Patent GB-1208025-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in stretchable anchor tape
IPC: A41F11/16
Filed: 1967-11-13
Abstract: 1,208,025. Stockings. WYOMISSING CORP. 13 Nov., 1967 [14 Nov., 1966], No. 51432/67. Heading A3V. [Also in Division B2] Articles of clothing, e.g. stockings, are provided with gripping means in the form of a stretchable anchor tape comprising a strip of elastic fabric having substantial stretch and recovery in at least the longitudinal or transverse direction, and a plurality of discrete, spaced-apart longitudinal substantially air-impermeable beads of an elastomeric material having stretch and recovery at least as great as the stretch and recovery of the strip, the material having a drying and/or curing temperature which is above 40‹C. but below the degradation temperature of the fabric, each bead being physically bonded to the strip by being dried and/or cured in situ upon the strip to provide an exposed smooth skin thereon, the fabric strip beneath and on either side of each bead being air-permeable to permit breathing of the tape, the beads being relaxed and unconstricted along their length when the strip is substantially relaxed. The tape is made by fabricating a strip of the air-permeable elastic fabric, depositing in a fluid state an elastomeric material in a plurality of beads extending longitudinally upon one surface of the strip and controlling the viscosity of the fluid material relative to the openness of the fabric construction of the strip and the tension condition of the strip to ensure physical bonding of the elastomeric material to the surface of the strip without substantially penetrating into the body of the strip to maintain air permeability of the fabric beneath and on either side of each bead, drying the material to dry each bead into self-sustaining form while the fabric strip is substantially relaxed, and thereafter curing the dried material to provide on each bead an exposed substantially smooth skin and an elongation and recovery in each self-sustaining bead at least as great as the predetermined stretch and recovery of the elastic fabric. The elastomeric material may be a whipped neoprene latex. The strip may be a warpknitted fabric of covered rubber yarns, the rubber being a heat-resistant compound. The beads may be bonded to the fabric in straight lines parallel to the free edge of the tape. A series of laterally-spaced longitudinal beads may be intersected by a plurality of transverse beads to form a lattice. The tape may be sewn in the form of an endless loop adapted to encircle a portion of the body, the beads being coextensive with the circumference of the loop. The elastic fabric may be composed of elastomeric yarns having a core of stretchable elastomeric material and a covering of fibrous textile material upon the core. The strip may be constructed with a zone of fabric extending throughout its length which is stretchable in the longitudinal direction and substantially inextensible in the transverse direction, the beads being bonded to the fabric in the zone. The strip may include a second zone of fabric, spaced from the beads, which is stretchable in both the transverse and longitudinal directions to relieve transverse stress upon the beads.