Mattress seam tape and method of making same

Abstract

The present invention relates to a non-woven mattress seam tape and a method of making the same. Non-woven material is continuously passed over a slitting apparatus to obtain multiple lengths of mattress seam tapes. These tapes are wound and subsequently used as mattress seam tapes in the manufacture of mattresses. The mattress seam tape is a non-woven product that is made of resins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester or synthetic nylon.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to non-woven mattress seam tape. Further, the present invention relates to a method of making the non-woven mattress seam tape.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Mattresses are made up of a core material such as coil springs. The coil springs are placed in a box frame and are surrounded by layers of foam or padding. On top of the foam or padding layers are the external or upholstery layers. These layers provide comfort to the user of the mattress as well as provide a durable material to endure the daily wear and tear. The exterior layer, or ticking, is stitched at the seams and edges to a seam tape. This seam tape holds two layers of ticking together at the edges of the mattresses.

The seam tape is traditionally made up from woven textile material. The seam tape should also be durable and hold the ticking material together. The woven textile material is not durable and is stiff and does not hold its shape and provide rigidity to the mattress structure. An example of prior art in the relevant field includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,619 by Siegel, et al that describes such a mattress seam tape that is made of knitted fabric.

There has been a recent experimental use of a blend of knitted and woven fabric material in mattress seam tape construction. However, such a material is also not durable and rigid to provide support to the mattress. Over time, mattresses loose their original shape and can sag at the edges where the mattress tape is present. These materials can also tear which may lead to holes in the mattress top layer, which can expose the mattress material to moisture, insects and bugs. These materials also need to be further processed such that they match up in color and texture to the mattress ticking material. This adds a further step to the process of production of the mattress tape and it adds cost to the manufacturing process. Therefore there is a need for a material that is strong, durable, and easy to manufacture. This material should also be low in cost and should be manufactured in a manner such that it does not add significant cost to the manufacturing process. It should also be easily integrated to the current mattress manufacturing process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method of making a non-woven mattress seam tape, including the steps of making a unitary seamless roll of non-woven material; rotating the unitary seamless roll to unwind the non-woven material; and continuously slitting the non-woven material in a direction generally parallel to the direction in which it is unwound to form two or more continuous non-woven seam tapes.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide mattress having a non-woven mattress seam tape, the non-woven mattress seam tape comprising a synthetic non-woven material wherein the synthetic material is formed from a slitting process.

These and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art after a reading of the following description of the preferred embodiment when considered with the drawings, as they support the claimed invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a process of making non-woven mattress seam tape roll from a unitary seamless roll of non-woven material, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the top view of the process as shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic of the slitting apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is schematic showing a mattress that uses the non-woven mattress seam tape of the present invention, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views. Also in the following description, it is to be understood that such terms as “forward,” “rearward,” “front,” “back,” “right,” “left,” “upwardly,” “downwardly,” and the like are words of convenience and are not to be construed as limiting terms.

The present invention relates to a non-woven seam tape that is used in mattresses and a method of making the seam tape. The non-woven seam tape is first manufactured as a large unitary seamless roll of non-woven material. This roll is then spun to unwind the non-woven material. As the non-woven material or sheet is being unwound, it is cut into a number of tapes. These tapes are then wound onto one or more rolls.

A unitary seamless roll of non-woven material is manufactured in a conventional non-woven manufacturing process. The process uses resins such as polypropylene, polyester, polyethylene, and nylon. Other resins having suitable properties for non-woven fabric production can also be used. These resins are converted into non-woven fabrics by processes such as spun bonding, hydro entangling, needle punching, melt blowing, sonic bonding.

The mattress seam tapes are made in a variety of colors to match with the outer fabric of the mattress or otherwise. Various designs and letterings can also be printed on the mattress seam tape using screen printing, preferably before the mattress seam tape is cut from the non-woven material, as the material is unwound.

The non-woven mattress seam tape so constructed from the above process is then used in making mattresses. The non-woven seam tape is used in a manner that is similar to use of conventional seam tape in the mattress manufacturing process.

Referring now to the drawings in general, the illustrations are for the purpose of describing a preferred embodiment of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention thereto. As best seen in FIG. 1, a process of making non-woven mattress seam tape roll from a unitary seamless roll of non-woven material is shown, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a unitary seamless roll of non-woven material 102 being unwound. The unitary seamless roll is usually about 1.6 to 4.3 meters in width and 3-4 feet in diameter. As the roll is unwound, non-woven material 104 passes through a slitting apparatus 106 and is slit into a number of mattress seam tapes 108. These seam tapes are then wound onto a mattress seam tape roll 110 and stored for use in the production of mattresses.

The unitary seamless roll 102 is continuously unwound by rotating it and the non-woven material 104 passes through the slitting apparatus 106. The speed of rotation of the roll 102 is controlled so that speed of the material 104 passing through the slitting apparatus 106 is maintained. The speed is also controlled so that the slitting apparatus does not overheat, which would cause improper slitting of the material 104. The slitting apparatus 106 can use various slitting mechanisms known in the art such as being selected from score slitting, shear slitting, sonic slitting, razor slitting and the like. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, score slitting is used to slit the non-woven material 104 to mattress seam tape 108. The slitting apparatus 106 causes a single sheet of the non-woven material 104 to be slit into a number of mattress seam tapes 108. FIG. 2 shows a top view of the process as shown in FIG. 1.

