Patent Application
20140237747
The present invention relates to an article suitable for household or industrial cleaning made of looped fabric comprising a yarn in thermoplastic material.
Currently, articles for cleaning are present on the market, such as mops and strips for industrial or household use, composed for the cleaning part thereof of strips of nonwoven fabric, or of twisted or gimped yarns, of various dimensions, weights and compositions.
Some of these articles are made of semi-rigid strips in order to facilitate application on rigid supports which are used to maintain the cleaning portion of the article in position so as to facilitate contact with the surfaces to be cleaned increasing the cleaning powers.
Other articles have the non-cleaning back portion with Velcro loops, i.e. they can couple with a “male” portion of Velcro present on the rigid supports. This enables the cleaning portion to be replaced rapidly and to be positioned correctly on the rigid support without any difficulty.
These articles for cleaning are currently manufactured by stiffening of the fabrics after weaving or with coating or resin-impregnation techniques, or also by the assembly of rigid materials.
However, the materials thus obtained are not particularly resistant as the rigid portion applied on the cleaning fabric tends to separate from this fabric with consequent loss of the characteristics of stiffness of the article for cleaning. In particular, coated or resin-impregnated fabrics are not resistant to washing treatments at high temperatures or with aggressive soaps as the stiffening layer separates from the fabric or dissolves, making the article unusable. Release of these substances into the waste water also contributes to pollution of the environment, as the materials used to stiffen the fabrics are constituted by substances that are toxic and harmful for the environment.
It would therefore be desirable to obtain articles for household or industrial cleaning capable of being effective on any surface to be treated, easy to apply on the rigid supports which are used to maintain the cleaning portion of the article in position, or which have a rigid or semi-rigid portion to facilitate fastening on the supports.
Another object of the present invention is therefore to produce a resistant and sturdy article for household or industrial cleaning, which does not lose its rigidity even with intense use.
A further object of the present invention is to produce articles for household or industrial cleaning that do not lose structural stiffness during wash cycles, even with aggressive soaps and at the same time which do not release substances that are harmful and damaging for the environment into the wash water, and consequently into the environment.
Yet another object of the present invention is to produce rigid articles for household or industrial cleaning with a portion with Velcro loops, i.e. which can couple with a “male” portion of Velcro, easily produced.
In accordance with the present invention, the aforesaid objects are achieved by means of an article suitable for household or industrial cleaning, characterized by comprising at least one pile looped fabric, wherein the pile looped fabric comprising a ground portion and at least one pile looped portion, the ground portion of the fabric comprises a solidified/hardened material, consisting of a material obtained after having melted a yarn consisting of a thermoplastic material having a melting point between 120 and 180° C., an/or after having melted the lower melting component of a bicomponent yarn comprising two materials with different melting point.
Another aspect of the present invention is that of providing a process for the production of the article according to claim 1, characterized by comprising the following steps:
Using an article according to the present invention it is possible to obtain systems for household or industrial cleaning which best perform their functions, namely to absorb dirt, retain the dust and impurities of surfaces to be cleaned, easily reaching all points, including corners, gaps and recesses. Moreover, articles according to the present invention have the advantage of not being subject to rapid wear and can be produced with limited costs.
The term article suitable for household or industrial cleaning according to the present invention is intended as a tool adapted to remove dirt present on surfaces of any material and dimension and which performs its function through the rubbing of one or more parts of which it is composed against the surface to clean. The cleaning action can take place both with the aid of water and products for removing dirt from floors, for examples soaps or detergents, and through the simple action of removing the dirt that is retained by the structure of the support used.
Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the description of preferred embodiments, illustrated purely by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying figures, wherein:
a shows a bicomponent filament of gimped twisted type;
b shows a bicomponent filament of the twisted type;
c shows a bicomponent filament of doubled type;
d shows a bicomponent filament of interlaced-texturized type;
a shows an example of fabric which forms an embodiment according to the present invention before heat treatment;
b shows an example of fabric of
As it is known, two fundamental elements are required to form a conventional fabric, namely the warp, formed by side-by-side and parallel threads, and the wefts, which are arranged transversely.
The term pile looped fabric according to the present invention is intended as a fabric with the filaments projecting to form an open or closed loop, the loop can be on both sides of the fabric or on only one side, according to the characteristics of the product to be manufactured.
Pile looped fabrics can be produced with weft or warp knitting machines, but also with conventional weaving machines for weaving terry cloth or velvet.
Examples of embodiments of articles for household and industrial cleaning according to the present invention manufactured with fabrics obtained with weft and warp knitting machines will be described below.
