US2988112A - Method and means for weaving elastic grip waistbands - Google Patents

Description

J1me 1961 H. HOROWITZ 2,988,112

METHOD AND MEANS FOR WEAVING ELASTIC GRIP WAISTBANDS Filed Dec. 27, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY June 13, 1961 H. HOROWITZ METHOD AND MEANS FOR WEAVING ELASTIC GRIP WAISTBANDS Filed Dec. 27, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Hafig Hanoi 112i; BY

ATTO R N EY June 13, 1961 H. HOROWITZ 2,988,112

METHOD AND MEANS FOR WEAVING ELASTIC GRIP WAISTBANDS Filed Dec. 27, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR Harry Horowaf ATTORN EY 2,988,112 METHOD AND MEANS FOR WEAVING ELASTIC GRIP WAISTBANDS Filed Dec. 27, 1955 June 13, 1961 H. HOROWITZ 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 4 htriunlilivlvlltllifi \inillitlliiiulliu.ii. .5 E. E.

6 3 7 w j 2 RO@ m I 2 W W% e 2 2 g 3 l T- 5 W 7 7 2 w 2 0 4 7 W Z ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,988,112 METHOD AND MEANS FOR WEAVING ELASTIC GRIP WAISTBANDS Harry Horowitz, Summit, N .J. National Waistband Corporation, 499 7th Ave., New York, N .Y.) Filed Dec. 27, 1955, Ser. No. 555,503 7 Claims. (Cl. 139-11) The present invention relates to a method and mechanism for weaving elastic grip waistbands and particularly relates to a method for making a substantially integral fabric in which a superimposed rectangular or square crosssection rubber thread may be woven into a fabric on a normally wide loom without special attachments.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a novel mechanism and procedure for weaving elastic grip waistband fabrics in which a standard loom construction may be employed without complicated adjustments or reconstruction to produce a wide fabric having a series of superimposed warp square-cut or rectangularcut elastic threads positioned on the surface thereof and which fabric may be subsequently cut longitudinally to provide standard waistband lengths and widths.

Another object is to provide a mechanism and procedure for weaving elastic grip fabrics in which a plurality of square cross-section rubber threads are woven into a textile fabric in such a manner as to provide a gripping waistband structure without special braiding or knitting equipment.

A further object is to provide a weaving procedure and mechanism by means of which square cross-section cut rubber threads may be woven with round cross-section textile threads to produce a substantially uniform fabric without difiiculty because of varying tension or character of the threads and without impeding the high-speed operation of the loom and its associated shuttles and other operating mechanism.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects, it has been found most satisfactory to weave the square cross-section or rectangular cross-section rubber threads, which are desirably slitted, from a sheet of material directly into the warp and weft of the textile threads with the rubber warp being fed in above the textile warp and with the filling being utilized to plate or superimpose the rubber warp upon the textile warp.

Desirably, the textile warp consists of a series of closely spaced warp threads, the spacing of which is uniform regardless whether there is superimposed thereon the cut rubber threads.

The textile filling threads, on the other hand, are so controlled that they will plate or superimpose the cut rectangular or square cross-section rubber threads directly upon the woven fabric formed from a textile warp and filling.

In the previous form of the invention, the square-cut or rectangular-cut rubber threads are of sufiicient width and depth as to exceed the average diameter of the Warp and filling threads by two to three times and sometimes as much as five times so as to assure the most satisfactory overlay.

On the other hand, the filling threads which are utilized to tie or hold the rectangular cross-section rubber threads upon the surface of the woven textile fabric are so positioned in respect to'the rubber warp that every third to wise rubber threads and hold them down upon the basic textile weave consisting of warp and filling threads having a diameter ranging from one-tenth to one-fourth and somethimes one-half of the superimposed square crosssection or rectangular cross-section rubber threads.

The basic weave is desirably a cotton faille or rayon twill weave and the woven fabric may be suitably stiffened with buckram which may be stitched to each edge as well as to the back of the woven grip-tight fabric strip.

