EP1581679A1

EP1581679A1 - Three-dimensional flexible repeatedly permanently deformable knit fabric and method for the production thereof

Info

Publication number: EP1581679A1
Application number: EP03782136A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Veronika Gross
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-12-06
Filing date: 2003-12-05
Publication date: 2005-10-05
Also published as: WO2004053217A1; DE20218879U1; US20060081013A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a three-dimensional, flexible, repeatedly permanently deformable knit fabric which consists of a monofilament polymer thread which is coarsely knitted with several other threads and which is knitted with right stitches (right/right) on a flatbed knitting machine with at least two needle beds or more, comprising a series of rows of right stitches which are offset in relation to each other in successive rows. According to the inventive method of production, the coarsely knit monofilament polymer thread is knitted right/right with other threads on at least two needle beds. The needle beds are offset in relation to each other after the knitting of each row.

Description

THREE-DIMENSIONAL FLEXIBLE REPEATS PERMANENTLY NERFORMB ARE MACHINEΝWARE AND METHOD FOR THEIR MANUFACTURE

The present invention relates to a method for producing a three-dimensional flexible and repeatedly permanently deformable knitwear and a manufacturing method for this knitwear.

Most commercially available textiles can only be made into a three-dimensional shape after their production in a further processing process. Elastic, extensible fabrics are preferably found in the knitwear sector. It is thus possible, for example, to produce a certain three-dimensional shape in the case of elastic materials by means of mechanical processing such as drawing, however, because of the elastic deformation of the textile without lasting fixation, this will largely return to its original shape. Although certain textile materials can be brought into a three-dimensional shape, they either intervene in the material structure of the yarn or the textile, for example by thermal deformation, or have already determined a unique permanent shape in advance, for example in the form of knitting.

The present invention is therefore based on the problem to provide a knit, which can be brought by simple mechanical processing, for example by hand or by subsequent pulling on a form in a three-dimensional shape. This object is realized by a knitted fabric according to claim 1 and a method according to claim 7. Advantageous developments of the invention are the subject of the associated subclaims.

The fabric of the invention comprises a monofilament polymeric yarn of certain caliper, preferably at least 50 denier denier, which is knit coarsely in offset with right-hand stitches along with several other yarns, preferably viscose yarns. That is, after knitting a course of stitches on both needle beds with right-hand stitches (right-right), the needle beds are offset relative to each other, which may advantageously be done by one of the needle beds preferably being pitched to the right or left, is offset. The right / right type of binding chosen for the knitted fabric is advantageous, among other things, because it has the least number of cross points in the area of the stitches and because the required long stitched legs can be readily produced in this knit fabric. The combination of the type of binding, the use of a monofilament polyamide or polyester yarn and knitting in offset give the desired material.

The knit is also knit very coarse, that is on a 7-pitch or coarser, preferably on a 5-pitch. The thread feed is adjusted very loosely to obtain coarse stitches while the trigger is set firmly to avoid problems in knitting the loose stitches. However, the knit fabric may in principle also be used on a finer pitch, e.g. 12-division will be knitted.

By this knit or manufacturing process, a material is created, which can be permanently brought into a mold without further elaborate steps and even by simple tools, for example by hand in its original form is rückwandelbar without the material structure is changed. Thus, the material is repeatable, nearly infinitely often moldable in different forms.

Polyamide or polyester, which has a high restoring force and thus contributes significantly to the reversibility of the deformation, is preferably used as the monofilament polymer thread. The monofilament polymer carrier thread should also preferably have a thickness of between 50 and 500 DEN, preferably between 100 and 400 DEN. The best results are achieved with a thickness between 125 and 350 DEN. This strength interacts optimally with the restoring material property of the polymer monofilament and thus, together with the knit structure, justifies both the deformability and the reversibility of the deformability of the knitted fabric.

Viscose threads are preferably used as additional threads, which convey the required sensory and / or optical properties to the fabric. The viscose yarn balances the rather hard and synthetic feel of the nylon. The viscose yarn used in addition to a monofilament polyamide or polyester yarn is used, among other things, the color scheme and is available in many shades. It is preferable to use a filament yarn of a plurality of fibers, which is loosely twisted and thus structurally constructed. scaly and voluminous than the nylon thread. Such a material can be used very well for clothing fabrics. In addition, the fine and smooth viscose yarn has a shiny character and can thus positively influence the visual impression of the yarn.

By plating the viscose yarn with the carrier thread, on the one hand, a homogeneous appearance of the knitted fabric is ensured and the processability of the yarn during knitting is improved.

The knitted fabric according to the invention is particularly suitable for the production of individual fashion collections, also in the sports and leisure sector as well as decorative elements in the living and working area, for example in the office or motor vehicle as well as in the technical field, for example in the production of filter systems or as Framework material in mold construction, eg Body construction and sporting goods, e.g. for chassis parts and snowboards and in the medical field as well as a carrier material for films and nonwovens. When used as a framework material in mold construction, embedding of the three-dimensionally shaped knitted fabric in a plastic matrix preferably takes place subsequently. Alternatively or additionally beforehand, the three-dimensional shape can also be fixed by thermoforming, in which case preferably a thermal or enamel thread is used or knitted as a carrier thread. An advantageous use of the three-dimensional knitted fabric is also in the use as a jacket material for pipes and cables, whereby also here preferably an embedding can be carried out in a plastic or rubber matrix. The fabric can also be used as a filter medium in filter systems.

