US3598513A - Method of treating knitted synthetic fabrics to simulate matelasse cloth and resulting products - Google Patents

Abstract

TREATING FABRICS OF SYNTHETIC FIBERS, SUCH AS NYLON AND DACRON, WHICH ARE OF KNITTED STRUCTURE, IN SUCH A MANNER THAT THEY ACQUIRE THE PROPERTIES, CHARACTERISTIC TEXTURES AND DESIGNS OF MATELASSE CLOTH. THIS IS EFFLECTED BY PLACING ON THE KNITTED GOODS A FINE MESH SCREEN, HAVING SUCH INTAGLIO DESIGN FORMED IN FINE PERFORATION THERETHROUGH, APPLYING TO AND THROUGH THE PERFORATION OF THE SCREEN A PASTE CONTAINING A GUM AND A LIQUID CONTRACTING AGENT WHICH IS PENETRATIVE OF THE SCREEN AND OF THE FIBERS OF THE FABRIC WITHOUT DIFFUSION OR DISPERSION, FOLLOWED BY REMOVING THE SCREEN AND DEVELOPING THE DESIGN BY DRYING AND HEATING THE TREATED MATERIAL.

Description

United States Patent 3,598,513 METHOD OF TREATING KNITTED SYNTHETIC FABRICS TO SIMULATE MATELASSE CLOTH AND RESULTING PRODUCTS Louis .C. Galatioto, Bangor, Pa., assignor to Blue Ridge- Winkler Textiles, a Division of Lehigh Valley Industries, Inc., Bangor, Pa.

No Drawing. Filed Jan. 30, 1968, Ser. No. 701,571 Int. Cl. D06m 13/16 US. Cl. 8114.5' 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Treating fabrics of synthetic fibers, such as nylon and Dacron, which are of knitted structure, in such a manner that they acquire the properties, characteristic textures and. designs of Matelasse cloth. This is effected by placing on the'knitted goods a fine mesh screen, having such intaglio design formed in fine perforations therethrough, applying to and through the perforations of the screen a paste containing a gum and a liquid contracting agent which is penetrative of the screen and of the fibers of the fabric without diffusion or dispersion, followed by removing the screen and developing the design by drying and heating the treated material.

Matelasse cloth is made and patterned upon Jacquard or Dobby looms. The patterns stand out and give a pouch or quilted effect. The fabrics thus made now come in colors and novelty effects, of cotton, silk or wool. The cloth must give good wear, must drape well and handle freely. But, as thus made and of these fibers, they must be laundered with the utmost care.

Matelasse garments are unusually attractive and are in much demand. Some cotton fabrics are used for bedspreads.

Matelasse means padded or cushioned or mattress in French, and is of Arabian derivation meaning bed-,7 As thus used, textile weaving of Matelasse goods produces a raised effect by interlacings of the yarn, which form and show a quilted structure and surface of the finished product.

7 It is therefore an object of the present invention to discover means for deriving a finished fabric which will simulate Matelasse cloth and which will avoid or obviate these limitations and restrictions.

' To this end, the procedure of the invention is applied to a fabric made by the usual processes of knitting, which can be done in quantity production on the usual and simple mechanisms for this purpose, giving an initial, uniform, knitted structure.

Preferably yarns of synthetic fiber, such as Nylon and Dacron, are employed, colored or not, and of various other properties, as may be desired, free from the limitations of design weaving.

The knitted, characteristically three-dimensional fabric is contracted in those areas in and to which the intaglio structure of the design is to be developed and the open, knitted structure of the goods is to be reduced and, in such areas, permanently compacted to such configuration and conformation.

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'Fabrics which are made from synthetic fibers and filaments by knitting form a material which presents a novel and unique problem in the production of a design there on. The structure of the goods opposes'the impression of the design and also presents morematerial to be reduced, contracted, compacted and retained in the intaglio areas. Yet the entire thickness must be reached by the treatment, contacted, reduced, contracted, compacted and retained in its thus compacted state, accurately, uniformly and permanently. Otherwise, the design effected thereon and therein will be lost, either at once with resilient yarns and web structures, or gradually through handling, storage and use.

