Size identification system for bed sheets and the like

This invention is directed to bed sheets and the like, and more particularly, to such items having indicators for distinguishing one size from another.

Facilities such as hospitals, hotels, other lodging facilities, and the laundries (either onsite or offsite) that serve these commercial facilities handle large volumes of launderable products, for example, sheets, pillow cases, towels, and blankets. Significant time and energy is expended in managing these types of linens, especially with respect to the sizes thereof. By way of example, differently-sized bed sheets typically look alike when mixed together in the laundry process, and therefore laundry workers spend a great deal of time separating and sorting the sheets by size. In addition, even though cleaned sheets may be stored by size, housekeeping workers spend a significant amount of time verifying sheet sizes ― both at a given storage location and during the room-to-room housekeeping process.

To help reduce the time for those who use or handle the sheets, a size indicator has typically been added to the sheets. In this regard, a textile mill will weave a roll of fabric of a certain width. The width corresponds, generally, to the width of the bed sheets to be made therefrom. In a separate set of operations, each bed sheet is formed by cutting a length of fabric from the roll, and then sewing or hemming the edges as necessary to provide the appearance of the finished sheet. The size indicator is typically added as part of the forming process, which thus occurs long after the roll of fabric is woven. By way of example, one of the seams, such as along the head of the sheet, may be sewn with a colored seaming thread, rather than a white seaming thread, as is typically used for the seams. However, colored seaming thread is more expensive than white seaming thread. Also, errors often occur in the sewing machine setup, which result in the wrong colored thread being used. The result is costly waste.

The present invention provides a size-indicating system for linens, such as bed sheets and the like, which reduces or eliminates the waste involved in providing size indicators as part of the post-roll cutting or sewing operations. To this end, and in accordance with the principles of the present invention, the size indication is accomplished by including a yam having a predetermined color as one of the warp or filling yams during the weaving of the fabric, with the color being correlated to an intended size of the bed sheet to be made therefrom. The yam is positioned so that it will be visible in the formed sheet, so as to indicate the size thereof to those who subsequently handle the sheet. However, colored weaving threads do not present a significant cost differential, nor are there likely to be setup errors that result in use of the wrong colored thread.

Typically, the selvage edge of the roll will correspond to the lengthwise edge of the bed sheet. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the colored thread will be a warp yarn in the selvage, although it may be in another portion of the roll generally parallel to the selvage. Alternatively, the colored yam may be in the fill so as to be generally transverse to the selvage. The resulting bed sheet in that situation will have a colored thread running transverse to the lengthwise edge thereof, and may even be positioned so as to appear adjacent the hem where the prior colored seaming thread would have been placed.

By virtue of the foregoing, there is thus provided a size-indicating system for linens, such as bed sheets and the like, which reduces or eliminates the waste involved in providing size indicators as part of the post-roll cutting or sewing operations.

   The invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying Figures in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a roll of a woven greige fabric in accordance with the principles of the invention;

Fig. 1A is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of a portion of the fabric of Fig. 1;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of a flat bed sheet made from the fabric of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another woven greige fabric in accordance with the principles of the invention;

Fig. 3A is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of a portion of the fabric of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of a flat bed sheet made from the fabric of Fig. 2.

With reference to Figs. 1 and 1A, a roll 10 of greige fabric 12 (i.e., a fabric which has not yet received a finish treatment) is woven in a conventional fashion, with a plurality of warp yams 14 running the length of the fabric 12 (i.e., parallel to the longitudinal axis 16 thereof) and a plurality of filling yams 18 running across the fabric (i.e., transverse to axis 16). The fabric 12 has a first lengthwise edge in the form of a first selvage 20, and a second lengthwise edge in the form of a second selvage 22. The fabric 12 from roll 10 will be cut and sewn into a bed sheet 20 shown in Fig. 2, with the selvages 20, 22 of the fabric 12 corresponding generally with the selvages 26, 28 of the bed sheet 24. As used herein, the term "warp yam" includes both warp yarn and selvage yam, unless specifically noted otherwise.

Roll 10 is woven with at least one of the warp yams 14 or filling yams 18 being of a predetermined color corresponding, in this embodiment, to the width W₁ of fabric 12 transverse to axis 16, which in turn will correlate to the width W₂ of the bed sheet 24, as will be described. In the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 1A, the colored yam is selected as a warp yam 14', and further advantageously is in the selvage 20 of the fabric 12. For the sake of illustration, warp yam 14' is shown as having a green color.

Although the fabric 12 shown in Figs. 1 and 1A includes a single colored warp yam 14' located in the selvage 20, a colored yam may be woven in any of the warp-yam locations of the weave. In addition, multiple colored warp yams may be used. Advantageously the colored warp yam is similar in composition and size to the other warp yams in the fabric. For example, if the non-colored warp yarns are 50/50 cotton/polyester yams of a particular size, then the colored warp yam may have this same composition and size.

