EP0853697A1

EP0853697A1 - Device for producing preferably patterned textile strips, in particular strips of labels, from a broad web comprising meltable material

Info

Publication number: EP0853697A1
Application number: EP96933419A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Willi Diesner; Marc Vaupel
Original assignee: Vaupel Textilmaschinen GmbH and Co KG
Current assignee: Vaupel Textilmaschinen GmbH and Co KG
Priority date: 1995-10-04
Filing date: 1996-09-28
Publication date: 1998-07-22
Anticipated expiration: 2016-09-28
Also published as: WO1997013023A1; EP0853697B1

Abstract

The invention concerns a device for producing preferably patterned textile strips (10') from a wide band (10) of a meltable material, the device comprising a heated cutting member (21) which may consist of an electrically heated wire. In order to develop an economical and compact device, a spring, advantageously a leaf spring, is associated as a pressure member with this heated wire. The leaf spring (22) has an aperture penetrated by the heated wire (21). Althrough the leaf spring (22) itself is not heated, its pressure region passes so close to the wire (21) that this region still acts on the strip edge areas which have been rendered plastic by the cutting process.

Description

Device for producing preferably patterned textile tapes, in particular label tapes, from a wide web having a meltable material

The invention relates to a device of the type specified in the preamble of claim 1.

In order to produce label tapes, a wide web is first woven on a weaving machine, in which several label tapes are produced in adjacent web zones connected at the edges. Then the wide web between the individual web zones is cut into individual bands by cutters. For this one uses e.g. B. a stationary arranged in the wide web heated wire which produces a fusion cut and at the same time the cut thread ends melts together so that the cut edges cannot fray. There are melting edges on the bands. These melting edges are relatively hard and have a rough profile if they are not post-treated. If such untreated labels are attached to items of clothing, the rough edges of the tape are uncomfortable when wearing such items of clothing.

In order to smooth the rough melting edges of the bands, a resilient pressure member is used, which presses the cut bands in the edge area against a stationary supporting member. In the known device of this type (WO 93/02246), a pair of rollers pressed against one another is used for the post-treatment of the rough strip edges, where the cut strips are pulled through between the two rolls. A wire is used as the heated cutting member. Just because of the rolling diameter, the post-treatment device must be arranged at a considerable distance from the heating wire. The melting edges of the bands coming from the cutting member harden on their way to the rollers. This applies in particular when this device is integrated into a weaving machine on which the broad web is woven at the same time. When weaving, the broad web is only advanced very slowly, which is why it takes a long time for the melted edges of the two cut bands coming from the cutting member to reach the rollers that post-treat them. In addition, because of their relatively large mass, unheated rolls dissipate any residual heat that may still be present in the melted edges of the strips too quickly and accelerate the hardening of the melted edges to such an extent that post-treatment can no longer be carried out. It is therefore necessary for the rolls to be heated independently in order to soften the hardened melting edges of the strips in the area of the rolls. This known device is relatively space-consuming and requires technical effort for heating the post-treatment device. This device is relatively expensive.

In the known device of this type (GB 2 139 937 A), a heated foot is used for the post-treatment of the rough strip edges, which is pressed by a spring-loaded piston against the melting edges of the strips to be treated. In this case there is no support member located on the opposite side of the straps. This device is also relatively space-consuming and has a complicated, failure-prone structure for heating the foot.

The invention is based on the object of developing an inexpensive, space-saving device of the type mentioned in the preamble of claim 1, which allows the production of ideally smooth and soft edges on the strips cut from the wide web. According to the invention, this is achieved by the measures specified in the characterizing part of claim 1, which are of particular importance as follows.

A spring is used as the pressure element, the spring elasticity of which brings about the necessary pressing of the melting edges against a support element arranged on the opposite side of the web. The spring allows such a pressure member to form a compact unit with the cutting member to summarize. Such a spring can be designed as a leaf spring with an opening, with the cutting element engaging in the opening. The effective pressing zone of the spring is so close to the heated cutting member that it still acts on the plastic edge areas of the bands. The combination of the cutting element and the spring allows a very space-saving design. The spring still benefits from the heating of the cutting member and therefore does not need to be heated independently. In addition, the spring has such a low mass that it does not conduct heat away from the plastic edge areas. For this reason, the edge areas of the two bands are still in a plastic state at the effective pressure zone of the spring. In addition, the heat of the heated cutting element can affect the spring arranged closely next to it, namely through thermal radiation or through convection currents. This applies in particular if the spring is designed as a leaf spring with an opening, because the leaf spring serves as a collector for the heat which emanates from the heated cutting element passing through its opening.

