WO1995019115A1

WO1995019115A1 - Woven slide fastener

Info

Publication number: WO1995019115A1
Application number: PCT/GB1995/000006
Authority: WO
Inventors: Alfons Frohlich; Erich Danekas; Hermann Hanneken
Original assignee: Coats Viyella Plc; Opti Patent-Forschungs- Und Fabrikations - Ag
Priority date: 1994-01-05
Filing date: 1995-01-04
Publication date: 1995-07-20
Also published as: AU1323695A; DE4400147C1

Abstract

There is disclosed an integrally woven slide fastener (1) having continuous coupling member rows (3) covering by support tape threads (2) towards the viewing side, comprising coupling members (4) of plastic monofilament having a coupling head (5) and coupling member shanks (6) and being connected by rear connecting parts (7) to form said coupling member rows (3), and wherein the coupling members (4) of the two halves of the slide fastener overlap each other in a coupling region (8), in which slide fastener the slider (9) has an operating handle (10) to be gripped from the viewing side of the slide fastener (1), and a slider housing (11) positioned at the rear side and having laterial guide channels (12) which have guide channel flanges (13) positively engaging behind parts of the coupling member rows (3) and wherein the following further features are realized: a) the individual coupling members (4) of both coupling member rows (3) at the side of their coupling heads are covered and rendered integral with said support tapes (15) by a plurality of binding warp yarns, which also belong to said support tapes (15) and are overpassed and underpassed by weft yarn loops (16) of the support tape weft yarns; b) the individual coupling members (4) of both coupling member rows (3) at the side of the connecting parts are bound into wrapping warp yarns (17) which are not woven into said support tapes (15) and to which only the coupling members (4) are associated as 'weft yarns'; c) the binding warp yarns (14) are held on the coupling members (7) with resistance to transverse pull by a shrinking tension of the corresponding weft yarn loops (16), whereby the guide channel flanges (13) of the slider (9) are guided between the closure members (7) wrapped by said wrapping warp yarns (17) and the corresponding regions of the support tapes (15) which extend without being folded back.

Description

WOVEN SLIDE FASTENER

The invention relates to an integrally woven slide fastener having continuous coupling member rows covered by support tape threads towards the viewing side, comprising coupling members of plastic filament having a coupling head and coupling member shanks and being connected by rear connecting parts to form said coupling member rows of the individual slide fastener halves, and wherein the coupling members of the two slide fastener halves overlap each other in the coupling region. The invention further relates to a method for producing such slide fasteners. - In the context of the invention integrally woven means that both the coupling member rows and the support tapes are produced during weaving, in a unitary weaving operation so to say. Covered slide fasteners means slide fasteners wherein the coupling member rows on the viewing side of the slide fasteners are virtually completely hidden by support tape threads and remain sufficiently hidden even in case of a transverse drawing force being applied to the slide fastener during use. In such a covered slide fastener the coupling member rows are positioned, so to say, under the support tapes as seen from the viewing slide. This also applies to the slider housing of the slider of the slide fastener.

In a known slide fastener from which the invention starts (EP-0 393 466 A2) the individual coupling members of both coupling member rows are overpassed by binding warp threads over the whole shank length which is free in the coupled condition of the slide fastener halves, said binding warp threads belonging to said support tapes and being all overpassed and underpassed, respectively, by weft yarn loops and thereby bound into the support tapes. Since this concerns slide fasteners having covered continuous coupling member rows, the above mentioned structure makes it necessary that the support tapes are turned back to form a folding edge, and in the coupled position the folding edges of the support tape engage each other forming a slit. The covering of the coupling member rows is therefore not only effected by support tape threads but by support tape flanges which are formed by the support tape threads. The guide channel flanges of the sliders are guided between the coupling member rows and the folded-over support tape flanges. The described structure has the result that the coupling member rows and the slide fastener halves connected therewith cannot be woven in the coupled condition. The two slide fastener halves have to be woven separately and thereafter joined to form the slide fastener. This results in problems as to tolerances. Moreover, the support tapes in the region of the folding edges are subjected to substantial wear when operating the slider, especially if this is done under an applied transverse pulling force, whereby the lifetime is reduced.

The invention is based on the technical problem of providing an integrally woven slide fastener having continuous coupling member rows covered by support tape threads towards the viewing side, wherein the coupling member rows can be woven in the coupled condition. The invention is further based on the technical problem to provide a method for producing such a slide fastener in a simple way.

