US3578546A - Spandex fabric and method of making the same - Google Patents

Spandex fabric and method of making the same Download PDF

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Publication number
US3578546A
US3578546A US634535A US3578546DA US3578546A US 3578546 A US3578546 A US 3578546A US 634535 A US634535 A US 634535A US 3578546D A US3578546D A US 3578546DA US 3578546 A US3578546 A US 3578546A
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United States
Prior art keywords
spandex
fabric
yarn
run
knit
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Expired - Lifetime
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US634535A
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English (en)
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William F Morancy
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Distribution Solutions Group Inc
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Lawson Products Inc
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    • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
    • D06—TREATMENT OF TEXTILES OR THE LIKE; LAUNDERING; FLEXIBLE MATERIALS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • D06C—FINISHING, DRESSING, TENTERING OR STRETCHING TEXTILE FABRICS
    • D06C29/00—Finishing or dressing, of textile fabrics, not provided for in the preceding groups
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
    • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
    • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
    • Y10T428/24—Structurally defined web or sheet [e.g., overall dimension, etc.]
    • Y10T428/24802—Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond [e.g., artwork, printing, retouched photograph, etc.]
    • Y10T428/2481—Discontinuous or differential coating, impregnation or bond [e.g., artwork, printing, retouched photograph, etc.] including layer of mechanically interengaged strands, strand-portions or strand-like strips
    • Y10T428/24818—Knitted, with particular or differential bond sites or intersections

