Terry Towel Having Enhanced Brilliance

Abstract

A woven terry towel having one face of cotton terry pile and having its opposite face of rayon terry pile exhibiting a high sheen or brilliance as compared to the cotton terry pile. Preferably, the rayon terry pile is in the form of cut pile and has a printed design or pattern of a suitable colorant thereon which penetrates the rayon cut pile very nearly to the base of the towel.

Description

This invention relates to an improved woven terry towel which is exceptionally aesthetic while being soft, highly absorbent, and capable of attracting large amounts of moisture when in use.

As is well known, since terry fabric is used for towels, washcloths and the like, it must have inherent characteristics, many of which are not necessarily inherent in other forms of pile fabrics such as are used for carpets, rugs and the like. Terry towels should be highly absorbent, soft, light weight, and aesthetic, they should be capable of withstanding rough usage, including many launderings, and they should be of such construction as to be capable of economical mass production.

For many years, most terry towels have been woven with the terry pile surfaces thereof being entirely of cotton yarns, and in recent years, some towels have contained terry yarns formed of blends of cotton and rayon. In some instances, small amounts of synthetic fibers have been blended with the cotton fibers in the terry yarns, but where the synthetic fibers were used, they were primarily for the purpose of increasing the shrinkability and bulkiness of the cotton fibers with which they were blended for obtaining various pattern effects.

It has been determined that rayon staple terry yarns have a high luster or brilliance as compared to cotton yarns, especially when dyed. Also, rayon staple yarns are even more absorbent than cotton yarns, i.e., rayon fibers have a moisture regain of about 11.5 - 16.6 percent 70.degree. F. and at 65 percent relative humidity, as compared to 7.0 - 8.5 percent for cotton. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved terry towel utilizing rayon terry yarns, wherein the opposite sides of the towel are provided with terry pile surfaces, with at least the major portion of, and preferably the entirety of, the terry pile surface of one side of the towel being formed from rayon terry yarns only, and with at least the major portion of, and preferably the entirety of, the terry pile surface of the other side of the towel being formed from cotton terry yarns. Thus, the rayon terry pile surface on one side of the towel exhibits a highly aesthetic brilliance or sheen to that side of the towel, especially if the towel is dyed.

Although cotton terry loops are highly absorbent, after they have been severed or cut the cotton tufts will pick up or attract very little moisture when they are rubbed against a person's wet skin and will simply slide against a person's skin and over the moisture droplets clinging to the person's skin without picking up but a small amount of such moisture droplets.

As heretofore stated, rayon staple fibers are even more moisture absorbent than cotton fibers, and now we have discovered that, when terry loops of rayon yarns are severed, unlike cotton, they still have substantial wicking capacity, i.e., the rayon cut pile surface will attract or pick up moisture from a person's skin effectively. More specifically, it has been determined that, by shearing or otherwise cutting terry loops formed of rayon yarns, the thus exposed free ends of the fibers in the rayon terry pile tufts, as well as the consequent blossoming of the same, does not effect adversely the capacity of the rayon terry pile to attract and thereby absorb moisture from a person's skin. It is therefore another object of this invention to provide a terry towel having cotton terry loops on one side thereof and having sheared or cut rayon terry pile tufts on the other side thereof.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a terry towel of the type last described having a colored design or pattern printed on the cut rayon terry pile tufts with the colorant of the design or pattern penetrating the terry pile tufts from the tips thereof to near the base of the towel. It should be noted that the brilliance in the cut rayon terry pile tufts imparts enhanced brilliance to the colored design or pattern which gives the design an unexpected irredescent hue which cannot be obtained by printing on cut cotton terry pile loops.

Categorically, "rayon yarns" as referred to in this application is used in its normal sense to mean those yarns formed from rayon fibers of regenerated cellulose, such as viscose or cuprammonium.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the rayon cut pile surface on one side of a towel embodying the invention and having a printed pattern thereon;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cotton terry loop pile surface on the opposite side of the towel from that shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view through the terry towel taken substantially along line 3--3 in FIG. 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, a towel T representative of the terry towel of the present invention is shown which comprises a woven base (FIG. 3) of ground warp yarns 10 and ground weft yarns 11 with which rayon terry yarns 12 and cotton terry yarns 13 are interwoven in the manner of a conventional terry weave. For example, the terry towel may be in the form of a three-pick terry weave as shown. As is well known, in weaving such a terry fabric on a conventional terry loom, each three-pick terry-loop-forming cycle is effected by inserting and partially beating up two successive loose picks of weft yarn in the warp shed, and then inserting and beating up a fast pick of weft yarn while the terry warp yarns are in a slackened condition so that they are pushed forwardly and formed into terry loops as all three picks of the weft yarn are beaten up to the full beat-up position with respect to the fell of the fabric being woven.

In the towel of this invention, it is to be noted that, wherever terry pile is formed, all of the terry loops formed of the rayon terry yarns 12 project from one side of the towel, which may be termed as the front or upper face thereof, and all of the terry loops formed of the cotton terry yarns 13 project from the other side of the towel, which may be termed as the back or lower face thereof.

After the fabric is woven, the terry loops formed of the rayon yarns are cut or sheared so that the terry pile then takes the form of substantially U-shaped terry pile tufts. If should be noted that both before and after the rayon terry pile loops are cut, they exhibit a high brilliance or sheen, especially as compared to the light reflectivity of the cotton terry loops. Additionally, the cut rayon pile tufts present enhanced brilliance and a soft, smooth pile surface which is particularly adapted to dyeing and pattern printing.

