EP1148163B1 - Layered product presenting terry loops with overlapping strands - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a set laminate which consists, on the one hand, of a knitted fabric warp or weft, which has knitted free loops and, on the other hand, by a support, for example flexible, of reinforcement on which this knitted fabric is glued.

The invention applies in particular to such a set which is used for making the part female of a so-called hook-and-loop closure, the loops are intended to cooperate, in a separable connection attachment, with complementary male elements, by example of hooks, filiform elements with bulging heads or the like, etc. Such female parts are known for example by document FR-A-2.632.830.

For cost reasons, we are led to make a knitted fabric with a light bottom or base and very open, and therefore of a mechanically fragile structure and dimensionally unstable, without sacrificing the quality of the loops which constitute the active element essential of the female part of the hook-and-loop closure. This fragility and instability at the bottom of the fabric induce processing difficulties, that is to say of use, of this fabric due to the stresses relatively large pullout at which the bottom is subject and which come from the action of the male elements hooking on the loops.

We are therefore led to reinforce the fabric by laminating by its bottom on a more resistant support, by flexible example. This support can be a support intermediate, the laminate assembly then being fixed on a article, or it can be the article itself.

However, difficulties are encountered during the manufacture of such a laminate assembly, because the loops have tendency to stick also on the support through the bottom, together with the chain threads (also called mesh columns), weft threads (also called rows of stitches) and the feet of the loops, which destroys their hook-and-loop power because their top is firmly pressed against the support and therefore cannot cooperate, in the desired attachment link, with the male elements.

We know sets of this kind for example of US Patent 4,624,116. This document describes a layered assembly according to the preamble of claim 1.

The invention aims to remedy this. disadvantage and, to this end, according to a first aspect, it is a laminated assembly according to claim 1.

Improvements are defined in the sub claims.

Thus, in the laminate assembly according to the invention, each loop has at least one strand which, at a distance from its associated foot, comes to rest on at least one other wire of warp and / or weft so that in this area of overlap, the loop does not adhere to the support, which retains its capacity or its self-gripping properties. It the same is true for the two strands of each loop and, again, for the top of each loop that is located near the_ common foot of two other loops, thus overlapping this last and the two strands of loops starting from it.

According to an advantageous characteristic, the loops are oblique to the general direction of the wires of warp and / or weft.

For example, the feet of the same loop can be located on the same chain thread, or on the contrary on different warp threads, for example adjacent ones.

For example again, the feet of the same loop are on weft threads which are adjacent or not.

A process for manufacturing the assembly laminate above, consists of knitting said fabric to that its curls have the said size relative to the pitch of the warp and / or weft yarn and relative to the foot another loop; to apply an adhesive to said support; and bringing said fabric and said support into contact with a view to their joining by gluing.

Fig. 1 est une vue schématique en plan montrant un mode de tricotage préféré pour la confection du tissu de l'ensemble selon l'invention ;

Fig. 2 est une coupe transversale schématique éclatée de l'ensemble selon l'invention comportant le tissu de la Fig. 1 ; et

Fig. 3 montre schématiquement un exemple de dispositif pour la réalisation du contrecollage, dans la phase finale du procédé selon l'invention.

The invention will be clearly understood on reading the additional description which follows and with reference to the appended drawing which forms part of the description and in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view showing a preferred knitting mode for making the fabric of the assembly according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is an exploded schematic cross section of the assembly according to the invention comprising the fabric of FIG. 1; and

Fig. 3 schematically shows an example of a device for carrying out laminating, in the final phase of the method according to the invention.

Schematically shown in plan in FIG. 1 knitted fabric 1 with loops, constituting one of the two elements of the laminate assembly according to one embodiment preferred of the invention.

The knitted fabric 1 is of the warp knitting type or weft knitting, and it comprises, on the one hand, chain 2 (also called mesh columns) parallels interlaced with 3 weft threads (also called rows of meshes), also parallel, and, on the other hand, knitted free loops 4 each of which two feet 5, located at the intersection of two sons of warp and weft, cooperates with the warp threads and weft. The two strands 6 of each loop 4 start from feet 5 and meet, at a distance from them, to form the top 7 of the loop. The sons of chain 2 and weft 3 form a very light knitted structure, very open, mechanically very fragile and dimensionally unstable, as shown above.

Loops 4 have a such size, compared to the pitch of the chain threads 2 and / or weft threads 3, that, considering the loops at flat against the warp 2 and weft 3 threads, at least one of the two strands 6 of each loop intersects or overlaps at least one warp and / or weft thread, to distance from foot 5 associated with this strand.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the loops 4 are directed obliquely to the general direction of the sons of chain and the sons of weft, and the two feet 5 of the same loop 4 are located, on the one hand, on the same warp thread 2 and, on the other hand, on two adjacent weft threads 3. However, we could adopt different arrangements as to the orientation of loops 4 and / or the implantation of feet 5; for example, the feet of the same loop 4 could be located on different warp threads, for example adjacent, and on weft yarns 3 not adjacent.

