Process For The Production Of A Textile Material

Abstract

A sealing strip for sliding glass window panes is formed by floating yarns of unshrinkable material on a base material capable of shrinkage, so that when subjected to treatment to produce shrinkage a terry cloth material is produced.

Description

The invention concerns a process for the production of a textile material, particularly a covering for sealing elements, such as guide frames for windows and sealing for window wells on motor vehicles, in which a terry cloth is arranged on a base material.

It has been known to produce guide frames for windows and sealing for window wells on motor vehicles by using a metallic support coated with rubber, onto which a plushlike textile material has been put. In this manner however only an imperfect sealing effect can be achieved, which becomes noticeable, for example because the noise created by wind in the case of cars traveling rapidly are unduly loud in the inside of the car. For that reason the proposal has also been made to use, instead of the plushlike textile material, a terry cloth material. It is true that with this considerable improvement can be achieved, but the sealing is still not perfect, especially in the case of arched window panes; this is true because the terry cloth coating can not be made sufficiently thick.

The invention starts out from the task of finding a process for the production of a textile material in which the thickness of a terry cloth can be made practically as thick as desired, in order to eliminate the disadvantages described and so that with the use of this material sealing elements of an improved quality can be produced. Therefore, according to the invention an improved sealing element is proposed, especially for guide frames of windows and sealing of window wells in motor vehicles.

According to the invention the task is solved through the fact that on a flat, textile base material made of shrinkable yarn, a floating yarn composed of practically unshrinkable yarn is worked in so that when the product obtained in this manner is shrunk subsequently the result is that the floating yarn is raised to a terry cloth.

A preferred design of the process according to the invention is characterized by the fact that the base material consists of a PVC yarn, especially Rhovyl yarn, flat woven and the floating yarn (float) consisting of a polymaide yarn, especially Perlon, is woven in. In view of the sealing characteristics of a textile material produced in accordance with the invention, it is particularly favorable if the base material below the floating yarn is arched up as a result of the shrinking.

A sealing element for a guide frame for windows or for window wells for motor vehicles is constructed according to the invention in such a manner that a textile cover made of shrunken base material with a floating yarn worked in and raised to form a terry cloth through shrinking of the base material, said floating yarn consisting of unshrinkable material. A flat warp-knitted fabric made of PVC yarn is preferred which carries particularly a strip-shaped terry cloth coating made of Perlon yarn.

A particularly good seal without impairing the slidability of the window of a motor vehicle will be achieved according to the invention through the fact that between the areas of the base material carrying the terry cloth and between the support, an air cushion has been arranged through arching up of the base material. A seal developed in such a way is suitable particularly for curved window panes of motor vehicles.

The subsequent description of a preferred design of the invention serves in connection with the attached drawing for a further explanation.

FIG. 1 shows schematically the arrangement of a floating yarn made of an unshrinkable yarn on a base of warp-knitted fabric made of shrinkable material;

FIG. 2 shows schematically the arrangement of the material of FIG. 1 after shrinkage to show the floating yarn raised into a terry cloth;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a seal according to the invention at a certain intermediate stage of the production;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the seal of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of the seal of FIG. 3, bent to fit a guide frame of a window,

FIG. 6 shows a sectional view of a seal of a window well according to the invention.

FIG. 7 shows a modified arrangement before being subjected to shrinkage, and

FIG. 8 shows the arrangement of FIG. 7 after shrinkage which produces maps of different heights.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the essential measure of the process according to the invention is shown diagrammatically. On a base warp-knitted fabric 1 produced of shrinkable yarn, for example, PVC yarn, the width of the filaments of said fabric in FIG. 1 being indicated by short transverse strokes, a floating yarn 2 made of practically unshrinkable yarn, for example, of Perlon or Nylon, is woven in during its production. At the same time the threads of the floating yarn 2 in each case bridge several filaments of the basic fabric 1. The material developed according to FIG. 1 will now be subjected to a shrinkage in a conventional shrinking oven at about 100.degree. C. and during a period of about 4 minutes, the result of said shrinking being shown in FIG. 2. The base material 1 has shrunk in longitudinal and transverse direction, decreasing the width of its filaments. As a result of that the terminal points at which the individual threads of the floating yarn are connected with the base fabric have been pressed closer together, so that now the floating yarn 2, or nap, which at first was lying flat, has risen to a relatively high terry cloth 3 consisting of individual loops. Through proper selection of the distance of the terminal points of the threads in the floating yarn 2 through proper regulation of the degree of shrinkage, the height of the corresponding nap 3 can be adjusted practically according to desire.

One can furthermore recognize in FIG. 2 that the base fabric 1 during shrinkage below the nap 3 is permanently arched up, as indicated by reference number 4. We will later on come back to this arching up and to this formation of a hollow space below the napped area which, in connection with the effect of a sealing of the textile material produced in accordance with the invention, is of great importance.

