A WARP PRINTING PROCESS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention in general relates to a warp printing process and more particularly to a warp printing process to produce rightly woven, balanced, design aligned fabric.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The use of warp printing in weaving and printing fabrics with both natural and synthetic yarns is common in art. Continuous research is going on to facilitate such printing process, which is easily available, reasonable and cost effective. Though such technology is common in art, use of warp printing in colouring fabrics in vast industrial production with constant requirement of cost cutting is yet to be achieved.

During the 18th century warp prints became fashionable for clothing and furniture. The design of a warp print is distinguishable by its blurriness; a voluntary irregularity normally printed in soft tones. These taffetas have historically encountered a huge success, coming back into style in the 19th century, thanks to the development of a simplified handcrafted technique. Ever since, these fabrics have charmed with their surprising forms and subtle style.

Warp prints are the result of a unique weaving technique in which the application of the print is integrated into the weaving process. After loosely weaving the warp threads to keep them from moving around on the printing table and in order to keep them perfectly parallel, the color is applied 'a plat' in screens by hand. Up to 28 screens can be used, depending on the design. Once the print has been applied to the warp threads they are mounted back on the loom for the final weaving. This procedure produces a design with a very unique quality. The forms and colors are blurred and seem to melt together.

Loom printer is one widely used warp printing technology used mainly for synthetic yarns for integrating printing and weaving in a single on-line operation. It is a loom attachment that acts between the back-rest roller and the eventual drop wires. It is composed of a heating plate and an unwinding and rewinding device for heat transfer paper.

But the major disadvantages of such traditional warp printing process is that the yarn ends may break or tangle, becoming difficult to handle, and the heated metal cans used to dry the yarn flatten it and reduces its bulk. There was need to rectify all these defects.

The technology hitherto known in the art have the disadvantages as above, is very costly involving complicated mechanism/steps associated with it, rendering it unsuitable to meet the huge demand for producing warp printed fabrics in textile industry at a reasonable cost. Further, technology known in the art, as stated before, did not teach a combination of simple steps carried on by using simple machinery.

Accordingly, there was a long felt need to meet the huge demand to produce woven and printed fabrics in textile industry with the help of simple and cost effective mechanism in a sacrosanct manner.

The present invention meets the above mentioned long felt needs and in addition provides some advantages not known hitherto in this field, as described hereinafter.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention aims to meet the above needs hitherto not taught by prior art by providing a technically perfect, improved process for warp printing, whereby the huge demand for producing good quality warp printed fabrics in textile industry at a reasonable cost, is met.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a careful rolling method to produce a beam.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a warp printing process both for natural and synthetic yarns.

Another object of the present invention is to provide use of simple tools in preparatory process of warp printing of fabrics.

It is another object of the present invention to produce a yarn during warp printing process with no distortion such as curl or crimp.

It is yet another object of present invention to provide a method which posses very good colour control compared to other space dye methods, with their long expanses of colour.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a low cost and effective method for warp printing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A warp printing process comprises of converting the dyed yarn from hank form to bobbins, setting bobbins on a warping creel and winding on warping beam while passing through a reed, weaving into a net fabric, preparing a paste for the desired colours with pigment dyes, testing the colour paste on a thread to match or correct the colour mix, spreading the net fabric on the printing table, ensuring that the fabric is uniformly stretched throughout the table, printing the design on a film paper which acts as a negative for screen making, exposing the film under UV rays into the screen, spreading the screen on mesh fabric to a set frame, taking this screen for printing each colour one by one, applying the colour paste on the screen and spreading across the screen evenly using squeegee removing and placing the screen is on the next position and continuing the process till the other end of the table is reached, repeating the same process for the additional colours to print, keeping the printed fabric on the table and then suspended on top of the table for drying, rolling printed net fabric the on a temporary beam and transferring to the main warp beam tightly, loading the main warp beam on a hand loom and making the warp in weaving position; and cutting the loose weft threads from the net warp while the weaving is in progress.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The present invention is described with reference to some non-limiting drawings wherein:-

Figure 1 is a view of a screen for printing.

Figure 2 is a view of warp printing.

Figure 3 is a view of a shuttle applied in warp printing.

Figure 4 is a view of weft cutting of net fabric.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following describes a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is purely exemplary, only for the sake of understanding and not by way of any sort of limitation.

The present invention in general relates to use of loosely woven fabric in warp printing as a binder, careful rolling method to produce beam, attaching the beam to a loom, after which the beam is woven, and while weaving the thread is pulled out so that a new thread is woven which finally holds the fabric and gives it the effect of a rightly woven, balanced, design aligned fabric.

At first, the dyed yarn is converted from hank form to bobbins as a preparatory step for warp printing. Bobbins are set on a warping creel and wound on warping beam passing through a reed for even placement of warp yarn.