In the prior procedure, the rubber is supplied as a band which has been previously slit into the strips which are desirably slightly Wider than deep, and these alternate strips are then separated from the slit band of rubber material and are powdered so as to enhance their passage through the various loom mechanisms, including the reeds, harnesses, sheds and heddle eyes. Preferably, the cut rubber threads are fed above the warp threads into the harnesses and the throw of the harness carrying the rubber threads is such that in the various sheds that are formed the rubber threads will be kept slightly outside and above and below the textile threads.

By this provision, the shuttles in their passage across the threads will contact the textile threads rather than the rubber threads.

The square-cross-section of the rubber threads gives a better grip to the rubber threads, both in respect to woven textile base as well as in the final fabric, and the tightness of the filling threads to hold the rubber threads in position upon the basic textile fabric will control the canting of the rubber threads so that they will be inclined, or so that their edges will project above the surface of the final fabric and have the desired gripping effect.

Although the woven fabric that is the textile warp and filling may be of a wide variety of yarns, such as cotton, wool, silk, viscose rayon or cupramrnonium rayon, it has been found most satisfactory to form the yarns of therm0 plastic materials, such as cellulose acetate or, less preferably, nylon or even vinyon which will permit the woven fabric to be readily sealed against unravelling in case of cutting.

-An important feature of the present invention relates to the feed of the cut rubber yarns into the standard loom operation, and it has been found most satisfactory to regulate the feed of the rubber yarn by a different procedure than is utilized to regulate the feed of the textile warp. The most satisfactory feed is controlled by the dobby motion so that the operation of the shed and the feed of the rubber threads will be synchronized and so that the rubber threads will be fed into the sheds under a substantially greater tension than the warp threads without at the same time causing any gathering warpwise of the final fabric.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can be restored to which fall within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a side diagrammatic view showing the feed of the rubber warp threads into the loom structure together with the control for such feed.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the rubber feed mechanism upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 1.

eighth filling thread will engage or extend over the warpc FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the mechanism of FIG. 2 upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side diagrammatic view illustrating the feedingof the textile and rubber war-p into the sheds so that the rubber threads will always be outermost and the inside textile warp will be in contact with the shuttle.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged showing similar to FIG. 4 showing the place where the shuttles pass through the threads and contact the textile threads.

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the final woven fabric with the rubber threads canting left and right and plated upon the textile fabric.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view of the woven fabric of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary top perspective view of a waistband structure with the elastic grip waistband of the present invention sewn in position therein.

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary inside elevational view of the waistband of FIG. 8 upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary top elevational view showing the method of attaching the elastic back member.

FIG. 11 is a transverse sectional view taken upon line 11-11 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary elevational view similar to FIG. 9 of an alternative structure.

FIG. 13 is a top plan view of the embodiment of FIG. 12 from the line 13-13 of FIG. 12.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a support table A below which is positioned the supply B of a partly slitted rubber strip material C. The strip material then will be fed into the powdering and feeding device D, and it then passes to the loom E shown in FIG. 4, and it will finally form the woven fabric F indicated in FIGS. 7 and 8 The rate of feed is controlled by the mechanism shown at G which will regulate the rubber warp H and the textile warp J, as shown at the left of FIG. 1, so that they will pass into the loom sheds indicated at K in FIG. 4 under the proper tension and at the proper rate.

The feed regulating mechanism, as shown in small scale in FIG. 1 and in large scale in FIGS. 2 and 3, has a base 10 and side plate 11. The slitted rubber sheet C first passes between the forks 12, which extend upwardly from the vertical plate 11. The rubber sheet then passes over the roll 13, under the main feed roll 14, and then over the roll 15.

The main feed roll 14 has a serrated surface and it will be driven by the shaft 16 from the bevel gear 17, which in turn meshes with the bevel gear 18 on the shaft 19. The two supplemental guide rolls 13 and are carried on the bracket 20, which in turn the lever 21. The handle 22 Will enable the two rollers 13 and 15 to be lifted from the roller 14 correcting the tension and also correcting the feed of the rubber strands M and N as they pass through the loom.

