Engineered fabric articles
First Claim
1. A method of forming a unitary fabric element for use in an engineered thermal fabric article having a multiplicity of predetermined discrete regions of contrasting insulative capacity positioned about the article in an arrangement having correlation to insulative requirements of corresponding regions of a user'"'"'s body, the unitary fabric element defining at least two predetermined, discrete regions of contrasting insulative capacity, said method comprising the steps of:
- designing a pattern of the predetermined, discrete regions;
combining yarn and/or fibers in a continuous web according to the pattern of predetermined, discrete regions, comprising the steps of, in one or more first discrete regions of the fabric element, forming loop yarn to a first pile height, the one or more first discrete regions corresponding to one or more regions of the user'"'"'s body having first insulative requirements, and in one or more other discrete regions of said fabric element, forming loop yarn to another pile height different from and relatively greater than the first pile height, the one or more other discrete regions corresponding to one or more regions of the user'"'"'s body having other insulative requirements different from and relatively greater than the first insulative requirements;
finishing one or both surfaces of the continuous web to form the predetermined, discrete regions into discrete regions of contrasting pile heights; and
removing the unitary fabric element from the continuous web according to the pattern of predetermined, discrete regions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods are described for forming unitary fabric elements for use in engineered thermal fabric articles, including, but not limited to, thermal fabric garments, thermal fabric home textiles, and thermal fabric upholstery covers, and for forming these engineered thermal fabric articles, having predetermined discrete regions of contrasting insulative capacity positioned about the thermal fabric article in correlation to insulative requirements of a user'"'"'s body. In one implementation, loop yarn in first regions is formed to a first pile height, and loop yarn in other regions is formed to another, different, relatively greater pile height. In another implementation, loop yarn having a first shrinkage performance is formed in first regions to a predetermined loop height, and loop yarn having another, different shrinkage performance is formed in other regions to the predetermined loop height, or other loop height; the loops are cut and finished to a common pile height and the continuous web is exposed to heat to cause loop yarn to shrink to one or more different pile heights.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of forming a unitary fabric element for use in an engineered thermal fabric article having a multiplicity of predetermined discrete regions of contrasting insulative capacity positioned about the article in an arrangement having correlation to insulative requirements of corresponding regions of a user'"'"'s body, the unitary fabric element defining at least two predetermined, discrete regions of contrasting insulative capacity, said method comprising the steps of:
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designing a pattern of the predetermined, discrete regions; combining yarn and/or fibers in a continuous web according to the pattern of predetermined, discrete regions, comprising the steps of, in one or more first discrete regions of the fabric element, forming loop yarn to a first pile height, the one or more first discrete regions corresponding to one or more regions of the user'"'"'s body having first insulative requirements, and in one or more other discrete regions of said fabric element, forming loop yarn to another pile height different from and relatively greater than the first pile height, the one or more other discrete regions corresponding to one or more regions of the user'"'"'s body having other insulative requirements different from and relatively greater than the first insulative requirements; finishing one or both surfaces of the continuous web to form the predetermined, discrete regions into discrete regions of contrasting pile heights; and removing the unitary fabric element from the continuous web according to the pattern of predetermined, discrete regions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification