CURTAIN HEADING TAPE MANUFACTURE

Abstract: In a novel method of weaving a curtain heading tape with three or more rows of woven pockets (12) on a ground fabric (11), the weft yarns (12b) for two of the rows of pockets (12) are introduced to their respective sheds (52) by the three weft insertion needles (54, 55, 56) from one side of the warp (11a, 12a), and the weft yarn (12b) for the or each other row of pockets (12) is fed separately from the weft yarns (12b) for the two rows of pockets (12) to supplementary weft insertion means (63). In a three needle loom (31, 41) for performing this method, the supplementary weft insertion means (63) may be an extension (56a) to one of the three weft insertion needles (56), or one or more additional weft insertion needles (63a) disposed on the opposite side of the warp (11a, 12a) from the other needles (54, 55, 56).

Description: WO 00/36198 _ -j _ PCT/GB99/01947 CURTAIN HEADING TAPE MANUFACTURE This invention relates to curtain heading tape and particularly to such tape having three rows of pockets for curtain hooks. GB 2 238 800 describes such tapes having three (or more) rows of woven pockets, as opposed to pockets comprised simply of floated warp yams, and proposes a method of producing such tapes on a conventional three needle loom, expressing the belief that looms with more than three needles would be impracticable because of lack of space to accommodate extra needles. One needle is used to insert the ground fabric weft yam, another is used to insert weft yam for one of the rows of pockets, the third needle being provided as a selector with an open notch instead of a closed eye, which, on each pick, engages two (or more) weft yams fed along the warp direction at one side of the warp yams for their respective rows of pockets. The objective of GB 2 238 800 is to produce a curtain heading tape of which the three (or more) rows of pockets (provided for the purpose of allowing adjustment to the exact drop required, by selection of the appropriate row to take the hooks, or to conceal the curtain rail) are equally strong in order adequately to support heavy curtaining. Emphasis is laid on the advantage of the pockets of the respective rows being aligned across the tape, for preservation of the pleating pattern regardless of which row is used for hanging. However, prior art tapes, as described in GB 2 238 800, had pockets that were staggered across the tape in various patterns, and whilst this was a consequence of an inability on the part of the available machinery to produce three rows of aligned pockets, nevertheless there was no particular disadvantage in the staggered arrangement since hooks are only ever inserted at much greater spacing than conventional pocket spacing (3 cm or so) and, in any event, since only one row of pockets is used, and it is the same row whenever curtains are re-hung after cleaning, for example, in practice the preservation of a pleating pattern is of no great consequence. Of greater importance is the requirement for strong, and particularly, non- sagging pockets. The closer the spacing between pockets, the less well is the pocket waφ yam bound into the ground fabric between pockets, and the greater the tendency for the pockets to sag under heavy load, as from lined, high quality curtains. In that regard, the wider the pocket spacing, the better, and there is a further advantage to wider pocket spacing, namely that it is easier and less error-prone to insert curtain hooks, say, every other pocket rather than, say, every seventh pocket. Whilst the method by which the tapes of GB 2 238 800 are made is capable of being carried out on substantially conventional machinery, it is not necessarily an easy method to carry out in practice and in particular the machinery has to be very carefully set up in order a) to be sure of catching the two waφ-fed weft yams with the selector needle and b) to avoid them interfering with each other. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and a machinery modification (no more complicated than GB 2238 800 requires) that avoids this problem, yet that can readily produce tapes having three rows of woven pockets, whether the pockets of these rows are aligned or staggered across the tape. The invention comprises a method of weaving a curtain heading tape with three rows of woven pockets on a ground fabric on a three needle loom, the loom comprising a yam feeding arrangement for feeding waφ yams for the ground fabric and for the pockets and a shedding mechanism for forming waφ yam sheds for weaving the ground fabric and for weaving the pockets; weft insertion means for inserting weft threads for weaving the ground fabric and for weaving the pockets, said weft insertion means comprising three weft insertion needles on a pivotal support that reciprocates them across the waφ yams; and weft yam holding means for holding the weft yams inserted through the various waφ yam sheds as the needles are retracted out of the sheds by reciprocation of the pivotal