AU2005200061B2

AU2005200061B2 - Life vest

Info

Publication number: AU2005200061B2
Application number: AU2005200061A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Yung-Mao Huang; Ming-Lung Wu
Original assignee: Trueway Corp
Current assignee: Trueway Corp
Priority date: 2005-01-11
Filing date: 2005-01-11
Publication date: 2007-07-05
Anticipated expiration: 2025-01-11
Also published as: AU2005200061A1

Description

Regulation 3.2

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT

ORIGINAL

Name of Applicant: Trueway Corporation Actual Inventors: Ming-Lung Wu Yung-Mao Huang Address for Service: MADDERNS, 1st Floor, 64 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Invention title: LIFE VEST The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us.

(PatAU132 la LIFE VEST 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a life vest, and more particularly to the life vest that is made of synthetic filament, synthetic monofilament and elastic yam. The synthetic filament is selected from a group consisting of polyester filament, polyamide filament or polypropylene filament. The synthetic monofilament is selected from a group consisting of polyester monofilament or polyamide monofilament. The elastic yam concerns yam that is of at least 20 denier.

2. Description of Related Art Conventionally, the process for making a life vest as shown in Fig. 3 is first using a fabric to be processed by weaving or knitting The knitted fabric is then treated with a dyeing process Thereafter, the dyed fabric undergoes a lamination process (42) with rubber sponge. Finally, the semi-finished life vest undergoes a sewing process (43) to allow a floatation material to be sewed into the life vest to enable the life vest to be floatable.

With reference to Fig. 4, it is noted that after the conventional life vest is finished, a layer of rubber sponge (50) is sandwiched between two fabrics It is well appreciated that rubber sponge (50) is elastic and hydrophobic so that it has long been the best choice for making the finished product have a strength that fully complies with the regulations. However, the life vest so made is bulky and heavy such that the wearer's movement is limited. Besides, the rubber sponge fabric sheets (the fabric (51) attached to the rubber sponge do not have a porous structure so that the wearer feels stuffy and uncomfortable especially on humid and hot summer days. Furthermore, the rubber sponge is easily affected by weather conditions such that without any post-manufacture care, it hardens due to exposure to light, heat, and so on. This hardening makes the vest uncomfortable, thereby leading to the dangerous situation where a sailor etc declines to wear the vest. To substantially overcome or ameliorate one or more of the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved life vest.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved life vest made of synthetic filament and synthetic monofilament. The life vest has great water repellency, floatation ability and structural strength.

In a first aspect the present invention accordingly provides a method for making a life vest comprising the steps of: establishing a synthetic polyamide monofilament layer sandwiched between a pair of layers of combined synthetic polyamide filament and elastic yarn; knitting or weaving said synthetic polyamide monofilament layer to said layer of synthetic polyamide filament and elastic yarn by a double weft knitting machine to make a textile for the life vest; dyeing; and sewing, wherein appropriate cutting and sewing processes are employed to finish the formation of the life vest having voids in the synthetic monofilament.

In a second aspect the present invention accordingly provides a method for making a life vest comprising the steps of: knitting or weaving, wherein a material including synthetic filament, synthetic monofilament and elastic yarn is combined by a double weft knitting machine to make a textile for the life vest; 2a C dyeing; and ;Zsewing, wherein appropriate cutting and sewing processes are employed to N finish the formation of the life vest having voids in the synthetic monofilament; wherein the textile is composed of a top layer, a bottom layer and a middle Slayer sandwiched between the top layer and the bottom layer, the top layer and the bottom layer are combination of synthetic filament and elastic yarn and the middle Slayer is synthetic monofilament, a thickness of the textile is 1.5 to 5.0mm, ball burst strength of the textile is larger than 14kgf/am 2 and the weight thereof is around 300 to 7 00 g/ m 2 said synthetic filament is selected from a group consisting of polyester filament, polyamide filament or polypropylene filament and said synthetic monofilament is selected from a group consisting of polyester monofilament or polyamide; and the elastic yarn is yarn of at least 20 denier.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart showing the process for making a life vest of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view showing the structure of the life vest of the present invention; Fig. 3 is a flow chart showing the conventional process for making a life vest; and Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view showing the structure of the conventional life vest.

With reference to Fig. 1, the material for the life vest in accordance with the present invention includes synthetic filament, synthetic monofilament and elastic yam.

