Knitted tubular fabric casing for food products

Abstract

The newness and distinctiveness resides in the overall visual appearance of a repeating wave pattern on one side of a knitted tubular fabric casing. The pattern is characterised by repeated, vertically spaced rows of wave forms on a background of a closely knitted fabric, as shown in the figures. The wave rows are formed by a single yarn standing proud in front of the background fabric, with less emphasis on the appearance of the underlying knit structure of the background fabric. When viewed from the first side, each row comprises a series of uniform, repeating wave segments of substantially the same size and shape and formed from a single yarn. Each wave segment has a semielliptical appearance, with tighter curvature at its ends and a flatter curvature through its mid-section. Each wave segment extends across multiple stitches of the background fabric and the yarn forming the waves is periodically secured to the fabric by a discrete stitch at one end of each wave segment, producing a consistent rhythm across the row and a regular repeating appearance of waves on the background fabric. The wave segments continue around the circumference of the knitted tubular fabric casing in a helical path, to give the appearance of vertical rows in the longitudinal direction. When viewed from the second side, the overall appearance is primarily that of the close-knit tubular fabric, with the wave rows on the first side being largely obscured by the close-knit tubular fabric. A faint horizontal banding effect aligned with the spacing between rows is discernible. The newness and distinctiveness is not limited by any particular overall dimensions of the knitted tubular fabric casing, the knitted tubular fabric casing being of an indefinite length and an indefinite width / diameter. The repeated wave pattern is located on one side of the fabric (e.g. either the interior surface or the exterior surface),and extends around the circumference (i.e. width / diameter dimension) and extends longitudinally. Thus in the representations the wave patterns appears as a series of rows of waves which extend laterally (circumferentially) and repeated vertically (longitudinal direction).

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