US3510888A - Cushion,process and apparatus for making the same - Google Patents

Description

May 12, 1970 M. D; LE VA N 3,5l0,8 %;8

CUSHION, PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THE SAME Filed July 25, 1968 F I G. 4

INVENTOR MARTIN D. LE VAN BY vi /W ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,510,888 CUSHION, PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING THE SAME Martin Douglas Le Van, Wilmington, DeL, assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemonrs and Company, Wilmington,

Del., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 25, 1968, Ser. No. 747,554 Int. Cl. A47g 9/00 US. Cl. 337 16 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A resilient pillow having smooth, wrinklefree top and bottom surfaces comprised of compressed textile fiber filling material of a batting encapsulated and held in a compressed resilient state by a covering, the filling material having an accordion-like fold in opposite sides aligned With and adjacent to the longitudinal sides of the pillow to maintain the top and bottom surfaces of the pillow in a taut and wrinklefree state and to absorb any creases from the filling material surface while providing a pillow of increased durability. Also disclosed is a process for preparing the pillow and an apparatus useful in carrying out the process.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention is concerned with the manufacture of pillows. It is particularly concerned with the manufacture of pillows from fiber batts and with that step in manufacturing in which the rolled batts are inserted into the ticks or coverings. The invention includes the product, the process for making the product, and an apparatus useful in carrying out the process to make the product.

Description of the prior art Heretofore when rolled batts of fibers have been stuffed into pillow coverings, the surface of the filling material has become wrinkled and creased and the resulting pillow is not smooth. When feathers or loose fibrous materials are used to fill the coverings, there is no problem of wrinkling.

It has been the practice in placing filling materials in pillow coverings to squeeze the materials into a cylindrical container smaller in circumference than the covering, then push the materials out of the cylinder as the cylinder is withdrawn from the covering. This also leaves creases or wrinkles in the surface of the material and the pillow is not smooth. Both types of operation are labor consuming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides means of filling pillows with fiber filling materials in a time-saving manner which leaves no creases or wrinkles in the top or bottom surfaces of the pillow while providing a resilient pillow of increased durability. This is accomplished by compressing the filling materials by applying a force to the sides of the material along a narrow strip such that a large, regular crease or indentation is made in the sides of the material, and then placing the compressed material into the covering and removing the compressing force.

The product of this invention is defined as a resilient pillow having smooth, wrinklefree top and bottom surfaces that are convex as viewed from outside the pillow and terminating adjacent to each other to form the longitudinal sides of the pillow; said pillow being comprised of a resilient, compressed textile fiber filling material of a batting encapsulated and held in a compressed resilient state by a covering; said filling material having an accordionlike fold in opposite sides with the folds being aligned with "ice and adjacent to the longitudinal sides of the pillow to maintain the top and bottom surfaces of the pillow in a taut and wrinklefree state and to absorb any creases from the filling material surface while providing a pillow of increased durability. The species include batting materials of polyethylene terephthalate fibers having a spiral crimp, staple fibers, and species wherein the fibers of the batt are resin-bonded to one another at crossover points to provide increased resiliency. The staple fibers exemplified are of a length within the range of about 2 to 4 inches having a denier per filament within the range of about 1 to 6. In a preferred species the filling material is a roll of a cross-lapped batt and the opposed accordion-like folds are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the roll.

The apparatus portion of applicants invention is defined as being in an apparatus for inserting compressible filling material into a covering to form a pillow which includes a pair of opposed, mounted, driven belts spaced apart and converging from an entrance end to an exit end to define a material compressing and conveying zone, a housing having open ends surrounding the exit end of the belts and adapted to receive the filling material inside one end and to receive the covering over the opposite end, the improvement of a member having a thin edge mounted on each side of the zone between the belts and in the vicinity of the entrance end of the zone with the edges extending into the zone to provide opposed folds to resilient materials passing therebetween. In the most preferable species of the invention the thin-edged member is a freely rotatable disc and the distance between the edges of the members is from 2 to 3 times the distance between the belts in the vicinity of the thin-edged members.

