Claims:
We claim
1. A narrow woven elastic fabric comprising a set of elastic warp yarns extending longitudinally of the fabric and three filling yarns interwoven with said warp yarns, the first filling yarn being elastic and being interwoven with a portion of the warp yarns disposed in the center portion of the fabric and the other filling yarns being non-elastic and being interwoven with other portions of the warp yarns, one of said non-elastic filling yarns being interwoven in pairs with a portion of the warp yarns extending along the longitudinal edge of the fabric and the other non-elastic filling yarn being interwoven in pairs with another portion of the warp yarns disposed along the opposite longitudinal edge of the fabric, the elastic filling yarn in the center portion of the fabric being interengaged with said other non-elastic filling yarns to form an integral interwoven narrow elastic fabric having a center portion having elasticity in both the longitudinal and transverse directions of the fabric and a pair of side portions extending along the longitudinal edges of the fabric and having elasticity only in the longitudinal direction of the fabric.
2. Fabric according to claim 1, wherein the elastic filling yarn is a rubber yarn.
3. Fabric according to claim 1, wherein the non-elastic filling yarns are nylon yarns.
4. Fabric according to claim 1, wherein the elastic filling yarn is a rubber yarn and non-elastic filling yarns are nylon yarns.
5. A method of weaving a narrow elastic fabric having a center portion which is elastic in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the fabric and a pair of longitudinally extending side portions which are elastic only in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, comprising:
Description:
This invention relates to narrow elastic fabrics having both longitudinal and transverse stretch in certain portions of the fabric and only longitudinal stretch in other portions of the fabric and methods for manufacturing such fabrics.
Narrow elastic fabrics are used in the manufacture of various types of garments. They are generally used as waist-bands, leg bands, etc. in various garments such as trousers, womens' foundation garments, etc. In many of these uses, it is desirable that the narrow fabric not only have an elasticity in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, but also have some elasticity in the transverse direction of the fabric to allow for movement by the wearer of the piece of apparel.
Longitudinal stretch in the fabric allows for good fit of the garment around the waist, or legs, or other encircling portions of the garment. The transverse stretch is useful to provide freedom of movement to the wearer as it allows the fabric to stretch when placed in varying positions by the wearer. Narrow elastic fabrics which have only longitudinal stretch may be readily affixed to the base material or base piece of wearing apparel by sewing, etc. and will form a smooth seam which remains so during use.
In those instances where both longitudinal and transverse stretch are required, this may be accomplished by using two different types of fabric; i.e., one that has longitudinal stretch and one that has transverse stretch. Where such properties are required and two fabrics are used the cost of the final product is increased because of the extra cost of one or more sewing operations and also the extreme care which must be taken to align all of the pieces of material and form smooth seams between each piece in the final garment.
I have discovered a narrow elastic fabric which has both longitudinal stretch portions and portions which have both longitudinal and transverse stretch. My new fabric allows for affixation to the base fabric in a single operation and provides smooth, encircling portions and while also allowing movement in the desired areas of the final garment. Hence, not only is my new fabric more economical to produce in its use in that it only requires one operation to be affixed to the garment, but also provides a smoother, neater portion in the final garment due to its unitary construction.
In accordance with the present invention, my narrow elastic fabric comprises a center portion extending longitudinally of the fabric which has elasticity in both the longitudinal and transverse directions of the fabric. Along each side of the center portion and forming the longitudinal edges of the fabric are side portions which have elasticity in only the longitudinal direction of the fabric.
My new and improved elastic fabric is made by weaving a set of elastic warp yarns with a combination of elastic and non-elastic filling yarns. The fabric is woven by using a beam of elastic warp yarns. A non-elastic warp yarn is fed from cones at each edge of the beam to form a set of elastic warp yarns with a non-elastic yarn at each edge. A standard elastic filling yarn on a shuttle is used in the weaving operation. The warp yarns are positioned so as to form a shed as in a standard weaving operation and the shuttle passes through this shed. When the shuttle reaches the edge of the warp set, the elastic warp yarns in the center portion of the beam are reversed to form another shed as in a standard weaving operation. The warp yarns in the side portion through which the shuttle has just passed are not reversed with the exception that the edge non-elastic warp yarn is reversed. The shuttle is then passed through this new shed. The shuttle grips the non-elastic warp yarn and pulls it from the cone inserting it as a filling yarn in the side portion of the warp yarns. The elastic filling yarn on the shuttle is inserted in the center portion of the warp yarns and the shuttle carried to the other side or edge of the warp beam. Again, the center warp yarns are reversed to form another shed and the warp yarns in the side portion through which the shuttle has just passed, are not reversed with the exception of the edge non-elastic warp yarn. The shuttle encircles the non-elastic yarn, pulling it from the cone and inserting it as a filling yarn in the side portion of the warp yarns and again inserting the elastic yarn from the shuttle as the filling yarn in the center portion of the warp yarns and so forth. This operation forms a narrow elastic fabric wherein the filling yarns in the central portion are elastic and the filling yarns in the two edge or side portions are non-elastic.
