U.S. patent number 3,721,274 [Application Number 05/214,055] was granted by the patent office on 1973-03-20 for soft, durable, low shrinking towel.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Fieldcrest Mills, Inc.. Invention is credited to Ernest Kohn Sherrill, John Paul Taylor.
United States Patent |
3,721,274 |
Sherrill , et al. |
March 20, 1973 |
SOFT, DURABLE, LOW SHRINKING TOWEL
Abstract
A woven terry towel whose ground warp and/or filling yarns are
composed of a blend of polyester and cellulosic fibers so as to
increase the towel's resistance to shrinkage, increase the
resistance of the selvage and hem areas of the towel to abrasion,
increase the overall tensile strength of the towel, and to give the
towel enhanced limpness and drape.
Inventors: |
Sherrill; Ernest Kohn (Eden,
NC), Taylor; John Paul (Greensboro, NC) |
Assignee: |
Fieldcrest Mills, Inc. (Eden,
NC)
|
Family
ID: |
22797603 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/214,055 |
Filed: |
December 30, 1971 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
139/396; 26/69R;
26/16 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D03D
27/08 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
D03D
27/08 (20060101); D03D 27/00 (20060101); D03d
027/08 (); D06c 023/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;139/396,391 ;28/72P,76P
;26/16,69 ;161/63,65,62 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,030,147 |
|
May 1966 |
|
GB |
|
893,766 |
|
Apr 1962 |
|
GB |
|
Primary Examiner: Chi; James Kee
Claims
That which is claimed is:
1. A woven terry towel characterized by having increased tensile
strength and stability against shrinkage upon laundering and
substantial resistance to abrasion along its edges comprising a
base of interwoven sets of ground warp and filling yarns wherein at
least one of the sets of ground yarns is formed of a blend of
cellulosic and polyester fibers, pile yarns of cellulosic fibers
interwoven with said base and forming pile surfaces defining at
least the major area of opposing sides of the towel, the pile yarns
defining the major area of one of said sides of the towel being
formed of rayon staple fibers, said rayon pile yarns providing a
high luster appearance to said one side of the towel and increased
absorbency to the towel, and the pile yarns defining the major area
of the other side of the towel being formed of cotton fibers.
2. A terry towel according to claim 1, wherein said one of the sets
of ground yarns is warp yarns, and the percentage of said polyester
fibers in said ground warp yarns is in the rang of about 35 to 65
percent.
3. A terry towel according to claim 2, wherein the warpwise
shrinkage of the towel when subjected to repeated launderings is no
more than about 2 to 3 percent.
4. A terry towel according to claim 2, wherein said ground filling
yarns also are formed of a blend of cellulosic and polyester
fibers.
5. A terry towel according to claim 4, wherein the percentage of
said polyester fibers in said ground filling yarns is in the range
of about 35 to 65 percent.
6. A terry towel according to claim 1 wherein the pile surface of
said one side of the towel comprises severed terry loops forming a
soft, velvet-like pile surface.
7. A woven terry towel characterized by having increased warpwise
and weftwise tensile strength and stability against shrinkage upon
laundering and also having substantial resistance to abrasion along
its edges, said towel comprising a base of interwoven ground warp
and filling yarns each formed of about a 50/50 blend of polyester
staple fibers and cotton fibers, opposing pile surfaces on said
towel formed from pile yarns of cellulosic fibers, the pile yarns
forming one of said pile surfaces being formed of rayon staple
fibers, said rayon staple fibers providing a high luster appearance
to said one side of the towel and increased absorbency to the
towel, and the pile yarns forming the other pile surface being
formed of cotton yarns.
8. A terry towel according to claim 7, wherein the warpwise
shrinkage of the towel when subjected to repeated launderings is no
more than about 2 to 3 percent.
9. A woven terry towel according to claim 8, wherein said ground
warp and filling yarns are in the form of single yarns.
10. A terry towel according to claim 7 wherein said one pile
surface comprises severed loops forming a soft, velvet-like
surface.
Description
This invention relates to a novel woven terry towel of the type
having a base with pile yarns projecting from both faces of the
base.
Most conventional terry towels are woven from cotton yarns,
primarily because cotton is inexpensive and highly absorbent. It is
well known in the art that "all-cotton" terry towels shrink in the
range of about 6-9 percent in the warpwise direction upon initial
launderings. This is primarily caused by the inherent nature of
cotton as a fiber which swells and shrinks when laundered.
