US1613375A

US1613375A - Manufacture of colored mesh fabric

Info

Publication number: US1613375A
Application number: US35432A
Authority: US
Inventors: Berkley Richard Hatley
Original assignee: Whiting & Davis Co
Current assignee: Whiting & Davis Co
Priority date: 1925-06-06
Filing date: 1925-06-06
Publication date: 1927-01-04
Anticipated expiration: 1944-01-04

Description

Jan. 4, 1927. l 1,613,375

- R. H. BERKLr-:Y

MANUFACTURE oF coLoRED MEsH FABRIC -Fild June e, 1925 ATToRNEY Cil Patented Jan., d, i927.

UNHTEL? SVFA'FJS RICHARD HATLEY BERKL'EY, OF PLANVLLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSGNOR TO WHIT- ING & DAVIES COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F MASSACHUSETTS.

IVIANUFACTURE 0F CLORED MESH FABRIC.

Application led June 6,

This invention relates to the production of metallic mesh fabric and has to do more particularly with the provision of such a fabric which has designs in color on its surface. The invention includes the method of producing the fabric, together with apparatus by which the method may be conveniently practiced.

Articles of jewelry, such as ladies hand bags, have heretofore b een made of link mesh fabric of a solid color, determined loy the kind of metal of which the wire used in making the links is formed. Recently, however, there has been a demand for multicolor mesh, in which links of different colors are arranged in the mesh according to a pattern or design. An example of such mesh is one having a back ground of links of one color, through which extend stripes or hands of links of a different color. Such patterned mesh is made on machines in which a plurality of supplies of wire are provided, depending in number on the numloer of different colors that are involved in the fabric, and the finished product is therefore made up of links of different materials, some of which are considerably more eX- pensive than others. Also, the range of colors in the finished product is limited by the different kinds of wire available.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method by which a patterned mesh may be produced in which all of the links of the fabric are made of the same kind of metal, these links being given an appropriate surface coloring to form the selected design. According to the principles of the invention, the piece of plain mesh is subjected to the action of coloring solutions which act on the metal of which the links are made and give these links the desired color. In order to product designs, selected areas of the mesh are masked or otherwise protected against the action of the solutions, and according to one method by which a simple pattern mesh is produced, in which selected areas on the mesh are given a single color, the piece of mesh is placed between a pair of pattern plates or shields which are provided with yielding surfaces between which the piece of mesh is clamped. The yielding` surfaces of these plates engage the links of the mesh closely and all of the links which are thus engaged are protected from the solution. The piece of mesh so masked is -illustrated one form of apparatus by which 1925. SeriaI No. 35,432.

now immersed in the solution and those areas which are exposed will be attacked by the solutionI and given the appropriate color. More complicated designs involving more than a single color may readily be made by the use of appropriate pattern plates and solutions which will produce the desired color effect on the metal.

In the accompanying drawings there is the method may be carried on, and in these drawings,

Fig. l is a face view of one of the pattern plates, Fig. plates them, Y

i Fig. 3 is an end view of the plates shown in Fig. 2, Y

Fig. l is an enlarged view of a piece of mesh, showing the outline of one part of the pattern, and Y v Fig. 5 is an enlarged, sectional view through the pattern plates, showing the piece of mesh held in position. 80

. The link mesh fabric on which the design is to be formed may be of any standard type, such, for instance, as the ordinary wire link fabric in whichv each link is intermeshed with aplurality of other links in B5 the fabric, or else may be the so-called fishscale mesh, in which groups of links are held together by metal spiders. ln the drawings the piece of mesh is of the` ordinary ring type, and the apparatus illustrated is designed for the production of a patterned fabric in which there are diamond shaped areas of one color in a field of a dierent color.

rlhe method now to be described is for the production of a piece of patterned mesh in which the main body of the piece of mesh is given a field color, while areas here shown as of diamond shape arranged in rows, are protectedl against the action of the solution which produces the field color, and thus retain the origina] color of the metal of which the links are made. ln carrying out such a process, the piece of mesh is first thoroughly cleaned so as to remove all foreign matter, and then is placed between a pair of pattern plates or shields 10 which may have any appropriate form, depending on the size and shape'of the piece of mesh which is to be l treated. i

2 is a top plan view of a pair of with the mesh in position between lili) CTI Each of the plates 10 shown in Fig. 1 is of aluminum or some other material which will not be acted upon by the solutions. The plates are of similar size and extend slightly beyond the piece of mesh which is the rectangle shown in dotted lines at 11. ln the projecting ends 12 of the plates are provided dowel pins 13 and appropriate recesses, and also clampingscrews 1e, by which the plates may be drawn together'.

Mounted on the faces of the plates which are to lie in opposed relation when the plates are in use, are projections 15 which may be of the same material as the plates. These projections correspond in shape and location to certain areas in the pattern, and the face of each projection is covered with a yielding surface 16, which may be made of soft rubber or other similar' material of that character. The plates are so formed that when placed in opposed relation the proj ections on one plate will register with those on the other, and when a piece of mesh 11 is placed in position between the plates and the two drawn together by clamping screws, the dowel pins insure that the projections will lie in exact registry. The clamping de vices are drawn up until the links 17, which lie within the areas of the opposite diamond shaped projections enter the soft yielding surfaces in such manner that the links are completely shielded and protected and the solution in which the mesh is later to be iinmersed cannot attack these links, This is shown more clearly in F ig. 5, where the rough surface of the piece of fabric due to the manner in which it is formed with the links of succeeding rows lying in planes inclined in opposite directions, necessitates the use of these yielding surfaces in order that the links of the fabric may be entirely shielded or masked. lt will be seen from Fig. y5 that the links which lie in successive rows, as 17 and 18, are inclined in opposite directions, and the projecting edges of these links enter deeply into the yielding surface of the rubber as at 19. llhe rubber clamps the links tightly around the edges of the area. and thus all of the links within the area are shielded and protected.