According to claim 15, the device according to the invention can be integrated into a weaving machine on which the broad web is woven. The weft thread density of the resulting wide web fabric is determined by a draw-off roller, which not only provides for the weaving feed during the production of the wide web, but also generates the necessary high weaving tension of the warp threads. During weaving, a warp thread is under a relatively high thread tension of 25 to 40 g per warp thread. According to the state of the art, the cutting link—seen in the transport direction of the wide web fabric on the weaving machine—is always arranged in front of the draw-off roller. The invention has recognized that significantly better results are achieved at the band edges if the cutting, pressure and Stutzgheder, according to claim 17, behind the take-off roller of the loom arranges, so in that fabric section that is no longer below that for weaving required high thread tension. The bad results according to the state of the art are evidently because the subsequently treated melting edges develop cracks during their hardening due to the high weaving tension, which again produce roughness at the strip edges. This finding of the invention has independent inventive significance, even without the measures of claim 1 or 2. Further measures and advantages of the invention result from the subclaims, the following description and the drawings. In the drawings, the invention is shown in several exemplary embodiments. Show it:

1 shows a schematic representation of a cross section through a weaving machine, where the special position of the device according to the invention is illustrated,

2, in a sectional side view along the section line II-II of FIG. 3 and on an enlarged scale, a compact device according to the invention,

Fig. 3 shows the top view of the device shown in Fig. 2,

4, in a representation corresponding to FIG. 2 and in a further enlargement, a detail of the device,

5 and 6 two variants of a component of the device shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 and in FIG. 9,

7 shows a detail of the device there that is shown even larger than in FIG. 4,

FIG. 8 shows a top view of the detail of the device shown in FIG. 7 along section line VIII-VIII of FIG. 7, and FIG

9, in a representation analogous to FIG. 4, an alternative embodiment of the device according to the invention.

1 shows the use of the device 20 according to the invention in a weaving machine, where a broad web 10 is produced from warp threads 11 and by insertion of one or more different weft threads as fabric 12. During weaving, the warp threads 11 must be under the relatively high thread tension already mentioned, which amounts to up to 40 g per warp thread 11. In order to be able to cross the warp threads 11 with the weft thread 12 that has been inserted, the warp threads den 11 is spread to form a shed 13 by means of shedding devices, where so-called shafts 14 are provided in FIG. 1, through the strands of which the individual warp threads 11 are passed. The shafts 14 are moved up and down in the shed 13 in the direction of the arrows shown, corresponding to the weaving pattern. The warp thread 1 1 are pulled through a reed 15, with which the registered weft thread 12 are pressed onto the finished fabric. The finished fabric 10 is guided over a breast beam 16 to a take-off roller 17, which determines the advancement of the fabric.

The broad web fabric is in frictional engagement with the circumference of the draw-off roller 17, which thereby absorbs the high yarn tension. The deflection rollers 18 arranged behind the take-off roller 17 transport the fabric section 40 there with a significantly lower tension of a maximum of 20 g per warp thread to a fabric beam 19 . At least one device 20 according to the invention, to be described in more detail below, is arranged in this tissue section 40 . The device 20 is attached to a carrier 41 which runs across the entire width of the tissue 10 . On the carrier 41 there are numerous devices 20 which, depending on their number and their distance from one another, divide the wide web 10 into a corresponding group of individual bands 10'.