In the preferred embodiment shown in Fig. 1, one of the strands 6, from the associated foot 5, goes to one of strands 6 of the next loop 4, then to the warp thread 2 adjacent to the one carrying the feet 5 of its loop, and it joins the top 7 which overlaps the laterally adjacent loops 4, at very short distance from the common foot 5 of these; the other strand 6, from vertex 7, overlaps the same chain thread 2 as the first strand 6 of this same loop, it goes under one of the strands 6 of the previous loop 4, and it joins the second foot 5. Thus, a loop 4 overlaps the same wire twice of chain 2 by its strands 6, and its apex 7 straddles the two laterally adjacent loops in close proximity of their common foot 5. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the loops 4 move away from the plane formed by the wires of warp 2 and the weft threads 3 from their feet 5.

Schematically shown in FIG. 2, in cross section and exploded, a set laminate according to the invention. Fabric 1, which has a low dimensional stability and low strength mechanical, is intended to be laminated on a support 8 of reinforcement, of any suitable nature, for example in plastic. This support can be flexible, rigid or semi-rigid and, as stated earlier, it can either be a intermediate support intended to be fixed later on an article, that is, the article itself. For the laminating, for example, we deposit on one side of the support 8 an adhesive film 9 intended to cooperate essentially with the warp 2 threads, the weft 3 and the part of the feet 5 of the loops which is located on the side of the underside or back of the fabric 1.

When laminating, which is generally carried out under mechanical pressure as indicated below, the fabric 1 is as a whole pressed against the support 8, with interposition of the adhesive 9, and, during this operation, the warp threads, the weft threads and the underside of the feet 5 cooperate closely with the adhesive 9, while the strands 6 of the loops are only partially glued on support 8 and that, anyway, the vertices 7 of curls are preserved from sticking because they are each protected by a 5 foot. To promote bonding, the loops 4 can have, at their feet 5 and on the side of the support 8, small counter-loops 14 intended to cooperate with the adhesive 9 to increase the contact surface between the fabric 1 and the support 8. This also reinforces the fixing of the loop feet 5 on the wires 2, 3 and support 8 and, therefore, also the loop structure.

So although loops 4 are partially and locally bonded to the support 8, their vertices 7 remain free and, in operation, they can cooperate freely with complementary male elements hooking, which keeps the loops 4 all their Velcro properties. In addition, during the first separation of the two elements constituting the closure separable, the loops 4 are pulled by the male elements hooking, which causes, by peeling effect, the separation of the strands 6, locally bonded to the support 8, from this one.

Schematically shown in FIG. 3 a example of a device for performing the laminating, to obtain the above laminated assembly, in the final phase of the process according to the invention, after fabric 1 has been knitted.

This example of a device can be used in the case of a support 8 which is flexible and which is a strip or intermediate sheet, the laminate assembly then being attached to an article by any appropriate means.

This device comprises two rollers driven by pressure 10 and 11 which assemble the fabric 1 and the flexible support 8. The fabric 1 is brought first to pass on the roller 10, which then receives, over the fabric 1, the support 8. Upstream of the roller 10, the support 8 passes under a device 12 for applying or depositing the adhesive 9 on the face of the support 8 which faces the fabric 1. Of course, the loops 4 are located on the face of the fabric 1 which is distant from the support 8, that is to say opposite to this one. The fabric 1 and the support 8, superimposed on the roller 10, then pass jointly in the area of pinching between the two rollers to obtain bonding, and the laminate assembly 13 is extracted by any means suitable, for example by rollers.

If the laminate assembly according to the invention is intended to be glued to another support by the face 15 of the support 8 opposite to that which receives the fabric 1, this face adhesive 15 can be coated with a permanent adhesive and, to allow the laminate assembly to be rolled up on itself on a reel before this bonding, or else this adhesive receives a temporary protective film, or loops 4 undergo, for example by coating, an anti-adhesion treatment.

Claims (5)

1. A laminated assembly comprising a warp or weft knitted fabric (1) with loops (4), a support (8), and a layer of adhesive interposed between the fabric and the support; the warp or weft knitted fabric comprising an interlacing of warp yarns, or wales (2), and weft yarns or courses (3), and knitted.free loops each having two feet (5) which co-operate with warp and/or weft yarns, the remainder of each loop being formed by two strands (6) each extending from a foot of the loop and meeting at a free connecting apex, characterised in that seen in plan view a strand (6) of a loop passes over a strand of another loop so that the strand is partially and locally stuck to the support when the knitted fabric is stuck flat on the support.
2. An assembly according to claim 1, characterised in that the said strand (6) of one loop passes over a strand of an adjacent loop, i.e. a loop having a foot in common with the said one loop.
3. An assembly according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the said one strand (6) of a loop also passes over a warp and/or weft yarn at a distance from the foot associated with the said one strand (6).
4. An assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the dimension of the loops is such that they overlap the foot of another loop.
5. An assembly according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that in plan view the loops (4) are oblique with respect to the general direction of the warp yarns and the weft yarns.

Images