Two-Sided Touch Fastener Material

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/575,080, filed Apr. 5, 2024, the entire content of which application is hereby incorporated by references in its entirety.

This invention relates to two-side touch fastener material in which one side of the material is engageable with the other side of the material, to strips made of such material, and to methods of wrapping such strips about objects.

Touch fasteners often feature an array of very miniature hooks, which can be of practically any shape so long as it has an overhang for snagging fibers, and a field of fibers configured to be releasably engaged by the hooks. Strips of fastening material are made that have one type of fastener element on each side, so that they can be wrapped about something and overlapped, with the two sides in direct engagement and forming a releasable fastening to hold the strip about the object. Such strips can be found in use in many applications, including agriculture and viticulture, where such strips can be used as ties to support a growing vine to a trellis or support cable in such a way that the tie does not hamper growth of the vine or damage the plant material. The tie can be removed and repositioned as needed.

Installation of such ties is usually a manual process. Improvements are sought to simplify and speed up the installation of such ties for agricultural use, and the installation of touch fastening strips more generally.

Various aspects of the invention feature a two-sided touch fastener material includes a resin base having a front surface, an array of loop-engageable fastener elements extending from the front surface of the strip-form base and having stems of resin contiguous with resin of the front surface of the base, and a backing secured to the resin base on a side opposite the front surface. The backing extends across the resin base and includes a web of non-woven fibers including fiber segments embedded in resin of the base. The backing also includes a plurality of longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers and/or monofilaments extending through the web with fiber portions of the longitudinally continuous bundles exposed as loop elements engageable by the loop-engageable fastener elements. The longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers and/or monofilaments extend along a length of the base, are spaced apart across a width of the base, and are partially embedded in resin of the base such that a thickness of resin of the base at the continuous bundles of fibers and/or monofilaments is less than between the continuous bundles of fibers and/or monofilaments. The longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers and/or monofilaments correspond to areas of weakened tear resistance of the touch fastener material.

In some embodiments, the web of non-woven fibers includes a batt of non-woven fibers.

In some examples, the backing includes a stitchbond fabric, of which the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers and/or monofilaments include stitching yarns stitched through the web of non-woven fibers.

In some cases, the stitching yarns are stitched through the web of non-woven fibers at a stitching density of 15 to 25 stitches per square centimeter.

In some instances, each stitching yarn is stitched through the web of non-woven fibers to define stitches of one to ten millimeters in length along the touch fastener material.

In some examples, each longitudinally continuous bundle of fibers and/or monofilament is part of a line of stitches that encircle groupings of staple fibers of the web.

In some cases, the non-woven fibers of the web are of a material different from a material of the fibers of the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers.

In some instances, the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers and/or monofilaments are of polyethylene terephthalate and the non-woven fibers are of polypropylene.

In some embodiments, the loop elements extend to a distance of between 0.5 to 1.6 millimeters from the resin base.

In some examples, the loop elements include portions of fibers having a denier of between 40 and 400.

In some instances, the fibers of the non-woven web of fibers have fiber portions exposed for hook engagement.

In some embodiments, the fibers of the non-woven web of fibers have a fiber diameter between 15 and 25 micrometers.

In some cases, the backing has a basis weight of between 40 to 50 grams per square meter.

In some examples, the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers have a distribution of between one and ten bundles per centimeter of width of the touch fastener material.

In some instances, the loop-engageable fastener elements are arranged in spaced- apart columns extending in parallel with the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers.

In some embodiments, the columns have a density of between 15 to 25 columns per centimeter of width of the touch fastener material.

In some examples, at least some of the columns of loop-engageable fastener elements overlay respective ones of the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers.

In some cases, the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers include at least one longitudinally continuous bundle of fibers disposed completely between two adjacent columns of loop-engageable fastener elements.

In some examples, the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers occupy between 20 and 90 percent of an overall thickness of the resin base.

In some instances, the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers are completely covered by the front surface of the strip-form base.

In some embodiments, one of the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers is presented at a longitudinal edge of the touch fastener material.

In some examples, the touch fastener material has two opposite longitudinal edges, with one of the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers disposed at each longitudinal edge.

In some cases, the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers form rip stops configured to laterally confine propagation of longitudinal tears.

Another aspect of the invention features a method of forming a strip-form fastener product. The method includes forming a two-sided fastener material as described above, and then tearing the formed fastener material longitudinally at one of the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers to form two strip-form fastener products with longitudinal edges formed by the tearing, such that the one longitudinally continuous bundle of fibers is exposed at one of the formed longitudinal edges.

In some embodiments, tearing the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers confine tear propagation to a longitudinal direction.

In some instances, the two-sided fastener material includes sewing the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers into the web of non-woven fibers.

