U.S. patent application number 13/373110 was filed with the patent office on 2012-03-01 for molded fabric and methods of manufacture.
Invention is credited to John E. Meschter.
Application Number | 20120052282 13/373110 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 45034368 |
Filed Date | 2012-03-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120052282 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Meschter; John E. |
March 1, 2012 |
Molded fabric and methods of manufacture
Abstract
A novel molded fabric is made by bringing a first patterned
group of numerous discrete disjoint elements positioned on a first
side of a contact boundary extending throughout the thickness of
the fabric being molded, together with a second patterned group of
numerous discrete disjoint elements, over-lapping the first group
of discrete disjoint elements, on the opposite side of the contact
boundary, and joining the elements together at their tip portions.
Various techniques are disclosed for maintaining separation of
overlapping cross-over portions of the thread elements crossing
each other during joining the terminal portions together, so that
they simulate woven cloth. First and second rolls can carry the
elements in molten form within cavities in the roller surfaces or
patterns of solid elements within first and second matrices, can be
joined together at the nip of the rolls by heat or chemical means
to produce substantial savings in fabric manufacture.
Inventors: |
Meschter; John E.; (New York
City, NY) |
Family ID: |
45034368 |
Appl. No.: |
13/373110 |
Filed: |
November 5, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11728057 |
Mar 23, 2007 |
8070903 |
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13373110 |
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60786506 |
Mar 28, 2006 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
428/220 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B29C 66/83413 20130101;
D03D 41/00 20130101; B29C 65/4895 20130101; B29C 66/1122 20130101;
D03D 13/002 20130101; Y10T 428/192 20150115; B29C 43/22 20130101;
B29C 66/69 20130101; B29C 66/0044 20130101; B29D 28/00 20130101;
B29C 65/58 20130101; B29C 65/02 20130101; D03D 1/0052 20130101;
D03D 25/00 20130101; B29C 66/49 20130101; B29C 65/18 20130101; B29C
66/43 20130101; B29C 65/70 20130101; B29C 66/21 20130101; B29C
65/48 20130101; B29C 65/08 20130101; Y10T 428/19 20150115 |
Class at
Publication: |
428/220 |
International
Class: |
B32B 3/00 20060101
B32B003/00 |
Claims
1. A molded fabric having a given thickness and having first and
second groups of overlapping threads joined together comprising:
(a) a first group of numerous discrete disjoint elements positioned
on a first side of a contact boundary extending through the
thickness of said fabric being molded; (b) a second group of
numerous discrete disjoint elements positioned on a second side of
said contact boundary opposite said first side; (c) and wherein
said numerous discrete disjoint elements are joined together at
areas of contact of first and second groups of disjoint elements at
said contact boundary and not at over-lapping and under-lapping
crossings of portions of said first and second groups of discrete
disjoint elements away from said areas of contact at said contact
boundary.
2. The molded fabric of claim 1 wherein end portions of said
numerous discrete disjoint elements of said first group are joined
to end portions of numerous discrete disjoint elements of said
second group.
3. The fabric of claim 1 wherein said fabric is made from a
material that can be melt-joined by heat.
4. The fabric of claim 2 wherein said fabric is made from a
material that can be melt-joined by heat.
5. A molded fabric having a given thickness and having first and
second groups of overlapping threads joined together comprising:
(a) a first group of numerous discrete disjoint elements positioned
on a first side of a contact boundary extending through the
thickness of said fabric being formed; (b) a second group of
numerous discrete disjoint elements positioned on a second side of
said contact boundary, opposite said first side; and (c) and
wherein said numerous discrete disjoint elements of said first and
second groups are joined together at areas of contact at tips of
said first and second groups of disjoint elements at said contact
boundary and not at over-lapping and under-lapping crossings of
portions of said first and second groups of disjoint elements away
from said areas of contact at said contact boundary whereby said
crossings do not form joints that stiffen the fabric.
6. The fabric of claim 5 wherein lengths of discrete disjoint
elements in rows of said first group are positioned transversely
with respect to lengths of disjoint elements in aligned facing rows
of said second group.
7. The fabric of claim 6 wherein separator elements are provided
for preventing joining together of said discrete disjoint elements
at over-lapping and under-lapping crossings of portions of said
first and second groups of disjoint elements away from said areas
of contact at said contact boundary.
8. The fabric of claim 7 wherein said separator elements form a
physical barrier positioned between said first and second groups of
discrete disjoint elements at positions away from said areas of
contact at said contact boundary.
9. The fabric of claim 8 wherein said physical barrier comprises an
apertured film having apertures at said areas of contact where
joining together of said groups of first and second discrete
disjoint elements shall occur.
10. The fabric of claim 8 wherein said physical barrier comprises a
set of elongated separator elements interleaved between said first
and second groups of discrete disjoint elements.
11. The fabric of claim 7 wherein said separator elements comprise
printed, painted, or sprayed patterns of anti-bonding agents.
12. The fabric of claim 1 wherein lengths of discrete disjoint
elements in rows of said first group are positioned transversely
with respect to lengths of disjoint elements in aligned facing rows
of said second group.
13. The fabric of claim 12 wherein the lengths of discrete disjoint
elements in rows of said first group are positioned at right angles
with respect to the lengths of disjoint elements in aligned facing
rows of said second group.
14. The fabric of claim 5 wherein lengths of discrete disjoint
elements in rows of said first group are positioned transversely
with respect to lengths of disjoint elements in aligned facing rows
of said second group.
15. The fabric of claim 14 wherein the lengths of discrete disjoint
elements in rows of said first group are positioned at right angles
with respect to the lengths of disjoint elements in aligned facing
rows of said second group.
16. The fabric of claim 1 wherein said discrete disjoint elements
of said first and second groups of discrete disjoint elements are
made of a material enabling said material to flow across said areas
of contact upon being heated.
17. The fabric of claim 5 wherein said discrete disjoint elements
of said first and second groups of discrete disjoint elements are
made of a material enabling said material to flow across said areas
of contact upon being heated.
18. A fabric having a given thickness and having first and second
groups of overlapping threads joined together comprising: (a) a
first group of numerous discrete disjoint elements positioned on a
first side of a contact boundary extending through the thickness of
said fabric; (b) a second group of numerous discrete disjoint
elements positioned on a second side of said contact boundary
opposite said first side; (c) and wherein said numerous discrete
disjoint elements are laminated together at areas of contact of
first and second groups of disjoint elements at said contact
boundary and not at over-lapping and under-lapping crossings of
portions of said first and second groups of discrete disjoint
elements away from said areas of contact at said contact
boundary.
19. The fabric of claim 18 wherein said numerous discreet disjoint
elements are heat laminated together.
20. The fabric of claim 18 wherein said numerous discreet disjoint
elements are laminated together with a solvent.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional of application Ser. No.
11/728,057 filed Mar. 23, 2007 which claims the benefit of
provisional application No. 60/786,506 filed Mar. 28, 2006.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates generally to the field of
textiles and woven fabrics, and to methods of fabricating woven
textiles.
[0003] Textiles and the myriad weave patterns used to create them
have existed almost as long as recorded history. The only
alternatives to woven fabrics were skins and felts, one created
biologically and the other created with highly entangled fibers but
without a deliberate pattern to the entanglement.
