US3333039A - Synthetic material tape or strip - Google Patents

Description

July 25, 1967 J, HUREAU SYNTHETIC MATERIAL TAPE OR STRIP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 19, 1963 ooooooaoo FIG 4 July 25, 1967 J, HUREAU 3,333,039

SYNTHETIC MATERIAL TAPE OR STRIP Filed Dec. 19, 1963 2 sneets-sffieet 2 h ,l4 W V L I T r I v v v I FIG. 4

FIG. 5

, INVENTOR. JACQUES HUREAU United States Patent 3,333,039 SYNTHETIC MATERIAL TAPE 0R STRIP Jacques Hureau, Paris, France, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Wood Conversion Company, St. Paul, Minn, a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 331,702 Qlairns priority, application France, Dec. 20, 1962, 919,290 2 Claims. (Ci. 264--146) This invention relates to a synthetic material tape or strip that has great dimensional stability, particularly when subjeced to heat, and that can be used for reinforcing or stiffening certain parts of garments, such as the waist-bands of trousers and skirts, the collars of shirts, and for many other purposes.

It is known to make cloth tapes for stiffening the waistbands of skirts. When made of natural threads or fibres, these known cloth tapes suffer from the drawback that they generally tend to shrink when washed and, as a general rule, tend with time to vary in length, and to an extent different from the dimensional variations of the garments on which they are fitted. This is due, inter alia, to the fact that these cloth tapes become desized after being washed a few times, as a result of which they also lose their stiffness. It is also known to make for the same purpose cloth tapes woven from synthetic fibre threads, for example nylon, which do not suffer from the above drawbacks. The cost price of these synthetic fibre tapes, however, is high as their manufacture requires two successive operations, the first being a spinning operation and the second being a weaving operation. For reinforcing or stiffening certain garment parts, for example shirt collars, it has also been proposed to use full-tapes of synthetic material, for example nylon, which can be manufactured in a single piece by continuous extrusion. These known tapes however prevent the passage of sweat therethrough. Moreover, they suffer from bad dimensional stability when heated, a most bothersome drawback when heat pressed between two pieces of cloth to form stiffeners.

The tape according to the invention is of the type set forth initially and has none of the drawbacks mentioned above of tapes used hitherto for the above specified purposes; the tape is characterized in that it consists of a strip of synthetic material formed over its entire surface with small, very closely spaced openings.

The tape according to the invention has great dimensional stability, particularly during the various treatments, including heat treatments, to which the garment on which it is mounted is subjected. The dimensional stability during heating of the reinforced tape according to the invention is due, inter alia, to the fact that the constituent synthetic material flows or expands when softened into the small openings which as a result become smaller still without however becoming stopped up, whereas the flow or expansion of a full tape or ribbon without openings can only result in an increase of its length or width. This feature is particularly advantageous for producing stitfeners by heat pressing a strip of synthetic material between two pieces of cloth. Such a stiffener moreover allows perspiration to pass therethrough. Since it is formed with small and closely spaced openings over its entire surface, the tape according to the invention may be made sufficiently thick to provide both substantial mechanical resistance, particularly to tearing, and suitable ilexibility. Furthermore, the possibility of manufacturing the foraminous tape according to the invention in a single continuous extrusion operation, by resorting to a known method and to a known machine, makes it possible to produce this tape more cheaply than known tapes of woven synthetic fibres. The manufacture of these ice known tapes requires two successive operations, the first being a spinning operation and the second being a weaving operation.

An embodiment of the tape according to the invention and a method of manufacturing the tape will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a heated templet used for finishing the edges of the tape shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a tape according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a first machine for manufacturing the tape of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view from below of a second machine for.

manufacturing the tape of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line V--V of.

FIG. 410oking in the direction of the arrows.