support and reed means for beating in the weft yams; the method comprising feeding the ground fabric weft from guide means at one side of the waφ; feeding weft yarns for two rows of pockets from guide means at said one side of the waφ; the said ground fabric weft and the weft yams for said two rows of pockets being introduced into their respective waφ sheds by said three weft insertion needles; and feeding a weft yam for the third row of pockets separately from the other weft yams to supplementary weft insertion means. The supplementary weft insertion means may comprise a selector needle extension to one of the said three weft insertion needles, and the weft yam for the third row of pockets may be fed along a path extending in the waφ direction. The supplemental weft insertion means may, however, comprise at least one further weft insertion needle entering the waφ shed from the side thereof remote from the said guide means. The invention also comprises a loom for weaving curtain header tape with three rows of pockets on a ground fabric, comprising a yam feeding arrangement for feeding waφ yams for the ground fabric and for the pockets and a shedding mechanism for forming waφ yam sheds for weaving the ground fabric and for weaving the pockets; weft insertion means for inserting weft threads for weaving the ground fabric and for weaving the pockets, said weft insertion means comprising three weft insertion needles on a pivotal support that reciprocates them across the waφ yams; and weft yam holding means for holding the weft yams inserted through the various waφ yam sheds as the needles are retracted out of the sheds by reciprocation of the pivotal support and reed means for beating in the weft yams; characterised by weft guide means at one side of the waφ for feeding the ground fabric weft yam and weft yams for two of the rows of pockets to the three weft insertion needles; and supplementary weft insertion means for weft yam for the third row of pockets. The supplementary weft insertion means may comprise a selector needle extension to one of the said three weft insertion needles and the loom may then further comprise supplementary guide means guiding weft yam for the third row of pockets along a path extending in the waφ direction. The supplementary weft insertion means may however comprise at least one further weft insertion needle entering the waφ shed on the side thereof remote from the said guide means at said one side of the waφ. The invention also comprises curtain heading tape made by the methods and apparatus of the invention, in which tape the woven pockets of the three rows may be aligned or staggered across the web. Embodiments of looms and methods of weaving curtain heading tape according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figures 1 to 5 are views of the pocket side of a differing embodiments of tape according to the invention; Figure 6 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a three needle loom used in the production of tape as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2; Figure 6a illustrates the weft insertion needle of Figure 6 and two alternative weft insertion needle extensions, and the respective front reeds for the three weft insertion needle extensions illustrated; Figure 7 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a three needle loom according to the invention; and Figure 8 illustrates side views of the reed at beat up and at weft insertion in the looms of Figures 6 or 7. The curtain heading tapes illustrated in Figures 1 to 5 comprise a ground fabric 11 of woven construction with three rows of woven pockets 12. The ground fabric 11 is made of ground waφ yams 11 a and ground weft yams 11b. The pockets 12 are made of pocket waφ yams 12a and pocket weft yams 12b. The pocket waφ and weft yams 12a, 12b are woven into the ground fabric 11 in between pockets 12. The pockets 12 are formed by control of the shedding of the loom. Another, conventional, feature of the tape is the provision of drawstrings 13. In Figure 1, the mutually spaced pockets 12 of each row are aligned across the tape 11. In Figure 2, the pockets 12 are staggered so that at any one lengthwise position on the tape there is only one pocket, and there is a lengthwise spacing between pockets 12 in adjacent rows. While the embodiment of Figure 1 gives more pockets and seemingly, on that account, greater versatility in placing the curtain hooks because each row has more pockets than the rows of the embodiment of Figure 2, in practice, the latter has ample pockets in each row and may actually make the task of evenly spacing curtain hooks when hanging curtains a little bit easier. A primary advantage of the embodiment of Figure 2, however, is that since the spacing between pockets in any row is greater, the anchorage of the pockets in the ground fabric is improved so that the pockets tend to sag less than would be the case with more closely spaced pockets. In Figure 3, the pocket waφ and weft yams 12a, 12b between the