[0004] Woven fabrics have always been created sequentially. This
means that individual threads were combined by interleaving and
overlapping with other threads in repeated patterns, one thread or
one group of threads at a time. Threads might themselves be
combinations of smaller threads or individual, natural or man made
fibers. A fixed width of a fabric in a loom designed for weaving is
increased in length by the width of one thread or one group of
threads at a time. This sequential assembly of fabric, necessitated
by the often complex interleaving and overlapping of threads in
substantially orthogonal groupings, makes the creation of fabric a
slow and labor-intensive process.
[0005] By contrast, felts and other non-woven fabrics are created
in a parallel fashion. This means that all of the fibers or threads
used to make up the final fabric are laid simultaneously as a
highly entangled thin layer. This process is much faster than the
sequential assembly described above, but the resulting fabric does
not have the same mechanical characteristics as the woven material.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,149,456 issued to Tenney, teaches that a molding of
fabric from synthetics is possible in which the approximation of
individual, independent threads crossing one over or under another
is possible by molding columns between thread intersections
substantially perpendicular to the plane of the fabric, said
columns being long enough to permit a limited degree of movement
between the crossing threads connected by each column. The columns
enabled the use of a sinuous-surface mold without "reentrant"
elements, or side actions, or inserts, but the resulting fabric
merely approximated the truly individual, independent threads of a
conventionally woven fabric. A goal of the present invention is to
create separate, unconnected threads in a woven pattern, where
overlapping thread intersections have no undesired connecting
elements there-between.
[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 2,276,608 issued to Bugge teaches that
previously formed warp threads, optionally coated with adhesion
preventing material, can be over-molded with weft threads that pass
over and under the parallel array of warp threads in a woven
fashion by: "the use of two opposed surfaces which are provided
with a series of parallel grooves and with partial grooves crossing
the parallel grooves. Previously formed warp threads are arranged
in the parallel grooves and the space between the surfaces is
supplied with a mass of artificial silk. The surfaces are then
brought together so as to force the material into the partial
grooves to form in situ weft threads crossing and interwoven with
the warp threads." The previously formed warp threads form parts of
the surfaces of the cavities of the partial grooves within such a
mold in which the weft threads are molded in situ. This means that
there is contact during molding between the previously formed warp
threads and the weft threads being formed in situ. Without adhesion
preventing coating previously applied to the warp threads, the weft
threads could adhere to the warp threads. Moreover, the weft
threads would conform to the exposed surface of the previously
formed warp threads. In any practical implementation of the mold
Bugge describes the partial grooves will incorporate at least half
the circumference of the previously formed warp threads into the
surfaces of the cavities forming the weft threads in situ. This
forms many joints in the finished fabric that, though they are not
adhered to each other, nevertheless add stiffness to the fabric,
especially when the fabric so molded is stretched along a dimension
diagonal to the warp or weft threads.
[0007] The aforesaid Bugge prior art patent requires that
previously formed warp threads must pass straight through either a
rotary or flat plate mold. The resulting fabric must therefore have
warp threads that are straight, with weft threads making sinuous
paths over and under the straight and parallel warp threads. This
imposes a limit on the types of fabrics that can be molded by such
a process, since there are many fabrics in which both the warp and
weft form sinuous paths over and under each other, much like the
column-connected threads described by Tenney. Moreover, in any
practical embodiment of such a process, it is likely that the warp
threads will pass through the rotary or plate mold under some
non-zero amount of tension. During molding, the weft threads being
molded will shrink during hardening or cooling, creating a tension
in the weft direction different from the tension of the warp
threads. This will cause wrinkling of the fabric when released from
the mold, a characteristic that is not always desirable and must in
any case be controlled.
[0008] Both the aforesaid Tenney and Bugge patents describe fabric
molding processes. While the present invention includes molding
molten or fluid material, it also includes thread forming methods
in which elements can be formed by being printed and/or laminated
in novel ways to accomplish a woven fabric of separate threads.
Applicants printed or laminated or other non-molded embodiments
were not envisioned by the aforesaid Bugge or Tenney references and
are however to be included under the term "molded" as used by
applicant in its broader sense as to shape or form as permitted by
the unabridged dictionary.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0009] It is a goal of preferred molding embodiments of the present
invention to mold a fabric in which there are no previously formed
thread components passing through the mold. It is a further goal of
preferred molding embodiments of the present invention to mold both
the warp and weft threads from a concatenation of disjoint elements
occurring nearly simultaneously in the same mold. It is a further
goal of preferred molding embodiments of the present invention to
mold a fabric in which the overlapping and underlapping crossings
of threads being molded do not contact each other during molding,
nor comprise parts of the surfaces of the cavities forming the
threads, and thus do not require anti-adhesion coatings to prevent
bonding between threads that cross. It is a further goal of
preferred molding embodiments of the present invention to mold a
fabric in which the thread crossings do not form joints that
stiffen the fabric. It is a further goal of preferred molding
embodiments of the present invention to mold a fabric in which the
warp and weft threads can all be molded at similar conditions in
the same mold, such that there are not differences in tension in
the resulting warp and weft threads. It is a further goal of one of
the preferred molding embodiments of the present invention to mold
a fabric in which the warp threads do not have to lie in straight
line paths in the mold or in the resulting molded fabric. All of
these novel features contemplated in preferred molding embodiments
of the present invention constitute improvements upon the
inventions taught by Bugge and Tenney.
[0010] The resulting fabric meeting these goals has a first group
of numerous discrete disjoint elements positioned on a first side
of a contact boundary extending throughout the thickness of the
fabric being molded or formed and a second group of numerous
discrete disjoint elements positioned on a second side of the
contact boundary opposite said first side and wherein the numerous
discrete disjoint elements are joined together at areas of contact
of first and second groups of disjoint elements at end portions of
the elements and only at the contact boundary, and not at
over-lapping and under-lapping crossings of portions of the first
and second groups of discrete disjoint elements away from the areas
of contact at the contact boundary.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 shows a representative fabric weave in an oblique
view.
[0012] FIG. 2 shows a oblique view of a contact surface dividing
the fabric thickness into two groups of disjoint elements.
[0013] FIG. 3 shows an oblique view of two separate groups of
disjoint elements interposed by a perforated barrier layer with
perforations corresponding to contact surface penetrations.
[0014] FIG. 4 shows an oblique view of opposing disjoint element
groups punched from sheet.
[0015] FIG. 5 shows an oblique view of opposing disjoint element
groups, and said groups laminated or joined together at areas of
contact surface penetration.
[0016] FIG. 6 shows an oblique view of rotary lamination of punched
disjoint element groups.
[0017] FIG. 7 shows an oblique view of a portion of finished
laminated fabric from punched disjoint element groups.
[0018] FIG. 8 shows an oblique view of individual printed disjoint
elements joined at areas of contact surface penetration and
prevented from joining at areas of intersection or overlap.
[0019] FIG. 9 shows an oblique view of mold plates with disjoint
element groups and anti-adhesion patterned coatings.
[0020] FIG. 10 shows a plan view of joined disjoint element groups
resulting from the mold of FIG. 9 and illustrating the use of
anti-adhesion coatings.
[0021] FIG. 11 shows a rotary embodiment of the mold method of
joining disjoint element groups, illustrating the curved
juxtaposition of disjoint element groups.
[0022] FIG. 12 shows an oblique view of a rotary molding system for
coating disjoint element groups with anti-adhesion patterns and
joining said groups together in a rotary nip.
[0023] FIG. 13 shows an oblique view of a mold plate with cavities
for disjoint elements from one side of a contact surface and
contiguous parallel cavities for barrier strips or wires.
[0024] FIG. 14 shows an oblique view of parallel barrier strips or
wires for preventing the joining of opposing disjoint element
groups at overlapping intersections.
