Apparatus to lessen the entanglement of tubular fabrics

Abstract

A means for lessening the entanglement of a tubular extent of fabric by inserting a hoop into a collapsed stack of that fabric prior to its being subjected to processing steps which heretofore have resulted in the entanglement and knotting of tubular fabric to a hoop inserter; inserting a flexible length within the tubular fabric so that it extends outward from the two ends thereof; securing the distal ends of the flexible length outward of the tubular fabric extent so as to form a hoop; processing the tubular extent with the hoop in place; preferably in a porous bag; opening the hoop and securing one end to an anchor; and reorienting the tubular extent to a substantially planar flattened extent, employing the now opened hoop as a guide, and finally removing the opened hoop from the tubular fabric.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.