Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D04—BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS
  • D04C—BRAIDING OR MANUFACTURE OF LACE, INCLUDING BOBBIN-NET OR CARBONISED LACE; BRAIDING MACHINES; BRAID; LACE
  • D04C1/00—Braid or lace, e.g. pillow-lace; Processes for the manufacture thereof
  • D04C1/02—Braid or lace, e.g. pillow-lace; Processes for the manufacture thereof made from particular materials
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D04—BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS
  • D04C—BRAIDING OR MANUFACTURE OF LACE, INCLUDING BOBBIN-NET OR CARBONISED LACE; BRAIDING MACHINES; BRAID; LACE
  • D04C1/00—Braid or lace, e.g. pillow-lace; Processes for the manufacture thereof
  • D04C1/06—Braid or lace serving particular purposes
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D10—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B—INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBLASSES OF SECTION D, RELATING TO TEXTILES
  • D10B2505/00—Industrial
  • D10B2505/12—Vehicles

Definitions

• This invention relates to monofilament braided product and to methods for making same. It relates more particularly to braided product made up of monofilaments, typically of a resilient engineered plastic material and typically (but not necessarily) in the form of a tubular sleeve.
• braided product is the ExpandoTM self-fitting protective oversleeve made by Bentley-Harris Manufacturing Co. of Lionville, Pennsylvania.
• This tubular sleeve is expandable in that, when the ends are pushed toward each other it expands in diameter, and when they are released it returns to its original shape and size. This enables it to be pulled or pushed over objects of different diameters, including diameters greater than the unstressed or "rest” diameter of the sleeve, and also enables it to accommodate expansion, bending and twisting of hoses or wires which may run through it.
• This expandable braided product also exhibits a "spring-back" or “memory” characteristic, whereby it tends to return to its rest diameter when released from longitudinal forces.
• Such expandable braided sleeving has been widely used, for example to protect, and/or dress, wiring harnesses and hose assemblies.
• One difficulty with the typical braided product of the expandable type is that when the braid is cut in an ordinary manner, as by scissors, the ends of the braid will tend to unravel or splay, the braiding coming apart for a substantial distance back from the cut ends. This is particularly troublesome when an end of a braided sleeve must be forced over a large-diameter object, causing the monofila ents to splay and therefore no longer provide the desired type of tight fit on the smaller-diameter contents of the tubular covering; in addition such splaying is cosmetically very undesirable.
• a monofilament braided product in which the braided product is at least partly coated with an adherent, preferably elastomeric, material extending form at least some over-weave monofilaments to their associated underweave monofilaments at their respective cross-overs, permitting the monofilaments to pivot with respect to each other as required to retain the desired expandable characteristics, while preventing splaying.
• the coating is preferably of an elastomeric material, and preferably does not completely cover the openings between the monofilaments.
• the coating is preferably applied by passing the braid continuously through a liquid bath containing the coating material in flowable form, and then solidifying the coating in position on the braided product.
• the viscosity of the liquid of the coating is such that it provides enough material in the proper places to fix the monofilaments against end splaying, while retaining the ability of the filaments to pivot with respect to each other, and the consequent ability of the sleeve to expand and shrink in cross-sectional size. If the coating does initially extend across the openings between the monofilaments, it is preferably such as to break upon longitudinal compression of the braided material, although with a sufficiently compliant elastomeric material this is not always necessary.
• Figure 1 is a side view of a section of expandable tubular product which has been cut by an ordinary pair of scissors, and mechanically expanded at the cut end, and which exhibits substantial splaying at its end;
• Figure 2 is a side view of a section of expandable braided product made in accordance with the invention, cut at its end with an ordinary pair of scissors and then subjected to a similar expanding procedure.
• Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the exterior of the braided product of Fig. 2;
• Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on lines 4-4 of Figure 3, showing the braided product of the invention after the coating has been formed therein;
• Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines 5-5 of Fig. 3;
• Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view like Figure 5, but illustrating the condition in which a break exists in the coating near each cross-over of the braid.
• Figure 1 shows a section of expanded, braided tubular sleeving 8, constructed in accordance with the prior art and exhibiting undesired splaying of the monofilaments at its end 9.