[0025] FIG. 15 shows an oblique view of parallel barrier strips or
wires lying in parallel cavities of a mold plate containing
disjoint element groups from one side of a contact surface.
[0026] FIG. 16 shows an oblique view of an upper mold plate
containing disjoint element group cavities juxtaposed over parallel
barrier strips lying in parallel cavities in a lower mold plate
containing opposing disjoint element group cavities.
[0027] FIG. 17 shows an oblique view of opposing transparent mold
cavities illustrating the juxtaposition of contact surface
penetration areas of disjoint elements as well as overlapping
intersections of opposing disjoint element groups.
[0028] FIG. 18 shows an oblique view of opposing transparent mold
cavities with barrier strips in situ, illustrating the
juxtaposition of barrier strips with overlapping intersections of
opposing disjoint element groups.
[0029] FIG. 19 shows an oblique view of the mold assembly of FIG.
16 with the disjoint element cavities filled with thread
material.
[0030] FIG. 20 shows an oblique view of mold assembly of FIG. 19
with top mold plate removed to illustrate formed disjoint element
group threads.
[0031] FIG. 21 shows an oblique view of mold assembly of FIG. 19
with bottom mold plate removed to illustrate formed disjoint
element groups.
[0032] FIG. 22 shows an oblique view of the formed disjoint element
groups from the mold of FIG. 19 with the barrier strips
removed.
[0033] FIG. 23 shows an oblique view of a detail of the molded
fabric from the mold of FIG. 19.
[0034] FIG. 24 shows a plan view of a detail of the molded fabric
from the mold of FIG. 19.
[0035] FIG. 25 shows an oblique view of the edge of the molded
fabric from the mold of FIG. 19 illustrating the separation of
opposing disjoint element overlapping intersections by the
interposition of bather strips.
[0036] FIG. 26 shows an oblique view of a rotary molding system
with stationary barrier strips and flexible belts containing
opposing disjoint element group cavities passing through a rotary
nip in a bath of thread material.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0037] It is the subject of this novel invention to describe
methods of making a woven fabric by parallel means with any of the
many weave patterns used in prior art, so as to create a faster and
less expensive means of weaving textiles. It is a further subject
of this novel inventive concept to describe some but certainly not
all of the new capabilities of fabrics enabled by the invention.
All woven fabrics contain threads (also known as strands or fibers,
and hereinafter called threads) that overlap and cross each other
in organized and patterned ways. The threads may be of any shape or
size. For the purposes of the discussion of this novel invention,
the word "fabric" will be used hereinafter to include all fabrics
woven in any pattern and configuration, including weaves comprising
discontinuous pieces of thread joined to one or many other
discontinuous pieces of thread or to themselves in loops or
circlets. The word "fabric" will further include weaves without
discernable patterns, including felts and chaotic weaves.
[0038] Conceptually, there is a surface, or more than one surface,
which divide(s) the thickness of fabric in such a way that those
elements of the fabric lying on one side of the surface do not
intersect each other, and those elements lying on the other side of
said contact surface and between the next adjacent contact surface
do not intersect each other. These non-intersecting,
non-overlapping groups of elements will hereinafter be called
disjoint elements. This imagined surface (or surfaces, hereinafter
called the contact-surface(s)), if used to divide the fabric
through its thickness, would yield two (or more) groups of disjoint
elements, each lying on either side of each contact surface. If any
of the methods to be described below are employed to simultaneously
or separately create these groups of disjoint bodies, and either
simultaneously or sequentially join, or concatenate, these groups
together at each of their areas of penetration and connection
through the contact-surface, the result will be non-disjoint bodies
having the characteristics of a woven fabric.
[0039] What follows is a description of those various methods for
creating and joining (also called concatenating) the groups of
disjoint elements. The discussion will utilize the case of a fabric
with one contact-surface, though it will be clear to those
practiced in the art that the methods described can apply to
fabrics having more than one contact-surface.
[0040] The methods to be described share a number of operative
concepts. Every method comprises means for creating the groups of
disjoint elements, a means for preventing the joining together of
any of the disjoint elements except where those elements penetrate
the contact-surface, and a means for maintaining the junction or
creating the junction of disjoint elements at all or many areas of
penetration of the contact-surface.
[0041] Furthermore, the groups of disjoint elements may be created
by assembling, punching, cutting, casting, molding, printing,
spraying, injecting, or drawing thread material, using solvent, or
temperature or pressure or chemistry or a combination of these to
effect the shaping and flow of the thread material. Further still,
the means for preventing the joining together of disjoint elements
may include mold release materials, differential solvents,
differential temperatures and or pressures, applied barrier
coatings, pre- or post-inserted barrier elements or bodies,
mechanical separation, utilization of different liquid, plastic and
solid phase states of the thread material, timing differentials in
material states, and temporary mold barriers later removed by
replacement, dissolution, liquefaction or fracture. Even further
still, methods of maintaining the joint, or joining the groups of
disjoint bodies at each of the points of their penetration through
the contact-surface may include liquid phase communication of the
thread material through perforations of the contact-surface,
solvent, adhesive, thermal or welded joining of points of
penetration, and mechanical interlocking joining of points of
penetration.
[0042] In addition to being parallel as opposed to sequential, the
methods of fabrication described below can be either batch or
continuous methods. In the batch method, the dimensions of the
fabric created are limited by the size of the tooling used to
create the disjoint elements, though the fabrics so created may
later be joined to each other to form larger pieces. In the
continuous method, the tooling used to create the disjoint elements
is either reciprocating or rotary, such that the thickness and one
other dimension of the fabric being made, usually the width, are
fixed, and the other dimension, usually the length, can be created
in a continuous web by the circumferential featuring of a rotary
tool, or the repeated, joined, progressive addition of segments by
reciprocating tools.
[0043] The foregoing discussion of global commonalities between
various methods of fabrication is useful in articulating that the
invention can be embodied in many novel, inventive and different
ways, and it is important to note here that the foregoing
discussion is not intended as an exhaustive or comprehensive list
of all possible methods of fabrication. Rather, the invention is
predicated on the recognition that the concept of a contact-surface
in a fabric identifies the possibility of assembling the fabric
from many disjoint elements instead of continuous, or
piecewise-continuous prefabricated threads. Thus any weave in which
a contact-surface (or surfaces) can be discerned is a candidate for
fabrication with these new inventive methods. In addition, the
parallel construction of fabric enables new kinds of fabric with
new functionalities and form factors. For example, and by no means
implying only these examples, fabrics that are not planar, fabrics
that have novel inter-joining of disjoint elements to create hinges
or mechanical bending properties, fabrics with different, or
engineered thread material properties as a function of dimension,
and elements with molded-in or molded-on features, such as plates
of "hairs" all become possible. In short, fabrics no longer have to
be made of thread in order to be woven. Because of this, whole new
classes of fabrics and fabric functions become possible. Joining
together patterned arrays of disjoint elements per se has been
employed in other fields, especially in casting. The novel addition
here is to employ inventive methods to effect a resulting material
that has the characteristics of woven fabric, which is to say
overlapping and intersecting elements which can slide and rotate
and bend and translate relative to each other. It constitutes a new
alternative to weaving.
[0044] It will be evident that the scale of the processes to be
described can vary from macroscopic to microscopic, and is limited
only by the limits of machining capability and cost. It will
further be evident that although only straight "over and under",
planar weaving is described, any planar or non-planar weave in
which a contact-surface or surfaces can be identified can be made
with an essentially similar process.