Applicants process is defined as the process for making a pillow having smooth, wrinklefree, and resilient top and bottom surfaces of a resilient, compressible textile fiber filling material encapsulated by a cover which comprises; applying a force along a narrow strip on opposite sides of the filling material to provide indentations; compressing the top and bottom of the material having the indentations in opposite sides to provide an accordion-like fold in each side between the top and bottom surfaces; and inserting the compressed material with the accordion-like folds into a cover of a size smaller than the size of the initial filling material to form a resilient, wrinklefree pillow in which the filling material is maintained in a compressed state thereby keeping the folds in the sides of the material to absorb any wrinkle causing creases and to keep the cover taut.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Battings of non-woven fibers such as polyester fiberfill are normally rolled or folded to dimensions suitable for filling bed pillows or other products such as upholstered furniture cushions. As an example, a bed pillow having a finished size of 20 inches by 26 inches is normally filled with a batting 12 feet in length, 2 feet in width and 1 to 3 inches thick, the batting being rolled up before placing in the pillow. The rolled batt, before compressing, is larger than the capacity of the pillow, so that the pillow will be tight and resilient. Thus, it is necessary to compress the batt to get it into the pillow, and this tends to leave creases in the batting. The practice has been to stuff the batting into a cylinder or funnel and force it into the pillow covering. This leaves creases randomly distributed over the surface of the pillow.

In the present invention the sides of the filling material are creased along a narrow strip while being compressed to provide large creases or accordion-like folds on the sides and to contract the volume of the batt so that it can readily be placed in the covering. Any creases left Will be uniform and regular along the sides of the pillow,

and the top and bottom of the pillow will be smooth as the side folds absorb any creases or wrinkles occurring on the material surface.

In the simplest form of the invention, two rods are used, one on each side of the batt, to crease the sides of the batt while the top and bottom surfaces are being compressed. In a more refined version, the rods are replaced by thin wheels.

The invention is more easily understood by reference to the following figures:

FIG. 1 is an end view of a roll of batting ready for inserting in a cover for a pillow.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a roll of batting.

FIG. 3 is an end view of a roll of batting compressed by means of wheels along the side and conveyor belts on top and bottom.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the wheel and conveyor belt apparatus.

Now, referring to FIG. 1, the roll of batting will vary in size according to the length and thickness of the batting from which the roll is formed and also according to the tightness of the rolling. Thus, not only the size of the pillow but also its softness or hardness can be controlled.

FIG. 3 is an end view of a refined mechanism for filling pillows. In this drawing the batt 1 is compressed by thin wheels 3 on each side and carried between two conveyor belts 4 at top and bottom. The wheel is carried by the shaft 5 on support 6.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the apparatus of FIG. 3 showing the arrangement of the wheels 3, the conveyor-compressing belts 4, the housing 7, the pillow cover 8 and the conveyor driving means 9. Only one of the two wheels is visible in this schematic drawing as they are directly opposed.

In operation, a roll of batting is placed between the wheels 3 which are preferably friction driven by the advancing material but which may be power driven, if desired. The batt is engaged and compressed by the converging conveyor belts and carried through the housing 7 and out of the housing into the covering 8.

Any fibrous materials may be used in making the batt, but polyester fibers are especially suitable for pillows because of their resiliency.

The wheels and conveyor belts are adjustable in the distance between the two wheels in one case and between the two conveyor belts in the other case. This allows the production of pillows of various sizes and shapes.

The wheels in FIGS. 3 and 4 can be replaced by suitable creasing means such as a pair of rods.

In addition to producing smooth pillows, the apparatus of this invention is labor saving.

A further advantage of this invention is that the fiber being forced to the center of the batting by the horizontal compression causes the finished pillow crown height to increase approximately 10-15% and improves volume durability by 5% EXAMPLE I Polyethylene terephthalate fibers of 4.25 denier and 2 inch (5.08 cm.) length having a helical crimp are processed through a garnett machine to open the mass of fibers and form a web and then cross-lapped into a batt structure. The surface of the batt is sprayed with a 5% emulsion of a resin to bond the fibers within the batt to one another at cross-over points and to give increased resiliency to thebatt. The composition of the resin emulsion is as follows:

Parts Dimethylpolysiloxane 8.5 Methylhydrogen-polysiloxane 5.5 Polysiloxane/polyoxyethylene block copolymer 36.0 Acrylic emulsion 50.0 Water 2000.0

The block copolymer contains 28% by weight of dimethylpolysiloxane and 72% polyoxyethylene.

The acrylic resin is made by polymerizing the following composition:

Parts Ethyl acrylate 46.3

Methyl methacrylate 48.0

N-methylolmethacrylamide 4.7

Methacrylic acid 1.0

The emulsion as applied contains 0.32% of a tin diacetate/zinc octanoate curing catalyst.

After spraying the surface, the batting is turned over and the opposite side is sprayed with the above resin. The final batting is 1.1 inches (2.8 cm.) thick and 24 inches (60.96 cm.) in width. The resin-treated batt is passed through an oven at 138 C. to dry it and cure the resin. The batting contains 2.35% resin on a dry-weight basis.

