EP1321553A1 - Method and device for producing textile stitch products directly from fibres and/or filaments and resulting products - Google Patents

Abstract

The machine for making textile mesh products from fibres and/or filaments circulating in the form of a web has a series of identical spaced looping discs, set on a common transverse shaft alternating with looping elements such as fingers with meshing needle extensions that receive a crimped pseudo-filament of a certain length made from accumulated fibres/filaments. The looping discs have edges with regularly-spaced teeth with the distance between any two adjacent teeth at least three times the height of the teeth. The machine also has a series of controlled shutters between the discs, while the latter rotate at a speed synchronised with the movement of the meshing needles. During operation the machine subjects fibres/filaments to transverse looping accompanied by stretching produced by interpenetration of the looping discs, and transferring the crimped pseudo-filaments in sequence to the meshing needles.

Description

Object of the present invention

The present invention relates to a improved process for manufacturing textile products knitted directly from fibers and filaments.

The present invention also relates to a device allowing the implementation of the method and extends to mesh products resulting from said process and / or obtained by said device.

The present invention also relates to mesh type products with fine mesh and / or presenting in velvet form.

Summary of the state of the art

We know the classic methods of production of fine mesh products using the usual techniques of realization which are the picked mesh techniques or mesh techniques jetties.

On the other hand, the conventional processes obtaining velvet especially in the case of picked mesh products, are either made by the use of an additional wire, either by the use of a carding tape.

In the first case, two types of threads which are picked simultaneously by the same needle. The first thread will constitute a normal jersey while passing directly from one needle to another, while the second will need to loop before meeting the next needle while passing over a special plate (element looper). The first wire ensures the flat cohesion of the product, the second constitutes rows of loops which when mowed will constitute the velvet.

In the second case, we start by generating a "fake fur" type product. This product is carried out as follows: the needles, before grab the thread that will make a classic jersey, come "tap" into the flexible lining of a mini card drum on which is the veil (from a ribbon) and result in a "tuft" of fibers (fibers not seized will be vacuumed and possibly recycled). This tuft is anchored in the jersey structure as well as it was a thread. This fake fur is then mowed to generate velvet. As the length of fibers in a clump is random, losses due to the mowing are important, much more than in the case of loop pile.

The present invention relates essentially to the realization of products obtained by the technique called "verticalization technique" point by the Applicant.

This technique is described in the patent European EP-A-0 479 880, and allows direct from fibers and / or filaments flowing in the form of a veil, the production of textile products and more specifically carpet and / or wall coverings.

The verticalization technique described consists in subjecting the fibers and / or filaments to a "transverse looping" accompanied by a "stretching" and obtain an accumulation of fibers and / or filaments under form of a "pseudo-yarn" in which the fibers and / or filaments are parallelized.

In these documents, it is described that the closure transverse accompanied by stretching is carried out for each individual fiber or filament using looping fingers rotary or discs, spaced apart and arranged on an axis transverse to the web advance and between which are arranged with looping fingers. Of this way, each fiber or filament is in principle involved in at least one loop so as to constitute a twist-free pseudo-yarn obtained by the accumulation of various elementary fibers and / or filaments well parallelized. This twist-free pseudo-wire made up of parallel fibers and / or filaments can either be handled by needles of the tufting needles type and be leads to a substrate in order to make carpets as described in detail in publication EP-A-0479880, either be trained by gill needles in order to make mesh products as described in detail in the publication EP-A-0783608, or still be used for the production of coated-glued type products as described in detail in publication EP-A-0960227.

WO96 / 10667 (downstream verticalization) describes how to make incoming mesh products in the category of knitted knitted fabrics directly from fibers in the form of a veil oriented. A set of discs provided at their periphery with a network of fine teeth interpenetrating a set of looper fingers cooperate to drive and condense the veil against a set of picking means and transfer to create a "pseudo-wire" in wavy form. These picking and transfer means consist of turntables, each one individually in line with the looping fingers.

