JP2004292962A

JP2004292962A - Fluid drag reduction swimwear

Info

Publication number: JP2004292962A
Application number: JP2003084228A
Authority: JP
Inventors: Yoshihiko Itagaki; 良彦板垣; Ken Higaki; 研桧垣
Original assignee: Descente Ltd
Current assignee: Descente Ltd
Priority date: 2003-03-26
Filing date: 2003-03-26
Publication date: 2004-10-21

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a swimming suit which can maintain the reduction in the resistance of a fluid, even when a water-repelling portion and the like are deteriorated, and to provide a method for producing the same. <P>SOLUTION: This fluid resistance-reducing swimming suit is characterized by applying a water-repelling treatment by a dipping means to the surface of a swimming suit fabric without applying a printing treatment to the whole surface of the fabric and then partially applying a printing treatment to the upper side (surface) of the water-repelling treated fabric to form hydrophilic portions having various shapes and sizes. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

【０００１】
【発明の属する技術分野】
本発明は、競泳用水着に係るものであり、水着表面に撥水部を設けることによって水中での表面摩擦抵抗を削減すると共に、非撥水部乃至親水部をも設けることにより水抜け性をも確保する新規な、流体抵抗減少水着に関する。
【０００２】
【従来の技術】
従来より、競泳用水着に於いて最も求められる水中での表面摩擦抵抗を削減する目的で、水着表面に、撥水プリント加工を施したり、撥水シートを貼着したりする例が多くあり、例えば特開平９−４９１０７号の技術などはその典型であって、水着表面に、ストライプ状に撥水部と非撥水部とを分けるなどしている。
【０００３】
尚、水着の表面全面に撥水加工を施したものも従来の技術としては存在するが、このうちには、水着の襟などの開口部から侵入した水が抜けなくなってしまう、即ち、表面の摩擦抵抗減少機能は仮に充分発揮できたとしても、上記のように水抜け性という点での欠点が際立つことになるばかりであり、却って、抵抗が増してしまう結果となってしまうため実際には使用に不適当であることも、多くある。
【０００４】
又、水着表面全体に撥水加工を施しながらも、水抜け性を確保した先行技術も存する。
即ち、編み組織を針抜きにて粗くして、通水効果ももたらす技術である。然し乍らこの技術によれば、針抜きという面倒な工程が不可欠となること、のみならず、針抜きが均一でない場合が生じたり、あるいは、編み組織をわざわざ粗くすることによって、強度的に弱い部分が出来てしまうことも、多くはないとしても、まま生じていた。
【０００５】
図２は、従来技術の典型例を断面拡大的に示すものであって（特開平９−４９１０７）、生地５１の上面のみ（表面のみ）に、撥水剤５２が部分的に（この場合ストライプ状に）プリント加工されており、該撥水剤５２がプリント加工されていない部分は非撥水性部分５３である。
しかし乍ら、この種の従来の技術では、水着表面に、シリコン系や、フッ素系等の撥水剤を使用し、一般的に工業化されているプリント処理によって撥水部を形成するに過ぎないものであり、従って、経時的自然劣化、あるいは洗濯などに於ける摩擦など外的原因による劣化や剥離（極めてし易い）などによって、充分な撥水効果の持続が期待できなくなる（即ち非撥水部となってしまう）、という問題が依然として残されていた。
のみならず、水抜け性という点でも、該非撥水部は、一般にはポリエステルなどを用いているため、それらの素材の特性により、水抜けがされにくいという結果ともなっていた。
【０００６】
【発明が解決しようとする課題】
上記特開平９−４９１０７の従来技術の欠点を解決すべく、本願発明者は、工程も少なく、又、強度もムラが生じない水着として、撥水部に、仮に経時的自然劣化や、何らかの外的原因による劣化乃至剥離が生じた場合であっても、流体抵抗減少を維持できると同時に水抜け性も充分に機能しうる画期的な流体抵抗減少水着を開発せんとするものである。
【０００７】
【手段】
本発明は、まず適宜伸縮性を有する水着生地の全体に亘ってまず撥水加工を施してしまい、該全体の撥水加工層表面の更に上面に、部分的に、親水加工部を設けたこと、を要旨とするものである。
尚、前記全体に亘る撥水加工は、従来技術のようなプリント加工ではなく、生地全体を撥水剤に一旦浸漬することによって施すこともその要旨とする。
又、前記親水加工部の形成は、アクリル系やウレタン系等の適宜合成樹脂を、バインダーとしてプリント加工することによって行うことが好もしい、という点も特徴とする。
のみならず前記親水加工部が、ストライプ等任意の形状及び／又は任意の大きさであること、をも特徴とするものである。
尚、該バインダーは、常に一定量の水を吸収して該水を含んだ親水部でもあるが、この場合、親水部の含水限度乃至所定量を越える水は、（親水剤の吸収力の範囲を越える水は最早親水部に含まれていることはなく排除されるのであり、親水部に含まれることにはならない。
【０００８】
尚、本明細書中に於いて使用される「水着全体の撥水加工乃至撥水層」とは、生地を構成する経糸及び緯糸自体の全周が撥水加工される、ということであって、交編した面全体に薄膜層を形成する（あたかも該層の存在によって、生地が完全に覆われてしまうように）、ということではない。
即ち、上記撥水加工を施されるのは、糸自体の全周のみであって、編組織の間隙は依然として残存している、という構成を念のためここで明らかにしておきたい。
【０００９】
【実施例】
本発明の典型的な実施の例を、以下、図１に沿って説明する。
まず、符号１は、適宜伸縮性のある、従来水着として多く採択されている水着用生地であり、素材としては例えば、ポリアミド系、ポリエステル系、ポリプロピレン系などの合成繊維マルチフィラメント糸、又はこれら合成繊維マルチフィラメント糸とポリウレタン弾性糸の交編による編物などから成る。
【００１０】
次に、符号２は、生地１の全面（前述のように正確には各糸の全周）に形成された撥水層であり、該撥水層２を形成するのには、前記（
【０００５】にて述べたような）従来技術が採択してきたプリント加工乃至塗布加工にはよらず、該生地１全体を、そのまま撥水液に浸漬してしまう工程により行われる。
【００１１】
撥水液の材料としては、一般に用いられているシリコン系、フッ素系等の撥水剤が任意に選択されるが、特に撥水剤と称されているものには限らず、同等の効果を生じさせる処理剤であれば、名称は問わないことは勿論である。
【００１２】
次いで、生地１自体の全てを撥水液に浸漬することにより形成された撥水層２の更に上面（表面乃至外側）に、ストライプ形状その他任意の形状及び／又は大きさを呈する親水加工部３が形成されるという第二工程より成る。
【００１３】
該親水加工部３の形成には、従来より広く一般に行われている親水加工処理のうちから、プリント加工が採択される。
即ち、例えば、合成樹脂のうち、アクリル系やウレタン系などを適宜バインダーとして、一般的ローラー機、オートスクリーン機、ハンドスクリーン機などを用いることにより塗布加工し、撥水層２と密に一体化する。
又、前記バインダー中には、当然適宜選択されたアクリル系やウレタン系などの所謂親水剤が混在している結果を呈していることは勿論である。
【００１４】
尚、該親水加工部３は、アクリル系やウレタン系の合成樹脂であるため、水中にあっては常に水を含んだ状態を呈し、かつ、水着と身体との中間に溜まった水は、糸と糸の間、即ち、編み組織の間隙を経由して所謂毛細管現象によりすべての水が該親水加工部３まで吸い上げられ（丁度該親水加工部３が呼び水となるために）、該部３より外部に流出する、即ち、水抜け作用が充分に生じるため、生地１の裏面からの水抜け性も又充分に確保されているといえる（即ち、もし、該親水加工部３が存在しないと、水は毛細管現象によって、糸と糸の間隙を経由して一応は吸い上げられるが、必ずしもすべてが吸い上げられるわけではなく相当量が下ちてしまうこととなってしまうのである。）
