EP0003921B1 - Process for manufacturing a wall covering - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a wall covering according to the preamble of the claim which corresponds to the known characteristics of US - A - 3160548.

To obtain such a coating, it is known to produce the textile element first.

To do this, either we associate fibers with a support veil or more frequently, we deposit transversely to the direction of work advance, that is to say in weft, threads or rovings kept substantially parallel and side by side by longitudinal stitching, parallel to the direction of advance of the work, that is to say in warp and this more especially but not exclusively by means of a machine known as for knitting warp or for crochet ( DE - C - 47 596).

This textile element is then, in a second phase, placed on its dimensionally non-deformable support, generally made of paper, on which it is bonded, for example, by a film of hot-melt plastic material (US - A - 2,274,851 and US - A - 3 160 548).

For this fixing the whole is then heated, for example using a calender to melt the film and definitively fix the textile element on the support (US - A - 3 160548).

The known coating thus obtained is then split longitudinally to the desired width to form perfectly parallel stripes at the edges.

This measurement cannot be carried out earlier because, the textile element taken in isolation is not dimensionally stable, even if it has a veil due to its obtaining according to the first process mentioned.

It is therefore manufactured in excessive width and then resized only after attachment to its support.

Such a manufacturing process has many drawbacks. In particular, in addition to the machine for manufacturing the textile element and bonding it to the support, it requires a machine for depositing this element on the strong support and a cutting device with the desired width, with the additional handling that this requires. ; the cost price is therefore found to be very high.

Furthermore, when the textile element is still deformable on its future support, said element becomes more or less stretched in places and this results in defects in the parallelism of the threads or weft wicks bringing out the joints after bonding of several bands.

Similarly, because of the barber cut, especially when the weft is formed of large strands even twisted, bonding is not enough to maintain the ends of the strands which bristle and also show the joints between the strips.

A result which the invention aims to obtain is a manufacturing process which does not use any other machine and / or handling than that used during the manufacture of the textile element and that ensuring its bonding on the strong support, in order to reduce the cost price of the coating thus obtained.

Another result of the invention is such a process not requiring the cutting of the textile element while obtaining a strip offering perfectly parallel selvedges.

Is also a result of the invention, such a method by which the textile element cannot be deformed and the weft threads cannot be moved even before bonding to the strong support.

In addition, is a result of the invention, such a method by which the ends of the frames are perfectly maintained on the support even in the event of heavy wicks and without these being able to bristle.

For this the invention relates to a method of manufacturing a wall covering according to the characterizing part of the claim.

• - figure 1 : le revêtement mural vu en coupe
• - figure 2: une variante de réalisation de ce revêtement
• - figure 3: le revêtement vu de face.

The invention will be clearly understood with the aid of the description below, given by way of nonlimiting example, with reference to the attached drawings which schematically represent:

• - figure 1: the wall covering seen in section
• - Figure 2: an alternative embodiment of this coating
• - Figure 3: the coating seen from the front.

The wall covering according to the invention comprises, in a known manner, a support 1 which is dimensionally non-deformable, such as a paper, on which an adhesive product 2 is placed, such as a sheet of hot-melt plastic material, and finally a sheet 3 constituting the element. textile of this coating.

This textile element is manufactured using equipment, such as a machine known as crochet or knitting warp and allowing the deposition of at least one strip 4, 5, 6, 7, of threads or rovings forming very tight zig-zag so that the weft sections 4a, 5a, 6a, 7a are side by side and perpendicular to the direction of advance S of the structure, these weft deposits being fixed in this position by stitching 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, parallel to the direction of advance S of the work and therefore with warp threads; such equipment generally makes it possible to manufacture several strips 15, 16 at once of such a textile element.

According to an essential characteristic of the invention, on the one hand, the textile element is manufactured in at least one strip but each exclusively of the width L of the finished covering by providing warp stitching 8 and 14 on the weft just along each edge 17, 18 and, on the other hand, the equipment manufacturing this textile element is provided with the non-deformable support in a strip of width greater than that of said textile element and this support is fixed to the textile element directly through stitching 8 to 14 parallel to the direction of advance S of the structure.

In a preferred mode, each strip is produced in several strips 4, 5, 6, 7 in order to present, after the laying of several strips, weft strip joints other than those between two successive strips so as not to mark the location of these latter seals.

On leaving the equipment producing the textile element which is therefore already associated with its non-deformable support, it suffices to tear off the excess parts of the support formed by the edges 19, 20, and any intermediate parts 21.

This uprooting presents no difficulty, the perforations resulting from the stitching 8 and 14 at the edge having carried out a pre-cutting just under this edge. A cutting tool is therefore not necessary. The uprooting can however be mechanized, for example by means of rollers and / or a drum winding the chute.

The coating thus obtained can then go directly to the bonding station where it is completed in a manner known per se, for example using a heating grille for the film 2 made of hot-melt material.

The fusion of the film, in addition to its collagen action will also ensure the obturation of the perforations of the support resulting from the punctures; no risk therefore of seeing spots appear by penetration of the glue necessary for laying the strips on a wall.

The coating thus obtained is remarkable in particular by the fact that on the selvedges, the weft of the textile element is held in place by warp stitching and is not cut.

In the above description, it was stated that the crochet machine deposited the threads or wicks in very tight zig-zags, but obviously, this is only an example which in no way excludes the possibility of making drawings, all normal applications of threads or rovings according to zig-zag by the machine remaining possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims (1)

1. Method of producing a wall-covering comprising a part (3) which is of a textile nature, associated with a backing (1) of dimensionally stable material, on which backing (1) the textile part (3) is fixed, in accordance with the process, by means of the fusion of a film (2) of a thermofusible substance which is inserted between the textile part and the backing, the said fusion being obtained by heating the unit, for example by means of a calender, characterised in that, before the film (2) is fused:

- the textile part (3) is manufactured in at least one width (15, 16) which is exactly the width L of the finished covering, the said textile part (3) being manufactured by means of an apparatus such as a crocheting machine, enabling at least one strip (4, 5, 6, 7) of threads or roves to be deposited in zig-zags whose straight sections (4a, 5a, 6a, 7a, which are substantially perpendicular to the direction of feed of the product, and which are therefore said to be wefted, are fixed in this position by rows of stitching (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) parallel to the direction (S) of feed of the product and therefore said to be warped, and in that, at the time of this manufacture:

- on the one hand, the backing (1) and its film (2) are fed, as a strip (1) whose width is greater than that (L) of the textile part, to the apparatus manufacturing this textile part (3) in such a way that this backing (1) and this film (2) are fixed on the textile part (3) by rows of warped stitching (8, 9, -10, 11, 12, 13, 14) which already position the wefted lengths,

- on the other hand, two (8 and 14) of the said rows of warped stitching are made on the weft (4a, 7a) directly along each selvedge (17, 18) in order to form there a preliminary cutting in the backing and its film, in order to facilitate the subsequent tearing off of the surplus sections (19, 20, 21 ) of the backing (1) and the film (2).

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