HOOK AND LOOP FASTENING STRUCTURE

Abstract: A female member of a hook and loop attachment structure enables a one to one correspondence between loops and stitches in the knitted structure. The female member comprises individual wales of chain stitches (2) with loops (3), wherein the wales (1) of chain stitches are knitted on a supporting background (14, 15), such that there is a corresponding number of loops to stiches. Each stitch may be associated with a respective loop, or each loop may be attached to two respective stitches. The loops may be formed using a single guide bar, and the wales of chain stitches with loops may be made either with a single yarn or with two yarns.

Description: HOOK AND LOOP FASTENING STRUCTURE This invention relates to a hook and loop attachment or fastening structure. Typically, such structures comprise both male and female components; the male component having a series of hooks, and the female component having a wale of corresponding loops, connectable to the hooks to enable fastening. The present invention is particularly concerned with the female component of the structure. In our earlier US Patent No 4,624,116 there is described a warp knit, weft inserted fabric which can be employed as the female component of a securing means. The disclosure in that document provides for open lap loops, formed by the front bar of a knitting machine, which project upwardly from the fabric on every second stitch. An object of the present invention is to provide a female member of a hook and loop attachment structure which enables a 1 to 1 correspondence between loops and stitches in the knit structure. Similarly, it is intended to show a female member wherein there is a loop formed at each stitch of the background fabric. A further object is to form the loops using only a single loop bar. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a female member of a hook and loop fastening or attachment structure comprising individual wales of chain stitches with loops, wherein the wales of chain stitches are knitted on a supporting background, characterised in that there is a corresponding number of loops to stitches . Optionally, each stitch is associated with a respective loop. Alternatively, each loop may be attached to two respective stitches. Optionally the background structure may be a regular warp knitted fabric. Alternatively it may be a weft insertion warp knitted fabric. A further alternative is that the support background may be of a non-woven material or a film material. According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for producing a female component of an hook and loop fastening structure as described above wherein the loops are formed using a single guide bar. The wales of chain stitches with loops may be made with a single yarn or with two yarns. In order to portray a better understanding of the intended invention, embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures, in which: Figures 1 to lc are schematic representations of a novel loop pile using a single yarn; Figure 2a is a point diagram of the action of the guide bar of a knitting machine to produce the embodiment of Fig 1 with a closed stitch construction; the Arrow A indicates the needle making the chain stitches 2 on Figure 1; Figure 2b is a point diagram of the action of the guide bar of a knitting machine to produce the embodiment of Fig 1 with an opened stitch construction; the Arrow A indicates the needle making the chain stitches 2 on Figure 1; Figures 3 to 3c are schematic representations of a further novel loop pile using two yarns; Figure 4a is a point diagram of the action of the guide bar of a knitting machine to produce the embodiment of Fig 3 with a closed stitch construction; the Arrow A indicates the needle making the chain stitches 5 on Figure 3; Figure 4b is a point diagram of the action of the guide bar of a knitting machine to produce the embodiment of Fig 3 with an opened stitch construction; the Arrow A indicates the needle making the chain stitches 5 on Fig 3; Figures 5a and 5b are point diagrams of the action of a guide bar of a knitting machine to produce the embodiment of Figure lc; Similarly Figures 6a and 6b are point diagrams of the action of a guide bar of a knitting machine to produce the embodiment of Figure 3c; Similarly Figures 7a to 7d are point diagrams of the action of a guide bar of a knitting machine to produce a two yarn loop pile with alternating closed and opened stitches; Figure 8 shows a weft insertion warp knitted fabric having vertical spaced apart bands, the bands alternatively being with and without chain stitches with loops. Referring firstly to Figures 1 to lc and 3 to 3c, chain stitches 2 on a wale 1 are each associated with respective loops 3. The loops 3 are upstanding and provide a female connecting means to a male member comprising engageable hooks (not shown) . The loops may be made from a specific yarn using a single guide bar. The wale, in use, would typically be supported on a background, which may be a knitted fabric as referenced 14 in Figures la and 3a, or a film or other non-woven material as referenced 15 in Figures lb and 3b. Where a film or non-woven material was employed the wales would preferably be stitched through the background material. Notably in Figure 1 the loops 3 are made on the front side of the chain stitches 2. The front side is opposed to the back side or technical side for a knitted fabric and in Figure 3 the loops 4 are made on the front side of the chain stitches 5. Having regard to the embodiments of Figure 1, Figures 2a and 2b demonstrate how either closed stitches or opened stitches may be used. In Figure 2a the pattern wheel of the front bar of a knitting machine is set to knit a 1-3, 2-0 closed stitch. In Figure 2b the pattern wheel of the front bar of a knitting machine is set to knit a 3-1, 0-2 opened stitch. Figure 3 illustrates an alternative embodiment wherein two yarns are employed Yl, Y2. In the embodiment shown