Hitco, Inc.

Arthur R Campman

Leon Parker

William D Cumming

George K Shibata

Three-dimensional thick fabrics are made from a laminate of fabric plies by first inserting pointed rods through the laminate to form rows of holes after which needles are reciprocated through the different holes to pull loops of various yarns through the holes. The loops of yarns in adjacent holes are interlocked to hold the plies together. A guide releasably clamped to each yarn controls tension in the yarn while a doffing point is employed to insure that the needle passes through a loop just formed when penetrating the next hole to insure interlock of the loops. Hollow circular objects are formed by winding a length of fabric a selected number of times around a form, following which the pointed rods are used to form holes in the resulting laminate with the needles and yarns being used to form the interlocking loops through the thickness of the laminate. Where the hollow circular fabric laminate is of varying diameter, the fabric as woven is taken up by a roller of varying diameter proportioned to that of the form, while the fabric itself is varied in density across the width during weaving thereof by interweaving selected ones of the transverse fill yarns with the longitudinal warp yarns across only a selected portion of the width of the fabric.

Three-dimensional thick fabrics and methods and apparatus for making same

Three-dimensional thick fabrics and method and apparatus for making same

A bias fabric having parallel, spaced-apart yarns oriented .+-.45.degree. relative to the long axis of the fabric is formed by directing one or more pluralities of the yarns back and forth across the width of the fabric and securing the yarns around pins mounted on movable conveyors at the opposite sides of the fabric. Alternatively, the yarns are mounted on strips of film with the film strips being secured to the opposite conveyors. In one preferred embodiment one or more elongated yarn laying units arranged to supply yarns through apertures along the length thereof are cycled laterally between the opposite conveyors as the conveyors are moved at a controlled speed to form a 2-ply fabric, the yarns being wrapped around pins on the opposite conveyors using an adjustable roller arrangement mounted on the shuttle or a plurality of pin mounting rings the alternate ones of which move in unison so as to engage odd and then even numbered yarns in the yarn array. Slotted guides can be used in lieu of pins, with each different guide traversing a width of the fabric with the shuttle and then being mounted on a conveyor to hold the yarns in place. In an alternative embodiment, one or more rapier assemblies traverse the width of the fabric at a 45.degree. angle to lay groups of yarns back and forth across the fabric. Each yarn group is disposed around two different sets of pins on each conveyor to complete the turnaround. The bias fabric is stabilized prior to removal from the conveyors by various techniques including stitching threads along the length thereof, depositing beads of molten plastic along the length thereof, attaching an adhesive coated film or impregnating with and at least partially curing a resin.

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Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Arthur R Campman