Open-work knitted and bonded textile structure and method of obtaining same

Claim 2

An open-work textile structure of the warp-knit type using yarns coated with a thermoplastic material to produce a knitted fabric based on a weave using at least three bars and having an open-work structure in the form of regular polygons at least certain edges of which are slanted with respect to the length of the structure, wherein the stitches of the knitted fabric imprison a weft yarn which extends in a substantially straight line in parallel to the edges of the formed open-work, and wherein said coating is partly melted and resolidified to bond the yarns together in those areas where they are in contact.

Claim 3

An open-work textile structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the open-work is hexagonal-shaped with two edges parallel to the length direction of the fabric, the other edges being slanted with respect to said direction.

Claim 4

An open-work textile structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the open-work is diamond-shaped.

Claim 5

A method of obtaining an open-work textile structure as claimed in claim 1, consisting in producing a warp-knit fabric from yarns coated with a thermoplastic material, and in thermally treating the resulting open-work textile structure so as to partly melt the thermoplastic coating with a view to bonding the yarns together in those areas where said yarns are in contact, the method comprising: producing an open-work knit based on a weave with at least three bars, at least two of which are threaded 1-in, 1-out and worked so as to form a netting, in which the interstices are deformable and polygonal, and can be deformed crosswise, the third bar dispensing a weft yarn; upon completion of the knitted fabric, drawing said fabric crosswise in order to give a slanted orientation, with respect to the length of the knitting, to at least part of the open-work or interstices contained therein, and to bring the weft yarns into a substantially rectilinear position in parallel to the edges of the formed open-work, while subjecting the thermoplastic material to a heat treatment to cause it to bond the yarns at points of mutual contact.

Claim 6

A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein a machine weaving the fabric is so adjusted as to obtain a loose structure with loose stitches.

Claim 7

An open-work textile structure of the warp-knit type produced according to the method comprising: warp-knitting yarns having a thermoplastic coating to form an open-work knit fabric based on a weave using at least three bars and producing an open-work in the form of regular polygons and wherein the stitches of the knitted fabric imprison a weft yarn; stretching the thus-formed fabric crosswise to give a slanted orientation to at least certain edges of the open-work and to bring the imprisoned weft yarn substantially in parallel to the edges of the thus formed open-work; subjecting the thus-stretched fabric to heat treatment so as to fuse together the thermoplastic material on the yarns at points of mutual contact therebetween.

Claim 8

An open-work textile structure of the warp-knit type produced according to the method comprising: warp-knitting yarns having a thermoplastic coating to form an open-work knit fabric based on a weave using at least three bars and producing an open-work in the form of regular polygons and wherein the stitches of the knitted fabric imprison a weft yarn; stretching the thus-formed fabric crosswise to give a slanted orientation to at least certain edges of the open-work and to bring the imprisoned weft yarn substantially in parallel to the edges of the thus formed open-work; subjecting the thus-stretched fabric to heat treatment so as to fuse together the thermoplastic material on the yarns at points of mutual contact therebetween.

Claim 9

The open-work textile structure of claim 6, wherein the open-work is hexagonally shaped, with two edges in parallel to the length of the fabric, and the other edges slanted with respect to the length of the fabric.

Claim 10

The open-work textile structure of claim 6, wherein the open-work is diamond shaped.