EP1397547B1 - Spare knitted materials - Google Patents

Abstract

The method serves for a novel two and/or three-dimensional patterning of knitted products, derived from traditional spare techniques. Spare techniques which arise as a result of ruffling, up to yet have been mainly applied to weaving technology and are labour intensive. The conversion to the knitting technique permits the machine-driven inclusion of the threads necessary for ruffling. In a knitted product threads are knitted in as tucks in a particular pattern during the production thereof. In a further step the knitted product is tightly gathered by means of the threads and then fibre-treated, such as for example, coloured, bleached or thermofixed. The points where the ruffling lies on the outside are subjected to the treatment and the appearance thereof is altered. The inner regions are protected by the tight gathering and thus remain untreated. A pattern is thus generated. With the thermofixing the material obtains a surface texture as a result of the gathering which remains of stable form dependent upon the material. A combination of various processes and thus of two and three-dimensional patterning is possible. Small variations occur in the relationship of the patterns as a result of the methods, in contrast to conventional industrially produced materials, which lends the material a handmade appearance. The invention further relates to a patterning of knitted products in the gathered state.

Description

• Mokume Shibori:
  • Stiche sind beliebig verteilt (Fig. 4).
• Nuisuji Mokume Shibori:
  • Stiche sind horizontal und vertikal regelmäßig verteilt (Fig. 5).
• Kawari Mokume Shibori:
  • Stiche sind horizontal und vertikal abwechselnd jede zweite Linie verteilt (Fig. 6).
• Tobi Mokume Shibori:
  • Stiche sind horizontal und vertikal regelmäßig mit einem Sprung verteilt (Fig. 7).

Reservation methods are methods for fabric sampling. ( Alfred Bühler "Ikat, Batik, Plangi", Pharos Verlag, Basel 1972, p. 2 )
Traditionally, they are mainly applied to woven fabrics. The basic principle of this process is to create a barrier that prevents color penetration of certain areas when dyeing the fabric. Parts of the fabric are "reserved", creating a pattern.
There are three main methods of producing spare musts: mechanical, physical and chemical. The following description refers to the physical method. Physical reserve can be knotted, sewn, stapled and laced.
( Kate Wells "dyeing and printing textiles", Verlag Paul Haupt, Berne, Stuttgart, Vienna 1998, p. 125 ) There are country-specific names for these techniques. As a generic term for all four techniques but the Japanese word Shibori has prevailed. (Textile Forum 1/2000, p. 2)
The Japanese have brought these techniques to perfection and developed innumerable variants. Many patterns have their own names.
A pattern of nutritional maintenance technique applied to single-layer tissue is Mokume Shibori. At Mokume Shibori, a fabric is sewn in horizontal lines with a strong cotton yarn. The distance between the lines is regular. The thread start of each row is fixed by a knot ( Fig.1 ).
After the desired number of rows, the fabric is gathered by pushing together and fixed by double knots at the thread ends, which sit very close to the gathering ( Fig. 2 and Fig.3 ).
The fabric is then wet and hot or cold dyed. In the places that are within the gathering and pressed together, the penetration of the color is not possible, they are thereby reserved. The rest of the substance takes on the color. After washing, the knots of the cotton game are cut open, the threads pulled out and the fabric smoothed. A two-tone pattern appears.
Depending on the type of stitching, different patterns are created. There are four main variations:

• Mokume Shibori:
  • Stitches are distributed arbitrarily ( Fig. 4 ).
• Nuisuji Mokume Shibori:
  • Stitches are regularly distributed horizontally and vertically ( Fig. 5 ).
• Kawari Mokume Shibori:
  • Stitches are distributed horizontally and vertically alternately every other line ( Fig. 6 ).
• Tobi Mokume Shibori:
  • Stitches are distributed horizontally and vertically regularly with a jump ( Fig. 7 ).

The method of sewing / reserve technology is very time-consuming by the sewing by hand.
It is necessary to be practiced in order to achieve the desired regularity or irregularity of the stitches and rows. It is also sewn in some countries with the machine. The effect differs visually but from the nutrient reserve by hand.

D1: DE 32 20 755 A

The invention simplifies the curling of primarily woven or knitted Dekostofffen.

D2: EP-A-1 088 926

Using this method, three-dimensional structures are brought into already finished garments using shibori techniques. This changes the appearance of the garment, it is elastic, in addition, the comfort can improve.

D3: US-B1-6174336

In a garment, the use of shibori techniques creates stretchy areas. These can be used to change the shape instead of seams. In an allover application can also be dispensed with a size grading.