Definitions

  • U.S. Patent 2,308,593 discloses fabric knitted from yarn which is spun from at least two different types of fiber, each having different solubility properties. When the fabric is treated with a particular solvent, one of the fibers partially dissolves and becomes sticky. Where two such fibers are lying adjacent to each other in the fabric, they will stick together. For various reasons, including those pointed out in U.S. Patent 2,962,384, this method has not proved workable.
  • U.S. Patent 3,271,220 discloses a method of bonding resinous fibers, such as nylon to nylon, by radiation from a high energy light pulse source. This technique is not deemed applicable to fabric having two or more different types of fibers in plated or other adjacent relationship. Furthermore, although this method can produce a structure wherein most of the fiber junctions are bonded, the bonding produces such radical inelasticity that the fabric has no stretch for practical purposes. Such fabric definitely has no utility in the important fields of hosiery and underwear, and it is doubtful whether it has use in any normal type of garment. The inelasticity of the fabric is a defect which is recognized in said Patent 3,271,220 and the suggestion is made therein that in order to produce stockings, nylon fiber intersections should be bonded at random. It is unclear how random bonding could be achieved under ordinary mill,conditions, and it is obvious by definition that a stocking with random bonding would be subject to runs.
  • spandex yarn concatenated to spandex yarn can be successfully fused to form a truly non-run fabric with excellent elastic and shape stability properties it heat-treated in a particular manner.
  • This discovery in brief, is that if spandex yarn is linked or concatenated to spandex yarn under tension in a fabric and the fabric heated, the spandex junctions will fuse at temperatures far below the melting point of spandex (482 F.) and also well below the tackiness point of spandex (about 350 F.).
  • fusion takes place at such low temperatures that the process is not only not obvious but on its face would seem impossible in view of the much higher melting and tackiness temperatures of spandex.
  • FIG. 1 is a view of a portion of knitted fabric according to this invention.
  • FIG. 2 is an enlargement of the knitted loops bounded by the dot-dash rectangle identified by the numeral 2 in FIG. 1;
  • FIG. 3 is a photograph of the fabric of this invention under tension.
  • the portion of the fabric shown in FIG. 1 comprises a matrix or grid of knitted stitches of spandex yarn 9 in courses 1-8.
  • a body yarn 10 is shown knit with the spandex.
  • Body yarn 10 can be any one or more of the wide variety of synthetic yarns such as rayon, nylon, Orlon, Acrylon, Agilon, Dacron, etc. or a natural fiber such as wool or cotton.
  • the body yarn 10 actually was knit at the same feed as the spandex yarn 9 in such a manner that it is plated to one side of all the cylinder loops and to the other side of all dial loops.
  • the fabric illustrated in FIG. 1 is essentially a tracing of the fabric shown in the photograph of FIG. 3. This fabric was treated in the following manner after knitting. First, it was wound into a roll under substantially uniform tension. The roll was then placed in an autoclave and was subjected to the following heating technique:
  • the fabric was steamed and pressed for appearance.
  • the spandex forming the fabric of FIGS. 1-3 is under tension, as indicated by the manner in which the sinker loops bow outwardly in sinker wales S3 and S4. This distortion, of course, is a result of the tension release resulting from the severing of the cylinder loop.
  • FIG. 2 An enlarged view of the portion 2 in FIG 1 is shown in FIG. 2.
  • This view shows clearly that the spandex of leg 13 has fused as at 16 to the spandex of the sinker loop 15. I have found that if a fabric is properly processed according to the method of my invention, the cut legs of spandex will not pull away from the welded junctions 16 under the stress imposed by wearing the fabric, and not even at significantly greater stresses.
  • the fabric shown in the photograph FIG. 3 actually was knit with spandex and the body yarn 10 in all eight courses shown. However, after processing through the heating cycle described above, the body yarn 10 was removed from the courses 1-5. This not only serves to expose the nature of the spandex mesh or matrix, but it is clear proof that the fusion of spandex to spandex takes place even when the spandex is knit with another yarn.
  • the non-spandex yarn is not bonded anywhere in the fabric, either to itself or to the spandex yarn.
  • the spandex yarn fused only at the points where spandex yarn concatenates with spandex yarn, provides an elastic matrix or grid which stretches and relaxes as required during wear, thus providing an improved non-run structure having the full and complete flexible response to body movement so desired of knitted structures.
  • an effective non-run knitted fabric is provided without loss of the important characteristics of flexibility, stretchability and fitability.
  • the spandex fabric processed according to my invention therefore is a true non-run fabric.
  • the non-run mesh or matrix formed by the spandex yarn 9 eifectively prevents runs from occurring in the fabric even through the body yarn 10 itself may be severed.
  • the spandex is knit into the fabric under such tension that the loops of spandex actually contract about the body yarn 10 and this locking action, plus the inability of the matrix of spandex to run, effectively prevents the body yarn 10 from running also.
  • the 14 step heat treating cycle which has been previously described is given by way of example only and does not restrict the broad scope of this invention.
  • the multi-step treatment is simply one which after experimentation appears to be very suitable for use in producing a commercial fabric of the type shown in FIG. 3 with the particular brand (Chemstrand) of spandex which was used to form the fabric of FIG. 3.
  • the number of cycles, the time and temperature, etc. are subject to variation since the optimum results depend on the brand of spandex used, the type of knit or other fabric construction, the kind of heat and the amount of stretch imposed on the fabric during the processing.
  • the multi-stage method appears preferable for most commercial brands of spandex including Numa, Lycra and Chemstrand.
  • the practical temperature range for carrying out the process according to this invention is from about 230 F. to about 290 F.-300 F. Below 230 F., I have found that the spandex will not fuse even when constantly heated for several hours. Thus, although it might be possible to obtain fusion if the spandex were heated for days, the practical lower limit of the temperature range is at 230 F.
  • spandex should be under enough tension to provide a firm contact at the points where the spandex fibers touch.
  • sulficient contact exists, without the need of imposing external tension, as in fabrics in which the spandex is knit under high tension and in which the stitch structure is such that the spandex remains under considerable tension when the fabric is relaxed.
  • fabric may be put under tension by external means, e.g., as it is wound on a roll or by other devices such as a tenter frame. Optimum results are obtained when uniform tension is used.
  • the stocking or garment may be placed over a form to obtain the desired size or shape required while at the same time establishing sufiicient tension for fusion.
  • the required stress is placed upon the spandex while at the same time the use of a contoured form results in the setting of the fabric into a desired shape by the end of the processing.
  • the tops of mens stockings can be formed using a construction similar to or identical with that shown in FIG. 1 and, by being treated with the method of this invention, the spandex will not withdraw from the top.
  • the method of this invention also produces fabrics and garments having a desirable degree of shape stability. That is, spandex is a thermoplastic material which is set upon the application of heat in the ranges contemplated by this invention. As a result of the setting, the fabric or garment will tend to maintain the shape or dimension to which it was held during treatment. Accordingly, the fabric or garment has shape stability. This shape stability is enhanced by another characteristic of the invention, namely, that the bonded spandex mesh strongly resists shrinkage.
  • the amount of spandex may be proportioned either to give the finished product a powerful elastic quality suitable for foundation garments or support goods or minimized to produce fabrics with relatively light or soft recovery characteristics suitable for underwear, outerwear, stretch hosiery and many other uses.
  • a simple rib knit construction has been illustrated, it will be understood that this invention can be utilized in many other knit constructions and other methods of concatenating fibers to form a fabric.
  • a plain jersey stitch with a spandex and a body yarn knit at every feed and heat treated as described gives the non-run and other characteristics described for the ribbed fabric which is shown.
  • a fabric of either rib or plain construction can be knit with spandex merely in portions of the fabric to form non-run areas and run guard barriers.
  • non-run bands can be formed by knitting two or more adjacent courses of spandex, then knitting only body yarn for a selected number of courses, and then knitting spandex for a selected number of courses, etc.
  • spandex can be knit in alternate courses with tuck stitches joining the courses at selected intervals to provide the spandex to spandex interlinking or concatenation required for fusion.
  • Another advantage of the present invention is that fabrics treated according to the method of the invention can be cut into very narrow strips which will not run or ravel and which are useful as tapes, bindings, bandages, etc.
  • thermosetting of the spandex which results when the fabric or garment is treated according to the method of the present invention also makes it possible to permanently set a crease into the fabric without the use of resins or other chemicals.
  • shape stability which is given to the fabric prevents the fabric from curling. This factor plus the non-run quality of the fabric makes it very easy to cut and work within the mill.
  • a fabric comprising a matrix of inter-connected spandex yarn and having another yarn of a different material incorporated in the spandex yarn matrix yarn, wherein only the spandex yarn is fused to spandex yarn at the inter-connections.
  • a garment including a fabric comprising a matrix of inter-connected spandex yarn, and another yarn of a different material integrated with the spandex yarn, wherein only the spandex yarn is fused to spandex yarn at the inter-connections.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Textile Engineering (AREA)
  • Knitting Of Fabric (AREA)
  • Treatment Of Fiber Materials (AREA)
US634535A 1967-04-28 1967-04-28 Spandex fabric and method of making the same Expired - Lifetime US3578546A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

