Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1 3 1 ~363
TI TLE
NEW PC)LYESTER FIBERFILL
A~ rl~LD
Thi~ inventlon concern~ n~w polyester fiborill
cont~ining ~ultiple cont$nuvlls voidc ~l~nq tho length of
the fil~ment~, ~nd proc~Ge6 ~or lt~ pr~p~ra1;~0n ~nd lt~
uce, ~nd arti~le6 ~illcd w~th ~uch new ~lber~E111.
~CXGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Polye~ter 1berflll ~60D~ti-nos r~err~d to ~
polye~ter iber~ terl~l ~ h~6 become well accept~d
a~ a rea onably ~nexpen6iv~ f~ g ~nd/or ~n~ulat~rlg
m~teri~l fc,r pillow8, cu~hi~rl~ ~nd oth~r ~urn~h~ng
~ateri~ ncluding bedding ~21t~rl~ nd ~n ~pp~rel,
and is ~anugactured and used ~n large qu~n~t~e~
3.5 commerc~ally~ Orig~nally, ~, w~th other p~lyeæte~ f~ber6,
601id ~ib~E o~ round cro~s-~ectiQn ~ere u~d, be~ng the
t expen~lve fib~rE to ~ake, and ~u~h ~ol~d round
poly~6ter flberfill 1~ ~tili ~d ~o~mercl~lly. ~ome
twenty year6 ago, however, hcllow polyeeter f~berfill wa~
cuggested and u~ed, a8 disclo~ed, e.g. by Toll$ver $n U.S.
: Paten~ No. 3,772,137 And by ~lanz~toff ln G~ P~ten~
No. 1,168,759. ~oll~ver ~how~ a ~i~gle hollo~ cor~ or
eentral ~ontinuou~ l~ngitudlnal ~1d. The pref~rrod 6hape
~f the void was non-round ~n c~o~ ectlon, ~ut ~old~
appr~xlfflately clrcular ~n cro~s-8ectlon w~r~ o
di~lo6ed, and large quantitl~ o~ hollow polyester
~ ~lberf~ll hav~ng ~ingl~ c~n~r~ d6 ~f ~ircular and of
:~ non-round cro~ ec~ion ha~e ~e~n ~anu~ctured ~nd u~ed
~cau~e o~ their greater llghtne~ (lower ~ ty), ~n
3~ ~ontra~t to ~olid $b~r~ and bec~use o~ tbe
~provemen~ in ln~ulatlr3g pow~r, ~nd for other ae~thetic
rea~on~. ~ore r2c~!ntly, there haz ~e~n pr~vided an
i~proved hollow polye~ter ~ibier~l, ch~r~ct~riz~d ~y ~our
equi~ized, ~qui6pac~d, non-rDlund void6 ~round ~ ~olid
axi~l core, 1:he ~ ment cro~,6-~ection h~ving ~
quadrilat~ral per~ph~ral eontour de~ined by four flattened
~-4335 ~,
.~ .
131~368
6ides ~nd ~our rounded corner~, in conjunction with a
s~w~toothed type of crimp c~nfiguration and ~ clickening
agent, to provide hi~h bulk and hagh bulk durability with
improved ~ftnes ~ore like th~t of natural down ~illing,
as disclo~ed in EPA2 67,684.
Surpri6ingly, however, de~pit~ the l~prove~ents
thot hav~ been available ~or 6everal y~ar~ ~ro~ the
v~riou~ exi~tln~ configuration~ that h~ve been ~ugge6ted
~nd u~ed commerci~lly for polye~ter ~bcr~ll h~vlng
lQ continuou~ longitudin~l voidsp the new ~nproved polyester
~iberfill, ~ccording to the pre~ent invention/ provide~
adv~ntage6 in contr~6t with ~ach of the Ispec~fic prior
configuration~, con~idered ~eparately, ~s will be evident.
