US2499406A - Tufted terry product - Google Patents

Description

E. D. MILLER 2,499,406

TUFTED TERRY PRODUCT March 7, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Dec. 18, 1945 \NVENTOR ATTORNEYS March 7, `1950 originl Filed Dec. 18, .1945

E. D. MILLER TURTED TERRY PRODUCT l 2- sheets-sheet 2 fig rca,-

a Y. l l J l v/ INVENTOR ATTORNEYS cooperates with the needle to "securely held in place in `machine carries a loop of atented Mar. 7, QSN

2,499,406 TUFTED TERRY PRODUCT Eugene Douglas Miller, Rahway, Company, La

to Callaway Mills corporation of Georgia Original application December 18, 1945, Serial No. 635,747. cember 28, 1948,

N. J., assigner Grange, Ga., a

Divided and this application De- Serial No. 67,624

5 Claims. (Cl. 28-78) This invention relates to terry products, such as bath towels, carrying designs formed by yarns of appropriate colors Which have been passed through the fabric in selected areas by means of a tufting machine to form tufts vprojecting from the face of the material. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a novel tufted terry product which is superior to similar prior articles in the respects that the tuft yarns are held more securely in place in the fabric, the tufts give a better coverage of the base fabric in the design areas and have a better appearance, and, at the completion of the tufting operation, the design is devoid of stray lengths of terry or ground yarns or of terry loops projecting through the tufted areas and visible at the face of the design.

Terry pro-ducts with tufted designs have commonly been made heretofore by a procedure which involves Weaving a terry fabric on a standard terry loom after which the grey goods are subjected to the usual bleaching and finishing operations. In those operations, the sizing carried by the terry and ground warp yarns is removed, so that those yarns become soft and expand somewhat and the individual terry loops tend to become erect and to twist together. The designs are then formed on the bleached and finished fabric by `stitching the tuft yarns in place on a tufting machine, which includes a needle for passing the tuft yarns through the fabric and a looper which form the tuft yarn into loops and to cut the loops to produce tufts.

Tufted terry materials made in the manner above described have a number of objectionable features which result from their method of manufacture, as, for example, the tuft yarns are not the fabric and are liable to be pulled out during use of the fabric. The reason is that when the needle of the tufting tuft yarn through the fabric, the closely adjacent yarns in the fabric at the point of penetration of the needle are spread Vapart to form an opening sufciently large for the passage of the needle and the two legs of the tuft yarn loop carried by the eye of the needle. When the needle is retracted, the tuft yarn loop is retained in the opening by the action of the looper, but it fits loosely in the opening, because the displaced fabric yarns are not' resilient and do not spring back to their original positions. completed fabric, the legs of each tuft looped about yarns at the back of the fabric lie Within and are only loosely held in adjacent openings, and, as a result, the tufts can be easily dislodged yduring handling or use of the tufted product.

Another objectionable feature of the present tufted terry products arises from the fact that, at the time the tufting operation is performed, the terry loops of the fabric have risen and the individual loops have twisted together and the bres in such yarns have separated as a result of the removal of the sizing from the yarns in the bleaching and finishing operations. Accordingly, when the needle of the tufting machine passes a loop of tuft yarn through the fabric, it frequently happens that the needle will pierce a yarn in a terry loop, so that the yarn is broken and the broken ends are carried out past the ends 0f the tufts in the design. In other instances, the terry loop may be caught by the needle and pulled out of the fabric past the level of the face of the design. In either case, the lengths or loops of terry yarn, which are thus projected out of the design and are both variable in length and of a color contrasting with that of the tuft yarns, are readily noticeable and give the design a ragged unfinished appearance. The stray lengths of terry yarn and terry loops must, accordingly, be trimmed off in a subsequent operation and this adds to the cost of production.

The tufted terry products of the invention are superior to those heretofore made, in that the tuft yarns are more securely held in place, the tufts cover the base fabric in the design areas more completely, the tufted areas are free of lengths of yarn from the base fabric, and the colors of the dyed yarns in the products are brighter and more delicate.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale of a conventional terry fabric as taken from the loom;

Fig. la is a View similar to Fig. 1 showing the terry fabric after it has been subjected to bleaching;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the terry fabricas taken from the loom; on the line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 2a is a plan view of the material shown in Fig. la after bleaching, on the line Zar-Za of Fig. la;

Fig. 3 is a View similar to Fig. 1 showing the operation of tufting the unbleached material;

Fig.4 is a longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale of the terry product of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view showing the displacement of the yarns in a terry fabric during the passage Qi the tufting needle therethrough;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing the gripping of the tuft yarns, in the new product, as the result of the shrinking of the fabric during the bleaching operation; and

Fig. '7 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating the tufting of an ordinary bleached terry productandshowing the breaking of terry loop yarns by the action of the needle.