A length of the batting is rolled up to give a roll having a diameter of 16 inches (40.6 cm.) and a density of 7.5 oz./ cu. ft. (7.5 kg./ cu. meter). The roll of batting is passed through the apparatus shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 in such manner that deep creases are made in the sides of the roll by the friction-driven wheels 3 and the roll is compressed from top and bottom by the belt 4. The top and bottom belts are 4 inches (10 cm.) apart at the front and 3 inches (7.5 cm.) apart at the exit. The belt 4 carries the compressed batting roll into the covering 8. The perimeters of the wheels are 10 inches (25.4 cm.) apart. The covering is closed by a zipper. The resulting pillow is smooth on top and bottom surfaces and creased on each side with a single, deep, uniform crease that absorbs any wrinkles otherwise appearing on the surfaces.

What is claimed is:

1. A resilient pillow having smooth, wrinklefree top and bottom surfaces that are convex as viewed from outside the pillow and terminating adjacent to each other to form the longitudinal sides of the pillow; said pillow being comprised of a resilient, compressed textile fiber filling material of a batting encapsulated and held in a compressed resilient state by a covering; said filling material having an accordion-like fold in opposite sides with the folds being aligned with and adjacent to the longitudinal sides of the pillow to maintain the top and bottom surafces of the pillow in a taut and wrinklefree state and to absorb any creases from the filling material surface while providing a pillow of increased durability.

2. The pillow as in claim 1 wherein the batt is of polyethylene terephthalate fibers having a helical crimp.

3. The pillow as in claim 1 wherein the batt is of staple fibers.

4. The pillow as in claim 1 wherein the fibers of the batt are resin-bonded to one another at crossover points to provide increased resiliency.

5. The pillow as in claim 1 wherein the fibers are of a length within the range of about 2 to 4 inches and have a denier per filament within the range of about 1 to 6.

6. The pillow as in claim 1 wherein the filling material is a batt of cross-lapped webs, the batt being rolled-up and the opposed accordion-like folds being parallel to the longitudinal axis of the roll.

7. The pillow as in claim 6 wherein one of the folds occurs along the portion of the roll at which the edge of the batting terminates to mask the discontinuity.

8. In an apparatus for inserting compressible filling material into a covering to form a pillow which includes a pair of opposed, mounted, driven belts spaced apart and converging from an entrance end to an exit end to define a material-compressing-and-conveying zone, a housing having open ends surrounding the exit end of the belts and adapted to receive the filling material inside one end and to receive the covering over the opposite end, the improvement of a pair of members for shaping the filling material, each member having a thin edge mounted on each side of the zone between the belts and in the vicinity of the entrance end of the zone with the edges extending into the zone to introduce a fold in each side of the resilient materials passing therebetween.

9. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein the thin-edged member is a freely rotatable disc.

10. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein the distance between the edges of the members is from 2 to 3 times the distance between the belts in the vicinity of the thinedged members.

11. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein the thin-edged members are mounted midway between the belts at the entrance end of the zone.

12. The process for making a pillow having smooth, wrinklefree, and resilient top and bottom surfaces of a resilient, compressible textile fiber-filling material encapsulated by a cover which comprises; applying pressure along a narrow strip on opposite sides of the filling material to form indentations; compressing the top and bottom of the material having the indentations in opposite sides to provide an accordion-like fold in each side between the top and bottom surfaces; and inserting the compressed material with the accordion-like folds into a cover of a size smaller than the size of the initial filling material to form a resilient, wrinklefree pillow in which the filling material is maintained in a compressed state thereby keeping the folds in the sides of the material to absorb any wrinkle-causing creases and to keep the cover taut.

13. The process as in claim 12 wherein the cover has one end sealed prior to the insertion of the compressed material and the other end is sealed after insertion of the material.

14. The process as in claim 12 wherein the filling material is of a cross-lapped batt of polyethylene terephthalate staple fibers having a helical crimp.

15. The process as in claim 12 wherein the filling material is a roll of a cross-lapped batt and the pressure is applied along a narrow strip on each side of the roll parallel to the longitudinal axis of the roll.

16. The process as in claim 12 wherein the filling material is of a cross-lapped batt of staple fibers in which the fibers are resin-bonded to one another at cross-over points to provide increased resiliency.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,068,355 7/1913 McComb 5--337 1,876,591 9/1932 Bawden 5-339 2,837,145 6/1958 Goetz 5337 3,290,704 12/1966 Willis 5-337 REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner

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