Classifications

• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D04—BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS
  • D04H—MAKING TEXTILE FABRICS, e.g. FROM FIBRES OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; FABRICS MADE BY SUCH PROCESSES OR APPARATUS, e.g. FELTS, NON-WOVEN FABRICS; COTTON-WOOL; WADDING ; NON-WOVEN FABRICS FROM STAPLE FIBRES, FILAMENTS OR YARNS, BONDED WITH AT LEAST ONE WEB-LIKE MATERIAL DURING THEIR CONSOLIDATION
  • D04H1/00—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres
  • D04H1/70—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres characterised by the method of forming fleeces or layers, e.g. reorientation of fibres
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D04—BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS
  • D04H—MAKING TEXTILE FABRICS, e.g. FROM FIBRES OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; FABRICS MADE BY SUCH PROCESSES OR APPARATUS, e.g. FELTS, NON-WOVEN FABRICS; COTTON-WOOL; WADDING ; NON-WOVEN FABRICS FROM STAPLE FIBRES, FILAMENTS OR YARNS, BONDED WITH AT LEAST ONE WEB-LIKE MATERIAL DURING THEIR CONSOLIDATION
  • D04H1/00—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres
  • D04H1/02—Cotton wool; Wadding
• • D—TEXTILES; PAPER
  • D04—BRAIDING; LACE-MAKING; KNITTING; TRIMMINGS; NON-WOVEN FABRICS
  • D04H—MAKING TEXTILE FABRICS, e.g. FROM FIBRES OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL; FABRICS MADE BY SUCH PROCESSES OR APPARATUS, e.g. FELTS, NON-WOVEN FABRICS; COTTON-WOOL; WADDING ; NON-WOVEN FABRICS FROM STAPLE FIBRES, FILAMENTS OR YARNS, BONDED WITH AT LEAST ONE WEB-LIKE MATERIAL DURING THEIR CONSOLIDATION
  • D04H1/00—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres
  • D04H1/40—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres from fleeces or layers composed of fibres without existing or potential cohesive properties
  • D04H1/42—Non-woven fabrics formed wholly or mainly of staple fibres or like relatively short fibres from fleeces or layers composed of fibres without existing or potential cohesive properties characterised by the use of certain kinds of fibres insofar as this use has no preponderant influence on the consolidation of the fleece
  • D04H1/4326—Condensation or reaction polymers
  • D04H1/435—Polyesters

Definitions

• This invention relates to improvements in making rounded clusters from staple fiber, and more particularly to a process and apparatus for making such clusters, and the resulting rounded (e.g. ball-like) clusters, especially from resilient crimped fiber of denier 4 to 15 (about 4 to 17 dtex) such as is useful for filling purposes.
• Polyester fiberfill has been a particularly desirable fiber for such purposes, because of its bulk, resilience, resistance to attack by mildew and other desirable features.
• fiberfill used to be processed in the form of batts, aftsr the fibers were parallelized on a card (or garnett), because this was an economically attractive and useful way of handling fiberfill.
• Marcus has disclosed a useful batch process and apparatus that takes advantage of the spirally-crimped nature of his feed material for making such fiberballs, which are being produced commercially and have proved useful and interesting ball-like fiber structures, because of their lofty nature, because they are easily transported by air-conveying during processing, and because of the interesting and advantageous properties of the products, which may be processed into several interesting variants. He generally refer to these structures herein as fiber clusters.
• An object of the present invention is to provide a process and apparatus that can be operated to provide such ball-like clusters of fibers continuously at high throughputs.
• Another object is to provide a process and apparatus that does not necessarily require a special feed fiber, but can be operated satisfactorily also with regular polyester staple fiber, or indeed other fibrous materials, to form fiber clusters of such densities and uniformity a ⁇ may be required.
• a further object is to provide a process and apparatus that may be used to form clusters from fibers of coarser denier, even above 10.
