Patent Application
20110179582
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of durably and flexibly grafting fabrics each other, especially relates to a method of flexibly grafting delicately decorated 100% cotton fabric and clothing.
Jeans, blue jeans, and T-shirts became a heritage of human culture representing youth culture and jeans take a big portion in fashion industry. Many kind of technologies are introduced to decorate jeans to meet requirements of young customers. However, due to the properties of the material, 100% cotton, method of decorating jeans are limited. Customers' requirement asking various different designs makes it more difficult. Printing might be the easiest way for decorating jeans with various designs. But, repeated washing deteriorates the drawings. Embroidering is the most durable and popular method of decorating the jeans. But, production cost for various designs is high. Gluing may be one of the cheap and convenient methods of attaching jeans with designed fabrics if it is durable. However, most of glued products on the market show separation of the decoration from the jeans after few times of machine washing. It is purpose of the current application to develop a method of durably grafting decorated fabrics to other cotton clothing such as blue jeans by applying a gluing agent that is comprised of many kind of materials.
2. Description of Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,588 to Orfali illustrates an appliqué such as a lace-trimming is grafted onto a region of a textile product, such as a towel or a pair of blue-jeans. Previously, said region is marked by lock stitching on the product base material by means of an embroidering machine and removed there from, preferably by cutting or punching in a press. The appliqué is then bridged onto the removed portion of the base material with only a small overlap there over and joined thereto by embroidering a seam all the way round the overlap with the machine. The seam is preferably about 4 mm wide and the overlap between 2 mm and 3 mm. A method is disclosed wherein the product is permanently retained in a hoop between the marking and joining steps, through the removing step, thus enabling the product to be uniquely placed relative to the embroidering machine before and after temporary removal to the press.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,861 to Braun, et al. illustrates water-soluble polymers that are rapidly dissolved by employing a concentrate of (i) a water-soluble particulate polymer, (ii) a water-insoluble organic vehicle which is a non-solvent for the polymer, (iii) a nonionic surfactant agent having an HLB in the ranges of 3-5 and 9-13 and if necessary, and a thickening agent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,387 to Williams illustrates a decorated garment (11) has a plurality of doll FIGS. 12, 13, and 14) mounted on its front surface. Articles of clothing (26) for each of the doll figures are adapted to be attached to the doll figures to provide decorative wardrobes for the doll figures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,664 to Sugino, et al. illustrates a plastisol composition comprising a vinyl chloride polymer, a plasticizer and an adhesion-imparting agent, characterized in that the adhesion-imparting agent is a diisocyanate polymer blocked with an oxybenzoic acid ester or with an alkylphenol and having an average molecular weight within a range of from 1,000 to 10,000. U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,678 to Krueger illustrates a thermosetting coating composition, of controlled rheology, of a urethane polymer that cures into a durable, flexible coating is the subject of this invention; the film-forming constituents of the coating composition are (1) an organic polyisocyanate, and (2) a polymer that has a backbone of polymerized ethylenically unsaturated monomers and has attached directly to its backbone ester groups of the following structure. (Branched Structure with R1, R2, and R3) or an isomer thereof, wherein R1, R2 and R3 are hydrocarbon radicals; and the rheology control agents are fumed silica, attapulgus clay, copolymers of acrylonitrile/methyl acrylate of high nitrile content, modified microgels and the like. This novel coating composition is particularly useful, especially when applied over zinc rich primers, as a high quality industrial finish and can be used to paint autos, trucks, aircraft, railway equipment and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,575 to Obayashi et al. illustrates a textile fabrics firmly lap welded to each other by superposing two end portions of one or two fabrics on each other while interposing a piece of a synthetic polymeric bonding tape between the superposed two end portions and by applying a high frequency wave treatment and/or heat treatment to the interposed portion of the bonding tape through at least one of the superposed end portions while pressing them, to melt the interposed portion of the bonding tape thereby lap welding the end portions of the fabric or fabrics to each other.
