Patent Application
20160362547
The present invention relates to thermal insulating sheets comprised of down mixed with polymer fibers to form a light weight insulating sheet for use in the fabrication of thermally insulated products and wherein the thermal insulating sheets have improved resiliency and lofting, a faster drying time when exposed to water, and are cheaper than full down insulation sheets.
The use of down in a sheet form is described in my US. Pat. No. 6,025,041. However, down is an expensive product as compared to synthetic fiber insulation, but the later does not provide the same thermal insulating factor and lightweight as down. Down insulation also when absorbed with moisture, such as when washing, requires a longer drying time as compared to synthetic fibers such as polyester fibers. Also, polymer fibers when used as an insulating product provides good resiliency, namely lofting, as compared to natural down or wool, as examples.
The use of microfibers mixed with crimped bulking fibers for use as an insulation in the fabrication of articles of apparel is known and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,531 issued on Oct. 3, 1978 to the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. As described microfibers are heavier than alternative types of fibrous insulation. Since the surface area of microfibers is greater than polyester staple fibers, more air is held in place by the microfibers, which results in a deduced transfer of heat within a web containing microfibers. Although the percentage of microfibers in a web of this type of insulation is less than that of an all-microfiber web, sufficient microfibers are apparently retained to make the thermal resistance per unit of thickness of the web comparable to that of an all-microfiber web. Loft and resiliency of such a web is provided by a blend with crimped bulking fibers. The advantage of such insulation using microfibers is that the insulation is of less weight and bulk as compared with insulation using polyester staple fibers and is just as warm.
In my above mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,041, there is discussed the problems of using down as an insulation, particularly in the fabrication of articles of apparel. Down insulation from goose or duck is known to have excellent insulation properties due to their ability to retain heat. Because down is a natural product it is more expensive than synthetic fibers, such as polyester. It would therefore be desirable to use the qualities of both down and synthetic fibers to fabricate a thermally insulating material having excellent insulating properties and other features including reduce cost, faster drying time and more resistant to shrinkage and provided improved lofting as compared to down insulation.
It is therefore a feature of the present invention to provide a light weight polymer insulating sheet having improved thermal efficiency, resiliency and lofting.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a down insulating sheet comprised of down mixed with polymer fibers or natural fibers to provide improved lofting, resiliency and drying and reduced cost.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a light weight polymer insulating sheet having improved thermal efficiency. The insulating sheet is comprised of polymer fibers mixed with a predetermined quantity of down material and a binder for maintaining the polymer fibers and down material bound together in a thoroughly intermixed homogeneous mixture. The insulating sheet thus fabricated exhibits improved resiliency and lofting of the down material and a faster drying time as compared to a full-down insulation sheet.
According to a further broad aspect of the invention the insulating sheet is comprised of polyester fibers mixed with down.
According to another broad aspect of the present invention there is provided a down insulation sheet having improved lofting, resiliency and drying. The down insulation sheet is comprised of down material mixed with a predetermined quantity of polymer fibers or natural fibers and a binder for maintaining the down material and polymer fibers or natural fibers bound together in a thoroughly intermixed homogeneous mixture.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to
The mixture inside the mixing chamber propagates downward to exit by gravity through an opening 30 at the bottom of the mixing chamber to be deposited on a conveyor belt 21 or a backing fabric sheet 22, as herein illustrated which moves with the conveyor. the conveyor belt 21 is driven by a driven drum 35. The deposited mixture is a thoroughly intermixed homogeneous mixture. The speed of the conveyor determines the thickness of the insulating sheet 11. The mixed material leaving the mixing chamber 13 is then compressed by the compression belt assembly 23 and conveyed into a heat treatment chamber 24 where it is subjected to heat to either melt the powder glue to bind the down and fibers together or to soften the crimped bulking fibers or other polymeric fibers to bind together at their crossings to trap the down mixture. Accordingly, there is thus formed the insulating down and fiber mixed insulating sheet of the present invention.
As shown in
The light weight thermally insulating sheet as described above in its example of mixture and fabrication has a multitude of uses and not limited to articles of apparel, and as examples only, it may be used in the manufacture of duvet covers, liners for winter boots, and any other article of commercial use where light weight insulating material in sheet form is desirable. It is also pointed out that the light weight insulating sheet thus produced has improved resiliency and lofting due to the use of polymer fibers as above described. The polymer fibers also provides for a faster drying time of the mixture with down as compared to a full-down insulting sheet and provides minimal shrinking.
It is therefore within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious modification of the examples of the preferred embodiment described herein, provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.