The invention aims to provide an alternative reserve method, which can be implemented as possible with machine assistance.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by knitting a yarn for gathering the knitted fabric into a knitted fabric during knitting. Subsequently, the fabric is gathered by means of the yarn and fiber-treated in the shirred state. Fiber treatment includes (partial) dyeing or bleaching of the fabric, alternatively or additionally, heat-treating the fabric, or felting or shrinking or burn-out or etching or coating. After that, the yarn is removed.

• Die Stärke des eingelgten Garns sollte in Relation zur Feinheit des Grundgestricks stehen.
  Je dicker das Gestrick, desto stärker sollte das Garn sein.
• Je dichter das Gestrick ist, desto klarer wird das Muster wiedergegeben.
• Je kleiner der Reihenabstand des eingelegten Garnes ist, desto genauer wird das Muster wiedergegeben. Je größer die Reihenabstände, desto mehr löst sich das Muster auf.

• Bei den Faserbehandlungen, bei denen der Stoff einer Flüssigkeit ausgesetzt wird, ist es wichtig, wenn keine weiteren Hilfsmittel benutzt werden, dass ein Eindringen von Flüssigkeit auf die Rückseite des Stoffes vermieden wird. Dies wird erreicht, in dem die Größe des Musters und damit die Raffung der Breite des Stoffes angepasst wird. Dadurch entsteht ein geschlossenes Rund, bei dem nur die Stoffvorderseite der Behandlung ausgesetzt wird und ein Eindringen von Flüssigkeit im Innenbereich (Stoffrückseite) verhindert wird (Fig. 13).

The transfer of this process to the knitting area allows machine incorporation of the yarn during manufacture of the fabric. The actual process of sewing is eliminated. Step I: A tear-resistant yarn is inserted in a specific pattern previously entered into the knitting machine. The yarn is not inserted as a loop, but as a catch, ie the yarn is freely displaced in the fabric and can later be pulled out of the fabric without causing a run-stitch ( Fig. 8 and Fig.9 ). Step II: After knitting, the fabric is gathered, in which the respective ends of the inserted yarn are held and the fabric slides along the yarn ( Fig. 10 ). It slides the fabric very close together and fixed the two thread ends of each row closely to the gathering together, z. By nodes ( Fig. 11 ). Step III: The fabric is subjected to fiber treatment in the subsequent step ( FIGS. 12 and 13 ). This fiber treatment can traditionally be dyeing or bleaching of the fabric, but also felting, shrinking, etching, burnout, coating. Step IV: The fixation of the thread ends is removed, z. B. by cutting the knot and the threads removed. The fabric is pulled smooth and the pattern is visible ( Fig. 14 ). Optically, the knitting / reserve technology differs from the manual or machine nutrient reserve.
As with the nutritional maintenance technique, the outer parts of the gathering are treated, the inner areas remain untreated. As a result, the pattern is formed depending on the way the fabric is gathered, ie, the number and size of the pleats. These are determined by the distance at which the yarn is inserted through the catch in the fabric.
The pattern possibilities are great. To get a clear pattern the following criteria are important:

• The strength of the inserted yarn should be in relation to the fineness of the basic knit.
  The thicker the knit, the stronger the yarn should be.
• The denser the knit, the clearer the pattern is reproduced.
• The smaller the row spacing of the inserted yarn, the more accurate the pattern is reproduced. The larger the row spacing, the more the pattern dissolves.

• In the fiber treatments where the fabric is exposed to a liquid, it is important, if no further aids are used, to prevent liquid from entering the back of the fabric. This is achieved by adjusting the size of the pattern and thus the gathering of the width of the fabric. This results in a closed round in which only the fabric front side of the treatment is exposed and penetration of liquid in the interior (fabric back) is prevented ( Fig. 13 ).

The reserve process, combined with knitting, can be used with any material.
Another possibility is to use the reserve technique for the three-dimensional patterning of knits by deformation with heat.
Synthetic materials are suitable for this purpose in the first place. All synthetic materials melt at a certain temperature, but below this point they can often be fixed in various forms by heat. The best and most durable effect is obtained with polyamide, polyester and polypropylene.
( Kate Wells "dyeing and printing textiles", Verlag Paul Haupt, Berne, Stuttgart, Vienna 1998, p. 161 )
With the help of the reserve technique, pleats and other relief structures in the fabric can be created.
The process is identical up to step III of the previously described dye reserve materials, the fabrics are then fixed with steam or dry heat. The result shows again after opening the fixation of the gathering.

A combination of both methods is also possible. It enables a two- and three-dimensional patterning in one work step. It can, for. For example, a wool yarn may be entangled with a nylon / lycragam. Furthermore, the procedure according to step I , II, III, IV and dyed the fabric.
The result is a two-tone patterned fabric with a light relief structure. This results, on the one hand, from the felting of the wool in the (outer) areas, which were exposed to the hot dyebath, and, on the other hand, from the simultaneous heat-setting of the nylon / lycra.

