Patents Examined by N. Edwards
  • Patent number: 6235389
    Abstract: The invention relates to fibers or filaments, consisting predominantly of polyethylene terephthalate as a fiber-forming polymer, that contain 0.1-4 wt %, relative to the fiber-forming polymer, of polymethyl methacrylate as another polymer, predominantly in the form of rod-shaped inclusions, whereby in the unoriented melt fibers under the spinneret, the mean lateral diameter of the rods is less than 800 nm and the polymethyl methacrylate has, a weight average molecular weight of between 20,000 and 200,000 g/mol, and whereby the spinning speed of the spun fibers in the production is up to 8000 m/min. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for the production of these novel polyester fibers and filaments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2001
    Assignee: Inventa-Fischer AG
    Inventors: Raimund Schwarz, Werner Stibal, Gustav Schütze
  • Patent number: 6235390
    Abstract: The present invention relates to industrial high relative viscosity (RV) filaments, such as, for use in papermaking machine felts and other staple fiber applications. The invention is further directed to apparatus and processes for solid phase polymerization (SPP) of polyamide flake suitable for use, such as, in remelting and then spinning the industrial high RV filaments. The invention is also directed to processes for melt phase polymerization (MPP) of molten polymer for making the filaments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2001
    Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventors: Glenn Alan Schwinn, Gary Raymond West
  • Patent number: 6235393
    Abstract: A biodegradable complex fiber which retains excellent biodegradability and hydrolyzability and has high strength and high melting temperature suitable for practical use and a method for producing the biodegradable complex fiber are provided. The biodegradable complex fiber comprises at least one polymer material selected from the group consisting of a polyglycolic acid, a poly(glycolic acid-co-lactic acid) and polylactic acid as a core component or as a shell component and a polymer material of poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid) groups or a polymer material of an aliphatic polyester consisting of a dibasic acid and a diol as a shell component or as a core component. The method comprises producing the biodegradable complex fiber by melt spinning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2001
    Assignee: Takasago International Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiharu Kimura, Yoji Hori
  • Patent number: 6235391
    Abstract: A resilient material shaped into a bent strand with a preferred length from 1.5 to 7 inches forms a filling element for cushions, pillows and upholstered articles. The strand may be bent so as to have a Z-shape or an S-shape or a V-shape or a C-shape along a portion of its length. The length of the strand is greater than its nominal cross-sectional thickness. A quantity of filling elements (e.g., the filling material), preferably formed from flexible, open cell polyurethane foam, is inserted or blown into a casing for a cushion, pillow or upholstered article. Following compression, the filling elements rebound substantially to their uncompressed state without clumping together or leaving pockets within the casing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2001
    Assignee: Foamex L.P.
    Inventors: Jose D. M. Contreras, Denys Denney, Vincent Scattolino
  • Patent number: 6235388
    Abstract: A fibrous material of fluorine-containing resins such as polytetrafluoroethylene which has a high deodorizing antibacterial activity is obtained. A monofilament, staple fiber, split yarn or finished yarn thereof comprising a fluorine-containing resin such as polytetrafluoroethylene containing a photodegrading catalyst such as an anatase-type titanium dioxide in an amount of from 5 to 50% by weight, and a deodorizing antibacterial woven fabric, knitted fabric, and non-woven fabric which are produced by using the monofilament, staple fiber, split yarn or finished yarn thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2001
    Assignee: Daikin Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsutoshi Yamamoto, Jun Asano, Toshio Kusumi
  • Patent number: 6228489
    Abstract: Fibrillated acrylic fibers which are suitable for oxidation in the form of staple fibers are formed as copolymers of acrylonitrile and an unsaturated carboxylic acid such as itaconic acid or methacrylic acid. A further monomer may also be included, such as methacrylate, methylmethacrylate or vinyl acetate. Fibers having a Canadian Freeness valve of 350-500, and a decitex value of 1.2 to 1.7 may be produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2001
    Assignee: Acordis UK Limited
    Inventors: John Fagge, Ulrich Holzinger
  • Patent number: 6228488
    Abstract: The present invention provides a yarn having a force-displacement profile such that: (a) when the yarn is subjected to an initial stress barrier of from about 0.8 gram/denier to less than or equal to about 1.2 grams/denier, the yarn elongates to less than 5 percent and has an initial modulus in the range from about 30 grams/denier to about 80 grams/denier; (b) upon subjecting the yarn to greater than the initial stress barrier and to less than or equal to about 1.5 grams/denier, the yarn elongates further to at least about 8 percent; and (c) upon subjecting the yarn to greater than 1.5 grams/denier, the modulus increases sharply and the yarn elongates further until the yarn breaks at a tensile strength of at least about 6 grams/denier, wherein the yarn comprises a multiplicity of fibers, all of the fibers have substantially the same force-displacement profile, and are made from polymers having a glass transition temperature in the range from about −40° C. to about +70° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2001
    Assignee: AlliedSignal Inc.
