Forming laminated touch fasteners

摘要

A laminated touch fastener is made in a continuous process on a mold roll. Flowable resin is pressed against the mold roll in limited areas to form projections extending from resin layers that are laminated to a flexible substrate while carried on the mold roll. In one example a continuous channel about the mold roll is positioned such that the resin at least partially fills the channel as the layers are formed, thereby forming in the channel a raised portion in which the resin layer is of a greater thickness than at a point between the projections and the raised portion. In another example, grooves in the mold roll receive ribs of a pressure applicator during forming of the layers, the ribs blocking lateral flow of the resin to form a desired edge profile.

主权项

1. A method of making a laminated touch fastener, the method comprising:
introducing flowable resin to a limited region of an outer surface of a rotating mold roll defining an array of cavities extending inward from an outer surface of the mold roll; applying pressure to the resin to fill the cavities with resin and form a layer of the applied resin interconnecting projections molded within the cavities; and laminating the layer of resin to a flexible substrate while the layer of resin is carried on the mold roll, the substrate being of greater width than the layer of resin, thereby forming a laterally bounded layer of resin from which the molded projections extend, the bounded layer laminated to the substrate and having at least one layer edge adjacent an exposed region of the substrate, the layer having a selvedge region void of the molded projections and defined between the projections and the layer edge; wherein the mold roll defines a continuous channel extending about the mold roll and positioned such that the resin only partially fills the channel, thereby forming in the channel a raised portion of the selvedge region in which the resin layer is of a greater thickness than at a point between the array and the raised portion.