It is preferably also possible to knit the three-dimensionally formable knit fabric according to the invention together, ie to knit in combination or sequence with conventional flat knitted parts, in particular in the fashion sector, eg for shoes. In this case one can knit over a defined number of rows with the claimed mesh structure, which can be shaped in three dimensions, while another area is then knitted in one layer, eg right-left or knitted only on the right or left of a needle bed. Thus, three-dimensional shapes can be arbitrarily combined with flat structures, resulting in a variety of applications, especially in fashion and design. The knit structure according to the invention requires a multi-layer, as given in particular by a right-right knitted fabric, but also by a left-left or other multi-layer knit, which also allows an offset of the stitches of each row to each other. The knitted fabric according to the invention therefore does not necessarily have to use a right-to-right (RR) knitwear, although the reversibly three-dimensional structure can most effectively be achieved with the RR knit fabric.

The knit can be produced on conventional flat knitting machines, in particular twin or four-bed machines.

The viscose thread entangled in both clad and unplated can be replaced by all other commercial yarns, spun yarns, continuous filaments, monofilaments, plied yarns or twists. Of course, the carrier thread does not have to be exclusively a pure polymer thread but may also contain natural fibers. Instead of a carrier thread and several threads can be used, as well as a viscose thread and several viscose threads can be used.

The offset of the needle beds in the successive rows is preferably realized by leaving one needle bed standing while alternately displacing the other needle bed by one pitch to the left and right in the series order. However, the beds can also be offset from each other at the same time, if this is possible by machine. In any case, the relative displacement of the needle beds should not exceed a relative offset of two needle pitches.

After being formed into a three-dimensional shape, the knitted fabric can be fixed in its shape either by thermofixing, whereby the knitted fabric is subjected to a thermal and / or chemical treatment, after which it is fixed in its shape. This can be done very well with melt threads or other thermally or chemically treatable threads. Alternatively or additionally, the knit can be fixed after its formation by applying or embedding a / in another material such as latex or plastic. This technology is particularly suitable for all types of mold making. The invention is explained below by way of example with reference to the schematic drawings. In this show:

1 is a representation of the stitch pattern of the knitted fabric,

Fig. 2 is a schematic representation of the needle beds and the thread course in the home position and

3 is a schematic representation of the stitch pattern of the finished knitted fabric according to FIG. 1.

Figure 1 shows a knit knitted on a twin-bed flat knitting machine. With 1, the stitches of the rear needle bed are drawn, which appear from the back as left stitches, while 2 denotes the stitches of the front mesh bed, which appear in the picture as right stitches. The skewing of the staggered in different knitted rows stitches illustrates the offset of the courses against each other.

The production of this knitted fabric shown in FIG. 1 on a two-bed flat knitting machine is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2A, 1 denotes the front needle bed and 2 denotes the rear needle bed. 3 draws the course of the thread, whereby it can be seen that right-hand stitches are knitted on both beds.

FIG. 2 B shows the course of the stitches on both beds in the next row. In this row, the rear needle bed has been offset to the right by one needle pitch relative to the front. Figure 2 C shows the course of stitches in the subsequent row, from which it can be seen that the needles of the back bed have been set back again by a needle pitch, which again the initial position of the beds is achieved relative to each other as in Figure 2A. In this way one obtains the stitch displacement of the stitches in the successive rows shown in Figures 1 and 3, which effects the formability and recoverability of the knitted fabric in combination with the used polymer thread.

In this way, the knitted fabric shown in FIG. 1 is achieved, which can be seen in a larger-area knitting area with wadded additional thread in FIG. In Figure 1, only the carrier thread is shown for ease of understanding. Of course, can be mitverstrickt with the carrier thread additional threads such as viscose. Other synthetic or preferably natural threads, such as cotton threads and wool threads, may also be knitted with the carrier yarn, ie plated.

Claims

Protection claims:

1 . Three-dimensional, flexible, repeatable permanently deformable knit consisting of a monofilament polymer yarn knitted in coarse mesh with at least one other thread knit with right-hand stitches on a flat knitting machine having at least two or more needle beds, comprising a series of rows on the right Meshes which are stitched in successive rows relative to each other.

2. Knitted fabric according to claim 1, characterized in that the polymer components having

Carrier thread is a polyamide or polyester yarn with a thickness of at least 50, preferably 100 DEN.

3. Knitted fabric according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the other threads made of Viscose yarn or other natural or synthetic yarn.

4. knitted fabric according to claim 3, characterized in that the Viskosegarn is multifilament.

5. Knitted fabric according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the Viskosegarn is plated.

6. Knitted fabric according to one of the preceding claims with a permanent shape, characterized in that in the knitted fabric and / or "melted yarn" is entangled, which is hardened after a heating process.

7. A method for producing a three-dimensional, flexible, repeatable permanently deformable knit fabric on a flat knitting machine, in which a coarse-knit monofilament polymer yarn is knitted together with other threads on at least two needle beds right / right, wherein the needle beds after Abnitticken each row offset relative to each other become.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the needle beds are offset by preferably one, a maximum of two pitches against each other.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that a needle bed remains fixed and the other needle bed in the successive rows each alternately right and left offset.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the knitted fabric is knitted on needle beds with 7-er or coarser pitch.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that a loose thread tension of less than 5, in particular 1.5 to 4 gr is used.

12. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11, characterized in that the knit is brought after the knitting by pulling by hand or pulling over a mold in a three-dimensional shape.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that the obtained three-dimensional shape with latex, Vlieseline and the like is fixed.

14. Use of a knitted fabric according to one of claims 1 to 6 or a method according to one of claims 7 to 13 for the production of garments, in particular hats, shoes and caps.

Use of a fabric according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or a process according to any one of claims 7 to 13 for the manufacture of decorative elements, in particular using a thermoformable thread, e.g. Fusible yarn.

16. Use of a knitted fabric according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or a method according to any one of claims 7 to 13 for the production of molded parts under fixation of the three-dimensional shape either by heat setting and / or by subsequent embedding of the shaped knit fabric in a plastic matrix.