Upholstery fabric
AssigneeGeneral Motors Corporation
InventorsFrank Robinson, Gerald F. Day, Keith Jeffcoat
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A piece of upholstery fabric for covering three-dimensional supports such as vehicle seat bases and seat backs is machine-knitted, preferably in a mainly double jersey structure, with integral tubular portions. These serve as anchorage devices for securing the fabric piece to the support which it is to cover using rods or tapes which are threaded through the tubular portions. The tubular portions may be located at the margins of the fabric piece and also at intermediate positions where the fabric piece needs to be held down, for example in a depression in the support. They may project from a surface of the fabric piece and may be like loops or they may be in the form of tubular hems or a tube lying between front and rear faces of a double jersey structure.
Claims14
A piece of machine-knitted upholstery fabric for covering at least part of a surface of a three-dimensional support which comprises a main portion comprising a knitted sequence of intermeshed loops of yarn and one or more tubular fabric portions integral with the main portion at location(s) where each such tubular fabric portion can serve as an anchorage device for facilitating the securing of the upholstery fabric piece to said support, each such tubular fabric portion comprising a knitted sequence of intermeshed loops of yarn of which loops of yarn at each end of said sequence intermesh with loops of yarn comprising the main portion whereby the main and tubular portion comprise an integral knitted structure.
A piece of machine-knitted upholstery fabric for covering at least part of a surface of a three-dimensional support which comprises a main portion comprising a knitted sequence of intermeshed loops of yarn and which has one or more tubular fabric portions integral with the main portion at location(s) where each such tubular fabric portion can serve as an anchorage device for facilitating the securing of the upholstery fabric piece to said support, each such tubular fabric portion comprising a knitted sequence of intermeshed loops of yarn of which loops of yarn at each end of said sequence intermesh with loops of yarn comprising the main portion whereby the main and tubular portions comprise an integral knitted structure and wherein the upholstery fabric piece has front and rear faces which are joined in a mainly double jersey knitted structure in the main portion and which are locally separated into sections of single jersey fabric together defining a tubular fabric portion.
A piece of machine knitted upholstery fabric for covering at least part of a surface of a three-dimensional support which comprises a knitted sequence of intermeshed loops of yarn and which has one or more tubular fabric portions integral therewith at location(s) where each such tubular fabric portion can serve as an anchorage device for facilitating the securing of the upholstery fabric piece to said support, each such tubular fabric portion comprising a knitted sequence of intermeshed loops of yarn of which loops of yarn at each end of said sequence intermesh with loops of yarn comprising the main portion whereby the main and tubular portions comprise an integral knitted structure and wherein said intermeshing loops from respectively the main portion and each end of the knitted sequence of intermeshed loops which comprise a tubular fabric portion are comprised of the same yarn.
An upholstery cover for a seat base or seat back of a vehicle seat which comprises a piece of machine knitted upholstery fabric comprising a main portion comprising a knitted sequence of intermeshed loops of yarn and one or more tubular fabric portions integral therewith at location(s) where each such tubular fabric portion can serve as an anchorage device for facilitating the securing of the upholstery cover to said vehicle seat base or seat back, each such tubular fabric portion comprising a knitted sequence of intermeshed loops of yarn of which loops of yarn at each end of said sequence intermesh with loops of yarn comprising the main portion whereby the main and tubular portions comprise an integral knitted structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.