Asymmetrical sail fabric
AssigneeContender U.S., Inc.
InventorsDuncan Skinner, Guus Bierman, Max de Bruin, Roeland Wentholt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sailcloth in roll good form permits efficient and cost effective construction of cross cut and vertical cut, laminate sails based on “off-angle,” (asymmetrical) load bearing fibers. The sailcloth also may include a conventional warp and fill thread or fiber layout. Such sailcloth illustratively is significantly less susceptible to load force stretch, creep elongation, and airfoil shape deformation because, among other things, it is not dependent on the load bearing limitations of symmetrical, woven or knitted roll good sailcloth.
Claims19
A sail cloth in roll good form, the sail cloth comprising:
- at least three layers of fiber that are non-woven and non-knit, the at least three layers being overlaid, each layer of fiber formed from a plurality of substantially parallel fibers arrayed at an angle off a warp direction defining the length of the sailcloth,
- wherein the fibers in each layer of fiber are at a different angle off the warp direction than the fibers in any other layer, and wherein all the layers of fiber that form the sail cloth form, when overlaid, an asymmetric pattern across the warp direction.
A method of making a sail cloth in roll good form, the method comprising:
- overlaying three or more layers of fiber, each layer of fiber being formed from a plurality of substantially parallel fibers generally oriented in a direction that is different than the fibers in any other layer, wherein all the layers of fiber that form the sail cloth are non-knit and non-woven, and form, when overlaid, a pattern that is asymmetric along a warp direction defining the length of the sailcloth.
A method of making a non-woven and non-knit sail cloth in roll good form, the sail cloth having a first face and a second face, the method comprising:
- overlaying three or more layers of non-woven and non-knit fiber such that all the layers of fiber that form the sail cloth form, when overlaid, a pattern that when viewed from the first face is different from when viewed from the second face, wherein overlaying the three or more layers of non-woven and non-knit fiber includes:
- arraying a first layer of fiber in parallel at a first angle off of a warp direction defining the length of the sailcloth;
- arraying a second layer of fiber in parallel at a second angle off of the warp direction that is different from the first angle;
- and
- arraying a third layer of fiber in parallel at a third angle off of the warp direction that is different from the first angle and the second angle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.