The synthetic filament is selected from a group consisting of polyester filament, polyamide filament or polypropylene filament. The synthetic monofilament selected from a group consisting of polyester monofilament or polyamide monofilament. The elastic yam is yar of at least 20 denier.

The process for making the life vest of the present invention includes weaving or knitting dyeing (20) and sewing The finished product has three layers, as shown in Fig. 2, namely the top layer the middle layer (12) and the bottom layer The top layer (11) and the bottom layer (13) are the combination of the synthetic filament and the elastic yar. The middle layer (12) is the synthetic monofilament. The top layer the middle layer (12) and the bottom layer (13) are combined by using the double weft knitting machine to have a thickness between 1.5mm to 5mm. The synthetic monofilament in the middle layer (12) is securely connected to both the top layer (11) and the bottom layer (13) and has large voids in-between so that the finished product is lightweight and has great ventilation effect.

The dyeing process provides the semi-finished product (three-layer fabric) features such as firm hand-feel, elasticity and water repellency. The structural strength (ball burst strength) is larger than 14kgf/cm 2 and the weight is around 300 to 700g/m 2 Experiments show the result that after immersing the finished product in the water for the weight increment is less than 100% and the water vaporization rate under room temperature for 30mins is larger than Following is an experiment to show the content of the product and the results after tests.

First, the synthetic filament of 75 denier and elastic yam of 40 denier are respectively used as the material for the top layer and the bottom layer. The synthetic monofilament of 30 denier is used as the material for the middle layer. After treatment by the double weft knitting machine, dyeing process and appropriate cutting and knitting, the life vest in accordance with the present invention is finished.

A table is presented to show the differences between the finished textile of the life vest of the present invention and the rubber sponge fabric sheet for the conventional life vest.

0 Item Textile of Conventio Testing method the present nal invention structure Weight (g/m2) 493 504 Ball burst strength 17 17 ASTM3787 (kgf/cm2) Breaking Warp 271 191 specimen 2.54x elongation Weft 164 230 12cm Breaking strength Warp 31 36 specimen 2.54x (kg) Weft 39 32 12cm water bath for Water absorbing rate(%) 80 89 Vaporization 30 13 under room temperature for mins -T I Ventilation Comfort Odor Application status Environmental issue jgood excellent I not good_[ bad L *1repeatable, long life span

I

yes easy to wear out and short life span

I

m

I

no pollutant

I

no It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

Claims

1. A method for making a life vest comprising the steps of: establishing a synthetic polyamide monofilament layer sandwiched between a pair of layers of combined synthetic polvamide filament and elastic yarn; knitting or weaving said synthetic polyamide monofilament layer to said layer of synthetic polyamide filament and elastic yarn by a double weft knitting machine to make a textile for the life vest; dyeing; and sewing, wherein appropriate cutting and sewing processes are employed to finish the formation of the life vest having voids in the synthetic monofilament.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the synthetic filament is selected from a goup consisting of polyester filament or polypropylene filament.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the synthetic monofilament is polyester monofilament.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the elastic yarn is yarn of at least 20 denier.

The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the textile is composed of a top layer, a bottom layer and a middle layer sandwiched between the top layer and the bottom layer, the top layer and the bottom layer are combination of synthetic filament and elastic yarn and the middle layer is synthetic monofilament, a thickness of the textile is 1.5 to 5.0mm, ball burst strength of the textile is larger than 14kgf/am 2 and the weight thereof is around 300 to 700g/m 2

6. A method for making a life vest comprising the steps of: knitting or weaving, wherein a material including synthetic filament, synthetic 0 C monofilament and elastic yarn is combined by a double weft knitting machine to make a textile for the life vest; CI dyeing; and sewing, wherein appropriate cutting and sewing processes are employed to ID finish the formation of the life vest having voids in the synthetic monofilament; Swherein the textile is composed of a top layer, a bottom layer and a middle layer sandwiched between the top layer and the bottom layer, the top layer and the bottom layer are combination of synthetic filament and elastic yarn and the middle layer is synthetic monofilament, a thickness of the textile is 1.5 to 5.0mm, ball burst strength of the textile is larger than 14kgf/am 2 and the weight thereof is around 300 to 7 0 0 g/m 2 said synthetic filament is selected from a group consisting of polyester filament, polyamide filament or polypropylene filament and said synthetic monofilament is selected from a group consisting of polyester monofilament or polyamide; and the elastic yarn is yarn of at least 20 denier.