EP0625597B1 - Production of multi-coloured cotton wool products - Google Patents
Production of multi-coloured cotton wool products Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP0625597B1 EP0625597B1 EP19940303557 EP94303557A EP0625597B1 EP 0625597 B1 EP0625597 B1 EP 0625597B1 EP 19940303557 EP19940303557 EP 19940303557 EP 94303557 A EP94303557 A EP 94303557A EP 0625597 B1 EP0625597 B1 EP 0625597B1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- cotton wool
- carding
- carding machine
- peripheral speed
- web
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Lifetime
Links
Images
Classifications
-
- D—TEXTILES; PAPER
- D01—NATURAL OR MAN-MADE THREADS OR FIBRES; SPINNING
- D01G—PRELIMINARY TREATMENT OF FIBRES, e.g. FOR SPINNING
- D01G99/00—Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
-
- D—TEXTILES; PAPER
- D01—NATURAL OR MAN-MADE THREADS OR FIBRES; SPINNING
- D01G—PRELIMINARY TREATMENT OF FIBRES, e.g. FOR SPINNING
- D01G15/00—Carding machines or accessories; Card clothing; Burr-crushing or removing arrangements associated with carding or other preliminary-treatment machines
- D01G15/02—Carding machines
- D01G15/12—Details
- D01G15/40—Feeding apparatus
- D01G15/42—Feeding from laps
Definitions
- This invention relates to the production of multi-coloured cotton wool products, for example cotton wool balls, cosmetic pads, and cotton wool pleats.
- a method according to the pre-characterising part of the main claim is known from DE-A-1937826.
- the document discloses a method in which the same principle of using narrow laps arranged side-by-side has been used on one or more cards to produce cotton wool rolls or pleats comprising more than one colour.
- cosmetic pads squares or discs
- the objective is to produce different coloured cotton wool discs in polythene bags
- the bags are one third filled with the first colour, then put to one side until all the carded rolls of the first colour are used up.
- the punch line is then fed with carded laps of a second colour and the bags filled with one third of that colour and the cartons of bags put to one side.
- the laps of the third colour are introduced and the bags filled with the final colour and passed for final packing into the shelf and/or transit cartons.
- a primary effect of the current invention is to produce cotton wool products in which there is a gradual change of colours.
- cotton wool pads this will result in a pack in which there is a gradual change in colour from the first pad in a packet to the final one.
- sequence of colours and number of pads can be changed electronically, so that a very wide variation of colours and numbers can be produced.
- the current invention can also produce graduated colour changes in the carded web fed to cotton wool ball or pleats and roll lines.
- the single packet of pleats or rolls would have graduated colour bands across the width of the wadding, which could be produced from a single card followed by a continuous lapper or layering machine.
- the longitudinal coloured bands in cotton wool rolls and pleats are produced from a range of several cards.
- a single line would be able to produce a mixed bag of cotton wool balls some of which would have a blend of two colours.
- a first aspect of the invention provides a method of producing articles of cotton wool comprising feeding cotton wool laps of different colours to a carding machine; carding the laps to produce a web of carded fibres; and forming the articles from the web, characterised in that successive discreet lengths of the cotton wool lap are fed end on to a licker-in of the carding machine and in that the carded fibres of the web thereby produced are arranged so that the transition from one colour to the next is blurred.
- the carding drum of the machine rotates it blends the fibres of differing colour together.
- the effect of this is to blur the transition from one colour to another.
- the desired blurring can be relatively quick or relatively slow, and by coordinating this characteristic with a suitable choice of lengths of lap supplied to the carding machine the desired transition from one colour to another can readily be accomplished.
- a second aspect of the invention provides apparatus for producing articles of cotton wool from cotton wool laps using a method according to the first aspect of the invention, characterised in that separate unwinding stations are arranged in an end-to-end relationship on a common conveyor extending from said unwinding stations to a carding machine.
- a carding machine 1 of substantially conventional design is fed with a continuous lap from a conveyor 2.
- the lap presented to the carding machine is assembled from a multiplicity of discrete lengths of lap of different colours fed onto the conveyor end-to-end from separate unwinding stations 3,4,5.
- Each unwinding station comprises conventional unwinding apparatus furnished with a pair of breaker rollers 6.
