Process of preparing a tufted product

Claim 2

A process for making unitary pile structures of pile-forming filamentary material and a separate backing of nonwoven filamentary backing material which comprises a. forcing segments of said pile-forming filamentary material under tension into a pile-forming carrier having apertures to provide loops of the material, each of Said loops being connected to adjacent loops by the remaining segments of the filamentary material; b. placing said backing material upon said carrier and against the loop connecting segments to provide an array of said materials; c. treating said array with penetrating streams of liquid from jet devices arranged to impinge on the side of the backing material opposite to that of the carrier to entangle the fibers of said backing material with one another and with the fibers in said loop-connecting segments to provide a strong backing and to secure the loops to said backing, said liquid being jetted from closely spaced orifices 0.002 inch to 0.030 inch in diameter which are supplied with liquid at a pressure of at least 200 pounds per square inch gauge to provide a total treatment of at least 0.25 HP-hr./lb. of backing material; and then d. removing the unitary pile structure product from said pileforming carrier and drying it.

Claim 3

The process as in claim 1 wherein said pile-forming filamentary material is selected from the group consisting of tow, continuous filament yarn, spun yarn, and webs of staple fibers having a length of at least equal to twice the loop length.

Claim 4

The process as in claim 1 wherein said portions of said pile-forming filamentary material are forced into said apertures of said pile-forming carrier by mechanical means.

Claim 5

The process as in claim 1 wherein said segments of said pile-forming filamentary material are forced into said apertures of said pile-forming carrier by fluid means.

Claim 6

The process as in claim 1 wherein said pressure is at least 500 pounds per square inch gauge and said total treatment is at least 0.5 HP-hr./lb. of backing material.

Claim 7

The process as in claim 1 wherein said backing material comprises staple fibers.

Claim 8

The process of preparing a tufted product as defined in claim 1 wherein said backing material in step (b) is of a highly shrinkable fibrous material and the pile structure after removal from the carrier is given an after-treatment to shrink the highly shrinkable fibers forming the backing to provide a structure having a dense pile.

Claim 9

The process as in claim 1 wherein said pile-forming segments are forced into the apertures of said pile-forming carrier to varying depths to provide a predetermined pile pattern.

Claim 10

The process as in claim 1 wherein in step (a) said segments of the pile-forming filamentary material are forced into a pile-forming carrier having a honeycomb network of apertures to provide a structure having discrete tufts of loops.

Claim 11

The process as in claim 1 wherein in step (a) said segments of said pile-forming filamentary material are forced into a pile-forming carrier having a plurality of longitudinally spaced apertures to provide longitudinally spaced rows of loops.

Claim 12

A process for making unitary double-faced pile structures of pile-forming filamentary material and a separate backing of non woven filamentary backing material which comprises a. forcing segments of a first pile-forming filamentary material under tension into a first pile-forming carrier having apertures to provide a first network of loops of the material, each of said loops being connected to adjacent loops by the remaining segments of the filamentary material; b. forcing segments of a second pile-forming filamentary material under tension into a second pile-forming carrier having voids defining loops to provide a second network of loops of the material, each of said loops being connected to adjacent loops by the remaining segments of the filamentary material; c. placing said backing material upon said first carrier and against said loop connecting segments; d. placing the second carrier containing the second network of loops against said backing material on a side opposite to that of said first carrier with said loop connecting segments contacting said backing material to form an array, said first network of loops being arranged in a staggeRed positional relationship with respect to said second network of loops by arranging the first and second carriers to misalign the voids of each carrier with respect to the voids of the other carrier; e. treating the array with penetrating streams of liquid from jet devices arranged to impinge on each side of the backing material to entangle the fibers of said backing material with one another and with the fibers of said loop connecting segments of the first and second networks of loops to provide a strong backing and to secure the first and second network of loops to the backing, said liquid being jetted from closely spaced orifices 0.002 inch to 0.030 inch in diameter which are supplied with liquid at a pressure of at least 500 pounds per square inch gauge to provide a total treatment of at least 0.5 HP-hr./lb. of backing material; and then f. removing the resulting product from the carriers and drying it to form the unitary pile structure.

Claim 13

A process for making unitary double-faced pile structures of pile-forming filamentary material and a separate backing of non woven filamentary backing material which comprises a. forcing segments of a first pile-forming filamentary material under tension into a first pile-forming carrier having apertures to provide a first network of loops of the material, each of said loops being connected to adjacent loops by the remaining segments of the filamentary material; b. forcing segments of a second pile-forming filamentary material under tension into a second pile-forming carrier having voids defining loops to provide a second network of loops of the material, each of said loops being connected to adjacent loops by the remaining segments of the filamentary material; c. placing said backing material upon said first carrier and against said loop connecting segments; d. placing the second carrier containing the second network of loops against said backing material on a side opposite to that of said first carrier with said loop connecting segments contacting said backing material to form an array, said first network of loops being arranged in a staggeRed positional relationship with respect to said second network of loops by arranging the first and second carriers to misalign the voids of each carrier with respect to the voids of the other carrier; e. treating the array with penetrating streams of liquid from jet devices arranged to impinge on each side of the backing material to entangle the fibers of said backing material with one another and with the fibers of said loop connecting segments of the first and second networks of loops to provide a strong backing and to secure the first and second network of loops to the backing, said liquid being jetted from closely spaced orifices 0.002 inch to 0.030 inch in diameter which are supplied with liquid at a pressure of at least 500 pounds per square inch gauge to provide a total treatment of at least 0.5 HP-hr./lb. of backing material; and then f. removing the resulting product from the carriers and drying it to form the unitary pile structure.