Differentially drafted lofted continuous filament yarn and process for making same

Claim 1

Process for producing a draw-lofted yarn, the process comprising: feeding from a source of supply to and through a gaseous jet device having co-current and counter-current gaseous flows a single end of undrawn or partially drawn continuous filament yarn. heating the filament yarn while in the jet device to a predetermined temperature above the glass transition temperature by the co-current and counter-current gaseous flows, differentially drafting the filament yarn in the jet device by drag forces induced by the heated co-current and counter-current gaseous flows and thereby form in the filaments at random intervals along the lengths of the individual filaments coils, loops or whorls in those portions of the yarn that are drafted more than the other portions so differentially drafted, the co-current and counter-current gaseous flows ranging from essentially 0-100% of total flow co-current and 100-0% of total flow counter-current with the sum total of the two flows being 100%, and taking up the yarn from the gaseous jet device at speeds and tensions insufficient to remove the loops.