US3057179A - Laundry pads - Google Patents

Description

Oct- 9, 19 J. D. WILLINGHAM, JR 3,

LAUNDRY PADS Filed May 22, 1959 lNTOR: 3 JOHN D. WILLINGHAM,JR

ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofifice 3,5?119 Patented Get. 9, 1962 3,957,179 LAUNDRY PADS John D. Wiliingham, Jim, 22%) W. Paces Ferry Road NW., Atianta, Ga. Fiied lv iay 22, 1%9, er. No. 815,170 Claims. (Q1. 66-11%) This invention relates to laundry pads and is more par ticularly concerned with pads employed on fiat work ironers and ironing presses.

In the past laundry pads have been extensively employed as resilient members between metal portions of ironing presses and between the cover cloth and metal rollers of flat work ironers. Such pads are usually formed of parallel strands of sliver joined together by yarn or thread. In an effort to provide a durable and yet resilient and foraminate pad, the sliver employed has been almost exclusively cotton. Some pads, however, have been made of nylon or asbestos.

A pad with silver made completely of asbestos lacks the necessary resiliency although it is heat resistant and therefore very shortly after such a pad is installed, the article, pressed with an ironer or press having this asbestos pad, dries slowly and appears to be very poorly pressed. A pad with sliver made of nylon has very good heat resistant characteristics but, like asbestos, lacks resiliency and, in addition, is expensive.

On the other hand, a pad with sliver made of cotton lacks heat resistancy and readily burns out, requiring replacement about once every three months. Such pads, however, are resilient and inexpensive to manufacture.

Because installation of new pads requires shut down of equipment and the pads themselves are expensive, the industry has long sought a laundry pad which has a long useful life and at the same time is resilient and inexpensive and provides a fast drying rate.

To obviate the problems of such prior art devices, I have devised a pad in which there are two layers of sliver, one layer of which is of heat resistant material and the other layer of which is of resilient fiber, preferably cotton. The heat resistant material is either a synthetic or asbestos and is to be positioned toward the source of heat. For example, if my laundry pad is to be used on a flat work ironer, the pad will be placed around the periphery of the roll with the heat resistant material outwardly or on top, and the cotton sliver inwardly or on the bottom.

Since bulkiness is sometimes objectionable, my pad, while being formed as two distinct layers, has a thickness slightly greater than only one sliver, the inner portions of all slivers being wedge shaped to provide tapering angular related sides which lie contiguous with the sides of and in staggered relationship to the adjacent slivers of the other material. Such a pad has a useful life at least double the life of a cotton pad and permits a drying rate approaching that of a cotton pad.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a laundry pad which is efficient in operation and yet has an unusually long useful life.

Another object of my invention is to provide a laundry pad which permits an ironer or presser on which it is installed to produce a quality ironing job in a relatively short period of time.

Another object of my invention is to provide a pad having the resiliency of a cotton pad and essentially its drying rate while, at the same time, having the heat resistancy of a high heat resistant material.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a flat work ironer roll positioned to receive my pad, a lead cloth and a cover cloth.

FIG. 2 is a vertically sectioned perspective view of the roll illustrated in FIG. 1, the lead cloth pad and cover cloth being installed thereon.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary partially exploded cross sectional View of my laundry pad.

Referring now in detail to the embodiment chosen for purpose of illustrating the present invention, it being understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment here depicted, numeral 10 denotes a conventional roll of a conventional flat work ironer. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, a plurality of such rolls 10 are successively arranged in flat work ironers (not shown) over steam chests (not shown). Fabric to be ironed is fed to the ironer and passes between the steam chest and the roll 10. Thus, heat passing from the steam chest heats the moistened fabric thereby creating steam which proceeds into the material covering the periphery of roll 10.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the first fabric to be placed on the periphery of the roll 10 is the lead cloth 11, one end 12 of which may be secured in any conventional manner such as by the gluing of end 12 axially to the periphery of roll 10. Metal fasteners (not shown) may also be employed for securing the end 12 of the lead cloth 11 to the periphery of the roll 10, as has been suggested by the prior art. This lead cloth 11 is made from conventional materials employed for lead cloths. In the past cotton duck material has been employed; however, more recently a woven material containing asbestos has become more popular.