As will be appreciated, the size-identification system of the invention may be achieved in any suitable fashion. Advantageously, a given woven fabric includes at least one colored yam that is distinctly and visually different from the color of the remainder of the fabric. If desired, each fabric that correlates to a different sheet size may be woven with a differently-colored yam. For example, a blue yam may designate twin, a green yam may designate full, and a red yam may designate king. In addition, a plurality of like-colored- or differently-colored- yams may be used in weaving a given fabric, to designate a particular sheet size. For example, in the weaving process, a yellow yarn may be aligned adjacent a blue yam, with the blue yam being aligned adjacent another yellow yam. Also, colored yam(s) in which a given yam has a particular pattern, or spacing, of a color along the length of that yam may be used. And, if desired, different weave patterns may be used. For example, a woven greige fabric having a first float pattern may be used to make sheets having a first size, and a woven greige fabric having a second (or no) float pattern may be used to make sheets having a second size. If different weave patterns are used, the different sizes of the resulting sheets may be distinguished even if an identically-colored yam is used to form the fabric.

With reference to Fig. 2, the flat bed sheet 24 made from the fabric 12 of Fig. 1 has selvages 26, 28 corresponding with the selvages 20, 22 of the fabric 12. The selvage 26 includes a colored warp yam 30 corresponding with the yam 14' of the fabric 12. The sheet 24 also has an upper hem 32 and a lower hem 34. In addition, the sheet 24 has a width W₂ which is substantially similar to the width W₁ of the fabric 12. The width W₂ may be slightly different from the width W₁ if, for example, the sheet 24 has received one or more finishing treatments such as those mentioned below. The sheet 24 may be made from the fabric 12 using customary methods and equipment, including, for example, any desired finishing treatment, cutting, and sewing. Examples of finishing treatments include the application of a no-iron finish, a no-stain finish, an optical brightener, and/or a color. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill, such finishing treatments may be applied to a woven greige fabric or to the sheets which have been made from the fabric.

With reference to Figs. 3 and 3A, a roll 36 of greige fabric 38 is woven in a manner generally similar to that of the fabric 12 shown in Fig. 1, with a plurality of warp yams 40 running the length of the fabric 38 (i.e., parallel to the longitudinal axis 42 thereof) and a plurality of filling yarns 44 running across the fabric 38 (i.e., transverse to axis 42). The fabric 38 also has a first lengthwise edge in the form of a first selvage 46, and a second lengthwise edge in the form of a second selvage 48. The fabric 38 from roll 36 will be cut and sewn into a bed sheet 50 shown in Fig. 4, with the selvages 46, 48 of the fabric 38 corresponding generally with the selvages 52, 54 of the bed sheet 50.

Roll 36 is woven with a plurality of colored filling yams, as at 44', being of a predetermined color which corresponds, in this embodiment, to the width W₃ of fabric 38 transverse to axis 42, which in turn will correlate to the width W₄ of the bed sheet 50, as will be described. Each colored filling yam 44' is spaced a predetermined distance from an adjacent colored filling yam along the length of the fabric 38, so as to have one of the yams located in a preselected section of a bed sheet 50 made from the fabric 38. In addition, each colored filling yam 44' extends from the first selvage 46 to the second selvage 48.

The fabric 38 may have any weave pattern desired, and may be made using any suitable method(s) and materials. Also, the size-identification system may be achieved in any suitable fashion, as discussed above in connection with the fabric 12 of Fig. 1.

With reference to Fig. 4, the flat bed sheet 50 made from the fabric 38 of Fig. 3 has a first selvage 52 and a second selvage 54 corresponding with the selvages 46, 48 of the fabric 38. The sheet 50 also has upper- and lower- end sections 56, 58, each of which includes a hem 60, 62. The sheet 50 has been cut and sewn so that a colored filling yam 64 is located in the lower-end section 58, just above the hem 62 - the colored filling yarn 64 corresponding with a colored filling yam 44' of the fabric 38.

In another embodiment (not shown), a flat bed sheet made from a fabric substantially similar to that of Fig. 3 includes a first selvage, a second selvage, an upper-end section, and a lower-end section, with each of the end sections including a hem. In addition, the sheet has a first colored filling yam in the upper-end section, and a second colored filling yam in the lower-end section. Prior to weaving the fabric used to make the sheet, the distance between adjacent colored filling yams for the fabric is established, thereby enabling the resulting sheet to have the colored filling yam in both the upper- and lower- end sections.

In use, a fabric may be woven, in which at least one of the warp and/or filling yams has a predetermined color correlated to an intended size of bed sheets to be made from the fabric. Individual sheets may be made from the fabric, with each of the sheets including at least a portion of the colored yam, the portion being visible to the naked eye. In this fashion, a person readily may distinguish between bed sheets of different size by looking at the particular colors of the visible portions of the colored yams.

Each of the woven greige fabrics and bed sheets described above provides several benefits and advantages. For example, a laundry- or housekeeping- worker quickly and easily may see the color coding on a particular bed sheet, and immediately know the size of the item ― thereby resulting in reduced handling time, which translates to greater worker productivity and reduced labor costs. Also, because the color-coded yam is an integral part of the woven fabric, the color-coding system is more durable, and the color-coded products may be made without additional steps. Accordingly, the color-coded products are less expensive to make.

By virtue of the foregoing, there is a size-identification system for bed sheets and the like which has advantages over prior bed-sheet size indicators.

While the present invention has been illustrated by a description of embodiments, and while the illustrative embodiments have been described in considerable detail, additional advantages and modifications readily will appear to those skilled in the art. For example, although several of the drawings illustrate bed sheets, the fabrics of the invention may be used to form blankets, towels, pillow cases, and other sized-specific flat-goods.