【００１５】
このようにして形成された本発明の水着によれば、
【０００５】に述べたような従来技術の有していた欠点、即ち、ポリエステルとポリウレタンの交編生地による非撥水部分は、素材自身の特性から、通水性に劣ること、又、プリントによる撥水加工では、糸の表面の一部にのみ（全周でなく上面のみ）撥水剤が付着するだけであって、そもそも耐久性に乏しいこと、（尚、本発明にあっては、
【０００８】のように糸表面の全体に撥水剤が付着するため耐久性に優れる）従って数回の洗濯その他何らかの理由によって、撥水プリント部が劣化あるいは剥離すると、撥水機能は直ちに失われ、水は、水着生地自体に直ちに直接的に滲入してゆき、流体抵抗減少の機能が直ちに失われてゆく、という欠点を解消できる。
【００１６】
即ち、仮に、本例の表面親水プリント加工の機能が、上記のような、何らかの、例えば洗濯などの、理由によって失われた場合であっても、従来技術（特開平９−４９１０７）のように、直ちに非撥水部と化してしまう、ということはなく、バインダー樹脂部分は直ちに失われることがなく、撥水機能は仮に、当初よりは劣ってくることはあったとしても、該バインダー樹脂部分には、前述のような親水剤が混入されている状態を維持するため、及び、該親水加工部３の下面（下層）には、水着の生地１全面に施された撥水層２が常に存在するため、該撥水層２は、従来通り、即ち当初の通り元のままに機能し、撥水機能を劣らせる結果となることは全くない。
即ち、上記従来技術とは異なり、水着生地１に、直ちに水が滲入してゆくことはないのであり、親水部は撥水部と化するため（直下に撥水層２が存在するため）、又、本来の撥水加工部２は、前述のように常に親水部と接しているので、あたかも非撥水部と化す作用を果たすため、耐久性に著しく優れる結果となる。
従って、目的とする流体抵抗減少衣服機能は何等損なわれることにならないのである。
【００１７】
尚、水着全体を、まず第一の段階で撥水液に浸漬してしまうことによって、従来技術とは異なり、まず水着全体に撥水加工が行われるとしても、該撥水加工層２は、数ミクロンといった程度にしか過ぎない、プリント加工と比して極めて薄い膜乃至層としてのみ形成されるのであって、水着全体の重量は殆ど増加せず、又その重量感を、着用者が意識することは全くない。
【００１８】
又、上記工程では、水着表面のみならず、水着裏面の全体にも撥水層は形成されるが、上述のように、溜まった水は、糸の間（編み組織の間隙）の毛細管現象により親水加工部３まで吸い上げられ、該部から更に外部にまで流出するのであり、即ち水抜け性は充分に確保されることとなる。つまり編組織の間隙を通して水抜け性は確保できるのであり、裏面撥水薄膜層の存在は即乾性に優れているという利点こそあれ、摩擦抵抗の点又、水抜け性の点に於いて、欠点となることは実際上全くない。
【００１９】
【発明の効果】
以上述べてきたように、本発明によれば、従来技術の欠点であった撥水部プリント加工の劣化等の場合に於いても、直接、水が生地に滲入するということはなく、撥水機能は完全に発揮しうるのであって、特に１００分の１秒を争う現在の競泳種目に於いては、極めて大きな優れた影響を与えることとなる。
【図面の簡単な説明】
【図１】本発明に係る水着を断面的に拡大した状態を示すものである。
【図２】従来の典型的な撥水水着の同状態を示すものである。
【符号の説明】
１生地
２撥水層
３親水部[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a swimsuit for swimming, in which a water-repellent portion is provided on the surface of the swimsuit to reduce surface friction resistance in water, and water-repellency is also provided by providing a non-water-repellent portion or a hydrophilic portion. A novel fluid resistance reducing swimsuit that also ensures.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, for the purpose of reducing the surface friction resistance in water, which is the most required in swimwear for swimming, there are many examples of applying a water-repellent print process to the swimsuit surface or attaching a water-repellent sheet, For example, the technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-49107 is a typical example, in which a water-repellent portion and a non-water-repellent portion are separated in a stripe form on the surface of a swimsuit.
[0003]
In addition, there is a swimsuit in which the entire surface of the swimsuit has been subjected to a water-repellent treatment as a conventional technique, but among them, water entering through an opening such as a collar of the swimsuit cannot be removed, that is, the surface of the swimsuit cannot be removed. Even if the frictional resistance reduction function could be fully demonstrated, the drawback in terms of water drainage would only become prominent as described above, and on the contrary, the resistance would increase, so in practice It is often unsuitable for use.
[0004]
In addition, there is a prior art in which water repellency is applied to the entire surface of a swimsuit while ensuring water drainage.
In other words, this is a technique in which a knitting structure is roughened by removing a needle and a water passing effect is also provided. However, according to this technique, a troublesome process of removing the needle is indispensable, and not only is the case where the removal of the needle is not uniform, or the knitting structure is intentionally roughened, but the weak portion is weakened. What could be done, if not many, was occurring.
[0005]
FIG. 2 shows a typical example of the prior art in an enlarged cross section (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-49107), in which the water repellent 52 is partially (in this case, striped) only on the upper surface (only the surface) of the cloth 51. A portion which has been printed and the water repellent 52 has not been printed is a non-water repellent portion 53.
