US2987370A - Method of setting woolen textiles - Google Patents

Description

Linn-W;

United States Patent "ice.

2,987,370 METHOD OF SETTING WOOLEN TEXTILES Harold P. Lundgren, Berkeley, Nathan H. Koenig, El

Cerrito, and Clay E. Pardo, Jr., Albany, Calif., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture N0 Drawing. Filed June 30, 1959, Ser. No. 824,154 4 Claims. (Cl. 8128) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), see. 266) A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license in the invention herein described, throughout the world for all purposes of the United States Government, with the power to grant sublicenses for such purposes, is hereby granted to the Government of the United States of America.

This invention relates to and has as its primary object the provision of novel methods for imparting to woolen textiles durable creases, folds, pleats, or other structural arrangements as may be desired by the operator.

It is of course well known that garments of all types are provided with some sort of fabric arrangement, for example, pleats, creases, etc. Such deformations are conventionally produced by ironing the garment while constrained in the desired pattern. However, these arrangements are but temporary and when the garment is subjected to wear or is exposed to humid conditions the creases, pleats, etc. disappear leaving the garment in a shapeless condition. Materials such as starch are widely employed to obtain more durable creases. However, impregnation of the textile with starch and similar materials has the drawback that the textile is rendered stiff and harsh so that it does not have the original characteristics of the untreated fabric.

The process of the invention affords many advantages not realized by prior techniques. Some of these advantages are explained below- In the first place, the fabric arrangements produced by application of the invention are durable, that is, they are essentially permanent in practical consideration. The treated textiles may be subjected to soaking in cold or even hot water without loss of the structure imparted thereto. Garments treated in accordance with the invention may be worn in the rain or subjected to other humid conditions without loss of pleats, creases, etc. The treated textiles may be subjected to dry cleaning or even washing in conventional aqueous soap or detergent formulations with little detriment to the creases, pleats, or other arrangements as may be present.

A most significant advantage of the process of the invention is that the durable arrangements are established without impairing the desirable properties of the textile. That is to say, such properties as color, hand, elasticity, porosity, resilience, strength, wear-resistance, etc., are not harmed. For example, textiles treated in accordance with the invention exhibit essentially the same hand as the original fabric. This is in utter contrast to prior processes which depend for their efiectiveness on the application of shellac, gums, starches, resins, or other high-molecular weight coating materials. In those cases there is a substantial stiffening of the material so that the original hand of the fabric is impaired. The process of the invention does not involve constraining the shape of the textile fibers by any coating material but by a chemical rearlatented June 6, 1961 rangement of the structure of the fibers into a new structural pattern.

Further items to be mentioned are that the agent used in the process, dimethyl sulfoxide, is inexpensive, commercially-available, and non-toxic under the conditions of use. Moreover, the process is outstanding in its utter simplicity and efiiciency.

Another advantage is that the arrangement is set merely by application of heat; no oxidizer or other chemical agents as necessary with conventional reducing treatments (e.g., sulphites, thioglycollates, etc.) are needed in the process of the invention.

In applying the process of the invention, dimethyl sulfoxide is distributed on the textile, the textile is arranged in the desired pattern, and then while constraining it in such pattern heat is applied to the arrangement.

The dimethyl sulfoxide is applied as such to the texile or it may be dissolved in a volatile, inert liquid solvent and the solution applied to the textile. Where a solvent is employed, water is preferred as being the most convenient and economical solvent. The dimethyl sulfoxide may be applied over the entire surface of the textile as by immersion, brushing, spraying, etc. Usually, however, it is preferred to apply this compound only to the area where the fibers are to be deformed. For example, in treating trousers in accordance with the invention, the dimethyl sulfoxide is applied in a stripe or line along the length of the legs of the garment where the creases will be formed. It is obvious that by applying the compound only along the line where the textile is to be deformed there results a substantial saving in the amount of dimethyl sulfoxide which is required for the process.

