GB1573094A - Continuous processing of thick textiles - Google Patents

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN OR RELATING TO CONTINUOUS PROCESSING OF THICK TEXTILES (71) We, SANDO IRON WORKS CO.

LTD., a Japanese Company, of No. 4-4--5, Usu, Wakayama-shi, Wakayama-ken, Japan, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for performing a continuous heat treatment operation such as dyeing on a relatively thick textile material such as a carpet material.

For dyeing a relatively thick textile material such as a carpet, it is known to use a wince dyeing machine. A textile material to be dyed in this machine is cut to a certain length and is arranged into an endless loop by temporarily sewing together both ends of the length; following this, the material is further processed to form it into a rope-like shape to narrow its width. The formed material is subjected to a hygro-thermic treatment while being repeatedly immersed in a dye liquid. In a wince dyeing machine, in order to dye a carpet material which measures four to five meters in breadth, the material must be arranged into a ropelike shape, but this tends to cause uneven dyeing. So as to eliminate such unevenness, the material to be dyed must repeatedly be immersed in the dye liquid.Thus, the completion of the dyeing process takes a long time and the dyeing efficiency is quite unsatisfactory.

Furthermore, it has been extremely difficult homogeneously to dye a carpet material, because the degree of dyeing per unit length varies when performing the above method.

For most dyes, it is essential when dyeing a cloth material to immerse the cloth material in hot water, to perform the dyeing under conditions of humid heat. Hence, it has been the usual practice to carry out the dyeing by heating in boiling water a cloth material to which a dye has been applied. However, such a method is not suitable for the mass production of dyed cloth materials, because of the long time period required for completion of a dyeing process, if carried out at less than 100 C. To solve this problem, the inventors of the present application have conducted researches over a long period for a high speed dyeing method.

As a result of the research work, they have developed a continuous high pressure steamer which is capable of dyeing cloth materials in a matter of seconds and this appatatus is now in use. Such a high pressure steamer has been disclosed, for example, in British Patent No.

1313800.

Following a method od dyeing in such a high pressure steamer, the humid atmosphere inside the high pressure steamer now can be raised up to about 170"C, and the completion of dyeing occurs in the order of seconds.

However, the high pressure steamer is physically large and requires a high capital cost.

Mreover, the installation cost is very high in addition to the amount of space required for the installation. Further, before the start of a dyeing operation, the temperature and pressure inside the steamer must be raised to the required values. The start-up thus requires a long period, and this is another problem with the known high pressure steamer.

The present invention is directed to the elimination of the above-mentioned short comings, so far as the treatment, and especially dyeing, of relatively thick materials is concern ed.

According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a method for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material, in which method the textile material is conveyed in a spread-flat attitude along a substantially horizontal path, treatment liquid is applied to the textile material while the material is being conveyed along said path, the material is conveyed along an upwardly inclined path to effect homogeneous distribution of the treatment liquid and is then conveyed into a hygrothermic treatment chamber in which the material passes over a series of guide rolls whilst sagging in loops between the rolls and with the face of the material not carrying treatment liquid in contact with the rolls, the material there being subjected to a humid atmosphere of from 100 to 110"C, and the guide rolls being controlled automatically to maintain the sagging to a preset amount.

The treatment liquid used will normally be a liquid dye, and the precessing can be oper ated yet further by spraying steam directly on to the textile material when in the treatment chamber.

In the method of this invention, a broad and relatively thick textile material can be impregnated with a liquid dye while the material is left in a spread-out flat state. The material impregnated with the liquid dye is subjected to a hygro-thermic treatment without any substan tial tension being applied thereto provided the guide rolls are properly controlled, and this can ensure even dyeing; and yet the dyeing process can be carried out continuously at a high speed without significantly deforming the material nor impairing the feel and bulkiness thereof.

According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided apparatus for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material, which apparatus comprises a hygro-thermic treatment chamber, an endless belt for conveying the textile material into the chamber and including an upwardly inclined run, treatment liquid applying means arranged to apply liquid to the material before the material is conveyed up the inclined run, a plurality of guide rolls arranged inside the hygro-thermic treatment chamber and over which the material passes, only the face of the textile material not carrying treatment liquid contacting the guide rolls and the material sagging in a series of loops between adjacent guide rolls, means to control automatically the sagging of the textile material to a preset degree, and means to maintain a humid atmosphere at an elevated temperature within the treatment chamber.