This pseudo-wire will then be transported by these turntables with a rectilinear movement up to knitting needles that will form the knit, row after row.

A pseudo-thread is therefore constituted by a certain "slice" of condensed veil whose length in the direction of advance is called "accumulation length".

• Pv désigne le poids du voile,
• Pp désigne le poids du tricot,
• La désigne la longueur d'accumulation,
• Lt désigne la hauteur de la maille,

la conservation des débits nous permet d'écrire que : PvLa =PpLt Yes :

• Pv designates the weight of the veil,
• Pp denotes the weight of the knitted fabric,
• The designates the accumulation length,
• Lt designates the height of the mesh,

the conservation of the flows allows us to write that: PvLa = PpLt

Consequently, for a given product, the accumulation length will be all the more important as the weight of the veil is low.

Certain fibers, being "straddling" on two consecutive slices will therefore participate in two sons successive and with two successive rows of meshes; we calls such fibers: interfering fibers. The percentage of these fibers varies according to the parameters following: fiber length, average angle orientation of the fibers in the veil, and the length accumulation (therefore the weight of the veil).

These fibers remain positioned in the plane knitting and will bring interesting properties such as non-runability, characteristics anisotropy load cells, better resistance to punching, etc.

• la réalisation de tricot de jauge fine (inférieure à 1/12 de pouce) car, d'une part les disques à fine denture continue ne sont pas assez agressifs pour faire passer le fil en formation derrière l'ergot de la platine de transfert (le jeu entre disque et platine devient trop faible) et d'autre part, la platine de transfert viendrait contrarier d'éventuelles platines d'abattage indispensables à la formation de cette gamme de tricots.
• la réalisation de bouclettes sur l'envers du tricot (du côté pied de maille) car les platines de transfert étant en permanence présentes à l'extrémité des doigts boucleurs, les fibres interférentes ne peuvent pas se développer dans la troisième dimension. L'existence de telles bouclettes serait néanmoins extrêmement intéressante car ces bouclettes permettraient, après rasage, l'obtention d'un velours trouvant de nombreuses applications, particulièrement dans le domaine automobile et le revêtement.

This concept described in this patent allows the production of quality jersey but does not allow:

• the production of fine gauge knitting (less than 1/12 of an inch) because, on the one hand, the discs with fine continuous teeth are not aggressive enough to pass the wire in formation behind the lug of the transfer plate ( the play between disc and plate becomes too weak) and on the other hand, the transfer plate would come to thwart possible slaughter plates essential to the formation of this range of knits.
• making loops on the reverse side of the knit (on the mesh foot side) because the transfer plates are permanently present at the end of the looping fingers, the interfering fibers cannot develop in the third dimension. The existence of such loops would nevertheless be extremely interesting because these loops would allow, after shaving, the obtaining of a velvet finding many applications, particularly in the automotive field and the coating.

WO00 / 60155, although considering the field of tufting, describes a new logic of pseudo-thread formation.

This document describes the use of discs which have large, relatively spaced teeth (this means that the distance between two consecutive teeth is at least three times the width of a tooth) between which the fibers entrained by a first set of discs. Needles which are tuft needles pick the pseudo-wire by entering between the compression discs, the large teeth pushing the pseudo-thread behind the eye of the tuft needles at the time where they are in their top dead center.

So it was found that when the veil was oriented with a value very close to the angle theoretical, the use of discs with fine teeth and was not necessary to condense the veil and form the wire. The efforts developed being very weak, it is enough that the veil is "pricked" by a few large teeth evenly spaced so that the looping logic, stretching, condensation is respected and leads to creation of a pseudo-thread.

However, applying logic described in document WO00 / 61153 to the logic described in patent WO96 / 10667 of the Applicant would have led to the production of a device presenting discs with large teeth and between which the fingers are arranged looper and picking and transfer stages.

This solution would have been unsatisfactory for the realization of the requested products, in particular mesh type products with fine mesh and products velvet type mesh.

