Inventors:
Joseph P. Hess - West Chester PA
Janice R. Maiden - Oreland PA
Joan Bitwinski - Philadelphia PA
Assignee:
Federal-Mogul Systems Protection Group - Exton PA
International Classification:
F16L 1102
Abstract:
Woven fabric sleeves are comprised of interwoven glass fiber yarns or similar mineral or ceramic fiber yarns, and hybrid yarns or wires utilized as fill yarns. The fill yarns preferably/consist essentially of glass or ceramic fibers with resiliently settable polymeric materials and/or resilient formable wires or combinations thereof. The wires or hybrid yarns are resiliently set to form resilient hoops yieldably imparting to the fabric side edges a tendency to move into adjacent or overlapping relationship. In one form of the method of making a sleeve, the hybrid fill yarns are resiliently set by placing the woven fabric in a folder, applying heat to cause the fill yarns to assume a set in the wrap around or folded condition and then cooling so that the product is resiliently maintained in the set condition. In an alternative method of making the product, the product is woven on a shuttle loom and one or more wires are used as fill yarns. The wires are fed from pretensioned spools.