HK1063490B - Patterned fabric and a method for the production thereof - Google Patents

Description

Embossed fabric and method of making same

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an embossed fabric, in particular a jacquard fabric, and to a method for manufacturing such a fabric.

Background

An embossed fabric and a method of manufacturing such a fabric by warp and weft yarns in a weaving technique, wherein the warp yarns form a shed, are described in WO 00/60151. In this method at least four weft threads of different basic colors, formed as a thread group, are inserted in a defined constant sequence in such a way that they form a constant unit together with one warp thread. The weft threads are tied off by means of a regular weave having a repeating pattern repeat, in such a way that color elements having a defined color base are obtained. To produce a jacquard fabric with drawings, a weaving procedure is set. To this end, the existing artwork on the model is decomposed into spinnable image speckles or color cells. In this case, the mixed colors in the fabric can be manufactured according to the low resolution of the human eye.

Thus, it is apparent that the use of a regular weave has a large effect on the artwork reproduced in the fabric. Although a large amount of color can be produced, the nuances produced in the fine color patches used today are not always reproduced by repeating the pattern structure. As a result, a difference in quality between the illustration to be woven and the illustration after weaving occurs, which is a disadvantage.

DE 4438535 discloses a method for jacquard weaving of colored cloth. In this method, the artwork to be woven can be decomposed using a screen method well known in the printing art. In this method, the model is transferred to a computer by scanning and shown on a display unit, presenting a large number of shades. The color is then reduced to the illustrated or desired amount. Finally, the number of colors is decomposed into screen speckles, i.e. into image speckles having a red, yellow, blue, black and white color, the screen speckles having a size of a spinnable speckle. After the color is decomposed, a weaving program is set by utilizing a computer technology, and each screen dot pattern corresponds to one weaving dot pattern. These textile speckles are knotted according to the traditional jacquard method, i.e. with a regular weave having a repeating pattern repeat.

The known methods have substantial disadvantages. In order to adopt this method, it is necessary for those skilled in the art to have a textile experience. It is clear, precisely, that in color illustrations woven from yellow, red and blue, the color mixture is defective, i.e. the illustration does not have all the shades of the model. Often, modifications must be made to improve the woven artwork. However, such a correction can only be performed by a person skilled in the art who has experience with weaving. In the color decomposition for reproducing an image, it can be assumed that color mixing occurs in the area between the printed colors during the printing operation. In other words, the printed color dot patterns do not have a high-definition demarcation, but the printed colors of adjacent color dot patterns flow from one to another in the edge area portion. In the known method, the artwork is decomposed into screen dot patterns, which form textile dot patterns with high-definition demarcations. Due to the low resolution of the human eye, a mixing effect will result.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to improve the initially mentioned embossed fabric, in particular jacquard fabric, and the initially mentioned manufacturing method, and in particular the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to reproduce an image on a fabric with high resolution without the need for manual correction by a person skilled in the art who has a textile experience.

To this end, the invention provides an embossed fabric, in particular a jacquard fabric, having an illustration comprising warp threads and weft threads, the weft threads forming a thread group and joining at least one warp thread to form a unit, and the weft threads being knotted in the unit by means of the warp threads in such a way that the unit has a defined colour background, wherein the unit comprises a weave which is irregularly formed in the warp direction and in the weft direction by at least two warp threads and two weft threads which are completely organized without repeating patterns, the irregular weave being predeterminable on the basis of image speckles which are generated during the image decomposition of the illustration.

The fabric according to the invention comprises warp threads and weft threads which form thread groups and which are knotted in a unit by means of the warp threads, so that the unit has a defined colour base. The unit is formed by at least two warp threads and two weft threads by means of an irregular weave in the warp and weft directions without a repeating pattern repeat.

By means of the irregular weave, an improved reproduction of the illustration to be woven in the fabric can be achieved.

Since the desired colour shade is directly reproduced by the weave, the irregular weave is preferably predetermined in accordance with the lacuna during the image decomposition of the illustration.

To this end, at least one weft yarn of a set of yarns can be laid over at least one warp yarn on the front side of the fabric, so that the speckles are indicated by one colour. To show the color nuances, additional weft yarns in the set may be placed over the warp yarns. In this case, the weft threads can also float.

