Patent ID: 7846214

Claim:
A method of manufacturing dyed carpet comprising the steps of: providing a tufted carpet with cationic and acid dyeable fibers, wherein there is a relative majority of a first fiber selected from the group of cationic and acid dyeable fibers for a first predetermined width of yarns at an upper surface of the carpet, said first predetermined width having an adjacent second predetermined width of yarns wherein the first fiber is not a relative majority at the upper surface of the carpet; utilizing a continuous dying process with a solution of acid and cationic dyes, dying the carpet with at least some of a first dye selected from the group of the acid and cationic dyes in the solution attaching to the relative majority of the first fiber whereby at least some of the acid dye attaches to acid dyeable fibers if acid fibers are the first fiber and at least some of the cationic dye attaches to cationic dyeable fibers if cationic dyeable fibers are the first fiber at the first predetermined width thereby leaving a relatively larger concentration of a second dye of the group of cationic and acid dyes in the first predetermined width whereby at least some of the second dye is at least partially moved parallel to a direction of feed to the second predetermined width adjacent the first predetermined width into receptive second fibers of a predetermined affinity of the cationic and acid dyeable fibers thereby providing an old art dye effect at least an edge of the second predetermined width but not over the entire second predetermined width as the concentration of the second dye at least initially decreases moving away from the first predetermined width across the second predetermined width.