For solving the above mentioned technical problem, the subject-matter of the invention is in the first place an integrally woven slide fastener having continuous coupling member rows covered by support tape threads towards the viewing side,

comprising coupling members of plastic monofilament having a coupling head and coupling shank members and being connected by rear connecting parts to form said coupling member rows, and wherein the coupling members of the two halves of the slide fastener overlap each other in a coupling region, in which slide fastener the slider has an operating handle to be gripped from the viewing side of the slide fastener and a slider housing positioned at the rear side and having lateral guide channels which have guide channel flanges positively engaging behind parts of the coupling member rows and wherein the following further features are realized:

a) The individual coupling members of both coupling member rows at the side of their coupling heads are rendered integral with said support tapes by a plurality of binding warp yarns, which also belong to said support tapes and are overpassed and underpassed by weft yarn loops of the support tape weft yarns,

b) The individual coupling members of both coupling member rows at the side of the connecting parts are bound into encircling warp yarns which are not woven into said support tapes and to which only the coupling members are associated as "weft yarns",

c) The binding warp yarns are held on the coupling members with resistance to transverse pull by a shrinking tension of the corresponding weft yarn loops,

whereby the guide channel flanges of the slider are guided between the closure members wrapped by said wrapping warp yarns and the corresponding regions of the support tapes which extend without being folded back. - In an integrally woven slide fastener according to the invention the closure member shanks 6 substantially overlie each other in a projection on the plane of the slide fastener. Usually, the coupling heads have a height corresponding to at least twice the diameter of the plastic monofilament and the coupling members in the region of the rear connecting parts have a height substantially corresponding to the diameter of the plastic monofilament. The height relation may, however, be chosen differently.

The invention is based on the finding that in an integrally woven slide fastener of the above described structure turning back the support tapes to form folded edges is not required if the features a) and b) of the above defined technical teaching are realized and according to feature c) a sufficient immobilisation of the binding warp threads at the coupling members is obtained by means of a shrinking treatment of the weft yarn loops, no matter how the coupling members are arranged with respect to their height as explained above. An appropriate shrink tension of the weft yarn loops can easily be arranged for, and this can be obtained in various ways. Since turning back the support tapes to form folded edges is no longer necessary for covering the coupling member rows, also the disadvantages resulting therefrom, which are a drawback of the known embodiments, are eliminated.

More specifically, there are several possibilities within the scope of the invention for further embodiments of a slide fastener according to the invention. Thus the weft yarn loops which overpass and underpass the binding warp threads on the side of the coupling heads may be taken right up to the coupling zone of the coupling members. In this way, a very complete covering or hiding of the coupling member rows is obtained. In this connection the arrangement may conveniently be made such that the weft yarn loops of the individual coupling member rows which overpass and underpass the binding warp threads wrap around the head of the respective opposed coupling member in the coupling region when in the coupled relationship.

As already mentioned, the slide fasteners according to the invention need to be given a particular shrink tension of the weft yarn loops. This tension by no means needs to be extreme. In this connection the invention teaches that the weft yarn loops which overpass and underpass the binding warp threads on the side of the coupling head are held by their shrink tension together with the associated binding warp threads on the shanks of the coupling members. The corresponding degree of shrink can easily be found by experiment for slide fasteners of different design and size. It is within the scope of the invention to have additional warp threads in the manner of standing ends in addition to said binding warp threads at least on the side of the slide fastener opposed to the viewing side, said additional threads being also overpassed or both underpassed and overpassed by said weft yarn loops.

The subject-matter of the invention is also a method for producing a slide fastener of the above described structure wherein the plastic monofilament of the coupling member rows is fed in the manner of a weft yam and thereby the coupling members and the coupling member rows are formed and simultaneously provided with the support tapes and bound into these in the aforestated manner.

According to the invention the coupling member rows are generated in the coupled condition and thereby provided with the support tapes and bound into these in the same weaving plane; thereafter on these intermediate products the free portions of the support tapes are angled away from the coupling member rows by ca. 90°, and in this condition the intermediate product with the coupling member rows in the coupled condition is heat- set. Hereby a specific heat-setting and shrinking of the weft yam loops of the binding warp threads can be obtained. Following the heat-setting the free portions of the support tapes together with the coupling member rows in one plane are subjected to setting by ironing. The weft yam loops which overpass the binding warp threads conventionally consist of strongly shrinkable heat-setting.