For the objects of the present invention, the term knitted fabric is intended as a fabric constituted by a single element, weft or warp, which is produced on looms and machines whose main production unit is a needle that enables curvilinear weaves formed by stitches extending in transverse direction in weft fabrics, or stitches extending in vertical direction in warp fabrics.
The warp knitted fabric is preferably manufactured with Raschel type knitting machines, circular knitting machines or circular sliver knitting machines, therefore with the use of latch or compound needles, through which it is possible to obtain a wide variety of fabric types such as terry cloth, mesh, satin, charmeuse, etc.
The weft knitted fabric is preferably manufactured with spacer knitting machines such as the Karl Mayer RD6 or with other textile knitting machines adapted to produce spacer fabrics and face-to-face velvets.
With reference to the accompanying figures, the bindings that characterize the different types of fabric produced with warp knitting machines as indicated in
The weft knitted fabric is manufactured with one or more interconnected threads that run in transverse direction with respect to the fabric that is formed through simultaneous or sequential operation of the needles used. In the case of machines with needles that operate in sequence, the fabric is formed through the single movement of latch needles mounted on both circular and flat knitting machines. For fabrics knitted with simultaneously operated needles, the knitted fabric is formed with a single movement of the needles or, in other types of knitting machine, with movement of the fabric being formed with respect to the needles, which remain stationary. Also in this case the machines can be flat or circular.
Below are some examples of bindings for knitted fabrics obtained with Raschel knitting machine:
Examples of bindings for Karl Mayer RD6 type textile knitting machines:
Sample produced with RD6 knitting machine with five combs operating.
With reference to the tables above, GB1, GB2, GB3, GB4, GB5, GB6 are intended as the combs in which the guide bars through which the threads are fed are mounted. The letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H indicate the type of thread passing through the slots of the various guide bars. The symbol . indicates the lack of thread in the respective slot of the guide bar and therefore the type of threading of the comb. The numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 in sequence after the symbol GB 1 etc. indicate the transverse movements of the combs by glider chain or profiled disks to create the fabric bindings.
The diagram illustrates the production of a single loop fabric with rigid support where the knitting combs 10, 11, 12, 13 are threaded respectively with the yarns 20, 21, 22, 23, in particular the comb 10 is threaded with a yarn of low-melt thermoplastic material or with a bicomponent yarn comprising two materials with different melting point.
The term thermoplastic material according to the present invention is intended as a material with a melting point between 120 and 180° C. selected in the group consisting of: polyamide fibers, vinyl fibers, polyester fibers, fibers deriving from olefins, polyurethane fibers and fluorinated hydrocarbon fibers.
The term bicomponent yarn according to the present invention is intended as a filament constituted by two yarns of different material wherein at least one of the yarns is made of thermoplastic material selected in the group consisting of polyamide fibers, vinyl fibers, polyester fibers, fibers deriving from olefins, polyurethane fibers and fluorinated hydrocarbon fibers.
The stiffness of the fabric is obtained through a heat treatment wherein the thermoplastic material with lower melting point is heated until it softens and then cooled, in this way obtaining stiffening of the base structure while maintaining the peculiar characteristics of the conventional looped fabric.
With a fabric produced according to the description above it is possible to manufacture a rigid and stable article for cleaning, which does not require additional external rigid supports, while at the same time maintaining the characteristics of a conventional article.
a,
3
b and 3c, 3d illustrate some examples of bicomponent yarns according to the present invention, in particular
The diagram illustrates the production of a Velcro loop type fabric, i.e. a fabric that can couple with a corresponding male Velcro type support. In this case, the fabric is obtained by simultaneous operation of four combs 30, 31, 32 and 33 which, through a rectilinear knitting operation, enable a looped fabric to be obtained. Specifically, the comb 31 is threaded with a thread 41 of twisted, doubled, gimped or texturized and/or interlaced type as described previously, while the comb 30 is threaded with a filament 40 of a material selected from polyamide fibers, vinyl fibers, polyester fibers, fibers deriving from olefins, polyurethane fibers and fluorinated hydrocarbon fibers, which produce the looped portion of the fabric, i.e. the portion with the Velcro loops.
The fabric formed in this type of operation, which has loops on only one side of the fabric (back), is passed continuously on the knitting machine in a pair of metal bristle brushes that raise the filaments 43 threaded in the comb 33, so as to form loops that will form the cleaning portion of the article for cleaning produced according to the present embodiment of the invention.
a illustrates a double loop fabric 500 obtained as described above, in particular the fabric is formed of a loop 71 to form the Velcro loop portion and of a loop 70 that will form the cleaning portion of the article for cleaning thus manufactured.