The invention will be described in further detail when taken in conjunction with the following drawings and the description thereof, wherein;
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a fabric according to the present invention and,
FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a portion of the narrow elastic woven fabric in accordance with the present invention.
Referring to the drawings in FIG. 1, there is shown a narrow elastic fabric 10. The fabric has a center portion 11 extending longitudinally of the fabric. The center portion comprises interwoven warp yarns 12 and filling yarns 13 with both the warp and filling yarns being elastic so that the center portion is elastic in both the longitudinal and transverse directions of the fabric. Along each side of the longitudinally extending portion is a longitudinally extending side portion 15 and 16 which forms the edges of the fabric. The longitudinal side portions comprise interwoven warp yarns 17 and 18 and filling yarns 19 and 20 with the warp yarns being elastic and the filling yarns being non-elastic so the longitudinally extending side portions only have elasticity in the longitudinal direction of the fabric.
Referring to the enlarged depiction of the fabric 27 of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, there are three sections; A, B, and C, extending longitudinally of the fabric. The warp yarns 30 in all three sections are elastic warp yarns and are substantially the same. The filling yarns 31 in Sections A and C, the side sections of the fabric, are non-elastic, whereas the filling yarns 32 in the center section B, are elastic yarns. The filling yarns in the side sections, A, and C, as may be seen, are woven in pairs or as a double pick that is, two filling yarns go under a warp yarn and over a warp yarn, etc. and this repeat is on every two filling yarns, whereas in the center section of the fabric, each filling yarn goes under and over each warp yarn and this is repeated with different filling yarn in the center portion of the fabric. The filling yarn in the center of a fabric catches the filling yarn on the left or Section A of the fabric and on Section C or the right side of the fabric.
In manufacturing my new narrow elastic fabrics, a standard narrow elastic fabric loom is used. The loom is supplied with a warp beam containing the desired number of warp yarns. This warp beam is fed into the loom as in standard procedures. Fed along with the warp beam from a cone located in the back of the loom is a non-elastic yarn. One such non-elastic yarn is fed at each end of the warp beam. A standard shuttle is used as in a standard weaving operation. The shuttle is fed or supplied with an elastic filling yarn. As in standard weaving operations, a shed is formed by the warp yarns with some yarns in an upper plane and the other yarns in a lower plane. The non-elastic yarn is placed in one of the planes of the shed. The shuttle passes through the shed and the shed is then changed; that is, the yarns in the center section in the bottom plane are placed in the upper plane, and the yarns in the upper plane in the center portion are placed in the lower plane. The yarns in the side portions are not changed with the exception of the non-elastic yarn in that portion of the fabric along the side where the shuttle has just passed and this yarn is placed in the opposite plane. The shuttle then returns through the new shed and inserts the end non-elastic yarn as a filling yarn in the side portion, through the shed to the point where the shed has changed. This action places the end non-elastic yarn as a double filling yarn in that portion of the fabric along the side. The shuttle then passes through the center shed placing the elastic filling yarn and continues to the opposite edge of the fabric. Again, the shed is changed as described above and the procedure repeated.
This motion changes the shed in the center portion of the fabric with every pass of the shuttle and changes the shed in each side portion of the fabric with every other pass of the shuttle. The change of sheds in the side portions are alternated with respect to each other so that the side portion shed does not change when the shuttle is on its side except for the non-elastic yarn on that side.
Various types of yarns may be used in manufacturing the fabrics of the present invention. The warp yarns used in the fabric should all have the same or substantially the same amount of elasticity and may be any of the various elastic warp yarns such as texturized yarns, elastic core yarns covered with non-elastic fibers such as rubber cores, covered with cotton fibers, or spandex-type cores covered with synthetic fibers, etc. The filling yarns used in the center portion of the fabric may be any of the standard elastic filling yarns such as a rubber filling yarn or again, an elastic core yarn covered with synthetic or other fibers and the filling yarns of the edge portions of the fabric may be any of the non-elastic filling yarns such as cotton yarns, nylon yarns, or other types of yarns.
The non-elastic fabric may be woven in widths of from one-fourth inch up to 6 inches or more and have a yarn count varying over a wide range. The relative sizes of the elastic and non-elastic areas may vary. In other words, the two edge or side portions may have the same size and may be the same size as the elastic center portion, or the two edge portions may have the same size and be narrower or wider than the center portion or the two side portions may have different widths from each other.
Also, in my new fabric, any of the various types of selveges used in narrow elastic fabrics such as scalloped or fancy-type selveges may be used in my new fabrics. Also any of the surface pattern designs which are common with some of the higher quality narrow elastic fabrics, may also be incorporated in my new fabrics.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.