The invention is now described more in detail with reference to the drawings showing only an example of embodiment of the invention. The drawings are schematic representations to a greatly enlarged scale.

Figure 1 shows a cross-section of an integrally woven slide fastener according to the invention; Figure 2 shows the slide fastener of Figure 1 with slider applied and partially uncoupled; Figure 3 shows a view of the slide fastener of Figure 1 in the direction A; Figure 4 shows a cross-section corresponding to Figure 1 of an intermediate product of the slide fastener according to the invention immediately after the weaving process; Figure 5 shows the article of Figure 4 in the position for heat-setting; and Figure 6 shows a further schematic representation of the weave construction of the slide fastener according to Figures 1 - 6.

The slide fastener of which parts are shown in Figures 1 to 5 is an integrally woven slide fastener 1 having continuous coupling member rows 3 which are covered towards the viewing side by support tape threads 2. The viewing side is the side to which the arrow A in Figure 1 points. The slide fastener 1 has coupling members 4 of plastic monofilament each having a coupling head 5 and coupling member shanks 6 and being united by rear connecting parts 7 to form said coupling member rows 3.

In the described example and according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the coupling heads 5 of the coupling members 4 have a height corresponding to at least twice the diameter of the plastic monofilament, and the coupling members 4 in the region of the rear connecting parts 7 have a height substantially corresponding to the diameter of the plastic monofilament. In the region of the coupling heads 5 and in the region of the rear connecting parts 7 the cross-section of the monofilament is substantially elliptical and in the region of the coupling member shanks 7 it may also be circular. One may see from Figure 1 as well as 4 and 5 that the coupling members 4 of the two halves of the slide fastener overlap each other in a coupling region 8.

In Figure 2 the slider 9 of the slide fastener is indicated. It can be seen that the slider 9 has an operating handle 10 which may be gripped on the viewing side of the slide fastener 1 as well as a slider housing 11 positioned at the rear side having lateral guide channels 12 for the coupling member rows 3, which slider has guide channel flanges 13 positively engaging behind regions of the coupling member rows 3.

The individual coupling members 4 of both coupling member rows on the side of their coupling heads are covered by a plurality of binding warp threads 14 which in addition form part of the support tapes 15 and are overpassed and underpassed by weft yam loops 16 of the support tape weft yams. They are in this way also united with the support tapes 15. The individual coupling members 4 of the two coupling member rows 3 are additionally bound into wrapping warp threads 17 on the side of their connecting parts, which wrapping warp threads 17 are not woven into the support tapes 15 and are engaged only by the coupling members 4 acting as "weft yams". The binding warp yams 14 are by virtue of a shrink tension of the weft yam loops 16 arranged so that even under an applied transverse pulling force no undesirable and irreversible relative movement between the coupling member rows 3 and the support tapes 15 or the binding warp threads 14 covering the coupling member shanks will occur. This is surprising, considering the structure of the individual coupling members 4, as shown in the drawings, having different heights in the region of the coupling head 5 and in the region of the rear connecting parts 7.

The guide channel flanges 13 of the slider 9 are guided between the coupling members 4 encircled by the wrapping warp threads 17 and the corresponding regions of the support tapes 15 which are not turned-back and have no folded edge. In this connection reference is made especially to Figures 1 and 2, where one may note additionally that the weft yam loops 16 of the individual coupling member rows 3, which overpass and underpass the binding warp threads 14, in the coupling area 8 wrap around the coupling head 5 of the respective opposite coupling member 4 of the half of the slide fastener. As already mentioned, the weft yam loops 16 which overpass and underpass the binding warp threads 14 at the side of the coupling heads are held together with the associated binding warp threads 14, to the coupling member shanks of the coupling members 4 so as to resist transverse pulling forces, by virtue of the weft yam shrink.

With respect to the manufacturing method according to the invention, reference is made first to Figures 4 and 5. In Figure 4 one sees a configuration according to the invention, as obtained after the weaving operation. Considering the description of the finished slide fastener already made with respect to Figures 1 to 3 and the reference numerals given therein, a repeated description of the weave construction involving the binding warp threads 14 and the weft yam loops 16 as well as the arrangement of the wrapping warp threads 17 appears to be unnecessary. It is to be noted, however, that in Figure 4 a shrink of the weft yam loops 16 has not yet been obtained. This also applies to Figure 5 which shows how the arrangement is made for performing the heat-setting. The heat-setting of the weft yam loops 16 which overlie or underpass the binding warp threads 14 can be made with a higher degree of shrink than that given to these weft yams in the region of the otherwise free portions of the support tapes 15. Figure 1 shows the arrangement provided for in the process step of setting by ironing. At the same time, Figure 1 shows a cross-section of the finished slide fastener according to the invention.