- Operation of the various components is controlled such that portions of lap from the various unwinding stations 3,4,5 are deposited on the conveyor in an end-to-end sequence.
- the entire sequence is under program control to provide a desired and repeatable sequence of broken lap portions on the conveyor.
- the resultant continuous lap when applied to the carding machine 1 will be carded in a manner which blurs the transition from one colour to another.
- the carding machine may have stationary flat or a roller and clearer as indicated by reference numeral 1a.
- the surface of the licker-in 1b rotates clockwise at, for example, about 250m/min it draws fibres from the lap of an area weight of around 644 gsm, which is fed in at a rate around 0.55m min.
- the fibres are then transferred to the wire on the cylinder running at a much greater surface speed, e.g. around 500m/min.
- the fibres are carded between the wire on the flats and that on the cylinder.
- roller and clearer cards which give better blending, the fibre is transferred from the cylinder then to the roller, then to the clearer and back onto the card.
- the fibre is finally removed from the cylinder onto the doffer (not shown) and from the doffer by roller or reciprocating comb.
- the final web speed is typically about 25m/min and at an area weight of 13-15 gsm.
- cross, continuous or drum lappers can be used to give further variation in the mixing or blending of coloured fibres. In this way different blending patterns and mixing effects can be obtained.
- the carded fibres removed from the carding machine can then be applied to conventional forming machinery, for example a cotton wool ball forming machine, or lapping or layering machines for producing pleats or other cotton wool products.
- conventional forming machinery for example a cotton wool ball forming machine, or lapping or layering machines for producing pleats or other cotton wool products.
- the above described embodiment of the invention not only eliminates the problem of sudden changes of colour as outlined above, but enables improved production since the carding machine and post-carding formation apparatus may be run continuously thereby reducing the labour normally associated with the intermittent changing of colour to produce the desired mixed colours in the final product.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Textile Engineering (AREA)
- Preliminary Treatment Of Fibers (AREA)
Description
This invention relates to the production of
multi-coloured cotton wool products, for example cotton
wool balls, cosmetic pads, and cotton wool pleats.
In order to enhance the aesthetic appeal of
cotton wool/wadding products it has been common for many
years, especially with cotton wool balls, to mix carded
cotton balls of different colours prior to final packing in
polyethylene bags. This has been done by producing cotton
wool balls from separate but adjacent card lines each fed
with two laps of a different colour. Typically a single
card is fed with two half width laps (each about 500mm
wide) from a modified scutcher. All the laps of each
colour were, of course, run off together from the scutcher
at the same time. Each of the two slivers from the card
were fed through a ball making line so that the cotton
balls fell onto a passing conveyor. In this way the
finished bag of cotton wool balls contained a mixture of
colours in proportion to the number of different colours on
the ball lines.
A method according to the pre-characterising part
of the main claim is known from DE-A-1937826. The document
discloses a method in which the same principle of using
narrow laps arranged side-by-side has been used on one or
more cards to produce cotton wool rolls or pleats
comprising more than one colour. Currently for cosmetic
pads
(squares or discs), where the objective is to produce
different coloured cotton wool discs in polythene bags, it
is the practice to pack the bags subsequent to the punch
line in three separate operations. The bags are one third
filled with the first colour, then put to one side until
all the carded rolls of the first colour are used up. The
punch line is then fed with carded laps of a second colour
and the bags filled with one third of that colour and the
cartons of bags put to one side. When the carded laps of
the second colour are used up, the laps of the third colour
are introduced and the bags filled with the final colour
and passed for final packing into the shelf and/or transit
cartons.
This process is obviously labour intensive
because the bags have to be handled by the packing
operatives three times. The process is therefore more
expensive than when single colours are produced.
One objective of using different coloured cotton
wool has been to produce a "rainbow" effect of different
colours. However, with cosmetic pads especially, it has
only been possible to produce a sudden rather than a
gradual change of colour.
A primary effect of the current invention is
to produce cotton wool products in which there is a gradual
change of colours. In the case of cotton wool pads this
will result in a pack in which there is a gradual change in
colour from the first pad in a packet to the final one. In
the preferred embodiment the sequence of colours and number
of pads can be changed electronically, so that a very wide
variation of colours and numbers can be produced.
