Random pleating of fabric

Sept. 9, 1958 h. guenther et al 2,851,206

RANDOM PLEATING OF FABRIC Filed Aug. 3. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1

<img file="US2851206A_D0001.tif" />

Sept. 9, 1958

Filed Aug. 3, 1954

H. GUENTHER ET AL.

RANDOM PLEATING OF FABRIC

2,851,206

Sheets-Sheet 2

<img file="US2851206A_D0002.tif" />

<img file="US2851206A_D0003.tif" />

United States Patent Office

2,851,206

Patented Sept. 9, 1958

2,851,206

RANDOM PLEATING OF FABRIC

Hermann Guenther, Mendenhall, Pa., and Robert C. Sqnier, Newark, Del., assignors to Joseph Bancroft &amp; Sons Company, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of Delaware

Application August 3, 1954, Serial No. 447,614

Claims. (Cl. 223—28)

This invention relates to pleating, crinkling, or ruffling of fabrics. Although, as just indicated, the novel effects obtainable according to the present invention may be described by various different terms, for simplicity in the following description, the term pleating is used.

The invention is especially concerned with a random pleating effect, i. e., a pleating of which the pleats are of random width and also of random length.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an effective and simple method and equipment for randomly pleating fabrics, according to which the pleating operation is carried on continuously during the passing of a fabric web through the apparatus.

It is also an object of the invention to provide for imparting durability to the pleating effect produced so that the pleats will withstand laundering and extensive use over a prolonged period without substantial loss of the original effect.

According to the invention the pleating lines extend transversely of the fabric web, and another object of the invention is the .provision of a method and equipment for varying the size of the pleats in different regions transversely of the fabric web. In one preferred embodiment, the pleats in the region toward one edge of the web are relatively small as compared with the pleats toward the opposite edge of the web, thereby providing a piece of fabric which not only has the pleasing effect which is characteristic of the random pleating of this invention, but which further is especially well suited for use in circular skirts, in which it is desirable to have a more pronounced gathering of the fabric at the edge used at the waistline, as compared with the edge used at the hemline.

How the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained will appear more fully from the following description referring to the accompanying drawings, in which—

Figure 1 is an outline elevational view of certain portions of the equipment used according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken generally as indicated by the line 2—2 on Figure 1, with certain parts omitted for clarity;

Figure 3 is a further enlarged sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the section line 3—3 on Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a plan view of certain parts shown in Figure 3; and

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 but indicating a different condition of operation.

Referring now to the drawings, the numerals 6 and 7 designate the two rolls of a pair of rolls between which the fabric F to be treated is passed.· The rolls are pressed toward each other and thus effect positive feed of the fabric from the entrance to the exit nip thereof.

As best seen in Figures 3 and 5, a pair of doctor blades 8 and 9 are arranged in the exit nip of the rolls and are spaced from each other to define a channel into which the fabric is fed and packed by the rolls 6—7. These doctor blades project from upper and lower plates 10 and 11 which define a continuation of the fabric-receiving channel, the plates 10 and 11 being appropriately mounted on supporting structure including the upright angle members 12 which are arranged one at each end of the rolls.

At the delivery edge of the channel in which the fabric is packed for pleating, a series of yielding discharge gate elements 13 are provided, each of these gate elements being pivotally mounted along an axis 14. The gate elements are adapted to be weighted as by placement of a bar or rod-type weight 15 upon the upper side of the gate.

The fabric is adapted to be heated while it is packed within the pleating channel and for this purpose heater elements are preferably associated with both the upper and the lower plates 10 and 11. Such heater elements are indicated at 16 and 17 on Figures 3 and 5.

As the pleated fabric is delivered from the discharge edge of the pleating channel, it is received on the curved support and guide 18, from which the fabric is drawn into the heater 19 which may be of any appropriate type adapted to heat the fabric and thus fix the pleated finish under slack conditions. For instance the heater 19 may be of the loop or festoon type.

With the foregoing general description of the equipment in mind, attention is now directed to the following description of a typical pleating operation.

An impregnant capable of fixing the pleated effect upon heating of the impregnated fabric is first applied to the fabric web. Such impregnant may comprise any one of a wide variety of materials, for instance melamine type resin materials. Usually such impregnation is effected by application of an aqueous solution of the resin materials, followed by drying the fabric to provide a moist condition. The impregnated and moist fabric is then fed between the rolls 6—7 which feed the fabric into the pleating channel formed between the doctor blades 8—9 and the plates 10—11. In initiating this operation, a board or other member dimensioned to fit the pleating channel is inserted in the channel from the discharge edge thereof, as indicated at B in Figures 1, 2 and 3. The inner edge of this member B serves as a base against which the fabric is packed as it is delivered into the pleating channel from the rolls 6 and 7. In Figures 3 and 5 the fabric is shown within the channel in a somewhat diagrammatic manner. In actual practice the several bends or pleats of the fabric will pack together until the channel is virtually solidly packed with fabric bent upon itself in a somewhat random manner, thereby providing the random pleating effect hereinabove referred to. As the feed of the fabric into the channel progresses the member B is permitted to move edgewise out of the discharge edge of the pleating chanel, and when the channel is completely filled the member B is removed and the operation then continues so long as the feed is continued.

