Fabric Having a Sheet of Reinforcement Threads, and Awning Comprising Said Fabric

Abstract

A fabric includes two parallel selvages, and can be wound onto itself in at least one winding direction running parallel or perpendicular to said parallel selvages. The fabric is to be kept taut and includes a support layer that has a front face and a rear face. The fabric includes at least two sheets, i.e. a first sheet and a second sheet, one of which is arranged on top of the other and which consist of reinforcement threads, said sheets being arranged on the rear face, and the reinforcement threads extending at angles of 5 to 85 relative to the winding direction, with said angles being symmetrical in relation to the winding direction.

Claims

1. A fabric comprising two parallel selvages, which can be wound onto itself in at least one winding direction running parallel or perpendicular to said parallel selvages, to be kept taut and comprising a support layer, said support layer has a front face and a rear face, wherein the fabric includes at least a first sheet and a second sheet, one of which is arranged on top of the other and which consist of reinforcement threads, said sheets being arranged on the rear face, the reinforcement threads extending at angles of 5 to 85 relative to the winding direction, said angles being symmetrical in relation to the winding direction.

2. The fabric according to claim 1, wherein the support layer is a fabric, a non-woven fabric, a grille or a film.

3. The fabric according to claim 1, wherein said sheets comprising reinforcement threads are sewn or glued to said support layer.

4. The fabric according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement threads of a sheet are not all contiguous.

5. The fabric according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement threads have a count between 50 dtex and 1,200 dtex.

6. The fabric according to claim 1, wherein the fabric is coated on said front face and/or on said rear face.

7. The fabric according to claim 1, further comprising two additional sheets of reinforcement threads including a third sheet and a fourth sheet, with said reinforcement threads extending at angles between 5 and 85 with said winding direction, said angles being symmetrical in relation to the winding direction.

8. The fabric according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement thread sheets present a different reinforcement thread density between sheets.

9. The fabric according to claim 1, wherein said sheets comprise, independently, between 2 and 8 reinforcement threads per cm.

10. The fabric according to claim 1, wherein said support layer is rectangular or trapezoidal in form.

11. An awning comprising at least one fabric according to claim 1.

12. An awning comprising at least two fabrics according to claim 1, wherein said fabrics are assembled by soldering then by calandering or by rabbet.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0049] The way to practice the invention, and also the benefits which followed there from, will emerge clearly from the depiction of the following embodiments, with the support of the attached figures wherein:

[0050] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fabric according to one aspect of the invention;

[0051] FIGS. 2 to 4 are top views of the fabrics according to three specific cases of the invention;

[0052] FIGS. 5a and 5b are transverse cross-sections of the assembly zone of two fabrics according to the invention presenting a rabbet, shown respectively before and after assembly.

[0053] Of course, the dimensions and the proportions of the elements shown in FIGS. 1 to 5b may have been exaggerated in relation to reality, and have only been given in order to facilitate understanding of the invention. In FIGS. 1 to 4, the arrow indicates the winding direction of the fabric according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] As shown in FIG. 1, the fabric according to one aspect of the invention comprises a support 5, a sheet comprising reinforcement threads 1 and a second sheet comprising reinforcement threads 2.

[0055] The sheet comprising reinforcement threads 1 is positioned on the support layer 5 and the sheet comprising reinforcement threads 2 is positioned on the sheet comprising reinforcement threads 1. The reinforcement threads are positioned flat. In other words, the reinforcement threads 1 define the plan of the first sheet and the reinforcement threads 2 define the plan of the second sheet. It results that the fabric depicted in FIG. 1 comprises three distinct and parallel plans, a first plan represented by the support layer, a second plan represented by the first sheet comprising reinforcement threads 1 and a third plan represented by the second sheet comprising reinforcement threads 2.

[0056] Therefore, the reinforcement threads 1 and 2 do not present any shrinkage. The effect of this is that as soon as a constraint is applied to them, the reinforcement threads are already in a straight line and transmit their traction immediately.

[0057] FIG. 2 is a top view of the fabric according to FIG. 1 in which the sewing threads 6 have been shown.

[0058] The reinforcement threads 1 form an angle .sub.1 with the winding direction of the fabric, this angle .sub.1 is between 5 and 85. The reinforcement threads 2 form an angle .sub.2 which is symmetrical to angle .sub.1 in relation to the winding direction. The fact that the angles .sub.1 and .sub.2 are symmetrical enables the constraints to be applied homogeneously to the fabric when it is taut or in the winding phase.

[0059] The sewing threads 6 enable the sheets comprising reinforcement threads to be connected to the support layer. As shown in FIG. 2, the sewing threads were sewn after the second sheet comprising reinforcement threads 2 was positioned.

[0060] As already stated, the sheets comprising reinforcement threads may be glued and not sewn, or be sewn one by one.

