Systems and methods to provide color enhanced yarns

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12473667-B2
Application number	US-202117349696-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 16, 2021
Priority date	Jun 16, 2020
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

Systems and methods for producing BCF yarns include providing at least one color enhancement method for enhancing the color and/or hue of at least one of the N bundles of filaments. The color enhancement methods include tacking one or more of the bundles of spun filaments prior to and/or during drawing, texturizing one or more bundles of spun filaments individually from the other bundles of spun filaments, providing intermediate tacking of at least one bundle of texturized filaments and feeding the tacked and texturized filaments to a mixing cam for positioning tacked and texturized bundles relative one to the other before reaching the final tacking device, or combinations thereof.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method to produce a BCF yarn comprising:
A. providing N bundles of spun filaments, N being an integer of 2 or more; B. partially elongating the spun filaments of said N bundles of spun filaments; C. individually tacking at least a first of said N bundles of partially elongated spun filaments; D. drawing the spun filaments of said N bundles of tacked and partially elongated spun filaments to a final denier per filament; E. texturizing said N bundles; and F. performing a final tacking of said N bundles of spun filaments to provide a BCF yarn.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein all of said N bundles of spun filaments are tacked individually.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a length between consecutive tacks on each bundle of said N bundles is between 5 and 50 mm.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the filaments of at least one of the N bundles of spun filaments has a different color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic as compared to the color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic of another of the N bundles of spun filaments.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the filaments of each of the N bundles of spun filaments has a different color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic as compared to the color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic of the other N bundles of spun filaments.

6 . A BCF yarn produced according to the method of claim 1 .

7 . A carpet comprising pile, the pile made with the BCF yarn as recited in claim 6 .

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein in step E, at least a first bundle of said N bundles of elongated spun filaments is texturized separately from the other of said N bundles of elongated spun filaments.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein in step E, all of said N bundles of elongated spun filaments are texturized separately.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein in step C, the filaments of all of said N bundles of spun filaments are tacked individually.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said N bundles of texturized spun filaments of step E are guided over a mixing cam to position bundles relative to each other before the final tacking in step F.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the mixing cam is rotated while the textured spun filaments are guided over the mixing cam, varying the position of the bundles relative to each other.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the mixing cam is stationary while the textured spun filaments are guided over the mixing cam.

14 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein in step C, at least a first bundle of said N bundles of elongated spun filaments is texturized separately from the other of said N bundles of elongated spun filaments.

15 . A BCF yarn spinning system comprising:
A. a plurality of spin plates for spinning N bundles of spun filaments, N being an integer of 2 or more; B. at least one final drawing device to elongate said spun filaments of said N bundles of spun filaments to a final denier per filament; C. at least one texturizer to texturize said N bundles of elongated spun filaments; D. a final tacking device to tack said N bundles of texturized spun filaments to provide a BCF yarn, wherein said system is further configured to initially draw said spun filaments of at least one of said N bundles of spun filaments upstream of an initial tacking device upstream of said at least one final drawing device to tack said spun filaments of at least one of said N bundles of spun filaments after or during the partial elongation of the N bundles of spun filaments.

16 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one texturizer comprises at least a first texturizer and a second texturizer, and at least one of said N bundles of spun filaments is texturized individually from the other N bundles of spun filaments through the first texturizer.

17 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one texturizer comprises N texturizers, and each of said N bundles of spun filaments are texturized individually from each other through respective N texturizers.

18 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 15 , further comprising an intermediate tacking device disposed between the at least one texturizer and the final tacking device, the intermediate tacking device configured for tacking at least one of said N bundles of texturized spun filaments.

19 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 18 , further comprising a mixing cam disposed between the at least one texturizer and the final tacking device, the mixing cam configured for positioning tacked and texturized bundles relative to each other before reaching the final tacking device.

20 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 19 , wherein the mixing cam is configured to be rotated while the textured spun filaments are guided over the mixing cam, varying the position of the bundles relative to each other before being received by the final tacking device.

21 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 19 , wherein the mixing cam is configured to be held stationary while the textured spun filaments are guided over the mixing cam.

22 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 15 , wherein the filaments of at least one of the N bundles of spun filaments has a different color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic as compared to the color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic of another of the N bundles of spun filaments.

23 . The BCF yarn spinning system according to claim 22 , wherein the filaments of each of the N bundles of spun filaments has a different color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic as compared to the color, hue, and/or dyability characteristic of the other N bundles of spun filaments.

24 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 16 , further comprising an intermediate tacking device disposed between the at least one texturizer and the final tacking device, the intermediate tacking device configured for tacking at least one of said N bundles of texturized spun filaments.

25 . The BCF yarn spinning system of claim 24 , further comprising a mixing cam disposed between the at least one texturizer and the final tacking device, the mixing cam configured for positioning tacked and texturized bundles relative to each other before reaching the final tacking device.

Assignees

• Aladdin Mfg Corp

Inventors

• Cascio Anthony
• Mason James
• Jones Lucinda

Classifications

• D01H1/14

  Details (drafting arrangements D01H5/00; twisting arrangements D01H7/00) · CPC title

• D05C17/026

  characterised by the tufted pile surface · CPC title

• D02G3/24

  Bulked yarns or threads, e.g. formed from staple fibre components with different relaxation characteristics · CPC title

• D02J1/08

  Interlacing constituent filaments without breakage thereof, e.g. by use of turbulent air streams · CPC title

• D02G3/445

  Yarns or threads for use in floor fabrics (floor fabrics A47G27/00; floor coverings on textile basis D06N7/0005) · CPC title