Preferably the lead cloth 11 is of a length sufiicient to encompass the roll 10 once. About the first of lead cloth 11 from inner end 12 lies adjacent to and contiguous with roll 10, and the remaining portion to outer end 13 of the lead cloth 11 is adapted to pass over my laundry pad 14.

My pad 14 has its inner end 15 inserted between an intermediate portion of the lead cloth 11 and pad 14 encompasses the periphery of roll 10, once so that its outer end 16 and its inner end 15 abut, to lie substantially in the same radial plane.

In the present invention the inner end 17 of the cover cloth 18 overlaps the outer end 13 of lead cloth 11 and the overlapping portions are secured together by adhesive or by stitching so that the cover cloth 18 is positively secured to roll 10 by means of the lead cloth 11. As is conventional, cover cloth 18 thence wraps around the pad 14 about one and a quarter times or more, the outer end 19 of cover cloth 18 being unsecured to cover cloth 18 so as to facilitate easy removal of the entire padding. Of course means may be employed, if desired, to secure end 19 in place.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that other arrangements of lead cloth and cover cloth may be employed if desired.

According to my invention, my laundry pad 14, as seen in FIG. 3, is made up of two layers of sliver, each sliver being generally triangular in shape or forming an isosceles wedge shaped member so that the apex of all slivers project inwardly whereby the slivers of one layer are respectively wedged between two slivers of the other layer. Thus, the slivers of one layer are aligned in a plane with each other, the slivers of the other layer are aligned in another plane with each other and the slivers of one layer are in staggered relationship to the slivers of the other layer.

In more detail, the top layer is formed from asbestos slivers 20 and the bottom layer is formed of cotton slivers 21. As will be seen in the exploded portion of FIG. 3,

each asbestos sliver 20 is provided with flat downwardly converging or tapering sides 22, 22 which join at their apex 23. Similarly, each cotton sliver 21 is provided with flat upwardly converging or tapering sides 24, 24 which join at their apex 2.5. Projecting from the upper edges of sides 22, 22 of the asbestos slivers 20 are approximately parallel vertical side portions 26, 26, the upper edges of which are joined by an arcuate upper surface 27. The cotton sliver 21 also has vertical side portions 28, 28 which project parallel to each other downwardly from sides 24, 24 respectively. The lower edges of side portions 28, 23 are joined by an arcuate bottom surface 29. Each upper surface 27 is upwardly convexed and each lower surface 2 is downwardly convexed.

As best seen in the exploded portion of FIG. 3, each of slivers 2t) and 21 is provided with from one to four pilot yarns, such as yarns 34) which are helically wound around the sliver at a pitch of about 45. If more than one pilot yarn 3% is employed, they should be spaced evenly from each other.

The slivers 20' and 21 are all arranged parallel to each other and retained together by nitting threads, such as thread 31. A double needle bar, single guide bar, raschel chain type stitch is preferably employed in weaving the thread 31 and slivers 2G and 21 together. The knitting threads 31 are spaced from each other longitudinally along the sliver throughout the length of the pad 14.

The preferred pad 14 made according to the present invention has the following characteristics:

Preferred Structure Weight/sq. yd 4 pounds. Total thickness inch compressed in operation. Top layer weight 50% of total Weight. Toplayercomposition. 80% asbestos, 20% Dacron. Bottom layer composition Cotton waste. Rows of sliver/inch 3%. top layer, 3 /2 bottom layer. Knitting threads/inch 4. Size of knitting thread 20/2 ply cotton count.

I)acronpolyester fiber produced by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & C0.

It will be understood, however, that the preferred SfiHlCtllle may be varied. The following gives certain preferable limits in the construction of pad 14:

It will be understood that by the term heat resistant material as used in defining the top layer or sliver 20, I mean a synthetic or artificially produced fiber such as asbestos, Dacron, 1 nylon, Arnel, 2 acrylic fiber or a combination of those materials. The term cotton as employed in defining the bottom layer or slivers 21 includes cotton waste, new stock and shoddy (rags or string garnetted).

While it is possible to utilize sliver containing 100% asbestos for the top layer, pure asbestos fibers are difficult to card and therefore I recommend that at least Dacroupolyester fiber produced by E, I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.

