Slide fastener stringer and method of making same

A method of making a slide fastener stringer comprising the steps of:

• weaving a continuous band consisting of at least one woven support tape and a continuous monofilament coupling element disposed along an edge of said tape with the support tape consisting of round warp yarns interwoven with a continuous ground weft yarn inserted into the warp as double weft insertions, said coupling element having a row of coupling members each formed with a coupling head projecting beyond said edge and a pair of shanks extending from each head over said edge whereby one of said shanks is disposed substantially directly over the other shank of each pair, and arcuate bights connecting each shank of a respective coupling member with shanks of adjacent coupling members, and binding warp yarns overlying the shanks for retaining said coupling element on said tape, each of said binding warp yarns having a repetitive weave pattern including the spanning of a pair of coupling members and forming a warp yarn bridge thereacross, said double weft insertions including weft yarn loops engaging said bridges and retaining said binding warp yarns away from the rearmost portion of said bights;
• at spaced locations along said tape removing said rearmost portion of said bight from said coupling element thereby freeing a corresponding number of coupling members from the coupling element;
• and
• withdrawing the freed coupling members to gap said coupling elements at said location while leaving said binding warp yarns intact, each of said loops being engaged over all of the binding warp yarns between each pair of coupling members to pad the space therebetween.