SUMMARY OF THE IN~ NTIt)N
AccDrding to the ~nvent~on, there i~ provided
polye6ter flberfill of denier p~r fila~ent ~bout 5 t~
~bout 2D, ~nd o~ ee~entially sound per~pheral cro~6-
~ection, with ~ le~st 7 continuous void~ of e6~enti~11y
circular cros6-~ection nlong th~ length of ~he ~ila~en~s,
one ~uch void being located essentially centrally, while
the remaining ~oids are of es~entiHlly the saD~e ~ize as
e~ch ~ther and ~re eE;~entially equa}ly ~p~eed ~round the
central void ar~d ~r~m the centr~l v oid ~nd fro~n the
periphery of 'che ~ila~nent. ~ccording to one e~bodi~entt
all void~ ~re pr~erably o~ es~entially the ~ ze and
#~senti~lly equally ~ipaced ~ro~ adjacent void~ nd 60
constitute eJ~ctly 7 $n nu~ber, in ~ hex~gonal p~cking
arrange~erlt with a centrAl vc~id and 6 outer vcid~ ~t the
points of ~ hexagon, ~ w~ll be part~oularly $11~!s~rated
and di~u~6ed hereinafter.
~t i6 al~o contempl~ted, however, th~t the
centr~l vo~d may be somewhat larger in ~ro . ~-~e~tion th~n
the outer voi~, which l~tter ~re sub~'canti~lly equisized
~nd equispaced from eaeh other, ~nd ~r~ o equ~lly
~p~ed from lthe periphery o t!h~ cen~r~l vsld, ISo a6 to
pr~vide the ~dvan1:aqe~ of a larger central void; a~cording
:
2-
~3~368
to this embodi~ent, the outer voids are preferably
cymmetri~ally arranged and constitute ~n even number,
e~peei~lly B, ~king a t~tal of 9 void~ with the central
void.
~he pre~erred ~otal v~id c~ntent will gen~rally
be ~bout B to ~bout 25% (by ~r~a, ~a~ur~d on th~ cros6-
~ect$on of the polye~ter f~la~ent~, on ~verag~).
A~ i~ known in the art, and di~scu6~ed
herein~fter, the provi~ion of cri~p in p~lye~ter fiberfill
1~ extremely ~portant in prov~dinq bulk, or loft, an~
with regard to it~ durability, and the ~ri~p frequency i6
pre~erably about 4 to about 12 crimp~ per ~nch,
corre~ponding approxlmately to ab~ut l.S to about S cri~ps
per ~m.
lS rhe f~berf~ll is pr~ferably 61ickened w~th
durable ~l~ckener~
According to the invent~on, th~re are al~o
provided proces6ec for preparing 6uch new polyester
fiberfill and precur60r ~ilament~, a~ descrlbed
hereinhfter ~nd filled furni~hing and app~rel article~
that are filled with 6uch new p~lyecter fiberfill,
; ~ncludiny ~uch ~rticle~ ~illed with ~uch n~w polye~ter
fiberfill ~lone or blended with other filllng ~aterial6.
~RIEF DESCRIPTION OF TH~ DRAW ~G~
Figure 1 i~ a photo~icrograph of cro~ e~tion~
~ of typical poly~ster ~iberf~ ment~ ~cording to one
; embodi~ent o~ the precent ~nvent~on.
; Figure 2 i~ ~n enl~rg~d v~ew of ~ ~pi~neret
: orifice ~uitable or ~elt 8pinn~ng polye~ter fiberfill
filament6 ~ ~hown $n Figur~ 1.
Figure 3 i~ a repr~entation of a cro~6-~ection
of another embodi~nt c th~ inventi~n.
