Woven fastening

Abstract

A woven fastener product is shown in which monofilament loops woven in the structure are shown sized and located to provide pin-receiving mounting sleeves as part of the woven structure to fasten a device or object to the woven structure. In one case, a pair of sleeves has a pre-determined spacing corresponding to the spacing between a pair of mounting pins of a pre-determined device such as a wrist watch. In another case, an extensive field of mounting sleeves formed by a series of adjacent, parallel rows of the sleeves enable the mounting on the same band of different devices having different mounting pin spacings, e.g., to enable different size watches to be used on the same type of band. The mounting loops lying between those that correspond with the particular mounted device provide a cushioning effect adding to comfort and secure positioning of the watch or other device on the band. Particular woven fastener bands are shown which include an array of hook elements and an array of loop elements that extend from the surface of different respective regions of a common fabric base. The hook arrays are formed by warp yarns, the array of hooks and the array of mounting-sleeve defining loops being separated in the warp direction of the fabric base. To form a self-engaged fastening, the fastener product is conformed so that the hook elements overlie multifilament loop elements, extensions of the multifilament loop elements forming part of the fabric base the loop elements.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A woven fastener product including a fabric base having ground yarns comprising warp yarns and filling yarns extending respectively in warp and filling directions, the woven fastener product having a first functional region comprising woven loops that form pin-receiving sleeves for fastening a device or watch to the fastener product.  
     
     
         2 . The woven fastener product of  claim 1  having monofilament warp yarns, at least some of the monofilament warp yarns in one region forming loops that cooperate to form a mounting sleeve for a device to be attached to the fastener product.  
     
     
         3 . The woven fastener product of  claim 2  in which at least some of the monofilament warp yarns in another region spaced in the warp direction from the first region form an array of hooks for hook and loop fastening.  
     
     
         4 . The woven fastener product of  claim 3  in which at least some of the same monofilaments in one region form hooks, in another region form at least part of a said pin-receiving mounting sleeve.  
     
     
         5 . The woven fastener product of claims  1 ,  2 , or  3  in which spaced apart, parallel pin-receiving sleeves according to  claim 1  are spaced to receive mounting pins on opposite sides of a device to be mounted to the product.  
     
     
         6 . The woven fastener product of  claim 5  for use with a pre-determined device having parallel mounting pins at a pre-determined spacing, the fastener product including a set of said pin-receiving sleeves that are spaced apart a distance corresponding to said pre-determined spacing.  
     
     
         7 . The woven fastener product of  claim 5  having a field of said pin-receiving sleeves, pairs of said rows at different spacings being suitable to receive mounting pins of different devices having correspondingly different spacings.  
     
     
         8 . The woven fastener product of  claim 1 ,  6 , or  7  in combination with a wrist watch body having mounting pins on opposite sides of the body inserted through respective said sleeves on the woven fastener product.  
     
     
         9 . The woven fastener product of  claim 1  having second and third functional regions that have respective fastener element arrays that include a plurality of rows of fastener elements that comprise yarns of the fabric base that project from a surface of the fabric base in respective selected locations, 
 the second functional region including a plurality of rows of loop-engaging fastener elements, and  
 the third functional region including a plurality of rows of loop fastener elements.  
 
     
     
         10 . The woven fastener product of  claim 9  wherein the loop fastener elements comprise multi-filament yarns projecting from the fabric base at selected locations, the multi-filament yarns extending across the warp direction of the woven fastener product and functioning as ground yarns of the fabric base in a region free of loop fastener elements.  
     
     
         11 . The woven fastener product of  claim 10  wherein a region free of loop fastener elements comprises said first further functional region.  
     
     
         12 . The woven fastener product of  claim 10  wherein the fabric base includes a first fabric layer and a second fabric layer, the multi-filament yarns extending between and holding together the first fabric layer and the second fabric layer in the region free of loop fastener elements.  
     
     
         13 . The woven fastener product of  claim 10 ,  11  or  12  wherein at least some of the same monofilaments in one region form hooks, in another region form at least part of a said pin-receiving mounting sleeve.  
     
     
         14 . A method of manufacturing a woven fastener product including a fabric base having ground yarns comprising warp yarns and filling yarns extending respectively in warp and filling directions, comprising, in at least one selected functional region, forming at least some of the yarns into loops that cooperate to define pin-receiving mounting sleeves.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  in which the yarns forming the mounting sleeve are monofilaments.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14  in which the woven fastener product, in the warp direction, has a second functional region separated from the first functional region, the second functional region having an array including a plurality of rows of fastener elements, the fastener elements extending from a surface of the fabric base, the method comprising: 
 projecting monofilament yearns of the fabric base from the surface of the fabric base in selected locations in a first functional region to form an array of loops that cooperate to define pin-receiving mounting sleeves;  
 projecting monofilament yarns of the fabric base from the surface of the fabric base in selected locations in the second functional region; and  
 cutting the monofilament yarns projecting from the surface of the fabric base in the second functional region to form an array of loop-engaging fastener elements.  
 
     
     
         17 . A method of manufacturing a woven fastener product including weaving warp monofilaments in a base, and at selected regions, forming at least some of the monofilaments in loops that are subsequently acted upon to form hooks, and in at least one other region of the fastener product forming at least some of the monofilaments into loops that cooperate to define pin-receiving mounting sleeves.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 ,  15 , or  17  for use with a pre-determined device having mounting pins spaced a pre-determined distance, including forming mounting sleeves in said product spaced apart said distance, to receive said pins of said predetermined device.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 ,  15 , or  17  including forming a field of rows of said mounting sleeves suitable to receive mounting pins of a range of devices having respectively different spacing between pins.