[0061] The specific embodiment depicted in FIG. 3 presents four sheets of reinforcement threads. In the same way as previously, the reinforcement threads 1 and the reinforcement threads 2 form respectively an angle .sub.1 and an angle .sub.2 with the winding direction of the fabric. A third and a fourth sheet comprising respectively reinforcement threads 3 and reinforcement threads 4 are positioned above the second sheet of reinforcement threads. The reinforcement threads 3 form an angle .sub.3 with the winding direction and the reinforcement threads 4 form an angle .sub.4 with the winding direction, with the angles .sub.3 and .sub.4 symmetrical in relation to the winding direction.

[0062] In the same way as in the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the different sheets are in distinct and parallel plans.

[0063] The interest of the reinforcement threads 3 and 4 is to be able to optimize the distribution of the efforts applied to the reinforcement threads. To do so, the reinforcement threads 3 form an angle .sub.3 which is larger than the angle .sub.1. In a similar way, and due to the fact that the angles .sub.1 and .sub.2 on the one hand and the angles .sub.3 and .sub.4 on the other are symmetrical with each other, angle .sub.4 is larger than angle .sub.2.

[0064] During the fabric winding phase, the fraction located between the load bar and the winding axis, and which is taut reduces. Thereby, the forces applied to the fabric change direction as the fabric is wound. Therefore, the constraints applied evolve as the fabric is wound and the efficacy of the reinforcement threads 1 and 2 reduces. Greater demands are therefore placed on the reinforcement threads 3 and 4 and the constraint applied to the reinforcement threads 1 and 2 is reduced, which enables the effort to be distributed throughout the winding process.

[0065] The specific embodiment depicted in FIG. 4 shows the case where the fabric is trapezoidal in form. In this case, the winding direction is perpendicular to the two parallel selvages of the fabric which form the small base and the large base of the trapezium.

[0066] The other characteristics of the fabric, i.e. the symmetry of the reinforcement thread angles, and the layout on distinct plans of the reinforcement thread sheets and the support layer, are similar.

[0067] Preferably, and as shown in FIG. 4, the reinforcement threads are tilted to be parallel to the sides of the trapezium which link the bases. This enables tension to be maintained on the lateral zones of the trapezium when the tension is applied by the load bar, which is shorter than the large base of the trapezium.

[0068] When the fabric is not wide enough to be used on its own, it is possible to assemble several fabrics. To do so, conveniently, the fabrics are assembled by rabbet, as shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b so as not to generate any additional thickness at the assembly zone.

[0069] The interest in not generating any additional thicknesses at the assembly zone is that it prevents folds from forming. In fact, as previously stated, it is known that the additional thicknesses generate tensions on the fabric at the edge of the assembly zones, which causes folds and may generate the problems quoted above.

[0070] In the embodiment as shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b, two fabrics 7 and 8 are assembled. The fabrics 7 and 8 show on at least one of their selvages an protruding part 71, 81 over part of its thickness, on the side of the rear face or the side of the front face (FIG. 5 a). In practice, placing the protruding parts 71, 81 one on top of the other enables continuity to be provided between the fabrics 7 and 8 (FIG. 5b). In other words, the protruding part 71 is complementary to the protruding part 81 in the thickness of fabrics 7 and 8.

[0071] Conveniently, the protruding part 71 of the fabric 7 comprises the fabric core 72 of the fabric 7 and the protruding part 81 of the fabric 8 does not comprise the fabric core 82 of the fabric 8. Therefore, conveniently, the protruding part 71 presents a thickness equal to approximately of the thickness of the fabric 7 and the protruding part 81 presents a thickness equal to approximately of the thickness of the fabric 8.

[0072] The two fabrics 7 and 8 are assembled by placing their protruding parts 71, 81 one on top of the other so as to coincide with the rear faces and the front faces of the fabrics 7 and 8 (FIG. 5 b). In practice, once the protruding parts 71, 81 are placed one on top of the other, the two fabrics 7 and 8 are soldered therebetween.

[0073] In practice, the protruding parts 71, 81 of the fabrics 7 and 8 may be obtained in different ways.

[0074] In a specific embodiment, the protruding parts 71, 81 are obtained by not depositing a layer present on the rest of the surface of the sheet. In other words, during the fabric core coating phase, several elementary layers are deposited successively. One or more of these elementary layers may be absent in the characteristic strip zones. To do so, masks may be added to the coating machine to prevent the liquid PVC from some of these elementary layers from being deposited in this zone, to therefore produce a strip for which the coating layer is less thick in relation to the rest of the surface.

[0075] In another specific embodiment, the protruding parts 71, 81 are obtained by trimming a portion of the coating layer present on the surface of the sheet. This operation enables a portion of the coating layer to be eliminated mechanically from one or more strips.

[0076] In practice, in the two preceding embodiments, the portion of cloth of the fabric 8 which is not coated on one of these faces is removed by cutting.