However, in this type of conventional technique, a water repellent such as silicon or fluorine is used on the surface of a swimsuit, and a water repellent portion is simply formed by a generally industrialized printing process. Therefore, a sufficient water-repellent effect cannot be expected to be maintained (ie, non-water-repellent) due to spontaneous deterioration over time or deterioration or peeling (extremely easy) due to external causes such as friction in washing. Department)) still remained.
In addition, the non-water-repellent portion is generally made of polyester or the like in terms of water-repellent properties, and the characteristics of the material of the non-water-repellent portion also result in a difficulty in water-repellent.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In order to solve the drawbacks of the prior art of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-49107, the inventor of the present application has proposed a swimsuit with few steps and with no unevenness in strength. It is an object of the present invention to develop an epoch-making fluid resistance reducing swimsuit that can maintain the fluid resistance reduction and sufficiently function to drain water even when deterioration or peeling due to a specific cause occurs.
[0007]
【means】
According to the present invention, first, a water-repellent treatment is first applied to the entire swimsuit cloth having appropriate elasticity, and a hydrophilically-treated portion is partially provided on the upper surface of the entire water-repellent treatment layer surface. , Is the gist.
The gist of the water-repellent treatment over the whole is that the whole fabric is once immersed in a water-repellent agent instead of the print process as in the prior art.
Another feature of the present invention is that the hydrophilic portion is preferably formed by printing a suitable synthetic resin such as an acrylic resin or a urethane resin as a binder.
In addition, the hydrophilic processed portion has an arbitrary shape such as a stripe and / or an arbitrary size.
Incidentally, the binder is also a hydrophilic portion which always absorbs a certain amount of water and contains the water. In this case, water exceeding the water content limit of the hydrophilic portion or exceeding a predetermined amount is in the range of the absorption capacity of the hydrophilic agent. Is no longer contained in the hydrophilic part and is excluded, and is not contained in the hydrophilic part.
[0008]
The term “water-repellent treatment or water-repellent layer of the entire swimsuit” used in the present specification means that the entire circumference of the warp and the weft constituting the fabric is subjected to the water-repellent treatment. However, this does not mean that a thin film layer is formed on the entire interlaced surface (as if the cloth is completely covered by the presence of the layer).
That is, it is necessary to clarify here that the water-repellent treatment is applied only to the entire circumference of the yarn itself, and that the gap of the knitting structure still remains.
[0009]
【Example】
A typical embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
First, reference numeral 1 denotes a cloth for wearing water, which is appropriately stretched and has been widely adopted as a conventional swimsuit, and is made of, for example, a synthetic fiber multifilament yarn such as polyamide, polyester, or polypropylene, or a synthetic fiber of these. It is composed of a knitted fabric obtained by cross-knitting a fiber multifilament yarn and a polyurethane elastic yarn.
[0010]
Next, reference numeral 2 denotes a water-repellent layer formed on the entire surface of the cloth 1 (to be precise, the entire circumference of each yarn as described above).
[0005] Instead of the printing process or the coating process adopted by the prior art (as described in the above), the whole fabric 1 is immersed in a water-repellent liquid as it is.
[0011]
As the material of the water-repellent liquid, a generally used water-repellent such as a silicon-based or fluorine-based water-repellent is arbitrarily selected. Of course, the name of the treating agent to be generated does not matter.
[0012]
Next, on the upper surface (surface or outside) of the water-repellent layer 2 formed by immersing the entire fabric 1 itself in a water-repellent liquid, a hydrophilically processed portion 3 having a stripe shape or any other shape and / or size is formed. Is formed in the second step.
[0013]
For the formation of the hydrophilically processed portion 3, a printing process is adopted from among the hydrophilically processed processes that have been widely performed conventionally.
That is, for example, of the synthetic resin, an acrylic or urethane-based binder is used as a suitable binder, and is applied using a general roller machine, an auto screen machine, a hand screen machine, or the like, and is tightly integrated with the water-repellent layer 2. I do.
In addition, it is a matter of course that the so-called hydrophilic agent such as acrylic or urethane is appropriately mixed in the binder.
[0014]
Since the hydrophilic processed portion 3 is made of an acrylic or urethane-based synthetic resin, it always shows a state of containing water in water, and water collected between the swimsuit and the body is made of thread. All water is sucked up to the hydrophilic processing part 3 by a so-called capillary phenomenon through the gap between the yarn and the yarn, that is, the gap of the knitting structure (just because the hydrophilic processing part 3 becomes priming water). It can be said that the water is drained to the outside, that is, the water draining action is sufficiently generated, so that the water drainage from the back surface of the fabric 1 is also sufficiently ensured (that is, if the hydrophilic processed portion 3 does not exist, Water is sucked up temporarily through the gap between the yarns due to the capillary action, but not all is sucked up, and a considerable amount will drop.)
[0015]
According to the swimwear of the present invention thus formed,
The disadvantages of the prior art as described above, that is, the non-water-repellent portion of the cross-knitted fabric of polyester and polyurethane is inferior in water permeability due to the characteristics of the material itself, and is also repellent by printing. In the water processing, the water repellent only adheres to a part of the surface of the yarn (only the upper surface, not the entire circumference), and the durability is poor in the first place (in the present invention,
As described above, the water repellent adheres to the entire surface of the yarn, so that the durability is excellent.) Therefore, if the water repellent printed portion is deteriorated or peeled off by washing several times or for some other reason, the water repellent function is immediately lost. However, water can directly penetrate directly into the swimsuit fabric itself, thereby eliminating the disadvantage that the function of reducing fluid resistance is immediately lost.
[0016]
That is, even if the function of the surface hydrophilic print processing of the present example is lost for some reason, such as washing, as described above, as in the prior art (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-49107). It does not immediately become a non-water-repellent portion, the binder resin portion is not immediately lost, and even if the water-repellent function is inferior to the initial case, the binder resin portion In order to maintain the state in which the hydrophilic agent is mixed as described above, a water-repellent layer 2 applied to the entire surface of the cloth 1 of the swimsuit is always provided on the lower surface (lower layer) of the hydrophilically processed portion 3. Due to the presence, the water-repellent layer 2 functions as before, that is, as it was at the beginning, and does not result in any deterioration of the water-repellent function.