• a process for preparing rounded clusters of fibers comprising feeding a uniform layer of staple fiber onto the peripheral surface of a rotating main cylinder covered with card clothing, whereby the fiber is advanced around the peripheral surface by said clothing and is brought into contact with a plurality of frictional surfaces, whereby said fiber is formed into clusters that are rolled into rounded configurations on the peripheral surface, characterized in that there is provided at least one arcuate doffing screen, radially-spaced from said clothing, said doffing screen being provided with openings of sufficient size for the clusters to pass through said openings, and to be doffed by emerging through said openings.
• transverse means transverse to the machine direction, i.e. the direction of rotation of the main cylinder, so the "transverse" ribs of ⁇ uch doffing screen are parallel to the axis of the main cylinder.
• a cluster-forming machine that is an improvement in a staple fiber carding machine comprising a rotatable main cylinder having its peripheral surface covered with card clothing and adapted to rotate in close proximity with a plurality of cooperating frictional surfaces, means to feed staple fiber in a uniform layer onto said main cylinder, and doffing means, the improvement characterized in that said frictional surfaces cooperate with the card clothing on the peripheral surface of the main cylinder in ⁇ uch a way that fiber clusters are formed by the cooperation between the card clothing and said frictional surfaces, and the doffing means comprises a doffing screen provided with openings of sufficient size for the fiber clusters to emerge.
• cooperating frictional surfaces include stationary elements with frictional surfaces, such as plates and segments that may be smooth or covered with card clothing, and screens, and also movable elements, including worker and stripper rolls, such a ⁇ are used on roller-top cards, and belt-driven flat elements, ⁇ uch as are used on revolving flat cards.
• An important advantage according to the invention is that doffing and transportation of the emerging clusters may be assisted by suction and/or blowing.
• the rounded clusters may be blown directly into tickings and formed into pillows or other filled articles.
• the clusters may be packed and later proces ⁇ ed as desired.
• an improved proce ⁇ for preparing rounded clusters of fiber ⁇ comprising feeding a uniform layer of staple fiber onto the peripheral surface of a rotating main cylinder covered with card clothing, providing a plurality of essentially arcuate frictional surfaces that are spaced radially from said clothing, wherein the radial spacing and frictional characteristic ⁇ of said frictional surfaces and of said clothing and the rate of feed of said staple fiber are controlled so that said clothing becomes loaded with a compressible layer of fibers, whereby lofty rounded clusters of fibers are formed in the peripheral space between said clothing and said frictional surfaces, and doffing said clusters.
• the staple fiber that i ⁇ fed to the main cylinder may be in various forms, e.g. a cross-lapped batt, or may be bale stock that has previously been baled, but is fed to the main cylinder after having been opened.
• the staple fiber fed to the main cylinder may have been slickened.
• staple fiber of hollow cross-section is preferred.
• the staple fiber fed to the main cylinder may be a blend of polyester fiberfill or other high melting fiber blended with lower melting binder fiber.
• the denier of the feed fiber may be as high as 15 dpf (about 17 dtex), and will generally be at lea ⁇ t 4 dpf (about 4 dtex) for u ⁇ e a ⁇ filling material, especially for support purposes, but will be selected according to the desired end u ⁇ e.
• u ⁇ eful blend ⁇ for apparel in ⁇ ulation have been made from fiber of denier a ⁇ low a ⁇ 1-2 dpf (about 1-2 dtex).
• the ⁇ e.lofty clusters are randomly-arranged and entwined as ir Marcus' fiber clusters prepared from ⁇ pirally-crimted feed fiber; they are quite di ⁇ tinct from the hard neps or nubs that have been used in novelty yarns, and that are small knotted or tangled clumps of synthetic fibers or indeed of natural fibers, ⁇ uch a ⁇ cotton.
• a ⁇ indicated, preferred form ⁇ of our mechanically-crimped ⁇ ynthetic fiber may be slickened polyester staple fiber, and/or a blend with a lower melting binder fiber, that may, if desired, be a sheath/core bicomponent with a sheath of lower melting binder material, and a core of polyester or like high melting fiber-forming material.
• Figure 1 i ⁇ a schematic side-view in elevation of a preferred apparatus according to the pre ⁇ ent invention.