Preferably, the fabric has weft yarns of different base colors. In the case of black and white illustrations, the set of yarns may include weft yarns that are black and white. In the case of color insets, the yarn sets preferably comprise weft yarns having the primary colors red, green, blue, yellow, black and white or magenta, cyan, yellow, black and white.

For large, solid areas, it is preferable to provide a regular weave.

Preferably, the weft yarns of the front side of the fabric float over a maximum of 48 warp yarns, since the front side of the fabric thus leaves a better image ground. The image bottom of the fabric can be advantageously improved because the weft yarns on the reverse side of the fabric float over a minimum number of 4 warp yarns.

Various methods of making embossed fabrics from weft and warp yarns are possible. The present invention provides a method for making the embossed fabric comprising a plurality of weft yarns and a plurality of warp yarns, the method comprising the steps of: an image preparation step of decomposing the image of the illustration to be woven into pixels comprising at least 4 selected primary colors, a setting step of setting a weaving program for the jacquard loom and a weaving step of carrying out the textile weaving on the jacquard loom, in which illustration decomposition each primary color is stored in pixels of 8 bit colour depth, in each case in a separate bitmap; the color depth can be reduced to 2 bits for each primary color; the bitmaps of the primary colors are compensated in each case by the amount of one pixel and then combined to form a further bitmap with a plurality of primary colors; the weaving procedure for jacquard looms provides for the use of random weaves with complete weave without repeating patterns; and in weaving, a plurality of weft threads are inserted as a thread group and are knotted in a unit formed by at least two warp threads and at least two weft threads by means of a fully textured weave without repeating patterns.

In this method, a file format is set from an illustration model to be woven and the illustration to be woven is decomposed into a plurality of pixels comprising at least four selected primary colors. According to the invention, each primary color is decomposed into a plurality of pixels having a color depth of 8 bits. The pixels of the primary colors in each case are stored in a separate bitmap and the color depth of each primary color is subsequently reduced to 2 bits. Thereafter, each base color bitmap is compensated by the amount of one pixel and then combined to form another bitmap having base colors. By means of this bitmap, a weaving program for the jacquard loom is set, which program prepares for the use of an irregular weave without a repeating pattern repeat and according to which the fabric is produced on the jacquard loom.

By means of electronic image processing according to the method, a file format is set from a predetermined file format, which has a high resolution and constitutes an illustration reproduction in the textile that is faithful to the original illustration. The file format is converted to a textile program and to a spinnable data format. This has the advantage that image shading can be generated according to a predetermined file format without manual correction by a person skilled in the art who has experience with weaving. By using an irregular weave with a perfect weave without repeating patterns, it is possible to produce image point patterns of the basic colors in the fabric, resulting in a faithful reproduction of the model illustrations due to the high resolution.

In the reduction of the color depth, including a threshold value, the color depth of the primary colors can be influenced in an advantageous manner.

By means of the bitmap, which is compensated by one pixel in the warp direction or in the weft direction, the fabric density is improved in an advantageous manner.

In addition to the colors known in image processing, other or up to 16 colors may be advantageously selected.

When setting up the weaving program by means of the CAD system, the weave is fixed by the data of the other bitmaps and comprises a predetermined ratio of warp/weft threads. This has the advantage that the setup of the weaving process can be simplified and the costs necessary for this purpose can be reduced.

The design of the insertion device can advantageously be simplified for weft threads inserted in a constant sequence. Preferably, the order of the basic colors of the weft threads during the insertion is freely selectable, so that the illustration to be woven can be adapted to the color background of the model.

The weft yarns of the yarn set may be knotted such that the weft yarns cross over the warp yarns on the face side of the fabric. The color dot pattern can thereby be formed conveniently. Two or more weft threads can also be knotted to obtain a color mixing effect.

Drawings

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in detail below with the aid of the attached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating one operation for making a jacquard fabric with illustrations

Example (c);

FIG. 2 shows a replica of a pattern of an illustration to be woven;

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged detail of portion A of the model of FIG. 2 on a larger scale after color decomposition of the illustration by a selected base color;

FIG. 4 shows an enlarged detail of B in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a paper weave design for an irregular weave;

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fabric having an irregular weave;

FIG. 7 shows a top view of the fabric according to FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a paper weave design for a regular weave;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a method according to the present invention for making a fabric having a color pattern;

FIG. 10 shows a paper weave design for an irregular weave;

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fabric having an irregular weave;

fig. 12 shows a top view of the fabric according to fig. 11.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1-4, fig. 1 shows, in block diagram form, the necessary steps for manufacturing a jacquard fabric with artwork.

