ZONAL ELASTIC SHOE MATERIAL AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application claiming priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202410811483.7, filed on Jun. 21, 2024, the content of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD

The present application refers to the field of knitting textile fabrics and, in particular, to a zonal elastic shoe material and a method for manufacturing.

BACKGROUND

Due to the acceleration of the modernization process of science and technology, shoe materials not only need to meet the processing requirements of the shoe upper, but also pay more attention to comfort, craftsmanship, hand-feel, quality, design effect, and other aspects. Traditional textile fabric is either with elastic or non-elastic overall. An elastic textile fabric is stitched with another non-elastic textile fabric to achieve an effect of zonal elasticity of a shoe upper. However, stitching two separate pieces of textile fabrics together adds additional processes and has low production efficiency.

SUMMARY

An object of the present application is to provide a zonal elastic shoe upper material and a method for manufacturing the same. The zonal elastic shoe material can achieve zonal elasticity in a designated part of the shoe material, and to achieve light weight and shoe lace-free construction of the shoe in convenience for wearing.

To achieve the above-mentioned object, a technical solution is proposed herein. A zonal elastic shoe material includes a surface layer, a jacquard layer and a pattern-bar zonal-elastic layer. The surface layer is knitted with a multifilament yarn into a chain knitting structure by a loop-forming ground bar GB1 moving with a lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//. The jacquard layer is superimposed on the surface layer, and includes an elastic region and a non-elastic region. The elastic region is knitted with a multifilament yarn into a mesh structure by a first pair of jacquard guide bars, and the non-elastic region is knitted with a multifilament yarn into a compact knit structure by the first pair of jacquard guide bars. The first pair of jacquard guide bars perform knitting by moving with a lapping notation in combination of four needle spaces of 0, 1, 2, and 3, any of which serves as a basic shogging unit. The pattern-bar zonal-elastic layer is provided on the elastic region.

In an embodiment, the pattern-bar zonal-elastic layer is formed by a spandex inlay applied on the layer of the mesh structure in combination with knitting.

In an embodiment, the multifilament yarn has a fineness of 70 D to 300 D, and the spandex yarn in the spandex inlay has a fineness of 70 D to 1400 D.

In an embodiment, the multifilament yarn is formed of nylon fiber, polyester fiber, vinylon fiber, acrylic fiber, artificial fiber, polyethylene fiber, aramid fiber, or polymer fiber, or any combination of these fibers.

In an embodiment, the surface layer is knitted with the multifilament yarn into the chain knitting structure or an inlay structure by the loop-forming ground bar GB1 cooperating with one or more other loop-forming ground bars. The one or more other loop-forming ground bars are provided on the loop-forming ground bar and are moved with a lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//or 0-0/1-1//.

In an embodiment, the elastic region is knitted with the multifilament yarn into the mesh structure by a second pair of jacquard guide bars cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars, and the non-elastic region is knitted with the multifilament yarn into the compact knit structure by the second pair of jacquard guide bars cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars. The second pair of jacquard guide bars are configured to, when cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars, perform knitting by movement with a lapping notation in combination of four needle spaces of 0, 1, 2, and 3, any of which serves as a basic shogging unit.

A method for manufacturing zonal elastic shoe material mentioned above includes the following steps:

step S1: knitting with the multifilament yarn as raw material by the loop-forming ground bar GB1 to form the surface layer of the shoe material;

step S2: knitting with the multifilament yarn by the first pair of jacquard guide bars through jacquard patterning functionality to form the jacquard layer of the shoe material in various designs, wherein the mesh structure is knitted in the elastic region of the jacquard layer, and the compact knit structure is knitted in the non-elastic region of the jacquard layer; and

step S3: superimposing, by an inlay pattern bar, a spandex inlay on the region of the mesh structure knitted by the jacquard guide bars, so as to form the pattern-bar zonal-elastic layer on the region of the mesh structure through an elasticity of spandex and a deformable structural elasticity of the mesh structure.