Preferably, each guide roll is individually driven, and detector means are provided for loop sagging between adjacent drive rolls, the detector means controlling the drive of the guide rolls. To ensure good driving engagement between each driven guide roll and the textile material, each guide roll advantageously has a plurality of needles upstanding from the circumferential face thereof.

elevated temperature, steam supply pipes are preferably arranged within the treatment chamber. This has the advantage of requiring only a short time for preparation before start of a processing operation. To increase the speed of processing, a plurality of steam jet nozzles may be arranged to spray steam on the textile material as the material passes through the hygro-thermic treatment chamber.

By way of example only, two specific embodiments of this invention will now be described, reference being made to the accom panying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic cross-section through a first embodiment of a thick textile material dyeing apparatus constructed in accordance with this invention; and Figure 2 is a similar view of a second embodiment of such apparatus.

Referring to Figure 1, there is shown the first embodiment of this invention. An endless belt 1 passes around a driving roll 2, guide rolls 3 and is constrained to pass through a washing tank 4 containing water by further guide rolls 5. The belt is preferably made of rubber or a resin which does not have liquid absorbing properties, but a belt of a felt like material could be used. The belt is driven by roll 2 in the direction of the arrows, and following a generally horizontal run 1 there is a sloped run 1" which is inclined upwardly at about 45 . The tank 4 is in the return run to the roll 2, and air-jet pipes 6 are disposed therin to ensure cleaning of the belt by the water.Wringer rolls 7 and 7' are arranged to squeeze the belt 1 after it has been washed in the water washing tank 4, and a sponge roll 8 is arranged to wipe the belt 1.

Over the horizontal run 1' is a spray nozzle 9 which is arranged to spray a penetrant, such as sodium alkylate or fatty acid sulphuric ester, serving to improve the penetration of a dye liquid into a textile material 10 carried on the horizontal run 1'. A dye liquid applying tank Ills disposed adjacent to the spray nozzle 9.

The belt carries the material 10 into a hygro.

thermic treatment chamber 12, in the upper part of which there are arranged, with an even spacing in the transverse direction, a plurality of rolls 131, 132, 133 .... and 138 for convey ing the textile material. Each of these rolls is arranged to have many needles densely affixed to its circumferential face, to ensure an in reased frictional resistance between the cir cumferential face and the material. Each roll is also connected to an associated motor (not shown) which is driven independently of the other motors, so that each roll 13 can be rotated independently of the others. In the lower part of the hygro-thermic treatment chamber 12, there are arranged many sag sensor bars 141, 142,143, and 148 which are associated respectively with the rolls 131 to 138 There are also arranged contact switches 15X, 152, 153, and 158 corresponding to these sag sensor bars 14.

A water seal tank 16 is disposed at the textile and material outlet from the hygrothermic treatment chamber 12, and a seal device 17 is disposed at the textile material inlet to the chamber 12. A similar seal device is arranged on the return run of the belt. The water seal tank 16 and the seal device 17 are provided to allow the maintenance of a pressure within the chamber 12 slightly bigger atmospheric. A steam jet pipe 18 is disposed in the lower part of the chamber 12.

The above apparatus operates as follows. A carpet material 10 of relatively broad breadth is fed on to the run 1' of the belt 1 in a spreadflat state and is conveyed toward the hygrothermic treatment chamber 12 as the belt 1 is driven by roll 2. At the beginning of the conveying operation, a penetrant such as sodium alkylate or a fatty acid sulphuric ester is sprayed on to the material 10 by the spray nozzle 9.

Following this, a dye liquid is allowed to flow out of the dye liquid applying tank 11 to be applied across the whole width of the textile material 10. The penetrant spraying operation by the spray nozzle 9 is not necessary in cases where such a penetrant has been already mixed in the dye liquid. The textile material 10, having been coated with dye, is then carried up the inclined runl", and this has the effect of making more uniform the application of the dye on the material. The material 10 passes over the rolls 131 to 138, hanging in a series of loops between each adjacent pair of rolls, the dye-carrying surface being uppermost so as not to contact the rolls. The rolls 131 to 138 are driven to feed the material through the chamber 12, maintaining the loops at the preset size and without applying substantial tension to the cloth material.During this, the dye is fixed to the material 10 under the conditions of humid heat inside the hygrothermic treatment chamber 12.

