GB2315095A - Hook and loop surface fastener - Google Patents

Abstract

A surface fastener 2,8 comprises base strips 4,8 having separate regions 6,12 of fastener elements 7, 14 spaced apart at regular intervals along their lengths. The regions 6,12 may have hooks and loops respectively, or both. The fastener elements 7,14 may be produced by knitting so that the base remains flexible. The hooks 7 are of high density and made of fine yarn so as to be weak, to avoid catching on a garment.

Description

Surface Fastener The present invention relates to a surface fastener, and in particular to a surface fastener which can be used to emulate the use of buttons, press studs, and the like in garments.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a surface fastener comprising an elongate base material having a plurality of regions of surface fastener elements spaced apart at intervals along its length.

Preferably the regions are at regular spacings.

A second strip of base material has regions of complementary surface fastener elements spaced apart a like distance along its length, so that the two strips can be attached to the respective edges of a garment, etc., which is to be dosed by the surface fastener.

A region of surface fastener elements may contain elements of complementary types, such as hooks and loops of a hook and loop fastener, or elements which will engage with like elements on an opposed strip.

In a particularly preferred system, one strip has regions of hooks and the other strip has regions of loops, forming a hook and loop type fastener system.

With a garment such as a child's one-piece suit or "babygro", (Registered Trade Mark) made of material with a loop pile, such as towelling material, difficulty can be caused by hook-type fastener elements engaging the loops of the loop pile. To reduce this difficulty, the hooks may be formed of a weak thread, such as 200 Denier or less, which is woven into the base strip and cut to form the hooks. By using a weak thread, the hooks will not pull or drag the surface loops of the material.

In another preferred form, the hooks or other male engaging elements are formed with a very high density so that the space in front of a hook, into which a loop must penetrate to engage the hook is similar to or less than the thickness of the thread of the loop pile. In contrast, the loops of the complementary surface fastener can be formed of very fine thread to penetrate between the hooks.

In hook or loop fastener material the base material is usually woven, and an adhesive coating or other treatment is applied to lock the threads, the hooks and loops, to prevent them being pulled during use. This stiffens the material, which may in turn lead to puckering when a strip of material is sewn on a garment.

Preferably, the fasteners are formed by knitting, in which case an adhesive coating is not needed.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the base material is an elastic tape.

A second aspect of the invention provides a surface fastener comprising an elastic base material and a plurality of hooks and/or loops extending from a surface of the base material.

The invention will be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a surface fastener strip in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 shows a surface fastener strip in accordance with the invention and complementary to the strip of figure 1, and Figure 3 shows a garment in accordance with the invention.

In Figure 1, a surface fastener 2 comprises an elongate strip of base material 4 woven, for example, from polypropylene. Discrete regions 6 of surface fastener elements are formed at regular intervals along the base material strip 4, with a centre to centre spacing "d". In the embodiments shown, the fastener elements are hooks 7 which are formed by weaving loops of a relatively stiff polypropylene yarn on the surface of the base material and cutting the loops on one side. This process is well known in the art. The yarn forming the loops is preferably of 200 Denier or higher (i.e. a weaker or less stiff material), so that when acting individually or in small numbers, the hooks form only a relatively weak fastening as will be described hereinafter with reference to figure 3.

In Figure 2, a surface fastener 8, which is complementary to the fastener 2 of Figure 1, is formed of an elongate woven base material strip 10 of polypropylene having discrete regions 12 of loops 14, formed at centre to centre spacing "d" to correspond to the regions 6 in the embodiment of Figure 1. Again, the manner of manufacturing a base material with a loop pile is well know in the art.

When manufacturing the surface fastener elements 2, 8, by weaving the base material is coated with adhesive or otherwise treated on its underside at least in the regions 6, 12 to prevent pulling of the loops and hooks during operation of the surface fastener. This stiffens the base material, and may lead to puckering when the material is sewn on a garment or other flexible substrate.

The surface fasteners 2, 8 can be produced by knitting, in which case the treatment is not necessary and so the base material remains relatively flexible.

In another embodiment, the regions 6 or 12 may each comprise complementary fastener elements, for example both hooks and loops may be provided in regions 6 or 12, so that it is necessary to manufacture only one strip of surface fastener.

Figure 3 shows a garment, 20 specifically a baby's one piece suit or "babygro" (Registered Trade Mark). Such garments are typically fastened by buttons or press-studs. These have the drawback that the small parts can be dangerous to infants if they come loose. With the present invention, this drawback can be overcome.

Referring to figure 3, a strip of surface fastener material 8 having loop regions 12 is sewn on one side of a garment opening 22. A strip of complementary surface fastener material 2 having hook regions 6 is sewn on a flap 24 on the other side of the opening 22. It can be seen that the regions 6, 12 will emulate the use of buttons or press-studs to dose the opening 22.

Such garments are typically made of a material having a loop pile.

The hook regions 6 may catch on the loop pile, causing it to drag. To ameliorate this, the hooks 7 may be formed of relatively weak yarn so that if a hook region catches on the loop pile, the peel strength of the bond between hooks and loops is quite weak. Conversely, when positive pressure is applied to a hook region 6 to engage a substantial percentage of the hooks with a complementary loop region 12, a stronger bond is formed.

The thread used to form the loop pile of a garment is typically of relatively large diameter. Thus if small hooks and/or a high hook density is used, this will inhibit the engagement of the hooks with the garment loop pile.

Moulded hooks maybe particularly suitable for this purpose, where a low profile and high density of hooks can be used with a small hook or hook spacing. Preferably the spacing between a hook tip and the adjacent hook is less than about 0.02mm. The complementary loop regions 12 can be formed with a thread having a smaller diameter than 0.02mm to allow them to penetrate between the adjacent hooks to engage a hook.

The surface fastener of the invention is also useful in other applications, for example fitting seat covers.

Claims (13)

CLAIMS:

1. A surface fastener comprising an elongate base having a plurality of regions of fastener elements spaced apart at intervals along its length.

2. A fastener as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fastener elements are hooks of a hook and loop fastener system.

3. A fastener as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fastener elements are loops of a hook and loop fastener system.

4. A fastener as claimed in claim 1, wherein a region comprises complementary fastener elements for engagement with a like region.

5. A fastener as claimed in claim 4, wherein a region comprises hook and loop fastener elements.

6. A fastener as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the base is a knitted material.

7. A fastener as claimed in claim 2 or 5, wherein the hooks are formed from a thread of thickness 200 Denier or less.

8. A fastener as claimed in claim 2, wherein the hooks are moulded hooks.

9. A fastener as claimed in claim 8, wherein the spacing between a hook tip and an adjacent hook is less than 0.02mm.

10. A fastener as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the base material is elastic.

11. A garment including a fastener as defined in any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A surface fastener substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 or 2 of the accompanying drawings.

13. A surface fastener in which the base material is elastic.