Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
The present invention is directed to an
elastic warp knit fabric con~truct:ion and its meth-
od of manufacture, and, more particularly, to an
elastic warp knit narrow tape or band fabric partic-
ularly suitable for use as a waistband support in
garments.
It is known to employ narrow elastic fabric
bands or tapes having long:itudinal stretchability
and good transverse sta~ ity in the waist portion
of garments, such as skirts, slacks, and pants, to
provide po~itional support of the garments on the
wearer. In such garments, it is desirable that the
elastic band or tape have a high degree of stretch
and elastic recovery in the lo~gitudinal direction
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; to fit waists of varying size and to provide sup-
port of the garment on the wearer. It is also
desirable that such bands be of sufficient width to
be comfortable to the wearer and to have widthwise
stability against rolling, twisting or bending of
the tape in the garment during wear.
Such elastic fabric bands typically consist
of a narrow knitted or woven tape containing elas-
tic yarns, such as spandex or rubber, disposed in
the longitudinal or warp direction and relatively
large and stiff monofilament synthetic yarns such
as nylon, employed in the transverse or weft (fill)
direction to resist the tendency of the tape to
roll or twist on the wearer's waist during use.
Although such tapes can be produced individually on
narrow looms or needle looms, it is desirable for
economy of production, particularly in handling and
finishing, to manufacture the tapes from wide or
full width fabrics from which can be suitably cut
after finishing into individual narrow widths.
~t is recogni~ed that in waistband support
tapes employing relatively large, stiff weft yarns
that there is a tendency for the sharp ends of the
; weft yarns at the outer side edges of the tape to
stick the wearer and be uncomfortable during use.
When such tapes are made by cutting a wide woven
or knit ~abric lnto narrow strips~ the sharp cut
ends of the yarns are often subsequently coated
with a suitable polymeric resin to provide a pro-
3Q tective bead or covering on the cut edges of the
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fill yarns and reduce their roughness during wear.
Typical of Ruch textile fabrics and their produc-
tion are described in U. S. 3,597,300. It can be
appreciated that the additional. coating of the edges
of the fabric bands to protect the wearer from the
rough edges of the stiff wet yarns requires addi-
tional processing ~teps in the manufacturing opera-
tion. Even if the tapes are made individually on
narrow looms or ~mall needle looms, the stiff fill
yarns extending to the outer edges of the ape can
produce discomfort for the wearer.
It i8 an object of the present inventi~n to
provide a narrow ~idth elastic fabric band or tape
construction particularly suited for u~e as an
elastic waist support in garments which overcomes
to a large extent certain of the problems experi-
enced in the prior art.
The invention in one aspect provides a
warp knit fabric of relatively wide
width comprising a plurality of relatively narrow
knit tape constructions positioned in ~ide-by-side
relation across ~he width of the fabric and joined
at their side edges by a removable yarn, each narrow
tape cons~ruction ~omprising a plurality of pairs of
relatively inelastic yarns with each yarn forming single
stitches in every course and wale of the tape, a plurality
of relative.ly elastic yarns inlaid in said stitches and
with elastic yarn extending across at least one
wale of the tape from course to course, and a
relatively E~tiff and heavy monofilament yarn in-
laid in the stitches and extending across the tape
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between every course, said monofilament yarn at ~11
times being positioned inwardly of said edges of
the tape construction whereby said monofilament
yarns are effectively covered by the yarns adjacent
the edges of the tape.
More particularly, a typical embodiment of the
present invention is directed to ~he production of
an elastic warp knit fabric band construction hav-
.- ing the desired stretch and elastic recovery in the
longitudinal direction and employing rigid mono-
filament yarns in the wid~hwise direction for
stability against roll, and wherein the ~tiff mono-
filament yarns are effectively maintained within,
- or inside, the side edges of the band to greatly
reduce discomfort to the wearer. The invention al-
so provides a method of producing such warp knit
elastic bands in an economical manner by knitting a
wide width fabric construction from which the bands
can be easily s.epar~ted into individual tapes.
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The warp knit elastic fabric construction of
the present invention comprises a plurality of sets
of relatively inelastic yarn forming a knitted
ground construction, sets of elastic yarns inlaid
therein to provide longitudinal stretch, and a set
of stiff monofilament yarns to provide good trans-
verse dimensional stability against bending or roll-
ing of the tapes during their use. Additionally,
the construction may contain a plurality of covering
yarns, such as textured yarns, to effectively hide
the elastic yarns in the tape construction.
The narrow elastic fabric bands o~ the pre-
sent invention are preferably produced by knitting
a wide width fabric construction which can be econ-
omically finished in wide width form, and whlch
thereafter can be easily separated into the multiple
fabric bands withQut cutting. The elastic band
construction also maintains the relatively sti$f
monofilament yarns inside the side edges of the
band so as to eliminate the necessity of a sub-
sequent edgecoating operation to prevent discomfort
to the wearer during use and to prevent acciden-tal
severing of the fabric during the garment forming
operation.
Other objects and advantages of the inven-
tion w~ll become readily apparent as the specifica-
tion proceeds to describe the invention, in which:
Figure 1 is a top schematic view of the new
and improved knitted elastic waistband fabric;
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Figure 2 is a point diagram of the new and
improved fabric; and
Figures 3-11 are point diagrams of each of
the individual action of the guide bars of the
knitting machine.
