Protective fabric sleeves

摘要

Sleeves formed of fabrics comprised wholly or in part from engineered plastic materials which are settable by heat to be biased to a specific sleeve geometry are disclosed. One form of sleeve illustrated involves heat-setting plastic material to a helical configuration by wrapping an elongated strip of the fabric material helically on a mandrel, heating the material while in the helical configuration, and thereafter cooling the material so that is has a permanent helical set with the side edges of the material in overlapping relation. the sleeves so formed may be collapsed into a short cylinder for packaging. In use, the compressed cylinder is allowed to expand lengthwise over an elongate object or objects to effect a jacketing of the same without additional assembly effort. A second form of sleeve disclosed involves setting the fabric material in tubular form, wherein the product is formed to have side edges abutting one another or in overlapping relation. A product so formed snap fits over an elongated substrate without the need for other attaching means. Sleeve products may have a circular, rectangular, square or triangular cross-section or various combinations of these cross-sections.