Non-twisted, heather yarn and method for producing same

Claim 1

A yarn having an axis and being formed of a multiplicity of continuous filaments, said filaments forming a plurality of major bundles at least one of which is of substantially different color relative to the remaining bundles, each of said bundles having from about 10 to about 90 percent of its filaments cohering to form a secondary bundle with the remaining filaments of the major bundle varying in number along the length of the yarn, being interlaced with other major bundles of the yarn, and being randomly oriented about the yarn axis, each of said secondary bundles in each unit length of yarn of about 6 inches having a portion thereof formed of greater than about 30 percent of the filaments of its major bundle and each of said secondary bundles in each unit length of yarn of about 8 inches being non-uniformly located relative to the yarn axis.

Claim 10

A method for forming a composite yarn having a plurality of non-twisted major yarn bundles at least a portion of which are of substantially different colors one to the others with said major yarn bundles each being formed of a multiplicity of continuous, synthetic filaments, comprising: drawing each of a plurality of major yarn bundles with a drawing roll being driven at a peripheral speed in the range of about 500-2,000 meters per minute; bringing the major yarn bundles into contact one with the other for forming a composite yarn; impacting the yarn with gas streams discharging from a plurality of jets spaced a substantially equal arcuate distance one from the others about the axis of the yarn and directed generally toward said axis while said yarn is being moved past the discharging gas streams, said yarn being moved past the discharging gas streams at a rate of about 62 percent to about 85 percent of the speed of the yarn on the drawing roll, being under a tension during impacting in the range of 0.008-0.03 grams per denier and being impacted by streams having feed pressures in the range of about 40-150 psi for randomly entangling portions of the filaments and positioning portions of the yarn differently relative to the yarn axis for forming a yarn having a unique heather appearance.

Claim 11

A method for forming a composite yarn having a plurality of non-twisted major yarn bundles at least a portion of which are of substantially different colors one to the others with said major yarn bundles each being formed of a multiplicity of continuous, synthetic filaments, comprising: drawing each of a plurality of major yarn bundles with a drawing roll being driven at a peripheral speed in the range of about 500-2,000 meters per minute; bringing the major yarn bundles into contact one with the other for forming a composite yarn; impacting the yarn with gas streams discharging from a plurality of jets spaced a substantially equal arcuate distance one from the others about the axis of the yarn and directed generally toward said axis while said yarn is being moved past the discharging gas streams, said yarn being moved past the discharging gas streams at a rate of about 62 percent to about 85 percent of the speed of the yarn on the drawing roll, being under a tension during impacting in the range of 0.008-0.03 grams per denier and being impacted by streams having feed pressures in the range of about 40-150 psi for randomly entangling portions of the filaments and positioning portions of the yarn differently relative to the yarn axis for forming a yarn having a unique heather appearance.