In order to obtain a high level of rigidity, the fabric produced as described above is subjected to a heat treatment in which the thermoplastic material with lower melting point of the bicomponent filament 41 is heated until it softens and subsequently cooled to obtain a rigid and consistent inner structure that enables rapid adhesion to the corresponding portion of Velcro.
b illustrates the fabric 500 of
A third embodiment of the present invention, non illustrated in the accompanying figures, is formed of an abrasive fabric, i.e. a fabric produced with a Karl Mayer type warp knitting machine according to the description for the second embodiment, wherein the loop that constitutes the cleaning portion of the article for cleaning is constituted by a mono filament and/or by a multifilament with very large filaments, with fineness greater than 10 denier, filament of a material selected from polyamide fibers, vinyl fibers, polyester fibers, fibers deriving from olefins, polyurethane fibers and fluorinated hydrocarbon fibers. The loop thus constituted is rigid and sturdy, capable of performing an abrasive function.
The heat treatment to which this type of fabric is also subjected makes it rigid and prevents the loops from unraveling, making the fabric run-resistant and suitable for manufacturing articles for cleaning with abrasive function.
In a fourth embodiment the article for cleaning according to the present invention is constituted by a single pile loop fabric with open loop or, as illustrated in
The diagram illustrates a part of the knitting combs used in production of the fabric, and in particular the comb 50 threaded with a filament 53 of thermoplastic or bicomponent material constituted by two materials with different melting point, which will form the base binding of the fabric. The comb 51 is threaded with a filament 52 of material suitable to form the loop and therefore the cleaning portion of the article for cleaning
The fabric produced, illustrated in
The fabric 400 thus obtained is subjected to a heat treatment in order to melt the filament constituted by the thermoplastic material or by the bicomponent material so as to make the binding and the whole fabric rigid.
Finally, the fabric 400 is cut, as illustrated in
The materials used, alone or in combination, to produce the fabric according to the present invention, indicated with the international abbreviation according to the standard DIN 60.001, are as follows:
With the fabrics obtained according to the process described in the present text it is possible to produce articles for household or industrial cleaning, such as mops, fringes, dry fringes, plates, brushes, brooms which have a rigid and stable portion, so that they can be easily mounted on the external supports used to perform cleaning operations.
Moreover, the articles for cleaning produced with fabrics obtained as described, are sturdier and more efficient, less subject to wear and consequently more economically advantageous.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a process for producing an article for household or industrial cleaning for the purpose of obtaining an article as described in the present text.
The process for producing articles suitable for cleaning according to the present invention is composed of three steps:
The weaving or knitting step, takes place using weft or warp knitting machines, but also with conventional looms i.e. looms for terry cloth or velvet.
The fabric is produced according to the description above, so as to form single pile loop or double pile loop fabrics, both with open or closed pile loops.
The melt step of the thermoplastic yarn and/or of at least one of the components of the bicomponent filament takes place through the use of a source of heat directed at the fabric to be treated. In particular, the source of heat can be a source of dry heat, such as electric heaters, or damp heat using sprays of steam, but also infrared lamps or other systems capable of reaching the temperatures required to obtain melting of the material.
The melt step takes place at a temperature between 120 and 180° C. so as to ensure complete melting of the low-melt thermoplastic material without altering the characteristics of the other materials which constitute the fabric. Following the melt step the fabric is cooled for the purpose of enabling solidification of the low-melt thermoplastic material in this way obtaining a resistant and rigid fabric.
After cooling and hardening of the fabric, the manufacturing step of the article for cleaning takes place using the conventional assembly and manufacturing techniques for articles for household and industrial cleaning
With a process for producing articles suitable for household and industrial cleaning according to the present invention, rigid and wear-resistant articles are obtained without the use of hardening substances, such as glues or resins, applied to the articles to make them suitable for use.
The articles thus manufactured can also be washed even at high temperatures without the risk of losing characteristics of rigidity of the structure and without releasing substances that are harmful and damaging for the environment, necessary to stiffen conventional systems.
On the basis of the description provided, other characteristics, modifications or improvements are possible and evident to a person skilled in the art. These characteristics, modifications and improvements should therefore be considered part of the present invention. In practice, the materials used and the contingent dimensions and forms can be any, according to requirements and to the state of the art.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| BG2011A000031 | Jul 2011 | IT | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2012/063615 | 7/11/2012 | WO | 00 | 5/12/2014 |
