Compact multi-filament textile tow and method of making the same

Claim 2

A compact tow which may be stored with portions laid across or against each other and nevertheless withdrawn in essentially untangled form without significant snagging or breakage of filaments, said tow comprising a multiplicity of substantially parallel textile filaments packed into a container in the form of a plurality of lengths laid closely adjacent to each other, said filaments of said lengths being encased in a plurality of generally spirally arranged continuous wrapper yarns, one wrapper yarn being spiraled under low tension in contact with said textile filaments and another wrapper yarn being spiraled under low tension in a direction of opposite hand and being wrapped around said filaments and repeatedly and successively over said one wrapper yarn.

Claim 3

The tow defined in claim 1, wherein the wrapper yarn has essentially the same composition as the filaments of the tow, and wherein the filaments of the yarn and the filaments of the tow have essentially the same denier per filament.

Claim 4

The tow defined in claim 1, wherein the filaments of the tow are continuous.

Claim 5

The tow defined in claim 1, wherein the filaments of the tow are discontinuous.

Claim 6

The tow defined in claim 1, wherein the wrapper yarns are under substantially zero tension.

Claim 7

The tow defined in claim 1, wherein more than two wrapper yarns are applied to the tow.

Claim 8

In a method of packaging a compact tow for transportation from one place to another, the steps which comprise continuously feeding a core comprising a multiplicity of substantially parallel filaments along a predetermined path, continuously applying a continuous wrapper yarn in a generally helical manner around the core and continuously applying another continuous wrapper yarn in a counter-directional generally helical manner around the core and repeatedly over the wrapper yarn first mentioned while maintaining said multiplicity of filaments in said core substantially parallel to each other, and packing the resulting tow into a package with a plurality of lengths of said tow laid alongside and in contact with each other.

Claim 9

In a method of packaging a compact tow for transportation from one place to another, the steps which comprise continuously feeding a core comprising a multiplicity of substantially parallel filaments along a predetermined path, continuously applying a continuous wrapper yarn in a generally helical manner around the core and continuously applying another continuous wrapper yarn in a counter-directional generally helical manner around the core and repeatedly over the wrapper yarn first mentioned while maintaining said multiplicity of filaments in said core substantially parallel to each other, and packing the resulting tow into a package with a plurality of lengths of said tow laid alongside and in contact with each other.

Claim 10

The method defined in claim 7, wherein the wrapper yarns are substantially inelastic and are disposed as a package having a core opening, and wherein the core is substantially inelastic and is conducted through the core opening.

Claim 11

The method defined in claim 7, further characterized by continuously chopping the filaments of the tow into flock filaments of substantially equal length while continuously concurrently chopping the wrapper yarns.

Claim 12

In a method of producing short cut filaments of substantially equal length, the steps which comprise: continuously feeding a tow having a multiplicity of filaments along a predEtermined path, continuously applying a plurality of continuous wrapper yarns having substantially the same composition as the tow filaments around said tow and substantially spirally with respect to said tow filaments while maintaining said tow filaments substantially parallel to one another, applying one such wrapper yarn in a clockwise manner around said tow and applying another such wrapper yarn in a counterclockwise manner around said tow, continuously cutting the substantially parallel filaments of said tow into short cut filaments of substantially equal length while concurrently cutting the wrapper yarns, the angle of the spiral being limited so that the wrapper yarns are cut into lengths that are substantially similar to the lengths of the cut fibers produced from the tow filaments.

Claim 13

In a method of producing short cut filaments of substantially equal length, the steps which comprise: continuously feeding a tow having a multiplicity of filaments along a predEtermined path, continuously applying a plurality of continuous wrapper yarns having substantially the same composition as the tow filaments around said tow and substantially spirally with respect to said tow filaments while maintaining said tow filaments substantially parallel to one another, applying one such wrapper yarn in a clockwise manner around said tow and applying another such wrapper yarn in a counterclockwise manner around said tow, continuously cutting the substantially parallel filaments of said tow into short cut filaments of substantially equal length while concurrently cutting the wrapper yarns, the angle of the spiral being limited so that the wrapper yarns are cut into lengths that are substantially similar to the lengths of the cut fibers produced from the tow filaments.

Claim 14

In a method of making uniform, short, cut filaments which are suitable for formation of flock or the like, the steps which comprise continuously feeding a tow comprising a multiplicity of substantially parallel filaments along a predetermined path, continuously applying a first continuous wrapper yarn in a spiral manner around the tow, and continuously applying another wrapper yarn spirally in a counter-directional manner around the tow while maintaining said filaments substantially parallel to each other, and continuously cutting the filaments of the tow into short filaments of substantially equal length while continuously concurrently cutting the wrapper yarns to form additional short filaments of substantially the same length.

Claim 15

In a method of making uniform, short, cut filaments which are suitable for formation of flock or the like, the steps which comprise continuously feeding a tow comprising a multiplicity of substantially parallel filaments along a predetermined path, continuously applying a first continuous wrapper yarn in a spiral manner around the tow, and continuously applying another wrapper yarn spirally in a counter-directional manner around the tow while maintaining said filaments substantially parallel to each other, and continuously cutting the filaments of the tow into short filaments of substantially equal length while continuously concurrently cutting the wrapper yarns to form additional short filaments of substantially the same length.

Claim 16

In a method of making a package containing a tow which is readily removable in an essentially untangled form from the package, without significant snagging or breakage of filaments, the steps which comprise continuously feeding a core comprising a multiplicity of substantially parallel filaments along a predetermined path, continuously applying a continuous wrapper yarn spirally around the core, continuously applying another continuous wrapper yarn spirally in a counter-directional manner around the core and repeatedly over the wrapper yarn first mentioned, while maintaining said multiplicity of filaments in said core substantially parallel to each other, and snaking the resulting wrapped tow into a container such that repeated lengths of said tow lie next to and touching each other, said wrapper yarns being arranged at such angles with respect to the tow axis that they maintain the coherence of the fibers of the core such that there is substantially no significant amount of snagging between the filaments of adjacent lengths, when the tow is withdrawn from the package.

Claim 17

In a method of making a package containing a tow which is readily removable in an essentially untangled form from the package, without significant snagging or breakage of filaments, the steps which comprise continuously feeding a core comprising a multiplicity of substantially parallel filaments along a predetermined path, continuously applying a continuous wrapper yarn spirally around the core, continuously applying another continuous wrapper yarn spirally in a counter-directional manner around the core and repeatedly over the wrapper yarn first mentioned, while maintaining said multiplicity of filaments in said core substantially parallel to each other, and snaking the resulting wrapped tow into a container such that repeated lengths of said tow lie next to and touching each other, said wrapper yarns being arranged at such angles with respect to the tow axis that they maintain the coherence of the fibers of the core such that there is substantially no significant amount of snagging between the filaments of adjacent lengths, when the tow is withdrawn from the package.