US Patent 7188642 Low-friction pull tape

A pull tape for facilitating positioning of elongated items within a protective sleeve is disclosed. The pull tape is woven of filamentary members preferably using a twill or satin weave that allows floats to form on the surface of the tape that reduce friction between the tape and the sleeve when the tape is drawn through the sleeve. Preferably, the tape is formed of multifilament warp and weft yarns woven in a plain weave with additional monofilament yarns arranged in the warp direction and woven in a twill or satin weave to form the floats in the warp direction. Additional embodiments include tapes having warp members entirely of monofilaments, as well as both warp and weft members being entirely of monofilaments.