The sagging of the textile material 10 into the loops within the chamber 12 is always maintained at substantially the preset degree.

If the loop becomes excessively large, the material will contact the adjacent sensor bar 14n to rotate that bar clockwise, thereby turning on the switch 1 sun. This causes the roll 13, to rotate more quickly so that the sagging will be lessened. When the loop gets smaller again, the sensor bar rotates counterclockwise to turn off the associated switch, and the roll is then driven again at its normal speed of rotation.

When the dyeing of the material 10 has been completed in the hygro-thermic treatment chamber 12, the material is guided outside the chamber 12 through the water seal tank 16, for transfer to the next treatment process.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the method and apparatus include the following features. A relatively thick textile material of wide breadth is conveyed in a spread-flat state into the treatment chamber.

During the conveying operation, liquid dye is applied to the material, to cover its entire surface and the material to which the liquid dye has been applied is conveyed along an upward slope to give homogeneous penetration of the liquid dye. When in the treatment chamber, the material is carried therethrough without bringing guide rolls and so on into contact with the surface of the material to which the dye has been applied.

The liquid dye is gradually applied to the textile material as the material is in motion.

The application rate should be such that the applied dye can be absorbed by the material, but uniform distribution is assisted by conveying the material up the inclined run 1" of the belt. These features together with the lack of contact during treatment with the face of the material to which liquid dye was applied allows a continuous dyeing treatment to be performed, giving good homogeneous results.

Under the conditions prevailing in the chamber 12, a dye fixing process can be completed in about 5 minutes. In a typical installation, the chamber holds 50 metres of relatively thick textile material, so that material should be conveyed at a speed of 10 m/min.

The installation thus allows the fixing of dye on a thick textile material such as carpet at an extremely high speed, compared to prior processes.

To increase further the dyeing speed, means may be provided for spraying steam upon the moving textile material inside the hygrothermic treatment chamber, and thus to raise the temperature inside the chamber up to about 105 C. Such means are shown in the embodiment of this invention illustrated in Figure 2: like parts with those of Figure 1 are given like reference characters and will not be described again here.

Referring to Figure 2, it can be seen that steam jet nozzles 19 are provided inside the hygro-thermic treatment chamber 12, which nozzles are connected to the steam pipe 18.

The steam jet nozzles 19 are disposed along the path of the material 10 within the hygrothermic treatment chamber 12 to spray high pressure steam on the material 10 whilst it is on the move as it hangs in loops from rolls 13. As the material advances in a state of substantially no tension through the chamber 12 (as in the embodiment of Figure 1) high pressure steam is directly sprayed on the material by the steam jet nozzles 19, and the dye carried by the textile material 10 is fixed thereto through the reaction which takes place at high speed due to the steam. The water seal tank 16 and seal device 17 allow the tempe rature inside the chamber 12 to be raised to as high as 100 C or even 110"C, by virtue of the amount of steam discharged by the jet nozzles 19.This accelerates the dyeing process and the period of time required for completion of the dye fixing treatment of the material can be reduced to about one half of the time required in the first embodiment described above.

Both embodiments described above have a relatively simple structural arrangement, including simple seal mechanisms such as a nip seal device and a water tank seal. Thus the apparatus is of only low cost. Moreover, though the described processes have only concerned the dyeing of thick textile materials, the invention clearly is applicable also to various other purposes such as weight reducing, felting, bulking and creping processes for cloth materials.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A method for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material, in which method the textile material is conveyed in a spread-fiat attitude along a substantially horizontal path, treatment liquid is applied to the textile material while the material is being conveyed along said path, the material is conveyed along an upwardly inclined path to effect homogeneous distribution of the treatment liquid and is then conveyed into a hygrothermic treatment chamber in which the material passes over a series of guide rolls whilst sagging in loops between the rolls and with the face of the material not carrying treatment liquid in contact with the rolls, the material there being subjected to a humid atmosphere of from 100 to 110"C, and the guide rolls being controlled automatically to maintain the sagging to a preset amount.