The tape according to the invention illustrated in FIG- URE 1 consists of a strip 1 of synthetic material having over its entire surface small and very closely spaced openings 2. The thickness of the strip 2 and the d mensions and the spacing of its openings 2 depend on the stiffness and the mechanical resistance, in particular totearing, that the tape is required to have for the uses to which it is to be put. In the illustrated embodiment, the openings 2 are of substantially oval shape and are aligned in longitudinal and transverse rows. This arrangement, however, is optional since it is only tied to the method that is resorted to for manufacturing the foraminous tape,

as explained below. The tape illustrated in FIGURE 2 can for example be used to line trouser or skirt waist-- ing to the invention can also be used for many otherpurposes. They may for example be used in the hatmaking industry, in the shoe-making industry, in the morocco-leather industry (in particular for belt-making), and in the manufacture of passementerie (braid, stripes, etc.). They can also have technical uses, for example as endless bands which can be used as transmission belts for pulleys, pinions (in particular chain driven pinions), studded wheels and cylinders, etc.; as perforated conveyor belts, such as those used in the chemical, food and papermaking industries, and as strengthening or supporting members.

There are several known methods forcontinuously extruding foraminous sheets of synthetic material, in particular sheets that are foraminous over their entire surface. Sheets of this kind, formed with fine and very closely spaced openings can obviously be cut up into several strips, according to the invention, of suitable width. The machines which have been designed for carrying out these known methods generally extrude continuously synthetic material tubes having walls that are foraminous over their entire surface. Tubes so obtained can also easily be cut up lengthwise to produce several foraminous tapes or strips, according to the invention, of suitable width. Since, however, the machines required to carry out these known extrusion processes are more or less complex and costly depending on the method it is proposed to use, the most economic conditions for continuously extruding sheets or tubes that are foraminous over their entire area and that can be cut up into several tapes or strips according to the invention, can be had by resorting, inter alia and in particular, to the method and to one of the machines disclosed in my US. Patent 3,252,181 filed on Dec. 18, 1961. The machines disclosed in this patent comprise at least one die for continuously extruding a full sheet or tube of synthetic material and means for temporarily and locally preventing the synthetic material from issuing from the die at those locations where the sheet or tube is to be formed with openings. The foraminous tape according to the invention that is illustrated in FIGURE 2 and which is formed with openings 2 aligned both in the longitudinal and transverse directions, has been obtained by cutting up a tube of synthetic material, perforated over its entire surface and produced by continuous extrusion with a machine such as illustrated in FIGURES 12 and 13 of the above referred to U.S. Patent 3,252,181; the cutting up operation having been carried out along two generating lines of the cylindrical extruded tube, after cooling of the constituent synthetic material, as illustrated in FIG. 3 in this application; in FIG. 3 a full tube of synthetic material is extruded through a circular slot 8 in a cylindrical die member 9; an annular member 10 is reciprocated along the peripheral surface of die member 9, as indicated by the arrow 11, between a lower end position, in which synthetic material is temporarily and locally prevented from issuing from the circular slot 8 by teeth projecting from the lower end of said annular member 10 through said circular slot 8, and an upper end position in which the annular slot 8 is clear of said teeth of the annular member 10 and a full tube T is extruded therethrough; a double knife 12 is fastened to the lower end of die member 9, and is disposed along a diameter of the cylindrical extruded tube T for cutting up the same along two of its vertical generating lines, thereby .giving two separate foraminous tapes like that shown in FIG. 2.

A foraminous tape according to the invention can also be obtained by cutting up, along two of its parallel generating lines, a foraminous tube of synthetic material having a wall with openings over its entire surface and extruded in continuous manner by some other method and some other machine of known type; the openings of the tape could then be distributed, in relation to the longitudinal edges, in a manner different from that shown in FIG. 2.

When a foraminous tape according to the invention is obtained by cutting up a sheet or tube of greater area, the longitudinal edges of the tape always has rough edges which can be bothersome for the subsequent use to which the tape is to be put. FIGURE 1 illustrates a device for smoothing the roughness along the edges of the tape 1 obtained by cutting up a part of greater area. This device essentially consists of a templet having two gauging members 3' and 3" arranged parallel to one another and at a distance slightly less than the width tape 1 is to have after removal of the asperities along its sides. These gauging members 3' and 3" are heated to a temperature close to the softening point of the synthetic material of which tape 1 is made, by known means, as for example by electrical resistances 4' and 4", which extend lengthwise therein in the vicinity of the oppositely lying faces of the gauging members 3 and 3". The latter moreover are formed with V-shaped grooves 7' and 7" in which pass the edges of tape 1 which is moved along a flat support 6 in the direction of arrow 5, so that the asperities along its edges, by rubbing against members 3' and 3", become softened, and the material constituting these asperities becomes spread along the edges of the tape thereby smoothing these edges. The flat support 6, which does not contact members 3' and 3", can moreover be cooled by any known means,