In column 3, lines 55-63 Obayashi et al. disclose that the bonding tape usable for their invention consists of a synthetic polymer material capable of thermally melting at a temperature of 100° C. to 350° C. The polymer material consists of at least one member selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl chloride, polyurethanes, polyamides such as nylon 11 and nylon 12, polyesters such as polyethylene terephthalate, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers and vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers. Obayashi et al. used PVC polymer for the basic film of a tape. They did not use chlorinated polyolefin glue solution. Instead, they disclosed the glue composition as acrylic resins, epoxy resins, and petroleum resins in the column 5 lines 47 to 50. Among those adhesives, acrylic resins and petroleum resins do not cross-link. So, they can not make a molecularly grafted structure between two different fabrics, which is the key difference of the current invention from Obayashi's invention. Epoxy resins make cross-linked polymer of a) short chain polymers with an epoxide group at either end and b) hardener consists of polyamine monomers, for example Triethylenetetramine (TETA). However, the final polymer made by the epoxide resins is a thermosetting polymer. So, once it is treated with heat or electron beam, it becomes stiff solid and brittle. I could not sell a T-shirts glued with Epoxy because it changes the glued portion into a solid portion and gives bad feeling to customer. So, Epoxy was tried but eliminated from the glue for our application. Meanwhile, PVC glue, not tape, makes a flexible is polymer by adding a proper softener that controls the chain length of the final polymer.
And in the EXAMPLE 1 of Obayashi et al's patent, they described that a fabric substrate was prepared by scouring a cotton canvas. The scoured cotton canvas was properly dyed, dried and subjected to a usual water-proofing process. Edge portions of two pieces of the dyed canvas were superposed on each other in a width of 3 cm and a bonding tape made of polyethylene terephthalate and having a width of 4 cm and a thickness of 0.4 mm was interposed between the superposed end-portions, in such a manner that each side edge portion of the bonding tape having a width of 5 mm projected from the corresponding edge of the end portion of the fabric. A high frequency wave treatment was applied at an output of 2 KW at a frequency of 40.68 MHz for 3 seconds to the superposed end portions of the fabrics and the interposed portion of the bonding tape. The resultant weld exhibited an average resistance to peeling of 6.8 kg/3 cm. The welded fabric was converted into a cover sheet for motor vehicles and could be practically used. After about four months of use, no peeling was found in the weld. And in the column 2 lines 66-68 and column 3, lines 1-8, they described that the method of their invention is preferably applied to woven fabrics in which yarns located in the ‘cut end portion’ thereof are easily frayed. For example, when a woven fabric is cut, the yarns located in the cut end portions of the fabric are easily frayed. Obayashi et al. inserted a tape between the ‘cut end part’ of a fabric and the other ‘cut end part’ of a scored canvas and apply high frequency wave to melt down the plastic tape because the ‘cut end portion’ the of a yarn is easily frayed. So, they did not cut out the welded portion. They welded the ‘cut out’ portion.
Meanwhile, current invention provides a method of preventing the ‘fraying’ phenomena by grafting two different fabrics in molecular level along the cutting line of a pattern using stencil. The glue on each surface of the tape of Obayashi et al. may smear to each fabric the glue contact and make loose connection. Even at that situation, still the two different fabrics are separated by the molten polymer of the back bone film of the tape. Their method can not form a molecularly grafted structure across the two different fabric and clothing that is formed by cross linking polymerization of monomers as shown in the current application.
Moreover, to weld a delicate design, like large circles or birds' feather or flowers, a manufacturer using Obayashi's method needs wide tape broader than the design itself and cut out both sides glued tape exactly matching to the whole design. To avoid stiff feeling of produced clothing, the manufacturer should cut out the film with narrow width along the outer line of the design. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at any time that cutting out both sides glued film in a delicate design is not a simple job.
But, current invention simplifies such job by just pasting adhesive on a stencil which has same delicate pattern thereon. In addition to that, Obayashi et al's method provides a different bonding structure, even though the bonding temperature and time are changed, in terms of the molecular structure that is achieved from the current invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,764 to Fujiki et al, illustrates a curable organopolysiloxane composition that is curable by heating at a relatively low temperature of, for example, 120° C. into a silicone rubber which exhibits outstandingly high adhesive bonding strength to the substrate surface on which it has been cured. They explained that fumed silica is used as a filler to decrease shrinkage of the composition by curing, to decrease the thermal expansion coefficient of the cured rubber, to improve the heat stability, weatherability, resistance against chemicals, flame retardancy and mechanical strengths of the cured rubber and decreasing the gas permeability of the cured rubber and so on.