    Inventors: Weiming Tang, Frank Mares, Robert Clark Morgan
  • Patent number: 6228493
    Abstract: A polyester fiber is provided, which does not produce a huge amount of residues during its reducing process, and shows good appearance, feeling and superior characteristics as a fiber, such as a high tensile strength and elongation. Such polyester fiber is a conjugate fiber comprising a core spinned from a polyester containing an aromatic moiety and a skin layer surrounding the core, the skin layer spinned from an aliphatic polyester. The skin layer may be easily reduced by contacting it with an alkaline solution or an enzyme, to provide a reduced fiber with good appearance, feeling and superior characteristics as a fiber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2001
    Assignee: Kyoto Institute of Technology
    Inventor: Yoshiharu Kimura
  • Patent number: 6228490
    Abstract: A polyolefin-based splittable conjugated fiber which contains a peroxide and has a melt flow rate of at least 30 g/10 min, and a nonwoven fabric comprising split fibers obtained by splitting the splittable conjugated fiber, and an absorbent article using the nonwoven fabric in a part thereof. The polyolefin-based splittable conjugated fiber has good spinnability and good stretchability, and is easy to split. This invention further provides a nonwoven fabric that is soft and uniform and has a good formation, and an absorbent article using such a nonwoven fabric in a part thereof, by solving the difficulty in splitting for a polyolefin-based splittable conjugated fiber, which has been its conventional problem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2001
    Assignee: Chisso Corporation
    Inventors: Koki Nagano, Toshihiko Tsutsui
  • Patent number: 6228491
    Abstract: Fibrous textile articles possessing enhanced antimicrobial properties are prepared by the deposition or interstitial precipitation of cobalt (II, III) oxide (Co3O4) crystals within the interstices of fibers, yarns and/or fabrics forming such articles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2001
    Assignee: Marantech Holding, LLC
    Inventor: Marvin S. Antelman
  • Patent number: 6221489
    Abstract: Carbonaceous fibers having sharp ends and which are useful as an electron-emitting material, for example, in cold-cathode display devices. Carbonaceous fibers having a structure such that planes formed of carbon atoms in a condensed ring structure are concentrically grown around a fiber axis then subjected to heating at a temperature of 400-1200° C. in the presence of oxygen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Assignee: Showa Denko Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshio Morita, Tamotsu Yamashita
  • Patent number: 6221491
    Abstract: The present invention is related to a multi-filament article comprising filaments having a substantially hexagonal cross-section and a method for making the same. The filaments are formed by spinning a melt or solution of a polymer through a capillary spinneret having an orifice with a centrally disposed, generally circular, center cavity portion with six side cavity portions projecting radially away from the center cavity portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Sheldon Kavesh, Alexander Lobovsky
  • Patent number: 6221490
    Abstract: Disclosed are carbon fibers consisting of a plurality of single filaments, wherein the carbon fibers as a resin impregnated strand are characterized by satisfying the following relations: &sgr;≧11.1−0.75 d where &sgr; is the tensile strength of said carbon fibers as a resin impregnated strand in GPa, and d is the average diameter of said single filaments in &mgr;m, and RD≦0.05 where RD is the difference in crystallinity between the inner and outer layers of each of the single filaments evaluated with RAMAN, and an acrylic fibers for producing the carbon fibers and a process for producing the acrylic fibers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2001
    Assignee: Toray Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Yoji Matsuhisa, Makoto Kibayashi, Katsumi Yamasaki, Akira Okuda
  • Patent number: 6218007
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for spinning polyester staple to produce dark dyeing yarns as compared to yarns having an otherwise similar composition. The method includes spinning polyester staple into yarn, in which the polyester includes between about 0.5 and 4 percent by weight of polyethylene glycol, into yarn in a rotor spinning machine at a rotor speed of between about 110,000 and 120,000 rpm and at a tension of between about 2.5 and 3.2 grams/tex. A resulting polyester fiber is also disclosed of between about 1.2 and 2.25 denier per filament, and that contains between about 0.5 and 4 percent by weight of polyethylene glycol, and with a fiber tenacity of 4.7 grams per denier or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2001
    Assignee: Wellman, Inc.
    Inventors: David Michael Russell, Winston Patrick Moore, Robert Alton Usher, Jr.
