A cover made of textile material and a method for the manufacture thereof

The present invention relates, on the one hand, to a method for manufacturing a cover made of textile material which is provided with a finishing layer on the inside. More in particular, the present invention relates to a method for the manufacture of such a cover for mattresses, toppers, pillows and the like.

On the other hand, the present invention also relates to a cover made of a textile material which is provided with a finishing layer on the inside, and to a mattress, a mattress cover, a pillow or a topper which is provided with such a cover.

The known mattresses consist of a core made of synthetic material, such as for example latex or polyether, and a casing, referred to as a mattress cover, which tightly encloses this core. Even mattresses having a core comprising feathers and mattresses for air or water beds are usually provided with such a mattress cover. A mattress cover is traditionally made of a fabric called mattress tick, against which, on the inside facing the core, a soft layer is provided. This soft layer is, for example, a non-woven textile material or a layer made of a foamed plastic, such as latex, and is referred to in this patent application as a finishing layer. The term cover in this patent application is understood to mean both a removable cover and a non-removable cover. A removable cover is, for example, provided with a zip or a velcro closure for closing one of the sides of the cover, while in the case of a non-removable cover all sides are sewn up.

When manufacturing such a cover, the cover material is produced first. To this end a mattress tick fabric is first woven and subsequently a finishing layer is laminated onto this fabric. The cover is then produced by making up this cover material, during which process several pieces of cover material of specific dimensions have to be cut out and sewn together in order to produce a casing which fits exactly around the mattress core. This method is time-consuming and labour-intensive, which leads to an increase in the manufacturing costs of a mattress.

It is an object of the present invention to remedy these drawbacks by providing a new less time-consuming and simpler method for manufacturing a cover made of a textile material which is provided with a finishing layer on the inside.

This object is achieved by providing a method for manufacturing a cover made of textile material which is provided with a finishing layer on the inside, in which, according to the present invention, a cover fabric is woven on a weaving machine which has a top and a bottom weaving layer which are at least partly attached to one another by weaving in an edge zone, and in which said finishing layer is provided on the top side and/or on the bottom side of this cover fabric, and in which the cover fabric is subsequently turned inside out.

The cover fabric is turned inside out on one side which is at least partly open. If necessary, one of the sides is cut open for this purpose.

Due to the fact that the two layers of fabric are attached to one another along one or more edges during the weaving procedure, a kind of covering is obtained in which a core material, such as a core for a pillow, a topper or a mattress, can be introduced. This core is, for example, a latex core or a polyether core, but may also be a feather core or a core for an air mattress or a water mattress. The core material is introduced via an open side of the cover fabric. It is sufficient to close the open side(s) in order to produce a closed casing or cover. Closing the open side(s) can be effected by means of, for example, sewing, ultrasonic welding or gluing. In this manner, it is possible to produce a cover made of a textile material which is provided on at least one of the insides with a finishing layer without making up. Due to this method, the finishing of a mattress or a topper or a pillow or the like can be simplified significantly. In addition, this reduces the manufacturing costs without adversely affecting the quality of the cover.

Preferably, a finishing layer is provided on both the top side and the bottom side of the cover fabric. This finishing layer may be a non-woven which is produced, for

example, by means of a spunbond process. The finishing layer may also be a soft synthetic layer which may essentially consist of, for example, polyurethane, polyethylene or latex.

In addition, it is also preferable to use a weaving process which is generally known as weaving a sack cloth. In this case, warp yams and wεft yams are provided on a weaving machine for weaving two fabrics. At the edges, these warp yams and weft yams are woven together to form a single fabric, while in a central zone, situated within these edges, two fabrics are formed one above the other. This is preferably carried out with the aid of a jacquard machine. The result is a fabric having two individual weaving layers which are separate from one another and attached to one another at the edges.

Using such a weaving process, it is also possible to produce a fabric having three or more layers of fabric which are only attached to one another along the edges.

If, for example, three layers of fabric are formed, a cover fabric is obtained which has two covering parts which are separate from one another, a top covering part between the top and central fabric layer and a bottom covering part between the central and the bottom fabric layer. These two covering parts may, for example, be used to accommodate a mattress core and a relatively thin topper core, respectively.

When using the method according to the invention, a continuous fabric is preferably woven on the weaving machine, with several cover fabrics being formed next to one another, in which the finishing layer is provided on the top side and/or on the bottom side of said continuous fabric (preferably on both sides), and in which the various cover fabrics are subsequently separated from one another by means of a cutting operation and are turned inside out.