As the strands leave the roller 15 they are separated as indicated at M and N with each alternate rectangular cross-section or square cross-section rubber thread passing, respectively, over the upper guide roller 30 and the lower guide roller 31. The strands then pass through the vertical cone element 33, which is mounted upon the rod 34. The separated strands M and N after passing through the cone 33 are reunited as they pass over the roller 35 and under the serrated roller 36.

The serrated roller is driven by the shaft 37 and through the meshing bevel gears 38 and 39.

. Bevel gear 39 is mounted upon the shaft 19.

The strands then pass over the roller 40. Both rollers 35 and 40 are carried by the bracket 41 and on the arms 42 and 43. The handle 44 may be used to lift strands on the rollers 35 and 40 from the serrated roller 36. The strands will then pass over the final guide roller 45 and through the stop motion eyes 46, as shown in FIG. 1, the reed 47 and into the loom.

The entire feed of the strands M and N into the loom, as indicated at H in FIG. 1, is regulated by the speed with which the serrated face rollers 14 and 36 are driven by the shaft 19 through the meshing bevel gears 17, 18, 38 and is mounted on 39. This drive is effected in the manner above shown in FIG. 1 through the driving mechanism indicated at G.

On the dobby motion of the loom there will be positioned a T-lever 65, which is pivotally mounted at 66 and which controls the operation of the sheds P shown in FIG. 4.

The arm 67 of the lever has 21 depending dobby connecting rod 68 which is pivotally connected at 69 to the top crank 70.

The top crank will be driven by 71 from the main shaft of the loom mechanism. The lower arm 72 of the lever 65 is slotted at 73 and receives the adjustable arm 74. The arm 74 is provided with a pin 75 which may be clamped in an adjusted position in the slot 73. The outer end 76 of the arm 74 has a pin 77 which engages strap 78. The strap 78 rides on the pulley 79 and it has a hook connection at 80 to the strap 81.

The strap 81 is connected by the rod or chain 82 to the clamping nut 83. The clamping nut 83 is fixed in an adjusted position in the slot 84 in the movable pawl arm 85 which is pivotally mounted at 86. The pawl arm carries the pawl 87, which is pulled upwardly by the rod or chain 82 and the lever 85, and then is permitted to drop by reason of its weight.

Pawl 87 engages the teeth 88 of the rigid wheel 89 and advances such rigid wheel by one or two teeth 88 on each reciprocation of the lever 65.

The rigid wheel is held in position by the fixed pawl 90, which is mounted by means of a coil spring on the pivot 91 at the lower end of the arm 92.

As the rigid wheel 89 is advanced by the pawl 87, it will drive the pinion or sprocket 93 and advance the chain 94. The chain 94 passes over the pulley 95 and then over the gear or sprocket wheel 96. The sprocket wheel 96 will drive the shaft 97 and the bevel gear 98. The bevel gear 98 will mesh with and drive the bevel gear 99 and the shaft 19 to control the feed of the rubber warp threads to the loom. As the rubber warp threads pass through the control feed mechanism D they will pick powdered chalk from the pans and 111 which are provided with the felt rollers 112 and 113. These felt rollers will pick up chalk powder from the pans 110 and 111 and will rub it onto the rubber strands passing over and around the serratetd face rollers '14 and 36. Where an additional supply of chalk is desired, a sieve 114 may be provided, as shown in FIG. 1, to permit a supply of chalk to fall down upon the separated strands M and N as they pass over to the loom indicated at the left of FIG. 1.

The felt pad 115 shown at the left of FIG. 1 may be utilized for removing excess powder from the strands H as they are being fed into the shed arrangement, as is indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 4.

The warp textile yarns in the meanwhile will be fed upwardly from the warp beam (not shown) and over the roller 116. Both the textile warp I and the rubber warp II will pass through the heddles of the harness P as shown in FIG. 4 and will be formed into sheds. The shed of the rubber threads will usually be outside of the shed 126 of the textile threads.

As shown in small scale in FIG. 4 and larger scale in FIG. 5 the lay Q will move upwardly and forwardly on the support rod or sword R and will carry over the raceway 127 the shuttle S.