Looking now to Figure 1, the fabric 10 is
shown schematically as it comes off the knitting
machine with individual widths 12 of the fabric
being connected together on the knitting machine
by a connecting yarn 14 in order to knit a plurality
of waistband tapes 12 at the same time. In the pre-
ferred form of the invention, each of the tapas 12
are approximately one inch (1") in width and have
a skirt portion 15, ha~ing a width of approximately
one-eighth inch (1~8"), at one side thereof for
reasons hereinafter explained.
The fabric construction shown in Figures 2-11
is preferably knit on a Raschel warp knitting ma-
chine having at least nine guide bars to form the
desired characteristics in the fabric. As discussed
above, a wide width of fabric is knit with each tape
12 encompassing eighteen needles in the course di-
rection with the overall design repeating every
eight courses. Figure 2 is a polnt diagram of the
individual tapes or bands 12 while Figures 3-11 are
point diagrams respectively, of guides 1-9 as shown
in Figur~e 2.
In forming the fabric of the drawings, the
following bar movement patternæ are employed: `
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Bar 1 (Fig. 3) 2-0, 0-2, 2-0, 0-2, 2-0, 0-2,
2-0, 0-2
Bar 2 (Fig. 4) 2-4, 2-0, 2-4, 2-0, 2-4, 2-0,
2-~, 2-0
~, 5 Bar 3 (Fig. 5~ 2-4, 4-2, 2-4, 4-2, 0-2, 4-2,
2-4, 4-2
Bar 4 (Fig. 6) 0-2, 4-2, 0-2, 2-0, 0-2, 2-0,
0-2, 2-0
Bar 5 (Fig. 7) 0-0, 34-34, 0-0, 34-34, 0-0,
34-34, 0-0, 34-34
Bar 6 (Fig. 8) 4-4, 0-0, 4-4, 0-0, 4-4, 0-0,
4-4, 0-0
Bar 7 (Fig. 9) 0-0, 28-28, 0-0, 28-28, 0-0,
28-28, 0-0, 28-28
Bar 8 (Fig. 10) 0-0, 2-2, 0-0, 2-2, 0-0,
2-2, 0-0, 2-2
Bar 9 (Fig. 11) 0-0, 34-34, 0-0, 34-34, 0-0,
34-34, Q-Q, 34-34
The chain stitch 16 formed by bar 1 is a flat
polyester 150 denier yarn which is employed in the
fabric 10 to tie the individual tapes or bands 12
together until it is desired to separate the fabric
10 into the plurality of individual tapes or bands
12.
Tricot stitches 18 of 150 denier polyester
yarns are used for the selvedges of the tapes 12 to
prevent unraveling thereof while lock stitches 20
and 22 oE 150 denier polyester yarn form a divided
warp to provide strength to the fabric, prevent un-
raveling in the warp or wale direction and cover
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for the spandex yarn 24 laid in by the movement of
bar 8. The stitches 20 and 22, respectively are
controlled by the movement of bars 3 and ~.
Bars 5 and 9 lay in yarns 26 and 28 of 150
denier textured polyester yarn between adjacent
courses of the fabric 12 to provide top and bottom
cover for the 800 denier polyester monofilament
yarn 30, also laid in be~ween adjacent courses of
the fabric to provide rig:idity in the fill or course
direction of the fabric while the spandex yarn 24
¦ provides elasticity in the warp or wale direction of
the fabric. Figures 7 and 11, respectively show the
lay in of the cover yarns 26 and 28 while ~igure 9
shows the lay in of the polyester monofilament yarn
by bar 7.
To provide a connecting stitch, bar 6 guides
in the yarn 32 of 70 denier polyester on both sides
of the fabric 12 for interconnection with the chain
stitch 16 which connects adjacent tapes or bands 12
together in the warp or wale dire~tion to form the
fabric 10.
As dis.cussed brie~ly before the monofilament
30 is laid in between adjacent courses to provide
rigidity in the course direction and follows a
sinusoidal path throughout the length of the fabric.
The rigidity of the monofilament prevents the tape
12 from bending when used as a waistband in a gar-
ment since it will be parallel to the standing
position of a person wearing such garment. At the
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same time, the us~ of such a monofilament, if acci-
dentally severed while heing placed in a garment,
will cause discomfort to the wearer of the garment.
This accidental severing of the monofilament usually
occurs where the monofilament reverses direction in
the ~abric ad~acent one end thereof on the side of
the fabric which is sewn to the garment and cut.
To greatly decrease this possibility, this side of
fabric 12, which is the righthand side on Figures
1-11, the monofilament is reversed at a point which
is at a greater distance inward from the edge of
the fabric than the reversal point of the mono-
filament at the other side of the fabric. This
difference in distance is preferably equal to the
spacing between two adjacent needles. To provide
the skirt 15 on this side of the fabric, an addi-
tional selvedge yarn 18 is guided therein by bar 2
so that the reversal point of the monofilament is
inwardly substantially from the edge of the tape 12.
As disclosed in the preferred embodiment,
the tape is basically being knit using three bars,
namely bars 2, 3 and 4 with bars 4-9 laying in yarn
but, obviously, if desired, the tape can be knit
us~ng four bars, namely bars 1-4, with bars 4-~
laying in yarn, as disclosed.
It can readily be seen that a waistband fabric
has been provided which can be manufactured in wide
widths which can be readily separated to provide in-
dividual waistband fabrics that has rigidity in the
course direction and elasticity in the wale direction.
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Although the preferred embodiment of the
invention has been described ~pecifically, it is
contemplated that many changes may be made without
departing from the ~aope or spirit of the invention
and it i8 de~ired t~at the inv~ntion be limited only
by th~ ~copo of the claims.
