JP2001316957A - Knitted article with hard-to-ravel lim and composite yarn for producing hard-to-ravel knitted article - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem on the raveling at the rims of knitted articles, in particular knitted gloves, through providing knitted articles incorporated with new thermofusible yarns at a midway of producing the rims thereof. SOLUTION: The article having solved the above problem is such one as to have an easy-to-ravel rim comprising the following: (a) a plurality of knit lateral stitches therein; (b) wherein each of the stitches is knitted using at least one strand of a thermofusible yarn, which, in turn, comprises (i) at least one low-temperature-fusible fiber strand and (ii) at least one additional strand; wherein both the strands (i) and (ii) are combined with each other by air jet interlacing technique to form a single strand. Thus, in this article, sufficient quantities of the above strands (i) are exposed so as to facilitate their adhesion to the adjoining yarn strands in the knit structure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001] BACKGROUND (1) Field of the Invention Field of the Invention of the invention relates to the field of manufacture of knitted articles, in particular to prevent the solved (Raveling) edges of such knit articles knitted glove.

(2) Description of the Prior Art The knitting method has long been used to manufacture various products and clothes. This weaving fabric manufacturing technique produces comfortable products that are flexible, highly extensible, and relatively inexpensive. In general, knitting has high productivity and is advantageous in terms of lead time as compared with weaving methods. The knitting machine is better adapted to produce a small number of commodities, offering short lead times and a quick response to such orders. In many respects, the knitting method has the advantage that it is faster than the weaving method and can provide a garment that is well adapted to the figure. Other advantages of the knitting method include low starting capital costs, the absence of the need to manufacture expensive yarn, the small floor space required for the equipment, and the small number of auxiliary machines required during operation. . Knitting techniques are implemented in a wide variety of natural and synthetic fiber and yarn weaving techniques.

[0003] Despite all these advantages, knitted garments or articles, especially knitted gloves, suffer from one drawback. Knitted products are easy to unravel. Raveling is technically defined as the undoing or separating process of a knitted fabric. The term also refers to the process of continuously removing the yarn from the fabric, and further releasing the yarn that has been partially or wholly separated from the fabric. As a practical matter, the released ends extending from the knitted product may be pulled, and under appropriate circumstances, the entire knitted product is released by simply pulling on the released ends.

[0004] This problem is particularly painful for glove manufacturers. One approach to addressing this problem requires an extra sewing step. After knitting, the edges of the cuffs of the knitted gloves are manually sewn with a sewing machine and provided with overlock stitches which are intended to hold any loose ends of the material in place. This overcast sewing is usually performed using polyester, nylon or cotton yarn. The additional sewing process requires labor and
It will be readily appreciated that the cost of manufacturing gloves is significantly increased.

Another approach to solving this problem is disclosed in US Pat. No. 5,572,860 to Mitsumoto et al.
Nitto Boseki Company, Ltd. and Shima Seiki Company,
Ltd. (assigned to U.S.A. Ltd.). In Mitsumoto yarn, the spun core yarn and the heat fusible yarn are mutually twisted in the same or opposite direction to the twist direction of the spun core yarn. Spun core yarns consist of elastic yarns and inelastic short fiber assemblies extending in the direction of the elastic yarns. The inelastic short fiber assembly surrounds the elastic yarn as the core. The inelastic short fiber assembly is expanded and bent by the contraction of the elastic yarn. The fusible adhesive yarn attached to the staple fibers is cured into small blocks arranged in spots, and the expanded staple fibers cover the small blocks of cured fusible adhesive yarn.

[0006] In commercial applications, it is believed that the yarn is usually made using a combination of spandex and polyester and low melt yarn. This combination provides favorable results in that it eliminates the additional labor associated with sewing as described above. However, this yarn has some specific disadvantages. First, the cost is relatively high because three components are required in the yarn. The tension of the elastic component of the spun core yarn must be carefully controlled to create just the right amount of expansion and release of the short fiber assembly. The spandex component is provided with a silicone finish, which can contaminate special types of work areas, even in trace amounts.
Control environment chambers used, for example, for automatic coloring are particularly sensitive to silicone contamination resulting from spandex finishing. Finally, experience with fusible adhesive yarns of this type has shown that repeated washings can break the internal bond created by the fusible yarn.

[0007] Another type of commercially available heat fusible yarn is an elastic core strand, one or more wrapped strands of an inelastic material such as textured polyester, and a cover strand consisting of the heat fusible yarn. Consists of The heat fusible yarn is in close contact with adjacent yarn strands and is positioned outside the composite yarn structure for easier bonding. A typical heat fusible yarn of this type is Supreme Corporat
It is available from ion as type number 343. This yarn provides acceptable results but requires two manufacturing steps if a separate winding step is required.