Moreover, the deep marginal contours of the intaglio areas, in knitted goods, present deep differentials between the compacted and Lin-compacted areas. These marginal contours, if contacted with too fluid a treating medium or one of too low a viscosity or surface tension, may become wet by and diffuse or disperse the treating agent onto and into the not-to-be compacted areas, thus derogating from the design or giving it a hazy, irregular outline, of unsatisfactory appearance and questionable permanence.

In the matelasse cloth woven on a Jacquard loom such divagation from the desired design of course does not come into question-for every thread or yarn, both warp and woof, is interlocked at each intersection by each operation of the loom, both in the intaglios and in the non-design areas of the goods, as Well. This is especially important along the margins between the retracted design areas and the un-retracted, puffed-up, pouch-like and quilted areas. Hence, the design woven into a matelasse cloth is permanent.

To simulate matelasse cloth, therefore, the design in the knitted synthetic fiber fabrics which are to be made to reproduce it must present a like accuracy of design and permanence of retention.

To this end, a paste is found to be especially effective rather than a fluid or liquid treating agent. It is further found that the viscosity of the treating agent, to permit flow, and surface tension, to resist uncontrolled flow, diffusion and dispersion on the surface of the goods beyond the point of contact therewith, is represented by one of about 3,500 to 7,000 centipoises, as measured by a Brookfield synchro-lectric viscosimeter.

To develop such consistency in the paste, a water soluble, inert gum, which will not affect adversely the material, which will be compatible with the treating agent and which may be subsequently washed from the goods with water, has been found suitable and effective. Such a gum is discovered to be gum tragacanth, which dissolves in water and also provides for forming a paste with a satisfactory consistency with the reducing and compacting agents which are active with it upon the synthetic fibers and filaments of the yarns and goods.

Reducing and contracting, or compacting agents which have been found to be most satisfactory and useful for this purpose comprise phenol, tri-chloro-phenol, metaand 'meta-paracresol, ortho-cresol, 4-methyl-thio-metacresol, xylenol and cresylic acid. In general, it may be said that the phenol group, in combination with a free hydroxyl radical not offset nor nullified by immediate or close association or substitution in the phenyl radical, is effective to reduce, contract and compact the yarns 3 and structure of knitted synthetic fabrics, with accuracy and a permanent retention of their thus compacted relationship.

Thus, a paste of suitable consistency, of about 4,500 centipoises, may be prepared from a base solution of 6% of gum tragacanth in water and adding thereto the active reducing and contracting agent, also in aqueous solu tion, in the desired amount or range of proportions.

Pastes of the following compositions, as thus prepared, have been found suitable to apply and satisfactory in results:

Percent 6% gum tragacanth solution in water 25-65 Compacting agent in water 1020 For example, a mixture of 40% of 6% gum tragacanth solution, in water, plus 16% of 92% phenol, in water, was very satisfactory.

To such mixtures, water may be added to develop or adjust the consistency desired in terms of the screen used, the size or sizes of the perforations therein, the areas involved, the nature and size or denier of the synthetic fiber or yarn of the goods to be treated, the thickness of the fabric and the openness or closeness of the knitted structure.

The fabric is laid fiat, on a firm support, and in the operation by hand the design screen is laid flat and firmly positioned thereon. The paste is spread over the top surface of the entire screen, by hand or with a spatula or a straight edge, uniformly and with an even pressure, forcing the paste through the perforations of the screen and into contact with and through the interstices of the knitted fabric beneath.

When this has been done, the screen is lifted off from the stretch of fabric, which is then advanced, the screen brought into registry with the next adjacent area to be treated, again placed firmly thereon, and the operation repeated, with fresh additions of the paste to the screen as needed.

When the design has been thus completed, and one, two, or more screens may be thus used for the purpose, somewhat as in block printing, the treated cloth may be dried at room temperature or up to 250 F., thereby developing the action of the compacting agent on the goods to its maximum elfect and by heating to 275 to 400 F. for 3 to 10 minutes; then washed with warm water and/or soap at 160 F. and finally allowed to dry or treated with a softener, if desired, and framed to the desired width.

To overcome or prevent the odor of the phenol or other treating agent, which may be objectionable to some, ammonia may be added to the wash waters, when developing at high temperatures is omitted, or drying may be done in closed, ventilated chambers.

