Orthopedic casting bandage

Claim 1

An elongate anti-raveling, anti-fraying, warp-knitted orthopedic casting bandage fabric comprising: (a) a first set of continuous multifilament fiberglass yarns forming lengthwise extending chains of spaced-apart loops; (b) a second set of lengthwise spaced apart inlay continuous filament fiberglass yarns extending widthwise of the fabric and interlaced with said chains of loops; (c) a third set of lengthwise spaced-apart inlay thermoplastic yarns contributing at least about five percent of the fabric weight and having a melting temperature substantially below the heat cleaning temperature for a fabric formed of said fiberglass yarns and extending widthwise of the fabric, said thermoplastic yarns of said second set being laid in with and running immediately adjacent said fiberglass yarns of said second set and also interlaced with said chains of loops to form an open knit construction, the extent of inlay for yarns in said second and third sets being substantially less than the width of said fabric and within the range of a two to six needle underlap; and (d) a series of narrow widthwise extending sections of fabric oriented perpendicular to the lengthwise direction of and equally spaced apart lengthwise of the fabric and containing a melt of said thermoplastic yarns so as to at least partially envelop said first and second sets of said fiberglass yarns in said sections such that when said sections are cut through individual casting bandages are formed with substantially flexible, non-raveling, non-fraying, leading and trailing edges thereof.