The terry fabric illustrated in Fig. 1 is of usualA construction and it includes ground warp yarns,

I and I I in two sets interwoven with filling yarns l2. Two sets of terry yarns I3, I4 are employed and they form loops i3d, MCL. projecting fromY the fabric at opposite faces thereof. In preparation for the weaving of the fabric, the ground and4 terry warp yarns have been sized and the bers,v

in the yarns are, accordingly, bound together. As a result, the yarns forming the loops in the fabric are somewhat stiff and springy, and, as the fabric is taken up on the loom, the loops on opposite facesv areall bent to lie inY the same direction-and have the regular appearance shown inEigs. 1 and 2;

In'the production of the new terry article, the fabric as taken fromthe loom and in they grey orunbleached.condition is delivered to the tufting machine-.for thevapplication of the tufts form,- ingv the design. Such tufting machines are of wellknown construction and 4they include a needle I5; through theeye |5a of which the tuft yarn lirislpassed, andY in the tufting operation, the fabricis supplied to the tufting machine upside down, so that theneedle inserts the tuft ya-rn throughrthev-fabric-from its rear face;y When the needle'` reaches its lowermost` point, a looper engages the Vloops of yarn carried by the needle and retainsY that loop asv the needle is retracted. Ordinarily, the looper retains a number of loops beforel releasing any of them and the looper may be provided with a knife for cutting the loops to'formy the tuftsat the face of the lfabric or the tufting machinemay include a separate knife for thefpurpose.

When the needle starts its downward movement to pass a loop of tuft-yarn through the unbleached fabric, the` point of the needle first enters the laye-rlofpi-le formed'bythe terry -loops at the back ofthe fabric, and, since the yarn 1in these loops is sized and the loops are somewhat sprngy, a loop struck by thef point of the needle will not be pierced but-will slip to one side. As the needle movesdovvn farther` and penetrates the ground of the fabric, the ground warp and filling threads will be forced aside-to form an opening I1, through which the needle andthe twolengths of tuft yarn forming the loop carried by the needle may pass.. Such displacement ofthe fabric yarns is easy, because the fabric has been somewhat loosely woven so that when it is shrunk in bleaching, the-yarns will not loe-drawn too. tightly together and thus make the fabric too stiff. The displacement of the fabric yarns referred to is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 5, in which adjacent ground warpyarns E0', Il and-'adjacent filling-yarns I2.' a-re shown as pushed aside by the. needlev and thev two lengths of tuftY yarns I6. It will be evident that, upon retraction of the needle, the tuft yarns I6. are held only loosely in-the opening, since their combined cross-.sections aresubstantially less than the cross-section ofthe opening andthe yarns are not resilient and, accordingly, do not tend to close up the opening.

When the tufting has been completed to provide'. the.. terry product. with the desired tufted l dfi-sized and; have t design, the tufted material is subjected to the usual finishing and bleaching operations, and, during those operations, the ground yarns which have been displaced during the tufting, as shown in Fig. 5, shrink and straighten out as the weave tightens up. As a result, the. size of each opening l'l': throughtthe fabricv isfreduced and the shrunk yarns tightly grip the lengths of tuft yarn I6 lying within each opening, as shown in Eig. 6, The tufts are, accordingly, firmly anchored in position.

Duringthebleaching and finishing operations, thelengthso-,f-jthe .tuft yarns forming the exposed legs of-thetuftsopen up and bloom out, as indicated at I8, and adjacent tufts intermingle and form a substantially uniform surface in the design area. Also, thesizung is removed from the yarn forming the terry loops and the loops tend to assume the twisted and somewhat erect condition, indicated at 13b. The loops Illa at the face 0f the fabrighave been; embedded among the Atuftslin tl'ie tufting operation, and, when the tuftsiiuff up and bloom out they overlie the terry loops,` so that when thelatter have been wisted, as shown at Mb, the ter-ry loopsan not force their way out beyond the ends-of the;tufts,4 The" opening up of the yarns forming the tufts asa result offthe bleachingoperalion, seemingly, serves to conceal both the grof-rndv of the fabricand the terry loops in the front facethereof,

The application offthe tuft yarns to the fabric while thelatterislin the ;g rey.condition affords another advantageas follows. In the l grey goods, thelayers ofypile-at-,eachY face of the base fabric are relatively thinrbecause thevpile loops have been laid'iiat, and thebase fabricwis relatively loosely wovenandislikewise thin., In the tuftingoperation, it is;,ne,c essary that, the ends of thetufts should lie outward from the faceA of thefabric beyond'thef level-of the terry loops, but, since; thev layersL of pileare thinand the fabric is alsothin, the legs of thetufts need have only a relatively short lengthl to obtain the desired effect, Ifthetuftingvvereapplied to thebleached terry fabric,- muchlonger lengths` of tuft yarn would be required to-form the: legs of each tuft, because the bleachingrcauses the terry loops to become erect and, also causes: the` base fabric to become. thicker as -a result of theshrinkage during the bleaching. The tufting of the grey ter-ry fabricwthus permits shorter` tufts tobe used and this resultsfin-/a sav-ingn tuft yarn. Also, the nshedzdesisdformed by the .tufts applied t0 the grey fabIiQ-mby'lie slightlybelow the. level that the5surfaee' Off therpile invuntufted areas reaches afterI bleaching; and. this Causes the tufted-designato have the appearance of being embedded inA` the pile.

