Natural wool pile fabric and method for making wool pile fabric
AssigneeDeckers Outdoor Corporation
InventorsNathan W. Crary, Stuart Jenkins, Stephen Martin, Zihao Dong
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of making a deep pile fabric that closely resembles natural sheepskin fleece. The method includes forming a length of pile fabric having fibers on one side and a scrim on an opposing side, where at least a portion of the fibers are natural wool fibers, and finishing the pile fabric as natural sheepskin by polishing the fiber side of the pile fabric, including guiding the length of pile fabric over at least two polishing rolls, where the two polishing rolls rotate in opposite directions.
Claims18
A method of making a deep pile fabric that closely resembles natural sheepskin fleece, comprising:
- forming a length of pile fabric having fibers on one side and a scrim on an opposing side, at least a portion of said fibers being natural wool fibers;
- finishing the pile fabric as natural sheepskin by polishing the fiber side of the pile fabric, including:
- polishing the fibers by guiding the length of pile fabric over at least two first polishing rolls, at least one of said at least two first polishing rolls including an outer surface, a groove without protrusions, formed in said outer surface and a blade separated from said groove, wherein said blade includes a plurality of protrusions configured to brush said fibers, and wherein said two first polishing rolls rotate in opposite directions;
- and
- further polishing the fibers by guiding the length of pile fabric over at least one second polishing roll a plurality of times.
A method of making a deep pile fabric that closely resembles natural sheepskin fleece, comprising:
- forming a length of pile fabric having fibers on one side and a scrim on an opposing side, said fibers including natural wool fibers and non-wool fibers;
- and
- finishing the pile fabric as natural sheepskin by applying a sheepskin conditioning solution to the fibers and polishing the fiber side of the pile fabric by guiding the length of pile fabric in a direction over at least one polishing roll that is rotating in a direction opposite to the direction of travel of the length of pile fabric,
- said at least one polishing roll including a pair of blades positioned on opposing sides of said at least one polishing roll, and at least one groove without protrusions that is separated from and positioned between said pair of blades.
A method of making a sheared wool pile fabric comprising:
- forming a length of pile fabric having fibers, at least a portion of said fibers being natural wool fibers secured to a backing material;
- rough shearing the wool fiber side of the fabric to a first predetermined length of the wool fibers,
- applying a sheepskin conditioning solution to the fibers,
- polishing the wool fiber side by passing the fabric over at least one polishing roll, said at least one polishing roll including an outer surface and a pair of blades formed in different locations in said outer surface, each of said pair of blades including a plurality of protrusions configured to brush said fibers on said wool fiber side, and at least one groove without protrusions, that is separated from and positioned between said pair of blades;
- and
- fine shearing the wool fiber side of the web to a second predetermined length of the wool fibers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.