2. A method for continuously treating a textile material according to claim 1, in which steam is sprayed on to the textile material while the material is being conveyed within the hygro-thermic treatment chamber.

3. A method for continuously treating a textile material according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which each guide roll in the treatment chamber is individually driven to convey the material through the chamber, the drive of each roll being individually controllable to maintain the sagging of the material between the rolls.

4. A method for continuously treating a textile material according to any of the preceding claims, where in the treatment liquid used is a liquid dye.

5. A method for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 or Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

6. Apparatus for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material, which apparatus comprises a hygro-thermic treatment chamber, an endless belt for conveying the textile material into the chamber and including an upwardly inclined run, treatment liquid applying means arranged to apply liquid to the material before the material is conveyed up the inclined run, a plurality of guide rolls arranged inside the hygro-thermic treatment chamber and over which the material passes, only the face of the textile material not carrying treatment liquid contacting the guide rolls and the material sagging in a series of loops between adjacent guide rolls, means to control automatically the sagging of the textile material to a preset degree, and means to maintain a humid atomsphere at an elevated temperature within the treatment chamber.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each guide roll is individually driven, and detector means are provided for each loop sagging between adjacent guide rolls, the detector means controlling the drive of the guide rolls.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each guide roll has a plurality of needles upstanding from the circumferential face thereof, so as drivingly to engage the textile material.

9. Apparatus according to any of claims 6 tc 8, wherein the treatment liquid applying means comprises a liquid tank arranged to flow liquid over the material as the material passes therebeneath.

10. Apparatus according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein a plurality of steam jet nozzles are provided to spray steam on the textile material as the material passes through the treatment chamber.

11. Apparatus for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 1 or Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (11)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. including simple seal mechanisms such as a nip seal device and a water tank seal. Thus the apparatus is of only low cost. Moreover, though the described processes have only concerned the dyeing of thick textile materials, the invention clearly is applicable also to various other purposes such as weight reducing, felting, bulking and creping processes for cloth materials. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A method for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material, in which method the textile material is conveyed in a spread-fiat attitude along a substantially horizontal path, treatment liquid is applied to the textile material while the material is being conveyed along said path, the material is conveyed along an upwardly inclined path to effect homogeneous distribution of the treatment liquid and is then conveyed into a hygrothermic treatment chamber in which the material passes over a series of guide rolls whilst sagging in loops between the rolls and with the face of the material not carrying treatment liquid in contact with the rolls, the material there being subjected to a humid atmosphere of from 100 to 110"C, and the guide rolls being controlled automatically to maintain the sagging to a preset amount.

2. A method for continuously treating a textile material according to claim 1, in which steam is sprayed on to the textile material while the material is being conveyed within the hygro-thermic treatment chamber.

3. A method for continuously treating a textile material according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which each guide roll in the treatment chamber is individually driven to convey the material through the chamber, the drive of each roll being individually controllable to maintain the sagging of the material between the rolls.

4. A method for continuously treating a textile material according to any of the preceding claims, where in the treatment liquid used is a liquid dye.

5. A method for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 or Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.

6. Apparatus for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material, which apparatus comprises a hygro-thermic treatment chamber, an endless belt for conveying the textile material into the chamber and including an upwardly inclined run, treatment liquid applying means arranged to apply liquid to the material before the material is conveyed up the inclined run, a plurality of guide rolls arranged inside the hygro-thermic treatment chamber and over which the material passes, only the face of the textile material not carrying treatment liquid contacting the guide rolls and the material sagging in a series of loops between adjacent guide rolls, means to control automatically the sagging of the textile material to a preset degree, and means to maintain a humid atomsphere at an elevated temperature within the treatment chamber.

7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each guide roll is individually driven, and detector means are provided for each loop sagging between adjacent guide rolls, the detector means controlling the drive of the guide rolls.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein each guide roll has a plurality of needles upstanding from the circumferential face thereof, so as drivingly to engage the textile material.

9. Apparatus according to any of claims 6 tc 8, wherein the treatment liquid applying means comprises a liquid tank arranged to flow liquid over the material as the material passes therebeneath.

10. Apparatus according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein a plurality of steam jet nozzles are provided to spray steam on the textile material as the material passes through the treatment chamber.

11. Apparatus for continuously treating a relatively thick textile material substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in Figure 1 or Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.