The thread material of the weft threads 12 and/or the warp threads 11 can be melted, ie it can be cut using heat. A cutting member 21 provided in the device 20 is used for this purpose and consists of a heated wire in the first exemplary embodiment of FIGS. In a compact arrangement, this heated wire 21 also includes a pressure member 22, which consists of a leaf spring 22 in the present case. According to FIG. 6, the leaf spring 22 is provided with an opening designed as a gap 24, the gap opening 25 of which is open towards the free end of the leaf. According to FIG. 5, the opening in the leaf spring 22' could alternatively consist of a slot 24' surrounded on all sides by the leaf material. The leaf spring 22 is fixed with its opposite leaf end 26 to a housing 50 to be described in more detail below and has an angled free leaf section 27. This angled leaf section 27 moves away from the fabric in the opposite direction to the transport movement 42 of the wide web 10 and acts therefore as casserole oblique. The leaf spring 22 is also bent in a Z-shape and rests with a middle section 28 on a stationary support member 33 which forms the third element of the device 20 and is fastened to the housing 30 . The leaf spring 22 is under a defined spring tension of its resilient leaf material due to its buckling and presses with its central section 28 the fabric 10 or the bands 10' cut from it from the top side of the fabric against the supporting element 33 arranged on the underside of the fabric. The effective pressing zones 29 of the leaf springs 22 and 22' are delimited by the edge 23 and 23' of the opening 24 and 24' and are highlighted in FIGS. 5 and 6 by dot hatching.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the leaf spring 22, the wire 21 passing through its opening and finally the supporting element 33 associated with this leaf spring 22 belong to a compact structural unit 30 which is mounted at the desired point of separation of the broad web 10. This structural unit 30 is part of a block 35 which is plate-shaped, consists of insulating material and is part of the housing 50 already mentioned. At the lower end of the block 35, two electrical connections 31, 32 protrude, which here consist of angular metal sheets, one of which 21 is located above and the other 32 below the broad web 10. The lower plate 32 carries the support member 33, which has a wedge-shaped cross-sectional profile. The wedge tip 34 of the support member 33 is directed downwardly to facilitate assembly of the block 35 to the wide web 10, which is done from the top of the web. The trowel surface 36 opposite the wedge tip 34 is flat, is in surface contact with the underside of the broad web 10 and serves as an abutment for the leaf spring 22 which is supported on it under spring pressure lower end of the wire 21. The upper plate 31 is provided with a thickened head 38 at the end, which also has a fastening means 39 for the other end of the wire 21.

An electrical cable 43 is brought out at the upper end of the block 35, which has electrical supply lines for the heating current of the wire 21, which, which cannot be seen in any more detail, are in electrical connection with the aforementioned angular metal sheets 31, 32. The electrical cable 43 can also contain electrical control lines. The electric Lines of the cable 43 are contacted with electrical components 44 which are arranged inside the block 35 and are used to control the heating of the wire 21 . The electrical components 44 are expediently part of an electrical circuit board 45 which is integrated inside the block 35 . For this purpose, the printed circuit board 45 together with the components

44 and the protruding end of the cable 43 can be cast in a channel 46 of the block 35 by means of a plastic mass. On the circuit board

45 can sit at the same time function displays which gene ausra¬ from the block 35 and z. B. make the thermal operational state of the wire 21 visible. In the present case, the function displays 47 consist of a red and a green glow lamp.

As already mentioned, the block 35 is part of a housing 50, which in the present case consists simply of two flat rare plates 51, 52, the distance 53 from one another being determined simply by the plate thickness of the block 35 lying between them. The block 35 is braced like a sandwich between the two side plates 51, 52 by fastening screws, which protrude through bores 55 in the block 35 and are anchored in the side plates 51, 52 at both ends.

The structural unit 30 is fastened by means of the housing 50 to the support 41 already mentioned, which here consists of a support rail 41 running transversely across the fabric. To hold the housing 50, the mounting rail 41 has an upper and a lower profile strip 48, 49. The lower profile strip 48 has an edge cross-section that serves to guide the housing 50 along the mounting rail 41 and into a corresponding angular cutout 58 at the rear end of the two housing side plates 51, 52 engages. In the case of fastening, the upper profile strip 48 of the support rail 41 is gripped from behind by a snap spring 59 which acts as a holding means for the housing 50 . The snap-action spring 59 is, as shown in FIG. 3, arranged in the space 53 between the two side plates 51, 52 and sits on an insert 54, which in turn is fastened between the two plates 51, 52 by screws passing through bores. The insert piece 54 also rests on the front face of the upper profile strip 49 for guidance purposes. The insert piece 54 is also sandwiched between the two rare plates 51, 52, for which purpose the plate-shaped block 35 at its end facing the support rail 41 has a stepped breakout 57 has.