[0045] The first embodiment to be described is the punching and
lamination of two layers of sheet material, the resulting fabric
being as thick as the sum of the thicknesses of the two original
materials.
[0046] In the first embodiment, two sheets of material are punched
into patterned arrays of disjoint elements, hereinafter in the
first embodiment called pieces, held fixed relative to their
original positions in each sheet. The pieces of one sheet
constitute the disjoint elements from one side of a contact surface
for a given fabric, and the pieces from the second sheet constitute
the disjoint elements from the other side of said contact surface.
Alternatively, pre-punched pieces are arranged or distributed in
patterned arrays and held in position. The patterned arrays of each
sheet are then brought into juxtaposition with each other, such
that the contact-surface penetration areas of disjoint pieces from
the one sheet of the fabric weave being made are in matching
contact with corresponding contact-surface penetration areas of
disjoint pieces from the second sheet. The areas of contact-surface
penetration are then joined by any of a number of means.
[0047] One means of joining the areas of contact-surface
penetration is by the application of heat in those areas if the
materials can be melt-joined or welded by heat. Another is to apply
solvent or adhesive to those areas of contact-surface penetration
and then bring the corresponding areas of the two punched sheets
into intimate contact to effect a bond. A third method is to coat
the areas of the facing sheet surfaces with a third material that
prevents the bonding of the two sheets wherever the material is
applied, then to apply heat to the entire assembly in order to
effect melt bonding or welding in only those areas not covered by
the third material. Alternatively the third material can be a
resist which negates the effect of globally applied solvent or
adhesive or heat such that only those areas not covered by the
third material are bonded together.
[0048] Because the disjoint elements can be created from patterned
cutting or punching of a continuous sheet, a laminated fabric
assembly lends itself to a rotary or intermittent reciprocating
motion process.
[0049] In the rotary process, the continuous sheets, known as and
hereinafter called webs, are punched by rotary dies with vacuum
that cut, or punch, and hold the cut pieces in fixed relationship
to each other while transferring from the punching nip to a
laminating nip. Such a process affords the opportunity to remove
unused parts of the webs, known as and hereinafter called the waste
matrix, also by rotary means.
[0050] If the waste matrix is reduced to nothing, or removal of the
matrix is delayed until after the disjoint groups are joined at
their areas of contact-surface penetration, it is further possible
to cut and laminate the fabric in the same nip.
[0051] An alternative embodiment creates a disjoint waste matrix,
which does not lend itself as easily to rotary removal. In this
instance it is possible to laminate the fabric and then punch out
the disjoint waste matrix, in effect delaying the creation of the
waste matrix until after creation of the fabric.
[0052] If the process is vertically integrated to include the
coating or casting of the webs themselves from a melt or solvent or
other means, the steps of punching or cutting can be eliminated,
and the process comes to resemble gravure printing, but with thread
material as "ink", with the third, bond-resisting material as a
second "ink", and the thickness of the inks theoretically ranging
from many times thinner than the thread width to many times
thicker. Furthermore, unlike gravure printing, the ink is not
transferred to a moving web ("paper"), but is instead transferred
onto, or joined onto, a juxtaposed pattern "ink"; like printing an
image composed of disjoint inked areas onto another image composed
of disjoint inked areas in midair. This is not to preclude using a
carrier web to transport the "printed weave" from the printing
interface onto a receiving roll. It should be noted here that the
use of inks with novel characteristics, such as electrical
conductivity, makes this woven material fabrication method capable
of new functionality, such as fabric with electronic memory,
tactile sensing characteristics, illumination and other electronic
circuits. It further enables the idea of the "weave" being itself
constructed as a circuit, thus enabling printed circuit boards
without the board. By selective use of the bond resisting material
as an electrical insulator or conductor, many interesting and
useful new circuit constructions are possible.
[0053] The foregoing applies equally to the methods that
follow.
[0054] In the rotary process described in the foregoing paragraphs,
the groups of disjoint elements are created, then brought together
and joined at their areas of penetration of the contact-surface.
Because the joining of the disjoint elements occurs separately in
time from the creation of the disjoint elements, the joint has to
be effected by one of many means, such as heat, adhesive, etc. It
is desirable in many instances to avoid the creation of a joint, as
joints are often imperfect, and often are the first locations of
tensile or flexural failure. Thus a fabrication method where the
areas of contact-surface penetration are in constant communication
during the creation of the disjoint elements, such that the
disjoint elements on one side of the contact-surface are formed
simultaneously with those disjoint elements on the other side of
the contact-surface, can insure a fluid communication through the
contact-surface penetration areas of the disjoint elements while
the thread material is in a liquid, flowing state. Because the
disjoint elements are cast or injected or otherwise molded
together, there is no interface to be joined or rejoined, and there
are no joints.
[0055] In order to make both groups of disjoint elements
simultaneously and in intimate fluid contact, there must exist some
form of barrier between the groups of disjoint elements on either
side of the contact-surface everywhere other than at the areas of
contact-surface penetration. This barrier has the function of
preventing communication and bonding of materials contacting its
opposing surfaces, and, further, does not itself bond to the
materials that contact it, either by virtue of its chemical or
mechanical properties or because of a pre-applied mold-release type
coating. This barrier may take the form of a perforated film, of a
printed, spread, sprayed or otherwise applied anti-bonding or
release agent, or physical barrier walls or dividers or pieces
interleaved between the disjoint element groups in order to prevent
the communication and/or bonding of disjoint elements where those
on one side of the contact-surface overlap or intersect those on
the other side of the contact-surface. It may be desirable to leave
this barrier or barriers in place, or it may be desirable to remove
it after creation of the fabric is complete. In order to accomplish
this, the barrier may be of a material that can be selectively
dissolved, melted, fractured, or vaporized, or by other means,
without affecting the surrounding weave. If the barrier is to
remain, it may itself be cast or injected into the
non-contact-surface-penetration areas between the disjoint element
groups.
[0056] Finally, the barrier may be temporary or localized to only
the solidification zone of the thread material, especially in the
instance of a continuous rotary or reciprocal method of
fabrication. In the first preferred embodiment of this method of
manufacture, a mold made of a structural material with cavities
corresponding to volumes and locations of the disjoint elements on
one side of the contact-surface is brought into contact with a
barrier film with perforations in the film corresponding to the
contact-surface penetration areas of the weave being fabricated.
The perforations are brought into alignment with the areas of the
disjoint element volumes that penetrate the contact-surface in a
mold made of a structural material. A second mold made of a
structural material, having cavities corresponding to volumes and
locations of the disjoint elements on the other side of said
contact-surface is brought into contact with a barrier film, also
with alignment to the perforations in the barrier film in the same
manner as in the first mold made of a structural material.
[0057] The term mold made of a structural material is here used to
describe a constraining matrix of structural material and empty
volumes that, when filled with thread material which can be in
molten form create the disjoint element group shapes and locations
relative to the contact-surface. This frame might be a rigid flat
or curved material, or it could be a flexible belt, or the surface
of a rotating drum; the cavities defining the disjoint elements
being open not only to the side facing the contact-surface, but
also to the side facing away from the contact-surface in order to
effect filling with the liquid thread material.
[0058] Once the molds made of a structural material are brought
into aligned, opposing contact with the perforated barrier film,
with the barrier film sandwiched between the molds made of a
structural material, liquid thread material is introduced into the
cavities of the molds by any of a number of means. The liquid
thread material, filling cavities that communicate through the
perforations of the barrier film with cavities in the opposing
mold, passes through the perforations and intermingles irreversibly
with the liquid thread material introduced into the other mold.
