Skin-Contacting Tubular Fabric Underlay For Use Beneath A Therapeutic or Prosthetic Device

Inactive Publication Date: 2014-09-18
FLEMING JR ROBERT H +1
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is about a type of yarn that is used in fabric underlay. These yarns have air-jet-entangled filaments that are made of synthetic polymer material. These filaments have grooves on their outer surface that create a capillary effect to transport moisture along the yarn. This fabric underlay is designed to keep moisture away from the skin by using artificial terry loops that lift the fabric off the skin and reduce the surface area in contact with the skin. These features make the fabric underlay more effective at keeping moisture away from the skin compared to conventional materials.

Problems solved by technology

When any device, such as a therapeutic or prosthetic device, is secured about a human or animal body part for an extended period of time (e.g., weeks or months), health of the skin beneath the device becomes an issue of concern.
Moisture from perspiration or other source, trapped beneath the device for an extended time, can create problems such as bacterial or fungal growth.
Such weft-knit material, because of its conventional weft-knit structure and the types of material commonly employed, is not particularly effective at keeping moisture away from the skin.

Method used

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
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  • Skin-Contacting Tubular Fabric Underlay For Use Beneath A Therapeutic or Prosthetic Device
  • Skin-Contacting Tubular Fabric Underlay For Use Beneath A Therapeutic or Prosthetic Device
  • Skin-Contacting Tubular Fabric Underlay For Use Beneath A Therapeutic or Prosthetic Device

Examples

Experimental program
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Effect test

example 2

[0050]A second tubular fabric underlay having a locknit structure of the type shown in FIG. 8 was made on a circular warp-knitting machine having a diameter of about 2 inches and having 60 needles. Each guide ring fed 60 of the above-described air-covered yarns.

example 3

[0051]A third tubular fabric underlay having a locknit structure of the type shown in FIG. 8 was made on a circular warp-knitting machine having a diameter of about 3 inches and having 96 needles. Each guide ring fed 96 of the above-described air-covered yarns.

example 4

[0052]A fourth tubular fabric underlay having a locknit structure of the type shown in FIG. 8 was made on a circular warp-knitting machine having a diameter of about 4 inches and having 120 needles. Each guide ring fed 120 of the above-described air-covered yarns.

[0053]Fabric underlays formed in accordance with the invention have several beneficial properties. They are form-fitting about the body part, because of the resiliency resulting from the knit structure and the elasticity of the yarns making up the fabric. As noted, the tubular fabric underlay has the ability to move moisture away from the skin and longitudinally along the tubular underlay, because of the knit structure in which the yarns extend generally longitudinally along the tube and because of the ability of the yarns to move moisture longitudinally along the yarns. This is advantageous in an application such as a cast underlay, because the underlay is able to move moisture longitudinally from a middle region of the ca...

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Abstract

A skin-contacting fabric underlay for use beneath a therapeutic or prosthetic device on a human or animal body part is formed as a tube of knitted fabric. The yarns forming the fabric have a core of elastic material surrounded by moisture-transporting filaments of substantially non-elastic material, the yarn having elasticity, the fabric having a warp-knitted structure characterized by an artificial terry surface on an inner skin-contacting surface of the tube. The artificial terry surface is formed by underlaps of the yarn, in which the elasticity of the yarn causes the underlaps to draw up and form artificial terry loops that contact the skin of the body part about which the tube is sleeved. The artificial terry loops serve to space overlaps of the yarn from the skin and to move moisture away from the skin.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present disclosure relates generally to fabric underlays for use as a skin-contacting layer beneath a therapeutic device (e.g., a cast, a splint or immobilizer, a medical dressing, etc.) or prosthetic device (e.g., a prosthetic limb). The disclosure additionally relates to tubular fabrics for constructing underlays.[0002]When any device, such as a therapeutic or prosthetic device, is secured about a human or animal body part for an extended period of time (e.g., weeks or months), health of the skin beneath the device becomes an issue of concern. Moisture from perspiration or other source, trapped beneath the device for an extended time, can create problems such as bacterial or fungal growth. Additionally, contact dermatitis can be caused by the constant contact of a foreign material with the skin.[0003]It is common to wrap the body part with a fabric before placing additional materials (e.g., padding for a cast, the cast material, or a prosthesis...

Claims

the structure of the environmentally friendly knitted fabric provided by the present invention; figure 2 Flow chart of the yarn wrapping machine for environmentally friendly knitted fabrics and storage devices; image 3 Is the parameter map of the yarn covering machine
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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): D04B21/20D04B39/00
CPCD04B21/207D04B39/00D04B21/205D04B21/18
InventorFLEMING, JR., ROBERT H.DAVANT, ALLISON
OwnerFLEMING JR ROBERT H