• Figure 2 shows a length of expandable, braided, tubular sleeving 10 in accordance with the present embodiment of the invention. It is made up of monofilaments such as 11, 12, 13, 14 in a simple single-strand two-over, two-under braid pattern. Each monofilament in this example is of engineered plastic, for example nylon or polyester, and is substantially rectangular in cross-section.
• the monofilaments are covered with an adherent elastomeric coating 16.
• the coating may contain a break where one monofilament crosses another, as indicated by the break lines such as 20, 21 in Fig. 6.
• the coating does not decrease substantially the areas of the openings such as 30, 31 between the monofilaments, so that space remains for the filaments to pivot at the cross-overs, one with respect to its adjacent neighbor, during expansion and contraction of the sleeve, according to the usual characteristic of such expandable braids.
• the elastomeric coating tends to fix the positions of the cross-overs, but being elastomeric, it permits the necessary pivoting of the monofilaments with respect to each other. This fixing action of the elastomeric material prevents the ends from splaying, as is important for the reasons pointed out above.
• the retention of the openings such as 30, 31 also permits a wire or the like to be extracted and passed outwardly from the sleeve if so desired.
• the coating may be applied, it is preferred to accomplish it by passing a continuous sleeve of the braided material through a bath of the coating material and then drying it in an oven.
• 9.5xl0 "3 meters rest diameter is made in conventional manner from 48 monofilaments of 100 denier nylon, each monofilament about 30 mils wide and about 10 mils in thickness; the braided tubing is typically coiled on a spool in long lengths, e.g. 609.6 meters lengths. The tubing from the spool is then run lengthwise downward into and through a bath of the coating material, continuing upwardly therefrom through a hot-air oven typically operating at about 150"C.
• the liquid coating material may be resorcinol ormaldehyde, with a viscosity of 15,000 centipoises or less so that it will coat the monofilaments in the braid without closing the openings between them.
• the tubing is subjected to stretching while passing through the bath, and until drying of the coating is complete.
• the resultant braided tubing can be cut to length with ordinary scissors, and will then exhibit minimal tendency toward splaying. Nevertheless, when longitudinally compressed it will increase its diameter and when stretched it will regain its original diameter, and it will also exhibit memory in that, when unstressed, it tends to return to the diameter and length it had before compression.
• the invention is applicable to a wide variety of sizes, shapes and materials of braids and of monofilaments, including monofilaments of round cross- section; it is also of wide applicability with respect to the number of monofilaments in the braid. While many important applications of the invention involve a tubular braid, the invention is also useful in making flat, mat-like expandable braid products.
• the coating materials is preferably elastomeric
• at least some of the advantages of the invention may be realized by using a non-elastomeric material for the coating which does not bond the filaments rigidly together, but instead fractures upon compression and/ or stretching of the braid, leaving low walls of coating material on each side of each monofilament at each cross-over to provide a positioning channel, or at least a high-friction surface, which resists the type of displacement of the monofilaments which occurs during splaying.
• a similar effect exists in some cases when an elastomeric material is used which fractures during stretching and/or compression.
• Other coating procedures may also be used, so long as they do not result in such a thick, pervasive coating that the monofilaments cannot pivot, each with respect to its neighbor, as is required to exhibit the desired expandable characteristic.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Braiding, Manufacturing Of Bobbin-Net Or Lace, And Manufacturing Of Nets By Knotting (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (3)

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Families Citing this family (9)

Citations (6)

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• 1991
  • 1991-02-28 DE DE69109675T patent/DE69109675T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1991-02-28 EP EP91905651A patent/EP0532500B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1991-02-28 KR KR1019920702196A patent/KR0138249B1/ko not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1991-02-28 WO PCT/US1991/001303 patent/WO1991014034A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1991-02-28 JP JP03505456A patent/JP3101680B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1991-02-28 CA CA002078121A patent/CA2078121C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1991-02-28 ES ES91905651T patent/ES2074710T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime

Patent Citations (6)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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