In an embodiment, the step S1 includes: knitting by the loop-forming ground bar GB1 moving with the lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//; and knitting with the multifilament yarn into the chain knitting structure or an inlay structure by the loop-forming ground bar GB1 cooperating with one or more other loop-forming ground bars to form the surface layer. The one or more other loop-forming ground bars are provided on the loop-forming ground bar GB1 and are moved with a lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//or 0-0/1-1//.

In an embodiment, the step S2 includes: knitting with the multifilament yarn into the mesh structure by a second pair of jacquard guide bars cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars through jacquard patterning functionality to form the elastic region; and knitting with the multifilament yarn into the compact knit structure by the second pair of jacquard guide bars cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars to form the non-elastic region. The second pair of jacquard guide bars are configured to, when cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars, perform knitting by movement with a lapping notation in combination of four needle spaces of 0, 1, 2, and 3, any of which serves as a basic shogging unit.

In an embodiment, the multifilament yarn has a fineness of 70 D to 300 D, and the spandex yarn in the spandex inlay has a fineness of 70 D to 1400 D.

The zonal elastic shoe material and the method for manufacturing the same provided according to the present application have the following advantages. The zonal elasticity is achieved in a designated region of the shoe material. That is, there is no elasticity for non-elastic region, and there is good elasticity for the elastic region, so that it fits the wearing requirement for foot to step in shoe conveniently. The zonal elasticity is adjusted with the tension and relaxation of the foot muscles to achieve a better wrapping, and adds assistance to sports and fitness.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simulation diagram of the shoe material of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a fabric structure diagram of the shoe material of the present application; and

FIG. 3 shows a performance test results of a product produced by the method of this present application.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

• • 1: jacquard layer;
  • 2: elastic region;
  • 3: non-elastic region;
  • 4: pattern-bar zonal-elastic layer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present application will be further described below with reference to accompanying drawings.

Reference is made to FIGS. 1 to 3. An embodiment of a zonal elastic shoe material is provided in the present application. The shoe material includes a surface layer. The surface layer is knitted with a multifilament yarn into a chain knitting structure by a loop-forming ground bar GB1. A jacquard layer 1 is superimposed on the surface layer, and includes an elastic region 2 and a non-elastic region. The elastic region 2 is knitted with a multifilament yarn into a mesh structure by a first pair of jacquard guide bars. The non-elastic region is knitted with the multifilament yarn into a compact knit structure by the first pair of jacquard guide bars. The loop-forming ground bar GB1 performs knitting by moving with lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//. The first pair of jacquard guide bars performs knitting by moving with lapping notation in combination of 0, 1, 2, and 3 needle spaces, any of which serves as the basic shogging unit. The elastic region 2 is provided with a pattern-bar zonal-elastic layer 4.

For example, the lapping notation mentioned in the phrase “lapping notation in combination of 0, 1, 2, and 3 needle spaces, any of which serves as the basic shogging unit” may be 0-0/1-1//, 1-1/2-2//, 2-2/3-3// . . . ; or 0-0/2-2//, 1-1/3-3//, 2-2/4-4// . . . ; or 0-1/2-1//, 1-2/3-2//, 2-3/4-3// . . . ; or 1-0/1-2//, 2-1/2-3//, 3-2/3-4// . . . ; or 0-1/3-2//, 1-2/4-3//, 2-3/5-4// . . . ; or 1-0/2-3//, 2-1/3-4//, 3-2/4-5// . . .

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the pattern-bar zonal-elastic layer 4 is formed by a spandex inlay on the mesh structure layer in combination with knitting.

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the multifilament yarn has a fineness of 70 D to 300 D, and the spandex yarn in the spandex inlay has a fineness of 70 D to 1400 D.

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the multifilament yarn is formed of nylon fiber, polyester fiber, vinylon fiber, acrylic fiber, artificial fiber, polyethylene fiber, aramid fiber, polymer fiber, and any combination thereof.