open pockets 12 in any row are woven into the ground fabric 11, i.e. bound down, for a length equal to twice the length of a pocket 12. As with the embodiment of Figure 2, this arrangement is suitable for preventing sag in the case of extra heavy curtains. In Figure 4, in each row there are two adjacent open pockets 12 followed by a length equal to the length of a pocket in which the pocket yams 12a, 12b are bound down. This arrangement is suitable for medium weight curtain fabrics. In Figure 5, there is a continuous row of adjacent open pockets 12 suitable for use with lighter curtain fabrics, and two rows for use with heavier curtain fabrics in which the pockets are spaced by bound down lengths equal to the length of the pockets. Figures 6 and 7 illustrate looms 31 , 41 for weaving the curtain heading tape of Figures 1 to 5. The looms 31 , 41 are essentially conventional three needle looms with some modification. The looms 31 , 41 , conventionally, comprise a yam feeding arrangement, not shown but including the usual waφ let-off arrangements, for feeding ground waφ yams 11a for the ground fabric 11 and pocket waφ yams 12a for the pockets 12 and a shedding mechanism, not shown, forming the various waφ sheds 51 (for the ground fabric 11 ) and 52 (for the pockets 12). The looms 31, 41, further comprise weft inserting means 53 for inserting ground weft yam 11b (for weaving the ground fabric 11) and pocket weft yams 12b (for weaving the pockets 12). The weft insertion means, in both looms 31, 41, comprise three weft insertion needles 54, 55, 56 on a pivotal support 57 that reciprocates them across the waφ yams 11 a, 12a. Also conventional are weft yam holding means 58 for holding the weft yams 11b, 12b inserted through the various waφ sheds 51, 52 as the needles 54, 55, 56 are retracted by reciprocation of the pivotal support 57, these holding means 58 being conventionally in the from of latch needles, and reed means 59 for beating in the weft yams 11b, 12b. The problem to be solved in forming three rows of woven pockets using a three needle machine is that one needle weaves the ground fabric, leaving only two needles for pocket weaving. As explained in GB 2238 800, there is too little room for the introduction of a fourth needle on the pivotal support 57. The solution adopted in GB 2 238 800 was to make one needle into a selector needle, i.e. with a notch at its tip in place of an eye, and to feed two of the weft yams in the waφ direction alongside the waφ yams for the pockets in which each of these two weft yams are to be woven, the notch picking up the respective wefts as it passes through the sheds. This approach is, however, very dependent on correctly setting up the loom so that the notch catches the two weft yams unerringly. The solution to this problem, according to the present invention, is to feed the ground fabric weft 11b from ground weft guide means 61 at one side of the waφ to feed two weft yams 12b for two rows of pockets from pocket weft guide means 62 at said one side of the waφ introducing these three weft yams, namely that 11 b for the ground fabric 11 and those 12b for two of the pockets 12, into their respective waφ sheds 51, 52 by all three weft insertion needles 54, 55, 56, and feeding a weft yam 12b for the third row of pockets 12 separately from the other weft yams 12b to supplementary weft insertion means 63. In the embodiment of Figure 6, the supplementary weft insertion means 63 comprises a selector needle extension 56a to the selector needle 56, the weft yam 12b for that third row of pockets 12 being fed along the waφ direction exactly as in GB 2 238 800. With this arrangement, only one weft thread has to be picked up by a selector needle, easing the problems of setting up the loom and reducing the likelihood of missed picks. If more than three pockets are required, alternative forms of selector needle extension 56a as shown in Figure 6a may be used. A respective stop 60 is or stops 60 are provided in the reed 59 to push the pocket weft yams 12b down onto the weft insertion needle 56, 56a, as is illustrated in Figure 8, for ease of pick-up and to further reduce the likelihood of missed picks. In the embodiment of Figure 7, the supplementary weft insertion means 63 comprises an additional needle 63a on an additional pivotal support 57a situated on the opposite side of the waφ from the support 57 for the three conventional needles 54, 55, 56. Whilst this requires an additional pivotal support and drive means for reciprocating the same, it is not a major engineering exercise, merely duplicating the mechanism of the support 57 taking its drive from the main shaft (not shown) of the loom 41 and it avoids the need to use any selector needles and the problems associated therewith. Moreover, the additional support 57a can carry two further needles to make a six woven pocket tape, and further pockets could be added by combining the approaches of Figures 3 and 7 and providing one or more of the needles with a selector extension.

