Vehicle air bag fabric and method of making same

Abstract

Vehicle air bags are constructed of fabric produced according to improved methodology. The fabric, which may be coated or uncoated, is dry woven on a loom machine without size. Since size is not used, the invention provides several methods to reduce chafing of the unprotected yarn during the weaving process. For example, the yarn is preferably of a type having a relatively large number of evenly-spaced nodes of entanglement. The warp ends are preferably beamed at a ratio of no greater than two ends per dent of the beaming comb. At least six (6) weaving harnesses are preferably used on the loom as the fabric is being produced. Because size is eliminated, the fabric does not have to be scoured prior to use. As a result, the air permeability of the fabric remains naturally low and fabric stiffness is reduced.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.