Separable Fastening Fabric

Abstract

A separable fastening fabric for engagement of a first and second fabric in face-to-face relation comprising a number of fiber loops in the shape of curved bridges outstanding from the first fabric and a number of engaging projections outstanding from the second fabric which engage to said fiber loops, two feet of each fiber loop being fixed onto the first fabric with an interval from each foot, said fiber loops being crossed zigzag one another. Owing to the above-mentioned structure, two fabrics of the separable fastening fabric easily engage, the engaging strength is high and also durability of the separable fastening fabric is long.

Description

This invention relates to an improvement of separable fastening fabrics and more particularly to an improvement of the structure of fiber loops outstanding from a first fabric of said separable fastening fabric which is so constructed as to engage to projections outstanding from a second fabric.

There is known in the prior art a type of separable fastening fabric for engagement of a first and second fabric in face-to-face relation comprising a number of loops outstanding from the first fabric and a number of engaging projections outstanding from the second fabric so that said engaging projections engage said loops so as to bring into engagement the first and second fabric. In the prior art, the loops outstanding from the first fabric are formed in such configuration that 2 feet of each loop are fixed onto the first fabric at one point and said loop outstands outwardly from said point. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,841, for example, there is shown a separable fastening fabric which has a number of fiber loops with the above-mentioned configuration outstanding from a first fabric and a number of engaging projections with mushroomlike configuration outstanding from a second fabric. Japanese Pat. Publication No. 52,260 also shows a separable fastening fabric which has a number of fiber loops with the above-mentioned configuration outstanding from a first fabric and a number of engaging hooks outstanding from a second fabric. Fabric loops with the above-mentioned configuration, however, have such defects because of their weak-kneed structure that they easily fall down, lose their original shapes and become long and slender so that they would lose their functions as loops, the outstanding directions often become unified so that their abilities in being engaged to engaging projections or hooks outstanding from the second fabric become lower and lower and thus the engaging strength between the first and the second fabric becomes very low without long use.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a separable fastening fabric having strong-kneed fiber loops outstanding from the first fabric so that falling down and losing the original shapes of the fiber loops hardly occurs and thus the durability of the separable fastening fabric is long.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a separable fastening fabric which has a high rate of engagement between fiber loops outstanding from the second fabric and also has high engaging strength between the first and second fabric.

A separable fastening fabric according to the present invention is made of a first and second fabric comprising a number of fiber loops in the shape of curved bridges outstanding from the first fabric and a number of engaging projections outstanding from the second fabric which engage to said fiber loops, 2 feet of each fiber loop being fixed onto the first fabric with an interval from each other, said fiber loops being crossed zigzag one another. Owing to the above-mentioned structure of fiber loops outstanding from the first fabric, said fiber loops become much strong-kneed because of the existence of an interval between 2 feet of each fiber loop so that said fiber loops do not fall down easily and the durability of the separable fastening fabric becomes very long. In addition, owing to zigzag crossed structure of the fiber loops, said loops are arranged in different directions alternatively so that said loops are easily engaged to engaging projections and thus engaging Owing strength between first and second fabric is very high. Furthermore, the fiber loops with said configuration have a reasonable resistance against cutting off in case of separating the fastening fabric.

The present invention will become more readily apparent as the specification is considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view of the separable fastening fabric according to the present invention shown in an engaged state;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a first fabric of the separable fastening fabric according to the present invention:

FIG. 2a is a fragmentary perspective view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged structural view of another embodiment of the first fabric according to the present invention;

FIG. 3a is a fragmentary perspective view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the first fabric shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a second fabric of the separable fastening fabric according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a transverse sectional view along A-A in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of an engaging projection outstanding from the second fabric shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a transverse sectional view of another embodiment of the second fabric according to the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the several views thereof, there is shown an embodiment of the present invention in FIG. 1. The first fabric 20 and the second fabric 21 are in engagement, that is, the separable fastening fabric is in a fastened state. A number of arclike or parabolalike curved fiber loops 22 outstand from the first fabric 20 and 2 feet of each fiber loop 22 are fixed onto the material fabric 25 of the first fabric 20 with an interval from each foot respectively. A number of engaging projections 26 outstands from the second fabric 21 and the foot of each engaging projection 26 is fixed onto the material fabric 27 of the second fabric 21. In the engaged state of two fabrics 20 and 21, as shown in FIG. 1, the engaging projections 26 are engaged to the fiber loops 22 and said two fabrics are not able to be removed with ease from each other.

There is shown in FIG. 2 an embodiment of the first fabric 20 in which fiber loops 22 in the shape of curved bridges outstand from the first fabric 20. Said loops 22 are arranged zigzag, as shown in FIG. 2, and each foot 23 and 24 is fixed onto the material fabric 25 with an interval. Said material fabric 25 is made of synthetic fibers such as polyamide fibers and the fiber loops 22 are made of synthetic fibers, preferably nylon.