Claims: WO 00/36198 Λ Jt PCT/GB99/01947 - 11 - CLAIMS 1. A method of weaving a curtain heading tape with three rows of woven pockets on a ground fabric on a three needle loom, the loom comprising a yam feeding arrangement for feeding waφ yams for the ground fabric and for the pockets and a shedding mechanism for forming waφ yam sheds for weaving the ground fabric and for weaving the pockets; weft insertion means for inserting weft threads for weaving the ground fabric and for weaving the pockets, said weft insertion means comprising three weft insertion needles on a pivotal support that reciprocates them across the waφ yams; and weft yam holding means for holding the weft yams inserted through the various waφ yam sheds as the needles are retracted out of the sheds by reciprocation of the pivotal support and reed means for beating in the weft yams; the method comprising feeding the ground fabric weft from guide means at one side of the waφ; feeding weft yams for two rows of pockets from guide means at said one side of the waφ; the said ground fabric weft and the weft yams for said two rows of pockets being introduced into their respective waφ sheds by said three weft insertion needles; and feeding a weft yam for the third row of pockets separately from the other weft yams to supplementary weft insertion means. 2. A method according to claim 1, in which the supplementary weft insertion means comprises a selector needle extension to one of the said three weft insertion needles, and the weft yam for the third row of pockets is fed along a path extending in the waφ direction. 3. A method according to claim 1, in which the supplemental weft insertion means comprises at least one further weft insertion needle entering the waφ shed from the side thereof remote from the said guide means. 4. A loom for weaving curtain header tape with three rows of pockets on a ground fabric, comprising a yam feeding arrangement for feeding waφ yams for the ground fabric and for the pockets and a shedding mechanism for forming waφ yam sheds for weaving the ground fabric and for weaving the pockets; weft insertion means for inserting weft threads for weaving the ground fabric and for weaving the pockets, said weft insertion means comprising three weft insertion needles on a pivotal support that reciprocates them across the waφ yams; and weft yam holding means for holding the weft yams inserted through the various waφ yam sheds as the needles are retracted out of the sheds by reciprocation of the pivotal support and reed means for beating in the weft yams; characterised by weft guide means at one side of the waφ for feeding the ground fabric weft yam and weft yams for two of the rows of pockets to the three weft insertion needles; and supplementary weft insertion means for weft yam for the third row of pockets. 5. A loom according to claim 4, in which the supplementary weft insertion means comprises a selector needle extension to one of the said three weft insertion needles and the loom further comprising supplementary guide means guiding weft yam for the third row of pockets along a path extending in the waφ direction. 6. A loom according to claim 4, in which the supplementary weft insertion means comprises at least one further weft insertion needle entering the waφ shed on the side thereof remote from the said guide means at said one side of the waφ. 7. A loom according to any one of claims 4 to 6, comprising a reed for beating in the weft yams, in which at least one stop is provided in the reed to push the weft yams onto the weft insertion needles at weft insertion. 8. A curtain heading tape made by a method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 or by a loom according to any one of claims 4 to 6. 9. A curtain heading tape according to claim 8, in which the pockets of the three rows are aligned across the tape. 10. A curtain heading tape according to claim 8, in which the pockets are staggered so that at any one lengthwise position on the tape there is only one pocket, and there is a lengthwise spacing between pockets in adjacent rows. 11. A curtain heading tape according to claim 8, in which the pocket waφ and weft yams between the open pockets in any row are woven into the ground fabric for a length equal to twice the length of a pocket 12. 12. A curtain heading tape according to claim 8, in which in each row there are two adjacent open pockets followed by a length equal to the length of a pocket in which the pocket yams 12a, 12b are woven into the ground fabric. 13. A curtain heading tape according to claim 8, in which there is a continuous row of adjacent open pockets, and two rows in which the pockets are spaced by lengths, equal to the length of the pockets, in which the weft yams are woven into the ground fabric. 14. A method of weaving a curtain heading tape with three rows of woven pockets on a ground fabric on a three needle loom, substantially as hereinbefore described. 15. A loom for weaving curtain header tape with three rows of pockets on a ground fabric, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 6 or Figure 7 of the accompanying drawings. 16. A curtain heading tape made by a method according to claim 14 or by a loom according to claim 15, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to or as illustrated in any one of Figures 1 to 5.

Inventors: MCGRATH THOMAS FRANCIS, MCGRATH, THOMAS, FRANCIS
Applicants: MACTAPES LIMITED, MCGRATH THOMAS FRANCIS, MCGRATH, THOMAS, FRANCIS
Application year: 1999
Main classification: D03D1
IPC codes: A47H13, D03D1, D03D35, D03D47