Touch fastener products
Touch fasteners for use as mold inserts in molding seat foam buns include selvedges that deflect under pressure to engage a mold surface in face-to-face contact. Another touch fastener includes a base with an exposed thermally activatable resin surface that has a softening point low enough to be activated by the exothermic foaming reaction to adhere the fastener in the foam bun.
1. A touch fastener product for use as a mold insert, the product comprising:
a resin base having an upper face and a lower face and carrying a plurality of resin fastener elements with stems integrally molded with and extending in an array from the lower face between side edges of the base;
a magnetically attractable material secured to the base; and
a film extending across the upper face of the base and laterally beyond the side edges of the base to form lateral selvedges of a significantly lesser stiffness and thickness than the base.
2. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the base and fastener elements are formed of a single contiguous resin.
3. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the base comprises a strip of a first material supporting the fastener elements, and wherein the film is formed of a second material of different composition than the first material.
4. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the film is secured to the upper face of the base by an adhesive.
5. The touch fastener of claim 4 wherein the adhesive is a polyamide hot melt.
6. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the film is a polyamide film.
7. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the film has a softening point of between about 120 and 220 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the film has a nominal thickness of less than about 0.005 inch.
9. The touch fastener of claim 8 wherein the film has a nominal thickness of less than about 0.010 inch.
10. The touch fastener of claim 8 wherein the film has a flexural rigidity of about 1800 mg-cm.
11. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the film has a tensile stiffness of between about 1000 and about 3000 mg-cm.
12. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the nominal thickness of the base is between about 0.002 and 0.012 inch.
13. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the nominal thickness of the base is greater than a nominal thickness of the selvedges.
14. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the magnetically attractable material comprises a metal wire.
15. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the magnetically attractable material comprises a metal strip.
16. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the magnetically attractable material comprises a coating of magnetically attractable particles.
17. The tough fastener of claim 1 wherein the magnetically attractable material is encapsulated in a hot melt adhesive.
18. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein each selvedge extends beyond the base at least about 2 millimeters.
19. The touch fastener of claim 18 wherein each selvedge extends beyond the base at least about 4 millimeters.
20. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the film has a flexural rigidity of between about 1000 and 3000 mg-cm.
21. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the base comprises a molded resin.
22. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the fastener elements are male fastener elements.
23. The touch fastener of claim 22 wherein the male fastener elements have loop-engagable heads molded at distal ends of the stems.
24. The touch fastener of claim 23 wherein the male fastener elements are hook-shaped.
25. The touch fastener of claim 1 wherein the fastener elements are arranged in a density of at least about 100 per square inch across the array.
26. The touch fastener of claim 1 , the fastener elements having an overall height, as measured normal to the base, of less than about 0.050 inch.