In the case of fastening, as shown in FIG. 2, the snap spring 59 engages behind a rear edge of the upper profile strip 49 and holds the housing 50 under spring tension in a form-fitting manner on the mounting rail 41. In the opening 57 of the plate-shaped block 35 there is also a further insert piece 56 which, in the case of assembly, is guided effectively on the front end face of the lower profile strip 48 for guidance. This insert 56 is also provided with bores for fastening screws which hold the insert 56 sandwiched between the two side plates 51, 52. The Schπappfeder 59 can by a tool such. B. a screwdriver from their upper profile bar 49 hintergrei Fenden assembly position of Fig. 2 are solved. The housing 50 can then be tilted away from the mounting rail 41 in the direction of the pivoting arrow 65 in order to be able to dismantle it from the mounting rail 41 . The pivot point for this pivoting movement 65 is then in the region of the plate cutouts 58 described on the lower profile strip 48. After pivoting away 65, the housing 50 can also be pulled off the lower profile strip 48 and thus easily removed from the support rail 41. The housing 50 is mounted on the mounting rail 41 in the opposite direction.

In the case of the invention, adjusting means 60 are also provided on the housing 50, which are used for its longitudinal adjustment in the direction of the double arrow 66 along the support rail 41 according to FIG. This is necessary to set the exact width of the tapes 10' to be cut. These adjusting means 60 include pinions 62 which are in engagement with toothed racks 61 provided on the support rail 41 . The toothed racks 61 are arranged on the front face of the support rail 41 between the two profile strips 48, 49 mentioned. The adjusting means 60 on the housing side are arranged in the space 63 between the two side plates 51, 52 and are located in the breakout 57 of the block 35 arranged between them, which has already been mentioned several times 68 protrudes at the upper end of the housing 50 and is rotatably mounted in an upper and lower bearing 64, 67 which is located in the mentioned inserts 54, 56. The shaft 63 can be rotated in the direction of the actuation arrow 69 in FIG. rail 41 is coming.

4, 7 and 8 show the relevant components of the structural unit 30 according to the invention in different sizes. The distances 75, 76 between the rear and lateral edges 23 that can be seen in FIG. 8 can be less than 1 mm; a distance of 0.75 mm 75 or 76 is sufficient. The wire 21 itself can be heated to red heat and therefore get a temperature above 400. During the transport 42 of the wide web 10 during weaving, a separating cut 70 occurs behind the wire 21, which cut divides the wide fabric 10 into the two bands 10' shown in FIG. The resulting melt edges 77 are reshaped and smoothed by the already described effective pressing zone 29 of the leaf spring 22 on the support member 33 . In the effective pressing zone 29, the two melting edges 77 are still plastic. In addition, the leaf spring is heated indirectly by the strongly heated wire 21. For the transfer of heat to the leaf spring 22, a convection flow emanating from the heated wire 21 or thermal radiation can act on the leaf spring 22. For this heat transfer, the aforementioned angled course between the center piece and the end piece 27 of the leaf spring 22 is favorable.

9 shows an alternative device 20' according to the invention which need only be described in terms of its differences from the previous device 20. FIG. In other respects, the previous statements also apply to this device 20'. A first difference is that the cutting member consists of a bow-shaped blade 71 here. The blade 71 has a U-shape, the thickness of the bow being substantially flatter in the area 74 of the apex of the bow than in the area of the two ends 72, 73 of the two legs of the bow. As a result, when the heating current flows through, maximum heating occurs in the area 74 of the crown of the bow. Here, too, the bow-shaped blade 71 penetrates with its U-apex region 74 through the slot 24' of the leaf spring 22' already described, which is used as a pressure element in this device 20'. In this case, the two electrical connections 78, 79 have this Cutting member 71 on the same side of broad web 10. Leg ends 72, 73 are attached to a slide 80 which is spring loaded in the direction of push arrow 81 against support member 33' of device 20'. The slide 80 is guided in its direction of displacement 81 in a housing of this device 20' shown in more detail. The end 25 of the leaf spring 22', already described in connection with FIG. 5, is fixed in place on this housing.