DETAI~D DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTlON
__
- ~ believe tha~ the e~ential el~ment~ o~ the
lnve~tion ar~ the number and arranq~m~n~ of the ~ultiple
~ont~nuou~ void~ along the length o~ ~he ~oun~ ~1~m~nt~,
: . -3-
1 3 1 ~368
~nd contribute to improve~ent~ ~er those that have been
~uggested or used for polyester ~iberfill hitherto. One
can ~peculate th~t so~e, at lea~t, o the advant~ge~ c~n
be explained, ln retrospect, by 2n~10gy with ~nd
S co~parison with prior ~rt configur~ti~n6/cro~c-~oct~on~,
but thi6 co~binatlon ~f element6 i~ believ~d new, ~n~f~r
as poly~t~'r fiberfill is conc~rned. I b~ ve the ~ound
periphery i~ of i~port~n~e. I beli~ve th~t the loc~tion
o~ a void ~entr~lly, i.e. ~x$~11y, i~ i~portant; polyester
fiberfill ~ccording to the invention has thi~ ~eature in
c~mmon with the e~rlier 6ugy~ti~n by ~oll$ver; polye~ter
fiber~ill of ~y lnvention i~, however, d.isting~i~hed from
T~lliver's con~iguration by the provicion of ~u~tiple
e~sentially p~rall~l v~ld~, w~ere~6 T~ er provided ~nly
a cingle void. In contra~t, ~PA2 67,684 provided ~ultiple
essenti~lly parallel v~id~ (4 $n nu~ber), and thereby
deriYed ~ertain i~prove~ent~ in co~p~ri~on with the
p~lye~ter flberfill of ~olliver, containin~ Dnly ~ ~ingle
axially-located void; the polye~ter ~iberfill ~f
EP~2 67,684 i6 di~tin~ui6hed in 6everal re~pect~, namely
being of e~entially quadrilater~l peripheræl cro~-
section, h~ving a 601id axi~l o~re ~nd only 4 continuou~
parallel void~ that are them~elve~ non-round and only ~n
the corner~, vr lobes, of the qu~drilater~ 5 will be
noted hereinafter, the polye~ter f~berfall of ny ~nv~ntion
~ke po~sible ~n ~provement in cri~p conf~gurat~on that
i~ belie~ed ~ore diff~cult, ~nd p~ibly even l~pr~ctical
to ach~ev~ w~th thi~ prior ~rt polye~ter ~iber~
~lthough ~y ~nv~ntion ~ not l~lted by ~ny
theory of cperat~on, or any ~pecul~ted rationallzation, in
view o~ the ~any ~ao~orc involved ~nd 8 6~ill i~per~ect
und~r6tanding of tbe re~60n~ for the improvements, one ~ay
6peculate that the ~ultiple void~ with one central void of
the eonfi~uration of the pre~ent ~nvention provid~ better
~r~h r~ tance, ~n the 6en~e ~f per~itting ~ hig~r
6tiffn~6~ ~or the ~a~e void content, ~nd one ~n ~urther
1 3 ~ ~368
~pecul~te that, after crimping, the cri~p configuration
providec more r~unded eorner~, as opp~6ed to a ~n~re caw-
t~othed or 6h~rp e~rnered erlmp ~onfiguration ~uch a~ ~ay
re~ult from cr~mping prior conf~gu~at~on~ ~Eor polye6t~r
fiberfill having ~i~ilar void eontent, ~nd thi~ ~in
a~60ci~tion with the round peripheral ~ro~ ;ect~on) IQay
acc~unt for better ~ri~tional prope~t$eli ~nd ~r gre~ter
dur~bility during u~e. Thi~ coult!!i 3be el;pecl~lly true for
the c~nfiguration $hown ln F~gure 1, lnvolving ~xactly 7
void6, that ~re equ~zed and equi~p~ed fro~ d~ent
void6, in other w~rd6 ln a hex~gonAl pack~ng arr~nge~nt,
sinee I believe th~ tc provide ~n Opt~ Ua ~tru~ture in
thi~ reg~rd, be~nq ~y~lunetr~c~al, and pre6entillg arl opti~ur~
~trength:weaght (in the ~e~e c~f lightne~ el~t~on~hip~
However, for ~ome appl~cat~ons, lt ~ay prove pre~er~ble to
in~r~se the cize of the centr~l void t~n relati~n to the
outer void~), and thereby derive ~o~ 9f the adv~nt~ge~ of
the large ~entr~l vo$d ~u~ge~ted by Tolliver, ~n
a~ociDtl~n with a ~ult~-void 6tructure; in th~6 r~g~rd, I
believ~ that h cy~metr~c~l arrang~ent provide~
advantæge~; $n othcr word~, e.q., ~s ~hDwn in Figure 3,
8 ~quispaced outer void6 21 arr~nged ~round ~nd oqually
paced ~rom a larger central void 22, ~aking ~ total of 9
e~entially parallel vo~d6 in a ~ila~ent of e6~entially
round peripher~l cro~-$ection 23, ~ay provide ~ert~in
adv~nt~ges, ~t b~ing under6tood that other orrangement~ of
~ultiple void~ around ~ central v~ld ~re pos~lbl~, but
will qeneral}y provide le~s ~ymmetry th~n
hexag~nal-packing ~rrangement.
In pr~n~lple, the technology ~nr ~elt-6pinning
holl~w fil~m~nt~ from polye~ter and o~her synth~ic
polymer6 ha6 lon~ been known ~nd di6closed ln tbe art.