With cover fabrics whose top and bottom weaving layer are attached to one another over the entire periphery, the space between the weaving layers can be opened by

means of said cutting operation said (during the cutting of the cover fabrics). In this way, no separate operation is necessary to open the cover fabric on one side in order to introduce a core material. A detection yarn may also be provided in the fabric between the various cover fabrics, detection means being provided for detecting each detection yarn, and said cutting operation being carried out at the locations determined by the detection means.

Said detection yarn is, for example, a metal yarn, whereas the detection means comprise a metal detector.

It is also possible to leave out one or more warp yarns or weft yarns in the fabric at those locations where said cutting operation has to be carried out and, for example, provide detection means which are able to detect that yarns are missing in order to then automatically cut in those detected locations.

Said finishing layer is best applied to the fabric by means of a laminating process. All known laminating processes, such as inter alia the existing hot-melt processes, may be taken into consideration. Preferably, an adhesive is applied to the fabric before the fabric and the finishing layer are pressed together. The adhesive may be applied in the form of a powder or a paste or a film. The quantity of adhesive is preferably between 5 and 808/m ² and the following adhesives may, inter alia, be taken into consideration: EVA (ethyl vinyl acetate), PET (polyethylene): HDPE and LDPE (high and low density polyethylene), modified polyethylene, polypropylene and modified polypropylene, polyamide en copolyamide, polyester and copolyester and polyurethane.

As is customary with such laminating processes, the operation is carried out at a temperature which is, depending on the adhesives used, between 60°C and 160°C.

Said finishing layer preferably essentially consists of a non-woven material or of a synthetic material, such as for example latex.

Said textile material may, inter alia, be mattress tick, it being very much preferred to use a combination of polyester yarns and cotton yarns or a combination of polyester yarns and polypropylene yarns. These yarns may be single filament yarns or multifilament yarns.

In another very preferred method according to the present invention, a rectangular cover is manufactured and a square piece is cut out of the weaving layers at each of the four corners, along two cutting lines which are at right angles to one another, from the respective edges which form an angle, following which the edges of each weaving layer which extend along these cutting lines are attached to one another.

According to this method, covers can be produced which fit perfectly around relatively thick beam-shaped cores. The edges of the weaving layers, which edges extend along the cutting lines and are attached to one another, in this case form a vertical rib of the beam shape at each corner. As a result thereof, the cover fits this core perfectly over the entire surface area of the beam-shaped core, and therefore also at the corners. Preferably, a square piece is cut out, the sides of which have a length which is approximately half the thickness of the beam-shaped core for which the cover is provided. Cutting out the corner pieces and sewing up the corners which have thus been opened can be carried out quickly.

In the most preferred method according to the present invention, a cover is produced for a mattress or a topper or a pillow.

A cover made of textile material which is provided with a finishing layer on the inside, comprising a cover fabric with a top and a bottom weaving layer which are at least partially attached to one another along at least one of their edges by weaving is an object according to the invention.

In its most preferred embodiment, it is a cover for a mattress or a topper or a pillow.

In a preferred embodiment, it is a square or rectangular cover, and the top and bottom weaving layer are attached to one another on at least three of their edges by weaving.

Said finishing layer is preferably applied by means of a laminating process and essentially consists of, for example, a non-woven textile material such as, for example, coconut fibres which have been processed to form a non-woven material or of a synthetic material, such as for example latex foam or polyether foam, or of a fabric or a knitted fabric. Earlier in this description, a number of suitable laminating processes have been mentioned. Of course, it is also possible to use other processes for attaching a textile material and a finishing layer to one another with this method.

Said textile material may, for example, be a mattress tick, with a fabric made from a combination of polyester yarns or polypropylene yarns and cotton yarns being preferred.

The cover according to the present invention is preferably rectangular, in which a square or rectangular piece is cut out of the weaving layers at each of the four corners, along two cutting lines which are at right angles to one another, from the respective edges which form an angle, and in which the edges of each weaving layer which extend along these cutting lines are attached to one another at each corner.

Such a cover fits perfectly around a relatively thick beam-shaped core. The edges of the weaving layers which extend along the cutting lines and are attached to one another in this case form a vertical rib of the beam shape at each corner. As a result thereof, the cover can contact this core over the entire surface area of the beam- shaped core, and thus also at the corners. Preferably, a square piece is cut out, the sides of which have a length which is approximately half the thickness of the beam- shaped core for which the cover is provided.

Finally, a mattress, a topper or a pillow, provided with a cover made of textile material which is provided with a finishing layer on the inside according to the present invention, or which is produced according to a method according to the present invention, falls within the scope of the present invention.