Upon removal of the member B, the discharge gate elements 13 drop down to the position indicated in Figure 5 and thus provide a point of reaction against which the packing of the fabric in the pleating channel will continue. Also as shown in Figure 5, the fabric will of course be continuously discharged between the gate elements 13 and the extreme edge of the lower plate 11. It will be understood that during normal operation the pleating channel is completely filled or packed with the pleated fabric, all the way back into the exit nip between the rolls 6 and 7.

The heater elements 16 and 17 serve to dry the pleated and packed fabric as it advances in the pleating channel. In this connection it is pointed out that the proportions of the pleating channel, especially the width thereof from the exit nip of the rolls to the discharge edge of the chan

2,851,206 nel is preferably sufficient to provide for at least substantially complete drying of the pleated fabric before it is discharged from the pleating channel. This is of importance in ensuring that the pleating effect will be retained during the subsequent handling of the fabric to transfer it to and pass it through the heating or curing oven, such as indicated at 19. Indeed, in some instances, at least a portion of the setting or curing may even take place within the pleating channel.

In a typical case the heater elements are arranged to provide for heating of the fabric within the pleating channel to a temperature of from about 130° F. to about 250° F. Moreover, in a typical installation the pleating channel may have a height of about from Va inch to about % inch, and a width at least as great as about 6 inches, so that the length of fabric in the channel will be something of the order of 20 to 70 times the width of the channel, i. e., the distance from the exit nip of the rolls to the discharge edge of the channel.

The size and sharpness of the pleating effect will vary according to the weight of the discharge gate elements 13 and the weights 15 applied thereto. By increasing the weighting of the gate elements the size of the pleats will on the average be diminished and the sharpness of pleating will be increased.

By sectionalizing the gate elements 13, this weighting may be used at different regions transversely of the fabric web, thereby further accentuating the random effect of the pleating.

In one preferred arrangement, the weighing of the discharge gates is progressively increased from one edge of the fabric web toward the opposite edge thereof, the result of which is to produce a pleating in which the average pleat dimension is greater toward one edge of the fabric than toward the opposite edge thereof, this being especially useful in the production of a pleated fabric for use in a circular skirt as hereinabove mentioned. The difference in pleating or packing pressure in different regions of the fabric may be set up by using heavier weighting on the gate elements 13 toward one edge of the fabric, as compared with the weighting of the gate elements toward the other edge of the fabric.

It is also contemplated that in the production of a fabric having a more pronounced gathered effect toward one edge than toward the opposite edge, the differential effect be periodically inverted or transposed as between the two opposite edges of the fabric. In this way one section of a fabric web will have the wider pleats at one edge and the succeeding section will have the wider pleats at the opposite edge. Repeated repetition of this transposition of the wide and narrow pleating effects throughout the length of a long fabric web will enable the rolling up of such a web without producing an excessively lopsided roll.

After the drying operation which occurs in the pleating chamber, the pleating is sufficiently fixed to permit feed of the fabric under low tension without loss of the pleating effect and the effect is therefore retained during such feed of the fabric to and through the curer, in which the fabric temperature is raised sufficiently to set or fix the resin or other impregnant used in the initial impregnation of the fabric. Heating the fabric in the curer from about 250° F. to about 400° F. for a time of from 100 minutes to 1 minute is ordinarily sufficient for this purpose.

The invention is applicable to fabrics of a wide variety of types including cellulosic fabrics such as cotton and certain rayon materials. It may also be used with other synthetic fabrics such as nylon, etc.

The nature of the impregnant employed may also be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention, the important consideration here being that the impregnant be capable of fixing the pleated effect upon heating the impregnated fabric.

The apparatus herein disclosed may also be employed for imparting random pleated effects to fabrics to which an impregnant has not been applied.

In connection with the process herein disclosed it is pointed out that the invention also contemplates the imparting of random pleated effects to fabrics which have been previously treated to impart certain other effects. Thus, it is contemplated that a fabric may be impregnated and dried to a moist condition and then subjected to calendering or embossing, as by calendering or embossing rolls. According to the invention, such a fabric, prior to curing, is subjected to the random pleating operation of the present invention and is thereafter cured whereby a random pleated effect is superimposed upon the calendered or embossed fabric, and both effects fixed by the same curing. When operating in this way, it may be desired to re-moisten the fabric between the calendering or embossing and the pleating, depending upon the extent to which the fabric is dried as a result of the calendering or embossing itself.