Finally, it should be noted that the The Applicant has also proposed a device allowing a precise orientation of the veil and which was the subject of a patent application published under the number WO01 / 04404. Yes we tried to operate according to this logic with fibers oriented by another means, even at 20 ° above the theoretical value, we would not be able to drive them evenly and the discs would work like real choppers.

Aims of the invention

The present invention aims to provide a method and device based essentially on the "verticalization" technique which allow the production of mesh products and in particular of products with a fine or even very fine mesh, that is to say made with a device having a gauge less than 1/18 of an inch, i.e. less than 1.4 mm.

The present invention also aims to propose a method and a device allowing the creation of velvet, possibly very short, or even "suede" type products.

The present invention further aims to allow the production of products as described above by a process which has a clearly improved compared to those of the state of the art.

Main characteristic elements

• on fait subir aux fibres et/ou filaments un bouclage transversal accompagné d'un étirage à l'aide d'un ensemble constitué par l'interpénétration d'un jeu de disques boucleurs identiques espacés et situés sur un axe commun transversal avec un jeu d'éléments boucleurs identiques, les disques boucleurs présentant sur leur périmètre des dents relativement espacées,
• on accumule les fibres et/ou filaments sous la forme d'au moins un pseudo-fil ondulé d'une certaine longueur dans lequel les fibres et/ou filaments sont parallélisés,
• on transfère le pseudo-fil sur toute sa longueur, et de manière simultanée directement dans le chas d'un jeu d'aiguilles maillantes,
• on effectue de manière classique une nouvelle rangée de mailles à l'aide du pseudo-fil transféré dans le chas des aiguilles.

The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing knitted textile products from fibers and / or filaments flowing in the form of a veil, in which:

• the fibers and / or filaments are subjected to transverse looping accompanied by stretching using an assembly formed by the interpenetration of a set of identical spaced-apart looping discs situated on a common transverse axis with a set of '' identical looping elements, the looping discs having relatively spaced teeth on their perimeter,
• the fibers and / or filaments are accumulated in the form of at least one corrugated pseudo-wire of a certain length in which the fibers and / or filaments are parallelized,
• the pseudo-thread is transferred over its entire length, and simultaneously directly into the eye of a set of gill needles,
• a new row of stitches is conventionally carried out using the pseudo-yarn transferred into the eye of the needles.

Advantageously, the needles meshes simultaneously perform the same movement to receive the pseudo-thread obtained by accumulation of fibers and / or filaments. The passage of the pseudo-thread thus created towards the open eye of the gill needles is carried out when in the top dead center position.

According to a particular embodiment preferred, the accumulation of said fibers and / or filaments takes place against the slope of the teeth preceding the game of looping discs facing the arrival of a veil. This accumulation can also be favored by the presence a set of sealing means which prevent fibers and / or filaments to continue their journey with the disc.

Each shutter means is placed in the extension of a looping element, such as the finger looper.

For example, a shutter means can either be a bent strip of corresponding width by example with the thickness of the discs, or around -0.1mm and thickness between 0.2 and 2mm, maintained at its opposite end on a fixed and spring-loaded support, either a strip of various shape on a mobile support, the order will determine the percentage of fibers interfering.

Indeed, this command allows to act on the time of presence of such shutter means and on their more or less close arrangement of the looping elements will generate an adequate percentage of fiber as appropriate will serve as interfering fibers.

Thus, these shutter means can using a command be more or less willing to immediate proximity to top dead center meshes, which will directly affect the percentage of fibers serving as interfering fibers.

According to another embodiment, this accumulation of said fibers and / or filaments can even be carried out in the absence of any shutter means and will therefore take place over a distance between two successive teeth, in order to create an overlay on the back of the product consisting of fibers interfering.

In addition, the speed of rotation of the looping discs is synchronized with that of the mesh needles, so that by means of a differential, the discs advance by one X ^th of a turn for a movement of the needles, X being the Number of teeth.