The amount of dimethyl sulfoxide applied to the textile is not critical. Dimethyl sulfoxide exhibits a very potent effect in enabling the formation of durable textile arrangements and any amount thereof applied to the textile will result in significant improvement over conventional creasing, pleating, or other type of fiber deformation produced by pressing with a hot iron or similar device. Also, there is no harm in using too much dimethyl sulfioxide as any excess is vaporized in the heat treatment.

As stated above it is preferred to apply the dimethyl sulfoxide along a line where the crease, pleat, or other configuration is to be formed. With such method of application, the amount of dimethyl sulfoxide may be reckoned on the basis of volume per unit of linear distance. On this basis, then, it is preferred to deposit dimethyl sul foxide in an amount of at least 0.0005 ml. per inch. More preferably to attain especially durable deformation the amount is at least 0.1 ml. per inch. As noted above, no harm is done by using excessive amounts of dimethyl sulfoxide; any excess being vaporized in the heating step.

After applying dimethyl sulfoxide to the textile, the textile is arranged in the desired pattern. The arrangement may involve such manipulations as folding over sections of the textile, creasing, pleating, or shaping on suitable mandrels or dies. For example, in applying the process to garments, these articles are laid on a flat surface with the desired areas folded over, creased, or otherwise arranged as conventional in preparing garments for pressing. Where more complex configurations are involved the textile may be compressed between dies having the desired shape. For example, ribbed effects may be obtained by constraining the fabric between dies havapplied during the heating step.

a the selected pattern.

ing corrugated surfaces; pleated eifects may be obtained by constraining the fabric between dies having mating V-shaped projections. Yarns may be crimped by compressing between corrugated surfaces. Further extensions of these principles will be obvious to those versed in the textile art.

In any event, the textile while constrained in the arranged pattern is subjected to heat to set the textile fibers in the selected pattern. The heat treatment, or curing as it may be termed, is generally accomplished by contacting the textile with steam or with heated platens, rollers, dies, or the like. Also, the textile may be placed in an oven or subjected to radiation from infrared heaters or the like. For the establishment of pleats, creases and the like a conventional tailors steam press is quite satisfactory as the textile can be subjected to direct contact with steam while held in the selected pattern by the press platens. Generally, the heating, whether by steam or a hot roller, die, platen, etc., is at about 85 to 150 C. The time for cure is decreased with increasing temperature. Usually, the textile is properly cured when the odor of dimethyl sulfoxide essentially disappears. Depending on the temperature the time for cure will be on the order of 0.5 to 15 minutes. In any particular case, pilot trials may be conducted with different heating times and noting the durability of the arrangements in the treated textile by soaking it in water and observing its appearance. From such trials it is simple to determine the proper time of heating for the main batch of textile to be treated. Usually, however, it is unnecessary to conduct such trials by simply discontinuing the heating when the odor of dimethyl sulfoxide is essentially negligible. Generally it is preferred to heat the dimethyl sulfoxide-treated textile at a temperature of about from 140 to 145 C., in which case the deformation is set in about 3 to 5 minutes. Also, heating by direct contact with steam is generally preferred as the penetration of the steam into the textile causes faster heating of the textile than is obtained with the case of hot platens, rollers, dies, or the like. Of course, a faster heating of the textile means that the time for setting is reduced.

The theory of the process is imperfectly understood. However, it is believed that during the heat treatment in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide, certain chemical bonds in the wool molecule are disrupted and then reformed into new patterns. By this molecular re-orientation the fibers are set in the position in which they are constrained during the heat treating step.

