Firefighter's garment
AssigneeSouthern Mills, Inc.
InventorsW. Douglas Ellis, Denise N. Statham, Gregory Alexander
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A face cloth for a thermal barrier of a firefighter's garment made from a fabric woven from fire resistant yarns. The yarns are woven into a twill pattern with, preferably, filament yarns in the filling direction and spun yarns in the warp direction and a finish is applied to the fabric. The finish is accepted by the fabric and renders the face cloth both wickable and hook-and-loop compatible. The face cloth has a smooth and slick surface and is wickable and hook-and-loop fastener compatible.
Claims22
A fabric suitable for use as a face cloth of a thermal barrier in a firefighter's turn-out garment, having a face side that faces the firefighter, comprising:
- a plurality of filament yarns and a plurality of spun yarns, woven such that more filament yarns than spun yarns are on the face side of the weave;
- and
- a finish applied to the fabric which renders the face side of the fabric wickable and resistant to picking.
A layered firefighter's turnout garment, comprising:
- an outer layer comprising a shell made of flame resistant fibers;
- an intermediate layer formed of moisture barrier material;
- and
- a thermal barrier made of a face cloth quilted to a batting, wherein said face cloth is made from a fabric that is a 2.times.1 left hand twill weave, with filament yarns in the filling direction and spun yarns in the warp direction, said filament yarns being 200/100 denier poly(m-phenyleneisophthalamide), said spun yarns being 30/2 denier poly(m-phenyleneisophthalamide) fibers having a length ranging from about 1 to 1.5 inches, and said fabric comprising about 50% filament yarns and about 50% spun yarns, and wherein a finish is applied to said fabric, said finish comprising a solution comprising up to 10% ethoxylated ester, up to 10% melamine, and an inorganic salt catalyst.
A method of making a fabric suitable for use as a face cloth of a barrier in a firefighter's turnout garment, having a face side and a back side,comprising the steps of:
- forming a weave of a plurality of filament yarns and a plurality of spun yarns wherein more filament yarns than spun yarns are on the face side of the weave;
- and
- applying a finish to the fabric which renders the face side of the fabric wickable and resistant to picking.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.