The brilliance or sheen of the cut rayon pile tufts is further enhanced by piece-dyeing the fabric of which the towel T is formed and, generally, the deeper the color of the dye employed in piece-dyeing the fabric, the more brilliant is the pile surface formed of the rayon terry yarns 12. From a practical standpoint, it has been found preferable to piece-dye the terry fabric before the rayon terry loops are cut, since substantial amounts of lint migrate from the cut rayon terry pile tufts during bleaching and/or dyeing operations.

With the foregoing description in mind, it will be observed in FIG. 1 that the front or upper face of the towel includes a cut or sheared terry pile surface 12a formed of the rayon terry yarns 12 and covering substantially the entire front side of the towel; i.e., a major portion of the front side of the towel, with the exception of a narrow selvage border or hem 20 on each longitudinal edge of the towel, and a narrow end border or header 21 and a fringe 22 on each end of the towel. As is usual, the selvage borders 20 are woven from certain of the ground warp yarns 10 and the weft yarns 11 of the towel base. The end borders 21 are woven from corresponding ground warp yarns 10, weft yarns 11 and non-terry portions of the rayon terry yarns and the cotton terry yarns. The fringes 22 are conventionally formed from all of the ground warp yarns 10, the rayon terry yarns 12 and the cotton yarns 13, omitting corresponding weft yarns.

The back face of the towel is provided with a cotton terry loop pile surface 13a formed of the cotton terry yarns 13 and covering about the same area of the towel as that covered by the rayon pile surface 12a on the front face of the towel. It is preferred that the cotton pile surface 13a is in the form of terry loops because, as indicated earlier herein, the ability of cotton terry pile to pick up or attract moisture from a person's skin decreases considerably when the terry loops are severed. Rayon terry pile, as noted earlier, will attract moisture from a person's skin effectively regardless of whether the rayon pile surface is sheared or in loop form.

FIG. 1 illustrates a representative printed design or pattern on the cut terry pile surface 12a of the towel which may take the form of a plurality of design areas 25 formed from any suitable printing colorant, ink or paste, and which may be applied by any suitable printing process, such as by screen printing. After printing and while the colorant is wet, the colorant may be driven into the rayon pile surface by passing the towel through suitable press rolls. Penetration of the colorant substantially to the base of the towel is desirable so that the design areas will have a soft hand. Each design area 25 may be of a solid color or of a plurality of colors of varying tints and shades contrasting with the background of the rayon cut pile surface 12a. The cut pile surface 12a may be white or any suitable color.

As heretofore stated, the terry loops formed of rayon terry yarns 12 are cut after wet processing. Thus, the ends of the fibers in the cut rayon terry tufts thus formed then are free to spread out or splay to provide a very soft, plush texture to the pile surface 12a. As is well known, in the shearing of terry pile, several passes through the shearing equipment is involved to provide the desired sheared surface. Even then, many of the pile loops are not sheared which, on a cotton pile surface, presents a very noticeable nep-like appearance. On the other hand, it has been discovered that when rayon terry pile has been sheared, no visible nep-like appearance is presented. It is believed that the reason for this is due to the high luster and sheen of the overall rayon terry pile surface.

Thus, the cut rayon pile surface 12a not only has a high brilliance or sheen as compared to the uncut cotton terry loop pile surface 13a on the lower face of the towel (FIG. 2), but is has a soft, plush surface which is highly receptive to the colorant employed in the printing of the design areas 25 so that the design areas are clearly defined and the colorant extends from the tips of the cut rayon terry pile tufts substantially to the base of the towel as shown in FIG. 3. Because uncut terry loops provide an uneven surface to a pile area, design areas are much more clearly defined when printed on a cut terry pile surface than they are when printed on a terry loop pile surface. Also, because of the high brilliance or sheen of the rayon cut terry pile surface 12a, and unexpected desirable brilliance is imparted to the design areas 25 which is unattainable when printing similar colors on a cut or uncut cotton terry pile surface.

The ground warp yarns 10 and ground weft yarns 11 forming the base of the fabric should be formed of staple fibers other than rayon and preferably are formed from cotton fibers or blends thereof. The size of the various ground warp yarns 10, ground weft yarns 11, rayon terry yarns 12 and cotton terry yarns 13, as well as the density of the weave, may be in accordance with conventional practice and, therefore, a further description thereof is deemed unnecessary.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

That which is claimed is:

1. A terry towel characterized by having a high luster appearance on one side thereof and increased absorbency and comprising a woven base of ground warp yarns and ground weft yarns, said one side of the towel having a terry pile surface over its major portion formed of rayon terry yarns interwoven with said base, said rayon terry yarns providing a high luster appearance to said one side of the towel and increased absorbency to the towel, and said other side of the towel also having a terry pile surface over a major portion thereof formed of cotton terry yarns interwoven with said base.

2. A terry towel according to claim 1, wherein the ground yarns in said base comprise cotton fibers.

3. A terry towel according to claim 1, wherein said terry pile of cotton yarns is in the form of terry loop pile, and wherein said terry pile of rayon yarns is in the form of cut pile.

4. A terry towel according to claim 1, wherein said terry pile of rayon yarns is in the form of cut pile having a printed design thereon of a colorant contrasting with that of the surrounding portions of the cut pile, and wherein said colorant extends from the tips of the cut pile substantially to the woven base.

5. A woven terry towel characterized by having a high luster brilliant appearance on one side thereof, increased absorbency, and enhanced definition and depth of a printed design thereon, said towel comprising a base of ground warp yarns and ground weft yarns, opposite sides of the towel having respective pile faces thereon, one pile face being formed of rayon terry yarns projecting from said base in the form of cut tufts of terry pile, said rayon terry yarns providing a high luster brilliant appearance to one side of the towel and increased towel absorbency, the other pile face being formed of cotton terry yarns forming cotton terry loops projecting from said base, and a printed design of colorant on said cut tufts of rayon terry pile with the colorant extending from the tips of the tufts substantially to the base of the towel.