Alternatively, both molds are filled from one side through one
mold, passing through the perforations in the barrier film and
filling the cavities in the other mold.
[0059] As the liquid thread material solidifies, the disjoint
element cavities on opposing sides of the barrier film are joined
together wherever the barrier film is perforated. The barrier film
itself becomes inextricably bound between the original disjoint
element groups, but does not anywhere adhere to the thread material
by virtue of its non-bonding properties. The casting frames are
lifted or pulled away, leaving behind the solidified and joined
thread elements. The resultant weave is a fabric with a perforated
barrier layer lying along the contact-surface within the thickness
of the fabric. The perforations lie everywhere that the disjoint
elements on one side of the contact surface penetrate to disjoint
elements on the other side of the contact surface. As described
above, it may be desirable to remove this barrier layer after the
creation of the fabric by dissolution, mechanical extraction,
melting, combustion or other means.
[0060] There are many weaves where a combination of dimensions,
thread thickness, and percent open area are such that there exists
a straight line path of a specific width and thickness along the
contact-surface that passes through and between all of the
overlapping, intersecting pairs of opposing disjoint elements in
one repeat of the weave pattern. Many such straight line paths
parallel to each other pass through all adjacent overlapping,
intersecting pairs of opposing disjoint elements, such that,
instead of a barrier film, barrier wires or strips can effect the
prevention of bonding between the disjoint element groups except
the areas where they penetrate the contact-surface.
[0061] Thus the casting frames can be bought into opposing,
aligned, face to face contact, having between them not a barrier
film, but a linear array of strips or wires which prevent
intersecting, overlapping disjoint elements from bonding to each
other or to the strips or wires (hereinafter referred to as wires),
again by virtue of the non-stick characters of the wires
themselves, or of a non-stick coating pre-applied to the wires.
These parallel wires can run along the length or across the width
of the fabric being created, and can be again left in place or
removed by any of the aforementioned means. Moreover, the wires can
be composed of thread made of natural fibers, or of electrically
conductive material in order to impart novel characteristics to the
fabric.
[0062] The filling of the casting frames with liquid thread
material (here liquid is intended to mean dissolved, molten, or
liquid-flowing powder) can occur just at the instant of
juxtaposition to each other and to the barrier film, coating or
wires, or it may occur at a time long prior to such juxtaposition
where is solidifies or binds in the casting frame, and is brought
back to a liquid state just prior to or during juxtaposition.
[0063] Finally, it is possible and often desirable to incorporate
the barrier function allocated to a barrier film or to wires
instead to the casting frames themselves. The two casting frames
can even become a single frame, much like a cored casting in engine
block fabrication. The fabric is molded within the cavities and
interstices of the casting, and the casting is later, if desired,
removed by fracture, dissolution, combustion, melting, or other
means.
[0064] Regarding new functionalities: because the thread material
is cast, the shape, material properties, molded-in, molded-on,
co-molded, mechanically interlocked, and location specific surface
treatment of the molded elements can be achieved. This includes
novel interlinking of cast elements to form simple machines within
the weave, such as hinges, interlocking plates, beams, levers and
the like. This is by no means intended as a comprehensive list. An
interesting potential use of such an approach to woven textile is
the use of molded elements to create antiballistic cloth such as
might be used in bulletproof vests. A combination of interlinked,
interlocked ceramic plates could be molded into the weave in a way
that allows protection and flexibility, much like scales protect a
fish.
[0065] Deliberately permitting overlapping disjoint elements from
opposite groups to bond together could create rigid or semi rigid
areas within the fabric, or, conversely, could create areas of
enhanced or controlled bending or hinging, such as in footwear or
sports garments or backpacks or any of myriad uses of fabric where
controlled flexure is an important characteristic of the material
used.
[0066] With the use of elastic, flexible or rigid materials, weaves
created with these novel methods can extend or collapse within the
thickness plane, creating for example conveyor belts capable of
negotiating corners.
[0067] Each disjoint element could have molded onto an outward
facing surface one or more protrusions in the form of threads,
hairs, hooks, or other forms, thus enabling fabrics with novel nap
and appearance, or new mechanical properties.
[0068] It must be emphasized in this discussion that the examples
are not intended to be a complete or exhaustive list of
applications, but only as indicators of the wide field of
application of the novel method of fabrication.
[0069] FIG. 1 is an oblique view of a representative piece of a
general woven fabric, consisting of threads (among which are
numbered threads 1 through 6) that are intertwined over and under
each other in patterned ways. In this illustration (FIG. 1) a
common weave is portrayed, though this should not imply that only
this particular weave is the subject of the invention. An unlimited
number of weaves is possible, many of which can be fabricated by
the methods described in this invention. In the illustration of
FIG. 1, threads 1, 2, and 3 are interwoven with threads 4, 5, 6
such that thread 1 passes under thread 4, over thread 5 and under
thread 6, thread 2 passes over thread 4, under thread 5 and over
thread 6, and thread 3 passes under thread 4, over thread 5 and
under thread 6. Other weaves are combinations and permutations of
threads passing either over or under each other. Although the
illustration in FIG. 1 depicts a weave in which there is a single
layer of single thread over- or under-crossings, also referred to
as intersections and referred to as intersections hereinafter, it
is possible to construct fabrics in which there are multiple
threads and/or two or more layers of intersections. It will be
clear to those practiced in the art that those multilayer fabrics
can similarly be molded with the inventive methods described herein
by the use of multi-layer molds, each interface between mold layers
corresponding to one layer of intersections.
[0070] There is a contact surface 11 within the thickness of the
fabric that passes between intersections of the threads in such a
way that all of the thread portions lying above the contact surface
11 do not intersect with each other, and all of the thread portions
lying below the contact surface 11, which is to say on the opposite
side of the contact surface 11, similarly do not intersect with
each other. This is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. Thus, for
example, the thread labeled 1 lies partly above the contact surface
11 and partly below it, those portions of thread 1 lying above the
contact surface 11 being labeled 7 and 9, and those parts lying
below the contact surface 11 being labeled 8 and 10. The areas
where the thread labeled 1 passes through the contact surface are
labeled 12, 13 and 14. Every thread in the fabric will similarly
lie above and below the contact surface 11, and will pass through
the contact surface 11 at many locations or areas. It is important
to note here that though individual threads are shown the path of a
thread could be shared by more than one thread. In this instance of
multiple threads, or thread groups, it will still be true that the
portions of the groups lying above the contact surface 11 do not
intersect each other, and the portions of those groups lying below
the contact surface 11 do not intersect each other; rather the
threads in each group lie substantially parallel to other threads
in their group, which is not to preclude thread groups with twist.
The portions of groups or portions of single threads lying above
and below the contact surface 11 are disjoint, which is to say that
they may lie very close together, but they do not touch in an
overlapping or intersecting way. These disjoint portions of threads
are called disjoint elements.