The known methods and machines referred to earlier can easily be adapted for the continuous extrusion of a single Width of foraminous tape according to the invention, thereby avoiding the need for a subsequent cutting operation of a sheet or tube of greater area. This is illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5, which correspond to FIGURES 21 and 22 of my Patent 3,252,181; a full sheet of synthetic material is extruded through a rectilinear slot :13 in a outer die member 14; an inner die member 15 is reciprocated within a recess inside of said outer die member 14, as indicated by the arrow 16, between the shown end position, in which synthetic material is temporarily and locally prevented from issuing from the rectilinear slot 13 by teeth 17 projecting from one face of inner die member 15 through said rectilinear slot 13, and another end position in which rectilinear slot 13 is clear of said teeth 17 of the inner die member 15, and a full sheet S is extruded therethrough. The same advantage may be had, but with a considerable increase in output, by permanently obturating locally the outlet of the die of the machine disclosed in my above-mentioned U.S. Patent 3,252,181 by means of stoppers, preferably equidistantly spaced, so as simultaneously to produce several tapes, of preferably equal width, according to the invention. This arrangement makes it unnecessary subsequently having to cut up a sheet or tube of great rr area into several tapes and having to smooth the amerities along the edges of each tape so out What is claimed is:

:1. A method of producing foraminous strips of synthetic material by means of an extruder including dies, comprising the steps of continuously extruding a tube of synthetic material, the circumferential width of which is substantially a multiple of that of the foraminous strip to be obtained; of forming openings in said tube by temporarily and locally preventing the synthetic material from issuing from said die at those locations Where the tube is to be formed with openings; of cutting up the extruded and foraminous tube into a plurality of strips of suitable Width thus creating asperities along the edges of said strips; and of smoothing the lateral asperities along the edges of each of said strips by passing each of said strips through a constraining and heating templet to constrain the edges against movement other than longitudinally with the strip passing through said templet While simultaneously heating said asperities to the softening temperature of the synthetic material constituting each said strip.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of stretching said tube in at least one direction, and solidifying said tube prior to cutting and smoothing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,323,212 11/1919 Bulley 156-88 2,535,029 12/1950 Atamasoff et al. 156-88 2,582,777 l/1952 Grozinger 16l109 3,019,483 2/ 1962 Schultheiss.

3,137,611 6/1964 Krolik l61l09 3,172,154 3/1965 Martin et al.

3,227,184 1/1966 Anderson et al 16l-109 EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner.

D. J. DRUMMOND, Examiner,

Claims (1)

1. A METHOD OF PRODUCING FORAMINOUS STRIPS OF SYNTHETIC MATERIAL BY MEANS OF AN EXTRUDER INCLUDING DIES, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF CONTINUOUSLY EXTRUDING A TUBE OF SYNTHETIC MATERIAL, THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL WIDTH OF WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY A MULTIPLE OF THAT OF THE FORAMINOUS STRIP TO BE OBTAINED; OF FORMING OPENINGS IN SAID TUBE BY TEMPORAILY AND LOCALLY PREVENTING THE SYNTHETIC MATERIAL FROM ISSUING FROM SAID DIE AT THOSE LOCATIONS WHERE THE TUBE IS TO BE FORMED WITH OPENINGS; OF CUTTING UP THE EXTRUDED AND FORAMINOUS TUBE INTO A PLURALITY OF STRIPS OF SUITABLE WIDTH THUS CREATING ASPERITIES ALONG THE EDGES OF SAID STRIPS; AND OF SMOOTHING THE LATERAL ASPERITIES ALONG THE EDGES OF EACH OF SAID STRIPS BY PASSING EACH OF SAID STRIPS THROUGH A CONSTRAINING AND HEATING TEMPLET TO CONSTRAIN THE EDGES AGAINST MOVEMENT OTHER THAN LONGITUDINALLY WITH THE STRIP PASSING THROUGH SAID TEMPLET

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