Fig. 2 shows a model with illustrations to be woven, which are converted into image speckles by means of color decomposition and form the basis of the weaving program (fig. 2 and 3). One form of fabric according to the present invention may be made by a jacquard loom, as will be described hereinafter.

Fig. 5 shows a paper weave design for the fabric to be produced, according to which weft threads having the primary colors red R, green G, blue B, yellow Y, black S and white W are inserted in a defined sequence. The insertion of weft threads and the movement of warp threads (ascending stroke and descending stroke) are regulated by this paper weave. The texture is obtained from the image speckle pattern generated during the image decomposition of the inset. As shown in fig. 5, red image speckles and green image speckles will be generated in the fabric. Based on the specifications for the paper weave design, warp yarn K1 is in the lower shed and the other warp yarns are in the upper shed, so that after the knot is made, the red weft yarn spans over warp yarn K1 and the green weft yarn spans over warp yarn K2 (fig. 6 and 7). To obtain color mixing and color differentiation, a plurality of weft threads of different colors can also be knotted in the same way.

As shown in fig. 6, the weft yarns 11 float on the reverse side of the fabric. The weft yarn 11 may also float on the front side of the fabric. To improve the fabric structure, the float length of the weft threads is limited, in particular over a minimum of 4 warp threads on the back side and a maximum of 48 warp threads on the front side.

If the illustration to be woven has a large solid-color area, the weft threads in the fabric are knotted by means of a regular weave.

In another exemplary embodiment according to fig. 9, the method comprises image preparation 1, image decomposition 2, weaving program setting 3 and weaving 4. In image preparation, image data is read into a program for image processing in the TIFF file format by scanning a model (e.g. a photograph) and presented on a display unit as an image of an illustration to be woven. The illustration image appearing on the display unit has thousands of colors or shades depending on the resolution of the scanner and the display unit.

The image decomposition is performed based on the illustration on the display unit. In the image decomposition, the primary colors cyan C, magenta M, yellow Y and black S used in the weaving process are selected. Thus, the image colors are decomposed into primary colors and stored in separate bitmaps 6 in pixels, with the color depth of the pixels being 8 bits for each primary color. Subsequently, the color depth is reduced to 2 bits in each case, resulting in square pixels (square pixels). In this case, the gray level is decomposed into the primary colors C, M, Y, S or white O by a threshold value, and thus the primary colors of the pixel are determined. Finally, the bitmap of the primary colors is compensated in the weft direction by the amount of one pixel and combined on another bitmap 7. The weft order of the weft threads in the primary colors cyan, magenta, yellow, black and white is determined at the same time as the compensation by one pixel amount. These data are read into the CAD system 8 in the format of a TIFF file and presented on a display unit.

The weaving program for the jacquard loom is set by means of these data, ready for the use of an irregular weave with a perfect weave without repeating patterns. With the aid of the illustration, the weave is determined with the aid of the data read in and the ratio of warp/weft threads included. In this case, the data are shown as square pixels and are transferred into a composition card 9, which displays the pixels on a display unit as square image dots of an illustration to be woven. Subsequently, the textile card 10 is set by means of the control of the jacquard loom.

During weaving, 5 weft threads 11 are inserted as thread groups in the weft thread row in the weft thread sequence cyan, magenta, yellow, black and white. The weft threads are knotted by means of the warp threads 12 in a unit which is formed by two warp threads and at least two weft threads by means of a repeat-free repeat-free repeat.

Fig. 10 shows a paper weave design for the fabric to be manufactured, which results from the weaving procedure. The insertion of weft threads and the movement of warp threads (upstroke and downstroke) are regulated by the paper weave design. The texture is obtained from the image speckle pattern generated during the color decomposition of the inset. According to fig. 10, image speckles having the primary color cyan and image speckles having the primary color magenta will be produced in the fabric. Based on the specifications for the paper weave design, warp yarn K1 is located in the lower shed and the other warp yarns are located in the upper shed, so that after the knot is made, the weft yarn with the base color magenta spans over warp yarn K3 (fig. 11 and 12). To obtain a color mixture or a color discrepancy, a plurality of weft threads of different colors can also be knotted in the same way.