[0071] If all of the disjoint elements lying above the contact
surface 11 are molded or cast, and all of the disjoint elements
lying below the contact surface 11 are similarly molded or cast,
and the relative positions of the disjoint elements above and below
the contact surface 11 are maintained, then the areas where the
disjoint elements above the contact surface 11 penetrate the
contact surface 11 will be aligned with the areas where the
disjoint elements below the contact surface 11 penetrate the
contact surface 11. These alignment areas are illustrated for
example by the areas of contact surface penetration labeled 12, 13,
and 14 in FIGS. 2 and 3. If the aligned faces of the disjoint
elements below the contact surface 11 are joined each to the
aligned faces of the disjoint elements above the contact surface
11, the resulting joined elements will form a fabric weave having
the intersections of threads characteristic of fabric woven by
means of prior art, in other words, woven on a loom. If the
material of the threads used to cast the disjoint element groups
has properties similar to the threads used to create a similar
weave to that woven by means of prior art, then the molded fabric
will have more of the characteristics of the fabric woven by means
of prior art, hereinafter referred to as traditionally woven
fabric. If the molding of the elements above and below the contact
surface occurs at the same time, with the molds in intimate
juxtaposition so that the areas of penetration of the contact
surface 11 by the disjoint elements are in fluid communication
across the contact surface 11 by the thread material (here implied
to be either liquid, dissolved, molten, or a liquid-like powder),
then the joining together of the contact surface penetration areas
after molding is obviated, and the joints do not exist. This
further approximates the traditionally woven fabric of the same
weave. It remains then, to prevent the joining together of any part
of the disjoint elements lying above the contact surface 11 with
the disjoint elements lying below the contact surface 11 except at
their areas of penetration of the contact surface 11. In other
words, wherever there is bonding of intersections between disjoint
elements above the contact surface and below the contact surface,
those locations will no longer have the characteristics of a woven
fabric. It may be desirable to selectively bond intersections
between disjoint elements, but if the purpose is to achieve a
structure that behaves similarly to a traditionally woven fabric,
then intersections must be un-bonded so as to be able to slide,
rotate and translate across each other.
[0072] FIG. 3 may further be used to illustrate the concept of a
barrier surface, with perforations at 11a, corresponding to areas
of contact surface penetration by corresponding pairs of disjoint
element groups such as 12, 13 and 14.
[0073] FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the laminated
method of manufacture of fabric. Two groups of disjoint elements,
17, 18 are created. These groups can be created by punching,
cutting, stamping from webs 15, 16, or they may be cut from strip
and assembled in patterns corresponding to the patterns of disjoint
elements lying above and below the contact surface of a given weave
pattern. If, then, as in FIG. 5 these groups of disjoint elements
are brought together in such a way that the paired, or common,
areas of contact surface penetration, exemplified by 19, 20, 21, 22
are physically touching, and further, if means of bonding the areas
of contact surface penetration are employed to effect a permanent
bond, the result will be a woven laminate with characteristics
similar to an equivalent traditional weave using the same thread
material. The means of effecting bonds of the areas of contact
surface penetration can be applied heat to effect a melt or weld
bond, or application of solvent to effect a solvent bond, or
mechanical interconnection such as snaps or buttons, or ultrasonic
welding, or adhesive, or polymerization, or many other joining
methods familiar to those practiced in the art.
[0074] In a preferred method illustrated in FIG. 6, the two groups
of disjoint bodies, each arranged or maintained in patterns
corresponding to the patterns of disjoint elements lying above and
below the contact surface of a given weave pattern, are brought
together in the nip of two rotary laminating rolls, 23 and 24, in
such a way that their corresponding areas of contact surface
penetration are in physical alignment and contact in the nip. The
rotary laminating rolls are featured with heated and possibly
raised or shaped areas registered with the corresponding areas of
contact surface penetration of the disjoint elements 17, 18, so as
to apply simultaneous heat and pressure to the areas of contact
surface penetration as they pass sequentially through the nip. The
thread material in this embodiment would of necessity be either
thermoplastic, or coated with a heat-activated adhesive, such that
the application of heat and pressure would bond the corresponding
areas of contact surface penetration.
[0075] It is further preferred in this embodiment that the patterns
of disjoint elements be likewise cut from continuous web material
in rotary dies common in the art, being held in place on the rotary
rolls by adhesion or vacuum until transfer by rolling contact and
mechanical displacement or air pressure in patterned alignment onto
the heated laminating roll surfaces.
[0076] The resulting composite laminated weave, 25, is illustrated
in FIGS. 6 and 7.
[0077] In another preferred embodiment of a cast method of
manufacture, the disjoint elements are cast into pockets on a
surface, the surface being either curved or planar, and brought
into contact with a similar pocketed surface with disjoint elements
corresponding to the opposite side of the contact surface. This is
a process very similar to gravure printing, except that there are
two gravure surfaces "printing" onto each other, the result being
"ink" without the paper. Zoning within the pocketed surface
creating chilled and heated areas, or an intermediate step where
each of the upper and lower disjoint element groups are first
overlaid with a third material applied in areas where a bond is not
desired, achieve the goal of bonding only the areas of contact
surface penetration. This is illustrated in FIG. 8, which is a
close-up illustration of three disjoint elements from one side
(upper) of the contact surface (26, 27, 28) and four elements from
the opposite side (lower) of the contact surface (29,30,31,32). The
intersections of the upper disjoint elements with the lower
disjoint elements have been covered with a third material that
prevents bonding between the upper and lower elements (33 and 34,
35 and 36, 37 and 38, 39). (Of course it is not necessary to coat
both upper and lower elements with a third material; coating either
alone is sufficient. It is shown here with coatings on both for
symmetry) Furthermore, or instead, or omitted, the areas of contact
surface penetration can be coated with adhesive, or solvent (40,
41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 and 48, 49 and 50, 51 and 52, 53) to
enhance or permit bonding without further application of heat.
[0078] In FIG. 9 a group of disjoint elements from one side of the
contact surface (upper, 54) is juxtaposed to a group of disjoint
elements from the other side of the contact surface (lower, 56)
with the bond preventing coating exemplified on the upper group by
55, and lower group by 57. These groups of elements are cast from
melt or solution or polymerizing or other material into pockets in
blocks 58, upper, and 59 lower. When the two blocks are brought
together face to face such that the areas of contact surface
penetration of the upper disjoint elements are in physical contact
with the areas of contact surface penetration of the lower disjoint
elements, fusion of the areas of contact surface penetration occur
while coated areas do not bond. Fusion can be achieved, as before,
by heat, welding, adhesive, polymerization or solidification, or by
mechanical interlocking or other means.
[0079] FIG. 10 illustrates a weave 60 resulting from joining of
upper and lower disjoint element groups cast into pocketed plates
and joined together at their areas of contact surface penetration.
FIGS. 11 and 12 extend the concept of the preferred cast embodiment
to a rotary method of manufacture, again similar to gravure
printing. In this instance the upper elements 54 and lower elements
56, shown isolated in FIG. 11 and in situ in FIG. 12, are on the
curved and pocketed surfaces of two rotary rolls 61, 62 that
together form a nip, 66. These rotary rolls are illustrated in FIG.
12, (61, 62), in a configuration with two other rotary rolls 63,
64, that form two additional nip interfaces 65, 67, one each with
rolls 61, 62. In this configuration, two doctor blades or squeegees
68, 69 or other applicators known in the art apply thread material
in liquid form (here meaning molten, dissolved, un-polymerized,
un-solidified, un-sintered, or powdered with liquid-like flow
properties) to the rolls 61, 62 in a way that fills the pockets or
depressions on the surfaces of the rolls 61, 62 with the thread
material. The directions of rotation of the rolls 61, 62 are such
that the filled pockets then pass through the secondary nips, 65,
and 67, against rolls 63, 64, where the third material that
prevents bonding of the thread material to itself is applied by
transfer from the rolls 63, 64. The rolls 63, 64 themselves have
pockets or depressions in their surfaces which register to and
align with the pockets of the rolls 61, 62, and have a shape
covering the section of each pocket on rolls 61,62 where bonding of
the thread material to itself is not desired. These secondary
pockets are filled with the third, bond-preventing material by
squeegees, doctor blades, wetted nips or other applicators known in
the art, 70, 71, and have a direction of rotation that brings the
filled pockets into contact with the filled pockets of the primary
rolls 61, 62, and, by meniscus transfer, coats the areas of the
filled pockets on the rolls 61, 62 with bond-preventing material,
leaving uncoated the areas of the filled pockets on the primary
rolls, 61,62, that correspond to the areas of contact surface
penetration and that are to be bonded to opposing areas of contact
surface penetration on the filled pockets of the opposing rotary
roll.