That is, unlike the above-mentioned prior art, water does not immediately permeate into the swimsuit fabric 1 and the hydrophilic portion becomes a water-repellent portion (because the water-repellent layer 2 exists immediately below), Further, since the original water-repellent portion 2 is always in contact with the hydrophilic portion as described above, it acts as if it were a non-water-repellent portion, resulting in extremely excellent durability.
Therefore, the intended function of the clothes for reducing the fluid resistance is not impaired at all.
[0017]
Incidentally, by immersing the entire swimsuit in the water-repellent liquid in the first stage, unlike the prior art, even if the entire swimsuit is first subjected to the water-repellent treatment, the water-repellent layer 2 is It is formed only as a very thin film or layer as compared with the printing process, which is only a few microns, so that the weight of the entire swimsuit hardly increases and the wearer is conscious of the weight feeling Not at all.
[0018]
In the above process, the water-repellent layer is formed not only on the front surface of the swimsuit but also on the entire back surface of the swimsuit. However, as described above, the accumulated water is generated by the capillary action between the yarns (gap of the knitting structure). The water is sucked up to the hydrophilic processing part 3 and flows out further from the part, that is, the water drainage property is sufficiently ensured. In other words, drainage can be secured through the gap of the knitting structure, and although the existence of the back surface water-repellent thin film layer has the advantage of quick drying, there is a drawback in terms of friction resistance and drainage. Is virtually never.
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, even in the case of deterioration of the water-repellent portion print processing, which is a drawback of the related art, water does not directly penetrate into the fabric, The function can be fully exercised, which can have a very great impact, especially in the current competition event, which competes for hundredths of a second.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows a swimsuit according to the present invention in an enlarged sectional view.
FIG. 2 shows the same state of a conventional typical water-repellent swimsuit.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 cloth 2 water repellent layer 3 hydrophilic part

Claims

The first step of applying a water-repellent treatment over the entire swimsuit cloth having appropriate elasticity, then
A second step of partially providing a hydrophilically-treated portion on the upper surface of the water-repellent layer on the surface of the swimsuit fabric,
A fluid resistance reducing swimsuit characterized by comprising:

Performing the entire water repellent process by immersing the entire fabric in a water repellent,
The swimsuit according to claim 1, characterized in that:

The formation of the hydrophilically processed portion is appropriately performed by printing a synthetic resin or the like as a binder,
The swimsuit according to claim 1, characterized in that:

The synthetic resin is an acrylic or urethane-based resin,
The swimsuit having reduced fluid resistance according to claim 3, wherein:

The hydrophilically processed portion has an arbitrary shape and / or an arbitrary size,
The fluid resistance reduction swimsuit according to claim 1, 3 or 4, characterized in that: