Patent Application
20060063452
The invention relates to coating sewing thread with a thermally activated adhesive.
Loose threads on garments and other textiles diminish the quality and reduce the lifetime of a garment or textile. In the last ten years, advances in treating thread and yarn have solved the problem of textile disintegrating by treating the textile as a whole with adhesive, coating thread with polymers that when heated hold the thread in its new stitched shape and adhere the thread to the cloth.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,869,182 by Ebert, describes coating sewing thread with different polymers, with the intention of increasing the volume of the thread. When heated, the polymer evaporates and the threads shrink, tightening the stitching. While Ebert mentions and includes polymers having adhesive properties, the patent is coating the thread with the intention of increasing the thread volume rather than coating the thread with a thermal set adhesive.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,251,210 by Bullock, describes treating textiles with adhesive, along with other compounds. Though the patent covers treating textiles with adhesive materials, it is oriented towards treating the woven textile rather than the individual threads before the textile is sewn.
Other patents relating to the art of treating thread and yarn include increasing strength and elasticity, altering the thermodynamic properties to allow for a larger temperature range, and increasing resistance to cutting. None of these patents, as well as others retrieved in text and title searches, are the same as the present invention.
The problems identified above are in large part addressed by methods and arrangements related to coating a thread with an adhesive material before sewing, either wrapping it around a spool or applying it between the spool and sewing needle. When the textile is sewn adjacent threads on a textile stick together as the adhesive material is activated. To avoid threads adhering together when spooled, the adhesive material must be thermally activated, such as epoxy or another thermal set plastic.
Advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the accompanying drawings in which, like references may indicate similar elements:
FIGS. 3A-B depict a textile comprising a thread coated with a thermally activated adhesive;
The following is a detailed description of embodiments of the invention depicted in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are in such detail as to clearly communicate the invention. However, the amount of detail offered is not intended to limit the anticipated variations of embodiments, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. The detailed descriptions below are designed to make such embodiments obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
Generally speaking, methods and arrangements for an adhesive coated sewing thread are contemplated. Embodiments may comprise a sewing thread with a thermally activated adhesive that is inactive until heated and set when cooled. The adhesive may be permanently set when cooled, or it may be reactivated when it is heated above the threshold temperature for the adhesive and reset when cooled. Further embodiments comprise systems and arrangements for applying the thermally activated adhesive to the sewing thread.
In some embodiments, the adhesive may be a partially cured thermal set plastic, such as epoxy, so the adhesive used cured by cross linkage does not reactivate when the garment or textile is heated in a domestic dyer or when dry cleaned commercially. If the adhesive can be reactivated thermally, the activating temperature may be higher than temperatures the garment or fabric will encounter during cleaning or normal use, while at the same time being low enough to not damage the thread or garment when the adhesive is initially activated.
While specific embodiments will be described below with reference to particular thread coatings and thread materials, those of skill in the art will realize that embodiments of the present invention may advantageously be implemented with other thread materials and other substantially equivalent coatings that may be activated and set in response to exposure to hot and/or cold temperatures.
Turning now to the drawings,
Thread source 110 is a source of one or more threads such as nylon threads, cotton threads, polyester threads, and/or any other thread material. The thread may be uncoated or coated. In some embodiments, thread source 110 may comprise a spool of thread. In further embodiments, thread source 110 may create thread via one or materials. The thread may be fed from thread source into adhesive applicator 120.
Adhesive applicator 120 may apply a thermally activated adhesive to the thread. For example, in some embodiments, the thread may drawn through an enclosure containing the thermally activated adhesive. In further embodiments, adhesive applicator 120 may apply the thermally activated adhesive in more than one stage. In such embodiments, adhesive applicator 120 may comprise a first enclosure with a first stage of the coating and a second enclosure with a second stage of the coating. In some embodiments, one or more the stages may apply different parts of the adhesive. In other embodiments, the different stages may facilitate application of additional coats of the same adhesive.
Adhesive applicator 120 may apply the thermally activated adhesive to the thread in various manners. For instance, adhesive applicator 120 may apply the thermally activated adhesive to the thread with a roller, a squeegee, a spray nozzle, a bath, or the like.
Thread spooler 130 may comprise an apparatus to gather the coated thread after application of the thermally activated adhesive. For instance, thread spooler 130 may pull the thread from thread source 110 through adhesive applicator 120 while winding the thread on a spool.
System 200 comprises a thread spool 210, an adhesive applicator 220, an adhesive 240, and a sewing needle 230. Thread spool 210 may comprise a spool of the uncoated thread. Adhesive applicator 220 may apply adhesive 240 to the thread as the thread is sewn into a fabric via sewing needle 230. In many embodiments, adhesive applicator 220 may spray the adhesive onto the thread as the thread is sewn into the fabric via sewing needle 230. In other embodiments, the thread may be pulled through a bath of the thermally activated adhesive.
Adhesive 240 may comprise a thermally activated adhesive that sticks the threads together when the adhesive is activated. In one embodiment, adhesive 240 may be activated when heated and set when cooled. In many embodiments, adhesive 240 may comprise a thermal set plastic. In several embodiments, adhesive 240 may comprise a partially cured. B-stage thermal set plastic, which is permanently set after activation. In some embodiments, adhesive 240 may comprise an epoxy.
In many embodiments, the thermally activated adhesive is activated at a threshold temperature that is sufficiently high to avoid reactivation during normal use. In further embodiments, the thermally activated adhesive is activated at a threshold temperature that is sufficiently high to avoid reactivation during dry cleaning.
Once the thermally activated coating is applied the sewing thread, the sewing thread is wrapped around or wound on a spool (element 515). The spool of coated thread may then be attached to a machine to weave a textile with the coated thread (element 525). In some embodiments, the coated thread may be Woven into a textile with uncoated threads. In several of these embodiments, the coated threads may be woven as every other or every third thread parallel. In further embodiments, the coated threads may be otherwise interspersed through the textile. For example, the coated threads may be woven into the textile at, e.g., 90 degree angles such that most, if not all, of the threads in the textile will touch a coated thread.
After weaving the textile, the textile may be heated (element 530) and cooled (element 535) to activate and set the adhesive. For example, once a fabric is produced, the adhesive may be activated and set to attenuate damage to the fabric during distribution to consumers. In some embodiments, the adhesive may be re-activated and set when the fabric is made into a consumer product.
The thread from the spool may be fed through an adhesive applicator (element 615) and threaded through a sewing needle (element 625). In particular, the thread may be fed through an enclosure that directs the thread through a bath of the adhesive to coat the thread. The coated thread that exits the adhesive applicator may then be drawn through a sewing needle so that the uncoated thread on the spool is coated with the adhesive while sewing a textile with the thread to create a garment (element 630). In further embodiments, a garment may be created with an uncoated thread from a textile that already incorporates threads coated with a thermally activated adhesive.
After creating a garment with the coated thread, the adhesive may be heated to or above a threshold temperature to activate the adhesive (element 635) and cooled to set the adhesive (element 640). For instance, the adhesive may be selected or adapted to have an activation threshold temperature that is below a temperature that damages the thread.
In several embodiments, the thermally activated adhesive is activated at a threshold temperature that is sufficiently low as to avoid damage to the sewing thread when initially activated. In some embodiments, the thermally activated adhesive is activated at a threshold temperature that is sufficiently high as to avoid reactivation when heated in a domestic dryer.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that the present invention contemplates methods and arrangements for an adhesive coated sewing thread. It is understood that the form of the invention shown and described in the detailed description and the drawings are to be taken merely as examples. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted broadly to embrace all the variations of the example embodiments disclosed.
Although the present invention and some of its advantages have been described in detail for some embodiments, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Although an embodiment of the invention may achieve multiple objectives, not every embodiment falling within the scope of the attached claims will achieve every objective. Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.
Pursuant to 35 USC § 120, this continuation-in-part application claims priority to and benefit of U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 10/606,973, filed Jun. 27, 2003, on behalf of inventor Steven Clay Moore, entitled “Adhesive coated sewing thread”.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10606973 | Jun 2003 | US |
| Child | 11270057 | Nov 2005 | US |