It is well known to public that volume shrinking happens when polymerization reaction occurs. Fujiki et al.'s use of fumed silica is to minimize such volume shrinking. It is called as ‘filler’. However, the reason I selected this glue is not to increase the properties Fujiki et al. mentioned or minimize the volume shrinking. I tried many different types of glue including epoxy resins. But, those glues stick to the grid of the stencil and spread beyond the areas of initial application as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,565 to Davis, et al. After many trial and error, I found that POLYONE S11111 SERIOUSONE® CLEAR from Polyone Corporation was the only glue that easily pass through the narrow grids of the stencil, usually 1˜2 mm, and stay on the areas of initial application. It is not reported in any of the prior art. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made that combing the fumed silica taught by Fujiki et al. in an appropriate amount with the glue solution of Obayashi et al. can not prevent spreading of glue beyond the areas of initial application as taught by Davis et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,565 to Davis, et al. illustrates a self-adhering stencil in which a heat sensitive bonding resin is disposed as a coating on the uncoated tissue or incorporated in the stencil layer or disposed as a coating on either or both sides of the stencil layer. They developed the method of adhering stencil by overlapping the pattern containing stencil over the front side of the cotton fabric, and placing the stencil and clothes between a heating press because liquid adhesives spread beyond the areas of initial application before drying is completed and cause undesirable sticking in portions not desired to be adhered. Upon separation of the stencil from the substrate, an undesirable broad area with erratic edges, composed of adhesive and coating, remains on the substrate—a situation that detracts from the use of the stencil, especially when the substrate is a business form. Another disadvantage in the use of a liquid adhesive is to be found in the limitation imposed on the speed of collating machines by reason of the slow drying of the adhesive. Aside from the above, use of an adhesive or tape requires the supply of material and means for application which otherwise would not be required to be available with a self-adhering stencil.
However, by carefully selecting proper glue and using the method disclosed in the current application, all the problem mentioned by Davis et al. were successfully removed.
None of the prior art illustrates a method of softly grafting a delicately decorated 100% cotton fabric onto 100% cotton clothing such as blue jeans to produced a grafted cotton wear durable even after many times of home washing machine laundary.
Jeans, blue jeans, with T-shirts became a heritage of human culture representing youth culture. Recently, many kind of technologies are introduced to decorate jeans to meet requirements of young customers. However, due to the property of the material, 100% cotton, methods of decorating jeans are limited. Printing might be the easiest way for decorating jeans with various designs. But, repeated washing deteriorates the drawings. Embroidering is the most durable and popular method of decorating the jeans. But, price for embroidery with different designs is expensive for young customers. Gluing may be one of the cheap and convenient methods of attaching jeans with designed fabrics if it is durable. A method of durably and flexibly grafting a decorated fabric to a cotton clothing such as jeans or T-shirts is comprised of; 1) first step of engaging a pattern printed clothing on a supporting plate of an automatic printing machine, 2) second step of pasting an alkaline solution on the pattern printed clothing with the first stencil, 3) third step of pasting a grafting glue along the outer line of the pattern that is printed on the clothing with the second stencil, 3) fourth step of pasting a water soluble glue on one side of a fabric, 4) fourth step of overlapping the water soluble glue pasted fabric's side over the clothing that is engaged to the plate, 5) fifth step of overlapping the third stencil over the fabric attached clothing and pasting a burn out gel on the third stencil, 6) sixth step of taking out the fabric attached clothing from the supporting plate and drying the fabric attached clothing on a dryer at 160° C. over 2 minutes, 7) seventh step of heating and pressing the fabric attached clothing between a heating press and press longer than 5 seconds at 160° C., and 8) eighth step of removing the left of burn out from the grafted fabric by washing with washing machine.
It is purpose of the current application to provide a simple method of manufacturing a cotton clothing, such as blue jeans or T-shirts, on which a delicately decorated fabric is durably and flexibly grafted to by gluing as follows;
The clothing for the current invention (50) is made of, including but not limited to 100% cotton.