In the embodiment of Figures 1 to 5 use is made of six binding warp threads 15 which are overpassed and underpassed by the weft yam loops 16. Moreover, three wrapping warp threads 17 are provided. A weaving structure in detail is explained with respect to Figure 6. However, for the sake of clarity, only four binding warp threads have been shown which are overpassed and underpassed by the weft yam loops. These are the binding warp threads indicated with numerals 1 to 4 in Figure 6. Moreover, two wrapping warp threads are shown, these are the warp threads indicated with numerals 5 and 6. In the diagram the letters "H" indicate a "high" guiding, the letters "T" indicate a "low" guiding and the letters "M" indicate a "middle" guiding. With this explanation the skilled man will easily understand the schematic representation in Figure 6. This representation is not meant to have any restrictive meaning, it is however particularly advantageous for slide fasteners according to the invention.

Claims

1. An integrally woven slide fastener (1) having continuous coupling member rows (3) covering by support tape threads (2) towards the viewing side,

comprising coupling members (4) of plastic monofilament having a coupling head (5) and coupling member shanks (6) and being connected by rear connecting parts (7) to form said coupling member rows (3), and wherein the coupling members (4) of the two halves of the slide fastener overlap each other in a coupling region (8),

in which slide fastener the slider (9) has an operating handle (10) to be gripped from the viewing side of the slide fastener (1), and a slider housing (11) positioned at the rear side and having lateral guide channels (12) which have guide channel flanges (13) positively engaging behind parts of the coupling member rows (3) and wherein the following further features are realized:

a) The individual coupling members (4) of both coupling member rows (3) at the side of their coupling heads are covered and rendered integral with said support tapes (15) by a plurality of binding warp yams, which also belong to said support tapes (15) and are overpassed and underpassed by weft yam loops (16) of the support tape weft yams;

b) The individual coupling members (4) of both coupling member rows (3) at the side of the connecting parts are bound into wrapping warp yams (17) which are not woven into said support tapes (15) and to which only the coupling members (4) are associated as "weft yams";

c) The binding warp yams (14) are held on the coupling members (7) with resistance to transverse pull by a shrinking tension of the corresponding weft yam loops (16),

whereby the guide channel flanges (13) of the slider (9) are guided between the closure members (7) wrapped by said wrapping warp yams (17) and the corresponding regions of the support tapes (15) which extend without being folded back.

2. A slide fastener according to Claim 1, wherein said weft yam loops (16) which overpass and underpass the biding warp yams (14) adjacent to the coupling head are led up to the coupling region (8) of the coupling members (4).

3. Slide fastener according to Claim 2, wherein the weft yam loops (13) of the individual coupling member rows (3) which oveφass and undeφass the binding waφ yams (14) encirclingly engage the coupling head (5) of the respective opposed coupling member (4) in the coupling region (8).

4. Slide fastener according to one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein said weft yam loops (18) which oveφass and-undeφass the binding waφ yams (14) adjacent the coupling head are fixed to the coupling member shanks (16) in a manner resistant to transverse tension by virtue of their weft yam shrink together with the respective binding waφ yams (14).

5. Slide fastener according to one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein in addition to said binding yam waφs (14) at least on the side of the slide fastener (1) opposed to said viewing side waφ yams similar to standing ends are arranged which are also oveφassed by said weft yam loops (16).

6. A method for producing a slide fastener wherein the plastic monofilament of the coupling member rows is led in the fashion of a weft yam and thereby the coupling members and coupling member rows as described in one of Claims 1 to 5 are formed, provided with support tapes and bound into said tapes, wherein the coupling member rows are generated in the coupled condition and at the same time provided with the support tapes and bound into these in the same weaving plane, and thereafter, on this intermediate product the free portions of the support tapes are angled away from said coupling member rows by ca. 90° and the intermediate product heat-set in the coupled state of the coupling member rows, and after said heat-setting the free portions of the support tapes together with the coupling member rows in the same claim is subjected to setting by ironing.