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the surface layer is knitted with the multifilament yarn into the chain knitting structure or an inlay structure by the loop-forming ground bar GB1 cooperating with one or more other loop-forming ground bars. The one or more other loop-forming ground bars are integrated onto the loop-forming ground bar and are moved with lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//or 0-0/1-1//. The loop-forming ground bar GB2 cooperates with the loop-forming ground bar GB1 to form the surface layer with increased warp-directional physical properties. This ground bar functions to enhance physical properties. In a case that the physical properties of GB1 are good enough, the ground bar GB2 may be omitted. The one or more other loop-forming ground bars may be one, two, three or four loop-forming ground bars.

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the elastic region is knitted with the multifilament yarn into the mesh structure by a second pair of jacquard guide bars cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars. The non-elastic region is knitted with the multifilament yarn into the compact knit structure by the second pair of jacquard guide bars cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars. When cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars, the second pair of jacquard guide bars perform knitting by moving with lapping notation in combination of 0, 1, 2, and 3 needle spaces, any of which serves as a basic shogging unit. The second pair of jacquard guide bars function to enhance physical properties. In a case that the physical properties of the first pair of jacquard guide bars are good enough, the second pair of jacquard guide bars may be omitted.

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the present application, a method for manufacturing a zonal elastic shoe material mentioned above is proposed. The method includes the following steps:

step S1, knitting with a multifilament yarn as raw material by a loop-forming ground bar GB1 to form a surface layer of the shoe material;

step S2, knitting with a multifilament yarn by the first pair of jacquard guide bars through jacquard patterning functionality to form a jacquard layer 1 of the shoe material in various forms, wherein the mesh structure is knitted in the elastic region 2 of the jacquard layer 1 and the compact knit structure is knitted in the non-elastic region of the jacquard layer 1; and

step S3, superimposing, by an inlay pattern bar, the spandex inlay on a region of the mesh structure knitted by the jacquard guide bars, to form a pattern-bar zonal-elastic layer 4 in the region of the mesh structure through an elasticity of spandex and a deformable structural elasticity of the mesh structure.

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the disclosure, the step S1 includes: knitting by a loop-forming ground bar GB1 moving with lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//; and knitting with the multifilament yarn into a chain knitting structure or an inlay structure by the loop-forming ground bar cooperating with one or more other loop-forming ground bars to form the surface layer, wherein the one or more other loop-forming ground bars are provided on the loop-forming ground bar GB1 and are moved with lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//or 0-0/1-1//.

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the disclosure, the step S2 includes: knitting with the multifilament yarn into the mesh structure by a second pair of jacquard guide bars cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars through jacquard patterning functionality to form the elastic region 2; and knitting with the multifilament yarn into the compact knit structure by the second pair of jacquard guide bars cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars to form the non-elastic region. When cooperating with the first pair of jacquard guide bars, the second pair of jacquard guide bars perform knitting by moving with lapping notation in combination of 0, 1, 2, and 3 needle spaces, any of which serves as a basic shogging unit.

Reference is continuously made to FIGS. 1 to 3. In an embodiment of the disclosure, the multifilament yarn has a fineness of 70 D to 300 D, and the spandex yarn in the spandex inlay has a fineness of 70 D to 1400 D.

EXAMPLE 1

A single-needle-bed multibar raschel warp knitting machine is used, and equipped with the loop-forming ground bar GB1, and optionally the loop-forming ground bar GB2, jacquard guide bars JB3, JB4, the inlay pattern bar PB7-10, PB15-17, PB23-25 as needed, and optionally jacquard guide bars JB61, 62 as needed.

The loop-forming ground bar GB1 is moved in a chain knitting structure with lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//. The multifilament yarn used has a fineness of 100 D, and operates with full threading, the warp run-in of 1790 mm/rack, and the yarn content of 21%. The number of yarn ends per beam is 520 and the number of beams is 6.