• Figure 2 i ⁇ a sketched representation of how a section cut through card clothing loaded with fiber that has been removed from a main cylinder, might show the topography of the surface, as will be described hereafter.
• Figure 3 is a sketched representation of how carding teeth grip the fibers.
• Figure 4 is a schematic view in perspective cf a portion of a preferred ribbed screen according to the pre ⁇ ent invention.
• Figure 5 is a sketched representation of an end-view of a portion of the main cylinder and doffing screen with the clu ⁇ ter ⁇ emerging.
• a preferred apparatu ⁇ according to the invention will be de ⁇ cribed with reference to the accompanying drawing ⁇ .
• Steinruck said his machine could be operated to form nubs of the size and hardness desired by perhaps as few as 2 machines in sequence. Even thi ⁇ need for a ⁇ equence of 2 machines is, however undesirable, and so we have provided a machine that can make our desired clusters on a single machine. Steinruck wanted hard neps or nubs. In contrast, we want to make re ⁇ ilient lofty ball-like ⁇ tructure ⁇ of controlled and uniform den ⁇ ity.
• nep (or nub) formation i ⁇ Another difference from prior art nep (or nub) formation i ⁇ that the ⁇ e have generally been made from fiber ⁇ of low dpf (denier or dtex per filament of le ⁇ than 3) ⁇ uch a ⁇ cotton and other low denier fiber ⁇ that knot easily and can form hard nep ⁇ that are useful in novelty yarns.
• ⁇ uch low dpf fiber i ⁇ generally not a ⁇ de ⁇ irable a ⁇ higher denier ⁇ of 4 (about 4 dtex) and in above (even up to 15 denier, about 17 dtex) that are generally preferred, becau ⁇ e of their resilience.
• This property however, increa ⁇ e ⁇ the difficulty of making clu ⁇ ter ⁇ that will not later unravel. It ⁇ hould be under ⁇ tood that our proce ⁇ and machine may al ⁇ o be
• FIG. 1 which does not show the card clothing
• con ⁇ ists essentially of a main cylinder 10, of diameter 50 inches (about 1.3 m), that is covered with card clothing, and that is ⁇ hown driven in a clockwise direction at a rate that largely determines throughput, being generally some hundreds of revolutions per minute (rpm), preceded by a roll 11 that i ⁇ referred to a ⁇ a licker-in (Klein refer ⁇ to thi ⁇ a ⁇ a "taker-in”), of diameter 9 inches (about 23 cm), that is also covered with clothing (but of much lower point density), and that is shown driven in a counter-clockwise direction, i.e., opposite to that of main cylinder 10, with an underlying ba ⁇ ket 11A, and it ⁇ elf preceded by a feed roll 12, that i ⁇ ⁇ hown driven al ⁇ o in a counter-clockwise direction (like licker-in 11), and that cooperates with a feed plate 13 in feeding opened fiber from a source of
• main cylinder 10 i ⁇ ⁇ urrounded by a series of stationary cooperating frictional surface elements, indicated generally by 14, and more specifically (serially from licker-in 11) as 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, all of which have arcuate frictional surfaces that are ⁇ paced-radially from the (teeth of the card clothing on) main cylinder 10 to allow proce ⁇ ing (into clu ⁇ ter ⁇ ) fiber fed from licker-in 11 within the peripheral ⁇ pace around main cylinder 10, and defined on the outside periphery of such space by the arcuate frictional ⁇ urface ⁇ of these stationary elements 14.
• the radial spacing may be adjusted, and this can be an important means for controlling the proces ⁇ and the product ⁇ produced.
• the card clothing on the main cylinder will have become loaded with fiber that has worked it ⁇ way down the teeth, ⁇ o the new fiber can only be collected at (or near ⁇ the outer extremities cf the teeth cf the card clothing.
• this fiber i ⁇ not loaded uniformly in den ⁇ ity or ⁇ patially (when the proce ⁇ or i ⁇ run with a correct feed rate of fiber and main cylinder ⁇ peed); in other word ⁇ , there are relatively high location ⁇ loaded with more fiber and contra ⁇ tingly lower locations loaded with les ⁇ fiber acro ⁇ the width of the main cylinder and in the direction of rotation.
