JPH0323194B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a fiber-stuffed object formed by stuffing short fibers into a bag-like side material, such as a pillowcase or a cushion.

From an ergonomic point of view, firm fiber-filled objects such as quilts and cushions are less tiring than soft ones, and provide better sleeping and sitting comfort.

By the way, conventional fiber filling objects are generally formed by folding a web sheet created by a carded web method into a flat shape and stuffing this into a bag-like side fabric. However, in the fiber-filled object made in this way, the orientation of the short fibers is laminated along the flat direction of the bag-like side material, so the compression ratio against the force applied in the thickness direction is relatively large, and the Can't get firmness. Therefore, it was not satisfactory to obtain a comfortable sleeping or sitting position that would not cause fatigue.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to create a fiber-filled object that can reduce the compression ratio in the thickness direction and make a hard filling by devising the filling of short fibers into the bag-like side material. This is what we aim to provide.

The fiber stuffed article of the present invention which achieves the above object has short fibers stuffed into a flat bag-like side material, and the short fibers are arranged in a plurality of thin strips along a plane substantially perpendicular to the flat direction of the bag-like side material. The thin layers are stacked in the flat direction to form layers, and each short fiber in each thin layer is randomly arranged, and the thin layers are arranged in the shape of an annual ring in a cross section perpendicular to the flat surface. This is a characteristic feature.

As the short fibers used in the present invention, any of synthetic fibers such as polyester, polyacrylic, polyamide, and polypropylene, natural fibers such as cotton, hemp, silk, and wool, or a blend of synthetic fibers and natural fibers can be used. However, it is particularly preferable to use fibers with low entanglement. In the case of mixed fibers, adhesive fibers containing a low melting point component may be used as part of the mixed fibers. Among these fibers used, polyester is the most preferred material because of its excellent compression properties.

Now, as shown in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 to 3, short fibers 2 made of the above-mentioned materials form a large number of scale-like thin layers 3 made up of small units in the bag-like side fabric 1, A laminate 4 is formed by stacking a large number of thin layers 3, and the laminate 4 is filled into the bag-like side fabric 1.

The short fibers 2 within one thin layer 2 are arranged randomly within the plane of the layer, as shown in FIG. In addition, the boundary surface between adjacent thin layers 2, 2 has an annual ring shape centered on arrow G as shown in FIG. 1 in plan view, and a bag shape in side view as shown in FIG. 3. The relationship is such that it is substantially orthogonal to the flat direction of the shaped side area 1. The interface between the thin layers 2, 2 is not clearly visible because the short fibers 2 randomly arranged in the layers are partially entangled between adjacent layers. However, when the laminate 4 is stretched in opposite directions in the flat direction, the thin layers 2,
The two are separated. On the other hand, even if the same operation is performed in the thickness direction, the separation location is not constant, and moreover, a larger force is required.

Since the laminate 4 constituting the fiber-filled object of the present invention has the above-mentioned configuration, the compressive elasticity with respect to a force applied in the thickness direction, that is, a force substantially along the boundary surface, is a force in a direction perpendicular thereto. , that is, the compressive elasticity is larger than the compressive elasticity against the force in the direction perpendicular to the boundary surface. Therefore, the compression rate in the thickness direction is small, and when used as a pillow or cushion, it can be made into a hard fiber-filled material with great resilience.

In particular, in the above-mentioned fiber-filled object, the short fibers 2 are not simply assembled randomly, but form a large number of thin layers 3 of small units, so that the above-mentioned compressive elasticity in the thickness direction is increased. This makes it possible to exhibit even more excellent effects in improving the comfort of sitting and sleeping without fatigue.

