Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D02—YARNS; MECHANICAL FINISHING OF YARNS OR ROPES; WARPING OR BEAMING
  • D02G—CRIMPING OR CURLING FIBRES, FILAMENTS, THREADS, OR YARNS; YARNS OR THREADS
  • D02G3/00—Yarns or threads, e.g. fancy yarns; Processes or apparatus for the production thereof, not otherwise provided for
  • D02G3/22—Yarns or threads characterised by constructional features, e.g. blending, filament/fibre
  • D02G3/34—Yarns or threads having slubs, knops, spirals, loops, tufts, or other irregular or decorative effects, i.e. effect yarns
  • D02G3/346—Yarns or threads having slubs, knops, spirals, loops, tufts, or other irregular or decorative effects, i.e. effect yarns with coloured effects, i.e. by differential dyeing process
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D02—YARNS; MECHANICAL FINISHING OF YARNS OR ROPES; WARPING OR BEAMING
  • D02G—CRIMPING OR CURLING FIBRES, FILAMENTS, THREADS, OR YARNS; YARNS OR THREADS
  • D02G3/00—Yarns or threads, e.g. fancy yarns; Processes or apparatus for the production thereof, not otherwise provided for
  • D02G3/02—Yarns or threads characterised by the material or by the materials from which they are made

Definitions

• the present invention relates to composite yarns which are especially suited for use in carpet manufacture, and a method of making such yarns .
• Composite stipple yarns usually comprise two, three or four threads of the same count, at least one of which has a different colour to the other threads.
• Such a yarn is typically formed by individually forming and colouring the individual threads, and subsequently combining these, for example by twisting, to form the final yarn.
• the individual threads may either be coloured by dyeing before they are spun, or may be formed into threads first and then dyed.
• to produce a stipple yarn of a particular desired combination of colours where each of the colours must individually be produced will take in the order of three to five weeks. This lead time is unacceptably long, especially in the contract market where a relatively small amount of a particular stipple yarn may be required at short notice.
• a further problem with the manufacture of conventional composite stipple yarns is that of wastage.
• colouring a thread it is not possible to accurately manufacture threads to predetermined exact length. Therefore, when a number of threads are combined to form the composite stipple yarn, there will always be an excess of some of the threads, and this must be wasted.
• a composite stipple yarn may include one thread which has a lower count, namely the weight per unit length of the yarn, than the other threads.
• this thin thread or "fine point leg” comprises between 10 and 25% of the resultant yarn count.
• Such fine point stipple yarns have a distinctive and attractive appearance which is particularly useful where the yarn is used in the manufacture of carpets. Summary of the present invention.
• a composite yarn comprises a plurality of threads, one of which has a lower count than the other thread or threads, the overall composition of the yarn including at least 40% wool by weight, the thread with the lower count having an affinity to a predetermined dye different to that of the other thread or threads .
• a method of making a composite stipple yarn comprises the step of forming a composite yarn in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention, and subsequently dyeing the composite yarn in the predetermined dye so that the thread with the lower count has a different colour or shade to the other thread or threads .
• the thread with the lower count may have a different composition from the or each other thread, and thereby have a different affinity to the predetermined dye. In any case, it is preferred that either the thread with the lower count or the or each other thread is treated to change its affinity to the predetermined dye.
• This treatment may be a chemical treatment such as the "SANDOSPACE R” treatment or other treatment by which a generally colourless reactive dye is applied to the thread to fill the dye sites and prevent subsequent dyeing.
• the thread with the lower count comprises between 10% and 35% of the composite yarn count, and more preferably between 10% and 25% of the overall count of the composite yarn.
• the composite yarn is a wool rich yarn having at least 50% wool by weight. It is more preferred that the composite yarn has at least 70% wool, and even more preferred that the composite yarn has at least 80% wool.
• each of the individual threads has at least 40% wool by weight.
• the thread having the lowest count preferably has between 40% and 60% wool, and the remainder polyester. This gives some inherent resistance to the predetermined dye.
• the other thread or threads preferably have between 80% and 90% wool, and the remainder polyamide . It is preferred that the resultant count of the composite yarn is between about 2000 and 200 tex, and more preferably between about 1000 and 350 tex.
• each thread used to form the composite yarn comprises a staple fibre.