Another object of the present invention resides in the device allowing the manufacture of knitted textile products from fibers and / or filaments flowing in the form of a veil, characterized in that it includes a set of rotary looper discs identical, spaced and located on a common axis transverse, in interpenetration with a set of elements identical curlers, such as curly fingers, looper discs with teeth on their periphery relatively spaced.

By relatively spaced teeth is meant the presence of a whole number of regularly spaced teeth on the periphery of the looping discs, the distance between two successive teeth worth at least three times the height of said teeth.

The device also includes a game mesh needles which are arranged between the discs rotary looper and in line with the elements curlers such as curly fingers.

According to a particularly characteristic advantageous of the present invention, means shutters, possibly with positive control, are arranged in the extension of the looping elements such than curly fingers.

The present invention also relates to a mesh textile product with a fine mesh. Usually, mesh products are defined by the gauge of the device which allows the realization of said product mesh. By fine mesh, we mean devices allowing to produce such products with a gauge less than 1/18 of an inch, i.e. less than 1.4 mm. It should be noted that the mesh product will have meshes corresponding to the gauge at approximately 10% near.

According to an important characteristic of the invention, these products have a network of fibers and / or interfering filaments extending in both directions.

The present invention also relates to a mesh textile product with a network of fibers and / or interfering filaments extending in both directions versus the lead direction and with a level of interfering fibers and / or filaments greater than 10%, and preferably greater than 30%.

More specifically, the present invention is relates to a mesh textile product presented under velvet shape and the rate of fibers and / or filaments interfering is greater than 30%, and preferably greater than 60%.

Description of the figures

Figure 1 depicts a sectional view of the device according to the present invention intended for setting process work.

Figures 2a to 2h describe the cycle complete allowing the realization of a mesh product according to a first preferred embodiment and constituting a mesh product with fine mesh.

Figures 3a to 3h describe the cycle complete allows the realization of a mesh product according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention and which could constitute a velvet product.

Description of several preferred embodiments of the invention

The present invention will be described in detail referring to the figures where we show essentially two embodiments allowing the realization of a part of a mesh product with fine or very fine mesh and with a small percentage of interfering fibers, and on the other hand a mesh product in jersey form, possibly fine or very fine mesh, but with a high percentage of interfering fibers back of product, for product formation velvet.

In Fig. 1 shows the positioning different organs intended to make a device according to the present invention.

We observe that only one set of discs identical arranged regularly on an axis and in interpenetration with a set of looper fingers going allow both the formation of the pseudo-wire by accumulation and transfer of it into the eye of gill needles.

We observe that the device resides essentially in the interpenetration of a set of discs identical looper 10, 11, 12, ... and located on an axis transverse joint 01 with a set of looper fingers 20, 21, 22, ... in the extension of which are arranged mesh needles 30, 31, 32.

The different looping discs 10, 11, 12 regularly have teeth 101 on their periphery, 102, 103, ... 10X, where X is ne number of teeth per disc. The mesh needles 30, 31, 32 perform a movement back and forth between folding plates 40, 41, 42.

The speed of rotation of the looping discs is a uniform speed and is synchronized with that of the gill needles 30, 31, 32, so that by means of a differential, the discs advance by an X ^th of a revolution for a movement of the needles, X being the number of teeth.

Description of the formation of a fine mesh product mesh

The production of such a product is described in detail using Figures 2a to 2f which break down the movement of the different phases of the production process of such a product.

Figure 2a:

The needles penetrate between the discs lifting the shutter means. From this moment the needles will take over from the shutter means regarding fiber buildup, so the constitution of the pseudo-thread (the fibers are found thanks to the orientation of the veil).

Figure 2b:

The needles have reached their neutral point high. The fibers continue to accumulate. The tooth goes start pushing the pseudo-wire in a loop to pass it behind the needles.