The first step is to engage clothing (50) on a supporting plate (30) of an automatic printing machine. The clothing (50) may have a pattern (71-1) printed with additional drawing (51) to support the pattern (71-1), as shown in the
The second step is to paste an alkaline solution (74), 15% NaOH in starch glue, along the outer line (72-1) of the pattern (71-1) printed on the clothing (50) utilizing the first stencil (20-1) as shown in the
The third step is to paste grafting glue (63-1) along the outer line (72-4) of the pattern (71-4) that is printed on the second stencil (20-2) as shown in the
The fourth step is to paste water-soluble glue (62) on a fabric (60) as shown in the
The fifth step is to paste burn out gel (90) on the other surface (opposite side of the water-soluble glue (62) pasted) of the fabric (60) that is temporarily adhered on the clothing (60), through the third stencil (20-3) as shown in the
The sixth step is to take out the fabric (60) attached clothing (50) from the supporting plate (30) of the machine and dry on a dryer at 160° for longer than 2 minutes. In this step, the water -soluble glue (62) is dried out and the alkaline solution (74) and the burn-out gel (90) are neutralized and the liquid medium is dried out. However, the grafting glue (63-1) remains and starts physical changes. According to the Polyone's catalogue, the Plastisols contains 1 to 5% of fumed silica (CAS NO 12945-52-5) for inhibitor and 95 to 99% of Chlorinated olefins of C12-C24 (CAS NO. 68527-02-6, IUPAC Name: (6E)-12-chlorododeca-1,6-diene (C12H21Cl), Molecular Weight 200.748140 g/mol)). Due to the low molecular weight of the grafting glue (63-1), it remains as sticky sol-type oligomer, not polymer, when it is pasted on a fabric or clothing at room temperature. However, when heat is applied, the viscosity of the grafting glue (63-1) is lowered enough to flow and smeared into both of the woven structures of the clothing (50) and the fabric (60) as shown in the
The seventh step is to put the fabric (60) attached clothing (50), which was dried in the sixth step, between a heating press (70) and press for at least 5 seconds at 160° C. and 2 bar as shown in the
Therefore, as more heat and pressure is applied to the grafting glue (63-1), which already spreads throughout the fabric (60) and the clothing (50) in the sixth step, grafted structure (63-2) is formed by cross-linking polymerization as shown in the
The eighth step is to remove the burn out part (61) of the grafted fabric (60) by water (62) using washing machine (70) as shown in the
For the above step, the clothes and fabric may be polyester, nylon and any other artificial fabrics.
To compare the durability of the product made by the method of the current invention with the method of using a dual side bonding tape, which is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,575 to Obayashi et al., a sample was prepared as described in the steps of the Sixth and Seventh of the current invention using a bonding tape, is which is comprised of PVC polymer for the basic film of a tape and both sides are coated with acrylic resins as described in the column 5 lines 47 to 50 of the Obayashi et al's.
Sample A: Boding tape method.
Two cotton fabrics are adhered by bonding tape made of PVC back bone film and coated with acrylic resins on both sides. The tape has a width of 10 mm and a thickness of 0.4 mm.
Two strips of 10 cm long tapes were placed between two patches of fabrics. Then the taped fabrics are dried on a dryer at 160° for longer than 2 minutes. After that the taped fabrics are taken out of the drier and are put between heating presses and pressed for at least 5 seconds at 160° C. and 2 bars. These two step treatment are the same as the sixth and seventh step of the current invention.
Sample B is prepared according to the current methods of the steps first to eight.
Two samples of A and B are compared in the Table 1. As can be seen from the Table 1, the fabrics glued with boding tape that is disclosed by Obayahi et al., followed by the heat treatment steps of the Sixth and Seventh steps of current application is easily separated.
Meanwhile, the Sample B that is made by the method of current invention produced a T-Shirts on which a delicately designed decoration is firmly and flexibly grafted. The grafted delicate decoration is hard to separate.
As a conclusion, it is proved that current invention provides the best method of grafting a delicately decorated cotton fabric to cotton clothing.
Obayashi et al.'s method may provide a solid glued fabrics but not at the heat treatment condition of the current invention. It may need higher temperature or high frequency wave treatment. Most of all, their method is not practical for grafting a delicately decorated fabric to clothing.
Current application is a Continuous In part of the application Ser. No. 11/880,079, which was filed Jul. 20, 2007 and is now abandoned.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 11880079 | Jul 2007 | US |
| Child | 13066076 | US |