. Bohringer ~nd F. ~oll~nd pre~enteB ~ paper ent~tled
"Development and ~val~ation of Profiled ~ynthetic Fiber6
3~ ~ith ~nd ~i~hou~ Hollow Cor~, Fa~e~fsr~ehung ~nd
~ext~ltechnik g, ~o. 10 ~Octob~r, 1~5~) page~ ~05-416, and
-5-
~ 3 1 ~36~
referred to ~everal other public~tions therein. Although
thi~ publlcat~on s~a~ prl~ar~ly ~ddr~6~ed to provldirlg
nylon filament~, for use in making textile fabrics, e.g.
by knitting, a~ ~ppo~ed to polye~ter ~iberflll for u6e ~15
filling m~teri~l, the came el;~en~ial con~ider~tlon~ ~pply
in~of~r ~ preparation o llollow ~ilament6 ~re ~nc~rned.
Neverthele6s, al~chough ~evsr21 ~ulti-hole fila~@nt6 ~re
~hown, wi~h 6pinner~t de~ign~ for obtain~ng ~uoh ~ulti-
hole filaments, thi~ public~t~on (in ~o~!non with ~veral
oth@r~) did not di~clo~e ~ny wny to aak~ a coni~igurat~on
~ccording ~o the pre~ent ~r~vent~on ~ith ~ c~n'crAl void
having ~ tot~l of ~t least 7 void6~ ~n an es~entially
round fila~nent. Con ~derable di~ iculty and exten~ive
experilDentation was nece~ary ~o acco~pl~h 'chi~ t~slt, ~nd
~'c w~ doubted by ~ome that the ta&~ oould be ~chie~d in
practice because, ~.9., o~ the ~inene6~ o~ the ~ilament6
~nd v~id~ and the well-known pheno~enon o~ p~st-orifice
bulg~ng and be~au~e o~ ~he dif~culty ~nown ~6 aknee~ng~.
" Neverthele6~, thl6 t~sk wa~ ~chieved ~s described
hereina~ter u~in~ a ~pinneret orifice de~ign ~ ~hown in
F$gure 2, in which ~ix ori~i~e~ re arranged (in the
~urf~ce 12 of the ~pinner~t~ ~o that polymer will be
extruded through eaeh orifice and then c~le6~e to fozm a
round ~ilament with 7 void6 e~sentially equi-~zed and
~5 equi-~p~ced ~6 ~hown ln Figure l. Alth~ugh, $n
retrospect, thi~ de~ign doe~ follow the generDl prineiple~
~ that have al~eady been outlin~d ~n ~he ~rt, a~ ~ention~d,
:~ conGider~bl~ e~for~ and experi~ent~tion w~ nece~ary
before it wa~ pos~ibl~ to ach~eve round ffl~lti-hole
polye~ter fil~ment~ with ~ central void according t~ ~y
~nvention~
Apart f~om th~ form3tion o~ tbe polye~ter
fil~ent~ having th~ particul~r con~iguration accordiny to
my inventlon, ~he v~riou~ 6~ep~ in the ~anu~ac~ure of the
l1~ment~, including preparation of the poly~er, ~nd the
proce~sing of th~ filament~, their ~onver6ion ~nto ~taple
131~36~
--7-
-fiber, and the handling of the fiberfill and its use as filling material in the preparation of
articles such as pillows and other filled articles, such as cushions, or formation into quilts,
including quilted articles, including garments, may be ca-rried out according to known
5 procedures, as described in the prior art referred to herein and elsewhere. As explained,
poly(ethylene terephthalate) is generally preferred as the polyester polymer, on account of its
commercial availability and cost, and a relative viscosity will be selected appropriately in
conjunction with processing conditions, to provide the desired configuration that is the
essence of the present invention. A chain-brancher may be used, as described, e.g. in
copending Application Serial No. 014,246 filed February 11, 1987, by Broaddus et al. ~/
As indicated, it has long been known and commercially practiced to "slicken"
polyester fiberfill by use, e.g., of polysiloxane slickening agents, as taught for example by
Hoffman U.S. Patent No. 3,271,189, Mead et al. in U.S. Patent No. 3,454,422, Ryan U.S.