• Thi ⁇ loading of fiber on the main cylinder i ⁇ an important difference from a carding operation (using thi ⁇ type of machine, before modification). During such carding, it is de ⁇ irable to doff all the fiber ⁇ o that only a very thin layer of fiber i ⁇ fed and ⁇ o that all i ⁇ doffed. In other word ⁇ , during such carding, it is important to avoid loading the cylinder.
• Such loading according to our invention i ⁇ represented in a sketch in Figure 2, showing how a typical section might look if cut through the card clothing and fiber on a loaded main cylinder (not shown in Figure 2) in a simplified and idealized view.
• the upper portion 21 shows fiber while the lower portion 22 indicates the location of the card clothing (some of which would be gripping fiber).
• Figure 3 is a sketched representation of how fibers 24 are gripped by carding teeth 25 of a type that we have used. As some of the fiber shown in the upper portion 21 of Figure 2 is released in clusters 23, and i ⁇ no longer gripped by the card clothing, such cluster ⁇ pa ⁇ through the ⁇ pace between the card clothing (loaded with fiber) and ⁇ tationary frictional ⁇ urface element ⁇ 14, and are believed to follow tortuou ⁇ path ⁇ , and ⁇ o to be rolled and become rounded clu ⁇ ter ⁇ .
• a ⁇ the clu ⁇ ters maximal ⁇ around main cylinder 10, they reach the ⁇ pace between the ⁇ urface of main cylinder 10 and a doffing ⁇ creen, which i ⁇ one of the stationary elements 14, specifically element 17, which is a ribbed screen.
• a doffing screen may advantageously be u ⁇ ed to doff clusters made on other type ⁇ of machines, different from the preferred type according to our invention.
• the next element 18 may al ⁇ o be a ⁇ creen that act ⁇ as a further doffing ⁇ creen, and perform ⁇ a similar function.
• the last element 19 may al ⁇ o be a screen, referred to as a back bottom ⁇ creen; this element i ⁇ preferably, however, a plate to provide a frictional ⁇ urface without doffing.
• Element 19 may be connected to licker-in basket 11A, as shown in Fig. 1, to avoid loss of fiber from the machine at this point.
• the ⁇ peed of the main cylinder ⁇ hould be matched to the fiber feed rate. If the ⁇ peed i ⁇ not high enough, then the main cylinder, a ⁇ well a ⁇ the licker-in, can overload, and overloading lead ⁇ to unacceptable cluster formation, and may even damage the machine. Once the main cylinder has reached a sufficient speed to sati ⁇ fy the fiber feed rate, ⁇ table loading and good clu ⁇ ter formation will occur. Increa ⁇ ing the ⁇ peed without increa ⁇ ing fiber feed will usually re ⁇ ult in smaller, den ⁇ er clu ⁇ ter ⁇ .
• the fiber feed rate should be tuned to the spacing ⁇ between the frictional ⁇ urface ⁇ and the main cylinder, and to the ⁇ peed of the main cylinder.
• the clearance ⁇ are too tight, then thi ⁇ can overload the main cylinder, or make very tight, den ⁇ e non-round clu ⁇ ter ⁇ .
• Higher feed rate ⁇ can be accommodated with appropriate clearance ⁇ and speed to give good clusters.
• the clearances (spacings) between the main cylinder and the frictional surface elements ⁇ hould not be too tight, or thi ⁇ will cause very dense loading of clothing and lead to cluster forms that may be unacceptable.
• the ⁇ pacing ⁇ need to be adju ⁇ ted to achieve a ⁇ table loading (topography) and can be u ⁇ ed to help change the average ball diameter.
• ⁇ pacing ⁇ may be adju ⁇ ted by conventional mean ⁇ , ⁇ uch a ⁇ ⁇ lot ⁇ in the rim ⁇ of the element ⁇ 14, with bolt ⁇ on the main cylinder and nut ⁇ to tighten and fix the element ⁇ at the de ⁇ ired spacing, a ⁇ shown in Fig. 4.
