High temperature resistant weft knit textile sleeve and method of construction thereof

Abstract

A high temperature resistant textile sleeve and method of construction thereof is provided. The textile sleeve has a flexible, tubular knit wall of thermoplastic yarns. The yarns are tightly knit with weft knit stitches extending along a circumferential direction about the tubular knit wall to provide a substantially smooth inner surface and a substantially smooth outer surface. The yarns are knit in a tricot stitch pattern, wherein the tricot knit stitches extend along a circumferentially direction of the sleeve wall.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of constructing a protective textile sleeve, comprising:
 providing thermoplastic filaments; and   weft knitting a tubular wall from the thermoplastic filaments with tricot stitches.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further including providing the thermoplastic filaments from the group consisting of polyesters and polyamides. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further including performing the weft knitting on a circular weft knitting machine. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further including knitting the tubular wall as a circumferentially continuous, seamless wall. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  further including weft knitting the tubular wall entirely with tricot stitches.