A method for producing the first fabric shown in FIG. 2 is such that nylon yarns are interwoven at suitable intervals between warps and fillings of polyamide yarns with high shrinking property in case of weaving the material fabric 25, thus produced woven fabric is immersed in hot water with a temperature of about 98.degree. C. for about 10 minutes so that the polyamide yarns in the material fabric shrink in such a dimension as, for example, one fourth of the original dimension and thus almost unshrinkable nylon yarn outstands from the material fabric in the configuration of fiber loops, and thus produced fabric is cut diagonally to produce the first fabric shown in FIG. 2. In this case, the interval between each foot 23 and 24 of each fiber loop 22 is set up about 2 mm. and the density of fiber loops 22 is set up about 100 loops per cm..sup.2. Said fiber loops may well be split into individualized fibers. The back of the material fabric 25 is treated with resin to give some rigidity for the purpose of easily handling and using. Said treating is performed in such a way that the mixture of acryl-resin of 95 percent and melamine-resin of 5 percent is applied on said back of the material fabric 25 and said fabric is treated at high temperature, for example, at 120.degree. C. for short period, for example, for 10 minutes.

There is shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 another embodiment of the first fabric 20 of the separable fastening fabric according to the present invention. Said first fabric 20 is produced in such a way that arclike or parabolalike fiber loops 22 in the shape of curved bridges are formed in crocheted material fabric 25 with warps 28 and fillings 29 of synthetic fiber. The interval between each foot 23 and 24 of each fiber loop 22 is set up about 2 mm. as stated relating to the first fabric shown in FIG. 2. The density of said fiber loops 22 and treating the back of material fabric 25 with resin are both similar to those of the first fabric shown in FIG. 2. For forming fiber loops 22 in this case, synthetic fiber yarns are crocheted in crocheted material fabric 25 in the shape of loops by the method known in the prior art.

There is shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 an embodiment of the second fabric 21 of a separable fastening fabric according to the present invention in which a number of engaging projections 26 in the shape of mushroomlike structure outstand from the material fabric 27 of the second fabric 21. Said mushroomlike engaging projections 26 have caps 30 and shafts 31, as shown in FIG. 7, and engage the fabric loops 22 of the first fabric 20 at the bottom surfaces 32.

In producing the second fabric 21 shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, such synthetic fiber yarns as polypropyrene are piled at suitable intervals in the material fabric 27 made of such synthetic fiber as nylon, the tops of thus formed piles with looplike configuration are cut off, cut tops of the piles are fused to form the aforesaid caps 30 by heating said tops at a temperature of about 360-- 380.degree. C. for a short period. The density of said engaging projections 26 is set up 60 projections per 1 cm..sup.2 of material fabric 27. The back of the material fabric 27 is treated with resin for the convenience of handling and using, as previously stated relating to the first fabric 20. In treating with resin, the mixture of acryl-resin of 70 percent and melamine-resin of 30 percent is applied to the back of the material fabric 27 and said mixture is heated at a temperature of about 120.degree. C. for about 10 minutes. By treating the back of the material fabric 27 with resin having the above composition, the second fabric 21 becomes more rigid than the first fabric 20 which is treated with resin having the resin composition stated relating to the fabric shown in FIG. 2. This high rigidity of the second fabric 21 is preferable, because fastening and removing of the fastener are usually performed with the second fabric 21 by hand.

In FIG. 8, there is shown another embodiment of the second fabric 21 of a separable fastening fabric according to the present invention in which engaging projections 26 are formed as hooks. Such hooklike projections 26 are easily prepared by piling loops in the material fabric 27 and cutting off parts of said piled loops to form openings 33. The other circumstances are all the same as the ones of the second fabric shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

The particular advantage of the present invention is that it provides a separable fastening fabric having high durability and high engaging strength as detailed before.

Having now described the invention and having exemplified the manner in which it can be carried into practice, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that innumerable variations, applications, modifications and extensions of the basic principles involved may be made without departing from its scope. The invention is to be limited, therefore, only by the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. A separable fastening fabric for engagement of a first and second fabric in face-to-face relation comprising a number of fiber loops in the shape of curved bridges outstanding from the first fabric and a number of engaging projections outstanding from the second fabric which engage said fiber loops, each of said fiber loops including a pair of feet being fixed to the first fabric with a predetermined interval therebetween, said fiber loops being crossed zigzag one another.

2. A separable fastening fabric according to claim 1 in which the first fabric is a crocheted one.

3. A separable fastening fabric according to claim 1 in which the first fabric is a woven one.

4. A separable fastening fabric according to claim 1 in which the engaging projections are formed in the shape of mushrooms.

5. A separable fastening fabric according to claim 1 in which the engaging projections are formed as hooks.

6. A separable fastening fabric according to claim 1 in which the fastening fabric is made of synthetic fibers.