Narrow elastic fabric and method of making the same

Claim 1

A narrow woven elastic fabric comprising a set of elastic warp yarns extending longitudinally of the fabric and three filling yarns interwoven with saId warp yarns, the first filling yarn being elastic and being interwoven with a portion of the warp yarns disposed in the center portion of the fabric and the other filling yarns being non-elastic and being interwoven with other portions of the warp yarns, one of said non-elastic filling yarns being interwoven in pairs with a portion of the warp yarns extending along the longitudinal edge of the fabric and the other non-elastic filling yarn being interwoven in pairs with another portion of the warp yarns disposed along the opposite longitudinal edge of the fabric, the elastic filling yarn in the center portion of the fabric being interengaged with said other non-elastic filling yarns to form an integral interwoven narrow elastic fabric having a center portion having elasticity in both the longitudinal and transverse directions of the fabric and a pair of side portions extending along the longitudinal edges of the fabric and having elasticity only in the longitudinal direction of the fabric.

Claim 6

A method of weaving a narrow elastic fabric having a center portion which is elastic in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the fabric and a pair of longitudinally extending side portions which are elastic only in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, comprising: a. feeding a non-elastic yarn at each end of a beam of elastic warp yarns; b. forming a first shed with said elastic warp yarns and said non-elastic yarns; c. inserting an elastic filling yarn on a shuttle through said first shed; d. reversing i. the non-elastic yarn in the side portion nearest the shuttle, ii. the warp yarns in the center portion, and iii. the warp yarns in the side portion farthest from the shuttle, to form a second shed; e. returning the shuttle through said second shed, whereby the non-elastic yarn is inserted as a filling yarn in the side portion of the elastic warp yarns and the filling yarn on the shuttle is inserted in the center portion of the elastic warp yarns; and f. repeating steps (d) and (e) a plurality of times to weave said narrow elastic fabric.

Claim 7

A method of weaving a narrow elastic fabric having a center portion which is elastic in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the fabric and a pair of longitudinally extending side portions which are elastic only in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, comprising: a. feeding a non-elastic yarn at each end of a beam of elastic warp yarns; b. forming a first shed with said elastic warp yarns and said non-elastic yarns; c. inserting an elastic filling yarn on a shuttle through said first shed; d. reversing i. the non-elastic yarn in the side portion nearest the shuttle, ii. the warp yarns in the center portion, and iii. the warp yarns in the side portion farthest from the shuttle, to form a second shed; e. returning the shuttle through said second shed, whereby the non-elastic yarn is inserted as a filling yarn in the side portion of the elastic warp yarns and the filling yarn on the shuttle is inserted in the center portion of the elastic warp yarns; and f. repeating steps (d) and (e) a plurality of times to weave said narrow elastic fabric.