Fig. e shows a piece of Vring mesh fabric drawn on an enlarged scale, and illustrates the manner in which each link in the fabric is intermeshed with a plurality of other links. The diamond shaped area 2O in Fig. 4 is one of those areas throughout which the links are `shielded by the projections on the plate. All of the links within this area are gripped between the yielding surfaces and thus masked.

When the piece of mesh has thus been placed Vin position between the plates, and the latter clamped together, the piece. of mesh and the plates are immersed in a solution which gives the exposed links the color to appear in the field. There are numerous solutions which may be employed for this purpose, and the choice of solutions will depend on the color to be produced and the kind of metal of which the links are made.

he piece of mesh, parts of which are masked by the projections on the plates, is immersed in the solution a sufficient length time so that all of the exposed links are evenly colored; then the plates with the mesh between them, are removed and traces of the solution washed from the mesh, and the mesh, after drying, is ready for use for commercial purposes. It will be seen that in carrying out the process thus described, the links in the diamond shaped areas 21 arranged in three rows, will retain the original color of the metal of which-the links are made, as, for instance, silver. All of the remaining links in the mesh not within these areas are then given a surface color which depends on the solution which has been used. ln the finished product, therefore, the mesh has a pattern which comprises a plurality of diamond shaped areas of silver color placed in rows on a field of some other color. n

in the event that reverse color scheme is to be employed; that is, the piece of mesh is to have colored areas of dian'iond shape upon a field which has the color of the metal of which the links are made, then a pair of plates is used which may be said to be complementary to the plates here illustrated. i he plates will now be so formed that only the diamond shaped areas 21 are exposed, all of the remaining links in the piece of mesh being' masked by means of projections which have yieldingl surfaces closely engaging and shielding the links. lllhen a piece of mesh mounted in such a pair of plates is immersed in the solution, the diamond shaped areas alone will be given the new color, while all the other links will retain the original color of the metal.

ln another application of the invent-ion, it is possible to produce a piece of mesh in which there is a pattern consisting of areas of one color, appearing in a field of a different color, both of these colors being different from the color of the metal of which the links are formed. In such a process the entire piece of mesh is immersed in a solution which produces a color on the links corresponding to certain areas in the pattern. rllhereafter, the areas which are to have this color are'masked by the use of plates with projections which correspond in position and shape to the areas in the pattern of this color. The colored mesh clamped between plates of appropriate form, is now immersed in a second solution, and all of the links of the piece of mesh which are exposed are now attacked by the second solution and the color of these links is modied. The second solution may serve to remove the rr nii color first applied, it may remove this color and apply a second in its place, or it may apply a second color over the first, so that the finished mesh Will have certain areas of a compound color.

In the event that a patterned mesh is to be made in which the design involves the use of more than two colors, the process is similar to that above described, but involves the use of tivo sets of plates and the treatment of the mesh by a series of solutions, each of Which gives the links the appropriate color. As these solutions are applied and the links given different colors successively, those areas in which the new colors are to be retained are shielded against the action of the solutions which are to be used thereafter. The process is the saine, therefore, as the one previously described, but simply involves a duplication of certain of the steps.

It will be observed that the new process is simple and may be carried on Without expensive apparatus. The finished product is similar in appearance to mesh produced on multi-colored machine, but is made of links, all of which are of the same kind of Wire. Only the surface appearance of the links is altered in producing the pattern, and thus it is possible to produce a patterned mesh made of links of a metal which may be of much loiver cost than some of the metals which are necessarily employed to produce the colored eifect in the patterned mesh as made by the prior processes. The invent-ion, therefore, comprises a process of producing a rough patterned fabric, such as metallic mesh, by immersion of the fabric in suitable solutions While areas of the fabric which are not to be colored by the action of the solutions are stopped ofi' or masked against t-he action of these solutions.

I claim:

l. A method of forming a design in color ou metallic mesh fabric which comprises applying a color to the fabric, shelding` areas in the colored fabric in accordance with a selected design, and then modifying the color of the links outside of the said areas.

2. A method of forming a design in color on metallic mesh fabric Which comprises iminersing the fabric in a solution to give all the links a color appearing in certain parts of the design, shielding the links in the areas which are to have the said color, and then immersing the fabric with the said links thus shielded in a solution 'which gives the unshielded links a color appearing elsewhere in the design.

3. A method of forming a design in color on metallic mesh fabric which comprises applying to all the mesh a color `which is to appear in certain parts of the design, shielding the links in the mesh Which are tohave the Said color, and then immersing the fabric with the links so shielded in a solution which applies a second color over the first color on the links Unshielded.

41. A device for use in forming a design in color on metallic mesh which comprises a pair of similar plates, projections extending from one face of each plate, these projections being formed and `arranged to correspond with certain areas in the design which are to be of the same color, means carried by the plates for holding them together with the projections in registry, and yielding surfaces carried by the opposed faces of the projections.

5. A device for use in forming a design in color on metallic mesh which comprises a pair of similar plat-es of inert material, projections extending from one face of each plate, these projections being formed and arranged to correspond with certain areas in the design which are to be of the same color, surface layers of soft rubber carried by the opposed faces of the projections, and means carried by the plates for holding'them together With al piece of mesh lying between them, certain of the links of the piece of mesh being gripped and masked by the rubbei' surfaces on the projections.

In testimony whereof affix my signature.

RICHARD HATLEY BERKLEY.