Figure 2c:

The needles have started to descend and leave the discs. From this moment, the fibers which will continue to be delivered by the discs will accumulate against the shutter means. A small quantity of fibers will nevertheless stretch between the ends of the curling fingers and eye of needles; these are interfering fibers.

Figure 2d:

The needles have reached their neutral point low. They "knock down" the pseudo-wire between the plates slaughter in rear position thus forming a mesh. The shutter means are "locked" in their position low and thus continue to stop the fibers always delivered by the discs.

Figure 2e:

Needles are still in neutral low. The plates advance to push the meshes prevent the needles from entering them again going up.

Figure 2f:

The needles have started to rise. The plates, always in the forward position, prevent knitting go up with the needles. The needles are preparing to lift the shutter means that have accumulated a large part of the fibers constituting the pseudo-yarn which will be used to form the next row of stitches. The interfering fibers form a loop on the back of the product.

Figure 2g:

We find the phase of Figure 2b. The new pseudo-thread has been created. Among the fibers which constitute, we find interfering fibers participating to the loop which we are describing the formation and interfering fibers that will participate in the next loop.

Figure 2h:

We find the phase of Figure 2c. The needles have driven the rest of the interfering fibers, strictly speaking creating the loop by bringing the two rows of stitches. Simultaneously new fibers were interfered, thus initiating the formation of the next loop.

Description of the formation of a mesh product presenting a high level of interfering fibers on the back (produced looped mesh)

The production of such a product is described in detail using Figures 3a to 3h which break down the movement of the different phases of the production process of such a product.

Figure 3a:

The needles penetrate between the discs. AT from this moment, the fibers will accumulate against needles and constitute a pseudo-thread (in which they will be parallel thanks to the orientation precise veil).

Figure 3b:

The needles have started to descend and leave the discs. From this moment, the fibers which will continue to be delivered by discs (animated of a uniform rotational movement) will constitute the interfering fibers and supply the loops.

Figure 3c:

The needles have reached their neutral point low. They "knock down" the pseudo-wire between the plates slaughter in rear position thus forming a mesh. They brought with it the interfering fibers on the length 1c corresponding approximately to their stroke and at the desired loop height. These interfering fibers have not been removed from the veil since the discs have just continued to spin for deliver exactly that amount. The needles have so no effort was made.

Figure 3d:

Needles are still in neutral low. The plate advances to push the meshes prevent the needles from entering them again going up.

Figure 3e:

The needles have started to rise. The plates, always in the forward position, prevent knitting go up with the needles. The discs issued a certain length of sail passing behind the axis of the needle.

Figure 3f:

We find the phase of Figure 3a. The discs have delivered the necessary training supplement full of the loop. This part of the veil will stagnate behind the needles while waiting for the descent of needles.

Figure 3g:

We find the phase of Figure 3b. The new pseudo-thread has been created. Among the fibers which constitute, we find interfering fibers participating to the loop which we are describing the formation and interfering fibers that will participate in the next loop.

Figure 3h:

We find the phase of Figure 3c. The needles have driven the rest of the interfering fibers, strictly speaking creating the loop by bringing the two rows of stitches. Simultaneously new fibers were interfered, thus initiating the formation of the next loop.

In conclusion, the method according to the invention has many advantages.

A first advantage is its simplicity of setting in work, since the realization of the loops therefore of velvet is made without the use of additional elements specific (such as circuit board) unlike conventional yarn-based processes.

A second advantage is that this process is high reliability and security of operation, because the needles do not undergo significant efforts neither to constitute the basic jersey used for the flat cohesion of the knit, nor for the constitution of loops, unlike processes velvet generation nonwovens such as needling.

The making of velvet is not returned more complex, however, even in the case of very fine (<1mm). The process will therefore allow the realization easy very low pile (for very low items grammage) or even "suede" type products.

Another advantage of this process is that the cost of manufacturing the products is considerably reduced, since the spinning operation will only be no longer needed for knitwear velvet, fleece or fleece. In addition, the speeds of production of trades derived from the process can be very high, which improves the manufacturing yield.