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US63453567A 1967-04-28 1967-04-28

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US3578546A true US3578546A (en) 1971-05-11

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US634535A Expired - Lifetime US3578546A (en) 1967-04-28 1967-04-28 Spandex fabric and method of making the same

Country Status (5)

Country Link
US (1) US3578546A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (2) JPS5029071B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE1760217C3 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
FR (1) FR1577418A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
GB (1) GB1176789A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4298643A (en) * 1978-04-14 1981-11-03 Toyo Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha Fiber sheet for forming
JPS60224847A (ja) * 1983-12-21 1985-11-09 東洋紡績株式会社 弾性たて編地およびその製造法
US4733545A (en) * 1987-06-04 1988-03-29 Collins & Aikman Corporation Ravel resistant warp knit elastic tape and method
US4750339A (en) * 1987-02-17 1988-06-14 Golden Needles Knitting & Glove Co., Inc. Edge binding for fabric articles
US20060117806A1 (en) * 2004-11-23 2006-06-08 Aaron Cheeseman Knit panty having a single layer waistband
US20070106350A1 (en) * 2005-11-08 2007-05-10 Carstens Jerry E Body conforming textile holder and thermal article
US20090007309A1 (en) * 2005-04-01 2009-01-08 Gunze Limited Freely Cuttable Garment
ITBS20090094A1 (it) * 2009-05-28 2010-11-29 Contifibre S P A Metodo per la costruzione di manufatti anti-smagliatura e indumento risultante
US20110092945A1 (en) * 2005-05-23 2011-04-21 Jerry Edward Carstens System comprising thong-shaped holder and absorbent article
CN101357005B (zh) * 2005-04-01 2011-06-08 郡是株式会社 具有切开来的开口部的服装
US8099794B2 (en) 2005-12-19 2012-01-24 Rusl, Llc Body conforming textile holder for electronic device
US20220307168A1 (en) * 2021-03-29 2022-09-29 Hornwood, Inc. Mesh fabric and mesh fabric garment