Various embodiments of the invention can improve the manual installation of touch fastening strips by providing improved tearing of the touch fastening strips along longitudinal fibers.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

is a top view of an elongated touch fastening strip.

is a perspective view of a roll of the touch fastening strips of.

is a perspective view of a torn piece of an elongated touch fastening strip.

illustrates the touch fastening strip ofbeing wrapped around a supporting wire and a vine.

shows the touch fastening strip after wrapping.

is a side view of the elongated touch fastening strip of.

are enhanced views of a cross-section of the elongated touch fastening strip of.

illustrate methods for forming longitudinal fibers in the touch fastening strip of.

illustrates a method for forming the touch fastening strip of. Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Referring first to, an elongated touch fastening striphas a bodyof flexible materialwith two opposite faces (showing andon the obverse). The flexible materialcan include, e.g., a web of non-woven fibers embedded in resin. For example, the web of non-woven fibers can include a batt of non-woven fibers, spunbond non-woven fibers, flashspun non-woven fibers, air-laid non-woven fibers, etc. The body is bounded by lateral edgesandextending along the length of the body of flexible material. As will be discussed in more detail below, the strip has mutually engageable touch fastener elements carried on the opposing faces of the flexible material, to releasably fasten overlapping portions of the fastener material together with the fastening strip wrapped about an object.

The showing facecan form a backing of the bodyand features an engageable contiguous area, e.g., an area that is unitary and that it is essentially covered with touch fastener elements, whether hooks or loops. In the example of strip, the showing faceis covered with fibersarranged in parallel lines that traverse the width of the body of flexible material. For example, the flexible materialcan be a stitchbond material including longitudinal fibersthat are stitched into the web of non-woven fibers. For example, the fiberscan be stitched through the web of non-woven fibers at a stitching density of 15-25 stitches per square centimeter. In some implementations, the fibersare stitched through the web of non-woven fibers to define stitches of one to ten millimeters in length along the touch fastener material. The stitching of the fiberscan form a line of stitches that encircle and wrap around groupings of staple fibers of the web. In some implementations, one or both of the lateral edgesandcan be formed by a longitudinal fiber. The fiberscan be at least partially embedded in the resin of the flexible material, as discussed further below. In some implementations, the longitudinal fibershave a distribution of between one to ten bundles per centimeter of width of the touch fastener material. An example of a stitching process to form the longitudinal fibersis discussed below with reference to. In some implementations, the backing has a basis weight of between 40 to 50 grams per square meter.

In some implementations, the non-woven fibers of the web can include a material different from a material of the fibers. For example, the fiberscan include polyethylene terephthalate and the non-woven fibers can include polypropylene. In some implementations, the non-woven fibers can include a polylactic acid (PLA) based material, and the fibersmay include cotton fibers, PLA, or Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate (ASA).

The fiberscorrespond to frangible tear lines of weakened tear resistance of the flexible touch fastener material. For example, in some implementations, the resin embedding the web of non-woven fibers can be thinner at and around the fibersthan the resin in between the fibers. In some implementations, the punctures from the stitching of the fibersweaken the resin and web of non-woven fibers to create frangible tear lines of weakened tear resistance. In some embodiments, the fibersare not arranged in parallel lines and are arranged in other formations (e.g., non-parallel lines or cross-stitched). In some implementations, the fiberscan form rip stops configured to laterally confine of longitudinal tears, e.g., such that a user can easily tear the materiallongitudinally to at least one predefined distance. In some implementations, the fiberscan have a denier in a range of 40 to 400. In some implementations, the fibers of the non-woven web of fibers have a fiber diameter between 15 and 25 micrometers. In some implementations, the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers occupy between 20 and 90 percent of an overall thickness of the resin base. In some implementations, the longitudinally continuous bundles of fibers are completely covered by the front surface of the strip-form base.

Portionsof the fiberscan be exposed, e.g., exposed from the resin, as loop elements which are engageable by loop-engageable fastener elements. For example, the portionsof the fibersextend from one of the fibersto another one of the fibers. The portionsof the fiberscan extend perpendicularly to the fibers. In other implementations, the portionsof the fibersextend at an angle between 0°-90° relative to the fibers.

The portionsof fibersforming loops can include a single strand of yarn having four plies twisted about each other in helical form, such that fibers of each of the four plies extend both into the resin of the base and away from the resin to form engageable loops. In some implementations, the loop elements extend to a distance of between 0.5 to 1.6 millimeters from the resin base. Alternatively, the portionscan include two parallel strands of yarn extending along the closure strip and separated by a small distance. In some implementations, the portionscan include monofilaments.

In this example, the contiguous area is void of apertures extending through the body of flexible material, and is engageable over its entirety. Moreover, it is engageable over its entire width over its engageable head length, meaning that at any point along its engageable head length it is engageable across its entire width. The engageable area need not extend across the entire width of the strip, meaning that there may be non-engageable edge regions in the strip. The engageable area need not extend across the entire length of the strip.

The opposing facecan include fastener elements configured to engage and retain the portionsof the fibersforming loop elements. The fastener elements are integrally molded with and extend from the face. In this embodiment, these fastener elements are in the form of J-hooks that extend, in rows, along the length of the closure strip. Some of the J-hooks face in opposite directions along the strip. Other fastener element shapes may also be employed, including other types of hooks, and fastener elements that overhang the substrate in a widthwise direction. For example, some embodiments include T-hooks. A suitable fastener element shape is the CFM29 hook shape (of about 0.015 inch in height), available in various products sold by Velcro USA Inc., Manchester, New Hampshire.