[0008] Accordingly, there is a need for a knitted article that incorporates heat fusible composite yarn to address the problem of unraveling knitted products. The articles and yarns should use readily available low cost components and manufacturing techniques, and should be capable of being heat treated using existing equipment to prevent unraveling of the edges of the article.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention addresses the problem of unraveling at the edges of knitted articles, particularly knitted gloves, by providing a knitted article incorporating a novel heat-fusible yarn during the manufacture of the edges of the article. Resolve. The knitted article produced according to the present invention can be heat treated at its edge (s) using existing equipment, but at a lower overall cost. This is because the new heat fusible yarn incorporated into the knit article is composed of a variety of air entangled strands. Unexpectedly,
Even though the air entangling process glues multiple strands into a single combined strand (which is knitted), the rather open structure of the combined strands exposes a portion of the cold melt yarn component. It has been found that it is thus possible to utilize it for bonding to adjacent yarns.

The heat fusible yarn includes less material per unit length compared to prior art heat fusible yarns where the low melting strands are wound around the outside of the yarn structure ( (But not limited to) provide a number of advantages. The heat fusible yarns of the present invention can be produced in a single manufacturing process using well-known components and manufacturing equipment that are readily available. This yarn can be manufactured with shorter lead times and fewer manufacturing steps than prior art yarns. Although these advantages are discussed herein with respect to knitted gloves, the yarn can be used with any knitted article having a pliable edge and which can be thermoset.

Thus, the present invention relates to a knitted article having a pliable edge portion, the edge portion including a plurality of knitted meshes. Each of the edge knitted weaves is knitted with at least one strand of a heat fusible yarn, comprising at least one strand of low melting fiber and at least one additional strand. The cryogenic fibers and additional strands are combined by air entanglement to produce a single combined strand, thus exposing a sufficient amount of the cryogenic fiber strand to facilitate bonding to adjacent yarn strands in the knit construction. To

In a preferred embodiment, the low melt fiber comprises a material selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, copolymers of polyethylene and polypropylene.

[0013] In a particularly preferred embodiment, the knitted article is a glove and the heat-fusible yarn is knitted at the cuff portion of the glove.

It is an object of the present invention to reduce the number of manufacturing steps required to create a hard-to-open edge on a knitted article such as a glove.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the number of components of a heat-fusible yarn used to prevent the edge of a knitted article from unraveling and to simplify the process of manufacturing such a yarn. .

[0016] These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following description of a preferred embodiment, taken in conjunction with the drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one embodiment of the present invention and, together with the description, will serve to explain the nature of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a multi-strand composite entangled yarn used in the practice of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a glove made in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The term "fiber" as used herein refers to the basic component used in yarn and fabric assemblies.
Generally, a fiber is a component that has a length dimension that is much larger than its diameter or width. The term includes ribbons, strips, staples or other forms of chopped, cut or discontinuous fibers and the like having a regular or irregular cross section. "Fiber" also includes a plurality of any one of the above or a combination of the above.

As used herein, the term "filament" refers to fibers of infinite or very long length, as found in nature in silk. The term also refers, inter alia, to synthetic fibers produced by the extrusion method. The individual filaments that make up the fiber may have any one of a variety of cross-sections, including circular, serrated, or blunt serrated, bean-shaped, or other shapes.

As used herein, the term "yar"
n) "means a continuous strand of material in a form suitable for textile fibers, filaments or knits, for weaving or otherwise twisting to form textile fibers. The yarn can be in a variety of forms, including spun yarn made of staple fibers (usually bonded together by twisting); multifilament yarn consisting of many continuous filaments or strands; or monofilament yarn consisting of a single strand. .

The term "air interlacing" as used herein means subjecting a plurality of strands of yarn to an air jet to combine the strands, thus forming a single intermittently mixed strand. . This process is sometimes referred to as "air tacking". The term "interminglin
g) "or" entangling "method. These are understood in the art to mean a method of air-compressing the multifilament yarn to facilitate its further processing, especially weaving. Normally mixed yarn strands are not combined with other yarns. Rather, the individual multifilament strands are entangled within the boundaries of a single strand. This air compression is used as a substitute for yarn sizing and as a means of providing improved weft resistance.
The term is a well-known air texturizing technique used to increase the bulk of a single yarn or multiple yarn strands.
Does not mean ")".

A heat fusible yarn intended for use in the practice of the present invention is shown in FIG. The yarn includes a plurality of strands combined using an air entangling method. The strands 12, 14, 16 are interlaced with each other to form attachment points 13 intermittently along the length of the single combined strand 10. In a preferred embodiment, the combined strand 10 comprises
At least one strand and at least one additional strand 14. Preferably, a plurality of additional strands 14, 16 are included.

The strands 12, 14, 16 may be pneumatically entangled using known devices devised for that purpose. A preferred device is a SlideJet with a vortex chamber available from Heberlein Fiber Technology, Inc.
-FT system. The apparatus receives a number of running multifilament and / or staple yarns and exposes the yarn to a plurality of air streams so that the yarn filaments are twisted evenly with one another over the length of the yarn. This treatment also causes intermittent entanglement of the yarn strands, causing points of attachment to form between the yarn strands along the length of the yarn strands. These attachment points have a length of about 0.125 to about 0.375 inches, depending on the combination of yarn strands used. The number of attachment points per unit length of the combined entangled strands will be highly dependent on variables such as the number and composition of yarn strands fed to the device. Neither the number of attachment points per unit length nor the length of these attachment points is critical, as long as other properties of the combined yarn as described herein are appropriate. The practice of the present invention does not involve the use of over-fed yarn in the air entangling device.

As used herein, the term "low melt" allows for use in commercial thermosets to bond and hold in place other yarns in a knitted fabric structure. Means a yarn composed of a material having a melting point such as Various examples of such materials are known in the prior art. Preferably the yarn is about 175 ° F-285
It will have a melting point of ° F. More preferably, the low melt yarn has a melting point of about 200 ° F-225 ° F. Preferably, the low melt yarn is made of polyethylene, a polyethylene-based copolymer or other thermoplastic material such as polypropylene. Suitable low melt fiber is from Palm Bay, Florida
Available from ber Science, Inc. as product 0501-200 / 12. It is believed that multifilament low melt fibers provide better air entangling performance.
The low melting fiber need not consist of the entire fusible material such that the entire fiber melts. For example, the low melting fiber may comprise a fiber having a high melting core and a low melting sheath. The low melting sheath can be applied using a coextrusion method. Alternatively, the cold melt yarn may be a multifilament structure made from some cold melt strands and some non-cold melt strands. Any of the above options are acceptable as long as a sufficient amount of the low melt fiber is provided for bonding to adjacent strands in the knit structure during thermosetting.

[0027] The additional strand (s) can consist of any suitable man-made or synthetic fiber suitable for combination with the low melting fiber by air entangling. Suitable materials include nylon, polyester, polyester-cotton blends, cotton, wool and acrylic derivatives. Other materials may be used as long as the selected cold melt yarn and the edge portion are compatible with the final application of the knitted product in which unraveling is prevented. The denier of the additional strand (s) will vary depending on the available equipment and the desired final dimensions of the composite yarn.

Table 1 below shows representative combinations of low melt fiber strands and additional strands that can be used in the practice of the present invention. Example 1-3 below
In each of the above, the low melt fiber is provided in a 200 denier multifilament form as described above in the Fiber Science
It was a product. The term "X" in the description of the yarn components refers to the number of individual component strands used to create the yarns of the individual examples.

[0029]

[Table 1]

[0030] The number of strands combined via air entangling can vary depending on several factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, the gauge of the knitting machine used, the requirement to incorporate colorants, and the type of air entanglement available. Table 2 below shows additional examples of yarns that can be made in accordance with the present invention.

[0031]

[Table 2]

In the anticipated example described above, an acrylic derivative can be used instead of nylon or polyester. It will be appreciated that if cotton or other spun fibers are used, the fibers can be given a size ranging from about 6 singles to about 36 singles.

A knitted article (in this case, glove 20) made according to the present invention is shown in FIG. The glove is manufactured according to known glove manufacturing techniques and includes five finger portions 22 and cuff portions 24. Glove cuffs 24 typically include an elastic component to securely hold the glove in the wearer's hand. The yarn represented in FIG. 1 is fed to the last 5-7 side of the cuff when the glove is knitted. Suitable glove making machines for this purpose include those available from ShimaSeiki. After knitting, the glove is subjected to a heat setting process, which melts the cold melt yarn, thus anchoring the strands in the last few grain lines of the knit glove in place. Known machines for this process are Shima Seiki and Matsushita
Includes those available from the Electrical Industrial Company. Machines from the latter company are available under the trade name VIKENAGA.