This device 20 ′ can also be arranged in a corresponding number along a support rail and can be adjusted in the longitudinal direction of the rail, as has been described in connection with the device 20 . However, there is a difference in the device 20' in that all the devices 20' are assigned a common support member 33'. This consists of a multi-layer rod. This includes first a zentra¬ le cartridge heater 82, the z. B. steel is clad. In the jacket 83 there is a longitudinal groove in which a round rod 84 made of ceramic material is arranged. The rod 84 serves as an abutment for the blade 71 and, together with the jacket 83, also as a support member for the leaf spring 22'. The ceramic rod 84 forms an edge for deflecting the web between the wide web 10 and the cut ribbons 10'.

The devices 20 according to the invention and in particular 20' do not have to be integrated into a loom according to FIG. Instead of such an "on-loom" design, the device could also be part of a cutting table, where a wide web 10 previously produced on a loom or on a knitting machine is to be subsequently cut into individual bands 10'. In this case there is an "off-loom" execution.

In order to smooth the fabric after weaving, a heat treatment known as "thermosetting" is used. This thermal fixing is best carried out in the area of the take-off roller 17. The means 85 required for this are shown in FIG. Reference list:

Broad web "band warp thread weft thread weaving shed of 1 1 shaft for 13 Breast tree take-off roller for 10 To guide roller for 10 'tape winding device, goods tree first device (Fig. 1 to 8)' second device (Fιg.9) cutting member, wire, 22' pressure ghed, leaf spring, 23' edge of 22 or 22' breakthrough, Gap 'breakthrough, slit gap opening of 24 fastening end of 22 or 22' free, angled sheet end middle section of 22 press-effective zone of 22 or 22' (Fig. 5, 6) unit connection for 21, angled sheet metal connection for 21, angled Sheet metal, 33' support member on 32 wedge tip of 33 plate-shaped block of 50 wedge end surface of 33 fasteners for 21 on 33 head on 31 fasteners for 21 on 38 fabric section of 10 or 10' carrier for 20, carrier rail arrow l of the transport movement of 10 or 10' electrical cable electrical components electrical printed circuit board for 44 channel in 35 function displays on 35 lower profile bar of 41 upper profile bar of 41 housing first side plate of 50 second side plate of 50 distance between 51, 52 Insert piece for 59 bore in 35 further insert piece in 53 breakout of 35 cutout of 51, 52 for 48 snap spring on 50 for 49 adjusting means for 50 longitudinal 41 toothed rack on 41 pinion of 60 shaft of 62 upper bearing of 63 in 54 pivoting movement arrow of 50 (Fig 2) Longitudinal adjustment from 50 (Fig. 3) lower bearing from 63 to 56 actuating end from 63 actuating arrow from 63 separating cut between 10' (Fig. 8) bow-shaped blade (Fig. 9) first leg from 71 second leg from 71 apex area of 71 Rear distance between 21, 23 Lateral distance between 21, 23 Melting edge of 10' (Fig. 8) Electrical connection for 72 Electrical connection for 73 Slider for 71 (Fig. 9) Thrust arrow from 80 Heating cartridge from 33' Jacket from 82 Round rod in 83 Means for heat setting at 17 (Fig. 1)

Claims

P atent claims:

1. A device for producing preferably patterned textile tapes (10'), in particular label tapes, from a broad web (10) having meltable material, which preferably consists of a woven or knitted fabric having meltable thread material (11, 12),

with at least one heated cutting element (21) which is arranged at the desired separation point (70) of the wide web (10) and cuts the wide web (10) into two strips (10') lying parallel next to one another by melting the web material,

and with at least one resilient pressure member (22) which presses the cut bands (10') in the edge area against a stationary support member (33) and smoothes the rough melting edges (77) of the bands (10'),

characterized,

that the pressure member consists of a spring (22) which is not heated itself,

but with its effective pressing zone (29) so close to the heated cutting member (21) that this zone (29) still acts on the heated cutting member (21) plasticized edge areas of the bands (77).

Device according to Claim 1, characterized in that the spring is a leaf spring (22, 22') and the leaf spring (22, 22') has an opening (24, 24'), that the cutting member (21) has the opening ( 24, 24') of the leaf spring (22, 22') and that the edge (23, 23') of the opening (24, 24') penetrates the effective pressing zone (29) of the leaf spring (22, 22').