[0080] The thread-material-filled pockets of the primary rolls
61,62 roll together in intimate contact in the nip 66, where each
of the contact surface penetration areas of each of the pockets on
the surface of one roll, 61, come into bonding contact with the
corresponding contact surface penetration areas of each of the
pockets on the surface of the other roll, 62, and a bond is
effected. At the same time, the bond preventing coated areas come
into contact in the nip 66, but a bond is not effected by virtue of
the bond-preventing coating.
[0081] By arrangement of the heated and cooled zones of the rolls
and the cooling of the bonded thread material emerging from the
out-feeding side of the nip 66, or by solvent removal,
polymerization, sintering or other processes of solidification
familiar in the art, the bonded thread material of the completed
molded fabric emerging from the out-feeding side of the nip 66 is
solidified sufficiently to enable tensile or mechanical removal
from the pockets of the rolls 61,62 in the form of a single web of
woven, molded fabric 66a.
[0082] In the molded preferred embodiment of this novel invention,
the disjoint element groups from opposite sides of the contact
surface are formed in the void cavities of mold plates. These
groups may be formed separately from each other in space and/or
time, and joined by any of the many methods mentioned supra or
available in prior art at their areas of contact surface
penetration. In this instance, the intersecting areas of the
disjoint elements where bonding is not desired may be prevented
from bonding with application of a third, bond preventing material,
as before. Alternatively, separators can be interposed at each of
the points of intersection, or a film, perforated only at the areas
of contact surface penetration, can be interposed between the
molded disjoint element groups.
[0083] An interesting option that enables continuous rotary molding
of fabric, which is described in more detail below, is the use of
separator strips, bars, wires, strands or fluids (hereinafter
referred to as separators) laid in straight lines across contiguous
intersections of disjoint elements. This is possible when the weave
pattern is so arranged that the intersections align in
substantially straight, parallel, adjacent columns, and the entire
projected area of overlap of each of the overlapped (or
intersecting, when viewed normal to the thickness of the resulting
fabric) disjoint elements is encompassed within the width of the
separator. By making the separator wide enough to encompass the
projected area of the overlap, the separator can serve the same
function as the bond preventing material envisioned earlier, which
function is to prevent the disjoint elements from bonding to
elements on the opposite side of the contact surface except at the
areas of contact surface penetration.
[0084] In FIG. 13, a section of a mold 72 for a pattern of disjoint
elements, exemplified by 73, 75, and grooves for separators,
exemplified by 76,77,78, is illustrated in an oblique view. Only
the mold for the disjoint elements from one side of a contact
surface for the pattern of weave chosen is shown. The pattern of
weave in this illustrated instance is again a traditional over and
under weave, though it is to be understood by an individual versed
in the art that other weave patterns and disjoint element shapes
are possible within the inventive concepts being described.
[0085] It is instructive to note that each of the disjoint element
voids in the mold plate lie across the separator grooves. Thus for
example the end of one of the disjoint element voids, 79, lies
between the separator grooves 80, 81, while the other end of the
disjoint element void 82 lies between the separator grooves 80, 83.
The center portion of the disjoint element void 74, corresponding
to the non-bonded overlapping area of intersection with the
disjoint element from the opposite side of the contact surface,
lies within the separator groove 80.
[0086] Each of the separator grooves, exemplified by 76, 77, 78, in
FIG. 13, is inlaid with a separator, the group of separators being
illustrated in FIG. 14 in an oblique view of their array. The
separator elements are exemplified by 84, 85, and 86, which
correspond to three individual separators. The separators,
exemplified by 84, 85, 86, are illustrated inlaid in their
respective grooves, exemplified by 76, 77, and 78, in an oblique
view of the mold plate 72 in FIG. 15. In FIG. 16, the mold plate 87
containing the void volumes corresponding to the disjoint elements
group from the opposite side of the contact surface is illustrated
in an oblique view juxtaposed over, and in alignment with, the
first mold plate 72 and the separators exemplified by 84, 85, and
86. The mold plate 87 may or may not have grooves corresponding to
the grooves in mold plate 62, and it may or may not have a pattern
of disjoint element voids similar to the disjoint element voids in
mold plate 62. However, in any instance where the area of overlap
of a disjoint element from one side of the contact surface with an
area of corresponding overlap and thus intersection of an element
of the other side of the contact surface is desired not to bond
together, a separator must be present and encompassing of that
overlapped area.
[0087] Similarly, in any instance where the area of contact surface
penetration of a disjoint element from one side of the contact
surface with an area of corresponding contact surface penetration
of an element of the other side of the contact surface is desired
to bond together, those two areas will face each other in
substantial alignment and will be in fluid communication with each
other when the mold plates 87, 72 are brought into facing contact
and their voids are filled with thread material in liquid form,
liquid here and hereinafter having the same meaning as described
supra. FIG. 17 is an illustrative close-up detail of the alignment
and juxtaposition of the exemplary patterns of disjoint element
group voids in mold plates 72 and 87 and separator grooves
exemplified by 80, 81, and 83. In this FIG. 17 illustration, the
mold plate 87 has been made semi-transparent in order that the
features of the mold plate 72 and the separator grooves 80, 81, 83
be not only visible, but visible in relation to the features of the
mold plate 87, especially the disjoint element group voids.
[0088] In the illustration of FIG. 17, the overlapped areas of the
disjoint element voids exemplified by 74 can clearly be seen,
encompassed within the boundaries of the separator grooves, here
exemplified by separator groove 80.
[0089] Similarly, the aligned areas of contact surface penetration
can be seen, here exemplified by 79, 82, between the mold plates
72, 87, containing the disjoint element group voids.
[0090] It is useful to note here that the disjoint element voids in
the mold plates 72, 87, though herein illustrated as voids that
pass completely through the mold plates 72, 87, do not, for the
purposes of this invention, have to be through openings. It will be
evident to those practiced in the art that the through openings can
serve as flow pathways for the efficacious filling of the voids
with the liquid thread material, but it will be further evident
that the filling pathways for the liquid thread material could be
otherwise, such as along the continuous fluid communication pathway
delineated along the areas of contact surface penetration 88, 89,
90, 91, 92, 93, for example, obviating the need for the voids in
the mold plates 72, 87 to pass entirely through the plates. It lies
in the prior art of mold design and mold filling to decide the flow
paths of liquid thread material during the filling of the disjoint
element voids in the mold plates.
[0091] FIG. 18 is the same view as FIG. 17, except that the
separators 84, 85, 86 are shown in their respective separator
grooves between the mold plates 72, 87. Here it can be seen that
the separators prevent fluid communication between contiguous
overlapping chains of disjoint element voids, here exemplified by
the overlapping intersection of the pathways delineated along the
areas of contact surface penetration 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 with
the areas of contact surface penetration 94, 95, 96, 96,
specifically at the intersection lying between areas 90, 91 and
areas 95, 96, and separated by separator 85.
