Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to creating a guide
line in a mounting tape for a slide fastener. It is often
difficult to sew slide fasteners into garments in a straight
line avoiding misalignment and wrinkles, and it is extremely
advantageous if a guide line is integrally provided in the
slide fastener mounting tape.
Description of the Prior Art:
The prior art is generally cognizant of the
possibilities of obtaining multicolored fabrics by knitting
threads of different materials into a single fabric or by
differentially dying a fabric of one or more types of
thread. This is exemplified in U.S. Patents No. 3,117,052,
No. 3,304,195 and No. 3,843,193. Heretofore, it has been
the practice for guide lines for sewing slide fastener
mounting tapes to be applied in a secondary operation,
such as by printing a guide line on a tape or by attempting
to use a different dye on the guide line than on the rest
of the tape, or, in a woven tape, by using a different weave
pattern in the area where the guideline is to be placed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is summarized in that a method
of making a mounting tape for a slide fastener with an
integral sewing guide line defined therein includes the steps
~,~s
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of knitting a fabric from a plurality of threads of a first
~aterial andat least one second thread of a second material,
and dying the fabric so that the plurality of threads dyes one
shade and the second thread dyes a different shade to create
a visible guide line in the fabric.
An object of the invention is to create a guide line
in a mounting tape for a slide fastener without the need for
any secondary operation of the tape.
Another object of the invention is to create such
a guide that does not affect the properties of the tape.
An advantage of the present invention is that the
width and visibility of the guidelines can be selected by a
judicious selection of the guide line thread.
~ Other objects, advantages and features of the present
invention will become apparent from the foregoing description
and the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF T~E DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a plan elevation view of a slide fastener
including guide lines constructed according to the present
invention.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of one of the mounting
tapes of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a diagram of a variety of knitting
patterns usable with the present invention.
25Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of an alternative
embodiment of one of the mounting tapes of Fig. 1.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Shown in Fig. 1 is a slide fastener indicated
generally at 10, which incorporates therein a variable dye
guideline according to the presen~ invention. The slide
fastener 10 includes a pair of mounting tape 12 and 14 upon
the adjacent edges of each of which is mounted a chain of
slide fastener coupling elements 16 and 18. A slider 20 is
entrained in the chains of slide fastener elements 16 and 18
and is movable up and down thereupon to engage and disengage
the coupling elements of the chains. A respective guide line
22 and 24 is defined on the respective mounting tapes 12 and
14. The guide lines 22 and 24 are used, in this instance,
to aid in the correct installation of the slide fastener 10
in a garment.
A first method of forming the guide lines 22 and 24
is illustrated in Fig. 2 which is a close up ~iew of a fabric
used in one of the mounting tapes 12 or 14. The fabric of Fig.
2 is warp knit having a plurality of warp loop threads 26, 28,
and 30, and a plurality of weft-like warp threads 32, 34, 36,
38, and 40. The fabric is knitted in a conventional manner
on any one of a large number of warp knitting machines well
known to the art. At the time of knitting all the threads
26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 are in an undyed or white
state. Th~ warp loop threads 26 and 30 and the weft-like
warp threads 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 are all of a single type
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of textile material, as for example polyester, while a single
1hread, in this case the warp loop thread 28, is of a second
material, such as acrylic,which has à different dye absorption
characteristic from the first textile material. Sometime
following the knitting of the fabric of Fig. 2, the fabric
is dyed the color desired for the particular application, and
the polyester threads 26, 30,32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 all dye a
relatively dark shade of the dye color while the acrylic warp
loop thread 28 remains white or is dyed a very light shade of
the dye color due solely to the relative absorptioncharacteristics
of the two thread materials. Thus a white or at least a very
light guide line is created in the fabric of Fig. 2 by a warp
loop thread.
The use of the warp loop thread 28 for creating
the guide line results in a guideline that is plainly
visible on both sides of the fabric. If it is desired that
the guideline be partially hidden on one side of the fabric,
so, for instance, it will not show in the completed garment,
it is possihle to utilize one of the weft-like warp threads
as for example thread 36, as the guideline threads. The warp
loop thread 28 would be of a material similar to the other
threads while the weft-like warp thread 36 is of the
different material. Inasmuch as each of the warp threads
26, 28 and 30 passes twice behind the weft-like warp thread
36 during each of their loops and only once in front of it,
the guide line is clearly more visi~le ~rom the front of
the fabric of Fig. 2 than from the back.