• Sie haben keine identischen Rapporte wie das bei maschinell hergestellten Druckstoffen üblich ist. Obwohl als rapportiertes Muster gestrickt, entstehen beim Raffen des Gestricks leichte Abweichungen, die nach dem Veredeln sichtbar werden und dadurch dem Stoff den Ausdruck "von Hand gemacht" verleihen. Somit ist jeder Stoff, der nach diesem Verfahren hergestellt wird, trotz der maschinellen Fertigung der Grundware, ein Einzelstück.
• Das Reserve/Strickverfahren kann sowohl für Meterware angewandt werden, als auch für - Strickteile, die bei ihrer Verstellung gleich in eine Form gestrickt werden. Die Muster können auch hier partiell oder über die ganze Fläche angewandt werden.
• Es können sehr individuell und mit geringem Aufwand Muster innerhalb des Gestricks verändert werden, z. B. können thermofixierte Falten innerhalb eines Strickstückes in ihrem Muster und ihrer Größe variieren, was ansonsten beim herkömmlichen Plissiervorgang die Herstellung von verschiedenen Schablonen notwendig macht.
• Feine Gestricke weisen durch die Durchfärbung sowohl auf der Vorder- als auch auf der Rückseite ein Muster auf.

The reserve knit fabrics have the following advantages in comparison to conventionally patterned knitted fabrics:

• They have no identical repeats as is usual with machine-made printing materials. Although knit as a rapport pattern, when the knit is gathered there are slight deviations that become visible after refining, thereby giving the fabric the expression "made by hand". Thus, every fabric produced by this process, despite the mechanical production of the basic product, a unique piece.
• The reserve / knitting method can be used for piece goods as well as for - knitted pieces, which are knitted into a shape during their adjustment. The patterns can also be applied here partially or over the entire surface.
• It can be changed very individually and with little effort patterns within the knit, z. For example, thermoset creases within a knit may vary in their pattern and size, which otherwise necessitates the fabrication of various templates in the conventional pleating process.
• Fine knit fabrics have a pattern on both the front and back through the staining.

A possible implementation of the mechanical shirring and knotting process is described below: Prerequisite here is the use of a melting yarn, such. As a synthetic fiber yarn made of polyester as inlaid yarn.

shirring process:

The inserted yarn causes loops (due to the transition to the next pattern row) at the left and right edges of the pattern. Fig. 8 IV).
These loops are each threaded onto a bar on the left and right ( Fig. 15 ).
The rods are then hung in a fixed frame. The distance of the rods to each other should be such that the inserted yarn is somewhat tightened.
A rake then reaches between the rows of the inserted yarn from above and pushes the fabric together from both sides ( Fig. 16 )
In a further step, the rods are brought together with the suspended yarn. The ruched fabric now hangs down perpendicular to the pattern threads.

Knotprozess:

• Sie ermöglichen ein Herunterdrücken des Stoffes und damit eine Straffung der Musterfäden. Zugleich wird dadurch auch die Raffung fixiert.
• Des weiteren dienen sie als Schweißpole:
  • Während die Fäden gestrafft sind, wird rechts und links der Fäden eine dünne und flexible Kunststoffleiste in die Metallschienen eingelegt (Fig. 17).
  • Im weiteren Schritt werden die Metallschienen zusammengeführt und dadurch pressen die Kunststoffleisten aufeinander und schließen die Musterfäden ein.
  • Durch Erhitzen der Metallschienen verschmelzen die Leisten und die Musterfäden miteinander. Die Raffung ist somit für die nachfolgende Faserbehandlung fixiert.

From both sides of the fabric V-shaped metal rails are placed just above the shirred fabric.
The metal rails have the following functions:

• They allow a depression of the fabric and thus a streamlining of the pattern threads. At the same time it also fixes the gathering.
• Furthermore, they serve as welding poles:
  • While the threads are tightened, a thin and flexible plastic strip is inserted into the metal rails on the right and left of the threads ( Fig. 17 ).
  • In a further step, the metal rails are brought together and thereby press the plastic strips on each other and include the pattern threads.
  • By heating the metal rails, the strips and the pattern threads fuse together. The gathering is thus fixed for the subsequent fiber treatment.

After treatment, the fabric and the plastic strip are again clamped in a device and pulled apart easily. This creates a gap between the shirred fabric and the plastic strip, which allows easy cutting of the pattern threads in this area.

Claims (1)

1. A method of material treatment comprising the following steps:

   - preparing a knitted product with stitches with threads which are held by stitches and are otherwise loose, wherein those captured loose threads are knitted in upon the knitting operation in a knitting machine,

   - ruffling the knitted product by means of the loose threads,

   - fibre-treating the ruffled knitted product by a dyeing process or by a heat treatment, and

   - removing the loose threads.

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