3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the free gap (75, 76) between the effective melting point of the cutting member (21) on the one hand and the effective pressing zone (29) of the leaf spring (22, 22') on the other hand is smaller than 3 mm is formed and is preferably less than 1 mm.

4. Device according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the opening in the leaf spring (22') consists of a slot (24') which encloses the cutting member (21; 71) projecting through on all sides.

5. Apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the opening consists of a gap (24) open on one side in the leaf spring (22), the gap opening (25) of which is directed towards the still uncut section of the broad web (10).

6. The device according to one or more of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the leaf spring (22, 22') is angled towards the still uncut area of the broad web (10) and the angled portion (27) extends in the direction of the Leaf spring end increasingly removed from the broad web ( 10).

7. The device according to one or more of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the cutting member consists of a heated wire (21), the wire ends of which lie on opposite sides of the wide web to be cut (10).

8. The device according to one or more of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the cutting member consists of a bow-shaped blade (71) whose bow apex region (74) protrudes through the opening (24 ') of the leaf spring, both bow ends ( 72, 73) but on the same side of the broad grain ( 10).

9. The device according to one or more of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that not only the leaf spring (22) and the Durch¬ opening (24) of the leaf spring (22) through cutting member (21), but a single support (33) arranged opposite this leaf spring (22) form a preassembled compact structural unit (30) and this structural unit (30) can be mounted at the desired separation point (70) of the broad web (10).

10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that the Bauein¬ unit (30) is part of a block (35), wherein the block (35) on a wide web (10) crossing carrier (41) sits and - for setting the desired width of the bands (10') to be cut out - is adjustable (66) along the carrier.

1 1. A device according to claim 10, characterized in that at least some electrical components (44), which are used to control the heating of the cutting member (21), are integrated in the respective block (35).

12. The apparatus of claim 10 or 1 1, characterized in that the block (35) function displays (47) for the thermal and / or mechanical operating state of the associated cutting member (21) are inte¬ grated.

13. Device according to one or more of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that the block (35) has a plate shape and is part of a housing (50) consisting of two spaced apart plates (51, 52),

that the block (35) consists of insulating material and is fastened in the space (53) between the two side plates (51, 52) of the housing (50),

wherein the block (35) has electrical connections for the cutting member (21) and optionally contains the electrical components (44) for heating control of the cutting member (21),

and that the housing (50), the holding means (58, 59) for attaching the block (35) to the carrier (41) and, if necessary, the adjusting means (60) for longitudinal adjustment (41) of the block (35) on the carrier (41) carries.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, characterized in that the holding means (59) and optionally the adjusting means (60) are arranged in the space (53) between the two rare plates (51, 52) of the housing (50).

15. The device according to one or more of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the combination of the cutting member (21) and the leaf spring (22) or the structural unit (30) from the cutting member (21), the leaf spring (22) and the support member (33) or the block (35) having the unit (30) are integrated into a weaving machine on which the wide web (10) is produced.

16. The device according to one or more of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the combination of the cutting member (21) and the leaf spring (22) or the structural unit (30) from the cutting member (21), the leaf spring (22) and the support member (33) or the block (35) containing the unit (30) are part of a cutting table which allows a wide web (10) produced otherwise to be subsequently cut into individual bands (10').

17. Device in particular according to claim 15 with a take-off roller (17) which determines the weft thread density of the fabric in the weaving machine, characterized in that the combination of the cutting member (21) and the leaf spring (22) or the structural unit (30) consists of the cutting member (21), the leaf spring (22) and the support member (33) or the block (35) having the structural unit - seen in the transporting direction (42) of the Breitbahπ fabric (10) on the loom - in a behind the Discharge roller (17) lying fabric section (40) is arranged, which is no longer under the high fabric tension required for weaving.

18. Device according to claim 17, characterized in that an additional heat treatment for the so-called fixing of the fabric (10) on the still uncut wide web (10) takes place in the region of the draw-off roller (17).

19. Apparatus according to claim 17, characterized in that a device for additional heat treatment and fixing of the fabric is arranged behind the take-off roller (17) of the weaving machine and optionally takes place on the already cut ribbons (10') of the fabric.