Arne1cellulose triacetate fiber produced by Celanese Corporation of America.

cotton or synthetic fiber be admixed with the asbestos prior to the carding operation if the heat resistant mate rial is to be asbestos.

In use, my pad 14 is laid on the roll it) with the slivers 2t} and 21 running circumferentially with respect to the roll 19. On an ironer press, the slivers should preferably be arranged transversely of the press.

If it is desired, a backing cloth (not shown) may be knitted to the pad so as to abut the cotton slivers 21.

With the arrangement illustrated, there are relatively large surfaces such as sides 22, 22' of the asbestos slivers 20 in contact with relatively large surfaces such as sides 24, 24 of the cotton sliver 21 in contact or contiguous with each other. Theoretically, since asbestos has a tendency to hold moisture, there is a tendency on the part of the asbestos fibers, probably through capillary action, to maintain a moist condition, the apex 25 of each sliver 21 being probably the most moist because the moisture tends to travel inwardly through the asbestos during that portion of the cycle when heat is not applied to the pad 14 and then travels outwardly through the apex 25 when heat is applied to the upper surface of the pad 14. It will therefore be seen that while the apex 25, being closest to the high temperature metal surface, is the most likely to become burned or charred, the apex 25 is also the portion of the cotton sliver 20 which is most likely to be subject to the cooling action of the moisture as it is evaporated.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many variations may be made in the embodiment here chosen for purpose of illustrating the present invention without departing from the scope of my invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

I. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses comprising an upper layer and a lower layer, said upper layer having parallel isosceles wedge shaped slivers of heat resistant material, said lower layer having parallel isosceles wedge shaped slivers formed of cotton, said slivers of said upper layer and said slivers of said lower layer being in staggered relationship with the equal sides of the slivers of one layer being contiguous with the equal sides of the slivers of the other layer.

2. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses comprising an upper layer and a lower layer, said upper layer having parallel isosceles wedge shaped slivers of heat resistant material forming a continuous outer surface, said lower layer having parallel isosceles wedge shaped slivers formed of foraminate fibrous material, said slivers of said upper layer and said slivers of said lower layer being in staggered relationship with the sides of the slivers contiguous.

3. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses comprising an upper layer, a lower layer, and threads joining said upper layer to said lower layer, said upper layer having inwardly projecting isosceles wedge shaped slivers parallel with each other and aligned in a plane and forming a continuous outer surface, said lower layer having inwardly projecting isosceles wedge shaped slivers parallel to each other and aligned in another plane, said sliver of said upper layer being staggered with respect to the slivers of said lower layer, the apex of the wedge shaped slivers in one layer terminating slightly below the plane of the outer surface of the other layer, the converging surfaces of the wedge shaped sliver of one layer being contiguous with the converging surfaces of the slivers of the other layer, said slivers having convexed outer surfaces and substantially vertical side portions abutting the side portions of adjacent slivers in its plane.

4. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses comprising an upper layer and a lower layer, said upper layer having parallel isosceles Wedge shaped slivers formed of nylon, said lower layer having parallel isosceles wedge shaped slivers formed of cotton, said slivers of said upper layer and slivers of said lower layer being in stag- References Cited in the file of this patent gered relationship with the equal sides of said slivers of one layer being contiguous with the equal sides of the UNITED STATES PATENTS slivers of the other layer. 57 3,7 20 Sumner Dec. 22, 189 6 5. A pad for flat work ironers or ironer presses com- 5 2,003,741 Daughdrill June 4, 11935 prising an upper layer and a lower layer, said upper layer 2,091,926 Hill Aug. 31, 1937 having parallel isosceles wedge shaped slivers formed of 2 173,633 Hooper N 7, |1939 cellulose triacetate, said lower layer having parallel isos- 5 3 37 Weber 15, 1952 celes wedge shaped slivers formed of cotton, said slivers of said upper layer and said slivers of said lower layer 10 FOREIGN PATENTS being in staggered relationship with the equal sides of 323,377 Great Britain Jan 2, 1930 said slivers of one layer being contiguous with the equal sides of the slivers of the other layer.

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