Resin-treated regenerated cellulose textile material and method of making the same

Claim 1

THE PROCESS OF TREATING A TEXTILE MATERIAL CONTAINING REGENERATED CELLULOSE TO RENDER IT DIMENSIONALLY STABLE TO REPEATED LAUNDERING, REDUCE ITS WATER IMBIBITION CAPACITY AND GREATLY INCREASE ITS RESILIENCE WHILE PRESERVING SUBSTANTIALLY UNIMPAIRED THE FLEXIBILITY AND SEPPLENESS OF THE UNTREATED MATERIAL AS MEASURED BY ITS MEAN FLEXURAL RIGIDITY, WHICH COMPRISES IMPREGNATING THE MATERIAL WITH AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION OF AN ACIDIC, READILY-COLD-WATER-SOLUBLE POLYMERIZATION CATALYST AND AN ESSENTIALLY MONOMERIC RESIN PRECONDENSATE SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF DIMETHYLOL, UREA, THE LOWER ALKYLOMELAMINES, THE LOWER ALKYL ETHERS OF DIMETHYLOL UREA AND THE LOWER ALKYL ETHER OF THE LOWER ALKYLOLMELAMINES, SQUEEZING THE INPREGNATED MATERIAL TO LEAVE IN THE MATERIAL AN AMOUNT OF THE SOLUTION NO MORE THAN SUFFICIENT TO PROVIDE ON THE REGENERATED CELLULOSE UP TO A LIMIT OF ABOUT 85% OF SOLUTION AND AN AMOUNT OF THE RESIN PRECONDENSATE WITHIN THE RANGE FROM ABOUT 15% TO ABOUT 35%, BOTH BASED ON THE WEIGHT OF THE REGENERATED CELLULOSE, MAINTAINING THE SQUEEZED IMPREGNATED MATERIAL IN A WET CONDITION AT ROOM TEMPERATURE FOR A PERIOD OF FROM ABOUT 10 MINUTES TO ABOUT 3 DAYS, AND THEREAFTER DRYING THE MATERIAL AND SUBJECTING THE DRIED MATERIAL TO A CURING TEMPERATURE TO CONVENT THE RESIN PRECONDENSATE TO WATER INSOLUBLE CONDITION, THE AMOUNT OF RESIN FIXED IN THE MATERIAL BEING SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER THAN THE LEAST AMOUNT WHICH WOULD CAUSE THE MATERIAL AFTER CURING TO BE OBJECTIONABLY STIFF IN THE ABSENCE OF THE STEP OF MAINTAINING THE MATERIAL IN A WET CONDITION.