It is possible to provide the cover produced according to the present invention with a pattern by means of a treatment with an embossing calender. In this case, the finishing layer (e.g. a non-woven layer) is compressed against the fabric layer locally, in accordance with a specific pattern, in such a manner (inter alia using such means and at such a temperature) that the compressed finishing layer is attached to the fabric layer and that a permanent locally compressed line or zone is produced. This may be achieved by means of a roller or a plate on which the desired pattern is engraved.

According to this method, the cover is provided with a pattern having locally compressed or squeezed parts and surface areas extending between these parts where the cover is markedly voluminous.

With the existing processes, patterns are formed in mattress tick by stitching the edges of the pattern, the mattress tick and the underlying layers being joined at these stitched edges. The abovementioned embossing calendering operation can be carried out in a much simpler and quicker manner than these existing making-up processes.

In the following description, a method for the manufacture of mattress covers is described in detail. This description only serves to further explain the features and advantages of the method according to the invention and of the covers produced according to this method and can thus not be regarded as a limitation of the protection claimed for this invention in the claims of this patent application nor of the area of application thereof.

In this description, reference numerals are used to refer to the attached figures, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a top view of a continuous fabric with several cover fabrics in a row extending in the weaving direction, during weaving thereof on a weaving machine;

Fig. 2 shows a cross section of the fabric from Fig. 1, along the axis H-II;

Fig. 3 shows a cross section of the fabric from Fig. 1, along the axis IH-III;

Fig. 4 shows a top view of a continuous fabric with several cover fabrics in two rows extending in the weaving direction, during weaving thereof on a weaving machine;

Fig. 5 shows a cross section of the fabric from Fig. 4, along the axis V-V;

Figs. 6A and 6B diagrammatically show a side view of a laminating device which may be used when applying a method according to the invention;

Fig. 7 shows a cross section of the fabric from Fig. 1 , along the axis IH-III, after a finishing layer has been laminated onto the top side and to the bottom side of the fabric;

Fig. 8 shows a top view of a cover with finishing layer after it has been cut from the other covers and has been opened on one side and turned inside out;

Fig. 9 shows a cross section of the cover shown in Fig. 8, along the axis IX-IX;

Fig. 10 shows a top view of a cover according to the invention, after the square corner pieces have been cut out in order to manufacture a well-fitting cover for a relatively thick beam-shaped core;

Fig. 11 shows a relatively thick beam-shaped mattress which is provided with a cover after it has undergone the processing step illustrated in Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 shows a cross section of the mattress and cover shown in Fig. 11 along a vertical transverse plane which coincides with the axis XII-XII.

When applying the method according to the present invention, a continuous fabric (11) is first woven on a weaving machine with the aid of a jacquard device in which successive cover fabrics (1) are woven in succession. Such a continuous fabric is shown in top view in Fig. 1. The weaving direction is indicated by an arrow (W) in this figure.

The fabric (11) is woven from warp yarns and weft yarns which are woven together in successive weaving cycles in such a manner that each cover fabric (1) comprises a central section in which two fabrics (2), (3) are woven on top of one another and an edge zone (4) in which the provided warp yarns and weft yarns locally form one fabric. This can clearly be seen in the Figs. 2 and 3 which show a cross section of the continuous fabric along the axis II-II and along the axis III-III, respectively. The two fabrics (2), (3) woven one above the other are separate from one another and enclose an intermediate space (6), and are referred to in this patent application as the top (2) and the bottom weaving layer (3). The warp and weft yarns are preferably made of the typical materials or combinations of materials from which mattress tick is made. Of course, in this context, any known natural and synthetic fibre may also be considered.

A fabric having a top (2) and a bottom weaving layer (3) which are attached to one another at the edges by weaving is also referred to as a sack cloth.

During such a weaving process, it is also possible to opt for weaving the various sack cloths in two or more adjacent rows. This is illustrated diagrammatically in the top view of Fig. 4. The weaving direction is in this case also indicated by an arrow (W).

It is obvious that, depending on the dimensions of the desired covers and on the weaving width of the weaving machine, numerous other arrangements are possible. In Fig. 5, a cross section along the axis V-V illustrated in Fig. 4 is shown.

A metal yarn (7) is in each case woven into the fabric (11) between the various cover fabrics (1). As a result thereof, it is possible to detect the transition between the cover fabrics (1) automatically by means of a metal detector. The operation of cutting the various cover fabrics (1) loose from one another can in this way be at least partially automated.

Before the various cover fabrics are separated from one another, the continuous fabric (11) is first provided on both sides with a non- woven finishing layer (5), such as for example coconut fibres which have been processed to form a non-woven. This is carried out in a laminating process which consists of two successive laminating operations. These operations are diagrammatically indicated in Figures 6 A and 6B.

