape
C428S036100, C428S100000, C428S193000, C138S168000, C439S892000, C174S036000, C002S917000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06328080
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to woven fabric and, while not limited thereto, is particularly directed to sleeving for the protection of elongated items, such as pipes, tubes and electrical conductors. The invention is especially directed to sleeves using weaving techniques for the integral incorporation of fastening means of the hook-and-loop type.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The use of flexible sleeves in the form of woven, braided or knitted webs comprised of monofilament and multifilament yarns for the protection of cables, hoses and the like has become well known in the art. In a typical form of sleeve of this kind, lengthwise extending regions of the sleeving material are provided with interengagable fasteners which are joined together for the purpose of holding the sleeve in its wrap-around configuration. Sleeves manufactured by the Federal-Mogul Systems Protection Group, Inc. are known, which are provided with a multiplicity of hook-and-loop fastener elements arranged in bands which are typically positioned along opposed marginal edges. The hook-type fasteners are formed on woven fabric tapes which are adhesively secured or stitched to the flexible webbing constituting a sleeve. The loop material may also be provided in tape form or may constitute a bulky multifilament fill yarn which has loop-like portions exposed in bands. The filaments of the yarn can be interengaged with the hooks to effect a closure of the sleeve. These sleeves have gained wide acceptance in the art due to their convenience of use, their relatively low cost and because they conveniently allow for cable breakouts at points where an encased cable is required to be connected to a selected instrument or to an item of equipment in a vehicle.
Despite the wide acceptance of the currently available sleeving, a need exists for the application of durable, interengagable hook-and-loop closures in a manner which decreases manufacturing costs and has an equal or superior closure strength as compared to the prior art, having the capability of resisting separation in the absence of the deliberate application of a relatively high separation force.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention, a woven web of sleeving material is comprised of monofilament warps and bulky high denier yarns or other highly compliant yarns as the fill yarns. The sleeve is woven with a band or zone comprising a multiplicity of rows of supplemental warps. Each supplemental warp is woven in a leno weave with an adjacent warp. Periodic loops are formed which project from the surface of the web. These are severed and formed into hooks. The end portions of the supplemental warps are captured and locked in place between the ground warps and the highly compliant fill yarns. To maximize the holding force applied to the hooks, the density of the warps within the zone is quite high. Preferably, the ground warps and supplemental warps are packed so that they touch each other in the zones. To maximize flexibility, a plain weave which is significantly less dense than the weave in the zones may be used for the remainder of the sleeve. This is accomplished by use of fewer warps per inch outside of any zone having integral hooks.
Although bi-component or other compliant yarns may be employed in the fill, a preferred embodiment comprises the use of bulk yarns, especially bulky multifilament yarns as the fill yarns. Such yarns are considered to be as defined in ASTM “Standards on Textile Materials”, Part 33, page 14, 1979 under the general heading “Bulk Yarn” and may include the yarns specifically defined therein as bulky yarn and textured yarn. An important aspect of the use of compliant yarns is that they yield sufficiently to cradle the supplemental warp yarns, forming pockets which capture them in position at the points of crossing with the ground warps. The arrangement has the advantage of providing integrally woven hooks while eliminating any need for the application of an adhesive binder to secure them in place. The construction has the added advantage of elimination of a tendency of the woven web to curl in the lengthwise direction of the woven web as sometimes occurs when the hooks are bound in place.
When bulky yarn is used as the compliant fill yarn, the multifilaments may be exposed in bands which preferably extend in lengthwise zones along the opposite marginal edge of the sleeve or in bands at other locations extending lengthwise of the fabric. The filaments of the exposed yarn are preferably separated as by napping, so as to form loops of fiber which interlock with the hooks when the web is wrapped around the elongated substrates to be protected and the hooks are pressed into the mass of separated filaments.
The hooks are confined to a multiplicity of rows in one or more zones extending lengthwise of the woven web. In a preferred embodiment, the hooks extend along one marginal edge of the web with the loops along the opposite marginal edge. Optionally or additionally, longitudinally extending zones with integral hooks may be spaced inwardly from a marginal edge. Similarly, multifilament yarns exposed to provide engageable loops in one or more zones spaced inwardly from the opposite marginal edge may be provided. Either arrangement provides adjustably by providing for snug fitting of the sleeve around bundles of substrates of various numbers or sizes.
In preferred forms of the invention, it has been found that the supplemental warp monofilaments should be of large diameter. Preferably, the diameter of the warp and the supplemental warp monofilament is in the range of between about 0.008 and about 0.012 inches. Furthermore, it is preferred that where the compliant yarn is a bulky multifilament yarn, it should have a denier of between about 700 and about 1300. The woven product should have a pick density of between about 11 and 19 picks per inch.
Selection of supplemental warp monofilaments and bulky multifilament fill yarns within the ranges above specified has the advantage that the supplemental monofilaments are more readily and tightly captured between the warp monofilaments and the fill yarns. The compliant fill yarn compresses, at its point of contact with the supplemental monofilaments, filling any space surrounding them and preventing slippage when the hooks and loops are pulled apart. Equal or greater closure strength is achieved as compared with commercially available hook-and-loop tape products, even though the density of the hooks is materially lower. This advantage is achieved without the need for an application of a binder to bind the hook elements to the woven web, thereby eliminating a costly and time-consuming step in the process of making the product. When taken together, the use of warp monofilaments and compliant fill yarns achieves an important objective of the invention, namely, a sleeve having integral hook-and-loop closure means with superior closure strength.
The foregoing and as well as other inherent objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment of the invention.
Woven webs having the properties necessary for carrying out the objectives of the invention typically are woven in a plain weave pattern utilizing monofilaments in the warp direction and compliant yarns in the fill. The compliant yarns may be bulk yarns, as defined above and may include bi-component yarns. Bi-component yarns include DREF-spun yarns which may comprise a wire or heat settable monofilament core with a sheath comprised of glass fibers or other compliant fibrous material. Warp monofilaments may be wire or selected from polymeric materials within the category known as “engineered plastics materials” or a combination of the two. Bi-component monofilaments having a core of relatively stiff polymeric material and a sheath of a compliant material may be used as the warp monofilaments or may even be used in the fill. The supplemental warp monofilaments may be resilient wire, although heat settable polymeric materials, such as nylo
Falik Andy
Federal-Mogul Systems Protection Group, Inc.
Synnestvedt & Lechner LLP
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