As discussed above, mattress seam tapes 108 are wound onto the mattress seam tape roll 110. A number of mattress seam tapes are rolled onto the mattress seam tape roll simultaneously. The mattress seam tape roll holds at least about 100 yards of mattress seam tape on each roll. These types of rolls, called pancake rolls, are traditionally used by the mattress industry to use mattress seam tape in the manufacture of mattresses. As an additional step, mattress seam tape is rewound from the pancake rolls into transverse rolls which hold about 1000 yards per roll. Thus, the present invention significantly improves mattress production efficiency reducing the frequent changing of mattress seam tape rolls.

FIG. 3 is a schematic of the slitting apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As non-woven material 104 passes into slitting apparatus 106, it passes over a roller 302. There are a number of blades that contact the material 104 and slit it into the mattress seam tape 108. One such blade is shown as 304. Slitting blades are preferably arranged in parallel so that a number of blades contact non-woven material 104 as it passes over roller 302. The distance between blades is adjustable so as to provide a mattress seam tape having a controllable width. The blades are operable to be adjusted to vary the distance between them and correspondingly varying the width of the mattress seam tape. As the blades contact the non-woven material 104, a multiplicity of mattress seam tapes 108 are formed. The number of mattress tapes created depends on the number of blades used in the slitting apparatus 106. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the number of blades varies between at least 25 and 30 (inclusive) blades. The number of mattress seam tapes created is one more than the number of blades used. In an alternate embodiment, the blades are arranged so that only a certain number of selected blades engage with the non-woven material 104. This allows to quickly change the width and number of mattress seam tapes that are created. This is achieved by lifting those blades that are not to be engaged so that they do not contact non-woven material 104. Alternatively, this is achievable by mounting the blades on a slider and simply sliding the blades from above the non-woven material to a zone that is not directly above non-woven material 104.

As discussed above, the width of the mattress seam tape created is controllable by adjusting the distance between blades. In a preferred embodiment, the width of the mattress seam tape is between about 0.5 to about 2.5 inches. In one embodiment, the mattress seam tapes are edge treated or sealed to improve the aesthetic value of the seam tape. This is carried out after the seam tape is slit in the slitting apparatus 106.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, prior to entering the slitting apparatus 106, screen printing is done to the non-woven material 104. This is to add custom lettering such as a brand name, a company name or other product related information to the non-woven material. After the non-woven material 104 is split, the lettering or indicia then appears on the mattress seam tape 108. Surface printing of designs on non-woven material 104 is also an option during the screen printing stage. Other forms of printing can also be employed to print lettering or designs on the non-woven material. Designs include but are not limited to strips (horizontal, vertical or diagonal), floral or other prints that match with printing on the top layer of the material on the mattresses.

Regarding the non-woven material which is preferably synthetic, i.e., is made from a resin. Resins are selected from the group consisting of polypropylene, polyester, polyethylene and nylon. Various processes can be employed to make a non-woven material from a resin. Examples of such processes include spin binding, hydro entangling, needle punching, melt blowing and sonic binding. Sonic binding binds multiple layers of the non-woven fabrics together to form the non-woven material 104. In a preferred embodiment, polypropylene resin is spun bound to form the non-woven material 104.

FIG. 4 is schematic showing a mattress that uses the non-woven mattress seam tape of the present invention, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows a mattress 400 having two mattress seam tapes 402 and 404. Mattress seam tape 402 is present around the entire outer periphery of the top surface 406 of the mattress 400. Mattress seam tape 404 is present around the entire outer periphery of the bottom surface 408 of the mattress 400.

Certain modifications and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the foregoing description. By way of example, the resin used to make the non-woven material can be altered without deviating from the scope of the present invention. Also, various other slitting mechanisms can be employed to slit the non-woven material in mattress seam tapes. Furthermore, the mattress seam tape of the present invention can be applied to other applications such as binding tape used in carpets and as reinforcing tape used in upholstery for furniture and automobiles. The above mentioned examples are provided to serve the purpose of clarifying the aspects of the invention and it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that they do not serve to limit the scope of the invention. All modifications and improvements have been deleted herein for the sake of conciseness and readability but are properly within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A method of making a non-woven mattress seam tape, comprising the steps of:

a. making a unitary seamless roll of non-woven material,

b. rotating the unitary seamless roll to unwind the non-woven material,

c. continuously slitting the non-woven material in a direction generally parallel to the direction in which it is unwound to form two or more continuous non-woven seam tapes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of continuously slitting the non-woven material is selected from the group consisting of shear slitting, sonic slitting and razor slitting.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of continuously slitting the non-woven material is carried out by score slitting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the two or more continuous non-woven seam tapes have a width corresponding to a location of blades position in a spaced apart relation around the width of the roll.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the width of one non-woven seam tape is different than the width of the second non-woven tape.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the width of the non-woven seam tapes is between about 0.5 inch and about 2.5 inch.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of screen printing on non-woven material prior to slitting.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of screen printing comprises printing lettering on the non-woven material.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of screen printing comprises printing designs on the non-woven material.

10. A mattress seam tape, comprising a synthetic material formed from a slitting operation.

11. The mattress seam tape of claim 10, wherein the synthetic material is a resin selected from a group consisting of polypropylene, polyester, polyethylene and nylon.

12. The mattress seam tape of claim 10, wherein the synthetic material is manufactured by a process selected from a group consisting of spin binding, needle punching, hydro entanglement and melt blowing.

13. The mattress seam tape of claim 10, wherein multiple layers of non-woven fabric are sonically bonded together to form the non-woven material.

14. The mattress seam tape of claim 10, wherein the color of the seam tape is beige.

15. The mattress seam tape of claim 10, wherein the color of the seam tape is white.

16. A mattress comprising a non-woven mattress seam tape, the non-woven mattress seam tape comprising a synthetic non-woven material wherein the synthetic material is formed from a slitting process.