The shuttle S in moving back and forth will usually rub against the textile strands 126 and will not contact the square-cut rubber strands 125. The woven fabric will then be combined at the felt T and then will pass over the beam U and will finally be rolled up as it passes downwardly at W.

The fabric itself, which is best shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, consists of a series of rubber strands.

The final woven fabric as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 has a plurality of rubber strands of the rectangular crossseetion which are held in position by means of the filler ends 151 on top of the woven fabric I. It will be noted that these woven rubber strands 150 are held in side-byside relationship and are not gathered or clumped together. As a result, their sharp edges 154 will be canted and will project for anti-slip or friction purposes.

Where the fabric as shown in FIG. 7 is to be used as, for example, friction waistbands, it may be slit at positions 153 between the elastic or rubber strips and the split edges may be sewn or adhesively sealed together, particularly where a thermoplastic, cellulose acetate or similar yarn has been employed.

If desired, the slitting operation may take place as the fabric passes beyond the front beam U and these cutter forms may be provided with heat sealing means to provide the filler or warp itself, or both, to seal together because of their thermoplastic character.

The procedure of the present invention permits square cross-section or rectangular cross-section rubber strips to be woven into a taffeta weave fabric for regularly heavy yarns of 150 to 300 denier and permits a large number of friction strips as shown in FIG. 7 to be performed in side-by-side relationship.

The rubber warp feed as indicated at D for the elastic yarns is coordinated with the warp beam let off by means of the dobby motion G, so that the rubber strands will be fed into the shed at the same time and at the same rate as the warp ends.

The final fabric as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 with the rubber strands in superimposed relationship on top of the woven fabric will assure most effective anti-friction bands making use of at least two edges of the rubber strips 150 which will be bowed upwardly as indicated in FIG. 7 as they are pulled down by the filling ends 151.

Referring to the embodiment of FIGS. 8 to 10, there is shown a typical elastic grip waistband of the present invention as mountetd in a garment 250, which may be a skirt or a pair of pants, shorts or slacks for men, women or children.

The rows of elastic material which have been Woven directly into the fabric, as indicated at 254, are superimposed or plated upon the woven material 253.

A portion of the strip of material 253 is folded as indicated at 255 to permit expansion and an elastic band 257 is sewn in position by the stitching 280 and 281. Two of these folded portions are shown in FIG. 8 at 255 and 256, which will give extra length at the opposite sides of the garment 250 and inside of the belt portion 251.

It will be noted that the Waistband of the garment 250 has an expansible portion 259 and the belt section 251 may be held in position by means of the button or fastener 252.

The elastic portion or section 257 is stretchable so as to permit expansion of the band 253, with partial or full opening of the folds 255 and 256.

Referring to FIG. 11, it will be noted that the top portion or top edge 258 is folded over and in back of the rigid buckram material 260 and the downturned, folded portion 259 is stitched to the buckram at 261. The elastic 257 will then partly be positioned over the foldeddown portion 259 and it will extend on both sides of the three plated strips of rubber gripping material 254.

The lower portion of the fabric 253 will extend below the lower edge of the buckram or stifi material 260, which buckram material will in turn extend below the lower edge of the elastic 257.

The upper folded edge 258 is desirably stitched at 282 directly to the top of the garment 250. The lower edge of the material 253 may be stitched to the garment 250 or left free.

In the alternative structure, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the woven fabric material 274 carrying the plated strips of rubber threads 276 has separate pieces which are connected by the elastic member 275.

The ends 278 of the cut sections 274 are folded rearwardly as indicated at 277 with the ends of the elastic sections 275 and stitched in position as indicated at 278.

Where it is necessary to halve yield in the waistbands, as is frequently the case with mens waistband, the weave should be loose to enable the waistband to have a certain amount of stretch. To do this the filling or pic threads are spaced and a slippery pic or filling is used which may have a smooth surface or which may have been lubricatcd.

In attaching the woven bands to the buckram, the stitching is limited to one edge, preferably the top, and the other edge is left loose or unsewn.

