Patent Publication Number: US-2011059288-A1

Title: Flannel sheeting fabric for use in home textiles

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to development of an alternative to traditional cotton flannel used in home textiles; specifically to the development of a warp knit fabric of various polyester fiber deniers and the special unexpected and useful properties that this fabric demonstrates in comparison to cotton flannel used in the same home textiles products. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The standard and traditional cotton flannel is created by weaving a tightly spun cotton yarn in yarn sizes of NE 16-24 in the warp position with a soft twist cotton yarn in yarn sizes of NE 8-12 placed in the weft position. When woven, this allows soft twist yarns placed in the weft of the fabric to be held in place by tightly spun warp yarns. This is done to allow the softly twisted weft yarns to be napped or torn on the surface by a raising/brushing machine. The resultant napped, or brushed, surface is the ‘flannel’ effect. This conventional flannel product has always suffered from the following cotton and manufacturing related issues: it shrinks, as the yarns are not stable; it wrinkles, as the yarns are delicate, and it pills, as the surface is composed of broken cotton fibers which are loosely held together in a traditional or slightly modified version of a 1×1 woven design of 1 warp yarn over 1 weft yarn. 
     Over the decades, much research and work has been done in the field of textile manufacturing to devise improved methods of producing a more stable flannel home textile fabric. These have included the use of better cotton, better spinning techniques, additions of ‘fixative’ chemicals, and mechanical processes to stabilize the end use cloth. However, these have all fallen short of the goal of creating a stable flannel product. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a stable flannel product that does not appreciably shrink, wrinkle, or pill. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Polyester yarns are knit on a warp knitting machine to make a base greige fabric. In a subsequent step, mechanical napping or brushing applied to both sides of the greige fabric. 
     The polyester greige cloth can be dyed and finished prior to being napped on two sides. The fabric has the following useful advantages over cotton flannel: it does not appreciably shrink, it does not appreciably pill, and it does not appreciably wrinkle under standard industry testing conditions and in comparison to cotton flannel. Further, under these same testing conditions, the fabric demonstrates unexpected useful benefits of being stain resistant to acids and alkalis as well as fade resistant to light. 
     In various forms, the fabric of the invention may be used as a bed sheet, a component of a comforter, a component of a mattress pad, a component of a decorative pillow, a component of a feather bed, a component of a window treatment, a component of a blanket or throw blanket, or one from the group consisting of a sheet set, a bed skirt, a sham, drapes, valances, tie backs, curtains, bed pillows, throw blankets, bed blankets, and window treatments, or as otherwise used in the manufacturing and offerings of the home textiles industry. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       An embodiment of the invention is disclosed in the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  is a top plan view of an embodiment of the invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to home textile products that are created from the unexpected benefit of the use of polyester yarns on a warp knitting machine to make a base greige fabric which is then processed, and coupled with the subsequent and novel step of mechanical napping or brushing applied to both sides of this processed fabric. The processing can consist of scouring, bleaching, and/or dyeing and/or printing. The finishing process can be the application of heat and/or mechanically applied tension for length and width stability. An exemplary fabric  10  of the invention is shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     Polyester has been used for decades in the manufacture of cloth and fill. Polyesters are polymers chemically composed of di-hydric alcohol and terephthalic acid. The resulting fiber is generally insoluble, shows resistance to weak concentrations of alkali (consequently, it is not affected by human sweat), and is durable. In the prior art, it is used primarily on conventional weaving and knitting machines for the manufacture of fabrics. 
     In accordance with the invention, polyester yarns may be used with conventional warp knit machinery to manufacture a base fabric which may be subsequently processed to provide a new flannel sheeting fabric for use in home textiles, such as bed linens. The warp knit machinery loops various yarns around each other to create a hybrid fabric which has both knit and weaving benefits. The resultant hybrid fabric created is stable in its undyed, unprocessed, unfinished fabric form (which is commonly known in industry terms for all unfinished fabrics as ‘greige’, or ‘loom state’). 
     Then, fabric dyeing and finishing processes (typically of the type used for cotton flannel) are performed on the fabric. Finally, the novel step of high speed mechanical napping or brushing is applied to both sides of the greige. This sequence of processes produces a two sided raised flannel effect on a wide width cloth that does not appreciably shrink, wrinkle, or pill. 
     In a preferred form, the warp knit machinery is conventional, such as a made by Karl Mayer of Germany. The size of the yarn in the base of the fabric is 50 D×48 F (denier/filament). The face of the fabric is 75 D×144 F. The D (denier) refers to the size or thickness of the polyester yarns as measured by a constant of #1 D is 1 gram equals 9000 meters, #2 D equals 9000 meters in 2 grams, etc. The ‘F’ refers to the number of filaments of this particular yarn which arises from both the number of spinnerets used in the manufacturing of this synthetic yarn and the rate of speed at which the solution is being pumped through the machine. The filament is matched to the denier to create an end use yarn for specific properties of texture and drape. The gauge or courses of the warp knit machinery is 7×570 threads per 280 cm. Dyeing and finishing is conventional (for cotton and synthetics). Finally, the fabric is napped using planetary napping rollers, 4 times on the face and 2 times on the back. 
     The resultant fabric satisfies the need for a home textile flannel sheeting fabric material that does not appreciably shrink, pill, or wrinkle. 
     Although the foregoing embodiments have been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, the invention is not limited to the details provided. There are many alternative ways of implementing the invention. The disclosed embodiments are illustrative, and not restrictive.