The above-mentioned fiber-filled object can be manufactured by a compressed air blowing method as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 12 denotes a feed lattice, on which raw cotton 11, which is a raw material for short fibers, is loaded and sequentially fed to a feed roller 13. Feed roller 13
supplies the raw cotton 11 to the opening cylinder 14 which rotates at high speed. The raw cotton 11 is conveyed along the circumferential surface of the cylinder 14 while being spread by the speed ratio of the feed roller 13 and the opening cylinder 14 . Here, other fiber opening means may be used in combination. The opened short fibers are sucked by the fan 15, and
It is sucked out to the flexible duct 16 on the opposite side,
It is fed under pressure to the blow-off duct 18 of the molding device 17. The blow-off duct 18 blows short fibers into the bag-like side material 1 from the blow-off port at the tip, and fills the short fibers 2 sequentially from the back side, finally forming the filled state as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. .

The molding device 17 is configured to vibrate at least one of the control plates 19 and 20 (lower control plate 20 in the figure) arranged above and below, and actively vibrates the control plate in the molding process. It is necessary to vibrate to Furthermore, in order to actively create the above-mentioned scale-like thin layer 3 from the short fibers 2 and form the accumulated laminate, the blowing duct 18 is swung from side to side to actively vibrate the compressed air. By doing so, it can be made into an annual ring shape.

Air, inert gas, etc. can be used as the pressurized gas, but among these, air is the best for industrial production. The flow rate and pressure of the pressure gas are preferably 1 to 200 m ³ /min and 10 to 1000 mmAq/cm ^{2 ,} respectively.

Fabric such as woven fabric is used for the bag-like side material, but it is preferable that the fabric has appropriate breathability, and the value measured by a Frazier type airflow meter is about 10 to 50 cc/cm ² · seconds. It is.

As described above, in the fiber-filled article of the present invention, short fibers are stuffed into a flat bag-like side material, and the short fibers form a large number of thin layers along a plane substantially perpendicular to the flat direction of the bag-like side material. At the same time, it is stacked in layers in the flat direction, and each short fiber in each thin layer is randomly arranged within that layer, so it is compressible against pressure applied in the thickness direction. The compression ratio is greater than the compression ratio against pressure in the flat direction perpendicular to the compression ratio, and therefore, when used as a mattress or cushion, it can provide a firm and comfortable sleeping or sitting comfort.

Example: Using the compressed air blowing device shown in Fig. 4, polyester cotton was placed inside a flat bag-shaped side ground while swinging the blowing port, which is 35 cm wide and 5 cm thick, from side to side at a 100° angle 60 times/minute. Packed in order from the back side, width 100cm,
A futon with a length of 210 cm and a weight of 3.5 kg (excluding the side fabric) was made. When the side of the obtained mattress was cut with scissors and the filling condition inside was examined, it was found that the filling condition was in the shape of an annual ring as shown in FIG. This mattress was filled with polyester cotton up to the corners of the bag-like side material, and had good cushioning properties (resilience) with little variation in density.

Comparative Example Using the same device used in the example, the air inlet was fixed at the center between the control plates, and polyester cotton was stuffed into a flat bag-shaped side material sequentially from the back side without shaking. , width 100cm, length 210cm, weight
A 3.5Kg (excluding side material) mattress was made. When the side fabric of the obtained mattress was cut with scissors and the filling condition inside was examined, only a lump of cotton was observed in the center. This mattress had a small amount of polyester cotton filling on both sides of the corners of the bag-shaped side material, was hard in the center, and had large variations in density. For this reason, the cushioning properties were poor and the quality of the product was poor.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a fiber-filled object according to an embodiment of the present invention taken along the - arrow cross section in FIG. 2, FIG. −
The cross-sectional view and FIG. 4 are schematic diagrams showing an example of an apparatus for manufacturing the fiber-filled object. 1... Bag-shaped side material, 2... Short fiber, 3... Thin layer,
4...Laminated body.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Short fibers are stuffed into a flat bag-like side material, and the short fibers are stacked in the flat direction so as to form a large number of thin layers along a plane substantially perpendicular to the flat direction of the bag-like side material. A fiber-filled object characterized in that the short fibers in each thin layer are randomly arranged, and the thin layer has an annual ring shape in a cross section perpendicular to the flat plane.