. As many changes could be made in the above frictionwoven fabrics and method and machine for making the same, and many widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. A method of weaving textile fabrics having textile warp and filling threads of circular cross section and rectangular cross section rubber strands plated thereon to give such fabrics gripping qualities when used as waistbands and the like which comprises feeding a slitted rubber ribbon, separating the alternate slitted strands to form a plurality of separated rubber strands of rectangular cross section, weaving said strands with round cross section textile threads with the warp textile threads being parallel to the rubber strands and the rubber strands being positioned on top of the textile threads and drawing said rubber strands tightly down against said textile threads by spaced filling threads, said rubber strands being maintained in substantially greater tension than the Warp threads during weaving and being formed into a shed positioned outside of the shed formed of the textile threads so that the shuttle in weaving will contact the textile threads and not the rubber strands.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the rubber threads are powdered as they are fed with the warp textile threads.

3. The method of claim I, in which the spaced filling threads are drawn down tightly upon the rubber strands to cant with their corners upwardly.

4. A machine for weaving textile fabrics having textile warp and filling threads of circular cross section and rectangular cross section rubber strands plated thereon to give such fabrics gripping qualities when used as waistbands and the like which comprises a loom with harnesses carrying heddles and means for feeding and separating a slitted rubber ribbon into rubber strands and to feed said rubber strands into said heddles, said feeding means including means to powder the rubber strands during sep aration, said feeding means tensioning the rubber strands so that they will be fed in with substantially greater tension than the warp threads.

5. A method of plating rubber strands on a taffeta woven fabric which comprises separating a broad band of rubber into rectangular cross section rubber strands and feeding them in superimposed relationship over textile warp threads and then weaving the textile warp threads with textile filler threads and at intervals causing a filler to extend over and draw down alternate rubber strands against the taffeta weave, said rubber strands: being positioned with one of their sides flat against the taffeta fabric and with the rubber strands being at least two to three times in width and thickness than the cross section of the textile warp threads and the textile filler threads and said rubber strands being powdered to enhance their movement during the weaving operation, the feed of said rubber strands being controlled so that they will be fed in with substantially greater tension than the tension on the warp strands and removing the excess powder from the rubber strands before they are combined with the textile warp threads and the textile filler threads.

6. A method of weaving textile fabrics comprising circular cross section warp and filler and powdered rectangular cross section rubber strands under tension said rubber strands being superimposed in side by side relationship on the fabric with their flat sides held tightly against the fabric by spaced fillers which comprises feeding and separating the rubber strands from a slitted strip of rubber and holding them under substantial tension outside of the warp during weaving, powdering the rubber strands as they are separated from the strip of rubber and then forming the sheds of textile warp threads so that they will be positioned inside of the sheds of rubber strands with the textile warp threads being positioned between the shuttle and the rubber strands so that the textile warp threads and not the rubber strands will contact the shuttle in its movement-through the sheds with the textile warp strands preventing the shuttle from contacting the rubber strands in its movement through the lay.

7. A method of preparing a woven fabric having a Warp and a weft of cellulose acetate threads of circular crosssection, and positioned on said fabric strands of rubber of rectangular cross-section for gripping purposes, said method comprising separating an elongated band of rubber into rubber strands of rectangular cross-section, applying a powder to the strands as they are being separated, feeding to the point of weaving the cellulose acetate warp threads and the powdered separated rubber strands with the said warp threads parallel to the said rubber strands and'with the said rubber strands in superimposed relation to the said warp threads, and weaving the cellulose acetate warp and weft threads together with the said rubber strands while subjecting the said rubber strands to substantially greater tension than the said warp threads, whereby the rubber strands superimposed on the fabric are tightly drawn down upon the warp and weft threads of the fabric by spaced weft threads.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,666,686 Chisholm Apr. 17, 1928 1,737,600 Lucas Dec. 3, 1929 1,781,817 Kenyon Nov. 18, 1930 2,082,744 Shaw June 1, 1937 2,412,353 Parker Dec. 10, 1946 2,448,929 Walliser Sept. 7, 1948 2,646,828 Hesse July 28, 1953 2,654,936 Slovin Oct. 13, 1953 2,682,283 Lilley June 29, 1954 2,758,613 Schmitz Aug. 14, 1956

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