  • Patent number: 6218009
    Abstract: A hydrophilic binder fiber. These fibers may be produced by co-spinning a polyolefin core material with a highly wettable aliphatic polyester blend sheath material. The highly wettable aliphatic polyester blend comprises an unreacted mixture of an aliphatic polyester polymer selected from the group consisting of a polybutylene succinate polymer, a polybutylene succinate-co-adipate polymer, a polycaprolactone polymer, a mixture of such polymers, or a copolymer of such polymers; a multicarboxylic acid; and a wetting agent. The hydrophilic binder fiber exhibits substantially improved biodegradable properties, yet is easily processed. The hydrophilic binder fiber may be used in a disposable absorbent product intended for the absorption of fluids such as body fluids.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2001
    Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Fu-Jya Daniel Tsai, Brigitte C. Wertheim
  • Patent number: 6210799
    Abstract: Industrial yarn PA 6.6 comprised of filaments having a global yarn count of at least 900-2100 tex, which is made by submitting wet granulate PA 6.6 to a melt spinning-drawing process, is characterized by a strength of >84 cN/tex for less than 1.5 linters/1 km. Said yarn is used preferably in the production of cord fabric with a rubber ply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2001
    Assignee: Rhodia Filtec AG
    Inventors: Luzius Berger, Klaus Fischer, José Luvizotto
  • Patent number: 6203902
    Abstract: When a drawable material is forcibly drawn for obtaining a drawn product formed of a crystalline polymer, there is caused a failure such as draw breaking, and the drawn product formed of a crystalline polymer that can be industrially produced by a conventional drawing method has upper limits of physical property values depending upon the material of said drawn product formed of a crystalline polymer. In the present invention, pressurized saturated steam having an absolute pressure of at least 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Assignee: Ube Nitto Kasei Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinji Ota, Hirofumi Yashiro, Yuki Meguro
  • Patent number: 6197423
    Abstract: Exemplary mechanically-flattened fibers of the invention comprise generally elongate bodies having varied width or thickness dimensions and micro-diastrophic surface deformities. Preferred fibers are elongate synthetic polymer or multipolymer blend fibers for reinforcing matrix materials such as concrete, shotcrete, gypsum-containing materials, asphalt, plastic, rubber, and other matrix materials. Preferred methods for manufacturing such fibers comprise subjecting synthetic polymer fibers to compressive forces sufficient to achieve flattening and surface micro-diastrophism without substantially shredding and abrading the fibers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2001
    Assignee: W. R. Grace & Co.-Conn.
    Inventors: Klaus-Alexander Rieder, Neal S. Berke, Stephen J. Fyler
  • Patent number: 6190768
    Abstract: The present invention pertains to fibers comprising; (A) from about 50 to 100 wt % (based on the combined weights of Components A and B) of at least one substantially random interpolymer having an I2 of from about 0.1 to about 1,000 g/10 min, a density greater than about 0.9300 g/cm3, and an Mw/Mn of about 1.5 to about 20; which comprises; (1) from about 0.5 to about 65 mol % of polymer units derived from; (i) at least one vinyl or vinylidene aromatic monomer, or (ii) at least one hindered aliphatic or cycloaliphatic vinyl or vinylidene monomer, or (iii) a combination of at least one aromatic vinyl or vinylidene monomer and at least one hindered aliphatic or cycloaliphatic vinyl or vinylidene monomer, and (2) from about 35 to about 99.5 mol % of polymer units derived from ethylene and/or at least one C3-20 &agr;-olefin; and (B) from 0 to about 50% by weight (based on the combined weights of Components A and B) of at least one tackifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2001
    Assignee: The Dow Chemical Company
    Inventors: Robert R. Turley, Kenneth B Stewart
  • Patent number: 6187699
    Abstract: A laminated nonwoven fabric having a good texture, providing no rough touch, and having a high strength and a large delamination strength are provided. A nonwoven fabric of a multi-layer structure comprises (a) a composite spun bonded nonwoven fabric composed of a low melting point resin component and a high melting point resin component and (b) a composite melt blown extra-fine-fiber nonwoven fabric having a fiber diameter of 10 &mgr;m or less and being composed of a low melting point resin and a high melting point resin; both of the nonwoven fabrics are laminated, and the fibers in each of the nonwoven fabrics and both of the nonwoven fabrics are thermally fused. A method of manufacturing a nonwoven fabric having a multi-layer structure comprises laminating each of the nonwoven fabrics in a multi-layer structure and heating the laminate at a temperature higher than the thermal fusion temperature to cause thermal fusion of the both layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2001
    Assignee: Chisso Corporation
    Inventors: Taiju Terakawa, Shingo Horiuchi, Satoshi Ogata