US2575029A - Method of making pile fabrics - Google Patents

Description

H. L. SHUTTLEWORTH METHOD OF MAKING PILE FABRICS Nov. 13, 1951 2 Simms-sm? 1 Filed Feb. .1.5. 1`947 W y E y y w A T TORNEYS Nov.y 135 19151 H. L. SHUTTLEWORTH METHOD OF 'MAKING PILE FABRICS 2 SHEETS-Sl-IEET 2 Filed Feb. .1.5, 1947 luma (YUUUUUU /MWQ ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 13, 1951 METHOD F MAKING PILE FABRICS Howard L. Shuttleworth, Amsterdam, N. Y., assignor to Mohawk Carpet Mills, Inc., Amsterdam, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 15, 1947, Serial No. 728,867

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to woven pile fabrics, such as are used for rugs and carpets, in which the pile is formed by means of wires inserted into the shed during the weaving operation, to raise portions of the` pile warp yarns out of the backing of the fabric. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a novel woven pile fabric, in which decorative effects are obtained by the use in the pile of both tufts and loopsof different height. The pile of the new fabric may, accordingly, have embossed or relief effects and a patterned surface, in which different areas differ in appearance by reason of the use therein of tufts and loops, respectively.

In looms, in which the pile is formed over pile wires, the wires are inserted into the shed made up of the warps and are beaten up by the lay and bound in place by loops of the pile yarns. The looped portions of the pile yarns are, in turn, held in place by the weft shots secured in position by the binder warps or fine chains. During the weaving, a wire remains in the fabric until a number of others have been inserted behind it, whereupon it is withdrawn from the fabric, advanced to the head of the series, and again inserted into the shed. The pile surface of the fabric so produced may have a design or pattern fprmed by pile yarns of different colors raised over the wires by a jacquard mechanism to form loops, although, if desired, the wires may have knife edges so that, upon withdrawal of such a wire, it will sever the loops and convert them into tufts.

Fabrics having relief effects in the pile surface have heretofore been produced on looms provided with pile wires of different height and it has been customary to form the pile loops in the ground area by wires ofv one height and those in the figures or parts of the figures by wires of another height. In such a fabric, all the loops in a single transverse row across the fabric must be of the same height, since they are all formed on the same wire, and, where a row passes through areas, in which the pattern requires loops of different height, not all of those loops can be made on the same wire and, consequently, the row of loops is incomplete. In order to avoid the appearance of spaces in the pile surface of such a fabric, it is necessary to employ an increased number of rows of tufts per unit of length and this adds to the cost of manufacture.

loops, or both may be of different height. The invention also comprehends a novel method by which the fabric of the invention may be produced in a practical and economical manner. The new fabric is superior to prior fabrics in that, if desired, each transverse row of loops may contain its full complement of loops, even though these loops may be of different height. Also, the formation of the loops throughout the fabric is so controlled that loops of different height are accurately produced at selected points. The method of the invention may be practiced on standard looms, as, for example, looms of the Wilton type, modified by the use of a new combination of wires.

In a loom utilized for the practice of the method, the wires are of two types arranged in alternation. The wires employed for the production of tufts are provided with knife edges and the main portion of each such wire is of uniform height from end to end of the wire. When the pile yarns are raised over a tuft wire and then bound in place in the fabric, the yarns are first formed into loops of the same height as the main portion of the wire, and, when the wire is later withdrawn, the loops are formed into tufts, the legs of which are slightly longer than the height of the original loops.

The alternate wires in the loom are used for the formation of loops and each such wire has a main portion of substantially less height than the main portion of a tuft wire. The end of each loop wire, which trails when the wire is withdrawn, is of greater height than the main portion of that wire. When the pile warps are raised over a loop wire, and then bound in the fabric, the loops initially formed are substantially shorter than the tufts, but, upon withdrawal of the loop wire, the enlarged trailing end thereof increases the height of each of the loops. Preferably, the enlarged end has a height substantially the same as that of the main body of a tuft wire, so that the enlarged loops formed by withdrawal of a loop wire are only slightly shorter than the legs of the tufts. The enlargement of the loops by withdrawal of a loop wire The present invention is directed to the promay have no effect on loops previously formed or may reduce the height of those loops, and

I wire and a tuft wire, respectively, that are used in weaving the new fabric.