The current invention can also produce graduated
colour changes in the carded web fed to cotton wool ball or
pleats and roll lines. Thus, the single packet of pleats
or rolls would have graduated colour bands across the width
of the wadding, which could be produced from a single card
followed by a continuous lapper or layering machine. At
present the longitudinal coloured bands in cotton wool
rolls and pleats are produced from a range of several
cards. In the case of cotton wool balls a single line
would be able to produce a mixed bag of cotton wool balls
some of which would have a blend of two colours.
A first aspect of the invention provides a method
of producing articles of cotton wool comprising feeding
cotton wool laps of different colours to a carding machine;
carding the laps to produce a web of carded fibres; and
forming the articles from the web, characterised in that
successive discreet lengths of the cotton wool lap are fed
end on to a licker-in of the carding machine and in that
the carded fibres of the web thereby produced are arranged
so that the transition from one colour to the next is
blurred.
As the carding drum of the machine rotates it
blends the fibres of differing colour together. The effect
of this is to blur the transition from one colour to
another. By suitable choice of the parameters of the
carding machine the desired blurring can be relatively
quick or relatively slow, and by coordinating this
characteristic with a suitable choice of lengths of lap
supplied to the carding machine the desired transition from
one colour to another can readily be accomplished.
A second aspect of the invention provides
apparatus for producing articles of cotton wool from cotton
wool laps using a method according to the first aspect of
the invention, characterised in that separate unwinding
stations are arranged in an end-to-end relationship on a
common conveyor extending from said unwinding stations to a
carding machine.
The invention will be better understood from the
following description of apparatus for the performance
thereof, the single figure illustrating schematically an
embodiment of the invention.
Referring to the drawing a carding machine 1 of
substantially conventional design is fed with a continuous
lap from a conveyor 2. The lap presented to the carding
machine is assembled from a multiplicity of discrete
lengths of lap of different colours fed onto the conveyor
end-to-end from separate unwinding stations 3,4,5. Each
unwinding station comprises conventional unwinding
apparatus furnished with a pair of breaker rollers 6.
Operation of the various components is controlled such that
portions of lap from the various unwinding stations 3,4,5
are deposited on the conveyor in an end-to-end sequence.
Preferably, the entire sequence is under program control to
provide a desired and repeatable sequence of broken lap
portions on the conveyor. The resultant continuous lap
when applied to the carding machine 1 will be carded in a
manner which blurs the transition from one colour to
another.
The carding machine may have stationary flat or a
roller and clearer as indicated by reference numeral 1a.
As the surface of the licker-in 1b rotates clockwise at,
for example, about 250m/min it draws fibres from the lap of
an area weight of around 644 gsm, which is fed in at a rate
around 0.55m min. The fibres are then transferred to the
wire on the cylinder running at a much greater surface
speed, e.g. around 500m/min. Where the card has stationary
flats, the fibres are carded between the wire on the flats
and that on the cylinder. In roller and clearer cards
which give better blending, the fibre is transferred from
the cylinder then to the roller, then to the clearer and
back onto the card. Since not all the fibre is processed
in one revolution of the cylinder and not all fibres go
round each roller and clearer, a substantial blending of
fibres of different colours takes place on the cylinder.
The fibre is finally removed from the cylinder onto the
doffer (not shown) and from the doffer by roller or
reciprocating comb. The final web speed is typically about
25m/min and at an area weight of 13-15 gsm.
In addition to the blending of different colours
that takes place on the cylinder, cross, continuous or drum
lappers can be used to give further variation in the mixing
or blending of coloured fibres. In this way different
blending patterns and mixing effects can be obtained.
The carded fibres removed from the carding
machine can then be applied to conventional forming
machinery, for example a cotton wool ball forming machine,
or lapping or layering machines for producing pleats or
other cotton wool products.
It will be appreciated that the number of
unwinding stations provided can be varied in accordance
with the range of colour combinations required in the
finished product.
The above described embodiment of the invention
not only eliminates the problem of sudden changes of colour
as outlined above, but enables improved production since
the carding machine and post-carding formation apparatus
may be run continuously thereby reducing the labour
normally associated with the intermittent changing of
colour to produce the desired mixed colours in the final
product.
Claims (8)
- A method of producing articles of cotton wool comprising feeding cotton wool laps of different colours to a carding machine (1); carding the laps to produce a web of carded fibres; and forming the articles from the web, characterised in that successive discreet lengths of the cotton wool lap are fed end on to a licker-in (1b) of the carding machine (1) and in that the carded fibres of the web thereby produced are arranged so that the transition from one colour to the next is blurred.