Consequently, it is often necessary to weave the towel longer than
is desired, so as to compensate, to some extent, for shrinkage of
the towel during normal use and laundering. The necessity of this
practice creates obvious inefficiencies in production of the
towels.
It is also commonly known that, due to the many launderings to
which towels are normally subjected, the selvage areas and folded
hem areas along the sides and ends of all-cotton towels begin to
show wear before the bodies of the towels since such areas are not
protected by the terry pile surfaces. Such worn and abraded areas
give the towels a prematurely "worn-out" appearance, and
substantially weaken the structural integrity of the towels, making
replacement necessary before the bodies of the towels are
worn-out.
Another undesirable characteristic found in all-cotton towels is
their usual stiffness and boardiness after laundering, especially
in the heavier, more expensive towels. Since cotton yarns swell
when wet; particularly during bleaching and dyeing, there is
increased crowding of the yarns in a towel causing the entire towel
to exhibit an undesirable and persistent stiffness. Such stiffness
is especially apparent when the towel is dried while in a
motionless state.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide an
improved woven terry towel wherein warpwise shrinkage during
repeated launderings is reduced to about 2-3 percent, wherein
abrasion resistance along the edges of the towel is improved
considerably, as well as limpness and drape.
According to the invention, both sets of the ground warp and
filling yarns or only one of the same are formed of a blend of
cellulosic and polyester staple fibers. The inclusion of the
polyester fibers, which are stronger and much less absorbent than
cotton fibers, limits the shrinkage of the towel, increases its
tensile strength, increases the selvage life, and improves the
limpness and drape of the towel.
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 a terry towel embodying the present
invention; and
FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary warpwise sectional view through
the towel taken substantially along line 2--2 in FIG. 1.
Referring more specifically to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a towel T
representative of a towel which may be produced in accordance with
the present invention, as described in detail hereinafter, said
towel comprising a base or ground fabric, and opposing pile
surfaces composed of terry warp yarns projecting outwardly from the
base fabric. FIG. 2 is a warpwise sectional view of the towel T in
FIG. 1 and illustrates the towel construction, wherein sets of
ground warp yarns 10 and filling yarns 11 are interwoven to form a
woven base fabric, and terry warp yarns 12 and 13 form respective
opposing pile surfaces.
The present invention modifies and improves the stability against
shrinkage, abrasion resistance, limpness and drape of towels
without necessitating substantial changes in the physical
construction of the towels themselves. Instead, a novel use of
certain synthetic fibers in the base fabric of a conventionally
constructed towel achieves the desired results.
More specifically, in the preferred embodiment of the invention,
the base fabric comprises ground warp yarns 10, each composed of an
intimate blend of cellulosic and polyester staple fibers. Filling
yarns 11 are interwoven with the ground warp yarns 10, and
preferably, each filling yarn 11 also is composed of an intimate
blend of cellulosic and polyester staple fibers. According to the
invention, each ground warp yarn 10 should contain within the range
of about 35-65 percent polyester staple fibers with the remaining
fibers being cellulosic; preferably cotton. Although it is not
essential, for best results it is preferred that each ground
filling yarn 11 also contains about 35-65 percent polyester staple
fibers with the remaining fibers thereof being cellulosic;
preferably cotton. Particularly favorable results have been
achieved utilizing a 50/50 blend of polyester staple fibers and
cotton fibers for the ground warp and filling yarns.
The opposed pile faces of the towel T are formed from respective
terry warp yarns 12 and 13 of cellulosic fibers which fibers may be
of the same type for both terry warps or of different types. In
accordance with the invention, it is preferred that the terry warp
yarns 12 are composed of cotton fibers and that the terry warp
yarns 13 are composed of rayon staple fibers, for reasons to be
later explained.
Polyester has heretofore been considered an undesirable fiber for
use in terry towels due to its low moisture absorbency
characteristics. (Polyester has a moisture regain of about 0.4-0.8
percent at 70.degree. F. and at 65 percent relative humidity, as
compared to 7.0-8.5 percent for cotton). We have found, however,
that a terry towel woven from ground yarns of about 50/50 blend of
cotton and polyester staple fibers exhibits up to about 75 percent
less warpwise shrinkage in repeated launderings than all-cotton
towels; i.e., the towel of this invention has relatively low
shrinkability in the range of about 2-3 percent. This occurs
because the polyester fibers, being much less absorbent than cotton
fibers, allow much less swelling and contraction of the ground
yarns as the towel is being laundered, thereby imparting
substantial warpwise stability to the towel against shrinkage.