• the variou ⁇ element ⁇ 14 ⁇ urrounding the circumference of the main cylinder ay themselves be surrounded by removable ⁇ ection ⁇ of covering plate ⁇ to retain any loo ⁇ e fiber that would otherwi ⁇ e e ⁇ cape, but the ⁇ e are not ⁇ hown in the interests of clarity and simplicity.
• Feed roll 12 (2.25 inch diameter, i.e. almo ⁇ t
• Feed roll speed wa ⁇ controlled independently with a separate DC motor and drive. Fiber throughputs were determined by weighing product delivered by the proces ⁇ or over a pre ⁇ cribed time period. Feed roll 12 rotate ⁇ in a counter-clockwi ⁇ e
• the entire periphery wa ⁇ covered with ribbed ⁇ creens available from Elliott Metal Works, Greenville, SC).
• the fir ⁇ t ⁇ creen 15 (referred to sometimes as the upper back ⁇ creen) wa ⁇ po ⁇ itioned where a standard backplate would normally be positioned in a carding machine.
• Screen 15 had a rib spacing of a quarter of an inch (about 6mm) and contained 34 triangular shaped rib ⁇ , the base of the triangle being located closest to, but ⁇ paced from, main cylinder 10 and being nominally three eighth ⁇ of an inch (about 10mm) in width.
• the next (top) ⁇ creen 16 had 11 rectangular-ba ⁇ ed rib ⁇ , with one and a half inche ⁇ (about 4 cm) rib width and quarter inch (about 6mm) spacing. Both screens 15 and 16 were standard ⁇ creen ⁇ that we u ⁇ ed a ⁇ processing screens, because of the narrow spacing between their ribs.
• the next (upper front) screen 17 wa ⁇ a doffing ⁇ creen that wa ⁇ cu ⁇ tom-made with 23 triangular rib ⁇ , of width three eighth ⁇ inch (about 10mm), ⁇ paced half an inch (about 13 mm) apart.
• the other (bottom front and bottom back) screens 18 and 19 were processing screen ⁇ , ⁇ i ilar to upper back ⁇ creen 15.
• ⁇ ome card ⁇ with movable frictional element ⁇ may al ⁇ o be modified for u ⁇ e acccrding to our invention, for in ⁇ tance with rollers or belt-driven flat element ⁇ .
• ribbed doffing screen ⁇ (with adequately wide rib-to-rib ⁇ pacing) according to our invention.
• the ⁇ e have been located at the upper and lower front ⁇ creen location ⁇ on main cylinder 10, corre ⁇ ponding to where a card i ⁇ generally doffed.
• Example 1 the ⁇ peed of main cylinder 10 wa ⁇ ⁇ et and controlled at 250 rpm, and the ⁇ peed of 0 licker-in 11 wa ⁇ adju ⁇ ted to provide a normalized fiber feed rate of about 80-90 pph/meter (of the order of 40
• the ⁇ e clu ⁇ ter ⁇ of our invention were te ⁇ ted, and compared with refluffable commercial clu ⁇ ter ⁇ (ART) made from similar fiber u ⁇ ing the prior art air-tumbling proce ⁇ de ⁇ cribed in U.S. Patent No. s 4,518,531, measuring their cohesion (in Newtons) and their bulk (mea ⁇ ured a ⁇ height ⁇ , in cm, of the loose cluster ⁇ , rather than for pillows) under load ⁇ of 0.01 psi and of 0.2 p ⁇ i, (corre ⁇ ponding to about 7 and about
• EXAMPLE 2 Four different feed fiber ⁇ were fed in opened condition to the proce ⁇ or a ⁇ de ⁇ cribed in Example 1 above, under essentially the ⁇ ame condition ⁇ , to de on ⁇ trate that ball-like clu ⁇ ter ⁇ can be made from variou ⁇ type ⁇ of mechanically-crimped fiber. All four different feed fiber ⁇ were ⁇ pun from poly(ethylene terephthalate) polymer supply on a ⁇ ingle po ⁇ ition of a multi-po ⁇ ition commercial ⁇ pinning machine.