The method may also be carried out mechanically, as by passing a continuous sheet of the fabric over a firm, horizontal support, applying a continuous design-screen thereto, in firm, even, close contact with its upper surface; feeding the compacting paste on top of the design-screen; and passing the assembled fabric, design-screen and topping of paste beneath a horizontal, closely gauged, doctor-blade. The latter may be stiff or resilient and one or several may be employed to spread out the paste and to force it evenly over and through the perforations in the design-screen and also into and through the interstices of the knitted fabric therebeneath.

In such operations, the consistency of the paste prevents its uncontrolled migration, diffusion or dispersion beyond the points of contact of the paste with the fabric through the perforations in the design-screen.

The continuous design-screen is then separated from the treated fabric and returne dfor re-application to the incoming web of fresh material and the treated web of 4 cloth may be passed directly through a drying chamber, at 250 F., and/or passed through a loop dryer at 275 -400 F., for 3 to 10 minutes, and then through a washer, with soap solution and/or hot water, and finally dried and framed to proper width. A softener may be applied, if desired.

The treated goods may be dyed, in which case the cloth is passed into and through an appropriate-dyeing vat or process.

It is found that the fabric to be treated may be already of any of many colors or shades before the design-screen treatment. Also, the compacting paste may be mixed with suitable dyes and thus applied to the fabric, thus producing a colored pattern in the intaglio areas of the goods.

As is indicated above, in order to develop the color a steaming of about 5 pounds pressure for about an hour then becomes necessary.

Either by hand or mechanically, a plurality of designscreens may be employed with difierent types of designs thereon and therein; and separate, correspondingly colored pastes applied by them to the goods thus to develop a multi-patterned and multi-colored cloth, adapted to the uses and purposes which it is thus designed to serve.

The designs are in all cases accurately formed and developed on, in and through the knitted fabric and are permanently maintained and retained throughout manufacture, storage, handling, shipment and use. Moreover, they may be easily and freely laundered, safely and with satisfactory results.

While the above descriptions are directed to knitted goods, because with knitted fabrics the matelasse effects and appearances are more pronounced, woven fabrics made of synthetic fibers may be made to acquire some of the three-dimensional characteristics of the knitted goods, as by using a warp of nylon and filling of cotton, or both the warp and filling may be of nylon or Dacron, and under low tensions of weaving the filling may be made to enhance the thickness and hence the three-dimensional aspect of the porduct, thereby putting it into the category, in respect of the present invention, of goods made by knitting.

Iclaim:

1. In a method of creating a three-dimensional, embossed design upon and in knitted nylon fabrics which includes placing a design-screen, having fine perforations therethrough in the intaglio areas of the design and impervious in the non-design areas, in position upon the surface of the knitted fabric, spreading a paste of a thickening agent and a compacting agent over the top surface of the design-screen and through the perforations of the screen and the interstices of the knitted fabric therebeneath, lifting the design-screen from the surface of the fabric, developing the action of the compacting agent on the fabric by heating, washing the treated fabric with water and drying, the improvement which comprises using a compacting agent in said paste selected from the .group consisting of phenol, meta-cresol, meta-para-cresol, orthocresol, 4-methyl-thio-meta-cresol and cresylic acid.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said thickening agent is gum tragacanth.

3. The improvement of claim 2 wherein said paste comprises approximately 1.5 to 4.0% by weight of said gum and approximately 10 to 20% by weight of said compacting agent, in water.

4. In a method of creating a three-dimensional, embossed design upon and in knitted polyethylene terephthalate fabrics which includes placing a design-screen, having fine perforations therethrough in the intaglio areas of the design and impervious in the non-design areas, in position upon the surface of the knitted fabric, spreading a paste of a thickening agent and a compacting agent over the top surface of the design-screen and through the perforations of the screen and the interstices of the knitted fabric therebeneath, lifting the design-screen from the surface of the fabric, developing the action of the compacting agent on the fabric by heating, washing the treated fabric with water and drying, the improvement which comprises using a compacting agent in said paste selected from the group consisting of phenol, meta-cresol, meta-para-cresol and ortho-cresol.

5. The improvement of claim 4, wherein said thickening agent is gum tragacanth.

6. The improvement of claim 4 wherein said paste comprises approximately 1.5 to 4.0% by weight of said gum and approximately 10 to 20% by weight of said compacting agent, in water.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1962 Kern 2/1963 Fountain et a1.

7/ 1942 Shane U.S. Cl. X.R.