US3139913A - Bed clothing and the like - Google Patents

Description

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I NVENTOR I ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,139,913 BED CLOTHING AND THE LIKE Alfred Walter Bayes, Hyde, England, assignor to Ashton Brothers & Company Limited, a corporation of Great Britain Filed Jan. 17, 1961, Ser. No. 83,265 2 Claims. (Cl. 139391) This invention relates to heat insulating textile fabrics and is particularly, but not exclusively, applicable to bed clothing, such as blankets or rugs for hospital or like use.

One of the problems in connection with blankets or rugs used in hospitals or for the sick, very young or aged, is that woollen blankets deteriorate rapidly with the frequent washing necessary to remove stains and for hygienic reasons, and will not withstand the high temperature and conditions required for effective sterilization or removal of some stains. On the other hand, a woollen blanket when new, gives more warmth for weight than does a similar woven structure made from cotton or other possible alternative textile materials which are known to be better able to withstand severe washing treatment, for example, for the removal of stains and sterilizing.

A comparatively recent development in woollen blankets and in protective wearing apparel has established that an open weave cellular or net-like fabric as distinct from a looped pile fabric, when located between other layers for example of textile fabric of relatively closely woven texture, provides a high degree of heat insulation comparable with a woollen blanket-like fabric, by reason of the relatively isolated pockets of air formed in the cellular or net-like structure.

The present invention is based upon the appreciation of the possibilities of adapting a looped pile textile fabric of non-woollen yarn for heat-insulating purposes, for example, as a blanket or like bed clothing, thus putting it to a hitherto unknown use, the normal use of such fabric being for its moisture-absorption and retention properties.

According to the invention, a heat insulating textile fabric such as a blanket or rug for bed clothing comprises a looped pile on a textile base characterised in that the loops are arranged in spaced groups, each group consisting of a plurality of adjacent loops, said groups being arranged to enclose, between adjacent groups, open (nonlooped) areas, whereby when the fabric is placed against a surface, isolated insulating pockets of air are enclosed at their sides by walls of loops, of adjacent groups, and at their faces by the textile base of the fabric and the said surface respectively.

Preferably the looped pile is arranged on both sides of the fabric with the non-looped spaces on one side coincident with a group of pile loops on the other.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan to a large scale of part of the central area of a blanket made in accordance with the present invention with one corner turned back.

FIG. 2 shows diagrammatically an end portion of the blanket shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a weaving diagram for one part of the blanket.

FIG. 4 is a weaving diagram for another part of the blanket.

FIG. 5 is a warpways section through 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a warpways section through 6--6 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a section showing the blanket between two opposed surfaces.

As shown in FIG. 1, the rectangular areas which have groups of terry loops 10 on one side are plain on the other. Such rectangular plain (non-looped) areas 11 are effectively enclosed by the walls of the surrounding four areas of groups of pile loops assisted at the corners by the spready of the pile loops.

As shown in FIG. 2, the end of the blanket is formed with a transverse plain (non-looped) strip 12, a one-sided pile loop strip 13 and plain (non-looped) strip 14. A loop-surfaced hem is formed by turning over and securing by sewing along the line 15 through the plain (nonlooped) areas 12 and 14.

The weaving diagrams and sections of FIGS. 3 to 6 show the pile warp threads 16 and ground warp threads 17, arranged in pairs.

In order to illustrate a suitable relative stiffness for the pile and ground structure or textile base, the following detailed example is given.

The loops may be made from the yarn of regular diameter, number 6 cotton counts, spun with 7 /2 turns of twist per inch from American type cotton fibre. The ground structure or textile base may be made from cotton yarn number 12 cotton count in warp and weft. In the loom, loop yarn and ground warp are arranged in pairs and one row of loops is formed for every three shots of weft. The thread spacing is arranged to provide blocks or tufts of 16 loops together within a space 0.15 inch by 0.30 inch and these tufts alternate from one side of the ground cloth to the other giving an overall thickness of 0.26 inch. This relationship of loop yarn diameter and loop spacing provides a firm resilient pile which remains substantially constant in depth throughout washing processes and wear. Wide plain (non-looped) margins (not shown) may be woven integral with the patterned cloth, or attached to it after weaving, to provide a tucking strip along each side of the blanket and even along the ends of the blanket for tucking under the mattress of a bed. These tucking strips being relatively smooth and thin, ease the labour of bed making and reduce the total weight of the blanket without affecting its heat-insulating properties.