Prepared warp is taken on to the loom for weaving. Since this fabric is woven as a preparatory for warp printing, the weft insertions are spread widely just to keep the warp threads intact. Once the net fabric (loosely woven) is out of the loom, the colour preparation for printing starts.

For printing, pigment dyes are used and a paste is prepared for the desired coloursb. The colour paste is tested on a thread to match or correct the colour mix. After that the net fabric is spread on the printing table and to ensure that the fabric is uniformly stretched throughout the table. The design is printed on a film paper which acts as a negative for screen making and the film is exposed under UV rays into the screen. The screen is spread on mesh fabric to a set frame. There are separate screens for each colour in the design. This screen is taken one by one for printing each colour. Up to 28 screens can be used, depending on the design. The colour paste is then applied on the screen and spread across the screen evenly using squeegee. A preferred embodiment of such a screen is shown in figure 1.

The screen (1), as seen in figure 1, is then removed and placed on the next position. The process continues till the other end of the table is reached. The same process continues for the additional colours to print. The printed fabric on table is kept there for drying for an hour and suspended on top of the table for another two hours.

As shown in figure 2, the printed net fabric (2) is rolled on a temporary beam and transferred to the main warp beam (3) tightly, which is loaded on a hand loom and the warp joining and drawing through are done to make the warp in weaving position.

After that, as shown in figure 4, the loose weft threads (4) are cut from the net fabric (5) while the weaving is in progress. It shows the weft threads (4) and the warp threads (5) in the final woven fabric.

Figure 3 is a view of a shuttle (6) which may be applied in the warp printing process according to the present invention. This view also shows the disposition of the warp threads (5) and the weft threads (4).

Woven fabric is removed from the loom and mending and cleaning are done. The fabric is then pre- shrunk and ironed. The fabric is passed to the Quality Control for final inspection and approved fabrics are despatched. It will be clear from figure 4 that the end product is free of curls and crimps and comprises flat segmented yarns.

The following are some non-limiting advantages of the present invention:

1. The invention, which results in rightly woven fabric using a simple warp printing technology, produces yarn with no distortion such as curl or crimp.

2. The invention also uses a warp printing technology which has ability to program a sequence of colours of varying lengths along the yarn.

3. The present invention also includes printing of a flat yarn segment the bulk of which is not reduced.

The printed yarns with their long expanses of colour create free-form tufted patterns.

Overall, the present invention provides a warp printing process using loosely woven fabric to give very good colour control, compared to other conventional and space dye methods and holds the fabric to give the effect of a rightly woven, balanced, design aligned fabric that can be used for curtaining and/or furnishing. The yarns obtained by the process of the present invention, do not break or tangle and are therefore easy to handle. The end product obtained is also flat and without any reduction in bulk.

The present invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment and drawings for the sake of understanding only and not by way of any limitation and it incorporates all legitimate developments within the scope of what has been described hereinbefore and claimed in the appended claims.

We claim

1. A warp printing process comprising of the steps of:
- converting the dyed yarn from hank form to bobbins;
- setting bobbins on a warping creel and winding on warping beam while passing through a reed;
- weaving into a net fabric,
- preparing a paste for the desired colours with pigment dyes;
- testing the colour paste on a thread to match or correct the colour mix;
- spreading the net fabric on the printing table while ensuring that the fabric is uniformly stretched throughout the table;
- printing the design on a film paper which acts as a negative for screen making;
- exposing the film under UV rays into the screen;
- spreading the screen (1) on mesh fabric to a set frame;
- taking said screen (1) for printing each colour one by one;
- applying the colour paste on the screen and spreading across the screen evenly;
- removing and placing the screen (1) on the next position and continuing the process till the other end of the table is reached;
- repeating the same process for the additional colours to print;
- keeping the printed net fabric (2) on the table and then suspended on top of the table for drying;
- rolling said printed net fabric (2) on a temporary beam and transferring to the main warp beam (3) tightly;
- loading the main warp beam (3) on a hand loom and making the warp in weaving position; and
- cutting the loose weft threads (4) from the net warp (5) while the weaving is in progress.

2. The warp printing process as claimed in claim 1, wherein up to twenty eight screens are used depending on the design.

3. The warp printing process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the printed net fabric (2) is kept on table for an hour and then suspended on top of the table for another two hours for drying.

4. The warp printing process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the process gives very good colour control and holds the fabric to give the effect of a rightly woven, balanced, design aligned fabric.

5. The warp printing process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the yarns obtained by the said process are free from breakages or tangles and are therefore easy to handle.

6. The warp printing process as claimed in claim 1, wherein the end product obtained is flat and without any reduction in bulk.