Heifetz1994

Title: Recycled yarns from textile waste and the manufacturing process therefor

Inventor: David S. Heifetz (Canada)

 New method for manufacturing yarns using recycled cotton waste and new type of recycled
cotton yarn. Manufacturing by-products/ post-consumer material + virgin yarns used for
production.

1. Background

During current production process 20-49% of raw virgin cotton wasted.

According to The By-products Association of America, in 1990, approx. 7.7B pounds of

fabric/clothes/related textiles discarded.

Cotton agriculture is the highest/second highest user of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides.

Most cotton waste goes to landfills; large portion of gin motes are ploughed under in farmers fields.

Cotton waste – gin motes

Even when these materials are recycled/reused, most of the uses are for low value goods.

If higher value and more durable use found, more waste will be used; will reduce waste stream into
landfills and waste incineration facilities/reduce use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides etc.

This invention involves use of pre-consumer and post-consumer fabric/apparel waste in

manufacture of high-quality yarns using a process that is economically feasible on a commercial
scale.

Conventional uses of waste produce coarse count yarns not suitable for use in apparel industry,
except as heavy woven outerwear or sweaters (thus, is lower value). This invention produces higher
value products.

This process involves making finer count – being 8 count and above- cotton yarns either from 100%
recycled cotton waste or virgin+recycled cotton together with post-consumer shoddy.

Yarn count is a number that represents the diameter or fineness of a yarn, either in terms of weight
by length or length by weight. In technical terms, it is the value of the linear density (the diameter)
to which that yarn was spun. Direct system – keeps length constant. 'How much does a consistent
length of yarn weigh?' That's what the yarn count represents. In this system, a higher yarn count
represents a heavier and, therefore, coarser yarn. Indirect system – keeps weight constant. The
indirect system measures the length of a consistent weight of yarn, with a higher yarn count
indicating a finer yarn.

Recycled cotton is also commonly referred to as regenerated cotton, reclaimed cotton or shoddy.

Cotton shoddy

Priciple of this invention is that through processing the waste fibres differently, and twisting the yarn
made from fibres differently, finer count yarn can be made from 100% cotton waste or blends of
cotton+synthetic waste. And by processing used clothing differently to open up fabric with less
breakage and better parallel alignment of fibres, post-consumer shoddy can be blended with others
to make higher quality yarn.
2. Description of the drawings

Read entire method.

Gin motes (pre)-cleaning: conventional cotton cleaning and/or opening machines

Blending: tufts of different fibres would be cut off different bales in the desired blending proportion
and sucked into a large mixing box which has air blown around to mix the different fibres

Carding equipment: consists primarily of cylinders with teeth. When processing gin motes they
should also have crush rolls to break down remaining debris and suction cleaning.

Drafting process: fibres brought into parallel alignment in preparation of spinning. Sliver is drawn
into a thinner strand of fibres and the alignment of fibres become more parallel. Twist also added to
strands to preserve the strength of sliver and prevent breakage.

 In standard spinning process of virgin cotton fibres – normally go through combing process to
remove shorter fibres (shorter fibres make it difficult or impossible to spin strong enough yarn).
In this present process – no combing. Yarn is twisted 10-15% more than is standard. Thus, waste
is reduced.
 In standard garnetting – equipment processes fabric at 2000 to 5000 lb/hr or higher. In this
invention – equipment processes 1000 to 2500 lb/hr. thus, finer yarns can be made.
 Garnetted waste Is carded more than virgin cotton or other wastes. Carding done with the flat
set 50% closer.
 In spinning waste+virgin cotton – 10-20% more twists than normal needed for enough strength
in finished yarn. Thus, twist multiple is higher than standard for 100% cotton yarn.
 Open end spinning

Meanings (from google)

Boll - the rounded seed capsule of plants such as cotton or flax.

The cotton gin is a machine that is used to pull cotton fibers from the cotton seed. Eli Whitney
invented the cotton gin in 1793 or 1794. (Ginned cotton is when the seed is removed from the
cotton)

Gin Motes – Small, broken, or immature seeds with attached fibers. The gin removes the motes at a
different stage from the mature, whole seeds. Card – A machine used to separate, align, and remove
of short fibers from cotton.

Carding: the fibres are separated and then assembled into a loose strand (sliver or tow) at the
conclusion of this stage. The cotton comes off of the picking machine in laps, and is then taken to
carding machines. The carders line up the fibres nicely to make them easier to spin.

Drawing, also called Drafting, in yarn manufacture, process of attenuating the loose assemblage of
fibres called sliver (q.v.) by passing it through a series of rollers, thus straightening the individual
fibres and making them more parallel. Each pair of rollers spins faster than the previous one.

Comber Noil is a by-product of the yarn spinning process, produced when cotton is combed in
comber machine to remove short fibers. Because of comber noil being trash free, it can be used for
a number of purposes like, manufacturing of pharmaceutical and surgical cotton.
A sliver (rhymes with diver) is a long bundle of fibre that is generally used to spin yarn. A sliver is
created by carding or combing the fibre, which is then drawn into long strips where the fibre is
parallel. When sliver is drawn further and given a slight twist, it becomes roving.

Cotton sliver (as thick as a man’s thumb with no twist)

A cotton bale is the way cotton lint (fiber) gets to customers. It's a defined amount (480 pounds in
the US) that has been harvested & ginned together so it should be fairly consistent in the quality.

Cotton bale (round)

Garnetting - A process of reducing wool or cotton shoddy and rags to fibers that can be re-used.

yarn twist is described using three main parameters: (a) twist direction (b) twist factor or twist
multiplier And (c) twist level (turns/unit length).

Open-end spinning is a technology for creating yarn without using a spindle. It was invented and
developed in Czechoslovakia in Cotton Research Institute in Ústí nad Orlicí in 1963.

A cotton plant produces boll's and each cotton boll contains upwards of 250,000 individual fibers. A
short staple fiber is up to 1 1/8" long. A long staple fiber is between 1 1/8" and 1 1/4" long. An extra-
long staple fiber is between 1 3/8"and 2" long. Conventionally long staple fibers are used to make
yarn.

Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt
can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-
based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood pulp-based rayon.