The sequence of the operations of (a) application of the dimethyl sulfoxide and (b) mechanical arranging of the textile is not critical. Thus the textile may be treated with dimethyl sulfoxide, shaped to the desired pattern and heated while constrained in such pattern. On the other hand the textile may be shaped to the desired pattern, the dimethyl sulfoxide applied, and the textile heated while constrained in such pattern. Moreover, although it is preferred to apply the dimethyl sulfoxide to the textile prior to the heating step, this agent may be For example, the textile may be arranged-into the desired pattern, then subjected to direct contact with a current of steam containing dimethyl sulfoxide while the textile is constrained in In a preferred modification of the invention, the textile material, prior to application of dimethyl sulfoxide, is Wetted with water. In this way the arrangement eventually produced is especially resistant to water, humid conditions, and washing. In carrying out this procedure the textile is soaked in water until it is thoroughly wet thereby. This point can be readily determined by dropping water on the textile. When it is wet, the Water will soak into the textile instead of running off in droplets. To assistin wetting the textile, a conventional Wetting agent may be added to the water. Suitable for this purpose are such agents as for example: Soaps, long-chain alkyl sodium sulphates or sulphonates, long-chain alkyl benzene sodium sulphonates, esters of sulphosuccinic acid, etc., typical examples being sodium oleate, sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium dodecane sulphonate, sodium alkyl (C -C benzene sulphonate, sodium dioctylsulphosuccitrate, etc. Agents of the nonionic type may be used for example the reaction products of ethylene oxide with fatty acids, polyhydric alcohols, alkyl phenols and so forth. Typical of such agents are polyoxyethylene stearate, polyoxyethylene ethers of sorbitan monolaurate, isooctyl phenyl ether of polyethylene glycol, etc. Cationic agents may also be used as for example long-chain alkyl trimethyl ammonium chlorides, bromides, and methosulphates. Only a small concentration of Wetting agent is needed, i.e., about 0.05 to 0.5% by weight. After the textile is wet it is heated in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide while constrained in the desired pattern as heretofore described.

The process of the invention may be applied to wool textiles in the form of threads, fibers, yarns, slivers, rovings, woven fabrics, knitted fabrics, felts, or garments made of woven or knitted fabrics. The textiles may be white or dyed goods. Typical applications of the invention are: to provide garments with pleats, creases, or other arrangements customary in tailoring; to provide sheets of fabric with pre-formed pleats so that the product may be used for the fabrication of skirts, draperies, etc.; to produce crimp, twist, or other configuration in yarns, threads and the like. Further applications of the invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the above illustrations.

The invention is further demonstrated by the following illustrative examples:

Example I A section of 10.5 oz. wool flannel was cut into strips 50 cm. long and 4 cm. wide. Each strip was then folded in accordion fashion to provide seven pleats along the length of each strip.

Several batches of the folded strips were then treated with dimethyl sulfoxide. In the treatment, this compound was applied along the line of each fold in an amount of about 0.1 ml. per inch. To provide controls, several batches of the folded strips were not treated.

The treated and untreated strips, in the folded form, were placed in a tailors steam press. There they were pressed for 3 minutes while subjected to direct contact with steam at about 140-145 C. After steaming, the press platens were subjected to vacuum for a minute to exhaust steam from the cloths.

To test the durability of the pleats, the following procedure was employed: After steam pressing each strip was suspended vertically by one end and the length of the strip (L) under its own weight then measured. The strips were then soaked to ascertain the permanence of the pleats. The soaking involved holding the strips for one minute in water, at room temperature, containing 0.1% of a wetting agent (Triton X-100, iso-octylphenyl ether of polyethylene glycol). After this soaking the strips were air-dried then suspended as before and their length (L') measured. vThe percentage permanence of the pleats is then obtained from the formula 50-L Percentage permanencex It was also observed that the dimethyl sulfoxide-treated strips even after soaking had' sharp, well-defined pleats. The control strips after soaking retained only a general sinuousness with no distinct pleats.

Example II A x 5 cm. piece of aluminum sheet was punched with several holes having a diameter of 7 mm. A piece of wool cloth was placed on this template and the portions of the cloth over the holes were pressed through the holes to provide an embossed effect. The areas of cloth projecting through the holes were secured in place by running a wire through the material. The projecting areas of the cloth were then wet with dimethyl sulfoxide. The assembly was then subjected to steam for 3 minutes at about l40l45 C. The fabric was removed from the template, soaked for one minute in water containing 0.1% Triton X-100, then dried in air. It was observed that the cloth retained the embossed design. A control test wherein all the steps were applied except application of the dimethyl sulfoxide, yielded a cloth which displayed no evidence of the embossing.