- The method of claim 1 wherein the assembly of the discreet lengths of lap is under program control.
- The method according to claim 2 wherein the program control produces a repeatable sequence of lap portions for feeding to the carding machine (1).
- A method according to any preceding claim wherein the web produced by the carding machine (1) is treated by a lapping or layering machine prior to formation of the articles in order to produce further variations in the mixing or blending of the coloured fibres.
- Apparatus for producing articles of cotton wool from cotton wool laps using a method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that separate unwinding stations (3,4,5) are arranged in an end-to-end relationship on a common conveyor (2) extending from said unwinding stations (3,4,5) to a carding machine(1).
- Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the carding machine (1) comprises a carding cylinder and a licker-in (1b) and wherein the peripheral speed of the carding cylinder is substantially higher than the peripheral speed of the licker-in (1b).
- Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the peripheral speed of the carding cylinder is approximately twice the peripheral speed of the licker-in (1b).
- Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the peripheral speed of the carding cylinder is approximately 500m/min.
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB9310495 | 1993-05-21 | ||
| GB9310495A GB2278131B (en) | 1993-05-21 | 1993-05-21 | Production of multi-coloured cotton wool products |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| EP0625597A1 EP0625597A1 (en) | 1994-11-23 |
| EP0625597B1 true EP0625597B1 (en) | 1998-02-04 |
Family
ID=10735886
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP19940303557 Expired - Lifetime EP0625597B1 (en) | 1993-05-21 | 1994-05-18 | Production of multi-coloured cotton wool products |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| EP (1) | EP0625597B1 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE69408361T2 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2278131B (en) |
Families Citing this family (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITFI20110170A1 (en) * | 2011-08-05 | 2013-02-06 | Trafi S R L | DEVICE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SAILS FOR FABRIC-NOT-FABRIC, PROCESS FOR THEIR PRODUCTION AND SAILS AND FABRIC-NOT-WOVEN SO OBTAINED. |
| CN112553716B (en) * | 2020-09-30 | 2022-03-08 | 张家港市卓群针织服饰有限公司 | Equipment and method for removing hair bulb for knitting wool |
Family Cites Families (9)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GB242422A (en) * | 1924-10-24 | 1925-11-12 | Carpet Trades Ltd | Improvements relating to the manufacture of felt or similar fabrics |
| US2851849A (en) * | 1955-03-30 | 1958-09-16 | Union Wadding Company | Decorative roping and method of making |
| US2992458A (en) * | 1956-04-04 | 1961-07-18 | Johnson & Johnson | Absorbent cotton balls and method and apparatus for making the same |
| US3443286A (en) * | 1966-09-07 | 1969-05-13 | Wellman Ind | Textile card and lap feeding means |
| FR1585136A (en) * | 1968-07-30 | 1970-01-09 | ||
| FR2153523A5 (en) * | 1971-09-14 | 1973-05-04 | Lautier Gabriel | |
| IT992268B (en) * | 1972-07-13 | 1975-09-10 | Wool Res Organisation | METHOD AND EQUIPMENT FOR PROCESSING WOOL FIBERS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FABRICS WITH A VARIEGATE APPEARANCE |
| DE3168620D1 (en) * | 1981-07-09 | 1985-03-14 | Weygand Gmbh & Co Kg Geb | Method of manufacturing yarns having, in longitudinal sections, varying appearances in colour and/or structure or the like, and device for carrying out the method |
| JPH0398425A (en) * | 1989-09-08 | 1991-04-24 | Isao Takahashi | Switching circuit for power supply |
-
1993
- 1993-05-21 GB GB9310495A patent/GB2278131B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
-
1994
- 1994-05-18 DE DE1994608361 patent/DE69408361T2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1994-05-18 EP EP19940303557 patent/EP0625597B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| GB2278131A (en) | 1994-11-23 |
| DE69408361D1 (en) | 1998-03-12 |
| DE69408361T2 (en) | 1998-08-27 |
| EP0625597A1 (en) | 1994-11-23 |
| GB2278131B (en) | 1997-01-08 |
| GB9310495D0 (en) | 1993-07-07 |
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