Another'advantaae 0f applvinathe tuft yarns prior4` o the bleachingis that the bleach liquor reacts with thefdyestuifs thetuftlyarns and makes hecolors ofzthose yarns distinctlyzbrighter and more delicate. The, colors thusv produced could ndtbe easilvyobtained in the` dyeing 0f the tuftyarns.

The action of the,-bleaching f and vnishing operations on an ordinary terry fabric shown in Figs. 1 andz, isillustratedgin Figs. 1a and 2a, in which it will be seen that the terry loops |30 andk Mohave becomeysomewhat erect and have twisted togetherI as a result of the removal of the sizetherefrom, In the vpile surface of the bleached fabric, thefloops 13e, Ille` extend in randomdirections and thesvarns are relatively-soft and have no springiness. When the tufting needle is passed through bleached terry fabric, as 1n the production o1 tufted terry products according to the prior practice, tne needle tends to penetrate and break tne terry loop yarns, such as that shown at I9, and the broxen ends of the yarns are frequently forced out through the tufted areas. Also, 1n tufted 'terry products as made heretofore, with the tuiting carried on after the bleaching, the legs of the tuft yarns must be suniclently long to project farther from the fabric than the twisted loops 13e, Ilic, so that the plane of the outer ends of the tufts lies approximately in or outwardly from the plane of the ends of the twisted loops in the areas of the fabric surrounding the tufted areas.

This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 635,747, led December 18, 1945, now Patent No. 2,486,963.

I claim:

l. A terry product which colnprises interwoven ground warp, terry pile warp, and lling yarns forming a fabric from which terry loops project at both faces, and U-shaped tuft yarns having their bights lying at one face of the fabric and their legs extending through the fabric to project from the opposite face, the tuft yarns lying in areas in accordance with a pattern and being held in place by fabric yarns in tight gripping contact with the legs thereof, the projecting portions of the legs overlying and concealing the terry yarns within said areas on the face of the fabric from which the legs project.

2. A terry product which comprises interwoven ground warp, terry pile warp, and filling yarns forming a fabric from which terry loops project at both faces to form pile, and U-shaped tuft yarns having their bights lying at one face of the fabric and their legs extending through the fabric to project from the opposite face, the tuft yarns lying in areas in accordance with a pattern and the lengths of such yarns in projecting portions of the legs being expanded and intermingled to form a substantially continuous tuft pile surface in said areas, the terry loops within said areas on the face of the fabric from which the legs project being overlain and concealed by the expanded portions of the tuft yarns and the level of said tuft pile surface being lower than that of the terry loop pile outside of and adjacent to said areas.

3. A terry product which comprises interwoven ground warp, terry pile warp, and filling yarns forming a fabric from which terry loops project on both faces, and U-shaped tuft yarns having their bights lying at one face of the fabric and their legs extending through the fabric to project fill `areas in accordance with a from the opposite face, and tuft yarns lying in areas in accordance witn a pattern and tne yarns in tne projecting portions oi tne iegs being expanded and overlying and concealing terry loops wltrlin said areas on the lace of trie fabric from wnicn tne legs project.

4. A terry product which comprises interwoven ground warp, terry pile warp, and filling yarns forming a fabric from which terry loops project on botn faces, and U-shaped tuft yarns having tneir bights lying at one face of the fabric and their legs extending through the fabric to project from the opposite race, the tuft yarns lying in pattern and being held in place by fabric yarns in light gripping contact with the legs thereof, the yarns in the projecting portions of the legs being expanded and overlying and concealing terry loops within said areas on the face of the fabric from which the legs project.

5. A terry product which comprises interwoven ground warp, terry pile warp, and filling yarns forming a fabric from which terry loops project at both faces to form pile, and U-shaped tuft yarns having their bights lying at one face of the fabric and their legs extending through the fabric to project from the opposite face, the tuft yarns lying in areas in accordance with a pattern and being held in place by fabric yarns in light gripping contact with the legs thereof, the lengths of the tuft yarns in the protecting portions of the legs being expanded and interiningled to form a substantially continuous tuft pile surface in said areas, the terry loops within said areas on the face of the fabric from which the legs project being overlain and concealed by the expanded portions of the tuft yarns and the level of said tuft pile surface being lower than that of the terry loop pile outside of and adjacent to said areas.

EUGENE DOUGLAS MILLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the

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