The loop-forming ground bar GB2 is moved into chain knitting structure with lapping notation of 1-0/0-1//, or into an inlay structure with lapping notation of 0-0/1-1//. The loop-forming ground bar is for enhancing physical properties. In a case that the physical properties of the ground bar GB1 are good enough, the ground bar GB2 may be omitted. The physical properties of the shoe material is determined based on (i) a warp-directional tensile strength higher than or equal to 8N/mm, (ii) a weft-directional tear strength higher than or equal to 30N, (iii) a warp-directional needle seam strength higher than or equal to 5N/mm, and (iv) a bursting strength higher than or equal to 18 kgf/cm². The multifilament yarn used has a fineness of 100 D, and operates with full threading, the warp run-in of 1830 mm/rack, and the yarn content of 21%. The number of yarn ends per beam is 520 and the number of beams is 6.

The jacquard guide bar JB3 is moved with lapping notation of 0-1/2-1//, and the jacquard guide bar JB4 is moved with lapping notation of 2-1/0-1//. Jacquard offset signals are mapped in a required region through the warp knitting CAD software to make an electronic file format used for operation of machine. A jacquard needle is controlled to displace based on the jacquard offset signals. After displacement in the compact knit region, the lapping notation is changed to 0-1/3-2//for the jacquard guide bar JB3, and to 3-2/0-1//for the jacquard guide bar JB4. After displacement in the mesh region, the lapping notation is changed to 0-1/2-1/1-2/3-2/1-2/2-1//for the jacquard guide bar JB3, and to 3-2/1-2/2-1/0-1/2-1/1-2//for the jacquard guide bar JB4. The multifilament yarn used has a fineness of 150 D, and operates with full threading, the warp run-in of 2550 mm/rack, and the yarn content of 25%. The number of yarn ends per beam is 260 and the number of beams is 12.

The shogging signals of the patterned bar are mapped in the required region through the warp knitting CAD software, with 9-needle-space shogging in the mesh region, and a single-needle-space shogging in the compact knit region. An electronic file format for operation of machine is made. The spandex yarn with a fineness of 420 D is used, and operates with full threading and the yarn content of 5%. The warp run-in motion is performed passively from a creel, and the number of bobbin yarn on the weaving creel is 90.

The jacquard guide bar JB61 is moved with lapping notation of 0-0/2-2//, and the jacquard guide bar JB62 is moved with lapping notation of 2-2/0-0//. Jacquard offset signals are mapped in a required region through a warp knitting CAD software to make an electronic file format for operation of a machine. The offset of jacquard needles is controlled based on the jacquard offset signals. After displacement in the compact knit region, the lapping notation is changed to 0-0/3-3//for the jacquard guide bar JB61, and to 3-3/0-0//for the jacquard guide bar JB62. After displacement in the mesh region, the lapping notation is changed to 0-0/2-2/1-1/3-3/1-1/2-2//for the jacquard guide bar JB61, and to 3-3/1-1/2-2/0-0/2-2/1-1// for the jacquard guide bar JB62. The multifilament yarn with a fineness of 100 D is used, and operates with the warp run-in of 1180 mm/rack. The function of these jacquard guide bars is for enhancing the physical properties. In a case that the physical properties of JB3 and JB34 are good enough, the jacquard guide bars JB61 and JB62 may be omitted. The physical properties of the shoe material are determined as mentioned above.

In summary, as shown in FIG. 3, it shows that the fabric of the present application has good strength and duarability, and is excellent in terms of tensile strength, tear strength, bursting strength, bally flexing, and abrasion. The bally flexing is up to 100,000 times. The test standard includes: UATMM07 for tear strength; UATMM05 for tensile strength and elongation at break; UATMM09 for needle seam strength, UATMM10 for bursting strength, UATMM16 for Bally flexing, and UATMM19-20 for Martindale abrasion. The zonal elasticity is achieved in the designated region of the shoe material, so the zonal elasticity is adjusted with the tension and relaxation of the foot muscles to achieve a better wrapping, and adds assistance to sports and fitness.

The foregoing description only relates to a preferred embodiment of the present application, which cannot be understood as a limitation of the present application. All equivalent improvements and modifications made according to the spirit of the patent application should be fall within the scope of the present application.