Example III Dimethyl sulfoxide was applied from a burette along a line traced on a piece of wool cloth (6.9 oz. per sq. yd.), applying about 0.1 ml. of dimethyl sulfoxide per inch. Several cloths were treated in this way, then each was folded over along the line where the dimethyl sulfoxide was applied and pressed in a tailors steam press. The temperature of the steam supplied to the press was 140l45 C. In each case, the cloths were pressed for 3 to 5 minutes while steam was flowing out of the press platens onto the cloths. The flow of steam was then cut oil and suction applied to the platens to exhaust steam fiom the cloths. Suction was applied for a minute.

The cloths were then removed fiom the press. It was observed that the creases were sharp. To test the durability of the creases, the cloths were soaked one minute in water containing 0.1% of a wetting agent (Triton X-lOO, iso-octylphenyl ether of polyethylene glycol) at room temperature. The cloths were dried in air and the soaking and drying repeated two more times. A control sample which was not treated with dimethyl sulfoxide but which was steam pressed as were the other samples was also subjected to the soaking tests.

After each soaking and drying, the cloths were exam- The procedure set forth in Example III was repeated except that in these runs, aqueous solutions of dimethyl sulfoxide were used instead of this compound as such.

The conditions and results are tabulated below:

Concentration of Application Crease rating dimethyl sulfoxide of dimethyl Time of in treating solution, sulfoxide, steaming, percent (vol. basis) inL/inch min. After 1 After 3 soak soaks 0.095 3 excellentgood. 0.095 5 o Do. 0.05 3 good fair. 0. 05 5 excell nt Do. 0.005 3 fair". Do. 0. 005 5 Do.

Samples of wool cloth were soaked in water containing 0.1% Triton X- until the wool was thoroughly wet. The cloths were folded over and steam pressed for 2 minutes. The cloths were then unfolded and dimethyl sulfoxide was then applied along the line of each crease at the rate of about 0.1 ml. per inch. The cloths were then folded over again and pressed with steam at about 145 C. for 5 minutes.

To test the durability of the creases, the cloths were soaked for 1 minute in water containing 0.1% Triton X-100 then dried in air. The cloths were then further subjected to repeated soaking under the same conditions with drying between each soaking. In one series, the soaking water was at 25 C., in another the soaking water was at 100 C. The results are tabulated below:

It was also observed that the creases in the treated samples remained intact when the cloth samples were dry cleaned by the method 25-52 AATCC.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed 1. A method for imparting a stable set to wool textile material which comprises applying dimethyl sulfoxide to a wool textile, arranging the textile into a predetermined pattern, and while constraining it in such pattern subjecting it to heat to set it in the predetermined pattern.

2. A method of imparting a stable set to wool textile material which comprises applying dimethyl sulfoxide to a selected area of a wool textile where the fibers are to be deformed, arranging the textile to deform said fibers according to a predetermined pattern and while constraining the fibers in such pattern, subjecting them to heat to set the fibers in the deformed position.

3. A method for imparting a stable set to wool fibers which comprises heating wool fibers in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide while the wool fibers are constrained in a predetermined pattern.

4. A method for imparting a stable set to wool fibers which comprises applying steam to wool fibers in the presence of dimethyl sulfoxide while the wool fibers are constrained in a predetermined pattern.

Houtz: Textile Res. 1., pp. 786-801, November 1950. Vickerstafi, Thomas: The Physical Chemistry of Dyeing, Intersci. Pub., Inc., N.Y.C., 1954, pp. 489, 492.

Claims (1)

1. A METHOD FOR IMPARTING A STABLE SET TO WOOL TEXTILE MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES APPLYING DIMETHYL SULFOXIDE TO A WOOL TEXTILE, ARRANGING THE TEXTILE INTO A PREDETERMINED PATTERN AND WHILE CONSTRAINING IT IN SUCH PATTERN SUBJECTING IT TO HEAT TO SET IT IN THE PREDETERMINED PATTERN.