The fabric of the invention includes a backing generally designated I and a pile surface indicated at II. The backing may be of any desired construction and that illustrated includes stuil'er warps I2, two sets of pile warps I3, I4, two sets of binder warps or fine chains I5, I6, and weft shots I'I, I8 in upper and lower levels, respectively. It is to be understood that the backing may include weft shots in more than two levels and any of the other usual variations in backing construction.

, In the fabric shown, the weft shots in the two series are bound against the stuier and pile warps by the iine chains which cross above and below the weft shots. During the weaving, the pilel yarns are raised between successive weft shots in the upper series by means of a jacquard mechanism to produce a pile containing pattern figures in accordance with a design. v

The new fabric is woven by means of Wires of the type shown in Figs. and 6 and employed in alternation. The wire of Fig. 5 is for the formation of pile loops and it includes a main portion I5 and an enlarged head 20 at the end of the wire which trails when the wire is withdrawn. The upper edge of the wire is formed with a sloping surface a leading from the top of the main portion to the top of the enlargement. When this wire is inserted during the weaving operation. certain pile yarns selected by the action of the jacquard lie in the upper part of the shed and, when the shed changes, these pile yarns are lowered so as to lie upon the top of the main portion I9 of the wire. A weft shot in the upper series is then inserted to bind the raised pile yarns in position, and the raised yarns form low loops 2|. The next wire inserted in the shed is of the type shown in Fig. 6, and it includes a main portion 22 having a height substantially the same as the height of the enlarged portion 28 of a loop wire. At its end, which trails during withdrawal, the tuft wire has a knife blade 23 mounted with its edge extending upwardly at an angle. Upon insertion of the tuft wire, the pile yarns which lie in the upper part of the shed are lowered and bound by a weft shot of the upper series. The

portions of the yarns remaining on the wire then initially form high loops 24.

The insertion of the loop and tuft wires in alternation continues until the wire first inserted must be withdrawn and returned to the head of the series. If this wire is a loop wire, the movement of its enlarged end through the low loops 2I will increase the height of those loops, so that. upon withdrawal of the wire, allthe loops in the row formed by the use of the wire become high loops 25. The additional length of yarn required for thus increasing the height of any low loop may be obtained in one of several ways. For example, if a low loop is made of a yarn which has been embedded in the fabric for some distance immediately ahead of the loop, the additional length of yarn required for enlargement of the low loop is the yarn. An instance of such a loop is shown at 28 (Figs. 1 and 4) and, if the yarn in this loop is embedded in the fabric for a distance following the point of formation of the loop, the embedded portion of the yarn is stretched when loop 28 is converted from a low loop to a high loop by withdrawal of the wire. over which the loop was formed.

If the yarn in a loop being increased in height by withdrawal of a loop wire has been used in the formation of a number of loops arranged consecutively lengthwise of the fabric, the loop immediately preceding that being enlarged is a high loop. When the wire is withdrawn from the loop last formed, the additional length of yarn required for enlarging that loop is then obtained by withdrawal of yarn from the immediately preceding high loop and that high loop is converted to a low loop. Accordingly, in any longitudinal series of loops of the same yarn, all but the last loop in the series will be low loops of the height of loop 2| and the last loop in the series will be a high loop 25. This is shown in Fig. 1, in which loops 21, 28, and 29 form a longitudinal series. Loop 2'I was a high loop, when the wire about which it was formed was withdrawn. but it was converted to a low loop, when the. wire was withdrawn from the following loop 28. At that time, loop 28 was a high loop but it became a low loop upon withdrawal of the Wire from loop 29. Following the formation of loop 29, the yarn used for loops 21, 28 and 29 was embedded in the fabric and thus, upon formation of the next loop 30 of that yarn, the yarn required to form loop 30 as a high loop was obtained by stretching the embedded portion of the yarn and not by reducing the height of the loop 29.