• the thread having the lower count has a greater resistance to the predetermined dye than the other thread or threads.
• the thread having the lowest count may have a darker colour than that of the other thread or threads after these have been dyed. This is advantageous as, despite the general resistance to the dye of the thread having the lower count, the thread may be discoloured slightly by the dye. Where the dye has a lighter colour than that of the fine point leg, there will be little if any appreciable change in the overall colour of the thinner thread.
• the thread having the lowest count or the other thread or threads are pretreated before they are formed into the composite yarn, for example by space dyeing in which the thread is differentially coloured along its length, or by heathering whereby the thread is textured. These give additional appealing appearance or wear characteristics.
• the overdyeing of the composite yarn will set the twist in the yarn, it is advantageous to set the yarn before it is overdyed. This allows a greater amount of setting, and allows the composite yarn to merely be overdyed before it is used.
• the composite yarn may be overdyed before it is used, or may be formed into an article, such as a carpet, and then printed, for example by ink jet or screen printing.
• a carpet is formed from composite stipple yarns according to the first aspect of the present invention manufactured in accordance with the second aspect of the present invention.
• Figure 1 is a schematic side view of a composite stipple yarn made in accordance with the present invention.
• Figure 2 is a schematic plan view of part of a cut pile carpet formed using the composite yarn of Figure 1.
• the composite yarn is formed from a first thread (4) having a composition of 50% wool and 50% polyester, and at least two other threads (2) each having a composition of 87% wool and 13% polyamide .
• the thread (4) having the 50% wool and 50% polyester composition has a thinner count than each of the other threads (2) .
• This thread (4) is coloured, for example using dye to its final desired colour, and is then subjected to a chemical treatment using the "SANDOSPACE R" process to make this thread substantially resistant to a predetermined type of dye.
• the other threads retain their natural colour.
• the three threads are twisted or wound together to form a composite yarn in which the thinner thread (4) contributes between 10% and 25% of the overall counts of the yarn.
• the thinner, darker thread (4) is twisted with the thicker threads (2) .
• the composition and chemical treatment of the thinner thread (4) is such that this thread is substantially resistant to a dye such as acid levelling, half milling, milling, super milling, milling fast, premetallised, reactive or mordane dyestuffs, whereas the other threads (2) have an affinity to this dye.
• the composite yarn is dyed in this dye. Due to the resistance of the thinner thread (4) to the dye, the dying causes no change in the colour of the thinner thread (4) . The remaining threads (2) are dyed to a desired colour.
• the final colour of the dyeable threads (2) is lighter than that of the thinner thread (4) so that the colour of the think thread (4) is not altered substantially even if this thread has some affinity to the dye.
• the composite stipple yarn may be used in the manufacture of carpets, and in this case the yarn forms the carpet tufts.
• the edge of the yarn as shown in Figure 1 will be seen when looking at the carpet.
• the cross-section of the yarn will be visible.
• the overall appearance of the carpet will be of the colour of the thicker threads (4) as these contribute the largest proportion of the exposed yarn.
• the fine point leg (2) will break up this colour giving the desired stipple effect. This means that it is possible to stock yarns having the fine point leg (2) dyed to one of a limited number of predetermined colours, and overdye these yarns to colour the thicker threads (4) to the customer required colour.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Yarns And Mechanical Finishing Of Yarns Or Ropes (AREA)
• Reinforced Plastic Materials (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

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ID=10811395

Family Applications (1)

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• 1997
  • 1997-04-25 GB GBGB9708463.6A patent/GB9708463D0/en active Pending
• 1998
  • 1998-04-21 AT AT98917419T patent/ATE220134T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1998-04-21 AU AU70652/98A patent/AU722517B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 1998-04-21 NZ NZ500636A patent/NZ500636A/en unknown
  • 1998-04-21 EP EP98917419A patent/EP1012363B1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1998-04-21 PL PL98336146A patent/PL336146A1/xx unknown
  • 1998-04-21 DE DE69806395T patent/DE69806395T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1998-04-21 WO PCT/GB1998/001152 patent/WO1998049379A1/en active IP Right Grant

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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