In a first laminating operation (see Fig. 6A), the continuous fabric (11) with the various cover fabrics (1), as woven on the weaving machine, is taken from a first roll (12a) past a laminating device (13a). Here, a pulverulent adhesive is spread over the top surface of the fabric (11) in an even manner. A first non- woven finishing layer (5a) is supplied by a second roll (14a) so that this finishing layer (15a) lands on the fabric surface with the adhesive which has been applied to it. In a known laminating device (15a) the fabric and the finishing layer (5a) are compressed, for example between rollers, and brought to an elevated temperature at which the pulverulent adhesive between the fabric and the finishing layer (5a) melts. As a result thereof, these layers (11), (5a) are bonded to one another. The fabric (16) obtained in this manner and laminated on one side is rolled onto a third roll (15a).

Subsequently, the fabric (16) which is laminated on one side is taken to a second laminating line (see Fig. 6B), the non-laminated side being directed upwards, unrolled from a first roll (12b) and taken past a powder spreader (13b) and provided

with an adhesive which is evenly applied on the top side of the fabric in the same way as with the first laminating operation (see Fig. 6A). A second non-woven finishing layer (5b) is unrolled from a second roll (14b) and placed on top of the fabric (16). In a laminating device (15b), the fabric (16) and this second finishing layer (5b) are compressed and brought to an elevated temperature at which the adhesive between the fabric (16) and the finishing layer (5b) melts, so that the second finishing layer (5b) is bonded to the top side of the fabric (16). The laminated fabric (17) which is produced in this way is now provided on both sides with a respective non-woven finishing layer (5a), (5b) and is finally rolled up onto a third roller (16b).

Fig. 7 shows a cross section of a continuous fabric (17), both sides of which have been provided with a finishing layer (5 a), (5b) according to the laminating method illustrated in Figs. 6A and 6B.

After the finishing layers (5a), (5b) have been applied, the fabric (17) which is laminated on both sides is taken to a cutting device. Here, the various cover fabrics (1) which are laminated on both sides are cut loose along the edge zones (4). As described above, the cutting line can be detected automatically by means of a metal detector detecting the metal yarn (7) which has been woven in. The cutting lines are indicated in Fig. 7 by means of the axes (Sl) and (S2). In this case, one cutting line (Sl) is chosen in such a manner that the internal space (6) of the fabric is opened up on one side as a result of this cutting operation.

In order to obtain a finished mattress cover for a relatively thick mattress core (10), square corner pieces (18) are now cut from the cover fabric (1) which is laminated on both sides, as is illustrated in the top view in Fig. 10. The sides (8) and (9) of these square corner pieces have a length d/2 which is approximately half that of the thickness (d) of the mattress core (10). The length (L) of the laminated cover fabric which is situated between the sides (8) is approximately equal to the length of the mattress core (10), and the width (B) of the laminated cover fabric which is situated between the sides (9) is approximately equal to the width of the mattress core (10). In

order to make it easier to introduce the mattress core (10) into cover, the width (B) of the cover may be made slightly larger than the width of the mattress core (10). Thus, for example, a cover having a width (B) of 92 cm is provided for a mattress core (10) having a width of 90 cm.

In order to produce a mattress cover having a beam-shaped interior space (10), the two edges (8),(9) which extend along the cutting line for the respective corner pieces (18) are sewn together at each corner and in each weaving layer (2), (3). The edges (8), (9) which have been sewn together form the four corners of a vertical rib of the beam shape. As a result thereof, such a mattress cover fits along the entire outer surface of a relatively thick mattress core (10) perfectly.

After the various cover fabrics (1) which are laminated on both sides have been cut loose from one another, these laminated cover fabrics (1) are turned inside out along the open side. The cover which has been obtained in this way is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively in top view and in cross section, along the axis IX-IX from Fig. 8.

The finishing layers (5a), (5b) are now on the inside of the cover fabric (1).

On the open side of the mattress cover obtained in this way, a mattress core (10) is now introduced into this mattress cover. The open side is subsequently sewn up. The mattress cover may also be provided with a zip or another kind of closure on the open side, such as for example a velcro closure, which makes it possible to close the open side and to open it again.

A relatively thick mattress core (10) provided with a mattress cover according to this invention is illustrated in Figs. 11 and 12 in a perspective view and in a cross section along a transverse plane which coincides with the axis XII-XII from Fig. 11 , respectively.

The mattress cover is preferably woven from polyester yarns, polypropylene yarns, acrylic yarns, cotton yarns or viscose yarns, it being possible to use combinations of

yams made of two or more different raw materials, and yarns of 90 to 3000 Denier being used.

The weaving densities are of course dependent of the desired quality and design and the raw materials used. Thus, for example, between 13 and 32 warp yarns per cm are used and between 9 and 26 weft yams per cm.