In the preferred embodiment, since rayon fibers are more absorbent
than cotton fibers (rayon has a moisture regain of 11.5-16.6
percent at 70.degree. F. and at 65 percent relative humidity, as
compared with 7,0-8.5 percent for cotton), the terry warp yarns 13
are formed of rayon staple fibers so that the pile surface formed
therefrom will substantially compensate for the absorbency lost by
inclusion of the polyester fibers in the base fabric. Also, it is
advantageous to form one of the pile surfaces from rayon terry
yarns because the rayon terry pile has a high luster or brilliance
compared to the cotton terry yarns, and rayon terry loops, when
severed or cut as in FIG. 2, have a much greater capacity for
attracting and absorbing moisture when in normal use than is the
case when cotton terry loops are cut. In fact, when cotton terry
loops are cut, the ability of the cotton terry pile to attract
moisture from a person's skin is considerably reduced; i.e., the
cotton terry pile surface of the towel simply slides over the
moisture while attracting relatively little of the moisture to it.
Also, the cut rayon pile provides a soft, velvet-like pile surface
which is highly receptive to printing intricate designs of colorant
thereon and the brilliance of the cut rayon terry pile surface
enhances the brilliance and aesthetic quality of the printed
designs.
We have also found that the inclusion of polyester in the base warp
and/or filling yarns improves substantially the overall tensile
strength of the towel and the resistance of its edges to abrasion.
When compared with conventional woven terry towels, it was found
that towels of this invention exhibited a warpwise increase in
tensile strength of about 50 percent. When all-cotton towels and
the towels of the preferred embodiment of this invention were
washed together through 100 laundering cycles to test abrasion
resistance of the selvages, the all-cotton towels showed a definite
disintegration of the selvage areas and across the crease or fold
lines in the hems sometimes provided along opposite ends and along
one longitudinal edge of each all-cotton towel, with many yarns
having been broken and frayed. Also, the selvages and/or hems of
the all-cotton towels had an overall "fuzzy" appearance caused by
the breaking of many individual fibers in each yarn and by their
projection outwardly from the edges of the towels. The selvages and
the edges of the hems of the towels of the preferred embodiment of
this invention, after the same 100 launderings, displayed no broken
or frayed ends.
While polyester fibers do not have an affinity for the usual vat
and napthol dyes used for dyeing cellulosic fibers, we have found
that the polyester fibers are stained sufficiently by such dyes so
that the color of the selvage is not significantly different from
that of the body of the towel when a 50/50 cotton/polyester blend
is present in both the ground warp yarns and the filling yarns.
As heretofore stated, the inclusion of polyester fibers in the
ground warp and filling yarns of the present invention produces a
towel having a more supple, limp "hand" than an all-cotton towel,
by reducing the extent of crowding together of the interwoven
ground warp and filling yarns as effected by shrinking. While it is
common practice to use plied ground warp yarns in towel
construction, we have found that the aforementioned ground warp
yarns are so strong as to allow unplied or single yarns to be used.
Since the twisting operation thus can be omitted, obvious savings
in time and costs result.
While the above is the preferred embodiment of our invention, it is
to be understood that the invention as herein described may take
alternative forms. Where polyester staple fibers are mentioned
herein as a component of the ground warp and filling yarns, it is
to be understood that staple fibers other than polyester fibers may
be used provided that such other fibers have essentially the same
characteristics as and produce essentially the same results as
polyester staple fibers. For example, nylon staple fibers may be
substituted for the polyester fibers. However, it is preferred that
polyester fibers be used because of the tendency of nylon fibers to
generate static electricity which causes problems in processing the
same. Also, chlorine bleaches used in processing and laundering
cause nylon fibers to yellow, which is objectionable.
It is thus seen that we have provided a novel terry towel
possessing superior wear and aesthetic characteristics. Such novel
towel may take the form of any conventional towel design; for
example only and not for purposes of limitation, a towel with
fringed areas on opposite ends, sculptured areas or designs
thereon, or printed areas or designs thereon.
In the drawings and specification there have been set forth
preferred embodiments 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.
* * * * *