Description of the reference numerals

1 image preparation

2 image decomposition

3 textile program set-up

4 spinning

5 primary colors

6 bit map

7 bit map

8 CAD system

9 composition card

10 textile card

11 weft yarn

12 warp yarn

R Red

G green

B blue

Yellow colour Y

S black

W white

C blue (blue)

M fuchsin (Red)

Claims (21)

1. An embossed fabric, in particular a jacquard fabric, having an illustration comprising warp threads (12) and weft threads (11), which form a thread group and which in combination with at least one warp thread form a unit and in which the weft threads are knotted by means of the warp threads, in such a way that the unit has a defined colour background, characterized in that the unit comprises a weave which is irregularly formed in the warp and weft directions by at least two warp threads (12) and two weft threads (11) which are completely woven without a repeat, the irregular weave being predeterminable on the basis of image speckles which are generated during the image decomposition of the illustration.

2. A fabric according to claim 1 wherein at least one weft yarn of a yarn set spans over at least one warp yarn on the face of the fabric.

3. A fabric according to claim 1 wherein the weft yarns are of different colours.

4. A fabric according to claim 3 wherein the yarn sets comprise weft yarns having the primary colors red (R), green (G), blue (B), yellow (Y), black (S) and white (W).

5. A fabric according to claim 3 wherein the yarn sets comprise weft yarns having the primary colors magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), black (S), and white (W).

6. A fabric according to claim 1 wherein the image dot pattern is formed from at least two weft yarns of different base colors.

7. A fabric as claimed in claim 1 incorporating a region formed by a regular weave having a repeating pattern repeat.

8. A fabric according to claim 1 wherein the maximum length of weft yarn float on the face of the fabric is 48 warp yarns.

9. A fabric according to claim 1 wherein the minimum length of weft yarn float on the reverse side of the fabric is 4 warp yarns.

10. A method for making an embossed fabric as claimed in any of claims 1 to 9, the fabric comprising a plurality of weft yarns and a plurality of warp yarns, the method comprising the steps of: -an image preparation step (1) of decomposing the image of the illustration to be woven into an image decomposition step (2) comprising pixels of at least 4 selected primary colors, -a setting step (3) of a weaving program for the jacquard loom and-a weaving step (4) of the fabric weaving on the jacquard loom, the method being characterized in that in the illustration decomposition, each primary color is saved in pixels of 8 bit colour depth, which are in each case in a separate bitmap (6); the color depth can be reduced to 2 bits for each primary color; the bit map (6) of the primary colors is compensated in each case by the amount of one pixel and is subsequently combined to form a further bit map (7) with a plurality of primary colors; the weaving program (3) for jacquard looms provides for the use of irregular weaves with a perfect weave without repeating patterns; and in weaving, a plurality of weft threads are inserted as a thread group and are knotted in a unit formed by at least two warp threads and at least two weft threads by means of a fully textured weave without repeating patterns.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the gray level is decomposed into primary colors or white, including a threshold, in the reduction of color depth.

12. Method according to claim 10, characterized in that the bitmap (6) is compensated in the weft direction and/or in the warp direction by an amount of one pixel.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein one of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), black (S) and white (W) is used as the primary color.

14. A method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that the basic colors red (R), green (G), blue (B), yellow (Y), black (S) and white (W) are used.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein up to 16 primaries can be used.

16. A method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that, in the setting of the weaving program, the weave can be determined by means of the data of the further bitmap (7) by means of a CAD system.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein a predetermined warp/weft ratio is included in the set-up of the weaving program.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein a composition card is provided.

19. A method according to claim 10, characterized in that the yarn groups comprise weft yarns (11) of different basic colors, which are inserted in a determined constant order and are knotted in one unit by at least 1 warp yarn (12).

20. A method according to claim 19, characterized in that at least 1 weft thread (11) of a set of threads is knotted in such a way that a weft thread crosses over at least 1 warp thread (12) on the front side of the fabric.

21. A method according to claim 19 or 20, characterised in that white and/or black warp yarns are used.