each loop 4 extends from two underlying chain stitches 5, there still being a corresponding number of loops 4 to stitches 5. Figure 4a shows a point diagram for the embodiment of Figure 3 using a stitch notation of 1-0/2-3 to form a closed stitch. The stitch notation could alternatively be 0-1/3-2 forming an opened stitch structure as illustrated in Figure 4b. For the one yarn loops as showed in Figure IC it is possible to increase the height of the loops by having a bigger movement around the needles as shown in Figures 5a and 5b. In figure 5a the pattern wheel is set to knit at 5-2/0- 3 for opened stitches. In figure 5b the pattern wheel is set to knit at 2-5/3- 0 for closed stitches. For the two yarns loops as shown in Figure 3C it is possible in the same way to increase the height of the loops 3, that is by having a bigger movement between needles is shown in Figures 6a and 6b. In Figure 6a the pattern wheel is set to knit at 1-0/3-4 for closed stitches. In Figure 6b the pattern wheel is set to knit at 0-1/4-3 for opened stitches. For the two yarn loops it is also possible to alternate closed and opened stitches at each row or at different rows as shown in Figures 7a, 7b, 7c and 7d. A preferable support background for the embodiment of Figure 3 is a weft insertion warp knitted fabric as shown in Figure 3a. In this embodiment another guide bar is used to add chain stitches without loops . In constructing the female component of the securing or attachment means, the guide bar preferably carries textured polyester, while the knitted support background yarn may be flat polyester. The weft insertion yarn may be textured polyester. The present invention is not so limited however, and multifilament flat yarns and monofilament could also be used in any type of material. To avoid de-knitting an additional yarn can be employed, using an additional guide bar, to simultaneously form other chain stitches with the same needle making the chain stitches with loops (A) . The additional bar should not work with the needles making the loop piles. With the invention it is possible to vary the number of wales of chain stitches with loops. It is also possible to vary the size of the stitches without compromising on the performance of the loops. An advantage of the invention is that it permits increased formation speed or increased loop density in a given fabric area, thereby substantially improving the performance of the Tricot and Raschel knitting machines . In Figure 8 a weft insertion warp knitted fabric 50 is provided with vertical bands XI, X2 , X3 alternatively with and without chain stitches with loops . The support background may also be of a non-woven of film material . The support background 50 has vertical bands X made with certain number of chain stitches with loops 10. The vertical bands X, XI, X2 in the way of warp, could have the same at different widths by changing the number of chain stitches with loops per vertical band. Each vertical band of loops is made with consecutive chain stitches with loops obtained with yarns threaded on the same guide bar on a warp knitted machine, or on weft-insertion warp knitted machine, with or without non-woven or film stitched through with a non woven or with a film as support background. The chain stitches with loops stitched through the support do not need additional yarn from another guide bar in warp and also do not need weft yarn - but it's possible to have both warp and weft or only the warp or only the weft in addition. Preferably, a precise threading is provided to obtain the vertical band of loops. By way of example, the following threading sequences are given: - with the pattern wheel set to knit as shown in Figures 2a and 2b, the threading; 1 in, 2 out may be used. - with the pattern wheel set to knit as shown in Figures 4a and 4b, the threading: 2 in, 1 out may be used. - with the pattern wheel set to knit as shown in Figures 5a and 5b, the threading: 1 in, 4 out may be used. - with the pattern wheel set to knit as shown in Figures 6a and 6b, the threading: 2 in, 2 out may be used. Further modifications and improvements may be incorporated without departing from the scope of the invention herein intended.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A female member of a hook and loop fastening or attachment structure comprising individual wales of chain stitches with loops, wherein the wales of chain stitches are knitted on a supporting background, characterised in that there is a corresponding number of loops to stitches. 2. A female member of a hook and loop fastening or attachment structure as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each stitch is associated with a respective loop. 3. A female member of a hook and loop fastening or attachment structure as claimed in Claim 1, wherein each loop is attached to two respective stitches. 4. A female member of a hook and loop fastening or attachment structure as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, wherein the background structure is a regular warp knitted fabric. 5. A female member of a hook and loop fastening or attachment structure as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3 , wherein the background structure is a weft insertion warp knitted fabric. 6. A female member of a hook and loop fastening or attachment structure as claimed in any of one of Claims 1 to 3 , wherein the support background is a non-woven material or a film material. 7. A method for producing a female component of a hook and loop fastening structure as described above wherein the loops are formed using a single guide bar. 8. A method as claimed in Claim 7 wherein the wales of chain stitches with loops may be made with a single yarn or with two yarns.

Inventors: TERNON GERARD LUCIEN ROGER, TERNON, GERARD, LUCIEN, ROGER
Applicants: MILLIKEN FABRICS S A, TERNON GERARD LUCIEN ROGER, MILLIKEN FABRICS S.A., TERNON, GERARD, LUCIEN, ROGER
Application year: 1997
Main classification: A44B18
IPC codes: A44B18, D04B21