1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to velvet plush, and more particularly to a method of manufacturing velvet plush throw which utilizes synthetic fiberusing synthetic fibers to produce a particularly soft and smooth velvet plush throwarticle.
2. Description of Related Arts
Velvet plush has a generally soft and smooth texture and is a very popular material used in textiles. Velvet plush throws, blankets, and similar plush textiles are in popular use because they are very smooth and soft. However, the cost to manufacture a velvet plush throw, blanket or the like is very high. Conversely, efforts to manufacture velvet plush throws and blankets at more reasonable cost have resulted in lower quality articles. Materials such as silk, cashmere, mohair, linen and cotton are traditionally used for manufacturing velvet plush. Velvet plush articles produced from silk are especially soft and smooth. Silk, however, is a very expense raw material and is, therefore, less desirable when seeking to contain manufacturing costs. On the other hand, synthetic materials such as polyester and nylon are more reasonable in price, but the quality of a velvet plush cloth made with polyester or nylon is relatively low.
The conventional method for manufacturing a tufted surface involved needling and adding the tufted pile onto a backing, but this technique does not produce a smooth and soft tufted surface of high quality having an evenly distributed pile layer.
There is, thus, no practical cost-effective method in the prior art for the manufacture of a high quality velvet plush throwarticle.
A method of manufacturing a velvet plush article according to the present invention comprises the steps of:brushing a greige cloth comprising synthetic materials, and singeing the brushed greige cloth by passing it across a plurality of hot singe rollers. Brushing and singeing the greige cloth forms a pre-processed greige cloth including synthetic materials that is then suitable for finishing to form a velvet plush article.
In one embodiment of the invention a method of manufacturing a velvet plush article from a greige cloth comprising synthetic materials comprises the steps of:
Alternately, after step (B) or (C), the method of manufacturing a velvet plush article further comprises the steps of:
First and a second filamentsFace yarns and backing yarns are provided in step (A) in a ratio of 4:1, respectively.
The brushing in step (B) involves brushing in a frontward direction and in a backward direction; the first setting involves heat-setting at 120-130° C. at a rolling speed of 25 m/min; the singeing involves a sequential rolling for six times at a frontward, backward, backward, frontward, backward and backward directionspassing the greige cloth sequentially in frontward, backward, backward, frontward, backward and backward directions across heated cylinders; the second setting involves heat-setting at 170-180° C. at a rolling speed of 25 m/min.
In step (C), dyeing the greige cloth includes bathing in dyedyeing fluid and rinsing in water. In one embodiment of the invention, the greige cloth is dyed for an additional twenty minutes and rinsed in water having a neutral or nearly neutral pH in order to produce a smooth and bright surface.
In step (D), printing includes the steps of brushing in a frontward direction, setting at 150° C. at a rolling speed of 25 m/min, and printing a preset pattern.
In step (E), softening includes washing to add acidity until the greige cloth is soft and then neutralizing the greige cloth until a pH of the greige cloth is neutral. If the pH is lower than 7, the fiber density of the greige cloth will diminish. If the pH is higher than 7, the greige cloth will be overly hardened; drying includes drying under 190° C. at a rolling speed of 20 m/min with an upper drying channel operated at 300 rpm and a lower drying channel operated at 1200 rpm; brushing includes two brushing cycles; stentering includes stentering at a frontward direction and a backward direction; heat-setting includes heat-setting under 150° C. at a rolling speed of 25 m/min with soft air; singeing includes singe rollingpassing the greige cloth across hot rollers in frontward and backward directions, and preferablyin one embodiment includes singe rollingpassing the greige cloth across hot rollers R in backward, backward, frontward, frontward, backward, frontward, backward and frontward directions sequentially; shearing includes shearing at a frontward, backward, backward, frontward, frontward, frontward, backward and backward directions sequentially such that the final orientation of the pile hair is the same when approaching the cloth in both frontward and backward directions; and final heat-setting includes heat-setting at 190° C. at a rolling speed of 30 m/min.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the present invention comprises a velvet plush article, comprising:
In one embodiment, a color and/or a pattern is provided to the flat body of the velvet plush article. The velvet plush article manufactured according to the method can also be a velvet plush blanket or simply a velvet plush sheet which can be further processed.
The method described above advantageously uses synthetic materials to product a high quality velvet plush article having superior smoothness and a soft hand, employs an automated process which lowers costs and improves quality, and flexibly allows the article to optionally be dyed and printed.
FIGS. 3A-3E are flowcharts showing the processes of brushing, dyeing, softening, stentering and shearing in alternate embodiments of the invention.
FIG. 4 is a representative schematic showing singeing during the pre-processing step.
FIG. 5 is a representative schematic showing singeing during the finishing step.
Referring to
The dyeing and printing steps are optional and may be performed as desired in order to provide the velvet plush article with a particular color and pattern.
As shown in
As shown inWith reference again to
Alternately, after the step (B) or (C), the method of manufacturing a velvet plush article further comprises the steps of:
PreferablyIn one embodiment of the invention, in step (A), first and second filamentsthe face yarns and backing yarns are provided in a ratio of 4:1, wherein the first filament is a backing filament.
In step (B), in one embodiment of the invention the brushing involves brushing in a frontward direction and in a backward direction as shown in FIG. 3A; the first setting involves heat-setting at 120-130° C. at a rolling speed of 25 m/min; as shown in FIG. 4, the singeing involves a sequential rolling for six times at a frontward, backward, backward, frontward, backward and backward directionssinge rolling performed by passing the greige cloth F in frontward, backward, backward, frontward, backward and backward directions sequentially across hot rollers R; and the second setting involves heat-setting at 170-180° C. at a rolling speed of 25 m/min.
In step (C), dyeing the greige cloth includes bathing in dye fluid and rinsing with water as shown in FIG. 3B. In one embodiment additional dyeing time of 20 minutes is required due to immersion of the greige cloth in a water bath having a neutral pH or the lowest acidity that will result in a smooth and bright surface.
in step (D), printing includes the steps of brushing in a frontward direction, setting at 150° C. at a rolling speed of 25 m/min, and printing a preset pattern.
In step (E), softening includes washing to add acidity until the greige cloth is soft and then neutralizing the pH of the greige cloth as shown in FIG. 3C. If the pH is lower than 7, the fiber density of the greige cloth will diminish. If the pH is greater than 7, the greige cloth will be hardened; drying includes drying under 190° C. at a rolling speed of 20 m/min with an upper drying channel operated at 300 rpm and a lower drying channel operated at 1200 rpm; brushing includes brushing two brushing cycles; stentering includes stentering in a frontward direction and a backward direction as shown in FIG. 3D; heat-setting includes heat-setting under 150° C. at a rolling speed of 25 m/min with soft air; singeing includes passing the greige cloth across a plurality of hot singe rollers in frontward and backward directions, and preferably, as shown in FIG. 5, includes passing the greige cloth F across hot singe rollers R in backward, backward, frontward, frontward, backward, frontward, backward and frontward directions sequentially; shearing includes shearing in frontward, backward, backward, frontward, frontward, frontward, backward and backward directions sequentially, as shown in FIG. 3E, such that the final orientation of the pile hair is the same when approaching the cloth in both frontward and backward directions; and final heat-setting includes heat-setting at 190° C. at a rolling speed of 30 m/min.
There have thus been described and illustrated certain embodiments of a method of manufacturing velvet plush according to the invention. Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it should be clearly understood that the disclosure is illustrated only and is not to be taken as limiting, the spirit and scope of the invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims and their legal equivalents.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13507616 | Jul 2012 | US |
Child | 15807479 | US |