The present invention provides a number of advantages over prior art methods for preventing unraveling at the edges of a knitted article. These benefits include, but are not limited to, potentially significant labor savings. For example, when producing a wound heat fusible yarn of Supreme Style 343 as described above, the wound yarn must be re-wound on a spool before use in a yarn winder. Typically, yarnmakers supply yarn in high volume tubes weighing 25 pounds or more. These large packages are too heavy to be compatible with known yarn winding machines. Thus, the yarn must be unwound onto a small spool designed to fit the machine used to make the wound yarn from large packages. This winding process is extremely labor intensive. Furthermore, if rewinding is not performed carefully, the yarn may be broken, thus increasing cost and processing time. In contrast, the entanglement device can be supplied directly from the bulk package without the need for a temporary rewinding step.
Elimination of the additional winding step has the additional advantage of reducing production time and lead time for product orders.

The above-mentioned advantages show only some of the advantages of the present invention. Other advantages, not listed here, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art,
Included within the scope of the present invention.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will readily recognize that modifications and variations may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Will. Such modifications and variations are not discussed herein for the sake of brevity and clarity, but are considered to be within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a multi-strand composite entangled yarn used in the practice of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a glove made in accordance with the present invention.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Danny Ray Benfield Hickory, North Carolina, United States of America, Section House, AR, Lot, Number 84, 3987 (72) Inventor Della Bonell Moore, Hickory, North Carolina, United States of America Diets, Road 2057 (72) Inventor George Marion Mom Jr. Moravian, North Carolina, USA, Falls, Moravian, Fields, Road 1904 (72) Inventor Richie Darnell Phillips, Hickory, N.N., North Carolina, USA Fifteenth Street, Drive 1013 (72) Inventor Eric Pritchard, Hickory, North Carolina, U.S.A. ) 3B033 AA09 AB01 AC04 4L002 AA02 AA03 AA05 AA06 AA07 AA08 AB01 AB02 AB04 AC05 EA05 FA05 4L036 MA39 PA42 RA10 UA08

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A knitted article having a pliable edge portion comprising: a. A plurality of knitted fabric lines in the edge portion; b. Provided that each of the edge portion knitted fabrics is knitted using at least one strand of a heat-fusible yarn, wherein the heat-fusible yarn includes: i. At least one low melting fiber strand; ii. At least one additional strand; iii. However, the at least one low melt fiber strand and the at least one other strand are combined by air entanglement to produce a single strand, thus exposing a sufficient amount of the at least one low melt fiber strand. Facilitates adhesion to adjacent yarn strands in the knit construction. 2. The knitted article of claim 1 wherein said heat fusible yarn comprises at least two low melting fiber strands and at least two additional strands. 3. The knitted article according to claim 1, wherein said low-melting fiber comprises a material selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, copolymers of polyethylene and polypropylene. 4. The knit article of claim 1, wherein said low melt fiber has a denier of about 50 to about 300. 5. The method of claim 5, wherein the low-melting fiber comprises about 175 to 225
The knit article of claim 1 having denier. 6. The at least one additional strand is a nylon, polyester, polyester cotton blend,
The knitted article according to claim 1, comprising a material selected from the group consisting of cotton, wool, and an acrylic derivative. 7. Knitted gloves with pliable cuffs, including: a. A plurality of knitted fabrics in an edge portion of the cuff; b. Provided that each of the edge portion knitted fabrics is knitted using at least one strand of a heat-fusible yarn, wherein the heat-fusible yarn includes: i. At least one low melting fiber strand; ii. At least one additional strand; iii. However, the at least one low melting fiber strand and the at least one other strand are combined by air entangling to form a single combined strand, thus providing a sufficient amount of the at least one low melting fiber strand. Exposed to facilitate bonding to adjacent yarn strands. 8. The knit glove according to claim 7, wherein said low-melting fiber is made of a material selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, a copolymer of polyethylene and polypropylene. 9. The at least one additional strand is a nylon, polyester, polyester cotton blend,
The knitted glove according to claim 7, comprising a material selected from the group consisting of cotton, wool, and an acrylic derivative. 10. A heat-fusible composite yarn comprising: (a) at least one low-melting fiber strand; (b) at least one additional strand; (c) the at least one low-melting fiber. The fiber strand and said at least one additional strand are air entangled together to form a combined strand;
Thus, a sufficient amount of the low melt fiber is exposed to form a bond to adjacent yarn strands in the knit structure. 11. The heat fusible composite yarn of claim 10, wherein said at least one low melt fiber strand comprises a material selected from the group consisting of polyethylene, copolymers of polyethylene and polypropylene. 12. The at least one additional strand is a nylon, polyester, polyester cotton blend,
The heat fusible composite yarn according to claim 10, comprising a material selected from the group consisting of cotton, wool, and an acrylic derivative. 13. The heat fusible composite yarn of claim 10, wherein said heat fusible yarn comprises at least two low melting fiber strands and at least two additional strands.