US936461A - Woolen. - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES Pans Wren EDOUARD LEUREN'I, 0F LILLE, FRANCE.

Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDOUARD LEURENT, a citizen of the French Republic, residing at No. 1 Rue Jeanne dArc, Lille, Department of Nord, France, have invented a new and useful Improvement in lVoolens, of which the following is a specification.

The flannel fabrics employed for waistcoats, waist belts, under-shirts, chemises, vests, drawers, petticoats, girdles, and so forth are usually woven with the aid of woolen yarn, llama hair and even turf fiber or other vegetable material more or less useful from the hygienic point of View. But in fact flannels of woolen yarn are the only goods which applied directly to the body are adapted to produce a special action, that is the slight stimulation known under the name of titillation produced by the rough surface of the fabric. Flannel all wool has a great aifinity for water moisture and vapor; it consequently absorbs the evaporation from the body in proportion as the perspiration occurs. Consequently the passage of the water from the gaseous condition or the evaporation produces a certain cooling, its return to the hygrometric condition causes on the other hand an elevation of temperature. There results from this an equilibrium which forms one of the essential merits of the use of woolen tissue. The permanence of the action so necessary in this case is due to the elasticity of the particles of the wool which have within a certain limit the faculty of reacting, of insulating themselves, of maintaining the integrity of the pores of the fabric instead of closing them by uniting so as to form a kind of paste as is the case with vegetable fibers under the action of water. Unfortunately up to this day flannel of pure wool which has been made has largely the drawback of shrinking at the first washing, and moreover it shrinks forming a felt so that the elasticity of the wool threads is almost destroyed and the pores of the material or the interstices between the threads are suppressed. From this time onward the flannel does not fulfil its hygienic object and may become on the other hand absolutely harmful. In order to remedy these different inconveniences, that is to say, in order to make an unshrinkable flannel which preserves all its hygienic properties and which is at the same time of long duration, it suffices to form the warp and the weft of the fabric in question as composite threads Application filed. March 18, 1907.

Serial No. 363,078.

of wool and linen. I make use of composite threads formed of one or more yarns of wool and of one or more threads of linen and by causing to vary the number of the threads of the linen in proportion to the number of the threads of wool I may cause at will to predominate in the fabric the qualities suitable for one or another textile material. One might also employ the twisted threads formed of threads or yarns of wool and of ramie fiber, but this would only be a detail variation of the invention. The thread or threads of linen or of ramie twisted with one or more threads of wool have flrstly for their object to prevent these latter threads from shrinking and the fab ric from felting; moreover they contribute to increase the strength of the threads which enter into the composition of the fabric or flannel.

It is unnecessary to explain here the methods employed for twisting the threads because there is not-hing special therein and this operation is effected by the ordinary means. Moreover it may be remarked that the fabric which is the object of the invention may be woven more or less thick according to the application which it is desired to make of it; consequently according to a special case there is used simple mechanism for producing the crossing of the threads, and in others double or triple cloth is produced. There are combined consequently patterns in the warp and in the weft in order to retain always for the circulation of air suflicient interstices. The threads may be warp or weft; they may be all of the same color or of diiferent colors according to the kind of flannel which it is desired to produce. Finally the fabric may be produced more or less thick as the object of the invention, making use for this purpose of the looms usually employed.

1 am aware that it is not new to produce composite threads of wool and flax for use as a substitute for pure woolen yarns; also that it is not new to produce fabrics of a mixture of vegetable fiber and woolen; also that it is not new to produce a fabric of mixed woolen and vegetable fibers from which the vegetable fibers are subsequently eliminated, and I do not claim such inventions.

1 am aware that it has been proposed herespun threads of such wool or hair with threads of cot-ton or other Vegetable matter, then using the compound threads so produced in the production of a worsted fabric by Weaving, and then subjecting the fabric to a chemicaltreatment whereby the vegetable fiber shall be destroyed. In this instance, however, the vegetable matter is i11- tended to be employed only as a means of binding the wool or hair fibers so that they shall not project and catch against the dents of the reed in being Woven so as to subject the yarns to strain and to weakening by abrasion. It is intended to remain only temporarily associated with the wool or hair fibers, and to then be destroyed so that the completed merchantable fabric shall be 0 .11- posed of nothing but wool or hair. It is obvious that the finished fabric, being co n- EDOUARD LEURENT.

Witnesses J. A. A. SoHMrr'r, PAUL A BREY.