A blanket or rug for a bed, made according to the invention may be dyed or contain coloured threads, for example, in the ground weave and may be made up to any required size by sewing together several panels of smaller or towel size, preferably made to provide the required plain (non-looped) margin or folded loop-surfaced hem aforesaid, or may be woven as a single piece in a broad loom.

It will be appreciated that a loop-pile weave consists essentially of a ground or base fabric of textile mate rial which carries the pile loops on one or both faces, either overall or in pattern formation. In the present invention the base fabric which forms the basis of the weave provides a layer if pile-looped on one face or an interlayer if pile looped on both faces of relatively closely woven fabric which prevents the flow of air by convection currents, such as develop in cellular blankets and the dentilated surfaces when laid together or against a sheet or coverlet form a layer of air pockets providing high heat insulating property. FIG. 7 shows the blanket located between a coverlet 18 and a sheet 19.

Although cotton looped-pile fabric is well known for towels and for beach wraps or so-called sweat shirts, its use as such is primarily to take advantage of its waterabsorbent properties, and although it has been suggested to use plain unpatterned looped-pile fabric as a blanket or rug, it has not been realised hitherto that an effective cellular insulating layer at least equal to that producible by leno weaving as in normal cellular blankets and which does not consolidate or diminish appreciably in its effectiveness as a heat insulator even after many washings, can be formed by the right choice of surface arrangement of the pile loops in groups and of the structural details of the fabric and its constituent yarns to enclose air pockets when associated with another surface, such as a bed sheet.

A blanket or rug made according to the present invention can be made of cotton or other suitable non-wool fibre, natural or man-made, selection being made according to the importance of other known characteristics such as resistance to stain, resilience so as to keep the 3-dimensional fullness and dentilation of its looped face, resistance to heat such as boiling or other treatment to which it may have to be subjected.

With plain (non-looped) margins, the blanket is more easily tucked in for a bed and gives less bulk at the tuck-in and the provision of plain (non-looped) margins at the ends also has similar advantages. The folded single sided looped areas in the hemmed ends of the rug make a soft looped pile edge which is more suitable for the purpose of a rug than a plain (non-looped) hem would be.

I claim:

1. A heat insulating textile fabric particularly adapted for use as a blanket for bed clothing, comprising a closely woven textile base having a looped pile on both of its faces, said loops being arranged in a multiplicity of groups, each group containing a plurality of closely adjacent individual loops defining a firm resilient pile adapted to remain substantially constant in depth, said groups being so arranged on the textile base that they define a dentilated surface having a plurality of relatively small non-looped areas surrounded by looped areas, whereby when the fabric is sandwiched between two other surfaces a layer of heatinsulating air pockets is formed on each side of said textile base between it and the adjacent one of said other surfaces, the textile base serving to prevent flow of air by convection from one layer of air pockets to the other.

2. A textile fabric as defined in claim 1, wherein the groups of loops on one side of the textile base are offset from those on the other, with each group coincident with a non-looped area on the other side.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 441,423 Koch Nov. 25, 1890 509,138 Raab Nov. 21, 1893. 1,749,100 Heiberg Mar. 4, 1930 2,012,184 Cobb Aug. 20, 1935 2,164,848 Wallin July 4, 1939 2,271,281 Whitman Jan. 27, 1942 2,409,580 Mosseller Oct. 15, 1946 2,641,045 Meister et al. June 9, 1953 2,642,571 Brown June 23, 1953 2,986,173 Johnson May 30, 1961

Claims (1)

1. A HEAT INSULATING TEXTILE FABRIC PARTICULARLY ADAPTED FOR USE AS A BLANKET FOR BED CLOTHING, COMPRISING A CLOSELY WOVEN TEXTILE BASE HAVING A LOOPED PILE ON BOTH OF ITS FACES, SAID LOOPS BEING ARRANGED IN A MULTIPLICITY OF GROUPS, EACH GROUP CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF CLOSELY ADJACENT INDIVIDUAL LOOPS DEFINING A FIRM RESILIENT PILE ADAPTED TO REMAIN SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT IN DEPTH, SAID GROUPS BEING SO ARRANGED ON THE TEXTILE BASE THAT THEY DEFINE A DENTILATED

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