Patent No. 3,488,217, Salamon et al., U.S. Patent No. 4,146,674, and Takemoto Oil & Fat
Co., Ltd., Japanese Published Patent Application 58-214,585 (1983). Polysiloxane and/or
other slickening agents are used to improve the aesthetics of polyester fiberfill, and use of
such slickener is preferred for some purposes according to the present invention. Non-
silicone slickeners, as disclosed in copending Canadian application No. 549,793, filed by
Marcus on 1987 October 20, may prove advantageous for some purposes. Slickeners are
preferably "cured", e.g. by heating, onto the filaments, so as to improve their durability, for
most purposes.
In this regard, reference may be made to the ~ollowing Example, which further
illustrates my invention.
EXAMPLE
Filaments are spun from poly(ethylene terephthalate) of relative viscosity of 20.4 (as
measured
1 31 ~368
at 25C fDr 80 ~9 of polymer in 10 ~1 of
hex~luoroi~opropanol containing lQ0 ppm of ~ulfuric ~cid)
~t ~ p~lymer temperature of 291-297C at 900 ypm (B23 mpm)
through a ~pinneret with 28a capillarie~ with a throughput
per capillary of 0.306 lbs./hr. (0.139 ~yO/hr.), u~ng
orifice~ as ~hown in Figure 2. The ~ nt~ grouped
together to for~ a rope (of 914,000 rel~xed dr~wn deni~r).
The rope i~ dr~wn ~n a conventional ~anner, uclng a draw
ratio of 3.46X ~n a hot, wet spray dr~w ~one ~aint~lned ~t
90~C. The drawn filament~ ~re cri~ped ~n a conv~ntional
~tuffer box cri~per o~ a cantile~er type ~3.5 ~n., 8.9 cm.
~ize~ and the cri~ped rope 1~ relaxed in an oven ~t 180CC.
61ickening fini~h cont~ining ~ polyamino~iloxane is
applied to the fila~onts to give about 0.32% ~ilicone
~llds) by weisht on the ~ber, ~nd th~n ~ convent~sn~l
anti~tatic ~verl~y flnl~h o~ a~out 0.07~ by wei~ht. The
fiber~ are cut in ~ convent~on~l ~anner to ~ length of
3.0 in. ~75 ~). The fibers are found to have Bn ~veraqe
total void content cf about 12.3% and a deni~r per
~ilament of about 9. The ~iber6 have a cros6 ~ectlon ~
shown in rigure 1, containing seven ~ontinuou~ void~ which
are parallel, nnd sub~tantially egual ~n 6ize, ~ix being
~ubstantially equ~-~pa~ed ~round the ~venth which form~
the eenter of th~ fiber. The perlphery o~ the ~iber
:: 25 round ~nd ~mooth.
A ~ampl~ (C) of ~imilar denier ~s ~ade
~i~ilarly, ~xcept that it contain~ our p~rall~l
continuou~ void~ with ~ ~olid ~xi~l core, ~nd wlth ~n
average total Yoid content of 17~7~, ~nd ~6 cri~ped to
~bout the ca~e crimp frequency ~nd bulk (xt 0.2 psi)
the 7-hole f~ber, for compar~tive purpo~e~.
Variou~ pro~ertie~ o~ the 7-h~l~ ex~mple (1) ~nd
o~ ~h0 4-hole compari60n ~C) are mea~ured, and are 6et out
~n the ~abl~. It will be no~ed ~b~t the F-F ~rict~on
(~oe~flc~nt of ~lber-~o-f~ber ~ri~t~on) i~ low~r, and
that the bulk at 0.001 p51 ~ 60mewhat bettçr, ~hich ~re
both advantage~u~ and ~urpri~
_~_
1 31 ~3~8
~ th the 7-hole fiber~ cc~rding tD the
invention ~nd the ~-hole co~p~ri~on are processed into
2Q oz. r~lled b~tting pillow~. Shey h~ve 6i~nila~ height~,
~s ~hown in the l~able, but the 7-h~le 2iber pillow
5 6ubjectively ~e~lr s~fter snd mor~ de~irable, both when
fre~hly made ~nd a~ter l~b~ratory-~to~pirlg. ~he 7-hole
~iber ~ee~ to give a ~low2r recovery froll3 eo~pr~lon,
that i6 very de~irable.
TABI,~
Crimp ~R~ ~ulk (~n) F-F ~ w Height ~in)
~te~ Per ~nch . 0~1 p~i . 2 p~i Fri~tion
1- 7-hole 4.B 6.25 0.43 0.203 9.15 a.o7
C- 4-hole 4 . 5 5 . 38 0 . 450 . 219 9 . 09 8 . 22
_g_