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3069885A (en) * 1959-03-16 1962-12-25 Du Pont Knitted fabric
US3271220A (en) * 1963-04-05 1966-09-06 Chemotronics International Inc Contacting fiber bonding

Cited By (21)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4298643A (en) * 1978-04-14 1981-11-03 Toyo Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha Fiber sheet for forming
JPS60224847A (ja) * 1983-12-21 1985-11-09 東洋紡績株式会社 弾性たて編地およびその製造法
US4750339A (en) * 1987-02-17 1988-06-14 Golden Needles Knitting & Glove Co., Inc. Edge binding for fabric articles
US4733545A (en) * 1987-06-04 1988-03-29 Collins & Aikman Corporation Ravel resistant warp knit elastic tape and method
US20060117806A1 (en) * 2004-11-23 2006-06-08 Aaron Cheeseman Knit panty having a single layer waistband
US20090235427A1 (en) * 2005-04-01 2009-09-24 Gunze Limited Garment having cut-off opening part
US8286268B2 (en) 2005-04-01 2012-10-16 Gunze Limited Freely cuttable garment
CN101357005B (zh) * 2005-04-01 2011-06-08 郡是株式会社 具有切开来的开口部的服装
US20090007309A1 (en) * 2005-04-01 2009-01-08 Gunze Limited Freely Cuttable Garment
EP1864582A4 (en) * 2005-04-01 2009-02-25 Gunze Kk FREE CUTTING CLOTHING
EP2042630A1 (en) * 2005-04-01 2009-04-01 Gunze Limited Garment having cut-off opening part
US20110092945A1 (en) * 2005-05-23 2011-04-21 Jerry Edward Carstens System comprising thong-shaped holder and absorbent article
US8454570B2 (en) 2005-05-23 2013-06-04 Rusl, Llc System comprising thong-shaped holder and absorbent article
US7846145B2 (en) 2005-11-08 2010-12-07 Rusl, Llc Body conforming textile holder and absorbent article
US20070106242A1 (en) * 2005-11-08 2007-05-10 Carstens Jerry E Body conforming textile holder and absorbent article
US20070102461A1 (en) * 2005-11-08 2007-05-10 Carstens Jerry E Body conforming textile holder for article
US20070106350A1 (en) * 2005-11-08 2007-05-10 Carstens Jerry E Body conforming textile holder and thermal article
US8099794B2 (en) 2005-12-19 2012-01-24 Rusl, Llc Body conforming textile holder for electronic device
ITBS20090094A1 (it) * 2009-05-28 2010-11-29 Contifibre S P A Metodo per la costruzione di manufatti anti-smagliatura e indumento risultante
EP2256239A1 (en) * 2009-05-28 2010-12-01 Contifibre S.P.A. A method for the construction of anti-run manufactured articles and resulting garment
US20220307168A1 (en) * 2021-03-29 2022-09-29 Hornwood, Inc. Mesh fabric and mesh fabric garment

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS5233708B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1977-08-30
GB1176789A (en) 1970-01-07
FR1577418A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1969-08-08
DE1760217A1 (de) 1970-08-06
DE1760217C3 (de) 1979-03-22
JPS5029071B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1975-09-20

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