[0092] FIG. 19 is the same illustration as FIG. 16, except that the
disjoint element voids in the mold plates 72, 87 are shown filled
with thread material, the filled voids here exemplified by 98, 99,
100. It is to be understood that the voids of the mold plates could
be filled in each mold plate 72, 87 separately, the plates then
being brought into communicating juxtaposition as described supra,
or, in the preferred embodiment, the voids of both mold plates (or
more, in the instances of multiple contact surfaces), the mold
plates having been brought together, can be filled simultaneously,
so that the areas of contact surface penetration are in
simultaneous fluid communication during the solidification of the
thread material and as a consequence, joints bonding the contact
surface penetration areas are not necessary.
[0093] In FIG. 20, the view is again the same as the view in FIG.
16, except that the mold plate 87 has been lifted away from the
solidified and conjoined disjoint element groups, exemplified by
disjoint elements 98, 99, and 100. The separators are still present
as exemplified by 84, 85, 86. In FIG. 21, the view is the same
oblique view as in FIG. 20, except that the mold plates 72, 87 have
been removed entirely, leaving only the separators enmeshed in the
solidified, conjoined disjoint element groups. The separators
exemplified by 84, 85, 86, are removed by lengthwise, axial
withdrawal, fracture, dissolution, melting, combustion, or whatever
other process efficaciously removes the separator material and
leaves behind the thread material. It may be desirable for the
intended purposes of the molded fabric even to leave the separators
in place. The separators may be of themselves part of the intended
purpose of the molded fabric, and as such may be of many different
materials and interactions with the thread material. This is
discussed in more detail infra.
[0094] In FIG. 22, an oblique view of the solidified, conjoined
disjoint element groups, here and hereinafter referred to as the
molded fabric, is illustrated without the mold plates and
separators. Some elements of the original disjoint element groups
are exemplified by 98, 99, and 100. FIG. 23 is an oblique close
view of the molded fabric structure. The solidified conjoined
disjoint elements formed within the voids of one mold plate are
conjoined in a woven pattern with the solidified conjoined disjoint
elements formed within the voids of the other mold plate. Some
elements of the original disjoint element groups are exemplified by
98, 99, and 100. FIG. 24 is a plan view normal to the surface of
the molded fabric. Some elements of the original disjoint element
groups are exemplified by 98, 99, and 100.
[0095] FIG. 25 is an oblique view showing the aligned hole pattern
101 from which the separators are removed. The shape of the hole
and the complementary shape of the separator can take on many forms
in order to impart different mechanical function and flexibility to
the molded fabric. In another preferred embodiment the
corresponding, communicating voids of the mold plates, the mold
plates having been brought together, can be filled simultaneously
in a progressive fashion, so that the areas of contact surface
penetration are in simultaneous fluid communication during the
solidification of the thread material and as a consequence, joints
bonding the contact surface penetration areas are not
necessary.
[0096] The filling of corresponding, communicating voids in the
mold plates 72, 87 simultaneously and in a progressive fashion
enables yet another preferred embodiment in which the mold plates
72, 87, are curved or flexible and pass through a nip between
rotating rolls. This is shown pictorially in FIG. 26. The mold
plates 102, 103, are immersed in liquid thread material 104 on the
in-feeding side of the nip 105, such that the voids exemplified by
106, 107, 108 are entirely filled by immersion (or other means
known in the art) with the liquid thread material, then come
together in aligned and registered juxtaposition as they pass
through the nip 105, whereupon the contents of the voids solidify
shortly past the out-feeding side of the nip, whereupon the mold
plates, following their curvilinear paths, separate and perhaps
return to the liquid-thread-material-filled, in-feeding side of the
nip 105. The molded and conjoined solidified disjoint element
groups 109, formed in the voids of the mold plates, feed out of the
out-feeding side of the nip in a continuous, molded fabric web as
they pull free of the exiting mold plates 102, and 103.
[0097] The separators, exemplified by 110, 111, and 112, entrained
between the mold plates in such a preferred rotary continuous
molding method of fabrication, can be either moving or stationary.
In the stationary instance, the separators exemplified by 110, 111,
and 112, are of fixed length and aligned perpendicular to the nip
line between the rotating rolls 113, 114. Each of the separators
exemplified by 110, 111, and 112, is fixed in space on the
in-feeding side of the nip 105, and passes through the nip 105 and
between the rotating rolls 113, 114 and is aligned with and lying
within the separator grooves, if present, of the mold plates 102,
103, which grooves are continuously sliding along the lengths of
the fixed separators exemplified by 110, 111, and 112, as the mold
plates 102, 103 are drawn between the nip 105, filled with liquid
thread material 104. The lengths of the separators are so
configured as to separate the overlapping areas of the disjoint
elements until the liquid thread material 104 has solidified
sufficiently within the voids e.g.: 106, 107, 108, that bonding
between the overlapped areas will no longer occur. At this point,
the out-feeding motion of the molded and conjoined solidified
disjoint element groups 109 will pull the conjoined disjoint
elements away from, and off of, the ends of the fixed separators,
e.g.: 110, 111, and 112. The fixed separators e.g.: 110, 111, and
112, will remain fixedly in place between the rotating rolls.
[0098] In the moving instance, the separators are themselves
fabricated in lengths commensurate to the length of molded fabric
being manufactured, and are fed into the in-feeding side of the
rotating roll nip along with and possibly at the same rate as the
mold plates. The material of the separators can be of many
purposeful compositions, whose purpose is either to bond with the
disjoint elements, bond only partially with the disjoint elements,
or not bond at all with the disjoint elements, such that the
solidifying web emerging from the out-feeding side of the rotating
roll nip and containing in this instance not only the conjoined
disjoint element groups formed within the voids of the mold plates
but also those simultaneously in-fed lengths of the separator
material, might have distinctly different mechanical
characteristics of rigidity, flexibility, elasticity or any of many
other desirable characteristics, depending on the choice of
separator material.
[0099] The separator may be itself a composite of materials, or a
blend of natural fibers and synthetic resins. It may similarly be
of metal or plastic or any material conceivable, even a liquid, or
a frozen liquid, or a dissoluble solid. The separator may have
volatile content, chemically active agents, surface characteristics
and material properties of a wide range of possibilities, including
electrical conductivity, optical properties and the like. It is not
intended that this is a complete or comprehensive list, but only an
indication of some possibilities. Similarly, the material of the
thread itself may have a wide range of material characteristics and
mechanical properties. The voids in the mold plates, instead of
being separate from the rotating rolls and nipped between them, can
alternatively be pockets in the surfaces of the rolls, as described
in an earlier preferred embodiment (such as the voids illustrated
by 54 and 56 in FIG. 9, and shown on rolls 61, 62, 63, 64 in FIG.
12). The separator grooves would then be in either one or both of
the surfaces of the rolls running more or less
circumferentially.
[0100] In all of the foregoing embodiments, it must be stressed
that the weave pattern, planarity, and number of contact surfaces
present are not implied to be only as exemplified in the drawings.
Any number of weave patterns, contact surfaces, and contours can be
accomplished using inventive methods described herein. The possible
benefits advantages and functionalities enabled by this new method
of molding fabric are rooted in the enabling invention. Only
exemplary instances of possible fabric functionalities have been
suggested.
[0101] As mentioned at the end of the Background section above,
applicants printed or laminated embodiments, such as those
laminating patterns of punched out disjoint elements, are to be
included under the "molded" as used by applicant in its broader
sense as to shape or form as permitted by the unabridged
dictionary.
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