Shown in Fig. 3 is a variety of knitting patterns
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that can be used to create a guide line according to the
present invention. The patterns shown in Figs~ 3 a through e
are generally warp loop patterns that create guide lines visible
on both sides of the resultant fabric. The patterns in Figs.
3 f through j show generally weft-like patterns which create
gu~de lines in the fabric visible only on one side of the fabric
or, at least, more visible on one side than the other.
Shown in Fig. 4 is an alternative method for forming
the guide lines of the present invention. A fabric has a plurality
of warp loop threads 42, 44, 46 and 48 and a plurality of weft-
like warp threads 50, 52, 54, 56, 58 and 60 all of a single thread
material such as polyester. The fabric is again knitted in a
conventional manner well known to the art. However, during the
knitting a laid-in guide line thread 62 is laid in the fabric
such that the warp loop thread 46 loops over it and secures it
to the fabric. The laid-in thread 62 is of a second material
having adye adsorption characteristic different from the first,
as for example, nylon. The fabric after being knitted is then
dyed and the laid-in thread 62 dyes to a darker hue than the
remaining threads 42 through 60, due to the generally greater
adsorption of dye bY nylon compared to polycster. The guideline
created by the laid-in thread will be visible only on the front
side of the fabric of Fig. 4 inasmuch as it lies on top of the
weft-like threads 54, 56, 58 and 60 and will therefor be hidden
from the reverse side of the fabric.
An alternative form of the laid-in thread guideline
is also shown in Fig. 4. A laid-in guide line thread 64 is
shown which could be inserted in the knit instead of the laid-in
thread 62. The laid-in thread 64 passes through every loop of
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the warp loop thread 42 and again is only visible on the
t~p side of the fabric.
It is within the scope of the present invention
that a woven tape could incorporate a variably dyed guide
line. A single warp thread of the weave could be of a
different thread material than the remaining threads in
the weave thereby creating a straight guide line after dying
along that warp thread.
It is also within the scope of the present invention
that a wide variety of materials could be used for both the
guide line thread and the threads in the remainder of the
fabric. Table I lists a few of the many possible combinations
of materials used to create the variably dyed guide line.
TABLE
EXAMPLE FABRIC THREAD MATERIAL GUIDE LINE THREAD MATERIAL
1 Polyester(Dacron) Acrylic
2 Polyester Rayon
3 Polyester Cotton
4 Polyester Nylon
Nylon Polyester
6 Nylon Wool
7 Nylon Glass Fiber
8 Polyester Variably dyed polyester
9 Nylon Variably dyed nylon
It is also within the scope of the invention that
non-textile materials could be used for the guide line thread
such as metallic thread or wire.
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It is possible for more than one thread to be used
in a single guideline. Thus a guideline of the width of
several wales could be constructed by using several threads
of the second material. Also it is envisioned that more than
one guideline counld be incorporated into a single fabric. Thus
in the case of a slide fastener mounting tape a variety of spaced
guidelines could be utilized, with each positioned for a
specific porpose, i.e. one guideline for installation in a
skirt, another guideline of the slide fastener is to be
installed in a pair of pants, etc.
Thus by utilizing the present invention, a sewing
guideline is created that will become visible after the
mounting tape fabric is dyed. It is advantageous in that
- the tape can be dyed any one of a variety of colors for the
15 guide line to be visible. The process requires no new
secondary steps in the manufacture of the tape and requires
no degeneration of any of the tape's normal properties. The
width of the guideline and its visibility on one or both sides
of the tape is controllable by the selection of the
20 particular thread for the guideline. Also, the guide line
will inevitably be straight and unerring inasmuch as it is
an element in the knit of the tape and it will therefore also
be immovable.
Inasmuch as many changes and variations in detail
25 are possible within the scope of the present invention, it
is intended that the above description and accompanying
drawings be interpreted in an illustrative rather than a
limiting sense.
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