Furthermore, thanks to the method according to the invention, it is possible to use fibers with difficulty spinable or whose spinning cost is particularly high such as certain natural fibers or micro fibers.

Finally, the fact that the production line either compact allows easy realization of all kinds fiber mixes, either upstream of the card or by superimposing card webs in order to guarantee a comfort or optimal cost or for aesthetic purposes.

Claims (16)

Device for manufacturing products mesh textiles from fibers and / or filaments circulating in the form of a veil, comprising a set of identical looper discs (10, 11, 12, ...) and located on a common transverse axis (01) alternately with a set of identical looping elements such as fingers looper (20, 21, 22, ...), and in the extension which are arranged the mesh needles (30, 31, 32, ...) which will receive the corrugated pseudo-wire (05) of a certain length obtained by accumulation of fibers and / or filaments, said looping discs (10, 11, 12, ...) with teeth on their periphery (101, 102, 103, ...) regularly spaced and whose distance between two successive teeth is worth at least three times the height of said teeth. Manufacturing device according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a set of shutter means (50, 51, 52, ...), each shutter means being arranged in the extension of the looping element such as the finger looper (20, 21, 22, ...) and between two successive looper discs (10, 11, 12, ...). Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the shutter means (50, 51, 52, ...) are positively controlled. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the speed of rotation of the looping discs (10, 11, 12, ...) is synchronized with that of the gill needles (30, 31, 32, ...) so that, by means of a differential, the discs advance an X ^th of a turn for a needle movement, X being the number of teeth (101, 102, 103, ...). Process for the production of mesh textile products from fibers and / or filaments flowing in the form of a veil, in which: the fibers and / or filaments are subjected to transverse looping accompanied by stretching using an assembly formed by the interpenetration of a set of identical spaced-apart looping discs (10, 11, 12, ...) and located on a common transverse axis with a set of identical looping elements, the looping discs (10, 11, 12, ...) having relatively spaced teeth (101, 102, 103, ...) on their perimeter, the fibers and / or filaments are accumulated in the form of at least one corrugated pseudo-wire of a certain length in which the fibers and / or filaments are parallelized, the pseudo-thread (05) is transferred over its entire length, and simultaneously directly into the eye of a set of gill needles (30, 31, 32, ...), a new row of stitches is conventionally carried out using the pseudo-thread (05) transferred into the eye of the needles. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that the mesh needles (30, 31, 32, ...) simultaneously perform the same movement to receive the pseudo-thread (05) obtained by accumulation of fibers or filaments. Method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that provision is made for the presence of a set of shutter means which prevents the fibers and / or filaments from continuing their journey with the looping discs (10, 11, 12, .. .). Method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that each shutter means is placed in the extension of a looping element, such as the looping finger, and would favor the passage of the pseudo-wire (05) created towards the eye of the gill needles (30, 31, 32, ...) when they are in top dead center position. A method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that one acts on the more or less close arrangement of the shutter means to generate an adequate percentage of fibers serving as interfering fibers. Method according to any one of Claims 5 to 9, characterized in that this accumulation of said fibers and / or filaments can even be carried out in the absence of any obturating means and will therefore be carried out over a distance between two teeth ( 101, 102, 103, ...) successive, in order to create an overlay on the back of the product constituted by interfering fibers. Product obtained using the device according to any one of Claims 1-4 or the method according to any one of Claims 5-10, characterized in that it is in the form of a mesh product with fine mesh or very fine mesh and having a rate of interfering fibers greater than 10%. Product according to claim 11, characterized in that the level of interfering fibers is greater than 30%. Product according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that it has interfering fibers extending in both directions of said product. Product obtained using the device according to any one of claims 1-4 or the method according to any one of claims 5-10, characterized in that it is in the form of a velvet mesh product having a level of interfering fibers greater than 30%. Product according to claim 14, characterized in that the level of interfering fibers is greater than 60%. Product according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that it has interfering fibers extending in both directions of said product.

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