Knitted wire carrier having bonded warp threads and method for forming same
AssigneeSchlegel Corporation
InventorPaul M. Vinay
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A knitted wire carrier for use in the manufacture of weather seals comprising, a wire folded into a zig-zag configuration for carrying a plurality of polymeric warp threads knitted on the wire and at least one meltable filament laid-in into at least two adjacent warp threads, whereby on heating, the melted filament causes the at least two adjacent warp threads to be bonded to the wire and/or to each other. The resulting wire carrier is stabilized against warp drift and is useful in the manufacture of a wire carrier reinforced weather seal. A method of manufacturing the carrier using a modified knitter is provided.
Claims23
A knitted wire carrier for use in a weather seal comprising:
- a wire folded into a zig-zag configuration so as to have a plurality of generally parallel limbs interconnected at alternate ends by connecting regions for carrying polymeric warp threads on the parallel limbs;
- a plurality of polymeric warp threads knitted on the wire to encompass the wire within a stitch of each knitted row of warp yarn;
- and
- at least one shrinkable filament laid-in into at least two adjacent warp threads, wherein when heated, the filament is shrunk and the at least two adjacent warp threads are drawn tightly against the wire.
A knitted wire carrier for use in a weather seal comprising:
- a wire folded into a zig-zag configuration so as to have a plurality of generally parallel limbs interconnected at alternate ends by connecting regions for carrying polymeric warp threads on the parallel limbs;
- a plurality of polymeric warp threads knitted on the wire to encompass the wire within a stitch of each knitted row of warp yarn;
- at least one shrinkable filament laid-in into at least two adjacent warp threads, wherein when heater, the filament is shrunk and the at least two adjacent warp threads are drawn tightly against each other.
A knitted wire carrier for use in a weather seal comprising:
- a wire folded into a zig-zag configuration so as to have a plurality of generally parallel limbs interconnected at alternate ends by connecting regions for carrying polymeric warp threads on the parallel limbs;
- a plurality of polymeric warp threads knitted on the wire to encompass the wire within a stitch of each knitted row of warp yarn;
- at least one shrinkable filament laid-in into at least two adjacent warp threads, wherein when heated, the filament shrinks without melting to draw the warp threads together and draw the warp threads tightly against the wire.
A weather seal for use on motor vehicles comprising:
- a knitted wire carrier according to any one of the preceding claims;
- and a polymeric coating comprising a thermoplastic or thermosetting elastomer coated on said knitted wire carrier.
A method for manufacturing a wire carrier for use in a weather seal comprising the steps of:
- forming a wire on a knitter into a zig-zag configuration having a plurality of generally parallel limbs interconnected at alternate ends by connecting regions for carrying polymeric warp threads on the parallel limbs;
- feeding a plurality of polymeric warp threads to the knitter;
- feeding at least one :meltable filament to the knitter;
- knitting the warp threads on the wires to encompassing the wire within a stitch of each knitted row of warp yarn and simultaneously laying-in the at least one shrinkable filament into at least two adjacent warp threads;
- heating said wire carrier to a predetermined temperature to drawing the warp threads together by shrinking the at least one shrinkable filament;
- and drawing the warp threads tightly against the wire.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.