In the weaving of the new fabric, the yarns forming the tufts ordinarily differ in color from the result will be a high loop followed by a tuft.

the legs of which are slightly longer than the loop. If the yarn is raised over a tuft wire and then, immediately after, over a loop wire, the additional length of yarn required for the enlargement of the loop upon withdrawal of the loop wire will be obtained by shortening one leg of the tuft. This situation is illustrated in Fig. 2, where the loop 3I immediately follows a tuft having a short leg32 and a long leg 33. Loop 3i, which was a'high loop, upon withdrawal of the wire therefrom. has been converted to a low loop, because it is the first in a longitudinal series of loops all made of the same yarn. It is not objectionable to raise a yarn over a loop wire and over the next tuft wire, since withdrawal of the tuft Wire does not alter the height of the loop and, if the yarn is embedded for a distance after being raised over the tuft wire before it is again raised over a loop wire, withdrawal of the second loop wire will not aiect the legs of the tuft. However, raising a yarn over a tuft wire and over the next loop wire with resultant reduction in the height of the tuft leg adjacent the loop is objectionable for several reasons. Thus, the short tuft leg is likely to be shorter than the adjacent low loop, in which event the pile may appear to have a thin spot at the location of the short tuft leg. In addition, the scuing action of rubber heels on the adjacent loop may be such as to pull the yarn in the short tuftleg from beneath the weft shot bindingl the yarn between the short tuft leg and the loop. If.

that occurs. the loop is replaced by a length of yarn equal in length tothe length of the loop plus the length of the short tuft leg and thislong length of yarn will project above the pile surface and give it a ragged appearancaras well as producing a thin spot in the pile. 'I'he raising of a yarn over a tuft wire and then over the next loop wire is, accordingly, to be avoided in the production of the fabric.

The weaving of the new fabric proceeds inthe usual way with the yarns raised over the alternate loop and tuft 'wires in accordance with the pattern and, at th completion of the weaving operation, the fabric is nished by,the usual operations, including shearing the ends of the tufts. 'I'he high loops 24 severed to produce the tufts are initially of the same height as the high uncut loops 25, but when loops 24 are severed, the cut ends project upwardly sumciently above the height of the high uncut `oops 25, so that portions 34 of the tufts may be sheared without/injuring the tops ofloops 25.

By the practice of the new method, a fabric may be produced in which the pile has ground areas of low loops and figure areas of tufts with the rear margin of each ground area outlined by high loops. If desired, of course, the reverse arrange-- ment may be employed with the ground area formed of tufts and the ligure areas of loops. In either case, the use of the high loops along the rear margins of the loop areas causes these areas to be set olf and novel effects are thus obtained.

It will be apparent that the relative height of the tufts and low loops may be varied as desired, but the high loops are always slightly lower than the tufts in order that the latter can besheared without damage to the high loops. The relative heights of the loops and tufts izgbtained by using wires of which the main portio have the desired widths, as, for example, the loop wires may have a height in the main portion of .150" and a maximum height in the enlargement of .290. When such loop wires are employed, the tuft wires used have a height of at least .290" with the knives projecting upwardly to the desired extent to effect good cutting.

I claim:

1. A method of making a pile fabric having a backing and a plurality of pile warps which comprises forming the backing with the pile warps held therein by elements of the backing, raising the pile warps selectively from the backing in accordance with a pattern and restoring them to the backing to form transverse rows of portions of the pile warps projecting above the backing to form pile having portions thereof in alternate rows projecting from the backing to a height higher than the pile warps in other rows, cutting said portions in said alternate rows along the backing to form tufts, while leaving the portions in the intermediate rows uncut to form loops, increasing the height of the loops in each row thereof to a height less than the height of the tufts and then reducing the height of only the loops of those pile warps of which portions are raised in the next succeeding intermediate row.

2. A method of making a pile fabric having a backing and pile warps which comprises forming the backing with the pile warps held therein by elments of the backing, raising the pile warps selectively from the backing in accordance with a pattern and restoring said pile warps to the backing to form transverse rows of portions of the pile warps projecting above the backing to form y pile loops, alternate rows of said loops projecting above the backing to a height greater than the loops in intermediate rows, cutting the high loops in said alternate rows along the backing to form double rows of pile tuft legs, the tuft legs in each such double row being of thesame height, while leaving the loops in intermediate rows uncut, increasing the height of the loops in each intermediate row thereof to a height less than the height of the tuft legs, and then reducing the height of the loops of substantially only those pile warps, which are raised to form loops in the next succeeding intermediate row.

HOWARD L. sHUTrLEwoRTH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the nie of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number- A Name Date 1,714,104 Pearsall May 21, 1929 2,015,810 Morgan Oct. 1, 1935 2,164,090 Shuttleworth June 27, 1939 2,270,103 Baynton Jan. 13, 1942 2,318,499 Keen May 4, 1943 2,477,249 Harding July 26, 1949 mamon PATENTv s Number Country Date 273,409 Great Britain July 6, 1927

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