• Example 10 10 A ⁇ in Example 1, the cohesion and bulk of the clusters were measured and compared with commercial cluster ⁇ (ART).
• the ⁇ e mea ⁇ ure ent ⁇ (given in Table 2B) indicate that their cohe ⁇ ion and bulk under load varied ⁇ ignificantly, depending on the fiber u ⁇ ed, and it ⁇
• the feed fiber for this Example was spun from poly(ethylene terephthalate), of 5.5 dpf (about 6 dtex), mechanically crimped (about 7 cpi, about 3/cm) , - £ similarly poly ⁇ iloxane- ⁇ lickened (about 0.3 % Si OWF) r -
• Example 2 the configuration of the frictional surfaces 14 was somewhat different from that used in Example 1 (and a ⁇ ⁇ hown in Figure 1) but the apparatu ⁇ wa ⁇ otherwi ⁇ e a ⁇ de ⁇ cribed hereinbefore.
• the frictional ⁇ urface ⁇ 14 were, in order ⁇ tarting from licker-in 11 a ⁇ follow ⁇ , with ⁇ pacing ⁇ mea ⁇ ured from the card clothing on the main cylinder, it being under ⁇ tood that the plate ⁇ were all ⁇ mooth or with their card clothing rever ⁇ ed from the normal carding direction, so as not to be opposed to the aggre ⁇ ive clothing on main cylinder 10.
• the ⁇ e clu ⁇ ter ⁇ were well rounded, were ea ⁇ ily tran ⁇ ported by air, and remained di ⁇ crete even after repeatedly being compre ⁇ ed by hand, although they had ⁇ ignificantly more free end ⁇ than the clusters from Example 1.
• the product was bls n into commercial pillow tick ⁇ of regular ⁇ ize, u ⁇ ing 22 oz (625 g) filling weight ⁇ equivalent to commercial pillows (filled with clu ⁇ ter ⁇ ), ⁇ o that they could be rated vi ⁇ ually, both when newly-filled and after three ⁇ tandardized ⁇ tomp and laundry cycle ⁇ , and were found only ⁇ lightly le ⁇ lofty and refluffable than ⁇ uch commercial clu ⁇ ter filling.
• our proce ⁇ and machine may be operated to make rounded clu ⁇ ter ⁇ or other ⁇ hape ⁇ , e.g. ellip ⁇ oid ⁇ , if thi ⁇ i ⁇ de ⁇ ired, by u ⁇ ing a higher point den ⁇ ity for the card clothing, and adju ⁇ ting the clearance ⁇ .
• rounded clu ⁇ ter ⁇ or other ⁇ hape ⁇ e.g. ellip ⁇ oid ⁇
• Al ⁇ o hard, more compact fiber clu ⁇ ter ⁇ may be produced by our proce ⁇ and machine if ⁇ uch are de ⁇ ired, a ⁇ our invention provide ⁇ for flexibility of operation.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
• Preliminary Treatment Of Fibers (AREA)
• Yarns And Mechanical Finishing Of Yarns Or Ropes (AREA)
• Nonwoven Fabrics (AREA)
• Pens And Brushes (AREA)

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• 1991
  • 1991-04-09 DE DE69105966T patent/DE69105966T3/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1991-04-09 AU AU76802/91A patent/AU7680291A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1991-04-09 WO PCT/US1991/002268 patent/WO1991016484A1/en active IP Right Grant
  • 1991-04-09 JP JP91507441A patent/JPH05505958A/ja active Pending
  • 1991-04-09 EP EP91907407A patent/EP0524221B2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1991-04-09 CA CA002079225A patent/CA2079225A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1991-04-09 ES ES91907407T patent/ES2067226T5/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1991-04-11 IE IE121391A patent/IE911213A1/en unknown
  • 1991-04-11 PT PT97344A patent/PT97344A/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1991-04-12 CN CN91103601A patent/CN1027386C/zh not_active Expired - Lifetime

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