Instead of the basic fabric 1, one can also use a woven fabric. However a warp-knitted fabric is preferred because as a loop material it will still have a certain elasticity even after shrinkage, which is particularly advantageous. When used for sealing tasks, Rhovyl yarn has proven itself particularly well suited as a shrinkable PVC yarn for the production of a base fabric 1. The floating yarn is produced from a material which is practically incapable of shrinkage, which is a synthetic material and preferably textured, for example of Perlon, Nylon, DorColor or Helanca yarn. Furthermore, crimped yarn or hard-thread materials are also suitable for the development of the floating yarn. The material shown in FIG. 1 is produced, for example, on a Raschel knitting machine by the flat-knitting method. The shrinkage is accomplished for practical purposes by about 100 to 400 percent, related to the original square dimensions of the base material.

In FIGS. 3-5, the production of a window guide frame for motor vehicles according to the invention is shown. On a support 5, which consists of a metal frame reinforced by a wire 6 at the edge, a layer made of rubber 7 is arranged, which can be, for example, vulcanized thereon. A textile material, produced according to the invention, has been attached to the support, as for example by being glued thereon. The textile material consists of a base material 1, such as a warp-knitted fabric, on which there are strip-shaped napped areas 13 arranged at distances from one another. The base material 1 has been attached to the support between the areas 13 of the nap. One can clearly recognize in FIG. 3 that air cushions 14 have developed below the nap areas because of the arches, or hollow spaces 4 (FIG. 2), which develop as a result of the shrinkage in the base material 1. In this manner the nap 13, which does the actual sealing, has been kept particularly elastic and resilient. The arrangement shown in FIG. 3 is deformed by bending up the edges into a groove-shaped guide well for windows. At the same time the hollow spaces 4, acting as air cushions 14, are preserved. In pushing a window pane in or along the surface of the naps, the naps 13 will yield and will fit tightly against the pane without impeding its movement.

In FIG. 6 a further sealing element according to the invention has been shown in section in the form of a seal for window wells of motor vehicles. One can recognize the rubber-coated support 5 as well as the base material 1 carrying the nap 13 put on while forming the air cushion 14.

Although the air cushions 14 below the nap 13 have proven themselves particularly with a view to the sealing characteristics of the material, it will nevertheless be possible in certain cases without trouble to avoid the development of air cushions during the production of sealing elements through pulling the basic material 1 taut prior to attaching it to the support 5 and thus to utilize only the advantage of the high nap. Instead of using a support 5 covered with rubber 6 in the production of the sealing element, it is also possible to cover the support with a PVC coating. This is accompanied by the manufacturing advantage that the base fabric 1 likewise made for example, of PVC yarn can be connected by bonding with the support. Finally, it is also possible through the proper development of the floating yarn 2, shown in FIG. 1, to adjust the height of the nap resulting from the shrinkage, differently from area to area. As shown in FIG. 7, a fabric 1 of shrinkable material may have a first unshrinkable yarn 15 woven therein by skipping, for example, one filament of the base fabric and a second unshrinkable yarn 16 woven therein in another area by skipping two filaments of the base fabric so that when the fabric is subjected to shrinkage the nap of yarn 16 is higher than that of yarn 15, as shown in FIG. 8. Thus for example the strip of nap arrange on the bottom of the groove in FIG. 5, may be of a less height then the two nap coverings lying on the two sidewalls of the groove.

The invention has the following advantages:

One can produce a napped material in which the height of the loops of the nap coating can be considerably higher than can be achieved with traditional methods. In this manner a textile material can be developed which is eminently suitable particularly for purposes of sealing. During the shrinkage according to the invention the base material arches up below the napped area to a surprising degree. Thus, in the case of the production of sealing elements, air cushions can be formed without trouble below the napped areas which increase the sealing properties. The nap, because of the elastic mounting on the air cushion, fits particularly tightly against the window pane and despite that still offers considerable clearance for the movement of the window pane. A further advantage finally consists in the fact that upon developing the base material as a looped fabric 1, the textile material as a whole will have a certain elasticity which makes it possible to produce bent sealing elements without the textile material tearing or breaking in the process.

Claims

I claim:

1. In sealing means for use in guide frames for sliding window panes, comprising a relatively rigid support means, a base of flexible shrinkable knitted textile material, and a plurality of loops of yarns of nonshrinkable material worked into the threads of the base textile material, said textile material and yarns having been simultaneously subjected to treatment for shrinking the textile material subsequent to said working in of the nonshrinkable yarns whereby said loops form a longitudinal nap, said base textile material being secured to said rigid support means substantially only along the sides of said nap, whereby said base material is disposed arcuately spaced away from the rigid support means in the area below the nap to provide an air cushion below said nap.

2. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein the loops of yarns are worked into the threads in longitudinally extending areas to provide a series of naps spaced from each other.

3. The invention as defined in claim 2, wherein the length of the loops comprising one nap is different from the length of the loops comprising another nap, whereby said respective naps will be of different height.

4. The invention as defined in claim 1, wherein said relatively rigid support means includes an elongated metal framework having a coating of rubber material.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4, wherein said rubber material includes PVC material.